Hearts have 'wasted' a season as January transfer business questioned
The transfer strategy at Tynecastle has been questioned by a former Hearts, Hibs and Manchester United midfielder.
Hearts have missed a number of ‘missed opportunities’ this season and have failed to address several deficiencies within their squad.
That was the verdict of former Hearts and Hibs midfielder Michael Stewart after he assessed the current state of his old club in the aftermath of Saturday’s 3-0 defeat at Premiership title favourites Celtic. Despite making a positive start to the contest as they pressed their hosts high up the pitch, Neil Critchley’s men found themselves three goals down by the time the half-time whistle had been blown as Daizen Maeda scored either side of a goal from Jota.
The loss left Hearts sat in sixth place in the table and they are now facing an uphill battle to secure a place in Europe via the league - although a spot in continental competition could well be claimed via the Scottish Cup as Critchley and his players prepare for their semi-final tie with Aberdeen later this month. Despite racking up some positive results during a challenging campaign, Stewart has stressed there are too many ‘massive missed opportunities’ and pointed to one underwhelming Europa Conference League result as a key example.
He told the Scottish Football Social Club: “This season has been such a waste of time in the grand scheme of things for Hearts. There’s been some massive missed opportunities even within all of that, when you thinking about Petrocub, which was shocking, the Moldovan part-timers, just shocking. Hearts had a chance to get into the knockout stages of the Conference League and they should have been there, even with everything taken into account.
“But the squad is so unbalanced, and it still is. It’s almost like you’re wasting time to get through the summer and then rectify it. The summer is massive, it is huge. To then see, do they deal with the deficiencies they have within the squad and actually start to piece together a team capable. January, why was that not even looked at because (Michael) Steinwender has been a good addition to the squad, no doubt about it. (Elton) Kabangu up top is an addition that has taken the burden off Shankland but they didn’t recruit a single wide player.”
“What is it they are looking for?”
Stewart revealed a failure to add pace and athleticism to Critchley’s squad during the January transfer window has led him to question the recruitment strategy put in place at Tynecastle. Defensive duo Jamie McCart and Michael Steinwender and forward Elton Kabangu have all shown positive signs during the early months of their time with the club - but it is the addition of Norwegian midfielder Sander Kartum that has provoked the most questions from the former Hearts midfielder.
He said: “Kabangu has a bit of pace but there is no pace or athleticism in the middle of the park so when you’re talking about the game at the weekend, you know you’re not going to dominate possession, so to hurt the opposition you need pace and athleticism. Hearts don’t have that, they still don’t have that and that’s something they’ve not had enough of for a number of years. Kartum is a nice football player - but this is where there are question marks about the recruitment.
“What is it they are looking for? What was the identikit to bring Kartum into the squad? Where is he going to play and what is the identity and end goal about this team and where do the likes of Kartum fit into that? Because, to me, looking at Kartum, there is one position and one position only that he could play and I’m still not sure if he plays there and brings enough to justify coming into the team. That is effectively as a number ten.”
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