It’s not all Djoum and gloom..the gaffer will get it right
HEARTS BOSS NEEDS TIME Arnaud: Hearts stars behind Cathro
ARNAUD DJOUM insists Ian Cathro does know what he’s doing and is getting his message across to his Hearts stars.
And the midfielder is adamant the new boss will get it right if the supporters afford him the time and patience to prove it.
Djoum spoke out in strong support of his under-fire gaffer as the strain mounts on the young coach.
Cathro’s record is now just four wins in 15 games after another morale-sapping loss at the hands of Ross County in midweek.
The boss is enduring a savage introduction to management and although he bravely backed the fans for their support during the week there was no hiding the cries of anger aimed in his direction from some disgruntled home punters.
Cathro stands accused of not being ready for the post by the snipers. But Djoum insists that is utter rubbish.
He said: “He knows football really well, he knows what he’s doing and he’s a really smart guy. It’s small details we focus on so I can say to the fans he knows what he’s doing with us.
“It’s just that little details are working against us but when the results get better then I think the fans will enjoy it. They just need to be a little bit patient.
“The fans don’t have so much patience but this is football. Things will get better.
“The teams like Rangers and Celtic play good football and they win games so it’s not only about being physical.
“The coach wants to play this way and at the start of the season some people said we were too physical but now we are not physical enough.
“I am with the manager because the way he speaks about football is good and he wants everybody to enjoy football.
“The results are not there at the moment but if you see the Ross County game the way we moved the ball and created chances we dominated the game but we have had things go against us.
“The gaffer showed the way we play is very good and I like the way he wants us to play so we just have to continue to work hard in training and get better and score more goals.”
Djoum is smart enough to realise talk counts for nothing if results don’t improve.
With defeats to Hibs, Partick Thistle and County in the past nine days the feelgood factor that had been building after back-to-back wins over Rangers and Motherwell has quickly evaporated.
Djoum was with his country winning the African Cup of Nations when the mini revival took place but says another will be on the way shortly if Hearts just start to get a break or two. He said: “We are all disappointed about the County result. The performance was not so bad. They had one chance and they scored but we had a few chances and hit the bar.
“We gave everything and it’s still not working out but we have to stay together and continue to fight and to try to get back to winning games.
“Every game is different and now the situation feels like everything is against us. We concede stupid goals and although we are working hard to create chances we do not score so we are frustrated. But every team experiences ups and downs and we need the fans through this battle more than ever.
“I know there is a frustration because the results are not coming but I hope they will help us to get out of this situation.
“I know it is not so easy and supporters want you to win games especially at home. We just have to stick together and we will be fine.” ARNAUD DJOUM