Liam Boyce is keen to get back on the goal trail for Heart of Midlothian and help ease the burden on Lawrence Shankland.

The Northern Irishman has had a positive pre-season after two seasons of injury issues. Speaking to the press ahead of the Rangers game he talked about Shankland, competition for places and learning a wee bit of Spanish.

Read everything he said below...

Do you feel an onus to get on the scoring sheet and help Shankland?

As a team, it's not only me, all of our attacking players need to sort of take a bit of the burden off Shanks. He is always going to score goals, the way he plays, he is always going to score. For us to be comfortable in games we all need to start chipping in as if he is scoring a goal a game and we are chipping in, it's going to make it easier for us as a team.

Despite the reliance, he never seemed to feel the burden?

That is the type of player he is. He was captain on the pitch when Craig [Gordon] wasn't playing, and he always leads by example. It's weird, in training he is happy and joking then the second he steps on the pitch he is like a different person, aggressive, and that is sort of what you need. He knows he wants to win games and we all need to have that sort of mentality. We need to do whatever it takes to win and if that is us taking the burden off him and scoring goals, which I think will happen this year, then it's only going to be better for the team and that is the way we need to think.

What have you made of the attacking additions?

I think the biggest thing was getting people in early at the start of pre-season. People like Yan [Dhanda] you have played against him, Spitts [Blair Spittal] and stuff. Musa [Drammeh] coming, he's added something different, more pace and more direct, he's got a good strong strike on him and it will be more about him learning the game in Scotland. That is when Spitts and Yan come in. They have played in Scotland and you know how creative they are, they will be involved in creating chances for other players. There's more options and every year I am here it seems we are adding different types of players to play against different types of teams. It is only going to put us in a good position if we need to change the team against a certain style of opposition, then we have the options we need.

Have you ever played in a team with so much competition?

No. At Ross County we had a smaller squad and was more starting XI and a few subs that got used. Now we have two or three who can play in every position. People have their strongest positions but they can play to that standard in multiple positions and I wouldn't like to be the manager picking the team!

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It will be hard enough to pick a squad, never mind an XI?

People might get injured, you need to be ready. As Naisy says to us, ‘If you’re not playing well there is always going to be someone coming in to take your position’, and that is going to drive the standards higher and higher. For a club like Hearts that’s where you need to be, when I came here I was expecting that everyone needs to be expecting people to push you and you need to be on your A-game to play.

Did you sense in pre-season that standards are higher?

A couple of the results in pre-season have not gone our way but you can tell with the intensity, even in training you can’t rest at all - you need to be on it. If you’re not producing a moment of quality when you get the ball, someone else in training is doing it and he is going to get chosen ahead of you. It’s just constantly driving it. Everyone is working hard, even in the running. No one likes to do it but if someone wants to play ahead of you he’ll try and run harder than you. It’s all about driving standard and it looks like it’s working so far and hopefully the start of the season matches that.

How are the new guys settling in?

It’s really good, Gerald [Taylor] and stuff coming in, big Dan (Oyegoke) has just slid in. We know Yan and Spitts from playing against them and talking to other players. It helped with Musa and Gerald coming in to have Kenny already here. They speak good English but it makes you more comfortable when you can relax and speak Spanish with them. We all try and learn Spanish words. It’s good to get them in, they are questioning people's nicknames, why does their name change from Halkett to Halks, Shankland to Shanks? They have all fitted in really well and they are joining in all the banter.

What Spanish have you learned?

Hola just! Una mesa para cuatro, por favor. But I heard that from Kevin Bridges!