Football matches involving Heart of Midlothian are quickly becoming awfully predictable. Steven Naismith’s men tend to start a little tepidly, sometimes even falling behind during the first half. Hearts then come out for the second half reinvigorated with a renewed sense of purpose, dragging themselves back into the contest before a goal or two from Lawrence Shankland caps the turnaround and the team move ever closer to European group-stage football next term.
It's a familiar script for supporters, but it is one that they will never tire of reading. Saturday’s 3-2 win away to Dundee followed it to the letter. Hearts weren’t actually all that bad in the first half yet still found themselves trailing to a Jordan McGhee header. Alan Forrest restored parity after the break and Lyall Cameron nudged the home side back in front before a certain Mr Shankland ensured the three points would be going to Gorgie.
The three points and the nature of the win will understandably have sent supporters home with a spring in their step – but perhaps more importantly, it was another game where Hearts’ attack fully clicked into gear. After waiting all season for Naismith’s side to score three goals in a league match, they have now done so in two of their last three outings. The team’s play in the final third, a consistent bone of contention, is becoming more sophisticated – and it helped to turn the tide at Dens Park.
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Get it wide, swing it in
Hearts’ attacking play hasn’t always been the most inventive this season, and that unhappy trend continued early on against Dundee. Set up in a 4-2-3-1 shape, the game plan was to get the ball wide to Yutaro Oda and Alan Forrest, so that the wingers could exploit space in between Dundee’s centre-halves and wing-backs. Oda or Forrest would hit the byline, try to squeeze past their man and get the ball into the box – but the chance was rarely on.
Oda, in particular, struggled early on. The Japanese was constantly trying to drive down the outside of Owen Beck but was decidedly second-best in his running battle with the on-loan Liverpool defender.
In this example, Oda gets the ball out wide and attempts to dribble around the outside of Beck before being muscled off the ball by Beck.
A few minutes later a similar opportunity presents itself. Oda's eyes light up when he sees the space behind Beck, and the winger hits the byline.
This time, he just about squeezes past Beck but is massively off-balance when striking his cross. It's played into the near post, where Owen Dodgson can easily clear it.
Forrest was faring a little better on the opposite flank and was getting some joy when taking on McGhee, but the final ball was lacking too often. Moreover, there was rarely a realistic target to aim for.
Below, Forrest receives the ball out wide and again, there's lots of space to advance into. He drops the shoulder and gets going.
He gets down the line before looping a high cross towards the back post.
It's a hopeful cross. Shankland has two players either side of him, and he can't get on the end of it.
A few minutes pass and Forrest finds himself in a great position driving at the Dundee defence. The space is on the outside, so that's where he goes.
He almost skips past the last man, only to be denied by an outstretched leg, sending Forrest further wide.
Forrest gets the ball back under control and does well to fashion some space for the cross. But he aims it towards the unoccupied back post, rather than spotting the run of Shankland.
Hearts had fashioned a couple of opportunities during the opening 25 minutes or so without seriously testing Trevor Carson in goal for the hosts, but they were nothing to shout about. A change in strategy was required, and the importance of doing so sooner rather than later was underlined when McGhee nodded Dundee ahead on 26 minutes.
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Playing to feet and keeping it on the ground
Hearts’ attacking play had been a little rushed at times but they soon started exerting some more patience on the ball – and would eventually reap the rewards. Instead of the wingers getting their heads down, hugging the touchline and swinging it in, now the players were playing simple, short passes into feet and looking to create 1v1 situations.
In the example below, Oda has the ball out wide and there’s plenty of space for him to drive into. He carries the ball forward but instead of sprinting past Beck, this time he plays a short pass to Shankland on the edge of the area.
Shankland has a man bearing down on him, but he isn’t focused on that. Instead, he’s looking at the space beyond the Dundee man. If he can shift the ball past him, he’ll have a great sight at goal. Alex Cochrane, too, is a great option if he wants to move it on.
Shankland has a pop, as he is well within his rights to do (he’s scored a lot of goals from similar positions this season), and misses the target on this occasion. Crucially, though, it’s a much better chance.
It’s a similar story on the other side. Cochrane gets the ball and spots the run of Forrest, who has acres of space to play in.
Forrest holds the ball up, drawing the man towards him before playing a simple pass to Shankland.
Shankland tees up Jorge Grant, who is in a great position and has time to pick his next move. He eventually shifts it out wide to Lembikisa, but the Englishman should perhaps have a go himself. Either way, Hearts find themselves in a far more promising position than if Forrest had simply lumped the ball into the box and hoped for the best.
Hearts were starting to get into better areas, but the wide players and Shankland couldn’t do it all on their own. There needed to be some more incision from midfield – and that’s exactly what they got.
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Pass and move
This season, a common complaint among supporters is that the midfield can struggle to break their opponents’ lines. Fans have been crying out for a ball-carrying midfielder to drive menacingly at the opposition’s backline and link the midfield and attack, and we saw some little flashes of it at Dens Park on Saturday.
Here’s Calem Nieuwenhof in the first half. The Australian can see Grant in space further up the park, but the pass isn’t really on for him.
Instead, he plays it back to Sibbick – and then he’s on his bike. He tells Sibbick to play it early to Grant, then marauds forward to receive the flick-on from Grant.
