They do say that bad things come in threes. Over the past week, Hearts have had to absorb a hat-trick of hammer blows. Alas, it never rains but it pours.
Still trying to digest the news that Cammy Devlin will be out of action for up to two months, another gut punch arrived yesterday when it was confirmed that Lawrence Shankland faces a similar period on the sidelines.
Given that they were also knocked out of the Scottish Cup against Falkirk last weekend, it’s been an absolutely rotten few days for Derek McInnes and the Tynecastle club.
This is new territory for them. Not only in terms of their position at the top of the league and being six points clear, but the fact that they are now having to deal with major adversity.
By and large, the Hearts team has been extremely settled for the majority of the campaign. They have had minimal disruption.
The team effectively has effectively picked itself. Indeed, there is an argument that McInnes should have rotated things more often at times.
Hearts boss Derek McInnes has been dealt a significant blow with news of Shankland’s injury
Key midfielder Cammy Devlin is another Tynecastle player set to miss a chunk of games
The suspended Beni Baningime and injured Devlin will both miss the weekend clash with Celtic
But, for the first time all season, they have now been seriously weakened. This isn’t just a case of losing a couple of squad players and the numbers being a bit thin on the ground.
In Devlin and Shankland, Hearts are losing two of their star players. Two guys who make up the spine of the team. Two guys who have been pivotal to their title aspirations.
Devlin has been the best midfielder in the country so far this season. Shankland is the captain and league’s top scorer. Four goals in four matches against the Old Firm clubs this season demonstrate his importance.
Along with the absence of the suspended Beni Baningime in midfield, it presents a huge challenge for McInnes heading into the Celtic game at Tynecastle this weekend.
If he can galvanise his players and re-energise them, he could yet take a huge step towards winning the league title.
But on the back of a shock Scottish Cup exit last weekend, and with key players now dropping like flies, a defeat to Celtic would show the first definite signs of cracks appearing.
Ultimately, Hearts now stand at a crossroads. They need to show resilience to get through this period, or their season could very well fall away.
Scotland striker Shankland is the Premiership’s top goalscorer and will be hard to replace
As soon as the dust had settled on the defeat to Falkirk last weekend, there was a theory which quickly started doing the rounds.
With no remaining interest in any other competitions, could the result actually be beneficial to Hearts in their efforts to go on and win the league title?
It’s an old cliché. One which becomes a convenient excuse for failure. A good run in the Scottish Cup would not have hindered Hearts in the title race.
If anything, it might have helped. Winning breeds confidence. There have been plenty of examples in the past of teams building such a weight of momentum that it carries them over the line.
Look at Rangers in 2022. They reached a Europa League final when it was widely expected that they could be running on fumes on the domestic front come the end of the season.
Just a few days after beating Braga in the quarter-finals, they summoned incredible reserves of energy to beat Celtic in extra-time in the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup.
Even after the disappointment of losing the final to Eintracht Frankfurt, they still roused themselves to defeat Hearts in extra-time to lift the Scottish Cup at Hampden.
Regardless of the latest setback, McInnes must look for his men to press home their title claims
Momentum counts for a lot in the second half of a season.
This isn’t the same as Hearts having no European football to deal with across the first half of the season. That was undoubtedly a benefit. Compared to the schedules of both Rangers and Celtic, they were able to maintain an extra freshness throughout their squad. Long travels across Europe were not an issue.
But the Scottish Cup is different. All they would have been doing would have been playing a few more weekend fixtures from now until the end of the season.
So let’s not dress it up as anything else. The defeat on penalties at home to Falkirk goes down as a major blot on the copybook.
Hearts have already blown two chances at winning trophies this season, given that they were also knocked out of the League Cup on penalties against St Mirren back in August.
At the time, McInnes admitted that he got his team selection wrong for that match and made too many changes.
There was no such excuse last weekend. Hearts fielded a strong team and still came up short. It was a bitter disappointment, plain and simple.
Hearts have beaten the Old Firm home and away this season on their way to the top of the table
And if you wanted to be viewed as a big club, then you should be looking to win every trophy that’s available. Especially in a season where Celtic and Rangers have both been so vulnerable.
If Hearts were to finish the campaign without a trophy, would it be a failure?
On the face of it, that might seem harsh. Especially now that they have lost a couple of key players for a significant period of time. But Tony Bloom didn’t put his money into the club to finish third.
He arrived with the intention of disrupting the natural order of Scottish football and, ultimately, winning the league title. His ambitions are a matter of public record.
Which is why there is now extra pressure on Hearts and McInnes. They are six points ahead — and could go nine points ahead of Celtic if they beat Martin O’Neill’s side at Tynecastle on Sunday.
That could very well bury Celtic’s title hopes. Given the ongoing shambles of their January recruitment, it would be difficult to make a case for them clawing back that kind of gap unless Hearts really fall apart.
But the injuries to Devlin and Shankland present a new dynamic. Hearts need to do everything in their power to grind it out and keep their head above water over these next few weeks.
Rangers and Danny Rohl could suddenly be breathing down their necks. The Ibrox club have made a statement of intent with their transfer business so far in January and are clearly going to contest the title.
What Hearts don’t want to do is be remembered as nearly men. A season that promised so much could yet see them finish empty-handed.
Rangers have looked revitalised under Danny Rohl and will be there or thereabouts in title race
If they had won the Scottish Cup or the League Cup along with putting in a strong title challenge, it would have gone down as a brilliant season.
But they were knocked out of both of those competitions in the early stages. That’s not good enough for a club like Hearts — and not good enough for where Bloom wants to take them.
If they make a mess of the league from here, could you really say it’s been a successful season? Up against two of the poorest Old Firm teams in living memory, they have had a golden chance.
Even with injuries, you can’t make excuses. Every club has injuries to contend with over the course of the season. No one ever keeps their first-choice XI fit for an entire season.
Celtic have been without their two best defenders — Cameron Carter-Vickers and Alistair Johnston — for much of the season.
Rangers have lost Connor Barron for a period of up to three months. Barron had been the club’s best player during the revival under Rohl. Injuries are part of the game.
Despite the setbacks, this is a chance that Hearts have to take now, otherwise they will have blown an unbelievable opportunity. One which may not come round again any time soon.
