Hearts paying price for not signing another defender, says Michael Stewart

Michael Stewart reckons Hearts are paying a heavy price for failing to sign another right-sided defender in the summer – after watching Lewis Neilson see red in the 3-0 defeat by Fiorentina.

Stewart believes his former club are suffering badly from defensive selection problems after teenager Neilson was sent off and Michael Smith limped off with what looked like a hamstring injury in the European Conference League defeat.

With Craig Halkett and Kye Rowles already sidelined, it meant Hearts finished the match against the Serie A big spenders with a back four of Nathaniel Atkinson, Stephen Kingsley, Alex Cochrane and Andy Halliday.

Stewart, a pundit for BT Sport at the one-sided the Europa Conference League clash against Italians at Tynecastle Park, said: “Suspensions and injuries, and missing key players in big games, is creating the perception that things are not going well. They need to have these big players back in the big games. Otherwise, there is a gulf.”

Lewis Neilson is sent off for a last man tug of the shirt on Luka Jovic. Picture: Mark Scates / SNS

He added: “This season Hearts have been missing big players and it is telling. Hearts need their main players on the park with experience to be able to communicate and talk to players. The likes of Lewis Neilson is a guy with a very bright future, but he is being throw into big games at the moment that really you don’t want him to be playing in.

“He was outstanding against St Johnstone, but comes in against top-class players at Fiorentina and he has been found out a little bit. I do feel, and I said it in the summer, that they needed to sign another right-sided centre-half because of the injury problems they were having and I felt Lewis Neilson, as a youngster, is not someone you want to have to throw into these games.”

Stewart reckons manager Robbie Neilson got his shape wrong in the first half after watching Hearts being run ragged. The former Jambos midfielder felt what was effectively a five-man defence left the midfield pairing exposed in the engine room.

He explained: “Heart started poorly, gifting territory and possession to the opposition and they were punished. Two men in the middle of the park, they were getting overrun. Fiorentina had three in there with great movement, wonderful technicians, and they dominated.”

He added: “At Tynecastle it is a small park, so I think the best way to go about it is to be a bit more aggressive in your defending. But you can look understand what’s happened, not just at the weekend against Rangers but also also in the last European game against Basaksehir as well and the game against Kilmarnock before that, and you start to see that there’s a little bit of confidence being hit.

“You can see the players are reluctant to be aggressive in their play and also in the way the manager has set up his team. Three minutes in you go 1-0 down and it feeds into that negativity. It mushrooms and becomes a bigger problem.”

Stewart believes Hearts must get a positive result at Kilmarnock on Sunday to turn the tide and prevent confidence from sliding even further.

He added: “It is a massive game for Hearts, not only to kick-start things again but also for the perception of the fans. They are starting to see a negative ruin of results. They need to see something.”