DANIEL STENDEL is
adamant too many clubs travel to Celtic Park with damage limitation in mind as the Hearts head coach vowed to go on the front foot at the home of the champions.
The Parkhead side have been imperious in Glasgow during their recent domination of the Scottish game, with their 2-1 defeat against Rangers in
December representing their first home reverse in domestic football since May 2018.
And Stendel reckons that
record feeds into a lack of belief from visiting managers.
“You follow the scores on a Saturday and look for the Celtic game: 0-0, 1-0 Celtic, 2-0
Celtic – in the end, it is always a Celtic win because every team expects to have no chance,” he said. “We do expect to have a chance and we want to play our style against Celtic.
“When you go there and just hope Celtic don’t score then you can be hoping for a long, long time. Every team would like to win but, at first, a lot of teams just don’t want to lose.
“The game starts 0-0 and I want us to go for three points.
“We know we are playing against the best team in Scotland, with a very good offence, but we have shown before that we can win against Rangers, so why not Celtic?
“We need some special days but when we are concentrated and have the courage to do what we want, then we have a real chance.
“If not, then you just go to Glasgow, look at the stadium and go home with nothing – that can not be our mentality.”
With a relegation six-pointer against Hamilton on the
horizon following the Celtic clash, Stendel added: “I have had the questions: ‘Is this game more important than that game?’ In our situation we cannot say things like that. We have tough games in the next 14 days and we need points wherever we can get them – even against Celtic away from home.”
Stendel, meanwhile, does concede that the threat of Odsonne Edouard may explain the fear factor when teams visit Celtic. The Frenchman has scored 24 goals this term and, with 12 of those coming in his last 14 outings, appears to be getting better with every passing game. But Stendel wants his Hearts players, who have conceded six times in their last two Premiership fixtures, to be inspired by the challenge of halting Scotland’s most potent attacker.
“It’s a good contest for everyone on the pitch to say: ‘Against me, he does not score. Against us he does not score!’” Stendel said. “Everyone on the pitch needs to have the feeling that they are not alone. If we can make it 11 versus one every time, then we are better.”
While Hearts seek a way to quell the irrepressible Edouard, Stendel could find inspiration at the other end from Jamie Walker, who has looked reinvigorated in his recent outings from the substitutes’ bench.
He was the driving force behind coming back from 3-0 down against Kilmarnock to narrowly lose out 3-2 and was bright once again in Saturday night’s Scottish Cup victory over Falkirk.
“We have had a chat,” said Stendel. “I’ve heard so much about how he can be an important player for our team and
I expect more from him in training. I think he understands and he’s showed in the last two games he can help us.
“We need our best players on the pitch and, when he plays and trains like he has, Jamie is one of the best players.”
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