Hearts ace ready to claim added Tynecastle responsibility as dressing room set look in the mirror challenge
The Hearts shot-stopper is keen to do whatever he can to help Tynecastle teammates.
Goalkeeper Beau Reus insists it’s time for him to take more responsibility at Hearts - and others must look themselves in the mirror ahead of their next run of matches.
The club face Dundee in under a week’s time as they return from the international break looking to correct a course of three straight losses to Hibs, Thun and Falkirk that made it one win from their last eight. Injuries have piled up and impacted head coach Wouter Vrancken’s plans but it wasn’t an excuse deployed when defeated 5-2 at Tynecastle by Falkirk last time out.
Several senior players and leaders are out injured, and will continue to be for now, with Reus ready to step up. The summer recruit from Beveren knows his position as number one on the pitch demands responsibility but the time has now come to translate that off the park. He also feels the rest of the Hearts dressing room must self-assess to see where they can make improvements.
Beau Reus on Hearts role
Reus said: "I think as a goalkeeper, I always have a kind of responsibility, of course. You need to put the guys in the right places, you need to be loud. That's what I try. Off the pitch, maybe it's now time for me to step up, and bring it into my game and be a bit more mature, and help the guys more. I just have to look to myself now especially and see what I can do better. That's the most important thing now, that everyone looks in the mirror and see where they stand.
“As a goalkeeper, you're always depending on some things. You want to help the team, you want to be important. At this moment, in the last couple of games, I think I can help the team, but the part of being important is being a bit left out at the moment. I couldn't get any points for the team, so that's really frustrating as a goalkeeper.
"There's only one thing I can control, and that's my own game. We train, of course, every day with each other. It would be nice to you play a few games with the same back four, of course, but like I have said before, it's just my job to help the guys to get the ball out of the net. Unlucky for me, the past couple of games, it didn't work out."
Have Hearts benefitted from international break?
While players like Josh McPake have been with their respective nations this week, plenty of Hearts’ dressing room members have been able to claim some much-needed down time. It will also aid the likes of Ageu and Tomas Magnusson in making a comeback against Dundee but Reus says a break was needed mentally as much as physically, following a brutal stretch of matches.
Reus added: "I think it's also a really mental part. It's tough to play this amount of games, this amount of big games, of course, but that's our job. We need to cope with this. We need to be fresh every day. The break is nice to charge up mentally and go full in the next match."