KING OF HEARTS
By BRIAN MARJORIBANKS We made signing of the season in Berra... he is now the best defender in Scotland, says coach MacPhee
TEENAGE tyros Harry Cochrane and Anthony McDonald were the toast of Tynecastle after terrorising Celtic. But, in the eyes of Austin MacPhee, there is no doubting the identity of the true King of Hearts after Sunday’s 4-0 victory over Brendan Rodgers’ previously untouchable reigning champions.
Craig Levein’s right-hand man insists that, in club captain Christophe Berra, Hearts possess the Premiership’s signing of the season.
MacPhee also rates the 32-year-old as the best defender in Scotland and the kind of leader Hearts have been crying out for in recent years.
He said: ‘The young players’ performances against Celtic were great, but they have overshadowed the display of our goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin, who kept the first clean sheet against Celtic in 70 games.
‘Michael Smith was outstanding at centre-back, Don Cowie ran over 12 kilometres, which is unbelievable for a player who is 34. And Kyle Lafferty put in the type of performance we need him to put in all the time, not just against Celtic in a big game.
‘We need that from Kyle on a wet Wednesday in Dingwall when his toes are cold. But, if there has been a better signing this season than Christophe Berra, then I’m still waiting to hear the name.
‘Christophe is a very strong captain and Hearts have lacked a captain in recent years. (Former Hearts head coach) Robbie Neilson would say that, as well, because all his captains ended up dropping out the team.
‘Alim Ozturk dropped out, Perry Kitchen dropped out — but there is no chance of Christophe dropping out this Hearts team!
‘He has brilliant aggression, is good in the air, and can organise a defence. I don’t see a better defender in Scotland just now and clearly neither could Gordon Strachan because the other centre-half he picked for Scotland in the World Cup qualifiers (Charlie Mulgrew) wasn’t playing in Scotland.
‘I can’t speak highly enough of Christophe Berra.’
If that praise is hardly a newsflash to Hearts fans, the next piece of data may come as a surprise.
Running at full speed, Berra is only fractionally slower than lightning-booted Leicester and England striker Jamie Vardy.
‘Christophe is also really, really quick,’ said MacPhee. ‘He is over 30, but his high-speed running in all the data is right up there with the fastest at the club. He is only about 0.5kph off Jamie Vardy, which shows he is really quick.
‘When I looked at the data, Christophe had clocked 34.3kph, and Jamie Vardy’s top speed was 34.8kph.
‘There is a difference between how quickly you get going and how quickly you get to your top speed.’
MacPhee joked: ‘It took Christophe three days to get to that speed but, along with John Souttar, he is one of the fastest players at this club.’
It has been a difficult return to the dugout for Levein in his second spell as Hearts boss since replacing the sacked Ian Cathro in August.
But MacPhee points to the emergence of the club’s teenagers as proof of the sterling work his boss was doing behind the scenes rebuilding the club after the wreckage left in the wake of the Vladimir Romanov era.
‘Craig gets stick but, sometimes, I think people haven’t looked underneath,’ said MacPhee.
‘Maybe it needed that result at the weekend for people to look at what’s actually happening at Hearts.
‘I know the objectives that Craig had as a director of football and he has hit every single one of them. He did a good job.
‘Hearts have maybe progressed too quickly from the Romanov era for people to be realistic about what’s being achieved.
‘The academy was completely broken at the end of the Romanov era and it needed totally rebuilt.
‘We have teenagers in our first team and we now have nine young players out on loan — and I don’t think even Celtic have that.
‘So that’s 16 or 17 teenagers from Hearts who are all playing in Scottish professional football. It’s an amazing turnaround.
‘If I’m a parent now, I’m sending my kid to Hearts because, at 16, you get a chance here.
‘On Saturday, we had a game at Murrayfield and Craig was in the dugout with the Under-12s. He is in the dugout with the Under-11s and at the Under-13s games, too.
‘There will be no other manager in the UK that does that. I can guarantee it.’
But MacPhee has warned Hearts fans not to expect a repeat of their Celtic display at St Johnstone tomorrow.
‘After the game on Sunday, I had a couple of beers on Gorgie Road with Gary Locke, which is like going out in Las Vegas with Elvis,’ smiled the Hearts assistant.
‘Fans were coming up and saying: “Pick the same team and play the same way every game”.
‘But, to play the way we did against Celtic, you need the other team to have the ball. We can’t press ourselves!
‘We can’t press St Johnstone because they play more direct. Tommy Wright has been really successful and we have not won there in nine games.
‘We have won at Ibrox and Pittodrie in that time, but we haven’t won at McDiarmid Park. But, hopefully, the confidence from the Celtic game will help us.’