Naismith: Improvements needed
27 July 2024Steven Naismith says his side have a lot of work to do following this afternoon’s friendly defeat to Fleetwood Town.
The boss was frustrated as the Cods picked up a 3-0 win at Highbury in our final pre-season outing, with further work required ahead of next weekend’s opening day of the William Hill Premiership season against Rangers at Tynecastle.
“It was a very poor performance,” he told Hearts TV.
“Our levels of energy and desire, contrasted to Spurs, was totally different, and that’s the one thing I put on the players. There was a purpose behind how we set up, but it was poor afternoon because of how the game played out.
“We concede two really poor goals but still created a few opportunities. The third goal killed the game off, and the frustration built from there.
“We need to be a lot better going into a massive first game of the new campaign, as well as a really important season overall.
“The biggest thing we’ve done over the past few years has been building up the competition for places. I think you can see, especially with the newer players, that they’re adapting to where we want them to be and what we want them to do.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do, in general, to try and get better. We also see the need to impress the supporters. Over a thousand turned up and didn’t treat it as a friendly – they want to be entertained.”