Alex Cochrane shares determination in Hearts squad, states preference for favoured position and lessons learned from season's start

There has been a lot said, a lot column inches and a lot of retrospection over Hearts’ beginning to the 2022/23 campaign. But it’s now all in the past and the squad is focused solely on the future.

Namely, the Tynecastle outfit are thoroughly determined to use the remaining league matches to tally as many points as possible, secure third place for the second season in succession and, with a little luck, earn another eight games in European football. Having played one match following the break for the World Cup, a 3-1 home win over Derek McInnes’ Kilmarnock, they sit just a point off Aberdeen in the best-of-the-rest spot with a game in hand.

It all sounds straight-forward enough, especially without the additional baggage of all those matches on the continent crammed into the season’s opening three-and-a-bit months, but in the cut-throat world of the cinch Premiership they know they can’t afford to let their concentration and determination slip.

That begins with a trip to Tannadice on Saturday to face Dundee United. Liam Fox’s team remain rooted to the bottom of the table but did show signs of getting their act together, including a 4-0 win over Killie, in the matches immediately before the break. They’ll also be feeling a little fresher having saw their match with Livingston postponed last weekend.

Hearts defender Alex Cochrane was forced into playing a few different roles earlier this season to cover for injured team-mates. Picture: SNS

“We’ve got some tough games coming up. United away then St Johnstone, we know they’re tough games,” said defender Alex Cochrane. “We have some players back, we’re looking to kick on and really secure that third position, it not potentially higher. We know the talent we’ve got in the team, squad to really put down a marker in the second half of the season.

“It’s where we wanted to be, we know this league is tough and it seems to get tighter and tighter with Livingston and St Johnstone getting right up there. We know we have to be right at it, we knew before the Kilmarnock game as well. This weekend is the same and we need to put on a good show and get another three points.”

Cochrane was one of the few trusted lieutenants who didn’t miss any significant time through injury as the Tynecastle squad soon became the walking wounded with as many as 11 out at one point due to the added demand on their bodies.

It even meant Cochrane was asked to play as a centre-back in a four-man defence, which isn’t something he’s been asked to do a whole lot before this campaign. So is this a potential new career path, or just adding another string to his bow?

Alex Cochrane, with Toby Sibbick, at the Stadio Artemio Franchi prior to Hearts' match with Fiorentina. Picture: SNS

“It’s more the versatility, for me I still prefer playing further forward and I’m comfortable in that position, creating chances for strikers. I think that’s more my game. It’s good to have versatility in my game and I’m happy to do that job there is need be,” he said.

“It’s definitely been a learning curve, picking up little bits in games. Learning on the job in some ways, I’ve enjoyed and happy to do my part for the team, especially with the injuries we had but now with players back, wherever the gaffer wants to play me I’m happy to play there. If that means me pushing further I’m happy to do that.”

While it’s been detailed far and wide how much physically the experience of playing in the group stages of the Europa Conference League took out of the team, there’s also the mental aspect to contend with. Constantly playing two games in a week is not something the majority of these Hearts players were used to before being thrown into the deep end. Making sure that concentration levels never slipped from one game to the next, against opponents of very differing backgrounds and statures, was the aspect which Cochrane found the toughest to adapt to.

“For me personally it was more mentally, constant games and having to refocus yourself and go again,” he said. “We knew from the start the league is the most important so when you come back from a European game that hasn’t gone your way, Fiorentina for example, you need to go elsewhere and it’s hard in this league, it takes a lot out of you. But it is definitely something that I enjoyed thoroughly. It’s experience for myself and something I’ve learned from.

The extra strain applied by all the matches in Europe made for some tough days domestically for this Hearts side. Picture: SNS

“When you play Fiorentina away and Luka Jovic has just been at the World Cup and you’re making him, you have to be fully focused. Then you have to come back here and you have the travelling as well which can take it out of you. You have to make sure you recover well, that’s the most important thing. The top players do it all the time and they all say recovery is the most important.

The aim of Hearts is to continually get access to the group stages so they can build the club up, piece by piece, where there’s a culture of winning which takes it above everybody else as the clear challenger to Celtic and Rangers’ Old Firm dominance in Scottish football. This begins with getting back next term and putting in a more competitive showing after humbling defeats to Fiorentina and İstanbul Başakşehir became something of a norm this season.

“Yeah, definitely we’ll be better equipped. I think everyone will, for us it was a learning experience,” said Cochrane. “Even during it there were bits I was picking up on that I felt helped me and some bits where I felt it didn’t feel right. But as soon as you get a good routine for those games then it definitely helps. Next year we’re hoping to learn from this year and put on a better show in Europe if we get back.”

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