Hearts icon Ryan Stevenson reckons his old club’s title rivals looked rattled at Tynecastle at the weekend

17:45, 27 Jan 2026Updated 19:36, 27 Jan 2026

Daizen Maeda is frustrated against Hearts

Ryan Stevenson has accused some of Celtic’s top stars of lacking the stomach to take this season’s title fight all the way.

And the Hearts legend has pinpointed Daizen Maeda and Arne Engles as two prime examples of key players who went missing in the heat of the battle in a thrilling table top clash at Tynecastle on Sunday.

The surprise leaders had to come from behind twice to take a 2-2 draw from the showdown with the champions but Stevenson believes Derek McInnes’ side ‘beat up’ Celtic all over the pitch’ and insists it was a case of ‘men against boys’ throughout.

He is now certain the ‘rattled’ Parkhead side don’t have the team spirit required to prevent Hearts from going the distance.

Stevenson – a special guest on tonight’s episode of smash hit online show Hotline Live – has tipped O’Neill’s faltering side to end the season in third place.

And he has questioned whether the likes of Maeda and Engles have their hearts still in it.

In a blistering column for Record Sport the 41-year-old writes: “Martin O’Neill isn’t daft. He’ll know the truth.There are players in his team right now who don’t have the stomach for it anymore. People who no longer want to be there.

“He’s got no choice but to rely on them for the time being but he must see their hearts are no longer in it.

Arne Engles cops abuse from Hearts fans

“Take Daizen Maeda for example. He was a disgrace on Sunday.

“Look, I don’t know what’s got into his head because he was unbelievable for Celtic last season. I don’t know if he feels he’s been let down and denied the opportunity to move on when he wanted to. There can be loads of factors.

“But he’s not pulling his weight, his body language looks horrendous and he played a huge part in the first Hearts equaliser by giving the ball away with a ridiculous pass.

“Arne Engles is another with huge question marks. Did Celtic really pay £11m for that guy? If so it was about £10.5m too much. And that’s me being kind.

“The big picture for Celtic doesn’t look good. They don’t look capable of withstanding any of this or fighting their way out of it.”

And Stevenson says Hearts will take a further boost from the angry fall-out which has been raging since Sunday’s final whistle – and includes Celtic lodging an appeal against Auston Trusty’s red card, which was thrown out.

He continued: “I’ve heard people who should know better spitting their dummy tits out over it and trying to make out that it’s proof that the world is out to get them.

“It’s pathetic and, if I was inside that Hearts dressing room, I would know 100 per cent that we have got them rattled. I’d smell blood from here on in.”