STENDEL GETS A RUDE AWAKENING AS HE FINDS HEARTS SHORT ON QUALITY
Stendel admits toiling Hearts squad is short on quality
I expected more from the experienced players in our squad
DANIEL STENDEL has admitted Hearts don’t have enough quality — and that he expected more from the experienced members of his squad.
The Jambos, who welcome champions Celtic to Gorgie tonight, slumped to a sorry 1-0 loss at home to St Johnstone in Stendel’s first game at the helm on Saturday.
They are currently missing some key players through injury and Stendel believes he will have to strengthen in the January transfer window.
Certainly, it appears his high-energy, high-pressing, up-tempo game is hard to implement when the spine of the team — Christophe Berra (34), Glenn Whelan (35) and Steven MacLean (37) — may simply lack the legs to carry out instructions.
‘We have a lot of experienced players who have played a lot of professional football games,’ said the former Barnsley boss. ‘I expected more, especially from these players.’
Asked outright if the elder statesmen were simply incapable of playing his game, Stendel responded with a question of his own, saying: ‘If you look at the squad at the moment, which players are fit?
‘you cannot say this player can play this way or not, or that this player has more experience. These are the players we have at the moment. But yeah, we need more quality on the pitch.
‘Energy is also quality. And every player must take responsibility for their fitness and be able to play for 90 minutes with full power.
‘When you cannot play your best game, you have to give all you can give during that 90 minutes, to run, to work, to tackle, to win headers.
‘These are the basics. It doesn’t matter what style you want to play.
‘On Saturday, we missed a bit of power over the 90 minutes and it’s difficult to change that when you have a midweek game. But this is the situation.’
When it was suggested that the old-timers may never have the energy needed, no matter how willing they may be, Stendel said: ‘I know this. But, when I have other players who can play better, then the other players will play.’
To that end, Steven Naismith has an outside chance of featuring on the plastic pitch at Hamilton this weekend but the
German gaffer confessed to having no idea when potential saviours like Peter Haring, John Souttar and summer signing Conor Washington might be available for selection.
No9 Washington, who injured his hamstring back in September, was originally due back this month.
Souttar, originally ruled out for just a fortnight after injuring his ankle in October, has since undergone surgery to fix an underlying problem.
Haring, meanwhile, went back to Austria to see a specialist about a pelvic issue earlier this year.
‘A lot of important players have long-term injuries and, at the moment, we have a lot of players who have no idea if they can play in January,’ admitted Stendel.
‘This is a big question mark for us, especially for the transfer window. When you have the feeling of, “Okay, they’re all back in January …” it’s easier to say:
“Okay, we keep the squad, it’s good enough”. But we need more quality.
‘We hope Steven is an option for Saturday. At the moment, we have no idea when Peter will come back.
‘Other coaches and managers can’t do anything about this but the medical staff are working hard to change the situation.
‘Washington? He hasn’t trained with the team. When you haven’t played for four or five months and you haven’t trained with the first team, you can’t train once then play tomorrow. He’s not so close.’
Asked about Souttar, Stendel said: ‘Very similar — I see him only in the morning in the medical room.’
It’s fair to say that almost no Hearts players — young or old — will have impressed the new boss on Saturday. In some ways, tonight therefore represents an opportunity. But taking on Celtic is hardly ideal for a manager who admits that long-time assistants Chris Stern and Dale Tonge — or perhaps only one of them — won’t be free to join him in Edinburgh before January.
‘A lot of things are easier when you have people on your staff who know what you want,’ he said. ‘you can start immediately making changes. But this is the situation. I cannot change it. The club cannot change it at the moment.’
Centre forward MacLean, singled out for qualified praise by Stendel at the weekend, is adamant that the Hearts players are quick enough — mentally, at least — to implement fast changes under the new regime.
‘We’ve all played in different formations at different times in our career before — so we should be able to take on board what he wants us to do,’ said the former St Johnstone favourite.
‘If we don’t do it in the next few games, he’ll be looking for new players.’