Always look on the bright side of strife
STENDEL WON’T LET US GET DOWN OVER ACCIES WIN, SAYS SMITH
THEY can’t buy a break, remain rooted to the bottom of the table — and are still trying to temper the gaffer’s ambitious ideals with the cold, hard pragmatism needed to survive.
In the circumstances, anything that gives the Hearts players a laugh — the sillier, the better — must be considered good man-management. Michael Smith winced yesterday when asked how he felt about Hamilton’s surprise win at Ibrox negating their own spectacular triumph at Easter Road 24 hours earlier. When you’re down, you’re down, right?
In the wider context of a campaign that has been all about the suffering, however, the veteran can still muster a smile.
Revealing details of a meeting at which he and his fellow defenders argued for a less gung-ho version of the ‘Gorgie-pressing’ put in place by Daniel Stendel, the Northern Ireland international insisted he has become more optimistic about avoiding relegation.
And, while much was made of Stendel deploying a few trainingground gimmicks to install tactical discipline in the back four and increase peripheral awareness in all departments, Smith feels that some are missing the main point of those exercises.
‘Maybe it’s not actually the training that helps — but the camaraderie created by things like that,’ said the full-back of the famous ropes-and-goggles session at Oriam.
‘You get uptight at times in training when things are not going well. Things like that lighten the mood and it helps you relax.
‘If you relax as a player then you play better, so it was a good call by the gaffer to do stuff like that.
‘It kept things interesting and it was a funny training session. It has helped us definitely. I didn’t wear the goggles, my eyesight is bad enough without them. But I’ve seen these kind of things done plenty of times before.
‘If you’re conceding plenty of goals, you want to get the shape of the back four right and the distances between you.
‘It was only a little short exercise with the ropes to get you used to the movements and everyone moving together.
‘I’ve seen it happen before. Plenty of clubs do it and I’ve spoken to plenty of players, it’s nothing. Have I seen the goggles used before? Only skiing. Nah, the gaffer has got different ways of doing things.
‘It was a great laugh at the time. It was the centre-halves who were wearing them and it was so funny because Clevid (Dikamona) missed the ball at one point. But it’s worked.’
That was probably the last time Dikamona made a mistake, the centre-half starring as a sub for the injured John Souttar in the Scottish Cup win against Rangers — and then walking off with man-of-the-match honours from Tuesday’s 3-1 victory over Hibs.
There were several contenders for that honour at Easter Road, with Hearts definitely looking more composed, more balanced — and a lot less uptight.
Crediting Stendel for lifting the mood in dire circumstances, experienced campaigner Smith said: ‘He can be serious but he can also have a laugh and a joke.
‘It is not all about being regimented, going out onto the training ground and shouting and screaming to get your point across.
‘You can have a laugh with players, put your arm around them, whatever the player needs. I think the manager is great at doing that.’
Stendel’s personality obviously counts for a lot when it comes to getting players in the right frame of mind to perform.
It was noticeable in midweek, too, that the German has curbed his enthusiasm just a little when it comes to committing men in pursuit of the ball.
Smith revealed that this was a direct result of players talking through their concerns with the former Barnsley and Hannover boss.
‘As a group we had a little chat,’ he said. ‘We felt a bit open and a bit vulnerable at the back, and we’ve solidified.
‘As a team and a squad of players, we probably took the high press a bit too literally and we were just bombing forward at every chance, trying to get the ball.
‘We’ve steadied the ship now and conceded one goal in the last two, against two very good teams. We feel a lot more solid and we can definitely work from that base.
‘We’ve had lots of meetings as defensive units and stuff like that. Overall, we’ve come to the decision that it is right to solidify ourselves and let the front six do the work.
‘We’ll still do the high press — but only at the right times, when everything is set up right.’
The worry for Hearts is that they’ve adapted too late. That, even if they do pull off the odd big result, it’s going to be countered by Hamilton, St Mirren or others also picking up points.
Asked about Accies’ surprise win at Ibrox, Smith forced a laugh as he admitted: ‘It wasn’t great.
‘I thought, or hoped, that Rangers would do us a turn but, fair play to Hamilton. They have shown for a few years now that they are definitely up for a fight — so it will be interesting to see what happens.’