Lawrence Shankland in brutal Hearts assessment as skipper warns those denying it are lying to themselves
Hearts slumped back into the bottom two with a dismal derby defeat to Hibs and Shankland knows there’s real trouble ahead if they can’t sort it out
Lawrence Shankland maintains that anyone who is taking the recent upturn in Hearts’ fortunes for granted needs to face the fact that things aren’t going well right now. Following Hibs’ vicious Boxing Day derby defeat on Thursday, which dropped the Jambos back into the bottom two, the direct-talking captain stood up.
The Tynecastle striker gave a scathing appraisal of Neil Critchley’s team’s current situation, with a relegation struggle looming, while wearing pain and despair on his face. Following the derby catastrophe, brassed-off home fans jeered Hearts. Seven days prior, irate supporters had turned against them after witnessing them squander their chances of qualifying for the Euros against Moldovan minnows Petrocub.,
Shankland acknowledges that they had every right to hurl insults on Boxing Day and acknowledge that the Hibs were the superior team. The Scotland striker acknowledged that there was a belief that the Jambos were too excellent for things to go wrong, saying, “You need to be realistic.” The league would say that we’re not exactly a terrific club at this point.
“I believe the season would make that clear to you. We’re not working as a cohesive team at the moment. The truth is that we deserve to be at the table, which is why we are there. Nobody is telling themselves a truth if they avoid that.
“Losing games, particularly a derby, is never easy. It’s the game you look forward to playing, and there’s a lot on the line. However, I believe a superior squad most likely prevailed that day.
“The supporters are clearly frustrated, and I can appreciate that. They displayed that annoyance at the conclusion of the game. That’s perfectly OK. Our supporters anticipate that we will win games, particularly derbies. The disappointment is immense. We are aware of that, and I completely sympathise with your annoyance and rage. Take that on the chin, please. Although it can be challenging at times, I felt that Sunday’s crowd was good. I believed we were behind them. In this instance, the crowd did not get on
“I didn’t feel like the crowd was bad at all, but derbies usually bring that buzz and it only takes a moment to change a crowd and get a lift.” We had them behind us.
After the final whistle on Sunday, Critchley acknowledged that he is aware of exactly where he needs to bolster his team. Hearts will employ the Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool for the first time in January. With Stephen Kingsley and Frankie Kent out due to injury, defensive reinforcements are required.
But without a question, firepower must come first. Entering the last six months of his own contract, Shankland was also not denying the need for improved quality. “Yes, it can help,” he said. Quality is obviously necessary. To achieve at the level required of the football team, you must hire players of high calibre. We’ll need that in the future. The management and the club have the last say.
“We must believe that we can change things, but we must also possess the courage to take action. The youngsters are capable, as you can tell from their training. Just bringing it to the game is the difficult part, and that’s where we’re having trouble right now.
After an outstanding victory at Dundee on Thursday, the Staggies are now two points ahead of Critchley’s team in 10th place, making Sunday’s trip to Dingwall even more important. Similar to Hearts, Shankland’s goal-scoring performance has drastically declined from the previous campaign.
Only three goals in 26 games illustrates the team’s excessive dependence on one player as well as the strikers’ difficulties. Against Hibs, Hearts had 15 shots on goal and controlled 67% of the possession. However, no one has to point out the issue to Shankland.
We’re not doing enough in the latter third to put teams under pressure, which is frustrating,” he remarked. Every week, goalies fail to make saves. Considering how much ball we have, we aren’t applying enough pressure to the opposition goal. That’s not what we’re doing or creating.
That is dependent on the people and quality levels we are assembling. Our quantity of crosses into the box has been really high in a lot of our recent games. However, we need to improve on the calibre of the through balls and crosses.
“Having the numbers and levels that we desire is acceptable.” For us to go and create chances and give ourselves opportunities to score, there must be that talent present. We want those players to be up there and put pressure on the team.
“We had a lot of possession against Hibs in the second half. However, this season’s stories are like that. We have plenty of the ball and can put it in locations, but we lack the true ability to put pressure on a team. Make their goalie make saves and force them to defend. We’re having problems since we’re not manufacturing that right now.
