Articles by Ben Banks

Technology

Hearts adopt key Tony Bloom trait already as former AC Milan and Monaco striker makes lofty title declaration

Mark Hateley reckons Hearts have set the title race standard in Scotland’s Premiership this season. The former, AC Milan, Rangers and Monaco striker has been watching on amid turmoil in Glasgow, and joy in Edinburgh. Hearts have raced into an eight-point lead at the top of the league after Sunday’s 3-1 win versus Celtic, and boss Brendan Rodgers has since resigned as manager of the current champions. Danny Rohl has arrived as Rangers head coach after Russell Martin’s summer appointment proved calamitous, leaving the Light Blues with just two league wins so far this term. Amid investment from Tony Bloom and the management of Derek McInnes, Hateley reckons Hearts’ title credentials are there for all to see. He’s made a silverware statement over the Jambos who he feels have taken on Tony Bloom’s image already. He said, in an interview with BetWright , when asked how seriously Hearts’ title hopes must be taken: “Very, very seriously. Derek ticks all the boxes for me, knows the Scottish game inside out. He knows the game well in other areas as well and it was a great appointment by Hearts. “Especially the link-up now, obviously with the new investment, with data and analytics. You can actually see that straight away, the way the team are playing, very much like Brighton. Very much on the front foot. “I know stats aren’t everything but the possession rate was low but the energy that Hearts do give out in the middle to last third is pretty intense and ball-winning, and match-winning. I'm going to say anybody that needs to win the league will need to finish above Hearts.” He added on Rangers’ ability to challenge Hearts: “I know Danny from his time at Sheffield Wednesday, probably that's the earliest I've got to see him and what he can do and his effect on a team or a group of players or a football club in general. I think what he did at Wednesday was quite remarkable under the circumstances. “Trying to keep the fans onside against an owner that probably wouldn't work with him or didn't want to work with him. It got to a stage where, you know, it was management, players and fans, trying to achieve stuff. He's proactive which is good, and is very dissimilar to Russell Martin, I think. He's prepared. “I think one of his interviewing lines was what sort of formation are you going to play if you get the job? He said I can't tell you that until I see who my best players are. That is the art of a good coach. You find out what you can do with your best players and you put a formation around that so you can get the best out of that. I think you saw that at the weekend. I saw it instantly, literally, the higher press, winning the ball further forward.”