Hearts hold longer meetings ahead of Rangers and the reason behind them

Alexander Schwolow revealed Hearts are holding longer goalkeeping meetings to prepare to face Rangers strikers on Monday at Tynecastle Park. The club’s goalkeeping coach, Paul Gallacher, is working with Schwolow and back-up Ryan Fulton to analyse the Ibrox club’s threats, how they attack set-pieces and the habits of their strikers Youssef Chermiti and Bojan Miovski.

Ryan Naderi has been injured an is unlikely to play in Monday’s match, which could have a significant bearing on the destiny of the Scottish Premiership title. Hearts are top, four points clear of third-placed Rangers, and know they can effectively kill the Ibrox club’s title challenge with victory.

Schwolow explained why meetings are taking more time as the finer details of preparations are taken care of at Riccarton. “So the meeting I have is with the goalkeeping group and it will definitely be longer because they have so many good players,” said the German. “They can do a lot of stuff, a lot of things with the ball. We have to be careful. We try to prepare as best as possible and to be in the best condition as well for Monday.”

Craig Gordon is still working back from a shoulder injury and won’t be available to face Rangers. The 43-year-old is still a huge influence around the Hearts training ground, though. “Yeah, he is an amazing help because he has so much experience,” said Schwolow. “He has seen it all and he knows Hearts so well and especially also the other teams. You can always ask him.

“For example, I didn't know how it was to play at Dundee or at Kilmarnock. You can always ask him. He will always have a perfect answer for you and it has always been like he said. That's huge. Also, like he trains, you can learn a lot from him. He has made a lot of progress and is looking good, in good condition. He has trained with us.”

Despite intensity growing with each passing week of this enthralling title race, Schwolow seldom looks even remotely flustered. “I'm happy that it looks like this,” he smiled. “Of course, I can get nervous as well. I think that's human. I try to focus on the game, try to focus on my game as well, not to be influenced by too much stuff from the outside. I guess it's also a lot of experience. I've had very good times. Also, I've had bad times in my career. I think that helps and gives you calmness in these situations.

“I have two kids. I have a family, so I know where my place is. When I come home, it doesn't matter if it was a good or bad game. They will always be there for me. I think that helps as well as a player. Maybe that's also a huge part of why I seem so calm, which I'm not always.”

It was certainly a good moment at Easter Road last week as Blair Spittal struck an 85th-minute winner for Hearts against Hibs. “There have been plenty of nice good moments. Just recently, beating Hibs again at Easter Road after not having won away for four or five games. It felt amazing to beat them again and I think gave us a lot of energy for this week and hopefully we can transfer the energy for the game on Monday,” said Schwolow, who is a fan of the Edinburgh rivalry.

“It's nice. It gives you some extra motivation and I think it's also for the fans and for the people who are interested, it's nice to watch such games. And as a player, of course, you just try to do your job. But I mean, derbies are always special. Special things happen, like we saw in the last game. And yeah, I think that's just also part of the game.”