The first game of 2025 at Tynecastle was settled by a goal from Musa Drammeh.
Andrés Salazar, a Colombian defender, has rejoined his parent club, Atletico Nacional, after leaving Hearts. He returned to his native country after playing just one game for the Edinburgh team since joining on a season-long loan in August. With the January transfer window now open, Salazar’s loan has been terminated at the earliest opportunity as head coach Neil Critchley restructures the team at Tynecastle Park.
Following Hearts’ 1-0 victory over Motherwell, Critchley affirmed, “Yeah, he’s gone, he’s actually gone back.” Regretfully, neither he nor we would have preferred how things have turned out. He will return to his parent club, and we wish him the best, as we are unable to promise him the playing time he desires at this point in his career.
Musa Drammeh gave Hearts a crucial victory by scoring the game’s lone goal against the Fir Park team. Critchley then provided details on other January transfer activities as Hearts seek to bolster their roster. For striker Elton Kabangu, who is awaiting a work permit to start playing in Scotland, they reached an agreement to loan him to Union Saint-Gilloise. Given the injuries to Stephen Kingsley and Frankie Kent, defenders are also a top priority.
Critchley continued, “I won’t speculate on the players of other teams, and I won’t mention any names of players at other football clubs, because that would be wrong.” It goes without saying that we are looking to improve in the areas of the pitch that require improvement. All you need to do is look at our team and figure out what injuries we’ve had, and that’s what we’re looking for.
Critchley said, “Maybe, I don’t want to say yes or no because I’ve been in this situation before and ended up with an egg in my face,” when asked if Hearts will probably have business done in the next days. We’ll see, but sometimes things that seem simple turn out to be complicated, and the complicated ones happen extremely quickly.
Three days remain till our match against Dundee United. We’re hoping that Elton will be signed up for that match. Now, given the time period, it would be touch and go regardless of whether we were able to have someone else signed and registered before that game.
With his movement and mobility, we can hope that he will offer us something new at the top of the pitch and give our forward line a new dimension. He wants to enter the six-yard box to complete the movements, and he does get within the goal frame. He also provides us with an additional body up there. James Wilson has been putting on performances that really belie his years, and you can tell how exhausted he was at the end. The emotional and physical strain of playing and needing to produce every single game is too much to put on him. He has truly been amazing.
Hearts captain Lawrence Shankland missed another game and is expected to be sidelined for a few more weeks due to a calf issue. Critchley stated, “Yeah, he’s going to be out for weeks due to a calf strain.” “I wouldn’t say it will last for a long time, but it also won’t last for a week.” He won’t be showing up for a few weeks, but somewhere in the middle.
After sustaining an injury while on loan at Ross County on Boxing Day, Hearts midfielder Aidan Denholm is receiving treatment at Riccarton. “Unfortunately, he’s injured,” Critchley stated. “He has a hamstring issue; he left the Dundee game that Ross County was playing after about thirty-five minutes. He has been evaluated, and we now need to determine the best course of action for his recovery.”
Against Motherwell, Yutaro Oda and Barrie McKay were also absent from Critchley’s team, but the manager affirmed that none of the two wingers was hurt. “Yutaro was benched the other day; right now, there are only squad choices. They are available if chosen, fit, and uninjured.
When Hearts visit Dundee United on Sunday, they hope to gain momentum. In their last game of 2024, they lost two points against Ross County after giving up two late goals. They get to go to Tannadice Park after defeating Motherwell. “I told the players right away that we should really have six points from six, but we haven’t,” Critchley said.
We’re gaining ground, winning, and making progress, but it’s crucial that we have a string of successful outcomes so that we can boost our confidence even more. We will benefit psychologically from defeating Motherwell, and Dundee United is a very difficult opponent. We can go to Dundee and try our best to maintain our form and score points so we can keep things going in the right direction. Hopefully, they have a really tough derby match.
Finally, Critchley applauded the Hearts fans who turned up in a crowd of 18,715 for rallying behind the team. Critchley remarked, “I have to admit that I thought the ground support was fantastic today.” “They supported the team; there were no mutterings or signs of discontent. The squad got off to a strong start, and when everyone is on the same page, this is a formidable place to be. They have a huge impact on us.
Since I’ve been here, they’ve been amazing to me personally. I want to thank all of the people who have seen me, stopped me, and always wish me luck. It’s been quite humbling, and I personally appreciate them for that. It is really significant because we are not in a scenario we would like to be in and we understand dissatisfaction. However, we must utilise that frustration to strengthen our club and ensure that we move forward with the same goal and drive in the same direction.
Critchley hailed two crucial stops made by Craig Gordon in stoppage time to maintain the 1-0 scoreline and agreed that Hearts should have defeated Motherwell more easily. He grinned and said, “Yeah, the group is going to give me a heart attack.” “The game ought to have been over, concluded, and we ought to have been at ease.” We would have been back in Ross County if Craigie hadn’t made two outstanding saves.
For the first 75 to 80 minutes of the concert, I was ecstatic. We had complete control of the game, dominated the ball, created fantastic chances, and had a strong back four, yet we almost lost because we couldn’t score at one end. Your defender is always under strain since winning the game depends on keeping a clean sheet.
“Really, we shouldn’t have been in that predicament. There were other good chances, with Boycie slipping beyond the goal and two on the break in the end. Yes, there were clear and solid chances. Even in the first half, we were either missing that little bit or it was just that last second, or they were getting a block.
“We created some excellent football, got into some really good areas, and created some good moments.” We will be fighting for those three points until we discover that clinical edge to our game. To be honest, it should have been a routine victory today.
