Hearts manager Craig Levein is confident a more “cerebral” team will cope better with playing Celtic on the wide pitch at BT Murrayfield.
Levein’s side have beaten Celtic twice on their tight Tynecastle arena in the past 12 months but conceded seven goals in their past two visits to Parkhead.
However, Levein feels a better tactical understanding among his new-look team can ensure they are not exposed in the open spaces of the home of Scottish rugby during Sunday’s Betfred Cup semi-final.
“The team is slightly different to what it was last season,” the former Scotland manager said.
“We had quite good success against Celtic last season here (Tynecastle) because our game was all about running and energy. I don’t feel it’s the same this year, I think the players are a little bit more cerebral and understand more about the defensive shape than maybe we did last season.
“I think it was really just pure energy and effort last season. I think we have players who understand the defensive side of things a little bit better. There’s not as much running, there’s more thought, so the size of the pitch I don’t think is as important this time round as it would have been last year.”
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers will have to utilise his squad for the trip to Edinburgh with injured skipper Scott Brown, suspended defender Dedryck Boyata and ill striker Leigh Griffiths among a number of players missing.
Tom Rogic, Kristoffer Ajer, Youssouf Mulumbu and Filip Benkovic all sat out Thursday’s Europa League defeat by RB Leipzig and defenders Jozo Simunovic and Cristian Gamboa both went off injured.
But Levein pointed out that his side have had to overcome major adversity this season and downplayed the relevance of Celtic’s problems.
“The drop-off in their squad is not a huge gulf from what is recognised to be their strongest starting 11 and the players they bring in,” Levein said. “So whoever they bring in will all be good players.
“Christophe Berra’s missing, John Souttar’s missing, Uche (Ikpeazu) is missing, we have had Marcus (Godinho) and Jamie Brandon missing, Peter (Haring) has been out.
“We’ve had our problems, every team has their problems. There’s no point bleating about it, just get on as best you can. I’m sure Brendan will be the same.”
