Yahoo News Steven Naismith faces Hearts SACK if he doesn't address glaring issue with two clear solutions - Ryan Stevenson
I said last week that Hearts losing at Falkirk was a disaster.
But Sunday’s defeat at Motherwell? That was a complete SHAMBLES. And what made it worse was the manager’s comments afterwards. You can’t just be so flippant to say if we keep giving goals away then it’s just going to keep happening. Steven Naismith needs to tell it straight.
I want to hear him admit they’ve not recruited strikers, Lawrence Shankland needs help and the other boys who are supposed to help him need to get their finger out. Two goals from five games, four defeats and a draw, is a shambolic start to the season. The problems lie at the other end of the park. Not in defence. We’ve spoken about this for the past year, Hearts need to find someone else to take the burden off Shankland pronto.
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And I’ll go as far as to say this - if they don’t sign someone who will get them goals Naismith is going to get the sack. The buck stops with him and it’s been nowhere near good enough.
If Hearts don’t beat Viktoria Plzen and qualify for the Europa League group stage tomorrow night then the anger in the stands is going to intensify ahead of the visit of Dundee United on Sunday.
And then if they don’t win that one against the Tannadice side - and I mean win - then it will be crisis time. The fans will turn and I think they’d be right to.
The alarm bells were ringing at Christmas time about the lack of back-up to Shankland. They’ve had a year to sort it and haven’t. How many times have we said it? If the captain doesn’t play well then Hearts are in deep trouble.
The cracks are now really starting to show. Shankland was slow starting last year aswell and Hearts struggled. It’s happening again.
They actually need another TWO out and out strikers to both help and put pressure on Shankland. They could have gone and got someone last year and nurtured them. But it never happened. That falls at the door of the recruitment team and the manager.
It’s just impossible for everything up front to rely on one guy. I hear folk saying he’s not playing through the middle enough. If Lawrence is dropping too deep in games then Hearts should have something in their armoury that other will run in behind and score the goals. But it’s not happening.
Of course players need to step up too. There’s Kenneth Vargas, Alan Forrest, Barrie McKay - all these players need to take responsibility. They are all good players but just aren’t producing the goods.
I like Liam Boyce but he’s not the kind of guy that’s going to come in and score you 15 goals a season. So the biggest problem without a doubt is at the top end of the park.
It’s fine saying there’s only so many times they can give away cheap goals. But as a forward I always took responsibility to say that that is inevitable if we aren’t scoring goals.
It’s easy to point the finger at the defenders. You can’t ask a team to defend for 90 minutes and then not take any chances. Naismith needs to turn things around and quickly.
To be honest I thought the new deal the management team was given after one game this season, the draw with Rangers, was a bit quick. They could have bided their time to see where they end up in terms of Europe and how the season started.
Now they’re under pressure ahead of two massive games. Naismith has to choose his strongest team and stick with it.
Hearts are not at a liberty to be chopping and changing starting line-ups to rest players right now. Jorge Grant was one of our better players against Viktoria Plzen on Thursday but then comes out the team on Sunday. You can’t do that.
The argument over players needing taken out due to the demands of Thursday-Sunday football doesn’t wash with fans any more. It’s a game of football. If they’re not injured they should want to be back out there.
I’ve never bought that argument. We’re grown men and, to be fair, I don’t think the players use it as an excuse. Football players are in such a privileged position that that argument is embarrassing.
So a result tomorrow night is badly needed. But Hearts’ bread and butter is the league and the domestic cups.
Losing to Falkirk and dropping out the League Cup after playing about with the starting XI was really bad. Following up by losing to Motherwell in the manner we did was worse.
That’s why Naismith needs to be blunt and admit they’re not playing well right now and not creating nearly enough chances. Stop polluting the fans’ minds with rubbish because the punters will see through it. They deserve better than what’s being served up right now.
