Robbie Neilson wants Hearts to stick to their attacking strengths when they take on FC Zurich tomorrow night.
The Jambos are heading out to Switzerland for the first leg of their Europa League play-off showdown. The capital club are potentially just 180 minutes away from joining some of Europe's top clubs in the group stages of the second tier competition. They have the added bonus of knowing the adventure won't stop here should they two-legged tie go against them with the guarantee of Europa Conference League already in the bag.
Hearts have started off the new Premiership campaign with seven points from nine. Two wins at Tynecastle and a draw in the Edinburgh derby has the Gorgie side brimming with confidence ahead of their European adventure. They hammered Dundee United 4-1 last weekend, but Neilson says after scoring so early in the game through Lawrence Shankland they never kicked on and put the game to bed. Hearts' strength is moving the ball quickly and getting into the box and scoring goals - exactly what he wants him to against FC Zurich.
The Hearts boss said: “Dundee United were coming off the back of a difficult European result so we knew they were going to be coming out the traps at us. We spoke about getting a good start and we got it with Lawrence Shankland’s early goal, but we never really kicked on from there until the second half.
“We got the early goal and then I felt we started to think about Thursday night – instead of going for the jugular and keeping going again and again. Sometimes you can think you are better than you are at times. We need to realise what we are good at.
“What we are good at is moving the ball quickly, getting it into wider areas, into the box and scoring goals. If we start to force things then we aren’t so good.”
Sign up to Edinburgh Live newsletters for more headlines straight to your inbox
READ MORE: Hearts' rivals FC Zurich sit bottom as they strike late in basement clash in Europa League warm up
He continued: “I’m pleased with our domestic start, although we wanted to win all the games. Now we go into a really tough period with midweek and weekend games for six or seven weeks. Then we go into an international break and then we do it again. This will be a key period in the season where we need to continue picking up points domestically.
“You look at Dundee United: A good team who played in Europe and then lost the next game. Then they played in Europe again the following week and lost the next game again. It’s very difficult to sustain that but we need to think about it and we need to do it.
“The players need to realise that this is the time that they need to commit, really look after themselves in terms of recovery and make sure they can play at the weekends.”
READ NEXT:
- Hibs fans launch pitch invasion as derby exuberance spills onto pitch after Martin Boyle heroics
- Lee Johnson ignored Hibs hierarchy advice over Martin Boyle as he sends 'very gentle' reminder
- Robbie Neilson highlights Hibs 'talk' as he bigs up Hearts domination in recent derby clashes
- Three things we learned from Hibs vs Hearts as Boyle in heroic return and Shankland off the mark
- Hearts player showered with chips as fans hurl objects during Edinburgh derby
