Heart of Midlothian

Brian McLauchlin
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Hearts striker Lawrence Shankland is a doubt for Thursday night's Europa League play-off second leg against Viktoria Plzen.

The Scotland striker picked up a knee injury in the defeat to Motherwell on Sunday and has not trained this week.

Head coach Steven Naismith says he will give the 29-year-old as long as possible to prove his fitness for what would be his 100th Hearts apperance.

Naismith's side are aiming to overturn a 1-0 deficit against the Czech side at Tynecastle.

Brian McLauchlin
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

Hearts fans are scratching their heads right now and rightly asking questions about the poor form so far this campaign.

Just how can a team that was easily the third best in the country last season struggle to both score goals and keep clean sheets?

Fans look to the manager to find solutions and there has been criticism of Steven Naismith and his constant changes of system and personnel.

There is little doubt this may well be a factor but the players themselves must take a long hard look in the mirror at how they have performed.

Kye Rowles looks a shadow of the player who performed in the World Cup in Qatar in late 2022. Those performances helped earn the Australia defender a new five year-contract at Tynecastle but he has been poor for some time and can no longer be looked upon as a certain starter.

Then you look towards the top end of the pitch. Liam Boyce and talisman striker Lawrence Shankland have looked nowhere close to the form that helped the club achieve the success they have in recent years.

Yet there is still hope. A win by more than one goal on Thursday night against Viktoria Plzen at Tynecastle would take Hearts into the new format of the Europa League and bring in funds the club could only dream about a few years ago.

So the players need no incentive. They know what is at stake and although they have the security of the Conference League to fall back on, that should be nowhere in their thoughts as they step out into the cauldron at Tynecastle.

The fans have backed the club enormously over the past 10 years. They deserve some payback and the players can deliver that this week.

Greg Playfair
Fan writer

Forget Oasis, the reunion that Jambos are desperate to see this week is between Hearts and winning so we can stop crying our hearts out.

In the mind of some fans, seeing Liam and Noel Gallagher rocking on the same stage in harmony feels more recent than the 3-0 victory against Dundee in May given the winless start to this season.

Some might say it’s not harmonious within the Gorgie support following last Sunday’s 3-1 defeat against Motherwell, in what was unquestionably our worst performance this campaign.

I said last week that questions need to be firstly asked of the players and I’d maintain that for this week, however head coach Steven Naismith will start to come under focus.

The masterplan against Viktoria Plzen worked for 95 minutes, where we were solid until the ball bundled in off of Daniel Oyegoke.

Then Sunday morning called and that performance at Fir Park followed. It appeared some players were still half asleep with there again being individual errors, most notably from our new wing-backs Gerald Taylor and Andres Salazar.

The constant debate between the back three and back four is going nowhere, and I totally understand why we kept the same shape following the performance in Plzen, but I don’t think it works in most domestic games where teams sit in against us.

Naismith is understandably being asked questions about Blair Spittal’s effectiveness as a deep-lying midfielder, having said following his deployment there in pre-season that it "didn’t work".

I know Naismith has said he doesn’t expect to be busy ahead of the transfer window closing but it’s important that we get at least one body in.

For me, a striker has to come in following the departure of Kyosuke Tagawa and Liam Boyce's prowess appearing to fade away.

I would go for a target man. Lyndon Dykes and Callum Paterson have been rumoured, and while I think both are unlikely due to their wages earned down south, it’s that type of profile we should target.

I don’t want to think about the Dundee United game on Sunday just yet, which will be difficult given current circumstances. We just need to take it one game at a time, starting with Plzen.

We need to go let it out and be attacking from the first half. If we can qualify for the Europa League, then little by little our form and season will start to pick up.

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Hearts captain Lawrence Shankland and goalkeeper Zander Clark have both retained their places in Steve Clarke's Scotland squad.

The pair feature in the 24-man set-up for the opening Nations League double-header with Poland and Portugal next month, but there is no spot for Craig Gordon.

