The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Stendel: Experienced players must step up
Daniel Stendel has called on his experienced Hearts players to show more responsibility and take the lead in restoring confidence.
The German was taken aback at the lack of belief as Hearts lost at home to St Johnstone on Saturday in his first match in charge to leave them level on points with bottom club Hamilton in the Ladbrokes Premiership.
Stendel feels low expectations could work in their favour when they host leaders Celtic tonight.
But he wants his established internationals such as Glenn Whelan and Christophe Berra to show the way after noting 17-year-old Aaron Hickey was the bravest player on the ball on Saturday.
The former Hannover 96 and Barnsley manager said: “I didn’t expect that the confidence would be so low. I hoped I could change it quicker but they didn’t lose it the previous week, it was over a long time. I hope we don’t need so much time to change it.
“The advantage is the expectation on Wednesday is not so high. As we say in Germany, we can only win.”
Stendel added: “The main thing at the moment is not the style, the main thing is to change the heads. I am positive, I like to change things, I like to look forward and I want to bring this into the group.
“I have no idea what has happened but I have had some talks with players, some experienced players with a lot of professional games in their careers, not 20 or 25, and they cannot explain whey they feel so low in confidence.
“It’s crazy that our youngest player had the most confidence on the pitch but we can change it. I think when Steven Naismith comes back he will give other players confidence. We need some individual players to have more confidence on the pitch.
“When you look at the squad and the names and experience, you think you can talk and get some information on what has happened. But it’s not too easy to get information because sometimes I have the feeling from the players they don’t really know why they have lost confidence.