It was a familiar story in this sorry start to the season for Heart of Midlothian at Celtic Park on Saturday.
Like in the opening-day draw with Rangers – and over the two legs versus Viktoria Plzen – there were positives to take, but it left the Jambos starving for a win, with none from the first eight games of the season.
There was an element of bad luck to the defeat as Hearts slipped to the bottom of the table. The visitors were awarded a first-half penalty, however, referee Colin Steven’s initial award was overruled by VAR and Celtic were given one after the break.
They were both, in fairness, correct decisions but the incident that saw James Penrice punished bears a lot of similarity to Connor Barron’s handball at Tynecastle Park that didn’t result in a penalty.
After opening the scoring from the spot on Saturday, Celtic added a second in the 89th minute when Hearts were committing bodies forward for an equaliser. Otherwise, it was a fairly solid defensive display from Steven Naismith’s side.
At the other end, there were chances but again not enough of a threat, as Hearts made it just two goals from eight matches.
Flat midfield three
As expected, Naismith lined up his players in a back three – effectively a 5-3-2 or a 5-3-1-1 when out of possession.
Hearts followed a similar template to what they have faced a fair bit this season. They allowed Celtic to have the ball in front of them, happy to let them play it across midfield.
The midfield three was flat and sat deep in front of the defence and Celtic were encouraged inside. Jorge Grant would help cover the left, Malachi Boateng the right.
The visitors blocked passing lanes into Kyogo Furuhashi and constantly won the ball on the edge of the box before instantly looking to find Lawrence Shankland dropping in or Kenneth Vargas sprinting in behind.
There were exceptions. Early on, Alistair Johnston cutback from the byline, but that proved to be a false alarm. Kyogo later spurned a 1v1 that came from a counter following a long punt from Craig Gordon.
Taylor dominates Maeda
The next time Hearts ventured up the pitch they were again countered, but this time Gerald Taylor made an excellent tackle to prevent Maeda.
Other than the odd rash moment, Taylor was fantastic. There won’t be many right-backs in Scotland who dominate Daizen Maeda as much as the Japanese international was on Saturday.
There was an early cutback that found Nicolas Khun before he was closed down and blocked by Stephen Kingsley, and another just before the break that forced a Gordon save from a Kyogo shot, Maeda had as quiet a game as you will see this season.
On a number of occasions, he tried to race away from Taylor with the ball, but the 23-year-old's gangly legs were able to fish the ball away – and just on the right side of a foul.
Celtic focused a lot of their play down that side, likely targeting Taylor after recent performances in what has been a tumultuous time so far in Gorgie. The Costa Rican appears to favour the big stage, though, having put in a similarly impressive display against Rangers on the opening day.
Between him, Boateng and Kingsley, the threat from Celtic's left-hand side was mostly nullified.
The only other time Hearts were really cut open in the first half was from a quick throw which caught them out of shape and resulted in debutant Arne Engles whacking the post with a fantastic effort. From open play, it was a rarity.
Late Drammeh
Thus, it took an early second-half – and contentious – penalty decision to break Hearts down.
They then started to take a few more risks, winning the ball higher up. Now, even when winning possession in defence, they would look to work the ball forward and get bodies up in support.
A steady stream of subs were introduced and by the time Blair Spittal and James Forrest took to the field, Hearts were in a 4-2-3-1 shape. Almost instantly they won the ball in the Celtic half and, though it came to nothing, they did so again soon after, creating their best opportunity of the match.
After dispossessing Johnston, Spittal played a dangerous cross into the six-yard box but fellow second-half substitute Musa Drammeh couldn’t get enough on it.
Spittal again found space down the left, this time with support from Kingsley and after a good move, but he wasn't able to create anything similarly clear-cut.
Then, in the closing stages, Celtic's Luke McCowan scored from an area that Hearts had flooded earlier in the game but had vacated somewhat in search on an equaliser.
That raises a couple of points – and an issue that continues to persist.
Firstly, with the game in the balance, could Hearts have taken more risk earlier in the game? They only changed to a 4-2-3-1 in the final 10 minutes.
Look at the graph above, they had mustered a measly four efforts – all from Lawrence Shankland – for a combined xG of 0.14 between kick-off and the 82nd minute. Even at Celtic Park, it is a poor return for Hearts.
For context, the Musa chance did ensure Hearts had created better opportunities as a whole than Hibs, Kilmarnock and St Mirren over the weekend – but Hearts are held to a higher standard.
And it is in the attacking phase of the game where the team and Naismith are going to be judged, not how well they restrict the champions. If Hearts can't create chances they will continue to struggle in front of goal.
The defensive set-up was encouraging but the lack of attacking threat persists.
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