Nieuwenhof then tries to slip Shankland through for a one-on-one, but Joe Shaughnessy intercepts. He’s unlucky – if he finds his teammate, then it’s an excellent opportunity.
Nieuwenhof wasn’t the only one trying to raise the tempo and create space in the Dundee defence. Cochrane was nominally playing left-back on Saturday but the Englishman would often drift inside into a midfield role where he made his presence felt.
Here, Cochrane gets the ball from Nieuwenhof and plays a one-two with Forrest as he gallops past his marker.
He draws another Dundee player towards him before shifting out to Shankland on the left.
The Hearts talisman is in another 1v1 battle – he does well to fashion space to get the shot away, but his effort is off-target.
A few minutes later, and here’s Cochrane bombing forward to join the attack. He receives the ball and draws his man into a 1v1 battle.
Similar to Shankland in the earlier example, he’s in a good amount of space if he can beat his man.
He does just that and gets his shot away, but Carson gets down well to deny him.
Hearts were looking to isolate Dundee’s defenders in 1v1 situations, and a quick glance at both sets of players’ stats makes it abundantly clear why: Dundee’s defenders generally had a torrid time dealing with them. With the exception of Beck, who won each and every one of his defensive duels, the home side’s defenders found themselves beaten far too often. Ashcroft and Shaughnessy were dribbled past more often than Hearts’ entire backline combined.
This was why the first half wasn’t a total disappointment from a maroon perspective. Yes, Hearts were trailing, but they were attacking patiently to create 1v1 situations where they had the advantage.
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Direct dribbling
Hearts were winning their individual battles, and now the challenge was to make the most of that edge. Two players stood out more than any other: Forrest and Shankland.
Dundee often had men back to defend their box, but there was a reluctance at times to put pressure on the man on the ball. Defenders would get sucked into 1v1 battles but there was no one there to take responsibility and provide cover if their team-mate lost the initial challenge.
Here’s an example from the first half. Oda gets the ball out wide and advances forward without engaging Beck. Instead of driving down the touchline, he plays a simple pass inside to Forrest.
Forrest immediately drives forward, and two Dundee players should pick him up. Neither does.
Forrest takes full advantage of their indecision, slaloming forward and getting a decent shot away. It doesn’t go in, but it serves as a warning.
Dundee don’t heed it. Early on in the second half, Oda gets the ball with his back to goal. He holds it up as Lembikisa gets forward to provide support.
Rather than shifting it out wide, though, Oda instead plays it inside to Shankland.
Shankland beats the first man with a lovely turn and draws Shaughnessy towards him, but the Dundee man is too slow off the mark.
Shankland gets there first, knocking the ball past the defender. Forrest gathers it and rifles the ball into the bottom corner with glee.
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Shankland throws his weight around
Dundee would re-take the lead through some nice play not long after, albeit courtesy of some slack defending from Hearts. The visitors were then offered a reprieve from the penalty spot – the handball incident that led to the spot-kick was debatable – and Shankland put his hoodoo to bed by sneaking the ball past Carson for 2-2.
The game became more open and end-to-end during the closing stages, but Hearts kept their cool. They kept the ball on the deck and made the most of Shankland’s hold-up ability, playing deep passes into the striker with his back to goal. He usually averages around eight touches in the opposition box per game (one of the highest rates of any striker in the league); on Saturday, he recorded a mammoth 17 - a testament to the effectiveness of the ploy.
In the example below, Kenneth Vargas has the ball out wide. He plays an early ball into Shankland and then charges into the box to join the attack.
Shankland holds it up brilliantly, waiting for Lembikisa to get forward before playing the ball to the on-loan Wolves full-back. Look how many pink shirts there are in the box.
Lembikisa aims for the near post and the ball is scrambled away, but just look at Cochrane all alone on the far side. A little more presence of mind from Lembikisa, and Hearts would have had an excellent shot at a winner.
Shankland would go on to get the winner, of course, and the Hearts captain was involved early on in the move. He dropped deep to get on the end of a long ball from Zander Clark and used his body well to shove his opponent to one side before playing it to Vargas. The Costa Rican carries it forward without inviting a challenge from his marker and even draws Malachi Boateng towards him too. At just the right moment, he releases it to Shankland.
Shankland is now in space, and in a 1v1 battle with Ashcroft. The Dundee man comes charging out, and Shankland knocks it past him.
Shaughnessy doesn’t provide cover for Ashcroft, instead drifting right to protect the space, and Hearts’ No.9 has a free sight at goal. He doesn’t require a second invitation.
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Another big stride forward
The three points are naturally the biggest bonus of Saturday’s victory, but Hearts’ attacking play in the final third was a close second. The team’s lack of fluidity and invention in the final third has been used as a stick to beat Naismith with on occasion, and they have often struggled to find a way through a compact and well-drilled defence.
Dundee didn’t provide that on Saturday. Tony Docherty’s men played to win, even if that meant committing one too many players forward in attack at the expense of a little extra defensive security. The result was that, for once, Hearts had the opportunity to exploit gaps in the final third, and they did so mercilessly. The team cleverly fashioned 1v1 battles in attack and rightly backed themselves to win them.
In a season where Hearts have often laboured in the final third, this was the clearest indication yet that the attack is truly clicking into gear at long last. For a team that have occasionally looked short of ideas when getting forward, Hearts came up with plenty of ways to hurt their opponents on Saturday. The challenge now is to maintain and build on that creativity.
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