Hearts lose plot – and three men

By BARRY ANDERSON
Dundee United 4 - Hearts 1
WHOEVER ultimately gains control of Hearts' football operations must utilise the iron-fist approach with a ruthlessness that would shame Margaret Thatcher herself.

No longer is humble coaching and guidance sufficient, the indisciplined players at Tynecastle are in need of someone intent on cracking the whip – and the harder the better. For Hearts fans suffering from the most miserable of festive periods, this was the cherry atop the stale Christmas cake. Distasteful results have lurched from bad to worse to downright miserable during the holidays, but this was arguably the worst yet as it was compounded by three dismissals.

All of them could have been avoided and it shouldn't be forgotten that referee Alan Freeland spoiled a mildly entertaining game with his card-happy approach. Nonetheless, indiscipline is akin to cancer within a football club and caretaker manager Stephen Frail knows it. As should Marius Zaliukas, Lee Wallace and Michael Stewart.

Frail took charge for the first time yesterday since the removal of Angel Chervenkov and saw his defence ship four goals to a Dundee United team that is rapidly becoming Hearts' bogey outfit. The clubs' last three meetings have produced 4-0, 3-1 and now 4-1 scorelines in favour of Craig Levein's side. This game, though, should never have gone ahead following the tragic death of Phil O'Donnell, and Hearts were left wishing dearly that it hadn't.

In the technical area, Frail was powerless to prevent defensive lapses gifting United goals. Nor could he intervene to any great extent when Zaliukas, Wallace and Stewart decided to give referee Freeland what little incentive he required to delve into his pocket. But therein lies a major issue: Discipline must come from a managerial figure – Frail seems as capable as anyone in that department – but discipline must also come from within.

Zaliukas in particular has been an accident waiting to happen for months due to constant shirt-tugging in the penalty area and sly off-the-ball nudges on opposing forwards. Granted, he is far from the only guilty party in that respect but, when you consistently walk a tightrope as he does week after week, it's only a matter of time before you slip off.

With the game evenly poised at 1-1, the Lithuanian was first to be ordered off for throwing an arm in the direction of Lee Wilkie inside the penalty area. The United defender had tugged Zaliukas' shirt but the reaction was spotted by Freeland and Zaliukas could have little complaint. Hearts were entitled to bemoan the subsequent award of a penalty, however. Freeland judged that the ball was still in play when Zaliukas committed his crime but, as it was by then bouncing over the touchline near the halfway line, a penalty award seemed extremely harsh. Barry Robson, scorer of the opening goal before Christophe Berra's equaliser, converted from 12 yards and signalled the caving in of the visitors' roof. Frail, unsurprisingly, was left cursing the disorder.

"That's what has been inherently wrong for a long time at the club," he explained. "With having no real leadership or a specific person in charge it's been allowed to slip and it's something that'll need to be stopped as of now. We need to make sure we cut out petulance.

"The players react to decisions when they think there's an injustice. The referee said he (Zaliukas] threw a punch at Lee Wilkie and that the ball was still in play, that's why he gave a penalty.

"That's us at the minute. It's been like that since pre-season and needs to be cut out. We're picking up bookings for nothing. I've been given the authority to pick the team and take it from there. Whether or not I have the same authority when it comes to fining people for indiscipline I'm only hopeful, because that's another major factor in what's gone wrong. The discipline has been very slack."

Noel Hunt glanced United's third before Wallace was next to see red for tripping Robson in the act of shooting. The United captain duly converted the resultant penalty before Stewart earned himself a second yellow for arguing with a supporter while the game was in progress. The midfielder had earlier gone head to head with Berra, visibly upset at what he perceived was poor marking by the centre-back during a United attack.

Frail continued: "With Michael, he just needs to be told. He says he was berating a fan who was giving him stick. Our fans are great and when they give us praise we're the first to stand up and take it, but you need to take it equally when they give you stick and be big enough to stand up to it. Under no circumstances do you shout back. We'd had our chat after the game and Michael wanted to walk outside. He spent ten or 15 minutes on that track just on his own. What he was doing I don't know."

Frail admitted Hearts would have agreed to a postponement of this fixture but that the SPL refused despite United's players being some of the first to rush to O'Donnell's aid when he collapsed at Fir Park last Saturday.

"The game went ahead and we're going out there to win a game of football. Ultimately, we didn't do that. It was a very strange atmosphere," said Frail. "Dundee United asked on Tuesday for the game to be postponed, we were happy to go along with that but the SPL decided not to. We need to take our rule from the SPL.

"I was really pleased for the first hour with the commitment and level of performance. But we lost 4-1 and I can't hide behind anyone and say 'it's not my team'. That was my team out there, my shape my formation, which I thought worked for an hour but the game's about 90 minutes."

Levein was more than satisfied with victory but maintained his disbelief at the SPL's decision. "It was very subdued before the match and in all honesty I'd no idea what to expect," he said. "I thought the whole SPL card should have been cancelled because the players said to me they'd rather not play.

"We kept our discipline in the second half and tried to pass the ball. We didn't get involved in any of the towsy stuff that went on, we played the game in the proper manner and it's not my job to talk about the discipline of other teams. I've been critical of our discipline in recent weeks but it's improved.

"Even though we won I think the game should have been off. Saturday would have been a better time to resume, that doesn't change because we won."

Calum Elliot explained the Hearts players' viewpoint and betrayed a confidence that Frail will succeed in steadying the good ship Tynecastle. "Stevie has been given control just now and all the players a
re 100 per cent behind him," said the striker. "You could see from the training session we did on Tuesday that the tempo was up. We were trying to focus on the United game.

"I think it's clear for everyone to see, we're near the bottom of the league and something had to change. Everybody was behind Angel but now that Stevie's in charge hopefully things will start picking up for us.

"I wouldn't say we let Stevie down, I think we let the club down with the result. I don't think anyone can say we weren't trying or anything like that. We just couldn't get the goal back. Everybody has seen the job Shaggy's done since he's been involved with the first team. He hasn't had much time on his own but in a week or two you'll see us taking shape."

Elliot's prediction may indeed come true, but first Frail will be required to swing his size 9s in the direction of some indisciplined backsides.

Taken from the Scotsman