Changing Hearts tactics and the preparations for a busy winter at Riccarton

Fans should expect a different formation for different matches

Most of Steven Naismith's two years in football coaching have seen him favour a four-man defence. However, he is pragmatic enough to recognise the need for change and when to implement it. Hearts' recent switch from a back four to a back three has underpinned three successive Premiership victories.

Now, no-one at Tynecastle Park will shout too loud or too long about beating Livingston, Motherwell and St Johnstone. Those are sides Hearts would expect to overcome, particularly at home, but their control within the games is a pleasing point for Naismith. The three-man central defensive system is one contributory factor.

Stephen Kingsley is not normally associated with a right centre-back role but is more than comfortable there. He has the strength and aerial ability to defend first and foremost, but also the technical ability and vision to step out with the ball and distribute efficiently.

In the centre, Frankie Kent is a traditional centre-half who wins headers and tackles and reads the game well. His physical presence is obvious from first glance, but he can also use the ball intelligently with feet. The Englishman is ideal for that central role in a back three.

Kye Rowles slots in on the left and is looking like his old self again after a difficult end to last season. The Australian's rugged defensive qualities are back in abundance but, crucially, his physique is also a bit more developed these days. His left foot is tidy enough to help Hearts play their way forward.

With wing-backs like Alex Cochrane and Alan Forrest encouraged to stay high on the flanks - sometimes even higher than strikers - Hearts current tactics are fluid and allow for an overload of bodies in the opposition half of the pitch. That secures a lot of possession which has yet to turn into a plethora of goals, something being worked on at Riccarton.

Naismith has not abandoned the back-four formation, he is simply prepared to alternate as required. Hearts face eight important leagues games between now and the winter break in early January - including fixtures against Rangers, Celtic, Aberdeen and Hibs - and he will employ both systems at different times.

"The things we are doing in games are very similar whether we have a back four or a back three. The structure of the team, with the personnel available, suits us right now," he told the Edinburgh News. "I'm pretty clear that over the next month you will probably see both because each game is different.

"It depends who you are coming up against, what system they prefer, and where we feel we can hurt them. The biggest decision when we go into a game is always: 'How can we hurt this team? What do we need to guard against?' That probably dictates what our starting shape is.

"As you can probably see from heat maps and general positions of players across a pitch, very rarely are our back three just defenders and very rarely are our full-backs just full-backs or wing-backs. It's a starting point and it has worked well for us. It will definitely change over the course of the next month. I'd imagine we will use both."

Saturday's 1-0 win over St Johnstone at Tynecastle featured those high and adventurous wing-backs throughout the afternoon. Cochrane's advanced position on the left allowed him to collect Alex Lowry's pass and deliver the cross which produced the winning goal.

"It was more of a 3-5-2 on Saturday rather than a back five, as people would like to say," explained Naismith. "We are going to come up against this at home quite a lot. It's about where our players are best positionally to cause the opponents more problems.

"At the weekend, and in the Livingston game a couple of weeks back, teams find it difficult to get out when they have to defend so deep. They need to be 100 per cent comfortable in possession to get up the pitch from those situations. We have been quite good at stopping that.

"It can be seen as two wing-backs, it can be seen as two wingers. At times on Saturday, [midfielder] Jorge Grant was our most advanced player for loads of periods of the game and [Liam] Boyce and Shanks [Lawrence Shankland] were midfielders. It is what it is. It's rotations and different things that happen within the game."

Naismith is relishing the busy schedule ahead and looking to build on those three successive league wins. "We have found a bit of consistency and we are still getting better and better. When you are in that mode and you are making good progress, that's when you want a lot of games to take advantage.

"On top of that, we have a lot of our injured players back now. I think every player is now back on the grass in some way, which is a massive benefit. We have a good squad here ready to deal with the amount of fixtures we will play over the next month."

First up is a return to his formative club, Kilmarnock, this Saturday. Hearts triumphed in September's Viaplay Cup quarter-final at Rugby Park thanks to Alex Lowry's stoppage-time winning goal. This encounter is likely to be similarly close.

"It will be much the same type of game," stated Naismith. "It's the [synthetic] pitch as well. We cannot play how we did at the weekend, or against Motherwell, this week because the pitch won't allow it. Last time we played down there we had a successful result with a back four. There are a few different areas we need to look at to make sure we get the right balance.

"The pitch is slower so when we move the ball, Kilmarnock are quite comfortable in their shape. They are a good team in their structure. At Tynecastle earlier in the season, they tried to hit on the counter-attack. They have a threat up front and good wingers so they try to put balls in your box. We need to guard against that. Rugby Park hasn't been an easy place for us to go, but last time we went there we got the result."