‘Point fingers at the players, not Naismith’

Success in the League Cup and Hearts go as well together as taking a drink of orange juice immediately after brushing your teeth.

Last Saturday evening, it was Jambos who were left with a bitter aftertaste following our shock exit at lower-league Falkirk.

If you believed some of my fellow supporters’ posts on social media in the aftermath, you’d believe our prospects this season have gone down the tubes following a second straight defeat in all competitions.

Questions need to be asked, of course, as to how we found ourselves omitted from the quarter-final cup draw, but I’m intrigued as to why a lot of fans attribute the defeat solely to Steven Naismith.

It’s argued he made far too many changes – eight in total – from the defeat in Dundee and was deploying players in the wrong positions, stifling their abilities.

The biggest talking point was Lawrence Shankland resting on the bench, with Thursday’s Europa League qualifier in mind.

But even without Shankland, Hearts should have been at least a couple of goals to the good in the first 15 minutes alone.

I’ve debated with a few people who say Shankland would have taken at least one of those chances and there is a probability he would have, but I feel that’s an indictment on the rest of our team.

Despite some mudslinging from prominent Jambos who work in the media towards Naismith, I think fingers should be pointed at the players.

That second-half showing after being one goal down was poor and substitutions were made, but ultimately we weren’t good enough.

For me, there are players either lacking in confidence or perhaps are overconfident in their abilities following a promising showing in the first game against Rangers.

There’s no better opportunity to bounce back with a European game away to Viktoria Plzen to galvanize the support. It’s a tricky tie given their recent pedigree in continental competition.

But the fact we have the second leg at home at Tynecastle next week could be the deciding factor and there’s no doubt we will use the experience from Rosenborg last season.