Naismith reveals when injured Hearts quartet will return

The former Scotland internationalist discussed the returns of Craig Gordon, Craig Halkett, Barrie McKay and Nathaniel Atkinson, as well as the opportunity that the clash at Rugby Park represents, and the future of Mackenzie Kirk.

Here's everything he had to say:

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How are the injured players progressing?

As of this point, every one of them is back in full training and have been for the past week. That's perfect. Over the coming weeks there will be changes to the squad. Now these guys come into the thought process of, 'what's the starting line-up going to be, how do we see the game going and who might I need on the bench'. I think now, with a full squad, there's players with different attributes who might be needed on the bench, to whether they will be in the squad altogether. That'll come, that'll happen in the next month. It's helped the group in training. Everybody is now understanding 'I need to be on it otherwise I might not just start, I might not make the squad'. As a manager, that's what you want.

When these four players return, there won’t be much space in the squad?

It's good. I experienced it at Rangers, that competitiveness and you're going 'I'm not sure'. Players will try and work out every day what the squad is and then they are going 'am I in or am I not'. That's constantly going on. But then secondly, and what I've tried to make clear to the squad all the time, is that each game is different. And I think I've shown that in our starting line-ups but also players being in squads and not. If a player isn't in a squad for a couple of games, it doesn't mean that that's them. If I think in the next game they will be useful, then they will be in the squad.

Is the Kilmarnock game too soon for them?

Yeah, tomorrow will be too soon.

You’ve spoken before about getting them match practice through bounce games, is that still the case?

That's the balance. But next week you have two games so you are never going to be able to put that [bounce] game on, the B team has got games as well. It's a balance, but whether it's that, them being on the bench, coming on in games if you get the opportunity to get them minutes, you need to be creative with it and that's what it's going to be about. How we do that, every opportunity we have to get a game at the early part of the week, we are doing to bridge that gap.

Is it a positive that you’re not having to rush players back because others are out of form?

Some of the players coming back are our most experienced guys, played at the highest level and there could be a feeling of, 'oh we need to get them back'. We want every player back as fit as possible, but I'm not going to rush them back for them to break down, especially with Baz and Natty - that's only their first week back in full training. The more they train, it brings the risk of that down. But we've got loads of games in the next month so I'd imagine if not all then most of them will be involved at some stage.

It must be beneficial just having some of these guys back in the matchday squad and being around the group?

When they've not been in the squad, they've been there. I've taken over a group that mainly are guys who do want the group to do better and do want them to be successful. The cup game at Killie, all the players that weren't involved turned up at the stadium, were part of the group - I don't even need to force that. That's a good thing. Especially for the more experienced ones, when you come back, you are not at your sharpest, your fittest, they've got the intelligence and the understanding of how they can impact the game. It's not going to be how they can do it when they have a full pre-season and they use their experience that way. That will be the biggest value of having these guys back in the group.

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The game against Kilmarnock is a massive opportunity. To not only eclipse the number of away league wins from last season but to get into third, at least for a short period.

Good opportunity but after the Celtic game we knew we had a good run of games where we knew we could build momentum. I have constantly talked about the consistency. In terms of where we are in the league, I'm not bothered about that. I know how it works. The league is normally tight until January/February time anyway. I'll not start focusing on that until March/April time because you know things have settled down, the gaps between teams are slightly bigger than expected and you can get a real feel of where you are going to be. Our aim and targets at the start of the season are what they are. Where we are now is not going to dictate where we finish. It is about the performances, continuing to build that, build the results and if we do that and keep this level of consistency we will be a successful team.

Have you noticed a difference in confidence levels with the recent results?

You can see everybody at training being at it. That comes from confidence, enjoying it, everything is good. I think a lot over the last month of what we've worked on with us changing to a back three at times,having to put the detail on the pitch of what happens in certain situations, the players have seen that pay off. They have seen in a game when we review that we worked on this on Monday and on the Saturday clear as day it consistently happened and it got us success. That gets you buy in. Players see that, they understand that and go 'aye, that worked'. That brings confidence. The environment, the results, everything does. It is about continuing that on as long as possible.

So it's confidence in themselves but also confidence in the structure?

Belief in what we want to do. Everything. Individually they will have confidence in themselves when they play well, whether it be in possession building up, scoring goals, creating chances. Players are the worst for questioning things and players have opinions of how they expect to do things. When you are different to somebody the proof is when it happens and if it happens then that is when the mindset changes. I was exactly the same as a player and over the last month we have managed to do that quite well.

What's the thinking around Makenzie Kirk? Will he go out on loan, stay in the B team or potentially be around the first team?

When fans see he is scoring a lot of goals, how many have watched a B team game? Mak Kirk's strongest attribute is finishing, arguably the top, as good as anyone we have got at this club. Top, top. But the other aspects of his game he needs to work on, he's such a good character that he learns. If anything he works too hard, running everywhere and the ball comes in the box and he's not there or the link up is not there because he is doing somebody else's job. For the last year that's the biggest thing I've tried to turn with him when I've been working with him. But his season so far has been really good, improving in all the areas. When he's around with the first team he's had a few sessions where we are like 'that part needs to be better' then he gets it. For instance he was in our training group yesterday (Thursday) and does really well so it's about keeping him on that upward trajectory. In terms of January we will wait and see because the question will be will he get much else from the next six months in the B [team]. If there is an offer and somebody wants to take him higher up do we challenge him there. The ultimate goal is that he needs to be in the first team. He might go and break records in the B team league but that's irrelevant really because he needs to progress and we need to test him to see exactly where he is. Like I've said before I am not going to fling any young kid in just to show we are throwing him in. It can kill a young player as much as it can help them but we want to get as many young players through as we can. A lot of work we've done in the background with the B team, with the boys going on loan, how their working week works in terms of getting around the first team is as good as it's been since I've been at the club. It's just that last bit that everybody sees is on the pitch and getting him there. I think we are in a good place and have some good prospects coming through so we will see in the next year or two and we can hopefully get a few of them in the first team.

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