Neil Critchley reveals key tactical switch in Hearts Euro win

The 46-year-old made a tactical tweak from the win over St Mirren and four changes but it didn't distrub the flow of the team as they defeatd Omonia Nicosia 2-0.

Critchley discussed the change, what pleased him about the performance, Blair Spittal and Alan Forrest and provided an update on Beni Baningime.

Read or listen to everything he said...

Neil, how was that? Was that everything you dreamed of for your European debut?

It was a great evening. I loved it. Fantastic night. From start to finish, I thought we had a fantastic first half. Started with real intent. Our aggression without the ball was excellent. I thought we played some fantastic football as well, causing a lot of problems and deservedly won the game. Second half, without the ball, looked relatively comfortable for most of it. I would have liked to have seen us keep the ball again better. But again, clean sheet, two fantastic goals and a really good all-round team performance.

Despite the fact you made four changes tonight, there was still a flow from Saturday, that must have really pleased you?

Yeah, it does. That's how we train. We train together as a collective, so everyone's understanding of what it is that's expected of them when they play in a team. We put a massive emphasis on our training process and how we train, what we train, so the players, if they're called upon, they're ready physically, that's really important, but they're also ready from a tactical point of view.

You tweaked it slightly from the weekend. Can you talk to me about that change?

We thought that their wingers like to press and jump our outside centre-backs. So instead of playing narrow, we played around the outside, so we tried to make more of a back three with Stephen Kingsley dropping lower and Alan pinning the right-back and Blair coming on the outside. On the other side, it was a bit different. Kenny Vargas plays inside and Adam plays outside and tried to go around them. If you go around them and you open up, you can control the middle of the pitch a little bit better. So some tactical changes, I felt that helped and gave us an advantage in the first half. You're just hoping when you have that advantage, you turn that into goals and fortunately, we did.

That puts you in a great position to qualify?

Yes, it does. It puts us in a really strong position. Six from six, four games to go. I'm not sure when our next European game is now because we've got loads of games coming up. But yes, six from six, couldn't have asked for any more. Clean sheet tonight, I think that was really important. The odd little half-chance around the goal. I know they hit the post, but it was offside. Other than that Craig's had quite a comfortable evening and that's how we defended as a team, not just the back players, that was everyone. 

You said that Spittal epitomised the team on Saturday, he was outstanding again today? 

Yes, he was. I thought he was fantastic, honestly. I've been really impressed with Blair. Really focused, good technically, can score goals as he's done tonight. I've seen him score, hitting the back of the net on a regular basis, which helps. I thought it was just a good all-round team performance. I thought Cam Devlin in the middle of the pitch, tireless work, the amount of interceptions and regains he got for the team. I thought Shanks up front tonight gave a captain's performance. Other than the goalkeeper making an unbelievable save, he'd have got a goal that he deserved. The two centre-backs again, I can't fault any of them, I thought they were fantastic.

What does it say about Adam Forrester, his age, putting in a performance like that? Because he was up against the most dangerous player?

Yes, he was. That was a debate that we were having leading into this game. Sometimes young players, given an opportunity, they rise to the occasion. I wouldn't say surprise, but they just step up their level. I've been really impressed with Adam as a person. Good temperament, not arrogant, humble, wants to learn, wants to get better. I thought he'd give a top, top performance tonight for a young boy. I was so, so impressed with him.

What was the reason behind Beni missing out on the squad?

He was ill, unfortunately. He trained yesterday and he wasn't feeling great before the session, but he did the session and then overnight it just wasn't right. That's the reason he's missing. Hopefully it's nothing too serious and he'll be available for Sunday.

You spoke about confidence levels rising yesterday after the weekend, they're quite high going into Sunday now?

Yes, it helps, doesn't it? When you do things on the training pitch and you work and then the players feel that on the pitch and they get the rewards for it, obviously it helps in their belief in what we're doing. I have to learn to trust them and they have to learn to trust me and that takes a bit of time, but obviously wins and playing well certainly helps. 

The game on Sunday, how excited are you about that?

Yes, really excited. Can't wait. We know the importance of the game to the supporters. I'm really looking forward to my first Edinburgh derby, but the team are in a good place. You have to handle the atmosphere, but we also have to make sure we go and play our type of game and if we do that then we can give anyone a game.

How did you find the atmosphere? The fans were huge, weren't they?

Yes, I loved it. We had a great night, just loved it. Fantastic. They got right behind us. I think it's our responsibility to make sure that we lift them and give them energy. I felt we did that early in the game and that was our plan. We know they like to build up and play and we thought, we're at home, this is our pitch, this is our rules, you play our game and we're coming after you and that's what we did.

Are you impressed with how well Hearts managed to control the midfield today?

Yes, you know, Mal and Cam got through tireless work in the middle of the pitch and they were giving us a little bit of a problem with the 10. He was just playing in that left pocket behind us. We were contemplating changing through the game to go with a five and try and block the middle of the pitch more, but I didn't want to change the formation because then that can have an effect somewhere else and we haven't worked on that yet. So I just felt like, even though they're having some of the ball in front of us, they weren't really getting to our goal. As a team, I say the work that we put in was brilliant. I want us to keep the ball better and play better football. I think fatigue set in and we've got to train our brain better during the week, which is going to be difficult with the period that we're in, but that's the challenge.