Hearts boss will warn players to shackle Rangers' midweek hero

Rangers are the visitors to Tynecastle tomorrow and the striker, who worked under Jefferies at Kilmarnock, has found a rich vein of form in recent weeks.

Since making the move from Rugby Park, a combination of injuries and poor form have served to prevent him from holding down a first-team spot but, so far this season, he has featured in every single one of Rangers' games, both in Europe and domestically, netting four times.

Jefferies knows just about everything there is to know about the Scotland internationalist, although he's keeping his fingers crossed that Naismith loses his touch in front of goal tomorrow.

Having watched the player score the winner in the Champions League against Bursaspor on Wednesday night, Jefferies said: "I thought he was excellent. It was as good as I have ever seen him.

"I was never worried he would lose that spark, although I hope he loses it on tomorrow!

"Stevie has taken a while to settle there. It's a daunting task to go to a club the size of Rangers from Kilmarnock. It was a big step up for him and, remember, he was still a young boy. Then he got his injury which set him back, but now he is playing with a lot of confidence.

"Walter Smith has showed a lot of faith in him by giving him a regular start and one or two things he has done since the start of the season have been exceptional.

"Now the lad is full of confidence and full of running, he has got his fitness up and his sharpness back and I think he finally feels he has a arrived there. He's an exceptional talent, He's a handful - I should know, I spotted it at an early age.

"I told Stevie when he was 16 and playing in the reserves that he would become a first-team player at a very early age. He is just a terrific boy to work with, I am sure Walter and his staff know that and he's now playing at the top of his game.

"He is one we will have to be on our toes to keep an eye on. Not just him but there are a quite a few of them playing well at the moment.

"It was obvious from the time he took to settle in and the injuries he had that he was never going to come back right away.

"But they stuck with him, and brought him in for the odd game off the bench and then left him out. They've handled him really well and now he has become one of the first names on Walter's teamsheet. He's deserved that but I knew he would because of the type of boy he is.

"He is determined and has a great attitude to the game and I always said he would go on to become a top player. It's good for Scotland as well he has hit that type of form because I am sure Craig Levein thinks highly of him as well."

Jefferies could do with a boost in defence for tomorrow, however, Marius Zaliukas' contract situation is still preventing him from playing the defender he named captain at the start of the campaign. Zaliukas is back training after injury and, if his contract wrangle can be resolved, Jefferies is not ruling out the possibility of the Lithuanian being involved tomorrow.

"Marius is a Kaunas player and, if there was a chance of him playing at the weekend, I would take the opportunity to give him a game.

"I would like him to keep his match fitness and the game is tomorrow so there is still an opportunity to solve everything but the situation has been ongoing for some time.

"We will have to wait until it is sorted one way or another.

"If we get Marius it will be a bonus.

"The last time I inherited a situation like this was with Jose Goncalves but Jose came to me and explained his reasons and that was fine and that is the player's prerogative.

"The bottom line with that one was that Jose was only ever fit for one game whilst I was here and I played him in it.

"This is a different scenario altogether as Marius is on loan from Kaunas, Jose wasn't.

"Marius could go back to Kaunas in December but we are trying to make his move permanent with Hearts and we need to see what develops. If it is sorted out before the Rangers game, then great."

Jefferies was at Ibrox on Wednesday night and admitted he thought the Glasgow side's performance had been an impressive one.

Walter Smith's side had been criticised in some quarters before the match but Jefferies insisted that they deserved nothing but praise for their efforts.

He feels that they have learned lessons from previous campaigns and continued: "I thought they were excellent. They have a gameplan for Europe.

"But, unbelievably, when I was listening to the radio on the way through they took a lot of criticism from so-called experts before the game.

"They have gone out and done the right thing. They have learned lessons from what has happened in the past.

"Now they are sitting with an away game at Manchester United out of the way and a home win against the Turkish champions and four points. It's fantastic. Some people think you should do things a certain way, but the manager and his coaching staff have showed that's the way to play in Europe. So far they have been proved right.

"As Walter said they still have a lot of work to do, but looking at how they have been playing, with two clean sheets, I can only have praise for them."

Jefferies is keen for his players to become more vocal on the pitch to ensure that individual errors are kept to a minimum, and that's a philosophy that Kevin Kyle already lives by.

The big striker is one of the first to let rip at his team-mates if he feels that they could be doing better in a game and Jefferies would love to see the rest of his squad follow the big striker's lead.

The Hearts manager feels that his players can be too quiet for their own good, both in a game situation and in the dressing room before and after the 90 minutes.

But he knows that is anyone can encourage his young squad to come out of their shells, Kyle is just the man to do it.

Admitting that he would love his players to air their feelings more, Jefferies laughed: "Kevin makes up for that! That's one of the reasons I got him here.

"He is not malicious in any way with things. He says his piece, he puts it over the right way, and that's what you need.

"You want leaders and people in the dressing-room who aren't afraid to tell people things.

"We keep telling the boys to do that and sometimes it's hard for them because it is not in their nature to do that.

"All I can do is try get them to become that. It's not hard to speak - Kevin will tell you that! At the end of the day, Kevin is not moaning, he is trying to drive his team-mates to do the right thing to get a result.

"Kevin is one of the best boys you'll ever meet off the pitch, but on it he's a winner, and he wants the team to win.

"If that means other people need to start talking then it's something we need to do a lot more of, then he's right, and he's only passing on what we've been telling them anyway."

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