Derek McInnes: 'I won't have this negativity at Hearts. My bubble isn't burst'
SPFL Premiership fixture on Saturday sees Motherwell visit Tynecastle
Despondency and frustration stemming from Hearts’ Premier Sports Cup exit at St Mirren last weekend didn’t last too long at Riccarton. Partly because head coach Derek McInnes won’t allow wallowing. He feels a certain negativity took hold in some quarters following the penalty-shootout loss in Paisley, and addressed it ahead of Saturday’s Premiership match with Motherwell.
Hearts had designs on ending a 63-year wait to lift the League Cup, however St Mirren held them to a 1-1 draw through extra-time before winning 5-4 on penalties. McInnes acknowledged that he and his players were disappointed by elimination in the last 16 of the competition. During a pre-match media conference for the Motherwell game, he bristled at questions on whether a so-called bubble had burst after six Hearts wins from six to start the new season.
“My bubble's not burst. Your bubble might have burst, I don't know. But my bubble is absolutely bubbling,” he replied to a BBC Scotland reporter. “So we're good. We're disappointed with the result. I'm not going to try and diminish the performance and the disappointment because we set ourselves up to try and be a good cup team this season.
“We were the better team for 75 minutes, I felt. I'm disappointed. we never forced the issue and got the winning goal before we were hit with penalties, but I am totally focused on making sure we continue what's been a good start. We've got a lot going for us here and it's important that we try and maximise what that is. Maximising that is trying to keep the positivity within the boys and the support, keep the whole thing moving along.
“I don't think you're ever as good as people think you are when you're winning games, and I don't think you're ever as bad when you lose games. We've lost narrowly on penalties away from home against a team who finished above us. It's a disappointment. It's no disaster. We move on.”
Hearts are joint-top of the Premiership table after two matches. They beat Aberdeen and Dundee United and are focused on beating both Motherwell and then Livingston next week before the international break. McInnes stressed he has not needed to cajole anyone or raise spirits this week.
“We're fine. Other people might need to lift their spirits, but we're fine,” he stressed. “Of course we want to avoid defeat. We're not going to dwell too much on it. We're two days away from the next game. We've moved on from Saturday. As disappointing as it was, we'd set high standards for ourselves and we didn't quite meet them.
“I spoke after the game about reasons maybe why we didn't get to our best level, but we move on now. I'm not going to have this negativity hanging about. At Hearts, we need to be ready to bounce back quickly. We need to have really positive mindsets across the board and move quickly on to the next one.”
Edinburgh trip for Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership
Motherwell arrive in Edinburgh with Danish head coach Jens Berthel Askou practising a passing game based on building from defence. They drew with both Rangers and St Mirren in their opening two league games. “It’s a total difference in styles really. The previous manager at Motherwell was a bit more cagey, 3-5-2,” explained McInnes. “This season, they are really committed to ball possession and that possession-based game. Everybody is asked to take the ball in tight areas and bring the opposition onto you.
“I think the manager has clearly have done some good work in a short period of time. A lot of that has been with a lot of the players who were already in the building. Obviously, they've brought a few players in to try and help with that style and you'd have to say up until now they've done really well. We are well aware of the problems we face. I think we have to make sure out of possession we're in good shape and switched on. In possession, we're going to have to make sure we try to exploit any spaces given to us.
“I think when you look at opposition, it’s two contrasting styles from [St Mirren] last week. We've just got to concentrate on what we want to be. I'm trying to say I want us to be something this season. I've said it to the boys who have been here a lot longer over the last few weeks. I want us to be something regardless of who we're playing. We weren't quite that last week We've lost a game and probably it's the first time we've not been the way we wanted. So we want to make sure we try and be what we want to be.
“We've lost a game of football. I'm not going to get hung up on it. It was a cup. We wanted to do well in the cups. I said it myself. I believed we could go all the way but it's not the time for over-analysing and start sucking my thumb and feeling sorry for ourselves all the time. It's just to get on with the game and get on with the job. We bounce in on Monday ready to work again and everything's been aimed towards morale. I think if you need to have too many conversations on the back of Saturday, then it's no use.
