Heart of Midlothian are still a work in progress. Under Neil Critchley the team have made great strides to rise from bottom of the Scottish Premiership and the prospect of a relegation battle to getting themselves into European contention.
Should they win at Easter Road on Sunday in the Edinburgh derby and Aberdeen and Dundee United draw later in the day, Hearts would be just three points off third place, having made up 20 points on the Dons.
Craig Gordon has credited Critchley's willingness to try "a few different things" and work on the training ground for the progress the team has made.
Since that 1-0 defeat to 10-man Kilmarnock in December, Hearts have lost just twice in all competitions. A period that has had 14 games.
"He's tried different formations, different people to find out what worked," Gordon explained. "He's slowly built us into a good unit that's winning matches. You've got to give him great credit for the way he's gone about it.
"It's been a work in progress. I'm sure he would admit that. Throughout the season, he's been trying to add things in as we go.
"I can see us continuing to improve under him and continue to push up towards the top end of the league and going into next season with high hopes for that one as well."
The term "add things in as we go" is something Critchley alluded to in the weeks after taking over. With the game schedule intense, it meant drip feeding information into the squad.
In recent weeks, that has been far easier. The head coach has been able to work on correction and identity days.
The tactical aspect is something that has impressed Gordon.
"Tactically and on the pitch, he's very methodical about what he wants everybody to do," he explained. "He's just building on that as every training session goes by. He's trying to give the players more and more information.
"He came in and kept it very simple to start with and slowly but surely he's just adding layers to that in every training session that we do. He's built it up really well. The players are taking on board what he's asking them to do. I think we can see that improvement."
What that means for Gordon is more involvement in the tactical work as part of the squad after his goalkeeping work with coach Paul Gallacher.
"The start of the session is with Paul Gallacher and that has stayed the same," he said. "That's been the same for years now. We do our same thing.
"When we come into the team, he likes to do a lot of formation work and tactical work. The goalkeepers have been involved a lot more in that and teaching the players.
"As I mentioned, he likes to put more and more work into the players on as many sessions as he possibly can and more tactical information. I'm part of that as well."
Defensive additions and changes
Michael Steinwender became the eighth centre-back to feature this season. The other seven being Jamie McCart, Craig Halkett, Lewis Neilson, Kye Rowles, Frankie Kent, Stephen Kingsley and Daniel Oyegoke.
He's been impressed with the latest pairing of Steinwender and McCart.
"Really good because that's an area of the pitch you don't really want to change," he said. "We've been forced to change that quite a lot this season.
"A lot of defensive changes through injuries and they've gelled together really well in such a short space of time. It's not an easy thing to do but really pleased with the way things have been going with the two of them.
"They've got a real appetite to keep the ball out the back of the net which is great to play behind.
"You want to try and keep the defence as settled as possible in any team. It's not ideal to have that chopping and changing from week to week but I think overall we've managed to deal with that.
"We've had a number of different players playing at centre-half throughout the season. The two guys [McCart and Steinwender] are the ones that are in position at the moment and starting to form a decent partnership. Long may that continue that we have a settled partnership in that area of the pitch."
When it comes to a new centre-back it is a mixture of getting information across before playing, such as where to pass back to, and learning as they go when situations unfold on the pitch.
"You can't legislate for everything that's going to happen in a game," he said. "There are a few pointers in training that will come up very early on in the first few training sessions before we even get to play a match.
"There is a little bit of chat but it's just getting the feel in different situations for what each other is likely to do and where we expect each other's positions to be. That only comes with playing matches."
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Kabangu and Shankland
Hearts have had a new dynamic in attack since the arrival of Elton Kabangu. Gordon used one word three times to describe the striker: "Fantastic".
"He's been fantastic for us," he said. "He's brought goals to the team. He's brought a lot of energy both on the pitch and off it, even to the training sessions. He's been a massive reason why things have been going well of late.
"He's really galvanised everybody to have somebody of that quality playing at that end of the pitch for us. It's been fantastic and it's brought the best out on other players on the pitch as well. It's fantastic to have him here.
"Let's hope he can enjoy the derby as well."
Kabangu's arrival has taken the goal-scoring burden off Lawrence Shankland and allowed the Hearts captain to play a freer role.
"Lawrence is a good player and able to do that," Gordon said. "He's able to lead the line. He can be the No.9 in the six-yard box getting the goals but he can also create them.
"As he's gone on in his career, he's brought more and more of that side of the game to the floor as well. He's a fantastic footballer.
"He's able to play in a different type of role at that end of the pitch for us but equally as good. He'll take as much pride in the assists that he's creating at this moment in time as well. He's been a real asset for us in that role as well."
