Hearts have lost fear factor, admits Levein
The challenge for us is to keep picking up points in the meantime
CRAIG LEVEIN has admitted that the absence of Hearts’ key on-field leaders is having a detrimental effect on his team — and a positive one on the opposition.
Now he has challenged the last men standing at Tynecastle to bring their own level of intimidation to games and concede no more ground to rival teams before his injured stars can be welcomed back.
Levein, who expects both club captain Christophe Berra and Scotland striker Steven Naismith to return from injury before the winter shutdown, saw his side lose three and draw one of their last four games before the international break.
The Jambos, also missing international centre-half John Souttar and rampaging striker Uche Ikpeazu, lost their place at the top of the Scottish Premiership to Celtic on goal difference and suffered a Betfred Cup semi-final defeat to the same opponents at Murrayfield.
‘With such high-profile players (missing), I can’t not talk about it,’ said Levein. ‘And it’s not just their play, it’s their influence on the team. It’s also the other teams who are looking at our line-up and seeing Naismith, Souttar, Christophe, big Uche who has been a big plus for us, all missing.
‘Once those players come back, we’ll get two things. We’ll get the football benefit — and we will also get the benefit of other teams thinking: “Uh-oh, we’ve got a tough game today”. But the challenge for all of us is to keep picking up points in the meantime.
‘I assume opposition managers think the same as me. When you look at the opposition team sheet and you see four or five players missing — guys that you know to be their main players — I usually feel quite good about that.
‘Until we get everybody back, I don’t know if we’re going to reach the heights we were at previously.
‘The challenge is in making sure that we don’t drop any more points between now and getting people back.
‘Christophe will probably be back in the next two or three weeks. He’s in for full training for the first time today, I believe. Steven Naismith is maybe a month.
‘It was Christophe’s thoughts (that he would be back for the Rangers game on December 2). We’ve got a bounce game next week and I think he will play part of that and we will see how he responds.
‘If it’s good, then with someone of his experience and quality, I want him back in the team as quickly as possible. ‘The good thing is he’s a sensible guy and he’ll know when he is right. It will be guided by him more than anything else.
‘So we should get those two back before the winter break, which will be good for us.’
In Berra’s absence, one man who has stepped up to the plate for Hearts has been on-loan centre-half Jimmy Dunne.
He has made an impressive start since moving from Burnley in the summer and received his first Republic of Ireland call-up on the back of his Jambos displays earlier this month.
Levein confirmed yesterday that he would like to keep 21-year-old Dunne for the rest of the season — even allowing for the return of Berra and Souttar — and has already held positive talks towards that end with Turf Moor boss Sean Dyche.
‘I think Jimmy has done that well that I would find a place for him,’ said former Scotland boss Levein. ‘I’ve spoken to Sean Dyche and we’re going to speak again in January.
‘In principle, we felt that it was quite a good idea for him to prolong his stay here.’
Hearts head to Paisley tomorrow knowing that anything less than a win over strugglers St Mirren will be viewed as proof of a full-on crisis taking grip.
Levein said: ‘I don’t think it’s a lack of belief that’s the problem. We just haven’t been clinical enough in the matches that we’ve played and we need to take our opportunities when they come along.
‘It’s an opportunity for Steven MacLean, Craig Wighton and the attack-minded players to step up for the foreseeable future.
‘There are some really good things in Craig’s game but he has got into some bad habits and we speak about improving them.
‘There are a couple of areas of his game he has to improve on and we push him really hard in that regard because I don’t want to see him not get to where he should be with the talent he’s got.’