Why Hearts have athletic aim but no 'big physical' return

It was a moniker often used - and occasionally still is - by disgruntled managers or opposition fans. For the Hearts support it was a badge of honour. It meant the team had made it very difficult for the opponent they had played.

In Gerald Taylor, Musa Drammeh and Daniel Oyegoke Hearts have signed three players who are visibly a good size while Steven Naismith pinpointed a couple of other additions that give the squad more pace and power.

"The presence has an effect, although that's not the type of team we are going to be," the Hearts head coach explained. "I think the game is going that [athletic] way.

"There are the ones you name, plus [James] Penrice is an unbelievable athlete, Yan [Dhanda] doesn't get the credit he deserves either. He will last 90 minutes and get about.

"The game is naturally going that way. It's something we need to constantly have. We need pace to go through the pitch quickly. A lot of our attacks, when we got joy later in games, got us from one area of the pitch to the final third within three passes. You need to be able to get up and down the pitch to do that."

Read more

• Why Hearts youngsters won't go on loan yet - quartet's pre-season assessed

• Hearts insight into meetings with targets, more signings, No.6 transfer question

• Hearts in Tenerife: Naismith assessment, meetings, padel, 12 month comparison

• Inside Hearts pre-season: Testing, friendlies, team bonding, new signings

It is not just the new signings.

Watching Hearts training during their time in Tenerife, it was noticeable the definition and condition of a number of last season's squad, whether it was the younger players like Macaulay Tait and Lewis Neilson or Cammy Devlin.

Naismith revealed it has been a "big focus".

"I think the players already here have developed through their conditioning," he said. "They are more powerful. That's something I've noticed through pre-season, we do have more powerful players from those who were already in the building.

"Lewis, [Aidan], Denholm, Macaulay Tait have firmed up. Now Macaulay is never going to dominate somebody but he can have a strength so that when he does get nudged he isn't barged off the ball - it doesn't impact his stride.

"We are making a big focus on it and it definitely has resonated with the players."