Willing spy Derek McInnes lays out plans with Hearts given weekend off amid ‘long week’.
Jambos boss plots intel work on opponents as boss waits patiently for own big kick-off.
Hearts don’t kick off their Premiership campaign until Monday night when Aberdeen visit Tynecastle. It doesn’t mean head coach Derek McInnes will have the weekend off, though.
McInnes has already spent a decent chunk of July swotting up on this season’s opposition, even if he is well-versed in Scottish football. This season is different for the 54-year-old in that he is in charge of new club.
After swapping Kilmarnock for Hearts earlier in the summer, he can’t wait to get the league up and running amid heightened expectations for his team this term.
Tynecastle will be packed to the rafters for the visit of the Dons. By that point, every other team will have been in action. McInnes plans to take in some matches in person.
“It’s been a long week,” admitted McInnes. “It’s one of these unusual weeks when you have to wait to the Monday. We’re all getting out to watch games this weekend. I’ve seen Motherwell, picked them up this season, picked St Mirren up this season, already.
“You always like to see what teams are doing, new signings and whatever. Like last season, what teams are playing a back five, what teams are committing to a back four. You try and kind of get a flavour of how they’re going to be.
And you always see what the new signings are like. That kind of interest to see what players are bringing to different clubs
“But I think tactics and systems can sometimes be a bit overplayed. I think it’s all about whoever makes the good signings, I think that can be key, because I think clearly there’s a lot of people doing it their own way and a lot of people are investing money.
Seventh just wasn’t good enough for Hearts
“We just have to assume that everyone is doing a good job, but we have to do ours as well as we can. If we’re doing the best we can with the budget that’s available to me, the resources that we have, the facilities, and everything else, we should expect a lot more from ourselves than we did last year.
“There is no doubt about it.” Finishing seventh last term was not good enough and fell short of expectations.
Many believe Hearts will finish third due to the strength of their squad and the presence of McInnes, who has them purring already. They scored four goals in each of their Premier Sports Cup games and defeated Sunderland 3-0 last weekend.
“The game itself [against Aberdeen] is everything you want from the first game of the season,” McInnes went on: “Home game, live on Sky, sold out, against a good team and players. There will be a lot of talented players on the pitch on Monday night.
We just want to make sure we’re as prepared as possible, and I believe we are. “On Monday, we simply need to be ready to go. And I am confident that the close season has prepared us. We appear fit, competitive, and motivated. We seem to have a few good options.
I believe the pre-season, while never a true indication, had plenty of goals, clean sheets, and a positive vibe. It’s critical that we try to maintain this feeling as long as we can.
We’re well aware that there will be a belt in the mouth around the corner, which we hope to keep to a minimum this season. And hopefully we can keep this feeling that we’re all having at the moment going.”
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