No panic from McInnes but is Hearts’ form a worry?

Hearts have won nine of their first 12 league games this season and are unbeaten up until Aberdeen’s 1-0 defeat on Sunday.

They have played more than four games, but they have lost three of their previous four games, four points clear of nearest rivals Celtic.

They are anxiously awaiting the results of a scan on Lawrence Shankland’s calf after their leading scorer, who had lost to Pittodrie, to heighten the sense of foreboding that is being gathered.

Hearts’ impressive start and Aberdeen’s start last season, which they won 10 of their first 11 games and held on to, have a row without a win in 14 straight matches.

In the end, Jimmy Thelin’s side finished fifth in the Premiership, but they did win the Scottish Cup at Hampden against Celtic.

Not really based on the evidence from Sunday’s performance.

In a game that was played in terrible weather, Hearts wasted several chances both before and after half-time.

Claudio Braga was denied when he looked certain of scoring when Frankie Kent headed straight at the keeper from a short distance, Harry Milne hit the crossbar from close range, and Tomas Magnusson hit the ball straight at Dimitar Mitov.

Former Scotland midfielder Michael Stewart said, “Hearts only have themselves to blame for not coming away with three points.” They “had enough opportunities,” they said.

Aberdeen made it count when they managed to score one sight-of-the-goal. Topi Keskinen made the most of Kent’s failure to clear and found the bottom corner.

According to McInnes, “I thought we were the better team, had the better chances.” However, the final bit doesn’t display the poise or quality. Sometimes we appeared rushed.

If we had scored, Aberdeen would have entered a completely different environment.

“We believed we had accomplished enough today not to lose.” Without Lawrence and Craig Halkett, the performance today actually gave me a lot of encouragement.

The more legitimate concern might be that Hearts’ high return doesn’t last, especially if Shankland is out for a long time because they have been scoring 29 goals in comparison to their expected goals this season, which is 22.46 xG.

On Sunday, Pierre Landry Kabore and Braga met for the first time in his fifth game and set his best sight on goal high and wide.

Kris Boyd, a former Scotland striker, saw no cause for alarm despite the defeat.

He said on Sky Sports, “One win in four, that’s a slight concern.” I don’t believe Hearts had a bad pitchman. They simply lacked that cutting edge, in my opinion, but they did defend reasonably well. Simply put, it wasn’t in front of goal.

Before a testing run of December games against Kilmarnock, Celtic, Falkirk, Rangers, and city rivals Hibernian, McInnes’ side travel to Motherwell on Saturday.

“I don’t think it’s a daunting run at all,” McInnes said. We have exciting games to play and contests to win.

“We’ll be getting ready to go back to work.”

We are aware of our position and are enjoying our position. We’re winning games more frequently than not, so it’s important that we regain that feeling.

Cammy Devlin, the stand-in captain, shared his manager’s thoughts.

He said, “The best part is that we can wait six days before our next game.” We were going to lose a game, so it’s about not feeling sorry for ourselves.

Alasdair: The Celtic goal last night that featured Callum McGregor had the potential to be a turning point in the season. This analysis today appears to confirm it.

Colin: Christmas with Celtic back in control.

Jimmy: Hearts won’t finish higher than fourth until Christmas, and will be third.

Peter: Hearts are as flimsy as any other team. They will be greatly affected by this outcome. Their team bus will have a completely different dynamic when they leave without scoring. They have also been a key player in some extremely contentious VAR decisions.

Alan: At some point, there was going to be a defeat. disappointed, but it really depends on how we react right now. Rebound stronger and triumph in the subsequent round.

Ruddiger: The only bubble that burst was the one that another person intentionally destroyed in our name. There is no reason to be upset at 39 points.