McInnes<\/a> said: \u201cI don’t think it’s a perfect situation Steve finds himself in with goalkeepers but if anybody can deal with it, I think Craig’s got the experience.<\/p>\n\u201cHe was in the squad the last time after maybe only having a week, 10 days of training. We’re now another month on.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough he’s not had first team involvement, certainly not starting games, we’ve had bounce games and 11 v 11 games in training.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe’s not missed a beat with training so I think he’s certainly more ready for this round of games than he was the last round. You don’t play at his level and at his age without being a first class trainer.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe’s training at a good level, as they all are the keepers. We\u2019ve got the benefit of having a lot of good goalkeepers at the minute and Craig’s one of those.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s not perfect in any position if you’re not playing regularly but I think Craig’s got the experience to deal with that. But that’s up to Steve to decide when he speaks to Craig.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regular game time certainly isn\u2019t a problem for Lawrence Shankland who has fired his way back into Clarke\u2019s squad on the back of his form for Hearts.<\/p>\n
The Tynecastle skipper has netted 10 times already this season. And McInnes said: \u201cI\u2019m delighted, as was Lawrence when I passed on the message from Steve. He was over the moon. It\u2019s a good reward for a strong start to the campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you look at his performances in real detail, I think it’s not only his goals but his all-round game that\u2019s in a good place.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good for us, for players like Lawrence. They’ve got added motivation to try and be part of a World Cup at the end of the season and hopefully we can get there as a country.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we can get the results in the next couple of games then every Scottish player’s aspirations must be that.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s too important and too special an opportunity for him. So, I’m just glad his game’s in a good place.<\/p>\n
\u201cResults at Hearts over the last few years were a lot of times really Lawrence dependent. I say that with great respect because he was the guy that was expected to score the goals and if he wasn’t scoring then everything became a bit more difficult.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know having managed when you’re relying on maybe one or two players but the good thing for Lawrence is he sees that the pressure’s been shared. We’re getting goals from all over and obviously his part’s been really significant still which is where it should be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Should Scotland make it then McInnes says it\u2019s not just Gordon and Shankland in his squad that should be pushing to be on the plane to the greatest show on earth next summer.<\/p>\n
He reckons there\u2019s others in the league leaders midst who could do a job for their country on the big stage,<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cWell I do but I don’t pick the team! I’ve never been one to champion my own players.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t like people telling me who I should be playing so it’s up to Steve but I do think we’ve got players here that could handle international football all day long.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do think that for all the Scottish players, if your game’s in a good place and you’re playing for a team that’s at the top end of the table, you just never know. I think players have got to play with that motivation whatever it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile McInnes says he\u2019s honoured to be asked to perform a reading at Hearts\u2019 annual Remembrance Service ahead of Sunday\u2019s home clash with Dundee United.<\/p>\n
The club holds a special connection with McCrae\u2019s Battalion with 11 first team players enlisting for World War One.<\/p>\n
And McInnes said: \u201cIt was brilliant to be asked. The club asked me to do it. It’s an honour and obviously I’m looking forward to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s well documented how important the remembrance service is, the history we’ve got with the club and the connection with McCrae’s Battalion.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s a huge honour to be able to speak at that.<\/p>\n
\u201cMe and my staff will be there and some of the senior players not involved in the game will be there as well and the young lads. The club will be well represented but it’s nice to be asked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hearts are looking to make it 12 unbeaten at the top of the table. But McInnes knows Jim Goodwin will fancy United to end the Gorgie charge.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cJim’s got a lot of good players. I think he’s put a good squad together. Credit to him for that. They’ve done it a bit differently, a lot of teams as well, in their own way of doing things.<\/p>\n
\u201cGood squad, plenty of options to choose from. They change systems at times and they’ve got that ability to adapt so it’s not all straightforward what you’re going to get.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s going to be a tough game for us and we’re going to need everybody to help. We’re going to really need the supporters to be with the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey can\u2019t underplay their part because if they can get right behind the team from the outset, crank up the noise, make it difficult for the opposition and get behind the team, it will help matters because Dundee United are a team who will fancy themselves coming here.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey’ve had enough good results over a period of a couple of years with Jim in charge that coming to Tynecastle, a result for them isn’t beyond them.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Veteran keeper hasn’t played for over six months ahead of the massive qualifying double header against Greece and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":553913,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5009],"tags":[748,71562,4884,47959,712,13315,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-553912","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scotland","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-derek-mcinnes","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-hearts-fc","12":"tag-scotland","13":"tag-scotland-football-team","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115505372460251504","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Hearts](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0_JS348503744.jpg\")
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