Viktoria Plzen have plenty threat, but Steven Naismith feels his team can counteract it
Steven Naismith acknowledged the threat posed by Viktoria Plzen whilst assessing Hearts’ Europa League opponents ahead of Thursday’s play-off first leg. The Edinburgh club travel to Czech Republic on Wednesday, 24 hours ahead of the match at the Doosan Arena, and coaching staff have done extensive research on the home side.
Miroslav Koubek’s side have lost just two of their last 16 league matches and eliminated Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih of Ukraine in the third qualifying round to meet Hearts. One of their dangers is giant striker Daniel Vasulin, who stands nearly 6ft 5in tall with three goals in his last four matches.
His physicality and goalscoring ability will test the Hearts defence. Head coach Naismith is hopeful that centre-back Frankie Kent will recover from a toe infection in time to play. His availability would be important in dealing with Vasulin.
“Vasulin is big and he’s got decent link-up play and a decent touch for a tall player. They have a threat,” Naismith told the Edinburgh News. “Their wing-backs are really aggressive, they are playing like wingers at times. That’s the challenge. That’s the enjoyment we’ve got to get in this – wait for a moment to understand when we can get the ball. When we can, then we control the game or we counter-attack, or we have possession and cause them more problems. It’s exciting.”
Vasulin normally leads a three-pronged Plzen forward line and Hearts don’t expect the Czechs’ system to alter. “They are a team that want possession and they’re quite expansive,” explained Naismith. “They commit bodies forward and generally play the 3-4-3 system. The front three players change at times – whether it’s a No.10 or two No.10s with a striker. They understand how they play. You can see that in their team. All their players know what they are trying to do.
“I think we have good footballers who can keep the ball under pressure. They will try to be aggressive with their press but we have good players who can work their way out of that. When we do that, we have quality players middle to front who can hurt them.”
Hearts faced the Norwegian side Rosenborg and Greek club PAOK Salonika in European competition last season. Naismith believes Plzen are of a similar standard. “It is just another European game. I think the quality of opposition is similar to Rosenborg and PAOK Salonika. It’s in that ballpark,” he said. “From watching their games, I think we can hurt them. We can cause them problems.
“A lot of our good stuff last season came from a good structure of everybody understanding what we do out of possession. These games are different to Scottish games. It’s not just about: ‘We get the ball, we need to score.’ It’s about understanding it’s a two-legged tie, where it is in the game, what time it is in the game. Have we had good possession? Is it a moment we should be forcing things because we’ve got them under a lot of pressure, or is it a moment to enjoy having the ball and dictate the game? There’s a lot of more of that in Europe than there is domestically for us. For me, that will play a big part in this tie.”
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