Q: Hearts have nothing to lose and players playing for cup final places – does that make them a dangerous opponent as they have been a good challenge so far?
Ange Postecoglou: “Irrespective of that they have had a strong season and they have been really solid in that third position and by a decent gap to the rest of the field. They have been consistent all year and every game against them has been a good game.
“Irrespective of them being in the cup final or not this is a good challenge for us but we sit where we are because of our own form and our own performances and we’ve had to overcome some pretty determined challenges in recent weeks in our last three games we have played teams who have been in pretty good form and we’ve managed to get through them pretty well and that’s our task again tomorrow.
“We are making sure that we are prepared to play against a tough opponent knowing that if we can perform at the levels we can then we can overcome that.”
Q: What do you think this squad needs to get to the next level?
Ange Postecoglou: “There is a number of areas where I think this season in the earlier part of the year we did not have the depth in quality in certain positions to be able to carry the workload of having a 60-game season. We are still in the stages of developing our players and developing our game style and for me, there are still areas without specifying positions where I think we can have more quality in terms of our depth and in terms of the level of performance we put in.
“There won’t be the amount of activity that we had last season but I think the activity we have this year will be significant as we will hopefully bring players that will improve us immediately rather than sort of bring players in who will just add to the squad.”
Q: Hearts have the Scottish Cup final on the horizon – do you expect a different style to what you have faced in the other games this season?
Ange Postecoglou: “Not really, I don’t think their approach will change as they can play a bit freer without major consequences on a negative result for them. Whenever you play a team like that there is always the possibility that they may be aggressive or expansive. I think they have been pretty disciplined with their approach all season and we don’t expect to see too much of a change in the way they play their football.
