Shining a light on Hearts' travails as natives grow restless - 'we need to improve and we need to do it now'
Winless this season and facing the ire of Tynecastle faithful, match against Dundee Utd takes on huge significance
Deep in the corridors of Tynecastle on Thursday, Hearts defender Stephen Kingsley stood under the glow of a lamp speaking passionately to a huddled group of reporters. The inquest had begun. Out of the Europa League and winless so far in the 2024/25 campaign, the Gorgie natives are getting restless.
Kingsley is well-qualified to shine a light on Hearts' travails. An experienced member of the squad, he was front and centre last season when the team's poor start to proceedings left head coach Steven Naismith under significant supporter pressure. Kingsley was also one of the players who stood up and was counted, leading the revival as Hearts surged to a third-placed finish in the Premiership.
Hearts were booed off the Tynecastle pitch after losing 1-0 to an organised but far from impervious Viktoria Plzen side in the Europa League play-off. They are still in Europe, and have a favourable Conference League draw against Copenhagen, Heidenheim, Cercle Brugge, Omonoia, Petrocub and Dinamo Minsk, but all focus for now turns to the league. The malaise stems back to last season. Hearts have only won one of their past 11 competitive matches (14 if you include friendlies), goals are drying up and clean sheets are sparse. It is not a good mix.
Dundee United come calling to Tynecastle on Sunday. "We need to improve and we need to do it now," Kingsley said bluntly. "We've got a massive game on Sunday now, a huge game for us. We've got that and then we've got an international break. We can really start our season on Sunday, but it's going to take a massive effort and we need to be ready for it."
Naismith certainly has the squad to freshen the team up against a buoyant United side. The Jambos made nine summer signings and it is expected that Blair Spittal or Yan Dhanda will be restored to the starting XI to add more creativity. They may well have to contend with the absence of talismanic striker Lawrence Shankland, however, who missed the Plzen tie with a knee issue. He is yet to score this season – but Hearts are clearly a better team for his presence.
Kingsley, though, does not want Hearts to become reliant on the Scotland star. Shankland netted 31 goals last term and without him, fellow forwards Liam Boyce and Kenneth Vargas are struggling to contribute. "We can't rely on one player at a club like Hearts," reasoned the 30-year-old. "We're all here because we want to compete in Europe. We've given ourselves a chance to play in the play-off for the Europa League. That's what we worked so hard for last season and we got ourselves here.
"Shanks obviously plays a massive part in that, but it's not just him and he can't bear the responsibility of scoring or be our only goalscorer on the team. We need to share that responsibility and create chances all around the team and then be clinical when we do get them. We need to improve and we need to do it now."
Naismith has come under fire for some of his tactics and team selections, but Kingsley feels the issues stem from not being solid enough at the back. "We were resolute last season – I can't even tell you how many clean sheets we kept last season," said the defender. "We weren't scoring many goals last season, but we were scoring goals and because we were so solid at the back, we gave ourselves that chance. I think if you look back in the league games, we're not giving ourselves that chance. We're conceding way too easy, individual errors are costing us and we're not scoring goals in the final third. You're not going to win games when you're playing like that."
Tynecastle has become notorious for being a hostile environment for Hearts players when things are not going well. It is a demanding stage. Thursday was another example to the new players of what the standard is at the club. "They'll have known that," said Kingsley. "It's something that everyone gets taught coming to this club, that the demand's there and rightly so. It's a massive club. We've had that adulation last year when things were going well.
"You need to accept that when things aren't going so well, that the club's got a demand on the players that it's not good enough. We need to be ready for it and accept it, accept the pressure that's there. Instead of dwindling and hiding, we need to be men and step up, stick our chests out and deal with that pressure. It's only us that's going to change it now."
Dealing with the short Thursday-Sunday turnaround is not new for many of these players either. There will be six further assignments of that ilk before Christmas, two of which are against Aberdeen and another against derby rivals Hibs. Kingsley says the challenge is all in the mind, not in the legs.
"It's mental in the sense that we've been on a poor run and the confidence is low," he added. "It's easy to see that, especially in the league. No one's going to help us. It's us, our boys in the changing room, everyone together. We're going to get through it. It's physically demanding, but that's why we've brought in players in a bulked-up squad to deal with that demand. I think we've brought in good players as well. I think it's more of a mental thing than physical just now."
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.