STENDEL’S GAME OF PATIENCE
Hearts manager adapting to demands of Scottish football
VIRTUOUS patience has given them a chance. More of the same, assuming the season runs its full and entire course, may actually get the job done.
Hearts boss Daniel Stendel, his own early rush to completely transform Craig Levein’s team now tempered by a better understanding of his players, admits that he’s had to develop a degree of forbearance during his short spell at Tynecastle.
If those players can learn the same lesson then, pandemic pending, they should just have enough time to avoid relegation.
Stendel, having just seen Hearts record back-to-back wins for the first time since mighty Cowdenbeath and Stenhousemuir were knocked off in the Betfred Cup groups by the Levein-era side, opened up about his decision to step back from the all-out pressing game envisaged when he arrived in Gorgie.
‘When I started, I said my patience was not so big — but I’ve learned more patience,’ said the German coach.
‘You can say you want to play this way. But you need to look after the players that you have, you need to look after the situation.
‘The main point is that I want our style to have some things different to the other teams — this is Hearts, this is how we play.
‘For me, it’s a new experience. The situation wasn’t that a new manager came in and that was enough to work. The process needed a little bit longer.’
Asked outright if his tactics had changed to suit the players, Stendel said: ‘Yeah. I think you need to understand so much more. On one hand, some players may not be able to play when at the bottom of the table.
‘You have to understand the situation, the club.
‘Some like to say: “You need to understand Scottish football”. A lot of things you need to understand to find the right way.
‘We’ve changed some things but everybody can learn every day. I include myself in that, too.’ If last weekend’s Scottish Cup win over Rangers was about all-out aggression, the midweek league victory at Easter Road had more nuance to it. Unusual for an Edinburgh derby.
Hearts kept their shape well, pressed when the situation demanded it, held back and frustrated Hibs when that was the better option. They are getting there.
Expanding on the theme of not simply chasing the ball as if it has a bell on it, Stendel said: ‘We want to play in front, we want to win games and play quickly after winning the ball.
‘But it’s not possible every time and I think, especially in our situation, it’s important to decide to do the right things at the right time.
‘With more confidence and a little bit more luck in the right situations, we would win more games.
‘We’ve experienced in the past that the first one or two chances is a goal for the other team and wasn’t so easy to come back from.
‘It’s good that we have more stability in our defence now and we believe in our quality in attack to score goals.’
Despite their derby heroics, Hearts only climbed off the foot of the table for 24 hours, Hamilton’s victory at Ibrox putting Accies back into 11th spot.
Nobody is going to hand the Tynecastle club anything. All they can do is keep picking up points, continuing with today’s visit of Motherwell.
‘Yeah, the teams around us are winning,’ said Stendel. ‘But we’ve gone a long time without winning — and that is only our fault.
‘We can’t look at the other teams, we only have to look after ourselves.
‘The good thing is we have a chance to play against all the teams around us again.
‘I think we need to show our best performances in those games. Then we can worry about the other teams. I don’t have a target. I could say 35 points to you right now — and then it turns out that we need 36.
‘No, no. We just want to stay up, whatever it takes.
‘I felt good that we had won against Hibs. But on Wednesday, a day off, I spent a lot of time thinking about what I would say to the players on Thursday.
‘With the result and the celebrations, I wanted players to keep their focus for Saturday’s game. I was going to tell them that it’s a whole new game, that we need the same concentration and same attitude for Motherwell.
‘But, with Hamilton winning on Wednesday night night, I didn’t need to say so much, did I?
‘That’s the one advantage of that result.’
While Hearts are looking to push on after their derby heroics, Motherwell skipper Peter Hartley has warned them that today’s visitors are also starting to ‘click again’ after this week’s 4-1 victory over Ross County ended a nightmare run of eight games without a win.
‘It looks like we have got back into the gear we showed before Christmas,’ said defender Hartley after Stephen Robinson’s side extended their lead over Aberdeen in third place to three points.
‘We hit a little bit of a blip, I don’t know if it was players coming in and it was just games in quick succession and it took its toll a little bit.
‘But we had a bit of a break and it shows what a fresh Motherwell team can do.’
Today’s hosts Hearts remain bottom but look like a rejuvenated force in Hartley’s eyes.
He added: ‘It’s a challenging time to play them. Hearts are always a good team. They have some quality players. Hopefully, we can get the three points.’