'I've never experienced anything like that' - Hearts' system and Malachi Fagan-Walcott's learning process

Hearts defender Malachi Fagan-Walcott outlined his steep learning curve since swapping England’s fifth tier for Scottish and European football. The English defender, a summer signing from York City for more than £700,000, is relishing this season’s adventure in the UEFA Conference League. He is with the Tynecastle squad in Switzerland for Thursday’s UEFA Conference League tie against FC Thun.

Fagan-Walcott suffered an injury in July’s Champions League qualifier against Sturm Graz but played against Trabzonspor last month after regaining fitness. “Going to Turkey was different,” he says. “I have never experienced anything like that. It was similar to Rapid Vienna at home but going from York to Tynecastle is different. There are more fans. As a whole this season has been about getting used to playing in front of 20,000 fans, compared to 10,000 or 6,000, which I used to play in front of.

“I’ve had those conversations with my brothers and some of my ex-team-mates. It is crazy and has happened fast, but you just need to take it all. My first game against Sturm Graz, you look at that, you come out in the warm-up and see the crowd and I’m thinking: ‘I was at Braintree a couple of years ago.’ It is a reality check and it is good. For me as a player, I want to make that jump and show I am capable of making it. It is a shock to the system at some point but now you just need to keep going with it.

“It is the same in both leagues. You get punished if you make mistakes so don’t make them. Everyone makes mistakes but you can’t afford to. Whoever we are playing in the league and cup, the levels get higher and mistakes get punished.”

Hearts head coach Wouter Vrancken has helped Fagan-Walcott readjust to playing as part of a four-man defence. “Every manager plays different systems. I am getting used to the manager’s system,” says the player. “It is up the levels. There are people who you come in and train with us and the quality is at a high level. People who will see passes that you would have got away with a York. It is just getting up to speed with that and learning that you can’t afford not to track a run. I could get away with that at York because the player didn’t have the quality to play it, but now you need to be switched on at all times. That one lapse and the ball could end up in your net. You have to stay witched on - that is the main thing.”

“Last season I played on the right side of a back three. The manager gave me licence to go up and down. When I came here it was a back four and I hadn’t played in a four for a few years. That was getting back to a four. You have two at the back and there is not the three with the middle centre-half as an anchor. That has been the most challenging, not so much the game. I have always played out with the ball but it is more about knowing when the right time to play is as a right-sided centre half. You can’t get the ball and run on like I used to.”