No way through for Hearts

michael grant chief football writer at TYNECASTLE

19 Aug 2011

ALL their worst fears realised, all their nightmares come true. Hearts had a fortnight of fun and excitement about sharing a platform with something close to football aristocracy, but, boy, it all turned ugly for them last night.

Here was another of those evenings when Scottish football was put in its place. Competing with a team of Spurs' wealth is all-but impossible given Hearts' resources – even with most of their heavy artillery wheeled out – but that didn't make it any less harrowing in Gorgie.

There was plenty of razzmatazz around the build-up but it became a car crash for Hearts. An embarrassment. They are out of the Europa League with a game to spare and next week's second leg in London already looks like an even more grotesque mismatch. This was Hearts' heaviest ever defeat in Europe. The priority is to ensure that is still the case after White Hart Lane.

So much for Spurs playing a weakened team or being belaboured by injuries. Given Luka Modric, Peter Crouch, Sandro, Ledley King, Jermaine Jenas, William Gallas and Steven Pienaar were unavailable to him, Harry Redknapp had to muddle through with just the £140m-or-so of talent.

He put out the strongest team he could and no amount of rustiness – this was Spurs' first competitive game of the season – could spare Hearts. There will be some hand-wringing about how hopeless Scottish football is on the back of this, and it won't be eased by the knowledge that the next time Spurs play they'll be the underdogs. They're at Old Trafford on Monday.

This was supposed to be an intimidating bearpit. It was supposed to be Tynecastle as pumped up as it can get, the Hearts lads firing into Spurs, getting in their faces and not giving them a minute's peace. That sounded like a perfectly legitimate gameplan before kick-off but within a few minutes it was exposed as hopelessly inadequate.

When the gulf in class is as emphatic as it was here, aggression and intensity is as effective as holding a blowtorch against the tide. Besides, Spurs aren't just fragile, gilded talents who are likely to wilt under a bit of Scottish pressure. There's strength and power there too. Early on Hearts' little midfield enforcer, Ian Black, bumped into Niko Kranjcar and was put firmly on his backside. It was men against boys.

If Hearts were to have any chance their defending had to be as good as it can get. It was nowhere close. As admirable and impressive as Spurs were in crafting the moves which pulled them apart, Hearts' defending at the goals was weak and sluggish.

They gave Spurs far too much time and space to let the passes flow. Where were the challenges on Rafael van der Vaart and Jermain Defoe as the pair of them slalomed their way towards goal? Van der Vaart wanted to play the ball back to Defoe but it broke to him off Marius Zaliukas and Andy Webster.

Zaliukas tried a clearance but only hit it into Van der Vaart again and it fell nicely for him to score. Almost three hours of European football still to play yet the tie felt as good as over after four minutes and 15 seconds. Spurs had their away goal without having to wait for it.

The second was a merciless punishment of a small Hearts error. David Templeton gave the ball away in the Tottenham half and the next time they touched it they were lifting it out of their net. Van der Vaart was involved again, playing it out wide to Aaron Lennon who blazed away from Jamie Hamill and passed for Defoe to stroke in the second. That was 2-0 with 13 minutes on the clock. A stroll.

The third? Hot knives through butter again. Jake Livermore was recently touted as a possible loan signing for Rangers and on the evidence of his goal he would run riot in Scotland. He played a one-two with van der Vaart and then another with Defoe, slicing up the defence again and sticking away the finish. Zaliukas arrived too late.

Hearts fans had to suck it up. They took it pretty well, continuing to back their team despite the crushing deflation of what they were watching. They had the stomach to taunt Spurs about anything they hoped might annoy them, which wasn't much, and around the stands they took it in relatively good humour. It's not fun watching your team being tortured and tormented.

Their reward was a moment or two early in the second half, Andy Webster worrying Spurs with a header from a corner and Ryan Stevenson pushing the ball wide from an Andy Driver delivery. Surviving more than half an hour without conceding another one was a victory of sorts, too, but it could not last.

Any urgency had dissolved from Spurs' play but their class was permanent. Tom Huddlestone – another man mountain who came off the bench for them – dinked a ball over the Hearts defence and Gareth Bale met it, took a touch and tucked away the fourth. Andros Townsend broke from defence and sent the ball to Defoe in the corner, his cross was converted at the six-yard box by Lennon for 5-0.

The thought of White Hart Lane is chilling.

Scorers: Van der Vaart (5), Defoe (13), Livermore (28), Bale (63), Lennon (78).

Taken from the Herald