What's eating Lawrence Shankland? Question marks over Hearts striker's start to the season amid Rangers links
Goalless and more worryingly, seeming slightly hapless. Some Hearts fans are beginning to fret about their star striker.
“What’s eating Lawrence Shankland?” could be the title of the latest theatre production at Tynecastle following the successful ‘Hearts Story’ run at the stadium earlier this month as part of the Fringe festival.
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Hide AdBy this date last year, the striker had scored four goals. He had of course played two more games, with Hearts involved in Conference League qualifying ties against Rosenborg.
But there was little doubt that he already had his shooting boots on. And while there were barren stretches to come, he kept them on for the most part to become the first Hearts striker to score 30 times in a season for over 35 years.
He finished up with 31 goals for his club and two for his country. However, not since a clever, backwards-facing header against Finland in May in a pre-Euro 2024 friendly has he felt the thrill of ball finding net.
Such are the high standards he has set for himself, is it any surprise that some are wondering what’s going on? It's a question that will be asked in the pubs and clubs of Plzen as both Shankland and Hearts seek to kickstart their season in the first leg of an awkward looking Europa League play-off tie on Thursday evening. Hearts are far from a one-man team but their prospects against Viktoria Plzen could well rely on Shankland firing again.
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Hide AdThat’s how it has looked so far this season at any rate, with talk persisting of Shankland looking unfit, too heavy and, perhaps worse, disinterested. Some wonder whether the skipper had already checked out mentally due to the intense level of transfer speculation surrounding him last season with Rangers heavily linked again this summer.
It’s not so much the lack of goals as the absence of chances to score them. Hearts have scored only once this season – a header from defender Frankie Kent.
Shankland was benched last Saturday against Falkirk when Hearts wasted several chances to open the scoring before the hosts settled and pulled off a shock. Shankland might well have taken one of these chances had he been on the pitch. He was on the pitch against Dundee when Yutaro Oda headed straight at Jon McCracken. It’s unlikely we’d be having this conversation if he’d been in Oda’s position.
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No one is thinking for a moment that the goal touch has deserted him. He’s endured frustrating periods before and then hit a purple patch. Indeed, this time last year, after converting a penalty against PAOK, he went eight games without scoring, before a prodigious run of form saw the goals rattle in.
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Hide AdDoubts again arose in March when he went five games without scoring, including a match when he missed a golden chance to draw Scotland level with the Netherlands in Amsterdam.
Some suspected his confidence would be hit. This, after all, was his big moment, the chance to prove to Steve Clarke that he could do it on one of the grandest stages. He returned to scoring ways three games later against Livingston and finished the domestic season with a goal in each of his last three appearances.
And then came the Euros. Some are attributing Shankland's slow start to the current campaign to a spot of Scotland-itis. Not only has he suffered the same collective hangover as many others involved in that ill-fated mission, but he had the extra frustration of being granted so few minutes on the pitch.
Clarke names his squad next week for the upcoming matches against Poland and Portugal. At least Shankland is assured a place – but there’s no better time to start scoring again.
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