00:00Let's focus on hearts then, Ben.
00:03Better where credit's due, Derek McInnes,
00:06a bit of a tactical masterclass, wasn't it, on Saturday?
00:10Obviously both goals scored by Shankland,
00:13but him and Claudio Bragg up front
00:15certainly gave the Rangers' defence a torrid time.
00:18There's obviously a bit of debate around
00:21whether or not Shankland's first goal
00:23shouldn't have been chalked off for handball,
00:25even he admitted in the first half
00:26in his post-match press conference that it did.
00:30But, you know, McInnes was very vocal, wasn't he,
00:33pre-match about, you know, travelling to Ibrox
00:36with strong belief based on their early season form
00:39that they could come away with a positive result.
00:43And they certainly had that in abundance, didn't they?
00:47They really took the game to Rangers.
00:49They were in their faces.
00:52And obviously a debutant goalkeeper as well.
00:56In goals, Alexander Swallow had very little to do.
01:00So, a pleasing day all round, it's fair to say.
01:04Yeah, I mean, we'd spoke about last week
01:07and previous weeks with Hearts.
01:09In the previous four games, they'd shown good performances
01:12for parts of the game.
01:14They played well in the second half at Livingston
01:16and against Motherwell.
01:18And pretty much all the second half really,
01:20outside of maybe Aberdeen,
01:21when they played well in the first half
01:22and then maybe dropped off at the second.
01:23But they hadn't really put in a complete performance.
01:27As to this point, on Saturday they did.
01:29As much as Rangers were really poor,
01:31that was also down to how well Hearts played.
01:34Again, McInnes is known for his kind of bold team selections.
01:39I think I'd heard a stat somewhere that this is,
01:42he is the only manager in Scotland to have beat Rangers
01:45with four different clubs,
01:46which is quite an achievement, I suppose,
01:51for him on a personal note.
01:52But he started in sort of more of a 4-4-2.
01:56Harry Milne, a left back, playing at right mid.
01:59And Ocean McInty, a centre mid, playing at right back.
02:03And just totally shut that right-hand side down,
02:07or left-hand side, sorry, down of Rangers.
02:09They did absolutely nothing down that side.
02:11They clearly identified that Gassam was the main threat.
02:14I ended up being Mikey Moore had actually started out on that side,
02:17but again, did nothing.
02:18Gassam eventually ended up on that side, did nothing.
02:22So they totally out-fought, out-played.
02:25They played like the home team.
02:27It probably should have been 3-0, possibly 4.
02:31By the end of it, it really could have been quite a,
02:35it could have been a really impressive victory,
02:37it could have been an all-timer,
02:40like 3 or 4-0 for them on Saturday.
02:43But obviously they'll be delighted.
02:44With how they've played.
02:46It does seem to suit them, this part of the season,
02:49that it's quite disrupted.
02:52They've came off a fortnight's break,
02:55that they've had to prepare for this.
02:56They now have another fortnight's break
02:58before they play Falkirk.
03:00They'll then have another fortnight's break after that
03:02because of the next international window.
03:04So it is quite a broken-up part of the season,
03:07but that seems to be allowing them to get this,
03:10you know, cast-a-thousand squad they've got,
03:12really drilled them on the training pitch.
03:14And it's paying off in matches.
03:17So, yeah, they look really impressive.
03:19And Tony Bloom's sort of statement about being able to split
03:22the top two seems to be,
03:24seems to be maybe,
03:26we said this about Aberdeen this season,
03:27but Rangers are far worse this season than their last season.
03:30You know,
03:31has it come a season too early for them?
03:33Maybe,
03:34in terms of properly pushing it back.
03:36I mean,
03:37the longer Rangers stick with Russell Martin,
03:39I think,
03:40and if Hearts can even maintain a level of the form they're on just now,
03:43then I think it becomes more of a real possibility
03:45that they can certainly do second this season.
03:48Maybe not first,
03:49but certainly second.
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