Steven Naismith on Hearts competition and goal issue

The Hearts head coach spoke about the competition for places, Nathaniel Atkinson and Barrie McKay's return, getting back to winning ways and the latest injury news.

Here is everything he said:

The bench on Wednesday must have been one of the best the club's ever had. You must be excited by it going forward having all those options?

It’s good. Probably, subconsciously, it raises the quality in training. Players will be trying to work out the squad, who’s available, how many get into the squad, who am I vying for to be in the squad? It definitely brings that laser focus for each individual. We had options on Wednesday. At half time we make two offensive changes at half time then we still have Barrie McKay coming off the bench later on. It’s a good problem to have as a manager.

Are you ready to unpopular, some guys won't even make the bench?

That’s part of it. I’ve had to deal with that recently. You just have to be honest. These decisions are not personal. It’s a footballing decision and I’m very clear that week to week it could change. Gone are the days of rolling out the same team all the time and that gets you your win. That plays a part to build momentum but the tactics involved in the games are so refined that its small margins that make big differences.

READ MORE: Hearts suffer Cammy Devlin injury blow - midfielder could miss derby

Are any of the boys who returned to the bench ready for the starting XI?

We put Nat Atkinson back in from the start against Rangers. We felt he was there and it was a big ask but he’s got good experience and the opportunity to go more offensive at half-time gave us that leeway to take him back out. It was a good 45 minutes to build him up. We’ll see. Alex Lowry comes back into the squad from last week. It’s competition but this game is different. We’ve played them twice since I’ve been in charge and had two good results playing a different shape.

How did you feel Atkinson did?

He had good bits and moments you could tell he was just back. Some of his touches maybe got away from him but then he has a big part to play in our best part of the game. Natty gave his all. He never shied away from anything. I was expecting there would be times he would take a bad touch after he had been out for two months. He started the season really well, the injury disrupted him, but I expect him to get back to that.

What's the latest with Boyce and Devlin?

Friday will be a big day more so for Boycie. Cammy, we ended up getting him scanned just as a precaution and it's come back that there’s more damage than he was feeling the day after he came back in. So he is likely being at least a month. Boycie, we will wait and see. It’s a race against time really.

How important is the next step for the team to score more goals?

I feel we have created good chances in a lot of games but just not scored. On Wednesday we had a couple of opportunities where we should have made an extra pass or somebody takes too many touches to get their shot off. When I first took over we were good at getting shots off and taking chances. We want to do that but I’m pretty comfortable with that because I think we have players here who can score goals and are sharp enough around about the box to score goals. As long as we keep winning I think that will click into action at some point.

How do you see Barrie McKay fitting into the system?

Barry has played as a 10, as a striker dropping into the space and someone who at times likes to hug the touchline. He’ll be able to fit into systems comfortably. Formations are a starting point. What we are asking players to do in them, Baz has real quality and we need to get him on the ball. He is a really creative player.

READ MORE: How Rangers loss showed the two sides of Hearts: Pressing but not enough chances

What do you make of Aberdeen's current woes?

It’s been tough for them. I think it’s the demand of European football definitely playing its part. Hearts saw it last season. They have got a bigger squad but it’s the mentality side that you need to keep going. For the clubs that don’t have the resources of the Old Firm it’s a much tougher ask. When you’re not then getting results the momentum turns and pressure builds. Nowadays it comes much quicker than it used to. That’s the nature of the game and it’s not going to change. But I’m pretty sure internally they’ll be a strong bunch that won’t be reactive to the noise. I think Barry [Robson], as a strong character, won’t either.

Do you suspect they will still be challengers for third spot?

Their expectation will be to get that. We just need to concentrate on ourselves. This is a good opportunity to get three more points, stay in third place and compete at the top end. This month is about focusing on us and getting the results. We had a bad result on Wednesday. The middle of the pitch and build up was decent at times. Final third we weren’t perfect then we gave a sloppy goal away. We want to get back to a win on Saturday. But we know it will be a tough game. I think it will be open because the previous games we’ve had have been quite attacking.

Will it be important to show Wednesday was just a blip and go on another run?

That’s the aim. You’re always going to lose games whether you deserve to or not. It’s about the reaction off the back of that. We’ve coped with that at times this season. I spoke about getting the three wins and four wins in a row but we need to make that become more normal and Saturday is the next opportunity.

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