Hearts injury woes labelled Tynecastle 'excuse' as ace pulls no punches over 'disgrace' in Falkirk defeat
The Hearts stopper has provided an honest account over a difficult week at Tynecastle.
Hearts goalkeeper Beau Reus insists the club’s injury predicament can’t be used as an excuse after labelling the team’s first half versus Falkirk last Sunday a ‘disgrace.’
The Jambos were down 4-0 at the break and eventually lost 5-2 on a sobering afternoon at Tynecastle, where they hadn’t loss in the league since April 2025’s defeat to Dundee. Reus was forced into some strong saves during the match but still conceded five as head coach Wouter Vrancken’s side slipped to three consecutive defeats.
Centre-back Malachi Fagan-Walcott came off in the second half to add to a sizeable injury list that includes several first team players and leaders. Reus knows the situation isn’t helping Hearts buck their poor form of late that has resulted in one win from their last eight matches but it can’t be put down to solely injury woes.
How are injuries impacting Hearts?
Speaking to the Evening News, the Dutchman said: “I think it's a bit of an excuse. Of course It's not helping us at the moment, but I think the guys that are in the squad now and were on the pitch on Sunday, I think we still had enough quality to beat Falkirk. We just lacked power and intensity. If you're like this on the pitch, you can play whatever you want, but you will probably not win many matches."
A dismal defeat against Falkirk capped off a brutal week in Gorgie. It started with a 2-1 Premier Sports Cup semi-final loss against rivals Hibs, the first time Hearts have lost against their city enemies at Hampden Park, also losing key attacker Calvin Miller for at least two months to a knee injury. Tomas Magnusson was put into concussion protocols with a head injury that left them further depleted in last Thursday’s 3-1 Conference League defeat against Thun.
That game also came at the cost of experienced defender Stephen Kingsley injuring his hamstring before the roof caved in at home to the Bairns. Reus refused to pull any punches over how he viewed the first half against Sunday’s opponents who are now in third at the expense of Hearts, who are fourth, ahead of their return to action a week on Saturday away at Dundee. Talks have been held between the players over what happened against Hibs and Thun but two key elements have been sorely missed.
Reus commented: "Yes, Sunday was devastating, of course. It can be simple. It just wasn’t good enough in how we were on the pitch. I think with the qualities that we have, we just lacked power, we lacked some sort of conviction. It was just really disappointing. It's been an extremely difficult week. We spoke a lot as a the team.
Beau Reus on Hearts form
“I think it already started at Hampden, of course, against Hibs. It was a really tough one to take. We spoke a lot about what we had to do differently. Then we had the game in Switzerland, of course. How we go behind, how we played the game, also not good enough. They punished us. Sunday, also, the first half was just... I think you can call it a disgrace for the club."
Reus, who replaced last season’s number one Alexander Schwolow in the summer following time at Belgian side Beveren, has had an ever-changing cast of defenders placed in front of him. There was at least one change surrounding a defensive player in every XI Vrancken selected during matches in the period between defeating St Mirren 5-0 on October 10 to Sunday’s defeat against Falkirk. Much of it was enforced through injury while forward Rogers Mato was even deployed in full-back positions, before he missed Hibs, Thun and the Bairns through a fitness concern.
It makes building connections and consistency difficult when players are coming in and out of the team, while those who remain are in some cases having to switch positions, like central defender Jamie McCart covering at left-back. That leaves Reus with increased difficulty in understanding how best to play with those ahead of him, with added focus and communication required. That doesn’t excuse what happened against Falkirk though, where he feels enough quality was there to get over their weekend opponents.
Reus added: "Of course, the game plan is different. You have different guys with different qualities. If you play long together, you know exactly what you can do, what you can expect from each other. Some players are like, you can almost give them it blind, whereas now you have to focus a little bit more, you have to speak a little bit more. It's frustrating but I think on Sunday we had enough quality to win the game. We just didn't show it ourselves.”