Paulo Sergio still struggling to get the best out of Hearts squad

JUDGED purely on league results and a look at the SPL table, Paulo Sergio has not done a bad job since becoming Hearts manager just after the start of the season. Sunday's defeat at St Johnstone was his first in the league since his domestic debut, ending an unbeaten run of five games, and leaves his club in equal fourth place.
Certainly, compared to the end of last season, when they could not buy a win, Hearts are in a relatively healthy state. But an assessment of how they have fared in all competitions, and of the facts behind the SPL scorelines, suggests a less positive prognosis.

For a start, the Tynecastle club's slump in the spring did not prevent them from finishing third, coming as it did after a promising run under Jim Jefferies had taken them within touching distance of the top of the table. Judged in isolation, that winless spell is relegation form, so the fact that Hearts are now doing better should be a cause of relief, nothing more, for the club's supporters.

Add in results in other competitions, and Sergio's record becomes decidedly mixed. The Europa League tie against Tottenham was always going to be tough, but to lose the home leg 5-0 smacked of tactical naivety. Last week's League Cup defeat by Ayr United was arguably worse, coming as it did against far weaker opponents, and after the Portuguese manager had had much more time to come to terms with the strengths and weaknesses of his squad.

Thirdly, even the three SPL wins Hearts have enjoyed so far have not come about as the result of outstanding performances. A couple were against two of the poorest sides in the league, Hibernian and Aberdeen, while the other came at home to St Mirren, who are now down in ninth.

Hearts' best displays of the season have probably been two draws - the gutsy 0-0 in the return European game at White Hart Lane, and the 1-1 draw at Ibrox with which the season began. The first came against an understrength Spurs side who knew they were already through; the Rangers match was under Jefferies.

In other words, while there is no sense of panic emanating from Tynecastle, there are growing signs that Sergio is struggling to come to terms with the Hearts job. He is edging towards an understanding of what is his best starting XI - the restoration of Andy Webster on Sunday was the only difference from Hearts' previous league match - but has yet to recognise that the style in which he wants them to play is unsuited both to their own talents and to the nature of the Scottish game.

We can lambast the SPL all we want for its lack of technical sophistication compared to many other countries, but the fact is that Hearts are not going to be competing in a different league any time soon. They need to play the kind of game which will help them beat their Scottish opponents.

Sergio's preference for patient, passing play will only get them so far. It is fine for build-ups designed to tease the opposition defence out of position, or when Hearts are ahead and want to take the heat out of a match.

It is altogether less useful, however, against energetic opponents who like to hit on the counter-attack. The manager needs to recognise as much, and accept there are times when a high-tempo pressing game will pay dividends for his team.

Although the players continue to make the right noises about Sergio's ideas, there are concerns about his ability to communicate them properly to the squad. His basic English is good enough, but something is being lost in translation nonetheless - witness the curious passing of a note from manager to Jamie Hamill to Ian Black on Sunday.

Sergio came across as intelligent and thoughtful during his early days at Tynecastle, making respectful remarks about his predecessor and accepting that the buck would now stop with him. More recently, however, he has become a bit of a grump, complaining about factors such as the weather and injuries which every manager has to deal with. He is also acquiring a reputation for blaming others - at Ayr the match officials, at McDiarmid Park his defence - instead of admitting that he may himself have got things wrong.

It was Webster's turn to shoulder some of the blame on Sunday, and in this instance it was easy to feel some sympathy with Sergio, who substituted the centre-half at the interval and later said he had not been playing well. Webster is one of the most accomplished members of the Hearts squad, but his record of pulling out of games with niggling injuries has to be frustrating for his coaches, and means he can hardly be viewed as part of a solid backbone of the Hearts team.

Sergio has not yet had the chance to make any signings of his own, and a couple of shrewd acquisitions at the turn of the year may enhance his reputation. So far, though, he has not made very good use of the resources he currently has, specially in the case of John Sutton.

The former Motherwell striker will get you goals against nine of your 11 SPL adversaries if played in the right system, but has been deemed too immobile for Sergio's 4-5-1.

Sutton's confidence has inevitably suffered as a result, and his anonymous outing against Ayr could almost have been designed as a demonstration of his shortcomings.

It's been a mixed bag, then, in Hearts' first two months under Sergio: there has been neither crisis nor cause for celebration. So far the manager is only floundering, not sinking. But in a league as mediocre as the SPL is this season, Hearts should be doing a lot better than merely treading water.

Taken from the Scotsman