Heart of Midlothian

Image source, SNS

Former Scotland defender Jackie McNamara believes Hearts head coach Steven Naismith is rotating his players in "the right way".

Following back-to-back defeats to Dundee and second-tier Falkirk, the Tynecastle boss is facing criticism from fans for tinkering with his team.

The Gorgie side will have to juggle domestic and European football for at least the first half of this term, with their continental action kicking off this Thursday in the first leg of their Europa League play-off with Viktoria Plzen.

Due to the intense schedule that brings, McNamara has backed Naismith's strategy despite a ropey start to the season.

"They're going to need all the players," he tells the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast. "They've made a lot of changes, [but] it's still quality he's starting with.

"He can't have Lawrence Shankland playing every minute of every game, so he's relying on lots of boys coming in and getting goals.

"Domestic stuff should take care of itself, but he's juggling. He's got a lot of players he needs to get up to speed and get ready, that's the difficulty.

"He'll be looking just now at what ones he trusts to handle the job and the pressure, because now with the two defeats there's a wee bit of pressure.

"Hopefully he can get a good performance and result on Thursday and settle everything down, then you go and have a good successful campaign from there."

We asked you for your thoughts following Hearts' League Cup exit at the hands of Falkirk.

You had plenty to say, here's a taste of it...

Maca: Another pathetic performance from Hears, lacking drive and quality of any kind. The manager has not got a clue as the system keeps changing and it's clear the players do not understand the plan... if there is one! Giving the manager a new contract after this start is strange to say the least. Things need to change or our season will be over by October.

Derek: With the quality Hearts have in the squad, it’s frustrating they don’t seem to have the motivation to really achieve something this season. Not sure why the management can’t get more out of them! They don’t play with the same enjoyment or hunger as say Dundee at the moment, on the front foot. They also look pedestrian so not sure they are fully fit.

David: With a large influx of new, good quality players we could expect that they would need time to blend together. That time is now up! The most worrying aspect is our complete inability to score goals with even Shankland struggling which suggests he wants to move on and no replacement in sight- worrying times.

David: Too many changes and no clear style of play. None of the new signings look up to it so far and returning players like Halkett and Boyce look finished at Premiership level. I'm not looking forward to Viktoria Plzen.

Kuptin: Naismith is right - squad rotation isn’t working, but that’s the players’ fault in the end. Shankland looks unfit. Worst of all, all the fans commenting on social media will call for the manager to be sacked. As predictable as losing to a team unbeaten on their plastic pitch for ages.

Douglas: To me it’s obvious that if the team is constantly rotated and the system is changed from one week to the next players will have little idea of how they fit into the team. Recent results speak for themselves. I recall Alex Ferguson always played the same 4-4-2 system with the strongest team available to him. Perhaps that is the lesson to be learned.

Jamie: Nothing else to say apart from embarrassing.

Alan: Probably a case of Hearts players believing their own press after a decent start against Rangers. As gutted as I am about getting knocked out the cup, we haven't become a bad team overnight and could easily have thumped Falkirk. But if any players think they'll keep the jersey without giving 100%, they're in for a shock because the fans won't wear it.

Falkirk stunned top-flight Hearts to reach the Premier Sports Cup quarter-finals.

Ethan Ross and Dylan Tait's second-half goals eliminated last season's semi-finalists and continued Hearts' winless start to the campaign.

Steven Naismith's visitors created a glut of chances in the opening period and not even the second-half introduction of Lawrence Shankland could force a goal against the Championship newcomers.

John McGlynn's side, who had Ryan Shanley sent off late on, will discover their last-eight opponents when the draw is made on Sunday.

Click here, external to have your say on Hearts' defeat.

Hearts head coach Steven Naismith: "Ultimately we're really disappointed, we're out the cup. The tale of the game is you've got to take your chances. We create four really good chances in the first half but you've got to take them. Cup football is defined by that.

