Stern words as Hearts prepare to leave out underperforming players after Dundee loss

The 3-1 defeat at Dens Park exposed issues which will be addressed

Steven Naismith today issued a stern message to underperforming Hearts players and warned that they will not play for the club if Saturday’s display against Dundee is repeated. The 3-1 defeat at Dens Park was largely attributable to a disastrous first half in which a disjointed Hearts team found themselves 3-0 down. Head coach Naismith is not prepared to tolerate such a scenario just two games into the new league campaign.

Substandard defending allowed Scott Tiffoney to put Dundee 1-0 ahead on 23 minutes, then came two goals in first-half stoppage-time. Recent Hearts signing Gerald Taylor scored an own goal before the Dundee captain Luke McCowan made it 3-0 from the penalty spot following Frankie Kent’s foul on Tiffoney. It was a lesson in the harsh realities of Scottish football for a number of new arrivals at Tynecastle.

Speaking exclusively to the Edinburgh News, Naismith stressed that the deficiencies would be highlighted in team meetings this week in order to address what went wrong. Tactical briefings with players last week included extensive detail on how Dundee attack opponents, although that information appeared not to have been fully processed in some cases.

“We just need to highlight it in that it can’t happen again, simple as, or you’re not playing,” said Naismith. “A lot of what came from the Dundee goals, we highlighted last week. We spoke about it, we spoke about their players, who we felt would play and what they tend to do in games. Their goals came from a lot of what we talked about, so that’s what is really poor.

“That all stems from the energy. We were second to most balls in the middle of the pitch. When a throw-in happened, we would be second-best to that ball. Then, when we got free-kicks, goal-kicks or throw-ins, we took an age to take them. When you are playing away from home, how do you play into the home team’s hands? Just do all of the above.

“That’s exactly what happened. We spoke about it. We have good competition in our squad so the players who are playing need to perform or they will not play.”

Hearts were loudly jeered from the field by their own fans at half-time, with Kent scoring a second-half header to reduce the deficit. Overall, the evening on Tayside offered first-hand evidence of what Hearts will encounter away from home in the Scottish Premiership.

“For new players, we had conversations when they signed about going away from home in Scotland,” explained Naismith. “Teams will sit in and make it difficult and it needs to be a hard-fought game. We have seen that first-hand on Saturday but it's déjá-vu. It was so like the game at Dens last season. The goal was really poor in that game and the goals at the weekend were really poor as well. That's the sad fact of it.”