The 41-year-old, who was omitted from Clarke's final selection for Euro 2024, has played Hearts' last three matches.

Fellow keeper Clark had been out briefly with a back issue and was named on the bench for the weekend defeat at Motherwell.

Shankland, meanwhile, failed to start any of Scotland's Euro 2024 matches in Germany and has not scored in five games this season, with Hearts yet to win.

Click here to read more on Clarke's Scotland squad.

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"Frustrated" Steven Naismith warned his players their current form "can’t go on" after their defeat to Motherwell left them without a win in five competitive games this season.

The Gorgie side slumped to a fourth consecutive loss as two headers from set-pieces helped Stuart Kettlewell's side to a 3-1 win.

Head coach Naismith cited the first two goals as "poor" and acknowledged Hearts' handling of such situations "needs fixed".

"It’s poor," he said. "There’s nothing else to be said. Even the third goal is poor. Every goal we've conceded this season has been really, really poor.

"Our decision-making, quality of defending and timing of when we drop has been really poor and it's costing us big time at the moment.

"We need to fix it. It can't go on the way it is. On the other side we need to be better at making chances. The quality of our final ball is lacking massively.”

Yutaro Oda's goal at Fir Park was just Hearts' second of the season, and the lack of potency up top is evidently frustrating the supporters who once again booed their side off.

"It's frustrating," added Naismith. "At the moment, in both boxes we're second best.

"In the final third, our final pass and decision-making was poor and when we got shots we didn't make the most of them.

"In both boxes, we're not at the level we need to be at."

Watch highlights from Motherwell's win over Hearts in the Scottish Premiership.

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We asked you for your views following Hearts' defeat to Motherwell.

Here's a flavour of what you had to say:

Tom: Yet another league match where we were outbattled, outrun and ultimately outplayed. on top of that our key man, Shankland, looks well out of form although he is not getting much in the way of support from others. I really hope things change soon.

Mark: Naismith has taken Hearts as far as he can just like Neilson did. I feel we have over recruited this transfer window which has led to him having to rotate the squad every week. Spittal and Dhanda have not looked anywhere like their best and the South American guys will need at least one season to adapt to our game just like Vargas did.

Kuptin: Hearts seem to be lacking confidence, just waiting for the next disaster to happen – as are the fans. Not easy to turn that around, but these are good players. They should be good enough, whatever tactics Naismith deploys. The four lost games have all been away games. Let's reserve judgement until we see what two home games bring.

George: Team selection, team formation, team attitude is all being mismanaged, seriously concerned the season will be over and done for Hearts by Christmas.

Jim: I've heard people say Hearts haven’t turned into a bad team overnight, well it looks like they have. We have a manager on a new contract who is still looking for his best eleven, we have a very accident prone defence having conceded three goals in two away games and we’re already chasing the pack with only a handful of games played. It’s pretty dire.

John: Completely unacceptable from the team and the management today. They just don’t look interested. No intensity and no hunger. Shankland just looks frustrated the whole time but then doesn’t do anything when given service. Boyce looks like he’s just been told he’s a footballer.

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Viktoria Plzen will travel to Tynecastle to face Hearts on Thursday without Czech Republic centre-half Robin Hranac after they announced with "regret" that they had accepted "an extraordinary offer" from Bundesliga club Hoffenheim for the 24-year-old.

Hranac, who has six caps and appeared in all three of their country's games at Euro 2024, started last week's Europa League play-off first leg, with Viktoria establishing a 1-0 lead thanks to John Mosquera's stoppage-time winner.

But general manager and chairman Adolf Sadek told his club website: "The offer was built in such a way that the transfer must take place immediately or it will not be feasible.

"The player himself also showed interest in accepting it."

Hranac, who came through the club's academy and helped them finish third in the Czech top flight last season, will join international team-mates Pavel Kaderabek, Adam Hlozek and David Jurasek at the German club.

The defender said he will look back fondly at "beautiful moments" with Viktoria but pointed out that "playing in the Bundesliga is another dream".

