You only get one chance to make a first impression. And boy, will Gerald Taylor’s take some topping.

The Costa Rican right-back, a summer signing from Deportivo Saprissa in his homeland, was given his first taste of competitive action for Heart of Midlothian in Saturday’s goalless curtain-raiser against Rangers at Tynecastle Park. The 23-year-old impressed during pre-season, particularly against Tottenham Hotspur, but this was an altogether different prospect.

If Taylor’s all-action display against Spurs got supporters excited about what the full-back could bring to the team, then Saturday’s performance will have left them positively giddy. Powerful and aggressive, Taylor wasted little time in stamping his influence on the game and showed Hearts exactly what they’ve been missing in what was a problem position last year. He was a worthy recipient of the man of the match award come the full-time whistle.

Taylor played on the right of the back four on Saturday, and so he was always likely to be heavily involved. There tends to be a lopsidedness to Steven Naismith’s Hearts, with much of the build-up play focused down the right, and so it was on the opening day of the Scottish Premiership season.

Naismith opted for a 4-2-3-1 on Saturday and as the pass map above shows, the team skewed to the right as usual. Yan Dhanda, nominally playing on the right wing, would often drift inside, leaving space for Taylor to attack down the outside. It would mean Taylor would have to put in a helluva shift – but the seven-times capped Costa Rica internationalist rose to the challenge in emphatic fashion.

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Winning the individual battle

Taylor is a defender first and foremost, and any defender’s work out of possession is their bread and butter. It doesn’t matter how good you are going forward if you’re a liability at the back, and winning your individual battles is of paramount importance. Not that Taylor had much to be worried about – his bout with Oscar Cortes was so one-sided that you half-expected Clement to throw in a white towel to prevent his winger suffering from further agony. Cammy Devlin, for one, was impressed with what he saw.

“He’s an exciting player, isn’t he?” noted the tenacious Aussie. “I feel like you want your full-backs, especially as a midfielder when they’re playing the winger, there’s someone always running off you. He really helped us today in terms of stepping in front of Cortes. He was his man and won the ball. His pace is electric.”

That pace caused Cortes all sorts of problems on Saturday. And it didn’t take Taylor long to lay down a marker. Take a look at the example below from just a few minutes into the game.

Rangers are counter-attacking through the middle, but the space is out to the left. Ridvan Yilmaz is racing into it and has a running start on Taylor.

Tom Lawrence feeds it out to the left-back, and now it’s a sprint to the ball.

Taylor gets a touch to it first but is off-balance as Yilmaz gets it under control.

Yilmaz tries to take Taylor on by driving round the outside, but Hearts’ No.82 uses his body well to regain possession.

Taylor’s sheer speed provided an extra layer of defensive security for Hearts all on its own. He was able to hold a fairly narrow position when the visitors were on the attack, leaving little space through the middle and forcing Rangers out wide. After all, Taylor can make up the ground anyway.

Below is a typical example. Rangers are probing for a gap when the ball is shifted out wide. The pass could have been a little pacier, but just look at Taylor’s starting position.

He has absolutely no right to win it – but reads it expertly and kicks it out for a throw-in.

Taylor’s pace also meant that Rangers struggled to effectively counter-attack down the left. Clement’s side are at their most dangerous during attacking transitions and like to play directly when they can, but Cortes simply couldn’t get in behind.

Take a look at the example below. Rangers are hitting Hearts on the break when the ball is shifted out to Cortes.

Cortes wants to attack the space in behind, but he can’t win a footrace against Taylor. Instead he slows it down, waiting for Taylor to follow suit before attempting to burst past him.

Cortes knocks it down the line but Taylor wins the sprint – and when the Rangers player then loses his footing, the danger has been snuffed out.

Driving with purpose

Defending will always be the top priority for a player like Taylor, but what he does with the ball is almost as important to be an effective full-back in the modern game. Not that Hearts fans should have too much to worry about on that front, based on the weekend’s evidence.

Taylor’s powerful runs forward caused all sorts of headaches for Rangers on Saturday afternoon. We caught an early glimpse when Mohamed Diomande took a heavy touch back towards his own goal, only for Taylor to go haring after him.

Taylor gets his body across and on this occasion he’s adjudged to have fouled the Rangers man. But it’s an early warning for the visitors.

