How Hearts can pile on Rangers misery as Neil Critchley admits ‘it’s about time we change’ hoodoo.

The last time the Jambos won versus Rangers was in February 2020, 17 games ago.

Neil Critchley believes Hearts’ new players can end the Jambos’ five-year losing streak against Rangers and put pressure on Philippe Clement.

The Jambos haven’t won in their past 17 meetings, dating back to February 2020 under Daniel Stendel. Despite Clement’s pressure following Rangers’ Scottish Cup loss to Queen’s Park, Critchley believes his team can worsen the Ibrox club’s situation. January addition Elton Kabangu has five goals in his previous four games, while Jamie McCart is yet to lose in six appearances.Hearts have been unbeaten in eight consecutive tournaments. And Critchley thinks that the fact that his new players, like Michael Steinwender, Sander Kartum, and Harry Milne, have no scar tissue from their disastrous run against the Gers would help to alleviate the agony.

He stated, “It’s been a few years since we beat Rangers.” So it’s time to alter that. We’re at home and in terrific shape. So we’re going into it with a good attitude. If we want to attain a favorable result, we’ll need to be our best selves.

“The new guys have come in and reenergized the group psychologically. This is something new players can do. Not only to themselves, but to the entire group. Just new people, new ways of communicating, training, and behaving themselves.

“It’s simply that the group forms in a different way. It’s been wonderful to witness. They all had a favorable influence. They’re terrific people with good personalities. The personalities we aim to attract to this football team. And so far, I’d say that everything we’ve seen from them on and off the pitch has been quite encouraging.

“Our staff has changed and evolved. I believe we’ve improved. If you look at the players we came off the bench the other night, I believe it demonstrates our team’s depth and strength. The guys we’re bringing on, the talent they possess.

“Competition is healthy; we want it. There should be competition at Hearts. It should be walking out onto the training ground every day, thinking that I need to train better than the person standing next to me, or he’ll take my spot. That’s healthy; we want it. And this provides you the best chance of long-term success.

Critchley, who will await a Cammy Devlin fitness determination while the Australian is undergoing concussion protocol, stated following Hearts’ 1-0 defeat at Ibrox that he does not want the club to remain a “nearly team”. Now he thinks they can demonstrate it to their own fans.

He stated, “Hopefully, we can harness the energy of the audience, feed off their excitement, and do everything we can to keep our undefeated streak going. We got into the game at Ibrox and dominated them.

“We forced them to the back foot. In the second half, we possessed more than half of the ball, which is unusual, especially away from home against Rangers. It demonstrates that we’re capable of doing so.

“But we haven’t accomplished anything yet.” I believe we have eight games remaining till the split. So eight games provides us the potential to win as many as possible and finish in the top six by the conclusion of the season.”

Rangers supporters have marched against Clement, but Critchley stated, “I have sympathy for anyone in this job because I know how difficult it is. But they have strong players, and they are a fantastic team. And previous to last Sunday, they were in excellent form. I’ve seen a lot of their games; they beat USG in Europe, nearly beat Manchester United, and went all the way with them.

“So they’re a really good opponent and if we are to win the game on Sunday, we will have to be at our best.”

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