Steven Naismith on Hearts future and reacts to fan anger

Hearts fell to their eighth consecutive defeat at St Mirren, going down 2-1. It means the team have not won in the first nine fixtures of the season and sit bottom of the Scottish Premiership. 

Supporters vented their fury toward the head coaching during the second half.

Naismith, speaking to the press after the match, spoke on the fan reaction, the pressure, turning it around and why Musa Drammeh didn't feature. 

Read everything he said below:

Steven, that's a host of games that you haven't won. What are you going to say to the fans this evening?

There's not much I can say that's going to appease anyone's frustrations and anger. We started the season without winning a game, so it's bitterly disappointing. I thought today we started well. We had opportunities, we didn't take them. That final moment is tough. Then two set plays. Back to when I first took over, we were soft at set plays. Today we looked soft at set plays. Ultimately, that's cost us.

You said you were confident turning it around. Do you still feel that way?

Yes, I do. Because of our performance at the start. The first-half performance was good. The last moment wasn't good. Because of the start of the season, we started to feel we needed to be safe. You're losing the game, we become safe. We don't play the passes we did in the first half. It caused them problems. The second half fizzles out because of that. I'm still confident in that. I'm realistic to understand that the more games we pass, the more pressure builds. 

When you said yesterday that at the start of the season it's on you. The fans turned it around 20  minutes ago. Do you think that will influence the people upstairs?

It'll be what it'll be. The one thing I've felt my whole time at the club as a player, as a coach and as a manager, is that the board are realistic, they're sensible, they understand it. They make good decisions, in my opinion. They have been in the club for the last five years. That'll be what it'll be. I can totally understand the fans' frustration. The travelling support, the backing we get is fantastic. At the moment, we're not rewarding that. That's a big disappointment.

Do you still have the appetite to come back in next week and go again?

For sure. I love the job. I love the challenge. I love the intensity. I love the pressure that comes with it. I love all that. I'm just really frustrated because our performances at times have been good. Today, I thought we had an intent, we carried a threat. But it's the final moments that have not given any fruit for that play. And then the goals, we can see they're soft. I think in terms of my job, I love it. I think it's a brilliant club. I think there's so much potential. It's a really tough moment. I'm well aware of it. I understand the pressures and the consequences that come with that. But I still have full belief, if I'm honest

Steven, do you still feel as though you've seen enough to believe that you can guide the club out of this, that you can survive it?

 Yeah, I do. I'm going to sit here and say that because I do firmly believe it. A few things in the second half are frustrating. We don't have that ability to continue to make the right passes that we've got so much success from. We play more into their hands. I don't know how many times in the second half, we end up with the goalie having the ball again. They're small moments, but they're affecting us big time. And then we lost the momentum. At the end there, it becomes desperate. And that's not where we want to be.

The fans turned on the double substitution. What was the thinking behind that, and not bringing Musa on who came on against Celtic and did well?

I just felt we weren't getting the ball up the pitch. Against Celtic there was space to go into, and Musa done really well at finding that space. Today it was different. The ball was in the middle of the pitch and when it went forward it wasn't staying there. So we were losing territory. St Mern were gaining control of the game. I wanted to get a bit more presence there so we could work off that. But then, when they're saying the choices of passes now, we started playing it into wider areas. When it becomes a foot race and we were second best to it when we had two targets up front, we should have maybe hit a bit more direct with it.

Do you feel the players are letting you down, Steve? Or do you feel they're still in your corner?

I'm not going to sit here and criticise the players for any of their attitude. They're willing to improve and get better. There's some young guys in there that are potential. I've been there as a player, understanding these moments. it's tough. They're searching about for answers, but I think us as coaches need to guide them on that. Like I said, it was a really poor run. It's really frustrating. But again, I can see some positives today. As much as the scoreline says it's another defeat, I think another day for a better defensive set-up. We walk away with at least a draw. If we're finishing, it's better to come away with a win. But we're in a bad place. We need to get out of it as quick as we can. That's where my head's at.

Do you get feedback from the players after the game today? They're the ones on the pitch doing it. What's their take on what's going on?

When we review the games and we're building up to the opposition, there's a lot of dialogue on the pitch and meetings. I think a lot of what we worked on during the week, we get loads of success from the day. Especially in the first half. So I think it's just that on the pitch it's tough. Because it's split-second decisions, it's having a clear head in a tense situation. That's where you then, in that split-second of playing that brave pass, or going backwards, or deciding to put a cross in when it might be a lonely pass, that's where the calmness needs to be, the whole time. And I think we lost that in the second half.

Does that come into a bit to when you have the sense of the anger from fans, the players are becoming a bit inhibited?

That's playing with Hearts, that's there. You're going to live or die whether you can deal with that pressure. Whether you're in a bad run of form or whether you're winning games consistently, the pressure's there. So there's a period of adjustment that you need to get, and you've got to give time to players to have that. But ultimately you need to perform consistently at this club to have a decent career.

It is hard with Lawrence Shankland not scoring. That wasn't on the cards?

 Yeah, it's been tough, it's been tough for him. I think that for the last two years, his performance and his goal record and his returns have been fantastic. It's hard to continue that. There's always going to be a period where there's a dip, he's in that at the moment. But with all goal scorers, he'll get one that goes off his shin and his luck will change. It's a tough moment for him, but that comes on the back of his performances in the last two years. They've been phenomenal. There's also others that need to help him out in these moments to step up with a goal or a chance or something like that.

Have you had assurances to the guys above you?

The way we've worked and the way I've worked for the last year, I've not seen any change in anybody. As I said at the start, I'm realistic, I understand the game. I'm confident that if I get to a point where I really believe that the players aren't actually listening to me anymore or are interested, I'll walk away from it. I don't think I'm at that point. We'll review the game and work hard to get on to Ross County next week.

That's quite a big statement, you said that you would walk away if you thought it wasn't working?

I've been there as a player, I've been at clubs where the change does have to be the coach. I genuinely don't believe we're there. I think the first half an hour of the game we controlled it, we were on the front foot. What we'd worked on during the week was seen on the pitch and it was good. It was a good feeling. Just in one of these moments it's tough. Added to that, these tough moments need to come to an end. If they don't come to an end, change happens. It's realistic, it's understandable. But I think the one thing that's clear from the players to the coaches to all the way at the board is, everybody does understand the situation. We understand the need to get a win.