‘We’re not Barcelona’ – but McInnes knows how Hearts can respond

Derek McInnes is aware that his Hearts team is not Barcelona, but he is aware of what they must do to maintain their quest for the Scottish Premiership title.

The leaders’ 19th game was marred by a chaotic 3-2 derby defeat at Hibernian, which leaves them with just their second league defeat of the season.

McInnes lamented his team’s failure to perform the fundamentals at Easter Road on Saturday despite attempting to fightback.

The Hearts manager claims that after a disappointing day, his side now “needs to own” a “sore” afternoon in Leith.

The 54-year-old told BBC Scotland, “We get to the top of the league not by being Barcelona, not by being something we don’t think we are,” adding that “we do that well in games.”

It doesn’t matter how good you are or how good of a run you’re on, you’re going to end up with a sore one if you don’t do the fundamentals well.

We improved our routine considerably in the second half, giving a much more familiar performance. If we have two defeats out of the next 19, then we’ve had a fantastic, unbelievable season.

Celtic were able to close the gap at the top to three points with a commanding victory in Livingston following their defeat.

By the time Hearts play again on January 3rd, Wilfried Nancy’s men may already be top in goal difference.

McInnes is of the belief that his team’s performance will not be hampered by the city rivals’ defeat.

After a difficult schedule of fixtures, Hearts is expected to have a more favorable schedule, according to the report.

If those were to be successful, McInnes’ side would be well-positioned for the mouthwatering Tynecastle clash with Celtic at the end of January.

We’re gutted for the fans because you never want to lose a derby,” McInnes said. However, it won’t upset us or cause us to lose the upcoming games.

I can trust these young men. We’ve got to be honest, though, that we gave ourselves too much to do today despite receiving a lot of grace from me and a lot of credit from the bank.

McInnes also anticipates that winter signings will help.

Islam Chesnokov, a winger from Kazakhstan, is expected to arrive in the next few days, and the head coach is optimistic about “some positive news” regarding a few additional additions.

“We want to make sure that we have everything we can get,” McInnes continued.

Expectations have obviously increased. We wanted to try to at least meet expectations, as I once said when we first arrived, what the supporters want, and hopefully we can do so in turn.