Rix not getting best out of Hearts

GRAHAM Rix is not getting the best out of Hearts. Four games into his tenure as first-team coach, it is too early to apportion responsibility for that, but the fact remains: the last time they turned in a complete performance, the 3-0 win over Dundee United, was their last match before Rix arrived.

Saturday's draw was the third out of the quartet of fixtures over which Rix has presided. As the other match was a victory over Livingston, the coach can at least claim an unbeaten record thus far, but a glance at the league table shows the damage those dropped points are doing. In his programme notes Rix said "We want to put Celtic under pressure for as long as possible", but the leaders are now three points clear of Hearts and nine goals to the good. This means that next weekend when they play a day earlier the Edinburgh club can no longer even temporarily leapfrog their rivals.

There were two mitigating factors in Saturday's substandard performance - the way the opposing team played and the absence through suspension of Julien Brellier. Yet, while Inverness Caley Thistle's irrepressibility played a large part in the result, the coach might have posed more questions of Craig Brewster's side had he chosen a different starting line-up. Brellier plays in the sitting midfield role, offering protection to his defence and often initiating attacks. Strong and skilful, he has been the linchpin of most of Hearts' best displays this season.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" has been Rix's mantra since he arrived at Tynecastle, and had he paid more than lip service to it that would have meant a place in the team for Samuel Camazzola. The Brazilian has played mainly on the right of midfield, but is more accustomed to the Brellier role.

Instead, Camazzola began the match on the bench. Stephen Simmons took Brellier's place but not his position, playing ahead of Paul Hartley. The latter's recent tendency to go back towards his own penalty box in search of the ball may show an admirable willingness to work, but it can also allow the opposition to press up towards their own halfway line. If Simmons were half as creative as Hartley, Hearts might have got away with this, but on Saturday, his first start of the season, he was notably less impressive than during his appearances as a substitute.

Rix was forced into another change when Roman Bednar was ruled out through injury, which meant Michal Pospisil started up front alongside Calum Elliot. The third alteration from the team that beat Livingston a week earlier was the straight replacement of Saulius Mikoliunas by Deividas Cesnauskis. Neither Lithuanian constitutes an awe-inspiring presence when bearing down on opponents, but at least there is a measure of incision to Mikoliunas's approach. Cesnauskis is nicely balanced and offers the odd touch of artistry, yet only in the sense of creating impressionistic doodles rather than anything substantial.

Hearts' blend of physicality and finesse helped them sweep aside all opposition earlier in the season: if the broadsword did not work they could turn to the scimitar. Against Inverness, by contrast, they were too lightweight to use the former weapon, too flustered for the latter. They began by losing the majority of aerial challenges, and ended by declining to contest many.

For all Hearts had the bulk of possession, Caley Thistle's speed on the counter-attack meant Craig Gordon was the busier goalkeeper. The Scotland No1 did well to get to an audacious Brewster volley in the second half, but late in the first half would not have stopped a shot from the same player. Fortunately for Hearts, Brewster's effort from a Craig Dargo cutback went over the bar.

Late in the game Ross Tokely had the ball in the net, but the effort did not count as Dargo had strayed offside. While Inverness continued to create such chances, Hearts had no inventiveness left, and in the end Rix was reduced to some straw-clutching alterations as he sought to preserve his team's 100 per cent home record.

Camazzola came on for Simmons with just 22 minutes to play, which was too late to make a difference. Edgaras Jankauskas took over from Elliot a little later, then finally - with a view to keeping his employer, if not the paying customers, satisfied - Rix took Pospisil off and brought on Mikoliunas.

The last of those changes saw Mikoliunas take up his familiar wide-right position, and Cesnauskis go up front with Jankauskas.

Hearts have failed all season to settle on their first-choice forward partnership, partly because of injuries, and partly because none of their strikers has done enough to prove himself indispensable. They did not get the best service in this game, but the fact remains that even when Hearts have been on fire those frontmen have barely smouldered: Bednar and Pospisil have scored three league goals each, Jankauskas two, Elliot none.

This is just the most glaring failure which must be rectified over the next few weeks if Hearts' title challenge is to survive until Vladimir Romanov's wallet opens at the same time as the transfer window. More generally, there is a blunted edge to the performances of most of the team which Rix has been unable to hone, and this leads to the suspicion that if Hearts do take up the chase for the championship anew, it could be despite, not because of, the coach.

Taken from the Scotsman