"The second goal absolutely kills us in terms of any sort of momentum. There's no excuse.

"We ultimately need to just put 11 players on the park that are going to win us the game and if that's keeping the same team or keeping the majority even with our tight schedule then we'll need to do that. It probably clears that part up, that we maybe can't rotate as much as we would've liked."

Hearts keeper Craig Gordon made some fine saves at the Falkirk Stadium, despite losing two goals.

Image source, SNS

Image source, SNS

An early exit from the League Cup will be a massive frustration and another blow to confidence as Hearts enter the Europa League arena for the first time this season with a play-off first leg away to Czech side Viktoria Plzen on Thursday.

However, Hearts' start to the game belied their winless start to the Premiership campaign, with Yutaro Oda and Kenneth Vargas in particular causing the Bairns problems. They just couldn't take their chances.

The visitors were perturbed by a cynical challenge by Sean Mackie on Vargas that resulted in a yellow card, seeming to suggest it should have been red. Another flashpoint involved Vargas pushing Brad Spencer after being fouled. Both were booked.

Image source, SNS

Craig Gordon replaces Zander Clark in goal and captains Hearts in Lawrence Shankland's absence.

Craig Halkett and Stephen Kingsley form a new central defensive partnership, Malachi Boateng, Blair Spittal and Yan Dhanda are the new trio in midfield and Yutaro Oda and Liam Boyce join the attack.

Daniel Oyegoke, Kye Rowles, Cammy Devlin, Jorge Grant, Barrie McKay and Shankland drop to the bench, while Frankie Kent misses out.

Falkirk: Hogarth, Mackie, Donaldson, Henderson, Adams, Spencer, Oliver, Ross, Tait, Miller MacIver.

Substitutes: Hayward, Yeats, McCann, Agyeman, Shanley, Sinclair, McCafferty, McCrone.

Heart of Midlothian: Gordon, Taylor, Halkett, Kingsley, Penrice, Spittal, Boateng, Dhanda, Oda, Boyce, Vargas.

Substitutes: Clark, Oygoke, Grant, Shankland, McKay, Devlin, Rowles, Forrest, Musa.

Clive Lindsay
BBC Sport Scotland

Image source, SNS

Hearts' optimism after last season's third-place finish, a summer of transfer activity while retaining top marksman Lawrence Shankland and an opening-day Premiership draw with runners-up Rangers, took a bit of a bashing after last weekend's 3-1 defeat by Dundee.

Will that persuade head coach Steven Naismith to hand a quickfire start to Andres Salazar, the Colombia left-back who arrived on loan from Atletico Nacional, as they visit Falkirk in the Premier Sports Cup last 16 on Saturday?

While the Edinburgh side have yet to win this season, albeit only two games, League 1 champions Falkirk have won five out of six, culminating in a routine 2-0 Championship defeat of Dunfermline Athletic in what would normally be a tough local derby.

John McGlynn has already steered his side to a win over Premiership visitors Dundee United in their League Cup group-stage opener and will have high hopes of preventing Hearts record a fourth consecutive win at Falkirk Stadium.

Read the Premier Sports Cup preview in full here.

Image source, SNS

Steven Naismith insists he will learn from mistakes he made in Hearts' chastening defeat by Dundee.

The Gorgie side were three goals down after a first-half collapse at Dens Park last weekend, with Frankie Kent netting a consolation after the interval.

As he prepares to take his side to face Falkirk in the Premier Sports Cup last 16 on Saturday, Naismith, 37, said: "Last week was disappointing.

"From looking back at it, I think I got some things wrong and that's probably the biggest thing that made it tough for the players.

"The energy levels and the intensity was the bit that I was putting on the players and that's not changed but I could have helped them out a bit more.

"Just learn from my mistakes, that's what I'll do from that. As a young coach, I'm going to make mistakes."

Hearts learned on Thursday night that they will face Viktoria Plzen in the Europa League play-off, with the first leg taking place in the Czech Republic next Thursday.

