Hearts manager Craig Levein has dismissed the thought of making major changes at Dundee with Sunday’s Betfred Cup semi-finals in mind.
The Ladbrokes Premiership leaders face the bottom club three days after an intense 2-1 win over Aberdeen and ahead of an eagerly-awaited clash with Celtic at BT Murrayfield.
Full-back Michael Smith returns from suspension and could replace Marcus Godinho, who made his first appearance of the season on Saturday after being rushed back following knee surgery.
But it will be a largely settled team that meets Jim McIntyre’s side.
Levein said: “I look at it fairly simply; to go into Sunday feeling good, we are better having won at Dundee than me messing about and trying to be clever, because trying to be clever is not one of my biggest strengths.
“The game on Tuesday night is hugely important and we can only help Sunday by putting on a good performance and trying to get three points.
“There’s always a little thing in the back of my mind saying: ‘Will we bring that same intensity to the game?’ Because we need it.
“I started looking at maybe changing it but they had had a break already with the international break so we don’t want to do an awful lot different. There might be one or two changes but that will be the maximum.”
Levein is confident he will not need to work too hard to inspire his players to maintain their energy levels.
Hearts can equal their number of away wins from the whole of last season if they triumph at the Kilmac Stadium at Dens Park and Levein feels a stronger squad has helped them on the road in several ways.
“I think we’ve got better players, and the drop-off from our best players to the next level is very, very small,” he said. “And that makes my job a hell of a lot easier.
“When somebody goes out, you bring in a player who has been excellent in training and chomping at the bit to get going, the motivational bit is out of my hands at that point. It becomes about the player, waiting and waiting for that opportunity, and once that opportunity arises then the motivation is from within.
“They bring all that pent-up frustration to the game and that helps the rest of the team. We got that on Saturday, Oli Bozanic came into the team and was like the Tasmanian Devil.
“Last season a lot of times I was trying to get everybody up for every match, and it felt sometimes like a struggle. And this season it’s not been like that.
“You know that if you go into that team you have got to do really, really well to have a chance of staying in. That’s the biggest motivation that benefits me and benefits the team.
“Because me talking, cajoling, sometimes kicking people up the backside is not the same as the person himself wanting to do that.”
