Tough love could steer Souttar to the very top
MANY a defender will testify to just how narky an opponent Steven Naismith can be. Spare a thought then for John Souttar, who not only faces the forward in training every day but spent international week rooming with his Hearts team-mate.
Naismith makes no apology for occasionally making life tough for his young colleague. So, while the 21-year-old was one of few players to emerge with credit from both of Scotland’s matches against Belgium and Albania, the rivers of praise ceased at the threshold of their shared accommodation.
‘Against Belgium, John gave one bad ball away in the whole game,’ said Naismith. ‘So, I went back to the room and told him. He admitted that as soon as he played it he was thinking of me.
‘But standards are high and I’ll always do that. He can go to the top, so you’ve got to make him aware of what he can do.’
Mentored for a year by defensive partner Christophe Berra, Souttar has had no choice but to step up and assume a leader’s role in the wake of the serious hamstring tear suffered by the Hearts captain on day two of the league campaign.
Entrusted with the skipper’s armband by manager Craig Levein, he has been a solid and aggressive contributor to the Tynecastle side’s strong start to the Premiership season.
A shortage of available defensive options made a full international cap inevitable and he started both games on the right of a back three, with Charlie Mulgrew and Kieran Tierney completing the rearguard.
Although the Belgium match was blighted with individual errors from men in dark blue jerseys, Souttar belied his debut status to hold steady. He was even more assertive on his first competitive appearance as the Nations League kicked off with a 2-0 win on Monday night.
Although unlucky to be booked in the win over Albania, the sight of Souttar clattering an opponent in the act of winning a header demonstrated a new, assertive side to a player more commonly lauded for his composure on the ball.
Souttar himself has admitted that he did not especially relish the rougher side of the game when breaking through at Dundee United but has visibly toughened up since Levein — no one’s idea of a soft touch either as player or boss — began his second spell as Hearts manager a year ago.
‘The progression from last season to this has been massive,’ continued Naismith, now in his second loan spell from Norwich.
‘I see it day to day and that’s probably where you guys haven’t.
‘He’s tidied his defending up, it’s much better. The first thing I said to him when I went into Hearts was that there’s a lot of: “Oh, that’s close, he’s risky on the ball”. He wasn’t giving many chances away but it gave people an impression. I just said to him if you eradicate that, you are giving yourself a right chance.
‘In the past, he would risk balls that had a 10-per-cent chance of being complete. Now he waits till it’s definitely on, plays the right pass and gets on with it. He’s first of all thinking about defending, which is great to see.
‘He’s a good footballer. After the game on Friday, I also said to him that he’d done better than I thought. He settled in perfectly well and now he’s in the driving seat. He’s saw an opportunity and taken it.’
Although not named in Alex McLeish’s initial squad, a hat-trick for Hearts against St Mirren on the eve of the international break had pushed Naismith into contention and, after starting ahead of Leigh Griffiths, he scored the second against the Albanians.
The 31-year-old’s return to international prominence may not have been in McLeish’s original plan but he hopes to stick around and help Souttar develop into a Scotland regular.
With Scott McKenna and Jack Hendry also blooded since McLeish’s appointment earlier this year, he reckons Souttar can feed off the competition. ‘When I was younger, I had that with Steven Fletcher and Ross McCormack,’ he explained. ‘We came through together and then I did my knee and saw those two doing really well. You have that bit of: “I wish I was there” and it drives you on, so he’ll definitely have that in his mind. ‘He’s done all he can in the last couple of weeks. I know for a fact that he has enjoyed every minute of this and loved being around the top team.
‘He’ll go away now and think: “I want to be there all the time”.’