Copyright scotsman
Car horns beeping along Gorgie Road late on Sunday afternoon suggested something significant was occurring. Merely yards away inside a throbbing Tynecastle Park, Hearts had just made Celtic look like a clapped out old Lada, never mind a Honda Civic. Supporters sang on the street, vehicles slowed for drivers to toot their approval, and local hostelries were bustling. Unthinkable just a couple of months ago, there is now an eight-point gap atop the William Hill Scottish Premiership - and Hearts are the pace-setters. Eight wins and a draw from their first nine league fixtures has forced all of Scottish football to take them seriously. Sunday’s success felt more momentous than most of the others given it was against the reigning champions. It is rare that Celtic look so ordinary, pedestrian and emotionally rattled as they did in the 3-1 defeat. Midfielder Callum McGregor squaring up to Hearts counterpart Cammy Devlin in the first half exemplified the visitors’ anger at not getting their way. The Celtic captain, a serial Scottish league winner, doesn’t take kindly to being upstaged. Nor does his manager, whose post-match comments on Hearts’ direct style of play in contrast to Celtic’s DNA were crass and undignified. Neither McGregor not Rodgers could dispute the fact that Hearts deserved their victory. The reaction outside Tynecastle afterwards resembled a continental scene following a big result in a European league. The blaring horns and chants echoing up and down streets conveyed Hearts supporters’ delirium. They tied scarves to departing Celtic buses and taunted anyone in green and white, as if to reinforce the message that Gorgie is back to being as bustling and hostile as ever. How long will it last? That’s the question everyone is asking. The Jambos are happy to revel in the moment right now, but there is no doubt their team carries the wherewithal to challenge for the Premiership title. There are multiple reasons why. The first and most important is that they are the best team in the league at this moment. Hearts have beaten every one of last season’s top five clubs - Celtic, Rangers, Hibs, Dundee United and Aberdeen. Some of those will doubtless improve in weeks to come, but as it stands no-one is at Hearts’ level. Secondly, they are the league’s top scorers with goals from every area of the pitch. There is pace, skill and physicality in their attack, with full-backs, centre-backs, wingers and forwards all finding the net. Not to mention a devastating set-piece threat. At the other end, the third reason is they are conceding less goals that the other teams. New goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow made his fifth appearance for the Edinburgh club against Celtic, and McGregor’s equaliser was the first goal he has lost in Scotland. Next, squad depth is a hugely important factor. Not only do Hearts have a strong staring XI which has remained consistent for the last five games, they also possess a stack of capable players in reserve. A 30-man first-team squad trains each day at Riccarton. Within it, internationalists like Craig Gordon, James Wilson and Landry Kabore are fighting merely to make the substitutes’ bench. Many people hark back 20 years to the start Hearts made in 2005/06 under George Burley, but that team held a three-point lead at this stage, not eight. Burley’s squad also did not have the same strength in depth as Derek McInnes’ does. The fifth factor is McInnes himself. His work in blending a team together can’t be underestimated after 11 summer signings. He knows the Scottish league inside out and has married the physical attributes of players like Stuart Findlay and Oisin McEntee to the pizzazz of Alexandros Kyziridis and Claudio Braga. It is remarkable that Kyziridis cost nothing and is already one of the country’s most exciting and valuable talents. McInnes is also getting more out of established faces like Craig Halkett, Devlin, Beni Baningime and Lawrence Shankland. Again, supporters are loving it. There are a number of Hearts players who would walk into the team at both Celtic and Rangers right now. That is yet another rarity. Speaking of the Glasgow two, they look a shadow of their former selves. The whole of Scottish football senses they are there for the taking this year and that Hearts will never have a better chance to win their first league title since 1960. Celtic have spent money, but not very well. Their squad at Tynecastle on Sunday contained £35m worth of talent - key players like Daizen Maeda, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Jota were injured - yet they managed just two shots on target. Hearts’ matchday squad cost less than £4m to assemble. Rangers have also spent, but Sunday against Kilmarnock was their first home league win this season following a shambolic start to the campaign. Finally, Tony Bloom and Jamestown Analytics have hauled Hearts from seventh-placed also-rans to title hopefuls in the space of five months. Bloom sat in Tynecastle’s directors’ box grinning like a cat who got the cream on Sunday. Or he might have been smiling as an adopted Jambo who got his strategy right. Either way, his network and the data analysts at Jamestown have allowed Hearts fans to dream of making history. Do they have the staying power? That is probably the only question still to be answered. Everything is going smoothly but there will be difficulties. Suspensions, injuries, refereeing decisions and the January transfer window will all have a bearing on whether Hearts can actually see this through. There is a long way to go, 29 Premiership games to be played, and plenty time for pitfalls. For the moment, they have many of the necessary credentials to win a league - player quality, momentum, squad strength, managerial nous. Celtic are eight points behind in second place, Hibs 11 points adrifts in third spot, Dundee United trail by 12 in fourth and Rangers sit joint-fifth with a 13-point gap between them and Hearts. The opportunity is clear at Tynecastle, it is now about handling a different type of pressure: The pressure to keep winning. That is a responsibility players only learn through experience, and that’s where the unpredictability comes in. Only Gordon of the current Hearts squad has won the SPFL Premiership. Scottish football can expect a fascinating few months ahead. Celtic will try to recover, Rangers have a new manager in Danny Rohl, Hibs and Dundee United will aim to stay high in the table. Hearts are right where they and everyone else wants to be, though. Imagine how loud those horns will blare through the Gorgie Road party next May if they see this through. READ MORE: Hearts 3-1 Celtic report and ratings