Meanwhile, Viktoria had a free domestic weekend to prepare for the second leg in Edinburgh.

Hearts head coach Steven Naismith talks to BBC Scotland after his side were beaten 3-1 by Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership.

Motherwell picked up their first victory of the new Premiership season, punishing sloppy Hearts at Fir Park.

Headed goals from Paul McGinn and Stephen O'Donnell, both from set-pieces, undid Steven Naismith's side, who looked particularly shaky at the back.

Yutaro Oda got one back for the visitors, before Tom Sparrow intercepted an under-hit backpass to fire in a third and restore the hosts' two-goal advantage.

The defeat leaves Hearts without a win in their first five games of the season.

What did you think of that, Hearts fans? What's going wrong for Steven Naismith at the moment?

Where does the next win come from? Do you need to recruit more players?

Let us know your thoughts, external.

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Hearts head coach Steven Naismith told BBC Scotland: "Disappointed. The story of the game was in both boxes - not good enough. The goals we've conceded are really poor.

"Every goal this season, we've given the opposition a helping hand. Today especially, the execution of final ball wasn't at a level to cause Motherwell problems.

"We made it a difficult task to get back into it - just like in the Dundee game. We aren't putting that pressure on Motherwell to get ourselves back in the game. We don't get the ball into the final third as much as we should have.

"Decision making on the pitch is what's costing us, it's plain to see. It's really frustrating. We need to be switched on much better.

"Last season we did the same [switched formations a lot]. Our defensive record was really good. The other night, we defended set plays well as a five. It's small details that have a big impact and players within the squad need to understand how big an impact those small margins have."

Andrew Petrie
BBC Sport Scotland

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While Motherwell looked assured tactically, full of confidence in attack, Hearts were the complete opposite.

They enjoyed plenty of possession in the first half but created very little as they struggled to get Alan Forrest or Yan Dhanda involved.

Defensively, they were at sixes and sevens for all three Motherwell goals as the hosts exposed a weak spot in the back-line. From every set piece, there was a nervousness and an expectation that Motherwell would threaten.

The summer recruitment drive - lauded in quarters originally - suddenly seems poor and more bodies might be needed, despite the squad already looking fairly bloated.

The lack of consistency in team selection or tactical style has resulted in confusion across the park, while Shankland looks exhausted up top.

Last season started slowly, too. There are dissenting voices already, but Naismith has turned the ship around before.

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Motherwell: Oxborough, O'Donnell, Casey, Gordon, McGinn, Wilson, Zdravkovski, Halliday, Miller, Maswanhise, Robinson.

Substitutes: Hegyi, Seddon, Balmer, Sparrow, Kaleta, Ebiye, Wells, Ferrie, Watt.

Hearts: Gordon, Kingsley, Kent, Rowles, Taylor, Spittal, Boateng, Salazar, Forrest, Dhanda, Shankland.

Substitutes: Clark, Halkett, Oyegoke, Grant, McKay, Oda, Devlin, Boyce, Vargas.

Viktoria Plzen are on the brink of selling defender Robin Hranac to Hoffenheim for £8m and the 24-year-old could exit before Thursday's Europa League play-off second leg against Heart of Midlothian. (Record), external

Read Sunday's Scottish gossip

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Hearts need to repeat Viktoria Plzen performance against Motherwell says manager Steven Naismith.

The Edinburgh outfit trail Plzen 1-0 after the first leg away from home but have a trip to Motherwell before the home left of the match.

"We showed we can create good chances," Naismith said.

"I thought overall our defending was good, our structure was good and our energy was good.

"So that was more like the Rangers performance than Falkirk and Dundee.

"We will need that on Sunday and we will need that next Thursday."

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Motherwell forward Filip Stuparevic is back in training after a hamstring problem, but Apostolos Stamatelopoulos (thigh), Callum Slattery, Sam Nicholson, Shane Blaney (all knee), Harry Paton (ankle), Ross Callachan (hamstring) and Johnny Koutroumbis (calf) remain out.

