Clare is sure Hearts will benefit from home truths
Hearts midfielder sean Clare believes ‘home truths’ in the tynecastle dressing room can ensure the club will enjoy a successful season in the Premiership.
Craig Levein and his players held clear-the-air talks after their uninspiring draw at home to ross County two weeks ago.
they bounced back last Friday by defeating Motherwell at Fir Park in the Betfred Cup and now face a trip to defending champions Celtic tomorrow.
and Clare believes the discussion among the squad can benefit them moving forward during this term.
‘It wasn’t a heated discussion — it was more like a few home truths,’ said the 22-year-old. ‘there was no need to shout and scream because when it’s a team discussion, that doesn’t help anyone.
‘everyone spoke their mind, said things clearly and then we left. I’m sure everyone thought about it when they went home. then we came back in, worked really hard in the following week and managed to get a good result.
‘It was everyone involved. the manager was involved to start with then he let us speak. It was more of an open discussion with everyone and I think that helped.
‘It’s not fair if just the manager speaks because we’re players on the pitch and it’s not fair if we just speak because the manager has a say. It was a good discussion and we move on.
‘We discussed it, no one was blaming anyone. We shared the blame. It was all on us. It wasn’t down to a lack of trying or a lack of effort — it was confusion between ourselves.
‘We didn’t work smart in the right areas, so we had a few words and everyone took it on the chin.’
asked if he was at his lowest ebb after the draw against topflight newcomers County, Clare replied: ‘It did feel flat. It was a flat game, but I don’t think it was my lowest time here.
‘We still came away with a point, which is positive when you haven’t played well. at home we expect more against all teams, so it was flat. But we take the point and move forward.
‘We watched that game back with the manager and saw what we weren’t doing and how we can change that. against Motherwell, I think we proved that we can do the dirty work play. It was a learning curve and we’ve set a benchmark now.’
Clare insists Hearts must not be daunted by a visit to Celtic, who are still reeling after
their failure to qualify for the Champions League group stage.
Neil Lennon’s men also struggled when they required extra-time to see off Championship side Dunfermline in the Betfred Cup last weekend.
after suffering a narrow 2-1 defeat against the Parkhead club in last season’s scottish Cup final, Clare believes Levein’s side can approach tomorrow’s game with confidence.
‘I wouldn’t say it’s daunting,’ said the englishman. ‘they didn’t score five or six in their most recent games so, although they are a very good side, we feel like we are a very good side.
‘We can’t let them play how they want to play otherwise they will be very effective but it’s down to us to stop them.
‘It’s a good match-up and our last few games have been really close. they’ve pipped us at the end but we’re looking to give them one back.
‘they are a massive club and a good team, so a good result would give us massive confidence. But when we’re playing, we won’t be thinking about how big a club Celtic are. It’ll just be another team we need to get points against.
‘We can take belief from that game (cup final). We played really well that day and were unlucky to lose. I felt we were in control until they scored their first.
‘We were making them do what we wanted them to do. But it just shows the quality in their team that they had two good chances and put both away.
‘We can learn from that and need to limit them as much as we can, as well as being a threat ourselves going forward.
‘You could see it as us having nothing to lose (tomorrow) but we still need to go there and get points. It’s a long season but we still need points now.
‘We can’t think about getting points at the back end of the season. We’ve got a competitive squad and everyone is fighting for positions. We can’t go there and be slack.’