Derek McInnes has been speaking to the media before Hearts’ crucial Premiership trip to face Motherwell on Saturday.
Here are the key lines:
- Hearts have quickly moved on from the “feelgood factor” of Monday night’s “big win” over Rangers: “As soon as you have your shower after the game, it just about Motherwell.”
- McInnes insists no one should question the mentality of his players as they bid to complete a stunning title win. “I think anybody who actually questions the mentality now hasn’t been watching us,” he says. “Regardless of how this season plays out, you don’t, at Hearts, get to 76 points with three games to go if you’ve not got a good mentality because there’s pressures at this club you need to deal with. There’s an insistence on winning games here and an expectation, so the players have answered that time and again”.
- With two draws and a defeat, Motherwell have been “problematic” for Hearts this season and McInnes admits: “We have to be honest, in all three games they could have beaten us.”
- The Steelmen “constantly test your organisation” and McInnes adds: “They look like a team who enjoy playing and what they’ve been asked to do. But they’ve also got very good players. I sometimes think that gets left behind. It’s all about how well-coached they are and how they play, the style.”
- On whether victory at Fir Park would be a huge step towards the title, which Hearts could clinch as early as Wednesday, McInnes says: “Who knows how big a step it is. It’s just three points. We can’t get obsessed with all the different connotations and what happens there if we win that one and they win that one. It’s not our thinking, I have no time for that. The message to the players is just concentrate and try to win a game against Motherwell.”
- Cammy Devlin and Harry Milne are “quietly getting there” after injury and could be available for Saturday. Craig Gordon is back in light training.
- McInnes pays tribute to his players and staff after winning his second manager of the year award: “For any manager at any level, any club, you still need good support round about you. I’ve had that. My relationship with Graeme Jones and the board have helped that. But the relationship with the players has been way more than that. It’s been so strong from the start and I think the players have deserved it. They’re the biggest driver for any individual awards.”
- With a three-point lead and just three games to go, the Hearts squad remain “pretty relaxed” and McInnes says: “We have conversations that aren’t about the games and the season. It’s just normal conversations you would try and have to keep that as normal as possible.”
- On how he’s coping with the title pressure and expectation, McInnes admits he enjoys the wins and how “everybody feels at the end, because I do feel that responsibility” while admitting he finds it difficult to switch off.