Recurring nightmare no laughing matter for Hearts fans

Among the plethora of films on television over the festive period the one Hearts fans won’t want to watch is Groundhog Day which stars Bill Murray as a weatherman caught in a time loop, repeatedly reliving the same day.

The Tynecastle faithful have been experiencing their own Groundhog Day throughout season 2019/20; their team starts brightly, then falls behind and doesn’t recover, failing to score a goal to lift the gloom.

And so it proved yet again on Boxing Day as Hearts succumbed to Hibernian in the Edinburgh derby. The Maroons were 2-0 down at half time following a woeful first half and although there was a marked improvement in the second half the damage had been done as the Hibees recorded successive wins in Gorgie for the first time since the 1970s. Which is rather apt as this is arguably the poorest Hearts team since the dark years of the late 1970s when the club suffered three relegations.

After the game, Hearts manager Daniel Stendel hinted at bringing in new players during the January transfer window. He told the official Hearts website:

“I think the way we played in the second half was how I expect my team to play in every game, but when we started playing that way we were two goals back,” he said. “We gave the opposition two goals today, like we have in every game. We had chances, but the feeling right now is, can we really score a goal?

“I know it’s not an easy situation, when I spoke with Ann, I wanted to help and I know that we haven’t taken a point in four games, so it’s frustrating. 

“I know the feeling is that it will never get better, but it will be. The second half performance was much better, but the result was not good.

“When we can play that way for 90 minutes and score goals, it will work, but today was frustrating, because nobody will care that the players had a good performance.

“I know from people at Hearts and my staff that this is the game everyone wants to win, so how we play doesn’t matter because we lost 2-0.

“The situation is very bad, but when we can change some things, some players and play the same way as the second half but score goals, we will win games.

“I know it’s difficult at the moment, and we need more games, but we don’t always have enough games to do this in either.”

Stendel will have to make do with the same squad of players for the visit of Aberdeen on Sunday for the last game before the winter break. It’s hard to see anything changing against The Dons and Hearts fans are pinning their hopes on the German producing a miracle in the New Year.

Mike Smith

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Author of The Team for Me - 50 Years of Following Hearts. Runs Mind Generating Success, a successful therapy practice in Edinburgh. Contact me if you want rid of any unwanted habits. Twitter @Mike1874

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