Craig Levein has outlined how he aims to get his Hearts defence back on track following a poor couple of weeks.
A 3-1 defeat to Celtic was followed up by a disappointing 2-2 home draw with Hamilton. Some of these goals have occurred through errors at the back, with Levein claiming that they scored two own goals against the Hoops (Scottish Sun).
Levein knows t was too easy for Hamilton against a poor Hearts defence. (Photo by Ewan Bootman/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
In the Hamilton match, Aidy White and Christophe Berra didn’t deal with the Accies danger effectively, allowing George Oakley to nip in and score.
Levein has insisted though that performances will start to pick one the defence finds its confidence.
He told the Edinburgh Evening News: “We need to do more work on the training ground with regards to keeping the ball out of the net. If we can defend better then confidence will come, I’m sure of that.”
Hearts and Levein need to cut out the individual errors
Overall this term, Hearts’ defence hasn’t been too bad. The likes of full-back Aaron Hickey and centre-half Craig Halkett have been fairly impressive in what has been a poor start for the Jambos.
Hickey has been immense. (photo by Alan Rennie/Action Plus via Getty Images)
The past two games haven’t been good enough though. Levein claims it was two own goals against Celtic, which isn’t ideal, although whether they were actually OG’s is questionable. Against Hamilton there were some proper errors though.
The ball was won all too easily in midfield before Berra and White collided with each other. It allowed Oakley to score his first and it was so preventable.
Sean Clare was dispossessed with ease in the build up to the second goal, before Oakley put the ball through Berra’s legs. This again was another goal that could have been avoided.
Clare had a poor game against Hamilton. (Photo by Ewan Bootman/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
If the Jambos want to pick up form, the errors have to go. Continuing to throw away cheap goals like they did against Accies will see them drift further away at the bottom of the Premiership.
Levein will know this better than anyone and he’ll need to come up with a quick fix before their match against Motherwell in over a week’s time.