Steven Naismith confident he can turn things around after Hearts lose again

Posted Monday, September 02, 2024 by PA

Under-pressure Steven Naismith insisted he can still turn things round after Hearts’ terrible start to the season continued with a sixth consecutive defeat at home to Dundee United.

There was anger in the stands at Tynecastle as the Jambos went down 1-0 to the in-form Tannadice side, with defender Ross Graham firing in the only goal of the game in the 76th minute.

Hearts have failed to win any of their seven games in all competitions and have scored just two goals.

Asked if he was worried about his position, manager Naismith, who signed a contract extension just over three weeks ago, said: “No, because if that time comes, that time will come.

“I think I’ve said before that the moment I feel I don’t think I can turn it around, I’ll tell the club. It’s not something I’ll be hanging on to if I do get to that point.”

Asked if he was confident he could spark an upturn after the international break, Naismith said: “Yeah, I certainly am.

“I think there’s a lot of work to get done and there’s a long way to go, but I think we know what it takes.

“There was a period last season where we went on a poor run and the reaction to that was really good, so that does show that it’s in the players.”

Naismith admitted the performance against United was “not good enough”.

Reacting to the anger from the stands towards himself and the players, the embattled manager said: “It’s something that comes with being at a big club. It’s obviously not nice to hear, but it’s part and parcel of the game.

“Some of the players are low on confidence, but that (the anger) ain’t going away. That’s here unless you turn it around and you grind out results and you show the passion and the desire to defend and you show the quality in attack that we need.”

Jim Goodwin was delighted with the way his newly promoted United side defended as they kept their unbeaten start to the William Hill Premiership going.

“Defensively all afternoon, I felt really, really confident that they wouldn’t be able to break us down,” he said.

“If I look at the dangerous attacks in the game, I actually think we probably had more than what Hearts did, so it’s a great win.

“It keeps the unbeaten run going for us and going into the international break, sitting third in the table is probably more than any of us would have dreamed of.”