Robbie Neilson enjoys banding together the two Glasgow SPFL Premiership clubs, it seems to suit his purposes as he competes towards the top end of the table following promotion.
At Ibrox on October 17 he was dismissed from the dug-out by Donal Robertson, on Thursday at Celtic Park he was only yellow carded by Bobby Madden and able to confront the referee on the pitch at the final whistle.
Geographically the two Glasgow clubs can be banded together but over the last seven weeks Hearts have had two very different experiences other than their manager moaning and deflecting away from his and his team’s shortcomings.
Robbie Neilson’s Hearts plan to ensure dodgy decisions in Glasgow don’t matter in future #HMFC https://t.co/e2ft9mdz14 pic.twitter.com/prKUMo7on9
— Football Scotland – Edinburgh (@FootballScotEd) December 3, 2021
Analysis can provide as much stats as any coach wishes to devour but there are some basics that Neilson can chew on as he goes over how his side were denied a victory on Thursday night by Madden and his two assistants.
At Ibrox Hearts had 46% possession, edged the foul count 12-11 and had four players booked, a booking every third free kick.
Against Celtic they had 31% possession, lost the foul count 9-12 and had no players booked.
There are no circumstances that can be directly compared but with significantly less possession Hearts had much less free-kicks awarded against them and escaped without any bookings for their players.
Stats from BBC and SPFL for Ibrox match, stats from BBC for Thursday at Celtic Park.
