Critchley urges Hearts star to trust him amid lack of minutes as he admits 'not an easy situation' for ace

Neil Critchley has told Macaulay Tait to keep the faith amid a lack of minutes for the Jambos first-team this season.

The midfielder has featured for the club’s Lowland League ‘B’ side this campaign, making just one outing on the senior front, an 11-minute cameo against Dinamo Minsk in the Conference League. He has been involved in one Premiership squad, an unused substitute during a 1-1 draw against Ross County.

Overall, the 19-year-old has played 15 times for the first-team at Hearts and Critchley says he was nearing a role in the draw with Hibs last weekend, and in defeat to Kilmarnock on Wednesday. Now looking to the Premiership match with St Johnstone on Saturday, Critchley says that he hopes to have Tait in his long-term plans, and hopes the midfielder buys into the process in front of him.

The head coach said: “He was very close and he won't realise this, he was very close to being involved in the derby game last week and on Wednesday night. It's not an easy situation for him at the moment so I suppose in a way he's got to trust us and the process. It's not easy for him because I know he's played games last season and I say that comes down to the squad and how we manage the squad moving forward.

“But Macaulay is a good young player, his attitude is fantastic, he's a good football player and he doesn't realise how close he was to playing in the derby game last week and Wednesday when he's not even in the squad. I won't hesitate to start players if they've been out of the squad or vice versa.

“I always look at their next game and think who are the best players that I can choose to go and play in this game, whether they've been in the squad or in the team or whether we've won, lost or drawn. That's the preparation and thought that goes into who we're playing against.

“With our young players we've got to provide that pathway and that opportunity for him. Macaulay's had some opportunity at the moment, he's just going to have to be patient and trust what we do.”

Critchley comes into Hearts having seen football from the perspective of a youth coach at Liverpool, on top of being a boss at Blackpool and QPR. With teenagers Adam Forrester and James Wilson getting minutes under him, he explained what he needs to see from aspiring stars to prove to him they can shine on the first-team platform.

He added: “I think when you reach a certain age, talent gets you in the building but character keeps you there. If you want to play for this football club, character, belief, courage is absolutely paramount.

“I'm not saying our boys don't have that by the way. I've been very impressed with some of our younger players and that's credit to the academy staff and how they've worked with them because they're good people, they're good young men. They've got the right attitude, the right mentality but also if you want to play regularly for this football club, that is a given, an absolute given.

“I always look at character traits, how they train, how they respond in certain situations, particularly after disappointment and I've got to say so far, the young players have been very impressive.”

On the game against St Johnstone - who also have a new boss in Simo Valakari and come into Saturday’s clash off defeat to St Mirren - Critchley added: “The new manager you can see the effect that he's had on the team. Until midweek they'd had a couple of good results and the formation that they're playing and how they're playing.

“He's obviously trying to implement a certain style and as I know that can take a time whenever there's a change. There's always a change in thinking and you're asking the players to do different things. But until the game against St Mirren in the week it was obviously going well for them. They'll be looking to bounce back at home but we're looking to bounce back from our home defeat as well.”