Csaba Laszlo believes his players are distracted. It is not an accusation that could ever be directed at him personally.

Csaba Laszlo believes his players are distracted. It is not an accusation that could ever be directed at him personally.

The Hungarian is so focused in trying to bring success to Hearts you suspect that were everyone to leave the room he would continue to outline his football philosophy for several more minutes regardless.

There is an intensity to Laszlo that is quite fascinating to observe. Not even the majestic surroundings of Edinburgh Castle could divert him from his chosen theme yesterday. A feeble performance against Motherwell the previous night had added further fuel to his frustration.

His targets were the youngsters in his squad - presumably Christophe Berra and Andrew Driver, although he insisted he was speaking generally - who Laszlo feels have had their heads turned by recent transfer speculation and are beginning to let it affect their form. With Sunday's Homecoming Scottish Cup tie with Hibernian looming large, Laszlo's zen-like mantra was to concentrate on the things you can influence and ignore those you can't.

"I have told the players not to waste too much energy on things they can't change," he said. "They need to concentrate on this game. This is a problem when the transfer window is open. A lot of people talk too much and players may have the opportunity to move for only the first or second time in his life. They lose energy and concentration if they are not focusing on their job.

"You could see that at Motherwell. Some of our players' heads were not in the dressing room, they were somewhere else. Players can be affected by this. They have listened to me and they know exactly what they have to do.

I don't think this will be a problem for the Hibs game."

Laszlo seems unaware of the news-gathering process. He wagged his finger at the media for concocting unsettling stories about his players before, without any prompting, outlining his belief that Berra is good enough to play at the top level in Germany, Italy or England.

A room of pressmen rubbed their hands at a juicy headline.

"In the last three weeks I haven't read in the papers about interest in Aberdeen players, Dundee United players, Kilmarnock players or St Mirren players. But everybody is talking about Hearts players and six or seven of them. This is new for the players. At the moment they may have an agent but another 20 are trying to call them, guys they have never heard of in their lives.

"If players want to see their names every day in the newspaper then they must deliver in every game. Christophe is a very talented player and his talent is enough to play in the national team. He could play in England, Germany or Italy. For me Italian football is tactically the best and I think he could play in Italy with the knowledge he has right now."

Hearts last won the Scottish Cup three years ago when they defeated Gretna in the final and Laszlo is dreaming of a repeat. "The supporters can enjoy this game. The first thing is that we don't lose and to maybe take them back to Tynecastle. But my priority is to win. You have two teams from the SPL and one big team will go out. This is good for the small teams. Rangers and Celtic dominate the league but other teams have a chance in the cup. Everybody dreams of this, even the small teams."