“Sometimes you can talk and talk and maybe feel a bit better, but I feel better as soon as I get back to my work and we start moving again because we've got something to work towards. That's the beauty of football, there's always that next game. Our next game is coming on Saturday and hopefully we can feel a bit better about ourselves come the end - hopefully we've won a game.
“We're still trying to get certain people up to speed. It's no excuse, but we are. I do feel there's that integration for a lot of the foreign lads trying to navigate games, tough games, obviously. The first three games, outwith the League Cup group stages, were against teams [who finished] above us in the league. Two of those were away from home. I think we've shown enough that we're going to be competitive, which pleases me.”
The right-back department continues to be problematical for Hearts and there is no immediate solution. New arrival Christian Borchgrevink is out for several weeks with a thigh injury, and 20-year-old Adam Forrester was recalled from a co-operation loan at St Johnstone last week. He did not feature in McInnes’ matchday squad in Paisley. The head coach conceded he wants a steady player to fill the role.
“I think you want trust in certain positions and that steadiness is probably the right word,” he explained. “Listen, sometimes things are thrown up. You've got to deal with certain injuries and try to find the right solutions, and sometimes you lose a game. You can over analyse it and think it's just tactically. I do think the set-up wasn't quite right last week and I took responsibility. Part of that responsibility was certainly the first half.
“Sometimes you win a game and it doesn't mean you've got everything right. If you lose a game, it doesn't mean you've got everything wrong. We've got more going for us than we've not. I do feel people tend to look at negatives here. I'm always getting asked questions about people who aren't playing in the team. I'm always getting asked questions about kind of difficult situations. We've got a good thing going and I want to focus on the good options we've got. We will try to find solutions to areas that are a wee bit of a problem at the minute.”
The aim is six points over the next two weekends. “We've got a plan for ourselves. If we can, we want to try and win these next two games and go that first period before the next international break with maximum points. It's a test for us of course. It's easy to say but we feel we've got the squad to try and do that. We've only got to focus now on league duty until we pick up in the Scottish Cup in January. We'll try and deal with that.
“We've got a [transfer] window that's going to close in 10 days time or so. I think we'll all be glad of that, to be honest, because I think sometimes in dressing rooms at this stage there's a lot of uncertainty, a lot of anxiety. Normally, managers breathe a sigh of relief when that window closes and you work with what you've got in the dressing room.”
Transfer window business not finished at Hearts
Nine new players have arrived at Hearts since the end of last season, and more may follow as the club search for a new goalkeeper to challenge current No.1 Zander Clark. McInnes would like to trim his squad and move some players on, but concrete offers have been thin on the ground. “A few conversations and a few little enquiries but nothing definite at the minute,” was how he described the situation regarding departures.
One of the manager’s dilemmas for Saturday is whether to use the 3-5-2 system he has largely favoured since taking charge of Hearts, or whether 4-4-2 with two wingers may be a better option. McInnes said newly-recruited wide players like Alexandros Kyziridis, Pierre Landry Labore and Sabah Kerjota are still adjusting to Scottish football. Kyziridis and Kabore played from the start against St Mirren but were substituted at half-time with Hearts 1-0 down.
“We're getting closer but I think it's not just getting up to speed in terms of match fitness. It's also that what's required of them as well over here, and what we need to do in that sort of system. I think we're hopefully getting a bit closer to where we need the players to be, all the players, but some players are a bit behind than others.”
Chances of another new winger checking in at Tynecastle before the transfer window closes are slim. Islam Chesnokov, the Kazakhstan internationalist, has signed a pre-contract to join Hearts in November. McInnes would like a quick transfer this month but Chesnokov’s club, Tobol Kostanay, have so far resisted approaches.
“I'd like him to be here before the window closes but nobody has told me it's going to happen, and nobody has told me it's definitely not happening,” explained McInnes. “I'd be surprised if he was here before the window closed, but you never know. It has to come from them [Tobol]. Really, they are in charge of the situation. Not the player, not us.”