Lawrence Shankland’s value to Hearts: Key detail shows his worth.
Scotland’s striker is back in the Premiership title fight.
As two Hearts substitutes emerged on the edge of the technical area, the noise level increased dramatically. Home fans sprang to their feet, cheers echoed around Tynecastle Park, and the excitement was evident.
Dundee were tied 0-0 with Hearts after 54 minutes, and head coach Derek McInnes knew adjustments were needed. The return of the club captain increased optimism and expectation, as well as the sound barrier. Lawrence Shankland creates such effect in Gorgie.
No insult to Blair Spittal, the other substitute who entered the action with the Scotland striker, but Shankland is seen in a different light than anyone else. After missing two months due to a hamstring injury, physios advised him to limit his gaming time.
Nonetheless, in 36 minutes on the pitch, he made an important contribution. Hearts quickly appeared transformed, pleased to have their captain back and benefiting from his brilliant forward play.
Shankland is more than just goals, thus attention to detail is essential. His attacking presence, ability to handle the ball, bring others into action, and glide into open spaces make him the Scottish Premiership’s best all-around No.9.
Not to mention his devastating finishing abilities. Hearts went on to defeat Dundee 1-0 thanks to Oisin McEntee’s late header, but statistics show that Shankland’s contribution was critical.
Shankland watched from the dugout as the hosts failed to score a single shot on target in five tries in the first half. Once he joined the game, the second half stats indicated 10 Hearts shots at goal, six of which were on target, including McEntee’s winner.
Without a doubt, players such as Claudio Braga and Landry Kabore have done everything they can to mitigate the impact of Shankland’s absence during the last eight weeks. However, there is no substitute for the primary in maroon.
Shankland is certainly capable of inspiring others around him as Hearts seek motivation to maintain their league title pursuit.
“I think when you’re on the pitch and you’re the type of person that demands it from people, it can help drive that,” Shankland told me. “Some people perceive it as moaning, whereas I see it as demanding.
You can request service and ask your teammates questions to help you find yourself. The more leaders we have on the pitch, the better, and they will also set the benchmark for how we want to play. I have no concerns about that, but there is always something to improve on.”
He didn’t completely realise how well his comeback went. “It was just nice to get back involved in the stadium,” Shankland said. “To be honest, Kabore was taking off his wristband, and he was holding it for me. He was holding the letter ‘C’ upside down. I was trying to figure out how he was going to put it on me, and I sort of missed the cheer. “Obviously, it’s a good feeling to be back out there.”
Shankland, like most footballers, is not an avid spectator when his side plays. He considers himself fortunate that, at the age of 30, his career has been relatively injury-free. He is currently back, with seven games remaining in the Premiership season.
Hearts are on top and hope to stay there to win their first top-flight title in 66 years.
“That’s brilliant. “When you join a team like Hearts, you want to be a part of a successful team,” Shankland explained. “In the last four years, I’ve been fortunate enough to have two really terrific ones, followed by one not so good.
“The fourth one has been good. We just need to keep going; we’re doing extremely good right now. The points return at this point is excellent, and we simply need to keep chipping away and winning games.
“When you’re a part of it, you feel a little more in charge. There have been a few nervous moments in the stands while watching, but it’s nice to be back out there and contributing to the team’s success. That’s all you can truly ask for.
When his hamstring gave way during a Scottish Cup match against Falkirk in January, his experience came in useful. As skipper, he refused to wallow in self-pity. “It was just acceptance; it’s part of football, and unfortunately, it happens,” Shankland explained. “A lot of players don’t experience it.
As soon as I got the results, that’s the point where you know you’re going out for a while. I just accepted it as quick as possible mentally and got myself back on the rehab train as quick as I could. “Obviously, people look to you as a captain and I think the biggest thing is around the boys.
“It’s more the noise on the outside that can get in, people are like, ‘you’re missing the captain, you’re missing this’. I know we’ve got the ability in the squad, you can see the quality we’ve got throughout the game to fill the gaps. That was important and for me it helped me as well, I could be a bit more relaxed about things going forward.
There wasn’t a pressing need to return as quickly as feasible. It has been a good experience.
“When you reach to my age, you’ve been around the game long enough to watch boys go out with injuries. Teams can deal with them; we’re good players, and you can, too. As previously said, we have a high-quality squad.
Every time we’ve asked someone to come in, even as late as Saturday when Michael Steinwander came in for Halks, he’s ready to go. They’re all capable entertainers. Our best performances this year have come when we had to dig deep.
“I don’t think there’s anything more irritating than not getting to play.
I could deal with it Monday through Friday, which isn’t too horrible because I’m still with the guys. You’re just concerned about them, and you’re doing your own work, naturally.
It hurts a little when you come to matchday and the atmosphere outside is electric, but you’re sitting in the stands. That is your role; you must be present for the squad and all of the injured boys. “That’s what we did.”
Cammy Devlin, Shankland’s therapy companion, injured his ankle days before Shankland’s hamstring injury emerged. Both returned against Dundee, with Devlin making the starting lineup.
“For the first couple of weeks, he was a bit down in the dumps but everybody is different and they deal with things in certain ways,” says Shankland. “He never really embraced it; he was a little bit in denial about his injury. That’s his approach; he’s consistent.
He was OK after he settled in and recognised that all he needed to do was give his body some time to recover. It’s good to see him out there again. I believe he also completed close to 75 minutes, which is fantastic.”
The title competition is becoming more intense with each passing week, as evidenced by the scream of relief and excitement that followed McEntee’s goal on Saturday.
Hearts were not at their best, but they still secured three crucial points to remain ahead of Celtic and Rangers. “It’s the same way it was prior to Saturday:
Every time we go out there, we try and win our next game,” laughed Shankland. “We’ve done that well this season, and that’s all we need to do: take each game one at a time.”
“The squad will grow stronger as we reintegrate injured players. It appears like this will happen soon.
You want to have a full squad to select from, obviously the success we’ve had up until now proves that we’ve got a good squad there.
When we’re at full strength we’re really good and that belief will grow as long as we keep winning games.”
With a wry smile on his face, Shankland also admitted he is willing other Premiership teams to take points from Celtic and Rangers to help Hearts’ title quest. “Of course.
You want everybody around you to lose, that’s the way the game is,” he said. “As long as we keep winning our games we don’t need to concern ourselves too much with that – but come on the other teams!”
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