Hearts reaction: McInnes hails trio that showed ‘everything’ and lands ‘honest’ Claudio Braga verdict.
Head coach Derek McInnes was pleased with his team’s performance in the convincing victory over Sunderland at Tynecastle.
Hearts manager Derek McInnes admits he isn’t a fan of new signing Claudio Braga’s copycat goal celebration, but he hopes to see it more frequently in the first few weeks of the Scottish Premiership season following his excellent opener in a 3-0 win over Sunderland at Tynecastle on Saturday.
Braga, Lawrence Shankland, and Alexandros Kiziridis scored to give Hearts a comfortable win as the Gorgie faithful commemorated the career of much-loved custodian Craig Gordon with a special testimonial match against his former side.
The Portuguese striker’s fourth goal in five games, the summer signing from Aalesunds FK headed home superbly in the tenth minute before dropping the’siuuu’ celebration made more iconic by his countryman Cristiano Ronaldo.
Claudio Braga has started his Hearts career impressively. | SNS Group.
“He’s a boy who’s so willing to work,” McInnes said. “He is desperate to please. He also has the quality to back that up. But with that quality, there is genuine honesty.
He is desperate to perform well in a Hearts shirt. He’s living his best life since signing here. He could not be happier. To be honest, I believe this occurs on the pitch.
He has really embraced us so quickly. First and foremost, he will be popular with the fans if he continues to score goals. But, aside from his goal, his work ethic and link-up play have been excellent.”
When asked if he enjoyed his celebration, McInnes replied, “Truthfully, no, but it’s a bit of fun, isn’t it?” And the kids will enjoy it, and the supporters will anticipate it now.
And hopefully we’ll hear it a lot more. I believe every time he does it, he is fined by the boys. But hopefully, we will hear it a lot more.
He isn’t the biggest striker, but he does an excellent job of finishing. “I’ve been really pleased with the preseason as a whole, starting with the first day of testing when we returned. Players have been fully committed and motivated.It really came through in that performance.
You go through various trainings and place a demand on them through hard work.” McInnes also praised his midfield trio, who dominated much of the game against Sunderland’s midfield three, which included more than £50 million in talent.
“They were everything you would have wanted and a bit more,” McInnes told me. “I thought the midfield trio, [Calem] Nieuwenhof and [Blair] Spittal, obviously Calem coming off and Blair [Spittal] coming on, but [Cammy] Devlin and [Oisin] McEntee were as good as they’ve ever been. We were fairly secure.
“I’m not sure if Zander [Clark] had too much to do in that sense. The clean sheet is as satisfying as the outcome. As previously stated, the end result is brilliant.
They’re a winning team that has risen through the EFL Championship for a reason: they’re good players. “It was important for us, despite the fact that we were clearly ahead of them in terms of preparation, to try to take a step forward and not be intimidated by playing against good players, but to almost accept the challenge.
We will not get carried away because we are clearly ahead of Sunderland in terms of preparation. But beating Sunderland 3-0 has to be viewed positively.”
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