A forgotten challenger
Hearts happy to fly under radar
AMID talk of a threehorse race in the SPFL Premiership, Hearts have been all but overlooked. Celtic, Aberdeen and Rangers are the teams attracting serious discussion. Third in the league last season, Robbie Neilson’s side have been sidelined.
Yet the Tynecastle manager feels no sense of slight. He takes no umbrage.
Hearts dampened their own expectation the minute they lost to Maltese opposition at home in the Europa League. If they now sail under the radar as a result, it suits the manager fine.
As his team prepares to host Celtic in what will be a full-blooded introduction to Scottish league football for Brendan Rodgers, Neilson has watched Celtic’s Scott Brown and Kenny Miller of Rangers bandy words in recent days with a shrug. Like their young manager, Hearts will do their talking quietly.
‘A team of Rangers’ size, with the budget they’ve got and the players they’ve got, would be expecting to be challenging near the top of the league,’ said the Tynecastle boss.
‘But we’re delighted everyone is talking about Rangers and Celtic.
‘It gets us under the radar. Nobody is bothered about us. We can just go and win games and try to get as high up the league as we can.
‘We’ll concentrate on ourselves and try to put a team together that is going to go and win Sunday’s game.
‘You want to play in big games. We’re in a good place at the moment fitness-wise, so it’s a great time to get Celtic.’
Hearts secured Belgian find Arnaud Djoum on a new two-year contract yesterday. How on-loan striker Tony Watt will fare against the club where he made his name will also be a source of intrigue tomorrow.
Before the domestic season kicked off, the Edinburgh club suffered an embarrassing setback when they were knocked out of the Europa League by Maltese minnows Birkirkara.
That the defeat was unexpected is reflected in the fact they haven’t played a game since.
A friendly with Fleetwood was cancelled following former Tynecastle defender Steven Pressley’s shock resignation. A 17-day lay-off is less than ideal in pre-season, yet current boss Neilson insists he has used the time productively on the training ground.
‘Usually in pre-season, you get six weeks to work on your team and to get ready for the league,’ he said. ‘In Europe, you come in for the first game and then it’s the next game and the next game. You never get a chance to build.
‘But we’ve had two weeks now where we can focus on how we want to play, as opposed to continually looking at the next game.’
Central to his plans will be Djoum, a clever, creative signing last season.
The Belgian would have been out of contract next summer but has now committed to the Gorgie outfit until 2019.
After short, restless, unfulfilling spells in Turkey and Poland, Djoum is excited by the chance to make his mark as the new Hearts No 10.
‘I’m wearing No10 this year and that gives me a lot of responsibility in the team,’ he told Sportsmail. ‘But that is good. When you play football you like to feel like this in the team, to get a lot of confidence and responsibility.
‘Zinedine Zidane was my idol, always, so to wear this number gives me a lot of confidence.
‘He wasn’t bad… so I am happy to wear this number for the club. It’s the first time I have worn 10, so it gives me a responsibility.
‘I will try to play as well as I can and, with a bit of luck, make the difference for the team.’ While Neilson is happy to play down any prospect of a concerted Hearts title bid, however, Djoum believes the Tynecastle club can offer more than a one-off challenge to Celtic in the Premiership. With scant regard for recent history and a Glasgow dominance of the league title stretching back 31 years, the midfielder claims Hearts are making progress and insists they should believe that they can challenge Celtic and Rangers for the top-flight championship. ‘I believe that this great club has a good future because everybody is going forward and getting better and better — in every aspect,’ he said. ‘I want to be part of it. I think the club can have a good future and I want to be with the club.
‘Last season we finished third and I think the club is now in the position to go higher and higher.
‘Next year, we will try to challenge the top two, maybe challenge for the title. I think that’s an achievable objective for the club in the next year or so.
‘It will be really difficult. We just have to do it step by step. It will take time but the club has a good base to achieve this.
‘Now we have to confirm that (last season) was not a one-off, that we were lucky or anything like that. We have to show we are a good team and we can compete for a top-three place.’
“We will put a team together to win on Sunday”