Robbie Neilson insists the time is now for Hearts to smash the Old Firm glass ceiling by dumping Celtic out of the Scottish Cup.
The Jambos boss is adamant his team is more than equipped to shock Ange Postecoglou’s side at Tynecastle this lunchtime and book their place in the semi finals. A midweek 3-1 Premiership loss to the Hoops in Glasgow is now ancient history for Neilson, above who believes his players can hit their ‘peak’ and prevent the league leaders making it 13 straight wins.
Hearts last inflicted a defeat over the champions in Postecoglou’s first game in charge of Celtic back in July 2021, and Neilson is convinced this is the chance to repeat that feat. He said: “If we are going to have any chance of doing it then this is probably the day “For the last 20 or 30 years one of Celtic or Rangers have been the dominant force so you’re having to play these teams six, seven times a season.
“We know they are a top, top team, there’s no doubt about that, and we will have to be at our best to break that run. That’s the objective for us. We’re at our peak at the moment, we’re playing at home, it’s a cup game, it’s all or nothing, so we’ll see what we can do.”
Neilson doesn’t expect any surprises from Celtic’s line-up but he anticipates wholesale changes from the Hoops team which started four days ago. He’s also set to shuffle his own pack with the likes of Lawrence Shankland, Barrie McKay, Stephen Kingsley and Michael Smith set to be recalled.
He said: “You are playing one another five, six or even seven times a season. By the time you get to March you know how the other teams play and you know every player within their system as well.
“We’ve played Celtic four or five times now, so whether it was two days ago or two months ago, you get an idea of what they are going to do. My job is to pick the team which I think will win the game whether they play really well the week before or they don’t.
“We will make a couple of changes but not many. The guys who came in did really well, but we have to bring that freshness and energy to the game. They could make five or six changes as well.”
Shankland’s hamstring remains a slight concern for Neilson who bristled at a suggestion his skipper could jeopardise his chances of a Scotland recall if he’s risked while not up to full-speed.
He said: “It’s about Hearts. He’s employed by Hearts, he’s here to score goals for Hearts, so if he’s available for Hearts he will play.”
Celtic have lost just one domestic fixture this term and Neilson is well aware of the challenge ahead of a game which is another acid test for signs of progress at Gorgie. He said: “I wouldn’t say this is a defining moment but we have to try to keep progressing and get as close to them as we can and ultimately try to match and go by them.
“We understand it’s a huge challenge to do that. I thought on Wednesday night we matched them for periods in the game.
“There’s no doubt they popped it about but we did that as well, we got through them at times and we defended well, but ultimately we lost the game.
“We want to try and win these games and we want to win them our way. We could have quite easily gone to Celtic Park and not played any football but I felt we have the players who can do that and it will be the same on Saturday.
“I feel we need to try and take our game to them.”
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