Inside Riccarton: Liam Fox's Hearts playing style, the approach taken and the instructions given to players

Interim manager has explained his plan during training sessions

Liam Fox took charge of Hearts’ first team for the first time this week with a straightforward remit: Win football matches. Stepping up from B team coach to interim manager, the 40-year-old is already implementing his own playing style during training sessions at Riccarton. Its first test comes on Saturday against Ross County.

Hearts find themselves bottom of the William Hill Premiership with one point from six matches. Eight successive defeats in all competitions cost head coach Steven Naismith his job alongside assistants Frankie McAvoy and Gordon Forrest. Fox is the deputy, promoted for a minimum of three games, aided by his B team assistant Angus Beith and youth coach Lee Wallace.

Ross County at Tynecastle Park, then Dinamo Minsk in Azerbaijan and Aberdeen at Pittodrie are Hearts’ next three fixtures before October’s international break. The club would like a new manager in place before hosting St Mirren on 19 October but Fox will remain in situ until told otherwise. He has his own ideas and isn’t afraid to install them at the club he supported as a boy.

Attacking football, a positive mindset, a level of aggression, plus some flair and skill are the basics of what he desires. He is not looking to reinvent the wheel. There isn’t time even if he was. Winning is all that matters at Hearts - especially given their present league position.

Fox’s preferred formation is 4-2-3-1 with speedy and direct wide players. Occasionally, he has been known to flip to a straight 4-3-3 but both systems carry similar principles. Midfielders are to be competitive but forward-thinking and full-backs are encouraged to venture into opposition territory. It is a philosophy which should appeal to Hearts supporters, and players seem to have responded thus far.

“I’ve had it a couple of times in my career when managers change and you get that bounce,” left-back James Penrice told the Edinburgh News. “It has been good. I think Foxy is well-known to everyone around here. He has a clear plan of what he wants us to do and hopefully we will go and implement it.

“He’s got a way he wants to play and, in the couple of training sessions, everything has been tailored to how he wants to play. The boys have responded and enjoyed it, so we will see on Saturday. Hopefully we put a performance in and the way he wants to play works.

“He just wants us to go forward quick, getting it to your attacking players, one-v-ones, stuff like that. I don’t want to say too much. It’s just an emphasis on really getting the crowd behind us, going and causing Ross County problems. Over the next three games, hopefully he can show that the style he wants is going to work. The boys are really confident of changing what’s going on.”

Fox has been privy to this situation previously. As a first-team coach, he assisted Jon Daly during an interim period in charge of Hearts in August 2017. He also has experience assisting Barry Robson at Aberdeen and David Martindale at Livingston, plus six months as Dundee United manager. His Premiership knowledge is therefore considerable.

“There has been minor stuff changed [by Fox],” added Penrice. “There hasn’t been a lot of time in between the decision and him coming in. We have only had a couple of training sessions but it’s been good so far and the boys have reacted well. Everyone is up for it and hopefully we can put a performance in on Saturday.”

Penrice was sad to see Naismith leave office just three months after bringing the full-back to Hearts from Livingston. “He is somebody who brought me to the club and gave me the chance to play quite a lot of minutes,” said the player. “I didn’t think I would have got that at the back end of last season after my injury. He showed a lot of faith in me and I’ll always be thankful for that. It’s sad to see him and his coaching staff go. Attention now turns to Foxy and giving him the best support we can.”