Embattled Hearts convinced it will come good as Steven Naismith quizzed on team's identity

Hearts currently sit bottom of the Premiership, are winless from five matches amid a general malaise that has seeped into this campaign from the end of the last one. As a result, pressure is growing on head coach Steven Naismith. Some Jambos want change in the dugout, others are prepared to wait a few more matches. After this weekend’s clash with St Mirren, Ross County visit Tynecastle. Positive results are required quickly if Naismith is to benefit personally from a potential tie-up with Tony Bloom’s Starlizard algorithms.

Naismith is all for modern-day data systems, yet the stats in the Premiership are grim reading for the Hearts boss. One point, two goals from more than 450 minutes of league football is not good viewing. Neither was the Premier Sports Cup defeat by second-tier Falkirk, which means they are on league duty this weekend rather than being in the latter stages of a silverware pursuit.

The Jambos boss, to his credit, is not shying away from the situation. “It's been a tough start,” Naismith admitted. “There's been some poor moments, I think there's been good moments - even last week. I think anything that we can take from Celtic's result during the week is our performance defensively was alright against them compared to what happened during the week [Slovan Bratislava’s 5-1 trouncing].

“So there's been areas that have been decent, there's bigger areas. As you get success last season, you need to find other ways to put other teams under pressure. We've not done that well enough this season, for me that's been the biggest thing. We've been punished for every mistake that we've made. I don't think that will continue, I think we'll get a bit of luck in some respects, but we need to be creating more chances and we need to take more chances. That's ultimately the short-term fix to giving us better chances in games.”

Naismith accepts that for all of his players’ failings on the pitch, the buck stops with him. “When I'm saying we need to be better at this and that, we've not been good enough and that's ultimately my mistake and my problem and I'm the one that's at fault for that,” he continued. “But as I've said continuously this season, we work tirelessly. We work tirelessly on the pitch, the players are really responsive to it, they're trying.

“I think we'll get a break and the results will pick up. I think we can lean on parts of last season at the early stages of the season. I think some of our new players are getting more comfortable, which eases things for us as well.  I've got full confidence in the squad and I've got a real belief that we can get a result tomorrow.

A lot of Hearts’ critics have said that there is no identity about the team. Too many personnel and formation changes have been put forward as major issues. Naismith was asked in his pre-match press conference to explain what the identity is.

“I think short term, in last season, our identity has been that we've won games,” he responded. “We've won games consistently. That got us a good run, it got us a good position in the league and fundamentally that needs to be the first thing that people identify to you. That you're hard to beat and you win games, you find a way to win.

“Beyond that, we're probably a team that has more possession than the opposition. I don't think our attacking play and style has ... I can accept that one, that there has not been a clear way of doing it. As I've just said before, that's an area we need to improve on. There's wee areas that I do think over time you will progress and you'll see a consistency that will come. 

“We've not found that this season but ultimately we need to win games to get over that first hurdle and bring that confidence back that players play the best football.” 

Part of Naismith’s job is to keep a confidence-sapped squad on an even keel. There is no sign of dressing-room issues at Hearts, although a number of the club’s new signings have not hit the ground running.

“I think like last season, the clear message is what we're doing,” said Naismith. “We stick to what we're doing and that gets us results. That got us that last season. I think there is a calmness around us, there's an understanding that one, we need to get results. There's a frustration for the fans and there's a demand. Ultimately we need to get results. You'll go into a game on a Saturday and you'll either be favourites or you're the underdog.

“In the times that we're favourites we need to take control of those games and ultimately get the result. But as I said, we work hard. The squad are really receptive. I've been at clubs where in the tough times the injury list is quite high and the players that are unavailable are very high.

“I'm sure we've got one injury, if that, at the moment. That tells me a lot, that one one this squad are up for the fight of getting in the team and two, getting the team to play well to win games.”

On the latter point, vanquishing St Mirren would be a great time to rediscover that trait. Otherwise the data will become even more damning.