Fast among
HEARTS Berra’s pace is up there with Vardy and he’s best centre-back in Scotland says MacPhee
HEARTS assistant boss Austin MacPhee believes Christophe Berra is the best defender in the country – and the signing of the season.
The Tynecastle No.2 reckons the 32-year-old Scotland centre-back is the captain the Jambos have craved for years – as well as being quick enough to catch the top strikers in the game.
Craig Levein’s right-hand man MacPhee said: “Christophe is the same all the time and I think you can afford to be that when you know what it takes to do well.
“He’s also a very strong captain. Hearts have lacked a captain in recent years. Robbie Neilson would say that as well from his time in charge here because all the captains have ended up dropping out the team.
“Ozturk dropped out the team, Kitchen dropped out the team – but there’s no chance of Christophe dropping out the team! He is going to play all the time and becoming a regular in the Scotland team has also helped him.
“Clearly Gordon Strachan thought Christophe was at a level where he could rely on him all the time.
“For the young players to see his standards are always very high. He is a captain who leads through example and aggression and he has had a great career.
“He’s an academy player as well and there are different things about him that mean he can talk to young players about the route of his career and about when he has made the right decision to go wherever he has gone.
“You could look back over his career and say he has maximised what he has got through by doing things properly .
“You can’t have too many players like Christophe or Aaron Hughes around to be an influence.
“He doesn’t necessarily think less about himself, he has confidence, but he’s at a stage in his career where he can think about himself less.
“You can have confidence but put your team-mates first while still taking care of your own thing. I can’t speak highly enough of him.
He’s also really, really quick. He’s over 30 but his high-speed running in all the data is right up there with the fastest at the club. He’s only about 0.5 off Jamie Vardy which shows he is really quick.
“If you can marry someone who knows where to be, has great aggression, is good in the air, is really quick and can organise, then I don’t see a better defender in Scotland just now.
“And clearly neither could Gordon Strachan because the other centre-half wasn’t playing in Scotland.
“I looked at it one day and saw Christophe had clocked 34.3kph and Vardy’s top speed was 34.8kph – now it took Christophe three days to get to that!
“I don’t know who the fastest is, John Souttar is up there.
“There’s a difference between how quickly you get going and top speed, the wide players get fast quicker but maybe don’t get to the same top speed.
“It’s all just mad data now isn’t it? it can help you or hinder you.”
Hearts are on a high after ending Celtic’s domestic invincible run at the 70th attempt with a thumping 4-0 win over the Hoops at Tynecastle last weekend.
MacPhee insists that historic victory was testament to the work put in by manager Levein.
He insists the former Scotlamd gaffer is the hardest-working boss in the UK – and that he has delivered on every target in the four years since the Vladimir Romanov era.
And he is also proud of the fact the Jambos academy and new scouting system are something to be proud of.
MacPhee said: “We have a new
ANTHONY HAGGERTY