Amadou Ba-sy's Heart of Midlothian career hangs in the balance
If Amadou Ba-sy didn’t know the minimum requirement in Scottish football when he moved to Heart of Midlothian then he sure as hell does now. Work your socks off. Be a team player. Look INTERESTED! I read Wouter Vrancken’s comments about hooking the big French striker at half time of Sunday’s cup win over Inverness due to his lack of effort. And I LOVED it. Some might wonder if the manager should have kept it in house - but not me. Not when there’s paying punters who saw the exact same thing with their own eyes. It’s like the old saying: you won’t play well every week but on the days you don't play well at the very least make sure the guy you're playing against doesn’t get it easy. As a player it was my biggest bugbear when people thought they didn’t need to run about It’s the same as a fan and that’s what Ba-Sy needs to remember. There’s a responsibility when you’re on the pitch no matter what level of opposition. There’s nearly 20,000 Heart of Midlothian fans inside Tynecastle who have paid good money to watch you play and most of whom would give anything to be in your position. The very least you can do is empty the tank for them. Even if you’re having an absolute stinker - and believe me, I’ve been there myself plenty of times. We had boys in my time like David Obua who would be good one week and then terrible for four or five. At times his body language and his demeanour was so negative. I think that was what Wouter Vrancken was getting at with Ba-Sy when he said he took him off because of his energy levels. The managers that I played for would give you two, maybe three, chances. So Ba-Sy’s first chance has gone now. That should be enough of a jolt up his a**e to make sure it doesn’t happen again otherwise he’s signing the death card of his Heart of Midlothian career. Fair play to Vrancken - he has played this one spot on. And it won’t have gone unnoticed by the others in the squad. They’ll now know that if you even try to take an inch with him then he’ll be on you like a tonne of bricks. Listen, I hope it works with Ba-Sy because I DO see a player in there. He’s big, he looks like he has a decent touch and I thought he was really, really good when he came on against Sturm Graz. He took his two goals in the friendly against Rayo Vallecano well too. But he needs to produce much, much more if he wants to be a success at Heart of Midlothian. And increasing his effort should be the easy bit. On the flip side, one man’s misfortune can always be another’s opportunity. And that certainly looked the case with James Wilson who came on to replace Ba-Sy against Inverness. The teenager has worked his way into Vrancken’s thinking in the past week after returning from that loan spell at Spurs. He looked lively, he worked hard, linked play and got his reward with the late goal. I hope this really kicks him on. I get that his decision to go to Spurs in the middle of the season upset some folk. Derek McInnes had his say on the matter when he claimed it was the wrong move. But he was hardly getting any game time under Derek. Not with Lawrence Shankland and Claudio Braga in the form they were in. Spurs was an opportunity that couldn't pass him by. Training with the top players at Spurs can only make you a better player and there’s a really sensible head on those young shoulders. Wilson
