Hearts: The Jekyll and Hyde nature of the Tynecastle side

An away game at a venue which is regarded as a “difficult place to go” with a “tricky surface” on a cold February night. One of those hurdles you are required to clear with the aim of winning the league and gaining promotion.

After a bright start, the quality of the performance fades and it becomes a struggle and a slog. Then you go behind to a disputed penalty. A lot of huff and puff later with few moments of quality, a late penalty earns a point and puts the team 13 points clear at the top of the table.

That was Hearts on Friday night at Queen of the South.

Normally, such a result is one of those which is accepted and you move on to the next one, trying to instantly forget about a performance which was testing rather than tantalising.

Hearts have been a Jekyll and Hyde side this season. Picture: SNS

However, the rhetoric after the game was different.

With fans in a position where they are unable to vent at the ground or enter lively pub discussion, they head online to express their feelings about everything from the game to individual performances to the wider picture.

So far this campaign, there is a strong Jekyll and Hyde nature to Hearts.

Jekyll

Hearts needed stability after a rough period where the club won 11 of 58 league games. A period where the team fell from the top of the Premiership to the bottom and into the Championship. Robbie Neilson had two second-tier titles to his name and is on the verge of adding a third.

The aim at the start of the season was to win the league and return to the top-flight. In terms of two big ticks, the big line has well and truly started being scrawled. Thirteen points clear with 11 games remaining. On top of that, goalscoring hasn’t been an issue, with the average goals per game almost identical to the last time in the Championship.

Neilson’s men have shown their capability at playing fast, incisive, direct and vibrant football. They blew Dundee away on the opening night of the Championship with a purposeful display, while the control they imposed on Raith Rovers in Kirkcaldy last month was of a Premiership team slumming it in the second tier.

Much of the team’s best football has come through Andy Irving who has taken greater prominence in midfield, while in a recruitment sense there have been some very notable additions with a view to getting back to competing in the top flight, namely Craig Gordon and Stephen Kingsley, then Gary Mackay-Steven on paper.

The most positive aspect of the season so far, where the team have been at the height of their Jekyll status, has been in last season’s Scottish Cup.

In two massive matches, Hearts turned up and bettered both Hibs and then Celtic for large periods of the semi-final and final. Both games so the team recover from a slow start to not only display a mental fortitude, but a tactical awareness and plenty of quality.

Both games acted as strong messages that Hearts were indeed a Premiership side in all but name.

Hyde

While Friday’s draw with Queen of the South saw a glimpse of Jekyll, the team showing a character and staying power to rescue a point, Hyde had plenty to say for himself throughout. The standard of the performance, both in terms of individual performances and the collective one was far below the standard required for Hearts and what the fans expect, especially against a team missing two of their best players and one which has struggled this season.

It wasn’t an off-day, either. In the minds of many supporters, the team have underwhelmed and been below par for chunks of the league season.

In defeats at both Dunfermline Athletic and Dundee, they never matched the intensity of the opposition. They were played off the park at home to Raith Rovers which left the team trailing 3-0 after around 50 minutes. In wins over Dunfermline at home and Ayr United away the football could be described as plodding. Even 3-1 and 5-3 home victories over Arbroath and Ayr United respectively, the performances were far from complete.

It has to be noted that this Hearts team are still a work in progress. It is important to reiterate that stat, 11 Premiership wins in 58 games. A team lacking direction, cohesion and confidence needs to find its feet.

There is, however, a frustration that the team are still misplacing those feet. Fans want more, which is understandable considering what they have had to put up with in recent years. Not only to be entertained as they watch from afar but also for the team to show consistent signs of being ready to hit the ground running in the Premiership.

Neilson wants to play with wingers, whether it is in a version of 4-3-3 or 4-4-2. He has not been helped by players failing to reach the standard required and injuries which has impacted the team's threat.

Centrally there has, at times, been a lack of zest and verticality. Against Queen of the South, Irving and Andy Halliday’s average positions were horizontal to one another when you would have wanted the latter to be playing higher and supporting attacks.

Conclusion

Hearts will, in all likelihood, ease to the Scottish Championship title under a manager who understands the club, the demands of the fans and is keen to implement a style of football which many will relate to and want to see.

Equally, in the remaining 11 league games there is a desire for more panache, for a clearer signal of significant strides being made.

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