Steven Naismith addresses Hearts' slow starts in games and why they happen

Tynecastle head coach wants the correct approach for the visit to Ross County

Steven Naismith has offered some context to Hearts’ pedestrian starts in some games this season whilst stressing the need for greater urgency. The Tynecastle head coach takes his team to Ross County on Saturday seeking only their second Premiership win since beating St Johnstone on the opening day of the campaign.

Many intervening fixtures, not only in the league but also European competition, have been characterised by an underwhelming opening by those in maroon. They have lacked pace and tempo in the early stages, thus handing the initiative to opponents, and suffered as a consequence.

Naismith has some theories on the reason for Hearts’ lack of impetus and is determined to eradicate the issue. “I’m not going to sit here and say: ‘It's because of this.’ It will be a combination of being in Europe and having a bigger demand on more of your squad, and maybe not having the right combination to have early decisions in a game,” he said.

“We work on a gameplan but the game changes after 10 minutes, 20 minutes, the first goal, the second goal, 10 minutes to go. Decisions within those moments are big but we need to just make sure that, going into games, that [faster starts] is our main focus.”

Should anyone need evidence of why a forceful and aggressive start is key in Scottish football, they need only watch Hearts’ last two matches – last Saturday’s league loss at St Mirren and Tuesday night’s Viaplay Cup victory at Kilmarnock.

“The inconsistency of our start [to the season] is that, if you win, it makes the following days easier. If you lose, it makes them harder, without a doubt,” said Naismith. “But we've got a good group who are receptive to learn. There's nobody who thinks what we are trying to do is wrong, or anything like that. It is a good environment for them, it's just that consistency.

“The difference between Tuesday and St Mirren is that we started the game faster, we were on the front foot and there was an urgency to say: ‘We're going to win this game.’ I think, in some of the games we've played, it suits the opposition to have a slow start because come the end of the game a draw might suit them more than us. We are going into every game with a demand to win it. We need to make sure that we use every minute of that game to win it.

Hearts head coach Steven Naismith wants his team to start games at a higher tempo. Pic: SNS

“I’m not saying Tuesday was our best performance but what was required on that [astroturf] pitch in that environment saw loads of bravery. I saw us sticking to something we worked on and I saw the players execute it well. In the first half, I thought we were a good bit ahead in terms of having the ball. The two goals on a difficult surface were of really high quality. Yes, Kilmarnock put more pressure on in the second half, but for us to stem that and then to still carry a threat was really impressive.”