Levein insists he’s the man to sort the mess
Furious Hearts fans chanted “We want you to go,” at Craig Levein.
But the Jam Tarts boss last night insisted he’s going nowhere.
Gorgie punters are gunning for their gaffer after a disappointing start to the season.
They left him in no doubt about their ill feelings during yesterday’s underwhelming draw with Hamilton Accies.
However, a defiant Levein maintains he can turn Hearts around.
“I understand that,” he said of Jam Tarts fans’ calls for his head.
“There’s a sense of frustration with the supporters and I get that.
“I’m not going to criticise them for voicing their opinion.
“But I believe I can fix this and get us up the table pretty quickly.”
For Levein, the quick fix is clear to see.
“I don’t say this very often but our defending wasn’t good enough today. That’s the bit that hurts,” he said.
“Normally we’re very good at dealing with strikers, but today we didn’t do as well as we needed to, and the goals we lost were rubbish.
“The problem with the first one is that there’s two or three people involved and each has made the wrong decision.
“The result of that is a goal – and it’s rubbish.
“If it’s a goal that’s well worked by the opposition, I’m quite comfortable saying it’s a good goal, but that was more errors on our part than good play by Hamilton.
“We continually, throughout the game, didn’t do the things we normally do well.
“On the other side, Andy Irving had another really good match, Glenn Whelan was good, we controlled the midfield, in the first half in particular.
“We had some good moments going forward, but we’re going to have to have a lot of good moments going forward if we defend like that.”
Hearts fans have booed their side off the park on a number of occasions this season.
However, yesterday’s anti-Levein chanting was a marked escalation in hostilities.
A toxic Tynecastle is a scary place to play football.
But Levein reckons he knows the formula to lift the mood on Gorgie – and he aims to apply it during the international break.
“To play here isn’t easy, and every time we sign a player we talk about the stadium,” he said.
“When things are going really well it’s fantastic, but if things aren’t going well it’s very difficult to rise above it and shine when other people are feeling a bit nervous.
“I suppose there’s some consolation for me in that the defensive side is easier to fix than the attacking side, so at least I can do something about that and take my frustrations out on the training field.”