It goes unheeded. A few minutes pass and then a remarkable phase of play takes place, with Taylor right at the heart of it. It all starts with Hearts building out from the back when Frankie Kent plays it wide to Taylor.

Cortes is drawn towards the ball, and so Taylor looks for the one-two with Dhanda.

It’s executed brilliantly, and Taylor’s first touch is excellent, allowing him to burst forward menacingly. Ben Davies comes charging out but a clever shift from Taylor inside leaves the centre-half for dead.

In the space of a few seconds, Taylor (with a little help from Dhanda) has taken four players out the game. It’s five versus two as the maroon jerseys flood forward – a remarkable overload.

Taylor slows it down, allowing Shankland to drift across, choosing his moment carefully before laying it off to the centre-forward.

He has a go, which is understandable (he did score 31 goals last season, after all) but the Hearts striker should really play it on one more. Barrie McKay and Kenneth Vargas are queuing up at the back post and half the goal is unguarded, whereas Shankland has James Tavernier and Jack Butland to beat.

It was the best chance Hearts fashioned all afternoon but Taylor’s strong running continued to cause problems. Take a look at the example below – Rangers are enjoying  decent spell in Hearts’ half when the ball is headed forward by Diomande.

It’s set to land in between the two Rangers players but Taylor gets there first, nodding it forward.

He bursts down the line and ends up in a footrace with Diomande; Taylor wins it, but overruns it in the process and the ball goes out for a Rangers throw.

That counter-attack never materialised in the end but others were more successful. Take a look at the one below from early on in the second half. Hearts have just won the ball back when Dhanda passes it forward to Shankland.

The Hearts skipper takes an excellent touch, pirouetting to protect the ball before playing it into Taylor’s path.

Taylor charges down the right while Yilmaz keeps pace without committing to a challenge. The Hearts defender makes it 30 yards from goal before turning back on himself and playing it back so Hearts can start again.

A few seconds pass before the ball is worked out wide to Dhanda. Yilmaz moves forward to close it down, and Taylor shoots into the space in behind the Turk.

Connor Barron comes steaming in and a neat pullback from Taylor leaves the Rangers midfielder on his backside. The following touch from Taylor as he sprints into the box is poor, though, and the chance comes to nothing.

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Progressive passing

Taylor regularly found himself getting into promising positions but his passing could have been a little sharper at times. Nearly half (46 per cent) of Taylor’s passes failed to hit their intended target, but it’s worth pointing out that he was often attempting long balls forward with a low chance of success. It’s a high-risk, high-reward strategy.

It so nearly paid off on Saturday. Yilmaz would often push up and once he had committed, Dhanda or Vargas would rush in to occupy the space vacated by the Rangers left-back.

Below is a typical example. Zander Clark kicks it out to Taylor and Cortes comes rushing out to meet him.

Taylor knocks the ball round Cortes’ outside and bursts past him on the inside, leaving the Colombian in his wake as he drives up the flank.

Shankland is occupying Davies and dragging the centre-half all over the place when Yilmaz is forced out to close down Taylor, who slows it all down. Inside, Dhanda is calling for the ball but Taylor waits a moment or two before releasing his team-mate.

The pass is slightly short on this occasion and Rangers win it back – but they were very nearly cut wide open.

A few minutes pass and a similar scenario unfolds. Diomande tries to dink the ball forward but it’s intercepted by Taylor, who charges out wide before launching it forward.

This time, Vargas wins the subsequent footrace – and now Hearts are in a dangerous position.

Here’s one final example of the defender's progessive passing in action. Taylor has the ball and is drifting forward when Diomande rushes out to close him down, but the Costa Rican darts past his man courtesy of some neat footwork.

Both Barron and Yilmaz are watching the ball while Dhanda sneaks in behind. Taylor spots his team-mate and slips him in – but Rangers are able to clear the ball into the box without too much fuss.

Taylor’s influence on the game waned as time wore on, and he understandably flagged towards the end of the encounter – not entirely surprising, given how enterprising he had been. His long throws, something that will surely be the basis of a future article on Hearts Standard, proved extremely useful throughout too. But it was Taylor’s aggressive approach, both in and out of possession, that truly caught the eye.

You only get one chance to make a first impression. Gerald Taylor sure took his.