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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Ewan Paton

Hearts branded 'Serie B strugglers' by Italian media following Fiorentina loss

HEARTS have been slammed by the brutal Italian media for their performance against Fiorentina last night. 

Robbie Neilson's men were thumped 5-1 by the Serie A side in Florence. 

It followed on from last week's Conference League result where the Italians beat the Jambos 3-0 on their on patch. 

But after the latest game between the teams, the Edinburgh team have been blasted for the "disaster".

La Gazzetta Dello Sport slaughtered Neilson's side calling their defence 'a broken umbrella' and even branding Alex Cochrane a 'disaster' at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.

Italian journalist Fabio Bianchi took particular aim at Cochrane. 

He also accused Cammy Devlin of being 'too light' for La Viola and claimed Jorge Grant 'had his pants pulled down' by Sofyan Ambrabat in midfield.

Bianchi wrote: "The historic union between the cities has little to do with it.

"The modesty of Neilson's team has something to do with it, who would struggle to save himself in our B.

"But, with this in mind, Fiorentina regained some confidence in front of the opposing goal, even more than in the first leg."

Cochrane was rated four out of ten. His summary read: "A disaster, starting from his marking leaving Jovic who thanks and hits the net without even jumping. He ends the night with a bludgeon from Saponara."

Fellow defender Stephen Kingsley was also savaged. His read: "Zero protection in front of goal, he doesn't even know who he's going to get."

Goalscorer Humphreys was rated the best after scoring and causing some problems in the Fiorentina backline. 

Andy Halliday and Barrie McKay were given decent ratings too, with six-and-a-half and six out of ten respectively.

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