"They're a team that are regular in Europe," said Naismith. "They've got a way of playing, they've not changed too much from last season to this season.

"They've got some good quality players that can hurt you so we'll need to be on it. It's a tie where we believe we can go through."

Image source, Getty Images

New signing Andres Salazar says he "knows he's made the right decision" in joining Hearts on a season-long loan.

The Colombia international, who earned his sole cap so far against Iraq in a friendly last summer, has long had interest from clubs across the continent, but notes it's "a dream come true to play in the UK".

The 21-year-old left-back came through the youth system at Atletico Nacional and has made 29 appearances for the club as well as spending time on loan in Colombia's second tier.

"I am a strong player in one-v-ones and I'm fast too. I like to make good passes and I have a winning mentality," Salazar told club media.

"I'm excited for the opportunity to play. It's a club with a lot of history, great players, and a fantastic step forward in my career.

"For me, it's a great dream to come and play in the UK.

"I'm very happy to be here and know I've made a good decision to be part of this great team."

Image source, Getty Images

Steven Naismith believes Hearts are getting "a quality player" in Colombia international Andres Salazar.

The 21-year-old joins on loan from Atletico Nacional in his homeland and will strengthen the left-hand side of the Hearts defence following the exit of Alex Cochrane.

He will compete with James Penrice, who Hearts signed this summer from Livingston, for the left-back berth as Naismith noted his addition brings "healthy competition".

"A lot of hard work has gone into making this deal possible so I’m happy that it’s now over the line," the Hearts head coach told the club's website.

"In Andres, we’re getting a quality player with loads of experience, despite his young age.

"He’s played domestic, continental and international football so he’ll bring that knowledge to the dressing room.

"His talent means there will be healthy competition amongst the squad for a place in the starting line-up, and I’m looking forward to working with him."

Image source, SNS

The draw for the quarter-finals of the Premier Sports Cup will take place on Sunday after the Celtic v Hibs tie, which kicks off at 15:00 BST.

The draw will be shown live on Premier Sports following their coverage of the game from Parkhead.

All quarter-final ties due to be played on the weekend of September 21-22.

Image source, SNS

John McGlynn believes his Falkirk team have "a shot to nothing" this weekend as they welcome Hearts in the last 16 of the Premier Sports Cup.

McGlynn, who managed the Gorgie side for eight months during the 2012-2013 season, has guided the Bairns to a successful group-stage campaign and two wins out of two on their return to the Scottish Championship this season.

Despite that impressive form, he knows his side are big underdogs against Steven Naismith's side.

"It's a very exciting game to look forward to," McGlynn told BBC Scotland.

"Hearts are a very good side - the third best team in Scotland last season of course - and there is no doubt they are going to be back up there again this season.

"It's a shot to nothing for us, really. We'll do our best, absolutely, and it is one we really can't wait for but it won't be a shock if Hearts win, but it will be if Falkirk win.

"All we can do is go and give it our best shot."

Brian McLauchlin
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

Defeat to Dundee and the manor of how sloppy the team were in the first half in particular would have been a massive shock to everyone at Tynecastle.

Until Saturday evening the mood had been incredibly high, especially after the performance seven days earlier against Rangers in front of a home crowd.

But that opening 45 minutes at Dens Park was a wake up-call to everyone at Hearts that success requires hard work regardless of who your opponents are.

This weekend it’s a short trip along the M9 to take on a Falkirk side who have started the Championship on fire.

Bairns boss John McGlynn learned his trade at Hearts in the late 1990s when he was part of the backroom team assembled by Jim Jefferies and Billy Brown.

McGlynn led the Hearts youth team to Scottish Cup success in 2000 against Rangers at Hampden where his goalkeeper that day was a certain Craig Gordon.

Who would have believed that nearly 25 years later the pair would be going head to head, with Gordon still between the sticks for the Tynecastle club as he nears his 42nd birthday?

