Hearts midfielder Prince Buaben is confident the side will restore confidence following back-to-back defeats in the Scottish top-flight.
Starting the season with five wins was exhilarating for Hearts supporters, but consecutive losses against Hamilton and Inverness prove their team is far from infallible.
The key now is to put those results into context and maintain stable minds with Aberdeen and Celtic next on the league fixture list.
As the Premiership’s newly-promoted club, talk of Hearts winning the title after those first five fixtures was premature. Nonetheless, they have already demonstrated an ability to compete in Scotland’s top flight.
They have beaten St Johnstone and Dundee – two clubs who finished in the top half of last season’s table – but remain fragile away from home. In short, five wins and two defeats from the opening seven fixtures is a start many would have gladly accepted two months ago.
The sense of anger and disappointment felt at both New Douglas Park and the Caledonian Stadium will have dissipated slightly by now. Retaining belief is very much the theme of this week for Hearts as they build up for Aberdeen’s visit to Tynecastle.
“After the Hamilton game, the manager wasn’t happy,†explained midfielder Prince Buaben. “He’s the type of manager who can be angry and let you know he’s angry, then he gives you another kick to say: ‘Don’t worry about it’. The games are gone and you can’t change the past. There is another game coming up.
“When we lost against Hamilton, you should’ve seen us in training. Everybody was strong and buzzing. Friday night was obviously different, but we just have to keep going. I don’t think the manager is always calm on the inside. When he’s angry, he’s really angry. Obviously, he wants the players to do well but he’s got the right to be angry if we perform like we did at Inverness. I had seen him ?angry before, but he’s a really good manager.
“The players just have to keep their heads up. There is a big game coming on Sunday so we have to forget about what happened at Inverness. The manager is probably going to try to give the boys a little boost because we can’t change what’s happened now. We’ll try to kick on.â€
Buaben explained why losing games from time to time is a necessary part of football. “This needs to happen because, if it doesn’t happen, then we are perfect,†he said. “No-one is perfect so it’s good that this has happened now.