Wouter Vrancken has urged his threadbare Hearts squad to continue digging deep by showing their mettle again in Motherwell. The Jambos head to Fir Park on Sunday with very little time to recover from Thursday's 2-0 defeat away to Mo Salah's Trabzonspor.
Vrancken's side is running on fumes after Harry Milne and Christian Borchgrevink suffered injuries in Turkey that has now left the Gorgie side without a string of key players. Hearts didn't take any points on their Conference League trip but their performance gave them a lift on the back of their seven-goal mauling at Celtic last weekend.
Vrancken's Rallying Call
Vrancken stated: "You have to, in this run of games, you have to always look to the next one because like you already saw with some situations like injury and stuff, you cannot look too far forward. So I hope just that they have the extra confidence to go into the game and that they feel that it was a goal. And that they felt that it was not good. And take it from there and just play the game and keep confidence in the things that they do and believe there. We still have to cope with a lot of, you could say, decisions."
Selection Headaches
Team selection will be Vrancken's biggest decision. It is more who is fit rather than who he leaves out and he is running thin in a number of positions. Stephen Kingsley is now his only fit, senior left-back, while it isn't much better trying to cover the central midfield areas. Jorge Altena played in the middle on Thursday, while Rogers Mato had to start at left-back in Trabzon.
This comes at a gruelling time with Hearts facing Motherwell and Rangers in the league, Hibs in the Premier Sports Cup semi-finals and an away trip to Thun next in the Conference League.
Positive Outlook
Vrancken admitted: "Maybe in some positions I don't have to make a decision anymore, because there's probably only one left or so. So you can laugh at it, but of course it's not so funny for me. But it is what it is. When I see Mato, when I see Calvin [Miller] in earlier games, when I see Jordi now, I have to say I'm really happy how the team copes with it and that they also know what to do in these positions and that they keep going and keep having the level. So let's try to show it again on Sunday."
