Hearts captain Christophe Berra has commented on what let the Jambos down last season.
They finished in sixth place, which was considered disappointing, given the way they had started the 2018/19 campaign. They won eight of their 10 opening games and looked set for a stellar season.
The Jambos started brightly. (photo by Vagelis Georgariou/Action Plus via Getty Images)
A Scottish Cup final and a League Cup semi-final berth could not hide the disappointment some fans felt at the end of the campaign. After their impressive start, they won just seven league games from October onwards.
Now their skipper Berra has weighed in on what let them down.
He told PLZ Soccer: “We started last season really well, then we tailed off a bit. We were very inconsistent and the teams around us picked up.
Berra acknowledges what went wrong at Hearts last year. (photo by Alan Rennie/Action Plus via Getty Images)
“Ultimately we weren’t consistent enough in the second half of the season and that’s what let us down.
“Ok it was great getting to a semi-final and a cup final last year where we pushed Celtic all the way, but ultimately, we want to be finishing as high up the table as possible.”
Berra and his Hearts teammates have to find that ‘consistency’
By his own admission, Berra knows Hearts weren’t good enough overall in the second half of last season. It tarnished the good start to the season they had made.
The Jambos didn’t live up to standard in the second half of last term. (photo by Alan Rennie/Action Plus via Getty Images)
Premiership business is every team’s bread and butter, with the domestic cups serving as luxuries. The league has to be the big aim for Craig Levein’s side this year after last season’s disappointment.
For a club the size of Hearts, they should be pushing for the European places. They haven’t managed it since Levein took charge of the team. The third and fourth place spots should be the target.
Consistency will play a part in that. Hearts can’t afford to just start well this season. They need to make a decent start, before then carrying that form on over the course of 38 matches.
Berra nd Hearts have to find consistency. (photo by Alan Rennie/Action Plus via Getty Images)
It’s up to Berra and the rest of the Hearts players to find that consistency. A couple of positive results early in the campaign would go a long way to finding it, following a disappointing League Cup group stage.