Heart of Midlothian were left picking up the pieces after another defeat on Thursday night. A tough run of fixtures in recent weeks has produced nothing to show for some decent performances and good spells. 

Hearts could take positives from elements of defeats against Heidenheim, Rangers and Celtic but they were very hard to come by following last night’s 2-0 reverse to Cercle Brugge in the Conference League. It was the low point of an eagerly-anticipated away trip to one of Europe’s nicest cities. 

Joel Sked looks back at the week in Bruges:

Lawrence Shankland

It was just past 8.30pm local time when the chanting started. The Hearts striker and captain was told to ‘get to f***’ by some in the away end. It should be noted that it was far from cacophonous but it was very much audible. The missed penalty, the glanced header wide, the second Cercle Brugge goal, and some of the support turned.

Come the full-time whistle Shankland wandered across, applauded but made a swift exit while team-mates stayed out that bit longer. They clapped and dealt with the stick that came down from the fans who were making their feelings clear.

Neil Critchley, understandably, backed Shankland after the match, noting that Hearts "wouldn't be in this position if it wasn't for him", owing to his 31 goals last season. 

Motherwell, St Johnstone, St Mirren, Hibs, Livingston, Ross County, Dundee, St Johnstone again, Hibs again, Kilmarnock, Livingston again, St Mirren again, Rangers. Just some of the league games where he was the difference between a result and a defeat. He would come up clutch, he would drag Hearts to a victory, he would produce when it mattered.

This season, that touch, that instinct, that match-defining quality has bypassed him. Only against Cercle Brugge, his penalty miss was match-defining. In fact, it defined his season so far.

We explored his goal-scoring struggles recently. Looking at a man who has gone from overperforming in front of goal to underperforming but suggesting it will turn. Or, at the very least, should turn. Also noting that he is still contributing, creating chances for team-mates, as he did for Blair Spittal in the defeat to Celtic on Sunday.

But on Thursday evening it is fair to assess that Shankland has reached the crisis of confidence stage. He still improvises as he did in the first half, narrowly steering a flick wide of the post. But he could not have been handed a better chance than from 12 yards. Two seasons ago when he stepped up to the penalty spot you knew he was going to score. Like Paul Hartley and Steven Pressley before him.

Last night, there was not that same confidence amongst the Hearts support. There was likely as much, or perhaps more, uncertainty.

Fans will query why he is taking such a penalty. The logic is understandable with calls for Blair Spittal to take it instead. Shankland will have believed he would score. That same belief will have been shared by the management team and his team-mates. They trust him. And if he didn't, he'd be accused of not taking a captain's responsibility.

And another consequence of last night was the calls for him to be stripped of the armband, pointing to his comments regarding his future. 'If he is not going to be here long term then why is he captain?', fans will ask.

Again, from a fan perspective that is completely understandable. But it isn't as straightforward. There are squad dynamics at play. Shankland is viewed as one of the leaders in the dressing room. He is a hugely popular figure, well-liked. It would be a big call.

As would the call to drop him. Once more, he is continuing to play because he still contributes but also because there is no obvious replacement because the squad is short in the forward area. In other situations he would have been taken out of the starting XI, given time to rest and reset. A consequence of a poor recruitment decision.

Some will point to James Wilson and Musa Drammeh but it would be a huge ask for those players, both young and inexperienced to lead the line. At the start of the season you could have pointed to Liam Boyce but now he is a peripheral figure.

There are simply no easy answers.

The frustration is evident and understandable. There has been much discussion amongst fans over the chants directed at Shankland and the boos. It was difficult to hear. Even more so toward a player who has done so much over the last two seasons. It certainly won't help with the player's confidence or the pressure he will feel.

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Suggestions that he has mentally checked out are wide of the mark. He is simply a player going through a very tough time on the field. Nothing is going right for him and it continues to snowball. On a personal level, to get a big move at the end of the season he knows he'll need to perform this season. He hasn't so far. And it is becoming increasingly difficult to see when it will turn. With where Hearts are at the moment, it is hard for supporters to look back at those last two seasons and reminisce, they need players to be performing in the here and now.

The support have been hugely supportive of Shankland in recent weeks. His name was sung loudly before the match before the mood turned. Again, frustration from the support is completely understandable.  The direction of the season, both the team's and Shankland, has been hard for some fans to accept.

There is a reluctance to tell fans who pay a lot of money and spend a lot of time following the team how to support but it is in moments like these where the impact of chants and boos is only going to be negative. It is moments like these where the reaction needs to be supportive. 

Hearts need Shankland to return to some level of goal-scoring form. And with that, Shankland needs the Hearts support.

What the stats say

Due to travel back to Scotland, unfortunately, it will prove difficult to rewatch the game and produce an in-depth tactical analysis of the game. But using our data provider StatsBomb it is clear to see that Hearts did create the chances to win the game in Bruges. It is, as has been witnessed this season, one thing creating chances but another thing taking them. 

The positive is the fact that the team continue to create openings. They are much more of a consistent threat compared to last season. But far less clinical. That needs to change.

One of the disappointing aspects from last night's loss was the way the team kept the ball. Or, more accurately, didn't. There was a lack of composure in possession. That could be seen with the first goal when Kye Rowles lifted the ball forward to no one.

Despite having nearly 60 per cent possession, Hearts completed just 67 per cent of their passes. That is really poor for such a possession share. The only time it has been lower this season was in three games Hearts had under 40 per cent of the ball.

Brugge analysts

Sat in front of the Scottish press were the Cercle Brugge analyst team who themselves sat in front of monitors with footage of the game plus a lot of nerdy tactical graphics. Within seconds of Hearts winning a penalty, they had Lawrence Shankland's penalty record and where all of his penalties were hit on screen. A quick glance could see that the red, indicating a miss, was mostly focused down the left as you looked at the goal. That's where Maxime Delanghe dived. Only, the 23-year-old wasn't required as he watched Shankland lift the penalty over the bar.

UEFA jobsworths

In the press room at the Jan Breydel Stadium, the staff helpfully handed out small bottles of water. It wasn't long after sitting down in the press tribune in the Main Stand, with the Hearts support to the right, that an employee at the stadium had to relay a message from UEFA staff.

She asked for the press to either hide the water or remove the branding from the bottles.

Why? Because the company that produced the water wasn't a UEFA sponsor. Cameras wouldn't have picked the press area out and it would have had an even tougher time seeing the branding of the water.

Yet, at the same time, it wasn't a huge surprise such are the peculiarities of UEFA and just how commericalised the game has become, even at a game attended by fewer than 10,000 in the continent's third competition.

Bruges

The Belgian city lived up to the billing. It was a great location for an away trip with the city centre compact and packed with bars and restaurants. It was a lovely place to wander around and ahead of the game, it was hard not to see a Heart of Midlothian presence such were the numbers in attendance. The mood before the game was jovial with plenty of Jambos enjoying their trip, enjoying the local beer, and enjoying a sing-song.

The fans started arriving more than two hours before kick-off and were making quite the racket behind the goals to the right as it continued to fill up right up to kick-off. Neil Critchley seemed to be taken aback by the backing while also taking it all in having never experienced such support before as they sang his name.

Therefore it was disappointing to hear that, from accounts of those in the away end,  it was an unpleasant experience generally with fans fighting and arguing amongst themselves as frustration with the game spilled over. It is common knowledge that the Hearts support in general are a divided bunch, to say the least. It shouldn't, hopefully, take away from an away trip that, certainly in the city, looked like a lot of fun.