ROBBIE NEILSON says that the Hearts players know themselves their performance was nowhere near good enough as they went down meekly to Motherwell at Fir Park.
The Hearts manager was hugely disappointed in the display his men turned in, blaming a lack of concentration for the goals they conceded and lamenting how poor his team were as they frequently squandered possession.
He has now challenged his players to put the rare off day behind them, and focus on getting themselves back to the team he has come to know over the course of the season.
“I thought we were very poor,” Neilson said.
“It’s the worst we’ve been for a long time. That’s the frustrating thing. We’ve been in decent form then to perform like that, we were nowhere near the levels.
“Sometimes you come here at six or seven [out of 10] and you get results but we were a lot lower than that.
“You can have two or three players not at a level, but we had the majority apart from Zander (Clark) not at that level. It’s disappointing because we set standards and we were way below it.
“Games are won and lost in moments. We lost a poor first goal. It was second phase, one defender doesn’t come out and that makes it difficult. Then to lose another goal at the start of the second half, another second phase ball comes in and we don’t react when it comes off post.
“The goals come down to concentration but that isn’t the big issue. The issue is we were miles off it and we need to rectify that.
“We knew what to expect. The two boys up front were looking to win things off direct balls. It was a day that wasn’t good enough.
“We just need to get back to where we’ve been. We’re in third, played in Europe, the quarter finals of the cup. It was a disappointing display and it was very unlike us to give up possession and have passes going astray.
“When it comes to the end of the game everything is done. At half-time you say your piece. At the end of the game it’s looking at the reasons behind it. Was that good enough?
“They’ve looked at each other and said it wasn’t, to a man.”
