Steven Naismith on the Hearts balancing act he has to strike amid Euro involvement as draw sparks excitement

Hearts head coach Steven Naismith | SNS Group

Hearts head coach Steven Naismith says there are no right or wrong answers when it comes to finding the balance between domestic and Premiership action.

After a 0-0 draw with Rangers kicked off the new league season, the Tynecastle club now look ahead to the Europa League play-off draw. Continental football beyond Halloween in that competition or in the Europa Conference League should they lose the two-legged play-off tie is the reward for finishing clear in third last season, and a host of big names stand as possible opponents.

Clubs in Scotland have struggled to hit the balance between action on a couple of fronts, with Aberdeen falling into the bottom six as they struggled to match European performances with Premiership consistency. Naismith is excited by the European draw but knows he needs to find the right blend that brings consistency and avoids discontent in the camp.

He said: “Yeah, it’s good. I experienced it a lot as a player and even the excitement of the draw is good because it gives you real focus to know who you are going to come up against.

“It’s what you work so hard for last season to get into this position and my job and the coaches’ job is to get the players ready for it but also give them the understanding and not wasting the opportunity.

“I don’t think it was just Aberdeen who struggled with it, I think Scottish clubs in general struggle with it. There are no rights and wrongs, it’s what works best because if you’ve got too big a squad and you’ve not got the games you’ll have discontent within it. So it’s a balancing act.

“And you want to get some young players through from the academy, so it’s about finding that balance. I think we are equipped. I think we’ve got enough quality and enough competition in each position, backed up by the younger players.

“There are a couple of exceptions of Lewis [Neilson] and Aidan [Denholm] going out on loan but the need for them to play consistently at this time in their career will benefit us in a year’s time more than them being part of a squad where they get limited minutes.”