Can Critchley still convince sceptical supporters?published at 12:22 22 April
Greg Playfair
Fan writer

As Hector Nicol's song goes, 'There is no other team to compare with the Hearts' and it probably sums up our season perfectly.
Only Hearts could go from pre-season optimism about domestic and European football to spending 30 out of 33 weeks in the bottom half of the table, stumbling against the worst side in the Conference League and an early League Cup exit to Championship Falkirk.
The Scottish Cup provided our last opportunity to salvage any positivity from this season, but instead there's been glorious failure being celebrated at being knocked out at the semi-final stage to Aberdeen. Good thing that's not a lyric in Nicol's song.
Of course, we had to play almost 80 minutes with a man fewer and for four minutes we were down to nine but that late Aberdeen winner could have been scripted before a ball was kicked.
Michael Steinwender's sending off before half-time is unfortunately a clear red card. The second booking for Cammy Devlin was ludicrous but I'm not keen to say that is solely the reason why we lost.
Should Neil Critchley have subbed the already cautioned Devlin, instead of Beni Baningime, for Blair Spittal given the Australia midfielder had already made a number of fouls before his second booking?
There's been much said among Hearts supporters about where this defeat leaves Critchley. It cannot be ignored he has done well against 'lesser lights' in the league, including the 6-0 victory at Dundee as well as good wins at Tannadice and in his first European game versus Omonia Nicosia.
The much-vaunted league table since Neil Critchley's arrival would have us fourth behind the Old Firm and Hibs, which is great on paper and would make it seem mad we're even talking about his future.
The case for the prosecution is we will go a league season failing to chalk up even one win against Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen or Hibs.
For some supporters, back-to-back defeats against Hibs is bad enough. Add in the Petrocub performance in Europe and the fact we haven't won in four games now - with a 'must not lose' game looming against Dundee at Tynecastle on Saturday - and the pressure is really on the head coach.
I really want Critchley to be a success, but from the body of evidence we've seen, I'm not convinced he can turn round the perception from a lot of Jambos that he's just not cut out for the role.
My fear is we're kicking the can down the road with Critchley and we've seen this movie before with Hearts managers when they start to lose the backing of the fans. Very rarely – if ever – in modern times do they recover.
