'Halliday & Haring positives', 'Naismith's standards', 'width & pace' - Three takeaways from Hearts 2 - 1 Inverness CT

Analysis from Hearts’ win over Inverness CT at Tynecastle Park on Saturday

Peter Haring played another important hour in his return from a long-term injury. Picture: SNS

Halliday and Haring

Peter Haring started just his second match since the 2019 Scottish Cup final. While the 61 minutes on the pitch were far from his best in a Hearts top they were important as he builds himself back up. There were key moments during the hour where he snapped into challenges, won the ball back and played incisive forward passes taking out opponents, in the seventh minute there was a great one to Olly Lee.

Andy Halliday is another still building fitness and was visibly feeling it in his legs when he left Tynecastle Park. For the second week running, a second viewing of the match showed how well he played at the heart of the midfield. Always offering, making blocks, winning tackles, plus delivering a brilliant defence-splitting pass to Stephen Kingsley.

Naismith standards

Steven Naismith continues to be a fascinating player to watch. Even more so without the presence of fans. It took all of five minutes for the captain to bark at the team that their passing was too slow. There may have been an expletive in there also. Liam Boyce, Craig Halkett, Michael Smith and Mihai Popescu were all on the receiving end of Naismith's frustration. And frustration was the word for the first half performance with so many slack passes and periods of play.

There can be two mindsets for Naismith's demands. On one hand it could make players go into a shell and play within themselves. But conversely, it shows the standards expected by the captain. For fans, it should be comforting to know they have a player who wants perfection and doesn’t allow standards to drop at a club where there is a pressure to perform.

Width and pace

Robbie Neilson was aware of the importance of width and pace in the Championship, especially when Hearts were going to come up against opposition looking to frustrate. The absence of Josh Ginnelly was felt throughout. The team lacked that burst of pace in transition, to take the team up the pitch quickly and put Inverness CT on the back foot. The formation was fluid, it started as a 4-1-2-3, became 4-2-1-3 then 4-4-2 but in each, that natural wide player was missed.