McGlynn has had a stellar management career he can be proud of and is highly regarded by his peers.

Falkirk will fancy their chances of causing a League Cup upset, so Steven Naismith will have to emphasise to his team the importance of maintaining 100% concentration if Hearts are to reach the last eight.

Image source, bbc

Andres Salazar’s proposed loan move to Hearts from Atletico Nacional is nearing completion and could be finalised this week as the Edinburgh club await a UK visa for the Colombian left-back, 21. (Edinburgh Evening News), external

Greg Playfair
Fan writer

It’s fair to say there were few joyous Jambos on Saturday evening after witnessing a filleting by Dundee during a first half collapse.

If it went on for 10 minutes longer, you sensed that the ravenous Dees would have got another couple of goals before the break, such was their buoyancy in that period and Hearts looking all at sea.

It's rather fitting that this humbling defeat took place in the City of Discovery, as all connected with Hearts would have learned something from that game.

Supporting Hearts is a rollercoaster of emotions, with what feels like countless lows and sporadic highs, however this result will not define our season and will not be the ‘worst result’ that will happen between now and next May... we're only two games into the season.

There’s quite rightly been questions asked of Steven Naismith’s decision to change formation and revert to a back three, despite the encouraging display against Rangers where we looked promising with a back four of defenders.

Naismith said he wanted to counter against Dundee’s two strikers and there’s been talk that Yan Dhanda was struggling for fitness, which is why he swapped him out the starting line-up for defender Daniel Oyegoke.

I’d rather force the opposition to worry about our strengths and try to contain them, like what Tony Docherty did. The worrying thing is it was clear 10 minutes into the match that our central midfielders were being overran by the impressive Dundee trio.

As soon as right-back Gerald Taylor got away with escaping a red card, you could see he and the rest of the team were all at sea. Forget the debate about formations at this point, their heads had gone and who knows what Taylor was thinking when he put the ball into his own net moments later to make it 2-0.

I would have liked Naismith to address the glaring lack of leadership in our defensive third by getting Stephen Kingsley on there and then, as mistake across the backline soon followed.

A reaction came along with the three half-time substitutions but we lacked the quality and perhaps belief to overturn the three-goal deficit, despite getting one back.

As said, we can’t jump to conclusions after one poor result, but hopefully everyone will have been analysing this all week, and can eradicate the abundance of errors that were on display up in Dundee.

Up next? A banana skin of a fixture in the trip to face John McGlynn’s Falkirk. They’re a confident team, given their unbeaten League 1 season last year as they bulldozed sides away to the title, and their strong, unbeaten start to the Championship season.

I don't believe Naismith will disrespect Falkirk by making wholesale changes to his side and quite frankly, he shouldn’t given the players need to right the wrongs from last week’s performance. We might see some older and experienced heads come back into the starting line up however in Craig Gordon – as the cup goalkeeper – and experienced defenders Craig Halkett and Stephen Kingsley.

If the fans' clamour is listened to and a back four is deployed, I’d expect us to shade this tricky League Cup tie by one goal.

Watch highlights from Dundee's Premiership win over Hearts.

Image source, SNS

Hearts head coach Steven Naismith threatened to make widespread personnel changes after his side's disappointing defeat to Dundee on Saturday.

The Tynecastle side conceded three first-half goals after switching to a back-three and weren't able to recover as they went down 3-1.

Naismith doesn't believe the change of shape was the reason behind the poor performance though.

"I feel (three) gives us a bit more security at the back," he said. "Dundee changed their shape (from the previous week) as well.

"I don't think it was down to that. Our outside centre-halves were stepping into the game, playing 30 yards from Dundee's goal.

"I think the biggest problem was our application and quality. We gave the ball away cheaply but we weren't willing to have that energy we had last week.

"We've raised the competition for places so if you're not performing, you're not going to play. Simple as that."