Steven Naismith remains “optimistic” about what Heart of Midlothian can do on the European stage.

The Hearts boss is yet to record a victory in eight attempts this season though is confident fortunes will soon turn.

As far as their Conference League campaign is concerned, Naismith hopes his experiences as a player, and from this time last season, will bode well for the Jambos.

He also welcomes the new format that should mean fewer dead-rubbers in a revamped and rebranded league phase.

There are real challenges ahead. Last season’s Bundesliga surprise package Heidenheim have carried their form into the early stages of this campaign and Euro regulars Copenhagen lie in wait in the imposing Parken Stadium.

However, the part of the schedule troubling Naismith the most is the opening fixture versus Dinamo Minsk: a 3,500-mile trip to a neutral venue followed by a visit to Pittodrie a few days later.

Squad rotation will be inevitable that week, adds Naismith, and Hearts will travel straight to Aberdeen after they are done in Sumgayit, around an hour's drive from the Azerbaijani capital Baku.

“That was always going to be the challenge," he said. "I think, if you look consistently over the years, Scottish teams outwith the Old Firm have struggled when they've had Europe. It's not going to be easy but I've experienced it myself as a player.

“We've got internationals within the group that have experienced that tough challenge of having to consistently go when you're not feeling at your freshest. You've got to deal with it.

“If we want to be successful and we want to consistently do it, we need to show that we can handle it and perform in Europe and the games after Europe.

“Also, for the bigger picture, we want to get back in that position for next season. It'll be a challenge but it's a big one, it's a good one and I'm optimistic about the group that we've got.”

The travel times across the tournament will mean less time on the training field. It means a heavier emphasis on opposition analysis, looking for areas of weakness.

It also means Naismith’s messaging has to be on point.

"I think a big part of that comes from the meetings,” he added. “The pitch time is the thing that you lose the most of because of an element of it is recovery.

“The meeting part of it needs to be on point and then the small amount of time you do have on the pitch with other players. you need to make it as useful as possible. Fortunately, from my playing career, you get an understanding of what I think works and how we do it. 

"You watch a lot of football but you're not going to be a coach or a manager if you don't enjoy doing it. That's simply it.

“Domestically, we play each team so many times that you get to a point where that's less relevant but you need to watch it. 

“You cannot go through every individual action in the game because some of them might not happen. You might not get a 1v1 that you might work on and train on. It's more about the general gameplan of how we're going to give our players in each position the best opportunity to get the better of their player.

“There's a lot of footage and you need to work ahead, especially when you've got the European games. When a league game finishes, you can park it until after the European game midweek.

"Everybody will get a general look at the team," continues Naismith. 

"Our analyst department have got the areas that they work on specifically. They'll also do a lot of the cutting up to get the general parts of the game that we feel are important.

"They'll cut them up to a point where you're literally working and looking at that detail rather than watching the ball out of play for a minute and getting back in. That cuts up a bit of time.

"We've all got the areas that we work on most but there needs to be a consistency in all our meetings and that's the way we work.

"It brought us success last season and the players seem to enjoy it.”

As well as a trip to Copenhagen, Hearts will also take on Cercle Brugge in Belgium, two sides that Derek McInnes’s Kilmarnock faced over two legs in this season’s Europa League and Conference League play-offs.

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The Ayrshire club competed well against the Belgians, losing 2-1 on aggregate and certainly didn’t disgrace themselves in the 3-1 defeat over two legs to Copenhagen. The Danes were given a helping hand through a contentious penalty decision to open the scoring in the first leg.

Naismith said he’d be “silly” not to speak to his Killie counterpart: “Derek's been somebody in the last year and a bit for me that's been really good. Any interaction I've had with him, he appreciates that you're a young manager and you're making your way in the game.

“For me, something that's relevant is that he went from playing straight into management very quickly.

"He's had similar level jobs, obviously being the Aberdeen manager and going down south as well. He's definitely somebody I'll lean on for the European games but he has been good for me in the past year and a bit anyway.”