How Hearts applied the same principles in new shape against Heidenheim

After two wins from two, Tynecastle Park was raucous for the visit of the Germans, especially when Hearts got in their faces early on.

The defeat still leaves Neil Critchley's side in a great position to qualify for the next round of the competition and there were positives to be taken, especially form the first half.

Craig Cairns looks back on a spirited display but disappointing result.

Front three disrupt Heidenheim

Critchley surprised most with a change of shape. When the line-up was announced, it looked as though it would be a back four and the only questions over the shape was where Blair Spittal and Yan Dhanda would play.

As it turned out, Hearts started in a back three – after warming up in a back four – but, like in the win over Omonia Nicosia, the formation was lopsided. Out of possession, Adam Forrester played as a right-sided centre-back, in possession he was encouraged to get forward.

It meant Alan Forrest pretty much in a wingback role on the right and James Penrice on the left who repeatedly found himself in central forward areas.

This base allowed Critchley to play a front three of Dhanda, Spittal and Lawrence Shankland.

Heidenheim like to build from the back: the centre-backs split, a midfielder – usually Leonard Maloney – drops in and the full-backs push on. They like to create triangles to work the ball upfield, ultimately with the aim of getting crosses into the box.

Hearts’ front three led the charge to disrupt that and was largely successful in doing so in the first half.

Dhanda, Shankland and Spittal looked to press high (Image: Wyscout)Heidenheim tried to work the ball upfield from defence (Image: Wyscout) Penrice and Boateng join the press and Heidenheim are forced back (Image: Wyscout) Although the visitors initially made some progress in the above images, Hearts force them back and it leads to a great chance for Shankland when Penrice charges down Maloney.

That was two minutes into the game and just two minutes later, Hearts again force Heidenheim to go backwards and their goalkeeper clears the ball upfield.

That early period encapsulated the opening 45 minutes: the Germans barely laid a glove and the home side wasted chances.

The goal chart shows that Hearts were well ahead on chances created, especially in the first half.

Hearts created a number of chances, especially in the first half (Image: StatsBomb) There is a theme developing with how Critchley approaches matches and it involves getting at teams from the off. The result was lacking on Thursday night, but the encouraging thing is the performance levels remained the same as, say, the win against Omonia, as did the quality of chances created.

A back three?

With that level of exertion comes an inevitable drop off. It happened after half-time against St Johnstone – though so many games in a short space of time also played its part on Saturday – and it happened again against Heidenheim.

A mid-table Bundesliga side is always likely to have a spell in the game and they took full advantage when it came.

After being forced into a first-half change, Heidenheim manager Frank Schmidt made another at half-time. The man introduced was Mathias Honsak and the Austrian provided the necessary piece of quality needed to break the deadlock.

In the build-up to the game, Critchley called the German side “efficient” and that’s exactly what they were – scoring from their only two efforts on target.

Sirlord Conteh’s opener came from Honsak’s run down the left wing, taking advantage of Forrester being caught up the field – though Critchley was full of praise for the defender’s performance overall.

(Image: Wyscout) But there was not something quite right on that side after the break. What worked in the first half did not in the second.

As mentioned earlier, the Hearts formation was lopsided. Out of possession Forrester formed a back three but had licence to join the attack by overlapping on the right. The passing network graphic below (from the first half) shows the average position of where passes were played from.

Adam Forrester played a different role in and out of possession (Image: StatsBomb) Forrester’s positioning was not necessarily the issue for Heidenheim’s first goal. In the first half, Forrest and Dhanda had complimented each other well ahead of him, on that side. In the second half, they appeared much more disjointed, with Dhanda sometimes playing further back.

Continuing to threaten

Whereas there was disappointment after the last home match when Hearts failed to threaten Kilmarnock after falling behind, there were chances for the Gorgie outfit at 1-0.

And while that is encouraging, Critchley is hamstrung by a lack of options from the bench in key areas. Cammy Devlin is fantastic at winning the ball back and brings a lot of other qualities, but the drop off in control is significant compared to Beni Baningime or Malachi Boateng.

Relatedly, there is no other No.9 option to replace/compliment/take pressure off (delete as appropriate) Shankland – a debeate that will continue until he finds some form or someone else is signed.

That aside, the result may not have been there on Thursday night, but performance levels remained high and Hearts continued to create after going behind.