Steven Naismith explained Heart of Midlothian's game plan for the friendly loss to Fleetwood Town.

Hearts fell to a 3-0 defeat in Lancashire in what was their final pre-season friendly of the summer. The team face Rangers on Saturday in the Scottish Premiership opener.

Naismith spoke about fan frustration, Blair Spittal and provided an update on Yutardo Oda.


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There wasn't a lot to admire from the game?

No, it was poor. We knew the way they would play. We wanted to see, basically, if we think we are a good enough team to stick to a shape and know that there will be issues within that and can we get the better of the game? On today's evidence, we can't. I think a lot of it was down to energy and application more than anything else. Fleetwood were willing to press more aggressively and that's what got them their joy. We kind of got sucked in to playing safe, going back to the goalie and not reading and understanding where the space was. When we did find space, we ended up creating chances from it when it was a bit more direct over the top. When a team has such a high line, you need to recognise it and use it to your advantage. We didn't do that.

Disappointed with defending when they put balls into the channels?

Yeah, but that was going to be part of us going man-for-man at the back. We knew that was going to happen and we knew it would be a risk - but it's a friendly so that's why we tried it. We'd rather see how that goes than do it in a competitive game and it ends up costing you. I didn't think we dealt with it well enough. The defending, especially for the first two goals, is really poor. Defenders can feel vulnerable when they are man-for-man and I think that was part of the problem.

What did you learn ahead of Rangers?

I think it answers the question of me saying: 'Can we just not concentrate on the opposition and do what we want to do?' I don't think we can. I think there are elements that we need to make sure we give the players a hand with. We don't just say: 'This is the way we are playing and that's it.' I think that's something I learned today. There weren't many others. We've got a clear contrast from the energy levels in this game than we had in the Spurs game. That is something which will be highlighted going into next week.

In a way, was fan frustration a positive to give the new guys an understanding of the demand?

I can understand the frustration when you are getting beat 3-0 in a friendly, it's more so they have travelled the distance they have, they expect a better performance. That's simple. It's one thing the new guys will take away, there is a demand here. It is something I speak about a lot. I speak about it with the players. The new players coming in, you need to accept it. On today's performance, there was too much safety. We didn't do what we've done in previous games or last season at times, where we need to sense an opportunity. They tried to press us outside the pitch and they got the better doing that. How do we solve that? It's by playing brave passes that breaks that and we didn't do that today. That's something the new players coming in but also the ones here last season, if we want to be better and keep moving forward you need to be good enough to make those passes.

Do you have an idea of your starting XI next weekend?

We've had an idea of what are going to do over the last couple of weeks. It's all to play for. I think the way we've recruited, the players we have brought in, competition for places is high. I don't think there is going to be much hiding place for players or there is not going to be any areas where you can get comfortable because you think you are going to play all the time because all over the pitch as the last year has gone on we have managed to progress in most areas. It's competition for places.

What's the latest with Yutaro?

He took a kick in the game against Burnley but he is on the pitch running. I'm hoping he will join training in the next couple of days.