FORWARD THINKING
Stendel will go for the win at Celtic Park and not treat it as a damage-limitation exercise
DANIEL Stendel has watched teams go to Parkhead this season with the primary aim of not letting Celtic score.
But the Hearts manager has vowed he won’t ditch his side’s ambitious attacking strategy for anyone — not even the reigning champions.
The Tynecastle side have conceded six goals in their last two Premiership matches while League One Falkirk hit the woodwork three times as Hearts reached the Scottish Cup quarter-finals with a 1-0 win at Westfield on Saturday.
Former Barnsley boss Stendel knows any such slip-ups will be punished mercilessly by the nine-in-a-row chasing champions.
But, having beaten Rangers 2-1 at Tynecastle last month and desperate for points, he insists his relegation-haunted side won’t turn up in the east end of Glasgow tomorrow merely on a damage-limitation exercise.
‘If you follow the scores on a Saturday and look for the Celtic game, it’s 1-0 Celtic, 2-0 Celtic — it is always a Celtic win because every team expects to have no chance,’ said Stendel.
‘But we do expect to have a chance and we want to play our style against Celtic.
‘When you hope Celtic don’t score, then you can be hoping for a long, long time. It’s difficult when you are only defending and hoping you get one or two chances. Of course every team would like to win (at Celtic Park) but, at first, a lot of times teams just don’t want to lose — we want to try to win!
‘But against Celtic we know we cannot (lose concentration) or we will have no hope. I think that fact will be good for the focus of my players.
‘The chance (of winning) is not as high as in other fixtures but the game starts 0-0 and I want us to go for three points.
‘When we are concentrated and have the courage to do what we want, then we have a real chance.
‘If not, then you just go to Glasgow, look at the stadium and go home with nothing. That can not be our mentality.
‘We have tough games coming up in the next 14 days and we need points wherever we can get them — even against Celtic away from home.
‘We need some special days. We know we are playing against the best team in Scotland, with a very good offence, but we have shown before that we can win against Rangers, so why not Celtic?’
Rather than be daunted by the prospect of coming up against Odsonne Edouard, who has scored 24 goals this season, Stendel has urged his team to come to each other’s aid and use facing Celtic’s on-form Frenchman as a challenge.
‘It’s a good contest for everyone on the pitch to say: “Against me he does not score.
Against us he does not score”,’ he added. ‘Everyone on the pitch needs to have the feeling they are not alone in this game.
‘When it’s one against one, then maybe we are not the better team but if we can make it 11 v one every time, I think we are better.’
Stendel is unlikely to be able to call upon John Souttar against Celtic after the defender missed the cup tie at Falkirk with an ankle injury.
With Hearts a point behind 11th-placed Hamilton and hosting Accies on Saturday, the German boss is unlikely to risk the Scotland international.
Teenage full-back Aaron Hickey will also miss out tomorrow night but could come back for the Hamilton game.
Stendel, whose side have drawn Rangers in the Scottish Cup quarter-finals, admits it is hard to think about that big match later this month while his side battles the drop. But he believes they are capable of fighting on both fronts.
He said: ‘I saw the draw and I liked the fact we are at home at Tynecastle.
‘You can say: “Why did we not get this team or that team” but if you want to win this cup you need to beat every team.
‘Rangers is one of the best teams but if we want to get to the next round we have to beat them. And we showed a couple of weeks ago that we can do that. It’s not easy but we have a chance. ‘I think you cannot start to think so much about that cup tie just now. It’s a big game, like every game is at the moment. ‘In the league we need points and that is important. But we also have a chance to win the cup also — and we want to take that chance.’