Hearts in Rangers reality check: Worst start and formation debate

The visitors had a disastrous start, conceding within two minutes when Diomande fired a low shot past Zander Clark. Hearts would settle into the game but just as they were building momentum they gave up an easy goal with Oscar Cortes finishing a counter-attack. The game was done and dusted before half-time when Cyriel Dessers headed into the corner from a John Souttar cross.

Rangers scored moments after the break to shut down any possible chance of a comeback before Fabio Silva added a fifth.

Joel and James look back at a testing afternoon for Hearts in Govan.

READ MORE: Kenneth Vargas on Hearts future, fan love, Thor and best moment in maroon

Reality check

Supporters went into this game with a justifiable sense of optimism, given Hearts’ form of late. The 2-0 win at Celtic Park was the starting gun on a run of 10 games where the men in maroon only dropped two points, and Naismith’s men arrived in Glasgow’s south side as the Premiership’s most in-form team. Ibrox has never been an especially accommodating venue for Hearts but on this occasion, fans made the journey along the M8 daring to dream, and they had every reason to do so.

The Hearts hype train had been gathering pace, to the point where some supporters were left ruing the team’s early-season form. Had Naismith’s men been a little quicker out of the traps, the thinking went, then they might have even been involved in a three-way title race. The win at Parkhead showed Hearts were capable of going up against the Old Firm and leaving them with a bloody nose, and the team’s performances against the rest of the league suggested that the gap between Hearts and the big two was closing.

It made the humbling 5-0 defeat at Ibrox all the more sobering, and the game served as a reminder of the scale of the task facing Naismith and his coaching staff. Yes, progress has undoubtedly been made this season – but there is still a long way to go before fans can realistically hope to see Hearts split the Glasgow duopoly.

Worst possible start

Whenever a team goes to one of the Old Firm those first 15-20 minutes are crucial. They are mostly about survival, getting a foothold and then building on that. It becomes even more important at a time when, in this case, Rangers are full of confidence having recently gone top of the table on their own and wanting to put pressure on Celtic. The aim for Hearts would be to frustrate and build tension within the stands. 

Hearts never got close to fulfilling that aim. They never settled and gave up an early goal. Not only did it mean there was a steep hill to climb on the pitch but it also meant the home support were in party mood. Ibrox, when the fans are onside, is a nightmare for opposition sides. That can be seen in Rangers' record at home in European games in recent years.

To say the goal rocked the away side would be an understatement. As we will come to explore they struggled to take care of the ball and were being overrun over the pitch and physically, while John Lundstram bossed proceedings with no one getting close to him. To their credit, however, they survived for more than half an hour and were even beginning to thrive.

Use of the ball

"Will we win, draw, lose? Who knows, but what we will do is go with a fight, desire and concentration of what we need to do," Naismith said on Friday at his pre-match press conference.

He added: "The challenge is different. Much different. You won’t have the ball as much. We had 70 per cent against Motherwell. You are not going to have anywhere near that. But the challenge going into the game is to have more than what we’ve had in the past in terms of possession."

At half-time, they had achieved some of that. The possession share was relatively even with Harts having 47 per cent of the ball. There was a 10-15 minute period in the second half that contributed to that as Naismith's men grew into the counter after the awful start. Beni Baningime and Calem Nieuwenhof started to see more of the ball and the team also used it much better than they had done, working it wide and into good areas.

There was a hope that even if Hearts didn't score during their positive period they would get to half-time leading 1-0. As we all know, the team have been hugely productive after the interval. But like that early goal, the timing of the second was horrible. And it came back to the use of the ball. Hearts had been erratic with their use of possession early on, at a time when Rangers were on a high and were making it uncomfortable. For the second goal it was an unforced error. Alex Cochrane's pass inside wasn't the best before Frankie Kent made a sloppy pass that forced Kye Rowles onto the back foot. The Australian tried to play up the line but gave up possession far too cheaply. The ball was in the back of the net within seconds.

A sucker punch that knocked the stuffing out of the team with a third not far behind. 

Gaps out wide

Rangers focused much of their attacking play down the left during the opening 45 minutes and it wasn’t hard to see why. With Oscar Cortes constantly bombing forward off the ball and driving in behind, Nathaniel Atkinson found himself dragged back to mark the Colombian.

The result was that Ridvan Yilmaz, playing at left-back, was afforded the freedom of Ibrox whenever he got on the ball. Calem Nieuwenhof wasn’t able to get across to the wing anywhere near often enough, leaving Yilmaz with all the time in the world to plot his next move. Sometimes he would simply move it on, others he would drive infield and make a beeline for goal. But, more often than not, the Turk would curl a high cross in towards the back post.

Hearts got away with it a few times during the first half, but it was a warning that went unheeded. Yilmaz continued to be afforded a baffling amount of time on the ball, and it was little surprise when the gambit finally paid off minutes before the half-time whistle. Yilmaz picked out Cyriel Dessers at the back post, and Rangers’ No.9 made no mistake as he all but sealed the win for Philippe Clement’s side.

Half-time switch

If the opening 45 minutes taught us anything, it was that Hearts needed a new game plan. Barring a spell around the half-hour mark, they were decidedly second-best all across the park. Steven Naismith, never one to hesitate to change things up, decided to act.

When the Hearts players returned for the second half, the shape had been changed to a 4-4-2. Jorge Grant moved over to the right, and Kye Rowles was replaced by Alan Forrest, who came on at left wing. Rowles could have few complaints. He cheaply surrendered possession for the second goal, lost his marker for the third and was being ragdolled by Dessers in his individual battles.

The move solved the Yilmaz dilemma as Rangers’ numerical advantage on the flanks was wiped out, but it didn’t matter. Any hopes of an unlikely comeback were snuffed out within two minutes of the restart, and again Hearts had no one but themselves to blame. A low ball across the face of goal was eventually bundled in by Dessers as yet another sucker punch was delivered to the men in maroon. At this point, the game became a case of damage limitation. Kyosuke Tagawa and Cammy Devlin came on for the final half-hour, but it was much too little and much too late. The damage had been done.

Formation question

The analysis and debate amongst fans started early with the team heading to a comprehensive defeat at Ibrox. Plenty of the discussion surrounded the back three and whether it was the right formation. As mentioned earlier, it didn't work with Rangers getting plenty of space in front of the wing-backs, namely Nathaniel Atkinson who had a poor first half.

Yet, when the team was announced there was a general acceptance that it was a good starting XI. And it should be remembered, the back three was the system that the team played in the 2-0 win at Celtic and the system that was favoured at the start of the unbeaten run. 

While it may have contributed, results and performances like these are often more about application and mentality. It doesn't matter what formation the team are set up in if the decision making is poor or individuals have off days or are not as switched on as they need to be at Ibrox. 

The recent weeks suggest the back four gives the team the best attacking blend and one that will hopefully be seen against Hibs. best-attacking. But it is not as simple as the back three is the reason for the handsome defeat. 

Any positives?

Few and far between, unsurprisingly. There were more minutes in the legs of Cammy Devlin, while Kyosuke Tagawa got some time in attack. The only thing that can be looked upon favourably is the next game. There is no better way to bounce back than in an Edinburgh derby under the lights at Tynecastle Park during the week.