Berra: It’s too early for all this title talk
HEARTS captain Christophe Berra will only consider that the early Premiership leaders can mount a serious title challenge if they are still in the running come February.
The Tynecastle side are five points clear of reigning champions Celtic after maintaining their flawless league start with a fifth successive win — a tenth in all competitions — at Motherwell last Saturday.
Berra has had to watch on from the sidelines since the August 11 win over Celtic after being ruled out for up to six months with a serious hamstring tear.
The Scotland defender still hopes the team are going strong when he returns but he admits it is far too early to comment on whether Craig Levein has assembled a squad that can last the pace at the summit.
Berra said: ‘Let’s be honest, we’re five games in and it’s early days yet — ask that question when it comes to February, March time — that’s when it really matters. It’s a long hard season and we’ve got a lot of games to go.
‘Before the season started our aim was to finish as high as possible and get into Europe. We’re a big club in the grand scheme of things.
‘We’ve had a great start to the season and long may it continue. Hopefully I’ll be back soon and I can help the team in the second half of the season.’
Berra was part of a Hearts side who under-performed in finishing sixth last season, with Levein forced to pick up the pieces from Ian Cathro’s catastrophic reign just before the campaign began. However, following the arrival of some 17 new players, former Wolves and Ipswich centre-half Berra insists the current squad is vastly superior compared to last term’s. ‘No disrespect to last season but we’re a different beast, really, we’ve got more experience, more strength, more options, young players coming through. We can play in many ways and we have that experience and nous to win and see out games.’ Hearts striker Steven Naismith believes competition in the squad has been key in their immaculate start to the campaign. The Scotland international netted the only goal against the Steelmen to take his domestic tally to eight, and said: ‘There is a belief we can go into every game and win. ‘But the one thing we’ve got this season is competition for places and even the boys that came on against Motherwell did very well because they’re pushing to get into the starting line-up. ‘That’s where your composure comes from when you’re enjoying your football. You know you can make runs and be in positions and when you have the players to find you, it makes your job much easier as well. ‘I said to the boys before the game that Motherwell was our biggest challenge this season. ‘Defensively it was the best display since I’ve been here from Soapy (John Souttar) and Jimmy (Dunne). ‘It was a fantastic win.’