Derek McInnes on Kyziridis performance and Hearts absentees.

Derek McInnes evaluated Heart of Midlothian’s 4-0 victory over Stirling Albion.

He was pleased with some aspects of the first half performance, but believed the team lost its fluency after the break. Hearts led 3-0 at halftime, but the second half was tense until a fourth goal was added late at Forthbank.

The Hearts head coach spoke about the game, Alexandros Kyziridis’ performance, those who missed out, Oisin McEntee, and Christian Borchgrevink’s replacement. How did you evaluate your team’s first-half performance? Very intense.

Yes, I believe you get a sense of the team we want to be. Having two wingers, with Kyziridis playing off the left side. Stirling surprised us by fielding a back four against us after playing a back five all season, including preseason and cup games.

So it made things a little easier in the sense that we could, as long as we were aggressive, continue our defensive work through the middle of the pitch, which I thought we were doing through Cammy and Oisin, and feed the wide players.

I thought the combination of Borchgrevink and Forrest, as well as Milne and Kyziridis, was very fluid, and we consistently arrived at the desired areas of the pitch.

The decision-making at times let us down, particularly with our final pass and cross; the cross could have been much cleaner, but in terms of how they wanted the game to flow, the goal was excellent. At halftime, the score was 3–0. Lots of positives.

Borchgrevink left the game at halftime due to hamstring pain. We did not have another right back. Two boys are sitting in the stands at right-back, but for some reason, I did not put one on the bench.

I had wanted Kingsley and Kent to be the main headers, so we went with Oisin. I thought we lost a little bit of our fluency, but I believe Stirling deserves some credit for that as well, as they simply stepped right out of the game.

When you’re down three goals, sometimes you just have to stop the bleeding, and I thought they really filled the middle of the pitch with a 5-3-1-1, with the one dropping right in and the striker dropping in at the right time, so we had to go around the houses a little bit and weren’t as fluid as I wanted us to be.

I wanted us to demonstrate authority at halftime, and we did so in terms of control. And, obviously, the way things were going, Stirling wasn’t offering much ambition to move bodies forward. So it was up to us to break them down, and I don’t think we performed as well as I had hoped. 

Was it significant that Kyziridis stayed wide? Yeah, I wanted him to be there, and obviously at times, especially in training yesterday when we were going through the shape, Harry and Kyzi were fighting for the same space because Harry wants to play where Kyzi is,And Kyzi, we’re asking him to hold that width because I don’t want him wandering into an area where I expected there to be a lot of bodies. So we wanted Harry to be the one inside and Kyzi to try to get that 1v1 situation, which we did quite a bit of.

He was productive enough, but it could have been done a little better, truth be told, and that is not a criticism, but he gets a goal, good finish, and a stand-up cross. However, he should have arrived five minutes earlier to score another goal in the same area.

I thought his first game out and about, in front of the Hearts fans over that far side, gave you a taste of what he’s capable of. I believe he’s a moment player.

I believe he has the potential to make a difference for us, and I believe you saw him at his best in the first half. So he’ll feel good about himself after completing the 60 minutes. His first real involvement was in the League Cup. There were far more positives than negatives.

These games can catch you off guard.If your approach, attitude, and the way we approached the game in the first half aren’t right, these games will catch you, but thankfully, all of that was present, and we won 4-0.

We’re leaving here feeling a little bit like we’ve left something within ourselves, and we could have done better in the second half. Was it simply a matter of having Beni and Michael Steinwender in the squad?

Beni was injured. Beni sustained an injury yesterday. He got a slight strain. We’re a little scared at first, but it’s nothing serious, and he has a chance on Wednesday.

Unless the league changes the rules, somebody will be left out. I prefer to have a custodian on the bench, two defenders, two midfielders if possible, two wide players and two strikers, which sometimes forces you to make difficult decisions. Yes, I believe he could have occasionally left Borchgrevink and Forrest alone.

But there were also times when he saw an opening to drive into and made some great runs, putting in a couple of good crosses to demonstrate his ability. That type of game is not ideal for Oisin. So, in a possession-based game, you control the game and receive all of the touches.

Sometimes players like him wonder, “Where exactly do I fit into this game?” Where he actually needs maybe the opposition to have a wee bit more of the ball so he can go and win the ball.