In recent days and weeks, Neil Critchley retreated to a room in his house and watched Heart of Midlothian. He put himself through every game this season, carrying out his research as to why things have gone wrong, areas that need improvement, and also aspects that give hope and encouragement.

As a deal for him to become the club's new head coach progressed over the weekend and into Monday, he was finally able to get to work on Tuesday morning at the Oriam before his unveiling at Tynecastle Park in the afternoon.

Going back to his preparation, the thought of sitting through each Hearts game from this season will send a chill up most fans' backs. After all, they have all experienced it, many in the flesh. For Critchley, it was refreshing, it gave him a "purpose" having been out of a job since being removed from his position at Blackpool in August.

"I was stuck away in my bat cave back at my house, stuck in front of my laptop, which I thoroughly enjoyed because it gave me a purpose every day," he said.

"I have certain people I know in the industry that can give me data to back up things that I'm seeing as well, so I've always used that in my previous jobs in terms of preparation for games, to benchmark your team after games, in recruiting players and that's what I did when I was watching Hearts, analysing them for this job."

The job is a big one. His biggest.

Before you even get to the team's situation - bottom of the Scottish Premiership without a league win - the pressure and attention that comes with being the head coach of Heart of Midlothian Football Club is far bigger and more intense than it is in the Liverpool academy, Blackpool and QPR.

For Critchley, that is one of the reasons why he wanted the job, why he applied.

"The enormity of the club, you've only got to come out here and look around the stadium and the facilities and look at the training facilities," he said of the appeal of Hearts.

"I think there's stability in the background, I think I'm going to get really good support and the right conditions, it's a team that's in Europe and you look at the supporter base, look at their following at home and away, there's lots to be excited about being the head coach of this football club.

"There's an expectation here because of the size of the club and where we want to get to. I'm comfortable with that. It's actually a good thing. You've got to use that as a positive.

"I wouldn't have come here if I didn't fancy that challenge and I didn't want to be here. I want to be here. I want to have expectation, I want to have pressure because if you then are successful, that meaning of what you've done, I think it means more."

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While Critchley is new to Scottish football, Scottish football is not new to him. His time as a manager down south resulted in watching "numerous games over the years". He believes the game north of the border is "a place where something could happen that's quite exciting in the future" with "good stability around the league".

He also believes he brings "a good broad spectrum" of football to the role.

Much has been made of his background in recent days, whether it was his managerial spells or his time as a youth coach. The term 'youth coach' is something he has had to rail against since stepping away from the Liverpool academy to become a manager.

"The game's the game," he noted. "Something that was labelled at me when I left Liverpool to go to Blackpool was, 'Oh he's only a youth coach, what does he know about men's football?' We got promoted in our first year.

"My formative years as a coach were at Crewe, which was League Two, League One, and they had a hugely successful spell in the Championship.

"I played non-league football a little bit, so I've seen a broad spectrum of what it looks like right across the board, and I've seen what it's like at the top end as well."

Fans will get their first chance to see Neil Critchley's Hearts in action when they host St Mirren at Tynecastle Park on Saturday. But what can they expect?

Critchley provided an answer that was both short-term and long-term.

Like many new managers, he spoke of a desire for attacking football. More importantly, and what fans should be encouraged and enthused by, was one particular comment: "Sometimes simplicity is genius". In other words, round pegs in round holes, square pegs in square holes.

"We want to be forward-thinking in how we play, so attack with the ball, attack without the ball, have intensity, have aggression, have the ball.

"I think if you've got possession of the ball, it gives you a better chance of deciding what happens on the pitch. I think that would be some of the reasons, like the analytics in terms of the model that we want to adopt here to take the club forward.

"What I see from the team and what I've seen recently, sometimes at this moment in time you also have to do what you think is the right thing for the players and sometimes simplicity is genius. Just putting the right players in the right positions and allowing them to do what their attributes bring to the pitch. I think that's also something for me to consider right now."

Critchley's introduction as Hearts head coach won't provide much breathing space. Across the next 22 days, until the next international break, there are seven games. 

He, admittedly, reached into the manager box of cliches - and he was right to - but he views the upcoming games as something that excites him and provides an opportunity to change the feeling at the club.

"When I looked at the fixture list and seen how congested it is, how busy it is, but also the games we've got and how exciting it is, it's game on, I can't wait," Critchley explained. "But our immediate aim is, it's a cliche, you only take one game at a time, it's fully on St Mirren this weekend. 

"I know where we are and I know the reality of the situation that we're in this moment in time, but I always see it as a positive. I see plenty of games, plenty of points to play for, and we can change the feeling around the place and in the club very, very quickly.

"I have to say from being around the staff and the players this morning, and this is not meant as a negative, and I know this can happen with change, but everyone I've spoken to speaks well of the group in terms of the people.

"When I've watched the games, I don't see any lack of togetherness or spirit. I just see some things maybe have not gone quite their way yet so far. There are certain aspects of the game I think we can improve on, and that'll be my immediate focus."

As Critchley says, game on.