Lawrence Shankland insists an Edinburgh derby is the perfect game for crisis-hit Hearts to get their bid for third place back on track.
Steven Naismith will make his managerial bow in the clash after being handed the reins until at least the end of the season following the decision to sack Robbie Neilson on Sunday.
Neilson paid the price for a run of five straight losses - a woeful sequence that saw Hearts fall two points behind Aberdeen in third.
The prospect of missing out on a £5 million European bounty prompted the club's hierarchy to act.
However, stand-in captain Shankland knows victory over Hibs - which would extend their unbeaten run in the fixture to ten games - would go a long way to making up for their recent misery.
He said: “It’s massive. Any derby is massive, but especially this one after the week we’ve had and the run of form we’re on.
“We probably couldn’t have hand-picked a better game to put things right.
“It’ll be a tough game going to Easter Road. They are in a sticky spell as well but we’ll go with a clear idea of what we want to do that will give us a good chance of getting a result.
“Naisy will pick a team he feels will go there and get a result.
“He’ll make his decisions from what he sees in training and what styles he wants us to play in.
“The derbies can be quite hectic at times and it’s hard to get control in them.
“Whoever is called upon will be ready.”
Former Hearts, Rangers and Scotland striker Naismith has already put his stamp on the team after admitting he tried to cram in big changes behind the scenes in a short space of time.
READ MORE: Shankland calls on Hearts players to ‘put things right’
But Shankland insists all the players are receptive to his ideas.
He added: “There’s always a bit of a transition but the majority of the boys will have been in this situation before with managers changing, I know I certainly have.
“It’s been a hectic week but we are going into a derby game we need to win, and that’s what we will be concentrating on.
“It probably just comes with personal ideas and the way they want to work.
“Managers and coaches all have a different way of working and Naisy will have ideas about how he wants to do things.
“Robbie had his way, but that’s what he means about the changes. Naisy is putting his ideas across and it’s up to us to execute them.”
Naismith also accused the players of ‘coasting’ during their losing run and is demanding a reaction against Hibs.
Shankland is not going to disagree with his new gaffer.
He added: “If you look at results, it tells you something has gone wrong.
“If coasting is the right word, that might be the case, but we are on a run of bad results.
“We’ve fallen into a bit of a trap and lost the gap we had.
“The important thing is there is plenty of football left to play and we can salvage it.
“We’ve shown previously we are a good team when we get it right. There’s been a dip and there’s maybe a lack of confidence.
“But if we can get it back I’m sure we can start winning games again.”
Having played under Neilson at Dundee United before being brought to Tynecastle by him last summer, Shankland admits he was saddened by the 42-year-old’s departure.
He added: “The response was quiet from the boys, to be honest. It’s always a surprise when a manager loses his job.
“For me, as players, you need to feel a bit of responsibility for that. Essentially, you’ve lost someone their job.
“That’s not a nice feeling and it hurts a bit. That needs to be the case and we need to try to improve for Naisy.
“We need to make things better.”
Shankland was also disappointed to be told that experienced midfielder Robert Snodgrass would no longer be considered for selection this season.
He added: “The decision has obviously been made he’ll no longer be part of the group. For me, Snoddy was great to have about, he put demands on the groups and individuals.
“He asked questions and tested you. He was good for me with the captaincy, he was an experienced head and he gave me advice when I needed it.
“He’s someone I hold in high regard.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel