Following Hearts’ 1-0 win over Dundee, Derek McInnes claimed his side have been ‘tested’ more than others in the league as the Tynecastle boss conveniently forgets about Celtic’s incredible injury list.
McInnes specifically cited the two-month absence of Lawrence Shankland and Cammy Devlin as the Hearts boss plays the underdog card as he races Celtic towards the Scottish Premiership title.
Yet McInnes completely ignores the fact that Martin O’Neill has been dealing with a patchwork injured Celtic squad all season as well as dealing with three unsettling managerial changes.
Will we hunt Hearts down and win the title?
Derek McInnes says Hearts will get ‘stronger’ but so will Celtic
The Hearts boss was clearly delighted with getting yet another narrow 1-0 win over the line as he warned Celtic that his team are about to get stronger.
McInnes told the Daily Record, “The players need to feel the way I feel, and we reminded them of that. I actually think my belief in the team is stronger than ever because I know what’s coming back.
“We’ve got players returning – Magnusson, Milne, Halkett, Findlay, Kingsley. We’ve got our captain back, Cammy Devlin, Beni Baningime.
“We will get stronger – and we’re going to need it. We’ve been tested lately, but we haven’t lost much ground on Rangers and Celtic despite missing key players.
“Despite everything, we’re going to be top of the league in April.”
Yes, McInnes may well be top of the league come April, but here, we dismantle the Hearts boss’ injury narrative that somehow his team have been hard done by compared to Celtic this season.
The Celtic injuries Derek McInnes conveniently forgot
Celtic have been without a number of key players this season and gone through three managerial changes, but are still up there challenging for the title.
Here is how Celtic’s injuries are affecting Martin O’Neill’s first team:
- Cameron Carter-Vickers – out all season
- Jota – Out all season
- Alistair Johnston – Out since August
- Callum Osmand – Out since November
- Arne Engels – out for four weeks
- Kelechi Iheanacho – missing for months twice
Here is a further snapshot of Celtic’s injury issues:
- The Goalkeeping Crisis: Kasper Schmeichel just confirmed he’s out for the season for shoulder surgery, leaving Viljami Sinisalo to handle a title run-in.
- The Defensive Spine: Cameron Carter-Vickers (Achilles) and Alistair Johnston (Surgery) have missed massive chunks of the campaign.
- The Creative Void: Jota hasn’t featured at all this season due to a cruciate injury, and Arne Engels was sidelined during a crucial winter period.
And let’s not forget Celtic were also missing Callum McGregor and Kieran Tierney for the last two weeks as well.
McInnes likes to play the victim card as he moans about injuries and budgets, but Celtic fans can see right through it.
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