Hearts did one thing vs Celtic that pundit says is best way to take on Hoops at Parkhead

Add as preferred source on Google

Hearts were well beaten by Celtic last weekend.

Brendan Rodgers demanded an improvement from the Rangers defeat last time out and the manager got it as Celtic beat the Jambos 3-0 in front of their home support.

It was another day to remember for record-chasing Daizen Maeda who notched two goals while Jota scored the other. But it was a slow start for the Hoops.

Hearts had the better of the early exchanges and Viljami Sinisalo had to make at least a save or two to keep the visitors out at Celtic Park.

• READ MORE: Brendan Rodgers has the press room in stitches with class answer about Jeffrey Schlupp’s Celtic future

Michael Stewart praised Hearts for pushing Celtic high

And Michael Stewart believes Neil Critchley had the right idea to push the Scottish Premiership leaders up the pitch and pile the pressure on early, even if it didn’t quite work out in the end.

“I think it’s the best way to play against Celtic, is to push up and try to engage them higher up the park,” Stewart said on Premier Sports’ Scottish Football Social Club show.

“Of course there’s a massive risk and reward with that in that if the whole team’s not connected and any one slips and loses concentration, Celtic will punish you, which they did.

“The alternative is you park the bus or sit off and that’s not an enjoyable way to play football. The thought process was positive and this is purely in terms of being more aggressive in trying to engage and press.

“You can talk formations and systems, I’m just purely thinking the ability, thought and tactic to engage higher up the park.”

Hearts did have early success with Elton Kabangu giving Cameron Carter-Vickers a torrid time.

On another day, had Celts not been on their game up front, it might have been a more nervy 90 or so minutes.

What Hearts boss Neil Critchley surprisingly said after Celtic loss

Critchley felt the same at full-time as the Englishman claimed that Celts barely hurt his side.

He said after the game: “It’s been a tough day for us. I thought we started the game very well. First 15-20 minutes, we came in with a game plan to be on the front foot and be aggressive, and I felt we did that very well and created some good moments.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	CelticCeltic	31	25	3	3	92	20	72	78
2	RangersRangers	31	20	5	6	66	31	35	65
3	HibernianHibernian	31	12	11	8	48	41	7	47
4	AberdeenAberdeen	31	13	7	11	42	47	-5	46
5	Dundee UtdDundee Utd	31	12	8	11	39	40	-1	44
6	Heart Of MidlothianHeart Of Midlothian	31	11	6	14	43	43	0	39

“But we know that there’s a high risk to what we’re doing, and that can create a high reward. But if you don’t quite get it right, then they have the quality at the other end to hurt you, and that’s what they did.

“So, in the second half, we just felt, not that I ever wanted to be that type of team, but we just came off them a little bit and tried damage limitation, so to speak.

“And I don’t think they really hurt us and got to the goal. It’s not like Craig has made loads of saves. So you can only ask, as a coach, that the players try and do what you’re asking them to do to the best of their ability, and I thought the players did that.”