Heart of Midlothian's 1-0 defeat on Sunday to Dundee United meant the team entered the international break with the club's worst record start to a season, over seven games, in 46 years. 

Steven Naismith's side started positively but faltered and fizzled out, running into tangerine and white bodyguards protecting the United box. Any ventures down alleyways were very much of the blind category.

The performance was a microcosm of the season so far and the issues which persist. Both on the pitch and the feeling in the stands, something we will discuss on Hearts Standard later in the week.

There was not much to learn from the game. If this game was taken in isolation you could walk away from Tynecastle Park with the understanding that United were well organised and defended well. Even deem it as just not being Hearts' day.

Yet, the game can't be taken in isolation because of that familiarity. You hear about teams in games like Sunday doing 'everything but scoring'. Hearts were, and are, one step removed from that. They do 'everything but create chances'. 

For the fourth game running the team's xG was below one. 

Yet, there were early signs that it may well be different.

Hearts required a positive start after Thursday's meek exit from the Europa League play-off round. Both in and out of possession. To an extent, they got it.

While there were a few moments in the opening period where a Hearts player was guilty of taking the safe option the team soon found a wee bit of a rhythm and demonstrated a willingness to not only play forward but run forward,

Take Blair Spittal as an example, driving forward and playing a one-two with Lawrence Shankland.

A couple of minutes later, Malachi Boateng turns to play forward quickly to Spittal. The midfielder turns well and slips Kenneth Vargas in down the side. It is worth remembering this moment of Spittal getting the ball on the turn.

Importantly, the team mixed it up. Frankie Kent clipped a great ball to Yutaro Oda. Later on, Craig Halkett fired a pass up to Kenneth Vargas who Hearts could then play off. It's not an option you want to use regularly but one that can come in use to turn the opposition defence or simply get up the park.

All those moments happened in the first 15 minutes. Breaking it down, they are all pretty basic but grouped together it at least showed intent.

Out of possession, Hearts made it difficult for United forcing them to go long or into errors.

Those first 20-25 minutes were key. Score and it gets the crowd even more engaged and unsettles United. But not only did Hearts not score, they didn't look like scoring. And it was two moments in the final 10 minutes of the half that exemplified Hearts' attacking troubles.

Last season, Spittal, on winning the ball well in midfield, would have driven forward, slipped in Theo Bair and goal Motherwell.

In this scenario he has two options. A difficult pass to Shankland or an easier one to Oda, presenting the Japanese winger with space to run at the United defence, not that it was something he did much on Sunday. He opted for Shankland which meant the pass had to be spot on but it was wayward.

Toward the end of the half, Stephen Kingsley floated a cross in the box with the crowd growing increasingly frustrated. There was no one in the box.

By then, United had largely settled.

Jim Goodwin said after: "I just thought it took us five or ten minutes to adjust to that. I thought they were getting a little bit too much joy in the wide areas and 2v1s. 

“Once we'd done that I think we were quite comfortable. We were quite happy to sit there in our low block and try and hit them on the counter-attack."

It is an effective blueprint to stopping Hearts.

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The closest Hearts came to scoring all day was a deflected James Penrice's shot. Some may talk about luck but when you enter that territory and are relying on luck you know things are not going well. 

From around the half-hour mark there are a vast number of examples of Hearts players falling into the trap of taking the easy option, of not taking responsibility. It should be noted that it is easy to say all of this having watched the game for a second time, not being on the pitch where the view and feel of the game is massively different and that's before you add in the pressure. 

But again, these examples aren't in isolation. They are a regular occurence. On Sunday, it was Spittal who was perhaps most guilty.

Kent played into his feet but the decision was already made to play it back. Ideally, Spittal turns with the ball into the space over his right shoulder.

Seventeen seconds into the second half, Spittal passes to Boateng when you would want him to turn in possession. The simple pass to his team mate is exactly what United want him to do.

A few moments later and Kent is visibly gesturing for options. We can see Penrice is suggesting that Vargas should be the ball. The Costa Rican hasn't dropped quickly enough. It is on Spittal to get involved. But it is passing for the sake of passing.

Now, credit should be given to Dundee United. In the second half especially, they had such a rigid structure that they forced Hearts into wide areas, knowing their centre-back trio would gobble up any crosses with Hearts not offering much of an aerial threat. If Hearts didn't go wide they had to force it. 

The second half was littered with such examples.

A good example are the three pictures below. In the first, it was a familiar sight to see Halkett and Kent high up the pitch with the ball but nothing in front of them except white and tangerine.

The ball was moved wide to Barrie McKay. United were happy for Hearts to have possession in such positions.

Back to Kent it went and the centre-back tried to find an avenue on the other side with a switch of play but it was intercepted.

The following three examples show a Hearts midfielder (Malachi Boateng and Jorge Grant) trying to thread a ball behind United's midfield or defence but look at the bodies. All three passes were intercepted.

There was nothing different offered in the final third. No difference maker or someone who was different, ie a striker who perhaps thrives on crosses against deep defences.

Both Oda and Vargas were on the periphery, rarely driving at opponents. In fact, there were very few occasions of a Hearts player committing an opponent after Blair Spittal's driving run early on in the game. 

It was suggested at the top of this article that Hearts fizzled out. But that would have required a fair bit of fizz in the first place. There was a modicum. Hearts are still searching for their version of hitting the rim of one pint of lager with the bottom of another to invoke some fizz.

Dundee United were rarely troubled. Equally, the visitors didn't trouble the Hearts backline all that much. But they did create the better opportunities. Both from set pieces and counter-attacks. Yet, it was the most tame goal, arriving from nothing that won the game. But that's all it takes at this moment in time to defeat a Hearts side severely lacking in the final third.