Black’s in his pomp and he’s making Hearts race

By ANTHONY BROWN
Published on Tuesday 6 March 2012 12:02

I’VE always felt Ian Black’s reputation as a hothead has been somewhat overblown, so it has been heartening to see his undoubted quality begin to override concerns about his temperament recently.

When the Hearts midfielder is on his game, as he generally seems to be in the bigger matches, there are few better players in the country. Graceful, elegant, composed and dominant, there are shades of Paul Hartley about Black when he’s in the mood, as he was at Ibrox on Saturday, and as he was when he “painted Easter Road maroon” at New Year.

In fact, whenever Hearts click, Black is generally the fulcrum of the team, and, as such, is probably their most important player these days. Given the competition for midfield places in the Scotland squad, he would need to be playing ultra- consistently to force his way in.

To do that, he needs to cut out the bookings, and, in turn, suspensions which interrupt any momentum and give his critics easy ammunition to brand him a loose cannon. That said, three red cards in over five years is hardly the record of a maniac. If he can start bossing games on a more regular basis in the manner he has done on several occasions against the likes of Hibs, Celtic and Rangers over the past season and a half, the occasional moment of rashness will become more easily forgiven by his observers.

Taken from the Scotsman