Neil Critchley's Hearts identity desire and debrief

The international break allowed the management team to take stock of where they have come from since taking over last month, where they are currently, and where they want to get to.

The squad returned at the start of the week having been given a few days off following last week's bounce game.

On Tuesday, Critchley carried out a debrief.

"There's been so many positive things to take," he said. "I think that the players are in the learning stage at this moment in terms of how they're being asked to play.

"I've got to try and give them clarity in terms of their role in possession, when you're building up in the midfield when you're trying to score goals, how we're pressing, how we defend in the midfield, how we defend in the penalty box, transition moments. There's so much.

"We've changed how we defend at set pieces so therefore roles change and there's a lot of information and I think the players have taken it on board a lot but when I watch the games there's so much for us to improve again and carry on and move forward but that's just going to take time.

"You want that time to go as quickly as possible and you've got to use it as wisely as you can but I say that the group have been fantastic to work with. There's good people here and I've always said to the players and the staff, whenever there's change you've got to be open-minded because you're going to be asked to take on new concepts and so far the players have been brilliant at that."

Still, Critchley is well aware the team are in the nascent stages under him. There have been seven games and there will be 10 more before the opening of the transfer window, starting with Celtic on Saturday evening at Tynecastle Park.

As well as improving at both ends of the pitch, the head coach wants the identity of the team to continue to evolve with most Hearts fans seeing early signs of what a Critchley Hearts team is going to look like.

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"We want a clear identity of how we play the game and I suppose you could use Celtic as a good reference," he said. "If you look at the nucleus of their squad and how they play the game, it's consistent.

"If you look down south at the clubs that are being successful there's a consistency in terms of the way they play, the players that they recruit, stability at the football club. I think that's hugely important, the conditions in which you're working.

"On the pitch, it could be fine little adjustments of certain things but ultimately both ends of the football pitch decide games. I think I said it in my first interview here, if you don't do well enough at both ends of the football pitch the bit in the middle sometimes becomes less relevant.

"We, in the last couple of games, haven't done well enough at both ends of the football pitch which is why we've lost."