Tactical Analysis – Rangers & Hibs

Following the impressive victories over Rangers and Hibs, Gary Mulraney of The Maroon Report provides us with his tactical analysis of the two matches.

Heart of Midlothian 1-0 Rangers
29/02/2020

Formation: 4-2-3-1

Defensive Organisation

Daniel Stendel’s solution to the team’s soft centre was to use Damour and Bozanic in the double pivot . The coaching staff opted for a compact and aggressive double pivot in front of their defence, defending in a medium block.

Damour and Bozanic were man-orientated in their defending, often marking opponents when they’d come into the central midfield zone. It was actually a bit of classic zonal marking, where they mark the players closest to them in their zone. Most importantly though, was the they worked together. When one pressed, the other covered and they always stayed close to each other. This gave perfect protection in front of the back four, especially the centre-backs in the dangerous number 10 space.

The most interesting development I noticed with the pair was the defensive balance if our full-backs were high and out of position. When Rangers were attacking and Hearts were in transition from attack to defence Damour, in particular, would drop into the half-space and cover the vulnerable area, especially against Kent who is dynamic in attack. 

The team defended in a medium defensive block, with the defence playing roughly 25/30 metres from our goal instead of a high defensive one. Stendel used positional pressing with triggers, usually by Naismith, which the team followed. This differed from the all-out aggressive press in previous matches, which created a massive imbalance.

Hibernian 1-3 Heart of Midlothian
03/03/2020

Formation: 4-2-2-2

Build-up play & Attacking Organisation

Daniel Stendel has implemented a personnel and tactical change, particularly with the exclusion of Andy Irving. He was the focal point of Hearts’ build-up play previous to the recent alteration. Following the win against Rangers, Hearts played long balls from their centre-backs into half-spaces in the middle third; the classic game of winning second balls. 

Once the ball had been played into these areas the opposition centre-backs would win the first ball undisturbed, then Hearts would press them immediately allowing them to win the second ball. After winning the ball, they moved towards goal with quick combinations and shifts into the second half-space. Hibs’ outside centre-backs were particularly vulnerable to Washington’s willingness and movement from inside the pitch to outside. By doing this Hearts could bypass the first third and the front line of the Hibs pressing and quickly gain a lot of space.

The wingers played a supporting role in all of the attack schemes, and not only in the quick counterattacks after contested balls. Sean Clare & Lewis Moore skilfully combined this with their defensive duties and it was one of the most interesting aspects of the Hearts performance from a tactical perspective.