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Wouter Vrancken bullish on Mo Salah as Hearts boss names real Trabzonspor threat

The 'world class player' will be looking to pile the misery on the Jambos after Celtic demolished Vrancken's men last weekend

Mohamed Salah celebrates scoring for Trabzonspor against Besiktas(Image: Getty Images)

Hearts will pay special attention to Mo Salah but Wouter Vrancken has insisted it will take a complete team effort to snub him and Trabzonspor out, writes Scott Burns in Turkey.

The Jambos, who lost seven against Celtic at the weekend, face the unenviable task of taking on the Turkish heavyweights at their Papara Park in the group stages of the Conference League.

Trabzonspor can boast the attacking talents of the Liverpool and Egyptian legend but Vrancken believes their entire team is world class.

Vrancken claimed: “For sure, it has to be a team effort. You cannot only focus on Salah because he is not the only one with quality, they will have 11 quality players on the pitch. Yes, Salah is a world class player.

"We will try and do something to nullify him, so he won’t stick out easily. At the same time we need to believe in what we are doing. We have done it in the past in games where we have shown a real team effort in tough environments and that will be necessary again tomorrow.”

Hearts have already faced Benfica in the Europa League qualifiers and he reckons Trabzonspor are at the same level and a cut above anything they would face in Scotland. Hearts are looking to build on their opening night point against Nordsjaelland.

The Belgian warned: “The quality in this team tomorrow is European top level. You also see their results. They beat Galatasaray 4-0 without a problem.

“So that shows they are a top team and a top team in Europe. They are a really good side. Every team has its strengths and weaknesses, as always. We have analysed them as well as we can.

“They are a strong and complete team, especially since the new manager has come in. They have had a really good run of results and scored a lot of goals. They have a lot of individuals who can decide a game, not only Salah. They have a lot of potential, like Benfica, who we played previously.

Mohamed Salah of Trabzonspor in action

“They have good strength in the team in a lot of ways. We also need to do better than Sunday, but without losing the belief and the guts.”

Vrancken and his Hearts team came under-fire both on and off the park for the way they collapsed on Sunday. The head coach has insisted he and his team will never abandon their principles but they need to be a lot stronger defensively, across the entire team.

He stated: “We have principles in the block and press. It is always the same. We didn’t do well enough against Celtic. “Our defensive play against Celtic wasn't good enough and neither was our quality on the ball. When you lose the ball too easily and there is no back-up, you are totally exposed at the back.

“I have to say this was not good enough. Now we have to do better without losing the belief and principles. These are the moments where you need to learn and do things better.”

The Hearts squad has arrived in Trabzon in bullish mood and Vrancken is confident that they now have Celtic out of their system.

“They were very disappointed,” the head coach confirmed. “When you lose a game you need to get over the emotions. When you are in this run of games you need to work on this. After a game like this you have two nights to get over it and then you have to bring back the energy for the next game.

“I have to say it was like this but Monday’s training sessions was a really good one. Hopefully, we can bring that into the game.”

Hearts go into the game without injured pair Oisin McEntee and Stuart Findlay who have remained in Edinburgh.

Vrancken confirmed: “A couple of players stayed at home. Oisin and Stuart.

“His (McEntee) was in the game the other day. It was his calf so we need to see day by day. Stu was his groin. He injured it yesterday in training. We will have to see how long he is out but we are hopeful it will just be days.”

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