Whilst club investor Tony Bloom has spoken before about a ten-year plan to win the Scottish Premiership, Heart of Midlothian came agonisingly close to clinching the league last season, denied only by a heartbreaking defeat to Celtic on the final day. Whilst the despair of that day may live long in the memory of Hearts fans, it remains to be seen whether that season was a one-off or a sign of the progression and glory to come.
Eight games into the new season, Hearts sit in 3rd place, behind the Old Firm rivals. They seemed to be running away with the title at first, there are many promising signs for Hearts fans, not least their attacking threat, which was highlighted in a superb 5-0 win at St Mirren on 10 October. They have scored 19 goals in all, a tally that betters the return of both of their title rivals, and an impressive goal difference of +11. However, they still have many questions to answer. Defeats such as the 2-1 loss away to Falkirk and dropping points against Kilmarnock highlight the need for Wouter Vrancken’s team to find the defence stablility required to make winning a formality. Their mission, therefore, is not to get too carried away with big victories like the one at St Mirren, but instead to make them a formality. Indeed, in a season where they will also be taking on the challenge of a congested schedule of European football, Hearts need to start doing better against this calibre of competition if they want to even think about challenging Celtic and Rangers.
Celtic certainly remain the team to beat, sitting pretty at the top of the table with 21 points, having won seven of their eight games. Their defensive record, in contrast to Hearts’, is particularly noteworthy, with just four goals conceded (that’s one every two games). Despite their strong league position and the weight of history behind them, Celtic have certainly shown signs of weakness with back to back defeats against sworn rivals Rangers in both the League Cup and Premiership. Rangers themselves are finding momentum and are just two points worse off than their Glasgow rivals. Under the leadership of Derek McInnes, they look a strong and resilient side and will hope to convert their dominant head-to-head record against Celtic into superior league position.
As always, it may be that, given the gulf in quality between these three sides and the rest, that the clashes between them will decide the race for glory. However, Hearts will know from last season that if they had been more clinical against clubs outside of the Old Firm, they needn’t have worried about that final day reckoning with Celtic. At this early stage, it wouldn’t be amiss to call them genuine contenders, but they are far from favourites. Only time will tell if they can set the record right, learning the lessons from last season to convert suffering into success.
Photo by Alex Harwood on Unsplash under Unsplash license.
