Hearts explain 7-1 loss at Celtic as Wouter Vrancken answers tough questions - plus Borchgrevink issue
Edinburgh club made mistakes and were punished in Glasgow
Wouter Vrancken answered questions on why Hearts lost 7-1 at Celtic and admitted lessons must be learned from the heavy defeat. The Tynecastle head coach said he was more disappointed than angry at the result, and felt individual mistakes cost his team badly in what was their heaviest competitive loss at Celtic Park.
As ruthless as the home side were - and they were clinical from the first minute - Hearts looked naive on the day, losing possession at Celtic’s third, fourth, sixth and seventh goals. They were punished mercilessly for their errors. Celtic scored their first two goals from corner-kicks inside which Hearts couldn’t clear as Kieran Tierney and Benjamin Nygren struck inside the first 10 minutes. A double from Callum Osmand put the hosts 4-0 ahead before Laurent Mendy struck for Hearts. Celtic promptly scored a fifth through a Jamie McCart own goal. Camilo Duran and Nygren scored after the interval to complete the scoring.
Vrancken remarked that the game was not the toughest of his career, added that he will look at tactics again but that he wants Hearts to execute his attacking style of play with more aggression in future. “I've already had a few tough ones. This is sport, but this is not the most pleasant side of it,” he said. “It's a disappointing result, of course, and a disappointing performance in some ways. It's a pity that it happened now because we were on a good run.
“The game is pretty easy to analyse, actually. I think we started well in possession during the first few minutes, but when you concede a set-piece goal in, I think, the seventh minute, and then you're 2-0 down by around the 15th minute, it's difficult. The mindset and confidence within the group changed, maybe, because what you saw afterwards was us trying to play football. Sometimes it worked, but when I look back at the goals, I think they all came from individual mistakes. We were losing the ball too easily and making mistakes like that. Then it's difficult to win a game overall, especially a top-level game, of course.
“The result is the most disappointing thing, and the players who made individual mistakes know it, of course. The important thing for me now, after what happened, is that we recognise that it has happened and move on. After the game, the most important thing for me is to get into their heads and make sure they don't lose confidence in what they're doing. I'd rather have players who are willing to take responsibility and make mistakes, perhaps, while still showing confidence, instead of hiding themselves because that doesn't bring anything to the team.
“Of course, you want to minimise the mistakes, but when they happen, hopefully there are only one or two across the whole game. When you look back at the goals, it was all individual errors. We know they're really strong in transition moments, and we focused on that before the game as well. They're the best team when it comes to shots on goal following a transition. When you lose the ball too easily like that, you give them those transition moments and leave yourself exposed, which makes it easy for them.
“The most important thing now is to cope with the result, the disappointment and perhaps the anger you feel within yourself. From the day after tomorrow, we have to focus on Thursday again. This is sport. This is football. I've known this for a long time. It's one emotion after another. It's the same as we discussed after a good game: you cannot carry that emotion into the next match either.
“You also have to show them that, sometimes, games like St Mirren, for example, when everybody is saying such positive things, are not always as good as they seem. It's the same in the other direction. You have to analyse what happened and explain it to the players.”
Vrancken explained why he did not feel angry despite the heavy loss. He insisted Hearts will take collective responsibility. “Anger? No, not anger. There was disappointment in some situations because some things would have been so easy to do differently, particularly when it came to keeping the ball,” he explained. “Keeping the ball is not a problem for me at this moment, especially when you know they're good in transition. You have to keep possession without taking unnecessary risks, while still trying to find the spaces. It was clear that, against a good team, they would always leave spaces as well. You have to play through those spaces. But when you give the ball away too easily, there's nothing you can do about it.
“It's always about everybody taking responsibility together. That's what I said to the players in the dressing room. When we win games, it's also a collective effort. For example, when McPake reached the national team, it wasn't only about Josh at that moment. It was about the team helping him get there. That's the DNA we have in our dressing room. I'm not going to put one player against the wall or single someone out. It's a shared responsibility. It has to be that way in both wins and losses, always.”
Asked if he would do anything different tactically, the manager remained philosophical. He will now prepare Hearts for Thursday’s UEFA Conference League tie away to Tranzonspor. “Tactically, I have to look back at the game and analyse it. We have our style of play, and the important thing with that style is maintaining the necessary aggression in those moments,” said Vrancken. “When you look at the last game, and even the first half on Thursday, you can see that we need to have that aggression. In the duels today, we lacked it a little bit. When you combine that with the things we've already discussed, it's difficult to win a game.”
Vrancken was asked if he felt his team were too open in Glasgow. “When you want to put pressure on the opposition, there will be moments when you're open,” he responded. “When you allow them to play, as we saw last week as well, they have those moments when they're good enough to play through you, outplay you and keep the ball for long periods. The moments when we applied pressure and were aggressive were actually our best moments. When you're not aggressive enough and you lose the ball or give it away too easily, it becomes difficult.
“But I think the chances we conceded came when we gave the ball away, rather than when they played through our pressure or our defensive block. I don't want to say that we were simply being played through because, for me, the main issue was giving the ball away.”
Hearts now face a test of character to respond and Vrancken will analyse his players closely. “Especially in the short term, yes. Calling it a test might be a bit harsh, but it will be good to see how they cope with it, how they handle the disappointment and how they move on to the next game,” said the Belgian. “I'm confident in that. Everybody is different, of course, and deals with things differently in their own head. But I'm confident that we have enough players who can get beyond these emotions.”
He anticipates that his charges will be angry with themselves but did not detect huge anger in the camp. “Anger? No. Why anger? Why would they be angry? Angry with themselves? Probably, yes. But there's disappointment, and more disappointment than genuine anger. You have to get beyond that disappointment if you want to move forward.”
Vrancken outlined a message for Hearts fans at full-time. “It's disappointing for them as well because they supported us already since Graz,” he commented. “This was the first game with their full support, and they came here with a lot of belief and trust in us. This performance and this result, especially the result itself, are disappointing for them too.”
Hearts were without Christian Borchgrevink for Sunday’s game and Vrancken admitted he has an ankle injury. “Yeah, he took a kick on Thursday and felt it this morning. But I don't think it's too bad, and I think he'll be back on Thursday.”