Robbie Neilson has laughably tried to claim that his Hearts team will have a go and attack Celtic at Parkhead tomorrow night.
The two sides are due to meet in a crucial Scottish Premiership clash at Celtic Park in a live televised Sky Sports match. The winner will finish the current round of fixtures on second spot.
Neilson has so often come to Parkhead in the past with Hearts and sat deep, looking to stifle and frustrate the Hoops before picking them off on the counter. But apparently, that isn’t what he has up his sleeve.
He’s been speaking in the build-up to the game and he’s tried to state he’ll be going out to attack Celtic and open up at Parkhead.
As quoted by the Edinburgh Reporter, Neilson said: “There are ways you can go there and play. Some teams will go and have a go; some will sit in and hope for the best. We want to be a team that has a go. I always have the believe that you need to go to these places to try and win it, or you can sit there and get beat, because they will always get their good players into good areas.
“They’ve got good players and just about every one of them is an international player, so you have to go there with confidence but also with that respect to them. They are a good team, and we have to set up properly, but we believe we have good players in our team as well.
“Second place is up for grabs. If we get the result, we go ahead of them and that’s how we are looking at it. The players have belief. They are a good group and throughout the season, even if there has been a difficult game, they have responded the following week, just as they did last week. I’m looking forward to going to Parkhead and putting on a performance.”
Hearts to attack Celtic tomorrow? Aye, okay Robbie
Well that would certainly be a refreshing approach tomorrow if it’s what Neilson decides to do. After all, we’re talking about a manager who has in the past came and shut up shop on the majority of occasions he’s come to Parkhead.
It’s difficult to know where he gets this idea that he likes to be expansive and have a go. In our last meeting at Celtic Park – a 3-2 win for the Hoops – the scoreline was certainly deceiving. Hearts sat deep and only ended the match with 5 shots overall and 28% possession [BBC].
In his first ever trip to Celtic Park back in 2014, Neilson’s Hearts couldn’t even muster a single shot on target. Not to mention his first game there after promotion back in 2015 saw him put 10 men behind the ball and defend tirelessly for a point.
It’s fine of course, that’s a perfectly acceptable and understandable way of combatting the task of Celtic Park. But at the same time, don’t pretend you’re going to come out and have a go when you have absolutely no history of it in the past.
Also, is it really even wise to be doing that at Celtic Park? Given the quality the Hoops have from midfield to front, you would’ve imagined Neilson would be putting more importance on holding firm and trying to close down the space.
Whether he’ll even put this into practice remains to be seen. Don’t be surprised if he doesn’t follow a word of it though.
In other news, £3m Lennon signing’s Celtic career looks all but over after fresh transfer report
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