You don’t need to be a maths professor to realise Hearts have a defensive problem on their hands. But the numbers paint a worrying picture.
Robbie Neilson has seen his team ship 35 goals in 18 matches this season - an average of 1.94 goals per game. They’ve kept just two clean sheets all season - away to RFS and Motherwell in successive fixtures back in September - but have been breached in every other game so far.
When you compare those numbers to last season, the difference is stark. In their first 18 matches at the beginning of last term, Hearts conceded 15 goals in their first 18 matches in all competitions, and didn't hit the 35 goal mark until March - 38 games into the campaign. At this stage last year, they’d managed eight clean sheets in what was a solid start to the season that laid the foundations for a comfortable third placed finish.
