Hearts captain Lawrence Shankland speaks about January transfers and being realistic

Recruiting quality footballers during the January transfer window is never straightforward, even for rich clubs in major leagues. At Hearts, it is a decidedly tricky issue given an already-bloated first-team squad and a budget dictated by Scottish football finances. That said, new signings are simply essential next month as the Edinburgh club fight relegation.

No-one need remind captain Lawrence Shankland of the above. After losing the Boxing Day Edinburgh derby against Hibs, Hearts sit 11th in the William Hill Premiership ahead of Sunday’s visit to Ross County. Shankland underlined the need for reinforcements despite his own future lying away from Tynecastle Park. His contract will expire at the season’s end and he knows he cannot afford a relegation on his CV.

“You need to be realistic. We're in a position where the league would tell you that we're not exactly a brilliant team,” he admitted. “I think the season would tell you that. Right now we're not performing like a good team. So we are where we are on the table because we deserve to be there and that's the truth. I think if anyone shies away from that, they're telling themselves a lie. We are where we are and now we're going to a huge game at Ross County that we need to win.

“The feeling amongst everybody after Thursday is the same, there's a frustration that we're not doing what we need to do in the final third to put teams under pressure. As I said, goalies aren’t making saves week in, week out. We're not putting enough pressure on the opposition goal for how much ball we have. We're not doing that, we're not producing that. That comes down to the individuals and levels of quality that we're putting together. So it's just overriding frustration.”

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Hearts’ play in the attacking third of the pitch has been questionable all season as they toiled to unlock a series of tightly-packed defences. “Overall, I think quite a lot of our game recently with our number of crosses into the box has been really high,” said Shankland. “But the quality of the crosses and the through balls, that's the bit we need to work on. It's alright having the numbers and the levels that we want them to be at. We want those to be up there and put the team under pressure, but there needs to be that quality there for us to go and create chances and give ourselves opportunities to score.”

That’s where January comes in - the chance to sign more creative and energetic players. “It can help, aye. Obviously you need quality,” said Shankland. “You need to recruit quality players that can bring a level that's expected to perform at the football club. That's what we need going forward. It's up to the club and the management. We need to have belief that we can turn it around but we also need to find the quality to go and do it. You see the boys training, they can do it. It's just bringing it to the match and that's the hard bit. That's where we're struggling at the moment.”

Hearts supporters visibly and audibly angry at recent results are entirely right to vent their frustration as they did on Boxing Day. “There's obviously frustration and I understand that. At the end of the game they showed that frustration. That's fully acceptable on my part,” acknowledged Shankland. “It's a fanbase that expects us to win games, especially derbies. It's hugely disappointing. We know that and I fully understand the frustration and anger. You need to take that on the chin.

“That's what's expected when you play here. You're expected to win and we haven’t done that. We didn’t do enough to win the game. I thought the crowd were good on Thursday. I thought they were behind us. It wasn't the case of the crowd getting on top of us. I didn't feel that at all. Derbies usually bring that buzz and it only takes a small moment to change a crowd and get a lift, but I didn't feel like the crowd were bad at all. They were behind us.”