Saturday’s chastening 5-0 loss at Ibrox stood out for all the wrong reasons for Heart of Midlothian. It was the first defeat in 13 games in all competitions, the first time in 14 games that they had failed to score, and it was the heaviest loss that Steven Naismith has suffered during his tenure as head coach.
Positives are hard to find. It was a day when nothing went right for the men in maroon and they paid the price accordingly. They came up against a Rangers team who were on it from the first whistle, and Hearts had to be at their best if they were to get anything from the match.
That didn’t happen, though. It took Philippe Clement’s side just 80 seconds to open the scoring. Hearts improved as the first half wore on before a succession of sucker punches left the visitors on the canvas gasping for breath. By the time all was said and done, few could have any complaints about the final result.
So, where did it all go wrong in Govan? What lessons can be learned to prevent similar performances in the future? Let’s take a look.
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No pressure on the ball
It didn’t take long for Rangers to break the deadlock on Saturday, and Mohammed Diomande’s opening goal unfortunately set the tone for what was to follow. Hearts’ defensive strategy centred around standing off their opponents, relying on their shape to keep Rangers at bay, yet its flaws were highlighted in the home side’s first attack of the afternoon.
Let’s examine that opener. The ball broke to John Lundstram in midfield early on, and he was able to simply jog past Beni Baningime without being challenged.
The Englishman then slid the ball out to Oscar Cortes on the left, where Nathaniel Atkinson stands him up.
Like Baningime, the Aussie decides not to engage as Cortes cuts back inside on the edge of the area. But just look at the amount of space Diomande is in.
No one picks up Diomande until the ball is played to him, but it’s already too late. Baningime rushes out, is beaten when Diomande shifts the ball onto his left, and then it’s an excellent finish.
Hearts didn’t learn their lesson, though. Time and again, Rangers were given time on the ball without being under pressure. Look at the two examples below. In both instances, Ridvan Yilmaz has all day to plot his next move. In the first, Calem Nieuwenhof is too slow to get across and Yilmaz plays an incisive pass in between him and Atkinson. In the second, Yilmaz drifts infield and there isn’t a Hearts player within 10 yards of him, so he has a pop at goal.
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Yilmaz left all alone
Yilmaz was causing all sorts of problems on Saturday. Cortes would usually push high and wide, dragging Atkinson with him, leaving the left-back virtually unmarked. That meant Nieuwenhof would have to get across to close him down but all too often, the Australian was too slow off the mark. This was in stark contrast to the strategy that proved so successful at Celtic Park, when the wing-backs would push up to engage and the wide central midfielders would drop to cover the flanks.
The result was that Yilmaz frequently had all day to curl deliveries in towards Cyriel Dessers at the far post. There were a few warning shots fired during the opening half-hour, but they went unheeded by the men in maroon.
It was an area of the park where Rangers rarely had pressure applied to the man in possession, and it’s where the third goal arose. Yilmaz moves infield, John Souttar drifts over and with Hearts reluctant to close him down, he picks out Dessers at the back stick.
Kye Rowles switched off and Naismith’s men found themselves going in at the break with a mountain to climb.
It was in sharp contrast to what was taking place on the other flank. Whenever James Tavernier found himself in a similar position, Alex Cochrane would go rushing out to meet him. As a result, Rangers’ attacks down the right were often snuffed out before they could get going. In the instance below, Tavernier gets his pass away but it's rushed and Hearts win the ball back.
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Building from the back
Hearts wanted to play the ball out from the back from goal kicks so that they would be in controlled possession when they advanced, but there was just one problem: they struggled to beat the Rangers press. The back five and Baningime stayed fairly close to each other to offer a short passing option, but there wasn’t enough distance between them.
It meant that Rangers’ front four of Dessers, Dujon Sterling, Tom Lawrence and Cortes could effectively press six Hearts players in total. The quartet were able to put pressure on the ball and behind them, Diomande and Lundstram would push up to mark Nieuwenhof and Grant. The result was that Hearts were forced to go long, where Kenneth Vargas and Lawrence Shankland found themselves at a massive numerical disadvantage. Unsurprisingly, it was a battle that the forwards simply couldn’t win.
Sometimes Hearts would work the ball out to Atkinson on the right, but this was often where attacking moves broke down. The right wing-back was cheaply dispossessed six times in such a position within the opening 30 minutes. For context, no other Hearts player was dispossessed more than twice across the full 90 minutes.
Hearts tried to find a solution. At first, Nieuwenhof also dropped deep to collect the ball – but Lundstram would inevitably follow, applying heavy pressure and forcing Nieuwenhof backward again.
Once or twice, though, Hearts found a way to beat the press and get men up the park. Frankie Kent would receive the ball without being put under pressure, with Rangers instead focusing on cutting off the passing lanes. In these instances, Kent would fizz a low ball down the right channel and into the feet of Shankland. Below is an example where Shankland wins a free kick, and Hearts are able to relieve some of the pressure. Over on the touchline, Naismith applauds the move.
At the other end, Rangers had no difficulty at all in playing out from the back. With only Shankland and Vargas applying any sort of pressure, all that had to happen was for Lundstram to drop and provide another passing option. He would receive the ball and either drift forward unopposed or quickly shift it on, and then Hearts would have to defend yet another attack inside their own half.
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Slack passing and unnecessary risks
Most of the issues we’ve examined so far were tactical or structural in nature, but some of Hearts’ biggest problems on Saturday were the result of avoidable individual errors. The second goal is probably the most obvious case in point and again, it could have been prevented had Hearts paid closer attention to the earlier warning signs.
Take a look at the example below from the 14th minute. Rowles is the last man back, and simply cannot afford to lose the ball under any circumstances. He gambles by flying into a challenge with Dessers and then loses the physical battle. All of a sudden, Rangers are in.
Rowles wasn’t punished on that occasion, but he would be soon. With Hearts enjoying a rare spell of possession for five minutes or so around the half-hour mark, they were at long last asking some awkward questions of their opponents. Rowles received the ball as the last man and should play it early to Vargas out on the left wing. Baningime pushes up ahead of Lawrence, and Atkinson has advanced so far up the right wing that he's not even in the frame. Rowles simply can't afford to lose the ball here under any circumstances.
Instead of playing it early, Rowles lets the ball roll across his body, giving Sterling time to close him down. The delay allows the Rangers striker to win the ball back and prod it through to Lawrence, who is now completely unmarked as Baningime has let him go.
Rowles is sprinting back to recover, but it’s already too late. Both Kent and Stephen Kingsley drift across to cut off the space, but this leaves Cortes completely unmarked on the far side.
Kingsley doesn’t once look over his shoulder to check where the Colombian is – and when the ball is cut back to him, it’s a relatively straightforward finish.
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Change in shape but same old story
Naismith switched the shape to a 4-4-2 at the break in an effort to turn the tide, but it was only a matter of minutes before the game was conclusively put to bed. The goal itself was a stramash in the six-yard box and again, it could have been prevented had Hearts paid attention to the warning signs.
Here’s Goldson on the ball a minute or so into the second half. He plays the ball into Tavernier, who has taken up a great position in between Cochrane and Alan Forrest. He drills a low cross into the area, but it’s hoofed away by Baningime.
A couple of minutes pass, and the same thing happens again. Once again Goldson clips it out to Tavernier, and this time he knocks it back to Sterling for an early ball into the box.
Kent misses his header, Hearts can’t hack it away - and it’s game, set and match Rangers.
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