LONG-BALL JIBES UNFAIR
CHRISTOPHE BERRA last night shot down the one-dimensional criticism of Hearts.
The skipper refuted jibes that Craig Levein’s side rely on shelling balls to Uche Ikpeazu.
After the 3-1 loss to Rangers, Berra said: “That’s a theory but there was a recent stat that we were third-lowest in terms of long ball.
“It’s not our aim. Yes it’s an asset at times but people’s views can be skewed with a perception of our manager which is not the way. I’m sure Aberdeen play plenty of long balls up to their big man up front.
“In the first five or 10 minutes against the bigger teams at Tynecastle you want to put pressure on to them and the big man can be hard to handle.
“That can be a plan but Rangers pressed us well and when we did pass the ball in midfield we got caught out and punished, so you can’t please everyone.
“There can be a perception but it’s not what we go out to do.”
Hearts fans howled derision at their side at various stages of the game but Berra added: “If you don’t win games it’s natural to get stick.
“It would be the same if it was Ibrox, Pittodrie, Parkhead, Easter Road.
“No matter what ground you play in the country or even in England or in Europe, the fans are not going to be cheering you off if you’re 2-0 down at half-time.
“Tynecastle expects a certain type of play and we just couldn’t reach the standards. Credit to Rangers, they were better than us, but we gifted three goals.”
Berra made no attempt to dress up the dismal showing after the Jambos were picked off by Rangers as the players didn’t properly implement Levein’s pressing plan.
Jermain Defoe and Ryan Jack scored from stealing possession and defending was slack at a set-play as Nikola Katic nabbed a third.
Berra said: “For as much as we couldn’t get close to Rangers in the first half, we did gift them two goals. Getting caught in the middle, two passes, clinical finishes.
“If we hadn’t done that and maybe got to 0-0 at half-time without them creating too much, we could have said, ‘OK, we haven’t played the best but it’s level and we’ll change it second half.’
“But we got caught twice and were wide open. We played right into their hands.
“Second half was better but over the piece we seem to find it hard to play against Rangers and I don’t really know why. It’s something we need to rectify.”