Hearts are without midfielders Calem Nieuwenhof (hamstring) and Beni Baningime (knee), who are both set to be sidelined until September.

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• After winning four successive home league games against Heart of Midlothian from February 2019 to May 2022, Motherwell have since lost two of their last three against Hearts (W1).

• Hearts have won both of their last two league games against Motherwell, last winning three in a row in February 2017.

• Motherwell have won just one of their last seven home league games (D3 L3), including a goalless draw with Ross County on the opening day of the 2024-25 Scottish Premiership – they last failed to win either of their first two home games of a top-flight campaign in 2020-21 (D1 L1).

• Heart of Midlothian have won just a point from their opening two league games this season (D1 L1) and could go winless across their opening three games of a Scottish Premiership campaign for the first time since their relegation season in 2019-20 (D1 L2).

• Lawrence Shankland has scored six goals in his last seven Scottish Premiership appearances against Motherwell and against no side has he scored more often in the competition (also 6 v Celtic, Ross County and St. Johnstone).

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Viktoria Plzen's weekend clash against Sigma Olomouc has been postponed as they prepare for their trip to Tynecastle next week.

Hearts currently trail 1-0 in the tie after a 96th minute own goal from Daniel Oyegoke gave the Czech side the win at the Doosan Arena.

Plzen will have extra time to prepare for the second leg after the Czech FA agreed to cancel all games involving clubs in European action, while Hearts have a trip to Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership.

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Frankie Kent says Hearts showed their true colours in their battling first leg defeat to Viktoria Plzen on Thursday, but bemoaned a lack of luck in the Czech Republic.

Steven Naismith's side conceded an own goal deep into injury time in their away leg to Viktoria Plzen leaving them with a 1-0 deficit for the return leg at Tynecastle.

"It's very difficult to take in the last seconds of the game," Kent said.

"We can take the positives but I think you really saw what we are about as a team. We were sticking together and putting our bodies on the line.

"Luck is just not falling for us at the minute in terms of the chances we had and the saves their keeper made. Then the goal at the end when the ball could have gone either side of the post.

"We are getting there and while this will be a hard thing to get over tonight we have a game to look forward too on Sunday."

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Lewis Neilson has challenged himself to become an established Premiership player during his loan spell with St Johnstone.

The 21-year-old joined Hearts from Dundee United two years ago and made 16 appearances in his first season at Tynecastle before turning out 43 times for Partick Thistle on loan last season in the Championship.

The defender has started all three games since joining Craig Levein's side and hopes to keep his place to prove he can compete in the top-flight.

"I felt going into pre-season I was ready to play for Hearts but just the size of the squad at the minute – they've got a vast amount of players of really good quality – so just to continue to get the number of games I need, it was better to come to St Johnstone, where I can hopefully play every week," he said.

"Hopefully I can play as many games as I can here and make my mark in the Premiership, and hopefully that will be enough to go and cement a spot at Hearts next season.

"I definitely feel season on season I’ve become a better player.

"Going into Hearts two years ago, I was maybe too young to make a mark and keep my spot in the team but I got some great experiences, like European games, which were massive for me.

"Then I had a really good loan spell at Thistle, where I played 43 games. Especially as a centre-half, it's hard to replicate game-like situations in training so I need to be playing games, like I got last year, and hopefully it looks like I’m going to be getting this year as well."

Hearts fans, we asked for your thoughts after Thursday night's first-leg defeat to Viktoria Plzen.

Here's what some of you had to say:

David: Very unlucky to lose a goal right at the end. We were generally more solid than of late. The big issue is we have no one who can score, the priority must be to get another striker in before the window closes.

Jim: It was a much better performance last night, some players are still not match fit. We could and should have come away with a better result. Hopefully a full Tynecastle next week will help.

Chris: Even though it was a late loss, I didn’t think we were overly impressive, more that they were out of sorts. We got lucky on a few occasions. Kenneth Vargas has all the attributes we need as a striker apart form one thing - composure. He gets in great positions and does nothing with it constantly.