Steven Naismith is in the early reigns of his managerial career, but he earned his best win yet at the expense of Celtic and Brendan Rodgers on Saturday.
After watching Celtic smash Hearts 4-1 back in October, the hope was that another early goal here would lead the team down the same road of three points, especially given the highs of winning in the Champions League in midweek.
Yes, that defeat to Kilmarnock was lingering in the background, but the hope was that it was a small blip and three points would be recorded against Hearts.
But Steven Naismith’s side had other ideas and as he told BBC Sport after the game, he told his team to play with ‘discipline’ and ‘composure’.
And the reason for all of this is because he feels Celtic have got the ‘best press in the league’.
There’s no doubt that, under Ange Postecoglou, no other team in Scotland could touch Celtic and the front-foot-natured approach was just too hot to handle.
But others would probably argue that spark has been missing of late, even if Steven Naismith was complimentary about Celtic without the ball.
Celtic beaten by Hearts
“We needed a structure to work from,” said Naismith.
“We needed to be disciplined, we needed to be composed on the ball and say, ‘no, we’re good enough to play against your press’ because I would argue Celtic have got the best press in the league.”
More passion off the field
There was a lot of noise during that defeat to Hearts, but it seemed most of the passion and energy was coming from the fans.
The performance of the team, overall, was just flat and nowhere near the standards.
Yes, a lot has been said about the recruitment, and rightly so. Action needs to be taken, as soon as possible. The January transfer window is fast approaching.
But as Chris Sutton pointed out, Rodgers also needs to take responsibility here because he is working with this group of players week in and week out on the training field.
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