Mikael Lustig has praised Hearts for their battling qualities, and believes Saturday will be a difficult clash for Celtic.
Hearts come into the Scottish Cup final in some pretty grim form. Craig Levein’s outfit have failed to win a single game since their semi-final win against Inverness Caledonian Thistle. That 3-0 success was followed up with four defeats and a draw to their name. The stalemate came against Hibernian at Easter Road, but Hearts have lost to Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen, and Kilmarnock respectively.
It’s hardly ideal for them, but you get the sense that they’ve been saving something for the cup final. Celtic routinely knocked Hearts out of the Betfred Cup semi-final at Murrayfield back in November. As well as that, Celtic have also beaten the Jambos on a further three out of four occasions this season.
But Lustig isn’t reading much into it. Speaking to the Celtic View (Volume 54, Issue 43, Page 15), the Swede hailed Hearts’ qualities.
“They are a good team – they play quite a simple style of football, but they know exactly what to do to get a result. They do the basics very well and play well as a unit.
“Hearts can be a hard team to break down, and while their form hasn’t been up to their standards lately, you can’t read into that. They didn’t have much to play for in the league given they couldn’t catch second, third or fourth place.
“They’ll be rejuvenated for the final and we know they’ll be at their absolute best, as we will be. They haven’t made it to a final in six years to they’ll be hungry to win and will no doubt go for it.”
The attitude that must be rippling throughout the squad
Lustig has the attitude we need all of the squad to have against the Jambos. Hearts may have struggled to win a game since their semi-final success, but we know enough about them to know they’ll be a threat.
It’s also been a big boost to the Jambos that their three apparent injury doubts have trained this week (Edinburgh Evening News). Arnaud Djoum, Peter Haring, and Uche Ikpeazu all look likely to play. And whilst Haring and Djoum are decent players in their own right, it’s the big forward who stands out.
Ikpeazu has assisted against us this season, but he’s yet to score against Celtic also. He was previously linked with a move to Parkhead too (Scottish Sun). For that alone he would be looking to make an impact. But combine that with the chance to win his first ever winner’s medal, and our defence can expect a physical afternoon.
Ikpeazu is Hearts’ plan A and B. They often go route one to him, and if you take the head off the snake then it isn’t a threat. That means it’s vital Kristoffer Ajer, Jozo Simunovic, and Filip Benkovic all stand up to the task against the big forward.
So long as the entire squad has the attitude of Lustig, we’ll be fine. There can’t be any underestimation on our part this weekend. The treble treble being at stake simply demands there isn’t.
But this Hoops squad has faced challenges like this before. Every time the question is asked, Celtic answer convincingly. Here’s hoping Saturday is another of those days.
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