Copyright scotsman
Beni Baningime is one of many Hearts undroppables right now. He is dominating matches, dovetailing perfectly with midfield partner Cammy Devlin, and even indulging in a bit of carry-on when appropriate. If sitting top of the league brings added pressure, Baningime doesn’t feel it. Even when preparing for a potential powderkeg encounter with Celtic at Tynecastle Park. Hearts’ unbeaten start to the Scottish Premiership is driven by the Baningime-Devlin central pivot. Both are in outstanding form and Baningime admits he is playing some of his best football four years since arriving in Edinburgh. Injury problems subsided, he is running around with a smile on his face every day. None more so than last week at Kilmarnock when his cheeky wind-up persona came to the fore. The Congolese slightly miscontrolled a ball in midfield during the second half. As it ran between his legs, he flicked it with his back foot out left to Lawrence Shankland in an instinctive movement. While running forward to join the next phase of play as Shankland advanced with the ball, Baningime quickly looked back to flash a huge cheesy grin at Devlin behind him. It was the look of: ‘Did you see that, pal?’ The Australian couldn’t help but laugh. “We’re brothers, honestly, that's my boy, loves him to bits,” said Baningime. “There's a video out there from the last game, where I think I did a skill, then laughed. It was never any disrespect, it had nothing to do with any disrespect, it's because I'm playing with my boy. So many people might not see it. He'll do something and he'll look at me and start laughing, and then we'll just go back to being serious straight away. “It was to nobody else but him the game, it was never any sort of disrespect. That's just the way our relationship is and has been from day one. I'm not going to tell you what he said to me, it's quite funny what he said to me. That's my boy, honestly, what a great player he is and it's a pleasure playing with him.” The pair frequently giggle when encouraged to shoot by fans during games. Both have an infrequent scoring rate due to naturally more defensive instincts. “Yeah, so he would have looked at me and he would have started laughing - and I would have started laughing, so he would do it a lot to me,” said Baningime. He will need to actually dispatch a shot at goal at some stage. “At some point I'm going to have to, aren't I? At some point I'm just going to have to let it go, and hopefully if I let it go, it goes in. That'll be a scene,” he laughed. “I think me and Cammy are very similar sort of players in terms of both good on the ball and both very dynamic. He might be a little bit more dynamic and animated than me, in terms of sometimes make a tackle, or fight with someone or whatever, but we're very similar in the way that we play. We understand each other. We understand that in any game, to gain control, the midfield has to be solid, making sure you're willing to take on balls, and willing to make tackles, and giving the opportunity for the players, like [Lawrence] Shankland, [Claudio] Braga, [Alexandros] Kyziridis or whoever, to get on the ball. “I would say the way that we play, it really suits us. You can almost be outnumbered in midfield, but you can almost make up for it because of our athleticism. Playing with Cammy is something I’ve enjoyed from day one. It has been brilliant. But there's also many other players, like Tomas [Magnusson], [Calem] Nieuwenhof, Sander [Kartum]. We have a lot of players who are not playing. Eddie Ageu is coming back now, so we have a lot of players, and it will need all of us, all of our efforts to continue on in the season.” Keeping it light-hearted helps ease tension. Baningime is a serious customer when it comes to his own game and ambitions. He knows he is in form and wants to maintain his present trajectory. “I would say that this is probably the best version of me, in terms of mentality,” he said. “You see many players, many players have got abilities, probably great in their minds or whatever. But I feel like what you learn at Hearts is to be strong mentally, to be able to block out the noise. Let me give an example, James Wilson, what he's learning here at Hearts can prepare him for his career, for the rest of his life, whatever he wants to do with his career. That’s because there is a demand there. In other teams, there's not such a demand. “You see players coming from all over the place, even when they go to Rangers and Celtic, or even here, and they struggle. I didn't understand that when I first came. I didn't understand the pressure, the passion. Being here for such a long time, it does prepare you. You truly learn how to adapt, and how to become a man, how to become somebody that can get results, even if the fans are booing. “A lot of guys that have been here long enough are great professionals who have been long in the game. Shanks, for example, he's not somebody that always screams all the time, but when he screams, everyone is like, ‘oh, okay’. You have him and other players. Even in those hard times, we've got the boys here who can handle this pressure. This is why we're doing so well, because we're together as a team and it's brilliant to see.” Hearts topping the table is no coincidence. Head coach Derek McInnes and his coaching staff are driving some serious momentum in Gorgie and have a huge fixture on their hands this weekend. A Hearts win over Celtic will open an eight-point gap between the top two in the Premiership. “You can never be first in a league like this, with competition that we face every week, by chance. It's definitely on merit,” stressed Baningime. “The hard work has paid off and we have to be excited, but we also can't slack off. We just need to continue in this direction that we've been going on. “I think the gaffer, that's obviously the number one difference. The way that he's approached the game, the way that he wants us to play, his personality. Him and the coaching staff, they've just brought in a bit of brilliance. That's obviously number one. In my opinion, what we struggled with last year was breaking teams down, everyone had a part to play in that, but I think bringing in Braga, Kyziridis, he's just flying. “We have players like Elton [Kabangu], when he’s been playing, James Wilson, so I think we've definitely strengthened in that area. And we've strengthened everywhere else as well. There are boys in midfield, so I would say that's probably another thing where we look scary. We look like we've always got a goal in us. From corners and from set-pieces we look very dangerous, which we didn't really last season.” Hearts supporters are revelling in early-season progress after seeing their team finish a disappointing seventh last term. They are keen not to look to far ahead, particularly when Celtic are the next opponents. The more victories mount up, the more belief grows in the west of Edinburgh. Baningime and his colleagues won’t listen to too many outside influences. “Celtic are a great side. No matter what's going on out there, they are a great side with great players, so it takes cohesion. It takes all of us being together, it takes great performance from all of us to be able to beat a team like that. We're very excited, and we're just excited for the challenge. There's always going to be noises. There's noise if you're doing well, there's noise if you're not doing well. When you’re playing for a team like Hearts, there is a lot of noise - for yourself, for the club, and you learn very quickly to block out noises. “You learn to concentrate in the moment and, as I said, Celtic are a great side, a really top side. If we go into the game listening to the noise and being excited and whatever, you can find yourself in real trouble. They lost the last [league] game and we won the last game, but that's just one game. That's gone. I'm a believer in what is in the next game. Whatever happened in the last game, it's finished now, you can't go back in the past. The experience that they have, the ability and the talent that they have, they're definitely going to bounce back. So, for us, it's just to be ready for that challenge, and hopefully get results.” He is primed to face season’s Premiership winners like Callum McGregor and Reo Hatate, but Baningime is simply not the type to be cowed. “They're great players, I don't think I'm the one who needs to sell them, because we've all seen them play, and there's a reason why they play for Celtic. I think for us, it's that challenge of playing against the best players in the league. I'm not shy, I'm not scared of anybody. I've never been scared of anybody. “I don't care if you're Messi. I don't care if you're Ronaldo. I don't believe you should ever be scared. I'm a man, I play men, you should always give your best, no matter what. To play against the level of talent that they are, and the ability that they have, of course, it makes you a bit resilient because you understand the type of football team that you're playing against. For me, Cammy, or whoever else is going to be playing in there, we have to be prepared for that because these are great talents. It's not just them, it's all over the pitch. For all of us, it's a great challenge. We just have to take it as that.” One issue Baningime is less definite on is his Hearts contract, which expires at the end of the season. There have been no contract talks so far. “We haven't had that conversation. There probably hasn't been any conversation, there isn't a conversation, there isn't anything to talk about,” said the player.
