Hearts torn apart by Celtic at Celtic Park on Sunday — would Vrancken change anything?

Hearts were torn apart by Celtic at Celtic Park on Sunday, conceding seven goals in a result that disrupted their nascent title challenge. The scale of the defeat prompted questions about whether head coach Wouter Vrancken would alter his approach if given a replay of the match.

"If Wouter Vrancken was given the opportunity to play this game again, would he change anything?" posed former Heart of Midlothian midfielder Andy Halliday after the game, adding that he suspected the Belgian coach would not. Hearts fell two down inside 10 minutes, four behind inside 40, conceded a fifth before half-time and then shipped two more after the interval. The heavy domestic defeat drew comparisons with the opening fixtures of Vrancken's tenure, when Hearts suffered heavy European qualification losses by Sturm Graz and Benfica despite an attack-minded style that had produced a 13-game run with just one defeat.

Vrancken placed the blame squarely on individual errors and resisted questioning his tactical choices, according to reports. Club sources said he repeatedly referred to mistakes by players as the decisive factor behind the goals and did not dwell on his own decisions following the match.

Former Tynecastle defender Ryan McGowan criticised the performance, saying "a lot of players went missing" and that whatever instructions Vrancken gave them "went completely out their ears". Former Scotland striker Kris Boyd told Sky Sports: "I've never seen defending like that in all my life. "Hearts are still trying to go toe-to-toe with Celtic on 89 minutes. "You've got to pay respect to Celtic. If you go man-for-man, they will demolish you and that's exactly what happened there."

Halliday expanded on his concerns in comments on Sportsound, focusing on set-piece preparation and managerial accountability. "There was no accountablity," he added on Sportsound. "He was talking about players' errors, rather than his own errors, which were pretty glaring for me. "Anyone who's watched Celtic this year will know they target the front post from set-pieces, but Hearts' set-up didn't try to negate that. "I've praised Vrancken to the hilt - and I still think they'll finish in the top three - but my worry is if he had the opportunity to play that game again, I don't think he'd do anything differently and what he said just proved that."

Supporter reaction published alongside coverage included pointed criticism of the manager and the defence. Steve: My concern is the Hearts manager never seems to change his formation when things are not working out. He needs to be flexible at times, or we'll see these scorelines a lot with bigger teams. Ted: Three minutes away from the title in May? Miles off it today. Bill: Relegation material. This result has been coming for a while now. Manager has no Plan B. Our defence is a shambles. Sorely missing Halkett, Spittal and Renaud. Ally: If the tactics were wrong, Hearts wouldn't have had more of the ball, more passes, more shots etc. Individual errors cannot be the manager's fault. David: That's an absolutely disgraceful result for Hearts. Celtic had 10 efforts on target and scored seven… Made an average Celtic team look like world beaters.

Vrancken urged the squad to move on immediately because another fixture follows, saying: "After Monday, it has to be gone because there's another game to come."