Head coach Neil Critchley dismissed suggestions that Thursday night’s UEFA Conference League match against FC Copenhagen is a ‘free hit’ but admits the Jambos are coming up against a ‘very good team’ and will need to be at the top of their game to achieve a positive result.
The men in maroon travel to the Danish capital on matchday five of the competition, to take on their pot one opponents and while acknowledging it’s a tough test that lies in wait, the head coach says the Jambos won’t be parking the bus at the Parken Stadium.
Speaking to the media at the pre-match press conference he said:
“They're a strong team, A very good team, the best team we've met in this competition so far. Technically they're very good, they have a clear way of playing, a clear identity, in and out of possession. We know we have to be good in all aspects of our game, but we've played well in Europe and we'll need to play well tomorrow night but it's a great challenge in a fantastic stadium. It's very exciting, we can't wait for the game.
“Sometimes the best form of defence is to attack. If we just come here and try to park the bus then that'll be an issue, we've got to try and play our game as well and try and do our very best to control the game when we have those chances.
“We know we're going to have to be good without the ball because we're playing against a good team technically who control the game but also we have to be good on the ball as well, when we win the ball back we have to make sure that we don't just turn it over and give it straight back otherwise it'll be a long evening, we have to have our courage and brave and play our football and try and make it our game as best as we can.
“There are no, free hits. I don't like those words. There is no such thing. We're above Copenhagen in this competition so they need to win and we need to get something from the game.
“We missed an opportunity in Bruges. We didn't perform well enough on the night and we don't want to go to the last game. If that's the case, then so be it, but tomorrow we have an opportunity, we're here and we'll give it everything we can to make sure our supporters are travelling in great numbers again, that we try and do everything we can to give them a great memory and a great evening.”
Finally on team news, Critchley confirmed that Beni Baningime hasn’t travelled with the squad but added that Frankie Kent continues his recovery and is contention to start having picked up a knock against Aberdeen.
“Beni is not ready for this game, so he's not travelled with us, hopefully he'll still be fine for the weekend but Frankie's trained and Frankie's travelled, so he obviously comes into contention for the squad and for the team.”
You can watch Neil’s press conference in full on Hearts TV.
