CHRISTIAN NADE admits that it's a hard shift when you're asked to play the role of lone striker – but you won't hear the Frenchman complaining after fighting his way back to fitness and into the starting line-up at Tynecastle.
Former Sheffield United hitman Nade was criticised by Hearts manager Csaba Laszlo at the beginning of the season after returning from his summer break out of condition and overweight.
He looked lethargic in training and on the pitch and was told
that he wouldn't play for the side again until he had shaped up and he has spent the last couple of months grafting away behind the scenes.
And it appears that all of his hard work is beginning to pay off because, having shed the pounds and toned up, the frontman has started Hearts' last four league matches.
The striker certainly looks leaner and meaner, and is, but while Nade concedes that he's now feeling sharper and fitter, he revealed that he was hurt and angered by the comments about his weight at the start of the season.
However, those words acted as spur to prove his doubters wrong and now he is determined to make them eat their words by firing home a load of goals over the remainder of the season.
He has scored just once this season, in the league match against Hamilton but, speaking ahead of today's SPL match against Rangers, he said: "It's good to be in the team on a regular basis, it is the first time that I have played four games in a row.
"It is harder to play on your own up front but I am just happy to be back playing football again.
"When you are one up front then you have to defend and attack and maybe I have not scored as many goals because I have got a job to do.
"But the team is working hard and it has been good because we have been winning games. Of course I would like to score more goals, I am a striker and you always want more.
"But I am part of the team and I am working hard on doing my job for the club.
"It is true that maybe I was a bit heavier when I came back to the club after the summer and the manager said this. But now I think that he is happy with what I am doing.
"I was a little bit upset and angry with what was said and I wanted to show him what I could do.
"Last season was very hard for me because I had changed club and everything was different when I came here.
"I didn't start very well and it was very hard for me to come back. But this season it is different, people believe in me and that makes it easier for me to work hard for them.
"I am working hard because people have been confident in me and have shown me that they need me." Having played a part in Hearts' last four matches – which have ended in four victories – Nade is hungry for more of the same in the coming weeks to help Hearts secure a place in Europe for next season.
Nade would love to be given the opportunity to prove he can cut it in Europe and even believes that the new-found confidence among the Hearts players could see them make a real push for second spot and a place in the coveted Champions League qualifiers.
He continued: "The team are confident right now and we are focused on trying to get a UEFA Cup place for next season. It seems to be working so far so that is good.
"Every player has the European place in mind, we all want to be in the UEFA Cup next season and hopefully we can do it."
Asked if he thought that it might be possible for the Tynecastle side to repeat their feat of a couple of seasons ago of splitting the Old Firm to book a Champions League qualifier, he added: "Maybe, I think that everyone has thought about it and maybe we could but first we have to think of the UEFA Cup, that is the most important."
The full article contains 722 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
