Hearts boss warns players: Focus on Motherwell clash to earn Spurs

The Portuguese is intrigued at the prospect of locking horns again with the Spurs manager Harry Redknapp, who encountered in a pre-season friendly with Sporting Lisbon a year ago. However, he has threatened to drop anyone who becomes pre-occuppied with the Europa League play-off Battle of Britain.

Hearts travel to Fir Park on league duty tomorrow and Sergio stressed anyone thinking of Tottenham will be excluded on Thursday week when the English Premier League giants arrive at Tynecastle. "Only Motherwell is on my mind right now. I don't want to think about Tottenham. I want the players 100 per cent focused on the next game. If someone makes that (mistake], he doesn't play against Tottenham. The important thing right now is Motherwell."

Allowing himself to momentarily look ahead, Sergio betrayed some of his own excitement over the draw. "It's going to be a big challenge for us. When the time comes we are going to prepare ourselves for the two games. I hope we are going to be successful. I know it's always a special atmosphere and I hope we will get fit to do what you should do against strong opponents. I'm sure we are going to have chances.

"They have very good players, talented players, and he (Redknapp] has a big history behind him in British football so I respect him a lot. But I'm sure that, when he started like me, he didn't have that history and number of victories behind him. I want to make my way and maybe I can be successful against Tottenham and against Mr Redknapp."

Following Thursday's 4-1 victory over Paksi on his debut as Hearts manager, Sergio believes scoring in London is vital if his new charges are to pull off a major European shock. He will not consult his former player Pedro Mendes for advice, despite him also having played under Redknapp at Portsmouth. "I'm sure Pedro can give me some idea of what Harry used to do. But Harry can talk to Pedro about me too. It's not the way I do my job. I'm going to observe what I want to do and we are going to take the decisions. I think it's going to be very important to score away."

As it will be tomorrow against a Motherwell side high on confidence following a win and a draw in their opening two SPL fixtures. "I have watched DVDs of Motherwell on my computer. I will be prepared to say what I should say to my players," said Sergio. "Every point you get each weekend is very important to the final count. We are in big trouble because too many people are injured and not with easy problems. It's all two, three and four weeks. That worries me a lot but we are going to work and we hope our medical staff are going to solve the problems."

Sergio is keen for Gary Locke to remain part of his backroom team. "I trust Gary, I trust that he knows the league, the players and the other coaches so much better. He is going to be a big help for me. We all work together. The way I see football, I work with Gary, with the players, with Cabral, with Sergio. I like to listen to opinions. I make the decisions but I give the opportunity to the people to express themselves because I don't believe anybody knows everything. Two heads maybe think better than just one.

"I have not had time to sleep since I came here. I came here to work, I didn't come to see Edinburgh. When I go out to dinner every day I see a little bit. I have dinner, I come home, work and prepare things. It's been very difficult over the last four or five days. After Sunday I think it will calm down and we can do things the way we like. Every place I go I find Scottish people very kind and I'm very pleased to be here.

"It's my team but I did not come here for pictures. I don't want anybody thinking 'Paulo is great'. No. My team has to be good but Paulo is just another one in the group."

Sergio wants co-operation from the Hearts hierarchy in order to satisfy the expectations of majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov, who informed the Portuguese that he wants to challenge for the league title. "It's not a pressure for me. I can try to do that (win the league] if he helps me. I don't feel any problem with that," said Sergio. "Everybody knows what any team like Hearts needs to compete with the biggest in Scotland. If he helps me, we go. We want that challenge. But I think the squad must be improved."