Robbie Neilson has visions of grandeur for Hearts. He must do, it’s the only reason that can explain him leaving newly promoted Dundee United to return to Hearts in the Championship. Since coming back to the Premier League they have been the ‘best of the rest’ by a comfortable margin too. A Scottish Cup Final place was enough to see them enter the Europa Conference League group stages after losing in the Europa League Playoffs.
Neilson has his players playing well, consistently outperforming the other teams in the league. Games for us against Hearts, particularly at Tynecastle are always some of our toughest, most competitive matches of the season.
So, it baffles me, why a manager with a decent squad, confidence in the team and a fairly high opinion of himself as a manager sets his team up to fail time and time again against Rangers. This Rangers team were on the ropes, 7 points behind Celtic, just lost to St Johnstone, lacking any creative spark and what does Robbie do? Sticks ten men behind the ball and hope to get lucky. He used up that luck last year getting a draw at Ibrox after McGregor’s calamity in goal, it’s never going to work on a regular basis. The fact that this Rangers team, as bad as they are playing, as bereft as they are of confidence, played the third team in the league and Hearts didn’t manage one shot on target is an embarrassment not just to the Tynecastle club but Scottish Football as a whole.
If Neilson sees himself as a top coach and if he sees Hearts of ever breaking into the top two, then he will need to get over his fear of Ibrox, after all there’s nothing really to fear there.