St Johnstone 1-0 Hearts: This could be Jim Jefferies' biggest task to date

Published Date: 01 February 2010
By BARRY ANDERSON
JIM JEFFERIES came "home" for a second time and generated a wave of excitement in the process, although Saturday's events at McDiarmid Park emphasised that his list of domestic chores is extensive.
Reorganising a disjointed defence and finding some attacking inspiration from somewhere would appear to top his priorities. Hearts at times were neat and tidy around the central midfield area but they failed to register a shot at the St Johnstone goal until the dying seconds of stoppage time. Meanwhile, their back four looked overwhelmed whenever the hosts streamed forward.

That a single goal, scored by Kenny Deuchar after 51 minutes, settled this affair was somewhat surprising given St Johnstone's dominance, but it should be remembered that Jefferies has just got his foot in the door. He might have been here before and been ultra successful, but he must familiarise himself with several Hearts players and learn their strengths and weaknesses. Only then can he properly begin his second tenure as manager. As well as embarking on a league match only 24 hours after replacing Csaba Laszlo, he was juggling aspirations of reinforcing his forward line before the closure of the transfer window. Hence the Hearts performance lacked cohesion and left much for Jefferies to ponder.

"I think we need to put things into perspective," he said. "I came in on Friday night and spent most of the time talking to backroom staff asking 'can this boy do this or that?' and 'can he play here or there?'. We had to patch up the side with so many injuries, then Marius (Zaliukas] had to go off. Then I'm asking, 'what can this boy do who's going on?'. It was very difficult.

"It was great to find out about boys I've never heard of. There are some I know nothing about. I know about Gordon Smith, I hadn't seen him play a lot but I saw him score against Hibs.

"I learned a hell of a lot and it was about finding out who does what. I know nothing about Rocky Visconte, for example. I went for Gary Glen because I wanted people on the park who had experience of the first team.

"I have to be the judge about whether they are good enough or not. A lot of players are out injured and I want to start getting them into the team that I want and get them playing how I want. Then you make decisions on who can stay in your plans." Only with 20 minutes remaining were Hearts roused from their slumber in Perth. Zaliukas departed at half-time to be replaced by Andy Driver, returning from injury. St Johnstone scored when Deuchar converted Danny Grainger's cross six minutes after the restart, but once Driver found his feet he looked threatening, if less than fully fit.

"I wish we'd played from the start like we did in the last 20 minutes," continued Jefferies. "Driver had a really good final 20 minutes, taking people on and we came up with a couple of decent chances. We probably should have got a draw but Smith's shot was blocked (in stoppage time]. I left some things alone in terms of set plays because they had been used to working on that. But we didn't get good deliveries and must decide who is best to take them. That will take time, you can't change quickly when games are coming round quickly.

"I've had brief discussions about bringing someone in before the deadline and we'll try.

"You need to get people who are available before the window shuts.

"I think we need another striker, you can't play young boys all the time. They're going to be good players and you can bring them in, but it would be nice to have a natural goalscorer."

Similarly, Jefferies is also attempting to finalise roles for Billy Brown and Gary Locke at Tynecastle. His trusted lieutenants paced the Hearts players through their pre-match warm-up as volunteers for the day, as contracts have yet to be signed for their respective roles of assistant manager and first-team coach. However, that is considered a mere formality, emphasised by the fact they trotted around the McDiarmid Park pitch in Hearts attire already emblazoned with their initials.

"They know I want to bring them in so we're trying to get it sorted. Billy was coming up to the game anyway and it shows his commitment that he wanted to help. Werner (Burger] was not there but Billy will get them ruffled up a bit and I think Gary has a great future in the coaching side of things. I thought I was a big Jambo till I met Gary Locke."

Some of the banter sure to be emanating from Brown and Locke will be useful for dressing-room morale, according to Jefferies. "I think they're all too serious and they're all different. Someone said to me the atmosphere after the game wasn't any different to when they win. We'll try to sort that. The reception from the fans shows everybody is happy but we need to work hard to give them success. It would be great to go and get a couple of beers with the players and learn more about them."

The bustling, no-nonsense approach of Jefferies and Brown is in some ways a complete contrast to Laszlo and Burger, but Driver remarked that the change of outlook may be beneficial. "Maybe Jim Jefferies is the kind of character this club needs at moment. We've not really had time to reflect on the appointment yet. We had a quick meeting with him on Friday night then the pre-match meal on Saturday. It's been a bit hectic because we were all focusing on the game.

"It came out of the blue. These things happen in football and as a professional you just get your head down, don't get involved in politics and play football. I didn't feel there was a need for change but the hierarchy obviously felt a change was needed. He's a legend at the club and the youngsters could learn a lot from him.

"He told us after the game that the first 70 minutes wasn't good enough. We need to work harder, get stuck in more. We got into the game in the last 20 and that's how we need to start games. I'm coming back from a long injury and you're always a bit paranoid but I felt good for my first game in three months. When teams get new managers they tend to push on. We need to do that on Tuesday because it's a massive game in the League Cup semi-final. We need to perform better than Saturday and hopefully the rest of the season takes care of itself. The new manager hasn't had any time to speak to anybody. A couple of days, even one training session, makes a massive difference.

"We wanted to improve on last season and so far we're nowhere near that standard so we need to buck our ideas up for the rest of the season. Jim has as a wealth of experience and he's British. I've had about nine managers in my time at Hearts and he's the first proper British one. Some of the boys are looking forward to that. Growing up we are used to the British way of coaching."

Taken from the Scotsman