Sergio insists out-of-favour Sutton remains part of his plans at Hearts

NO-ONE could doubt that Paulo Sergio has his own ideas and his own methods. The Hearts manager has been quick to make his mark on his squad in terms of training schedules and the style of play he demands on the pitch. But with so many new players enlisted ahead of his arrival, the selection of personnel still provides certain constraints.

John Sutton was one of the summer signings, along with Danny Grainger, Mehdi Taouil and Jamie Hamill and while the others appear to fit in with the Portuguese manager’s current blueprint, the speculation surrounding the future of the former Motherwell striker has been less positive. Reports last week suggested that he had already been declared surplus to requirements, while Stephen Elliott would seem to be the preferred forward option, with even youngster Gordon Smith being given the nod ahead of him in the Europa League trip to White Hart Lane.

In fact the last time the English frontman started a match for Hearts was in the first leg of that tie, when the capital side were beaten 5-0 at Tynecastle.

The following weekend he got the last four minutes of the 0-0 draw with Kilmarnock before dropping out of the picture completely. Absent from even the bench in London and again for the first derby of the season, he was an unused substitute in Inverness last Saturday and his hopes of seeing out his contract at the club, appeared forlorn.

But Sergio was not having any of that when quizzed about the man who is currently the club’s top league scorer with two for the term so far. He said he now had a good idea of his best starting XI but stressed that each game was different. “We have strategic ideas that each week we can change our XI. We don’t just have 11 players, we have more, I believe in all of them.

“Who suggested that [Sutton has no future]? You have to ask the guy who wrote that or ask John if it’s true that I tell something like that to him. Of course he has a future at Hearts. If he doesn’t have a future, he wouldn’t be here. I can just start with 11 players and John has different qualities than the others. When I want to put that kind of quality in the team, he will be there.”

The concern for Sutton is that despite playing a variety of teams in the past few weeks, each posing different problems, the manager has not seen the need to utilise those qualities.

An unconvincing start to the SPL campaign, with two wins, three draws, two defeats, leaving them with nine points from a possible 21, the team are currently falling shy of public expectations and the targets the new manager has set them. “I just take one game at a time,” he said, “but we know if you want to be in the top classification you should be getting four points from every two matches, at least.”

Those lofty standards have been well transmitted, according to young Smith, who is hoping that having returned from last season’s loan spell at Stirling Albion, he can live up to the manager’s demands and force his way into the Hearts side. “At first the training was hard to get used to but we are starting to get the hang of it now and he is starting to drill into our heads the stuff we need to do on the pitch,” said the 20-year-old.

“He likes to teach a certain style and he wants us to stick to that. He gets frustrated at times but maybe that’s because he is new to the job and he’s trying to get his ideas over to us. But he’s been good.

“I’ve enjoyed it so far. I played against Tottenham and have taken things from there and he has spoken to me since then and told me to keep working.”

A player who earned notoriety as a 17-year-old in 2009, with a goal against Edinburgh rivals Hibs at Easter Road, he certainly seems to have potential as far as his manager is concerned.

“He said he believes in me and I just have to believe in myself,” added Smith. “He wants me to push the strikers we have here so I am going to try and do that and do all I can to make him pick me. I need to be patient but if I do get a chance I am determined to take it.

“The new manager is giving different players a chance. Some players who played under Jim Jefferies are not playing now and players who weren’t getting much of a chance under Jim and Billy [Brown] are being given an opportunity. He definitely has his own ideas about what he wants to do.”