CRAIG Levein concedes he is at a loss how to solve Hearts’ attacking conundrum after admitting a spate of injuries to his strikers wrecked all of his best-laid plans.
The Tynecastle boss is feeling the weight of responsibility after overseeing a run of one win in the Jambos’ last nine fixtures, scoring just four goals in the process.
The absence of Uche Ikpeazu and Steven Naismith due to foot and knee complaints, respectively, has been keenly felt, with the pair having hit the net 15 times prior to being sidelined.
They were also key to the way Levein had coached his new-look outfit during the summer, leaving them looking bereft and rudderless in recent weeks, and relying on an ageing Steven MacLean and the youthful Craig Wighton.
READ MORE: Steven Gerrard will move for US trialists if they impress
Last Friday’s 5-0 hammering at the hands of Livingston was the nadir of their campaign, leaving Levein facing some fiery questioning from shareholders at yesterday’s annual general meeting at Tynecastle. He was brutally honest in response.
“Honestly, I’m struggling to find a system that allows us to score goals,” he said. “That’s on me, absolutely. I go home at night and think about how we fix this and, I put my hands up, I’ve not been able to do it. That’s my responsibility and I feel it every single day.
“I’m trying my best and doing all I can on the training field with Austin [MacPhee, assistant head coach], the rest of the coaches and the players to find a way – short term – of scoring goals and winning games.
“We worked all through pre-season on getting the ball forward much quicker than we did last season. That was the plan and we wanted to put pressure on the opposition, particularly at home. We would play it longer, earlier in the match.
“We had Uche [Ikpeazu], we had Steven [MacLean] and we had Naisy [Steven Naismith] and it worked well. It took some games to get the midfield players into the habit of supporting, but it worked really well in the end. That is what we worked on in pre-season.
“I did not expect to find myself in a situation where everything we worked on in pre-season training resulted in this. Our biggest problem is that we can’t retain the ball in the final third for any period of time.
"That has been the issue in all the games.”
Given Levein’s candid assessment, the return of Scotland star Naismith for Saturday’s visit to face Aberdeen could hardly be more timely.
“If you trace it back, the decline – if you call it that – started with Naisy going out the team,” said Levein. “We managed to get over Christophe [Berra] and John Souttar dropping out, with Jimmy Dunne and Clevid. But Uche [Ikpeazu] and Steven Naismith have been the two biggest issues by far.
“I firmly believe that when Naisy comes back on Saturday that will help us."
Levein revealed he held a post-mortem with the Hearts players on Monday morning in the aftermath of their capitulation against Livingston, with a view to ensuring the catastrophic collapse is never repeated.
After falling behind to a Craig Halkett penalty, the Jambos were reduced to 10 men and proceeded to concede another four goals in the space of 14 minutes.
“I honestly don’t know how to explain that,” added Levein. “Recently we have been struggling, I accept that, and confidence is a big thing. Injuries are partly responsible, but there were some things that happened on Friday night that I was completely baffled by.
“The players were doing things I’ve never seen them do before. I could not believe what I was watching.
“Monday was interesting. We had a long chat about what happened and how we could stop it from happening in the future.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here