Wouter Vrancken was all smiles at his initial press conference in one of the suites in Hearts Hotel as he outlined his plans to play football that the fans would enjoy.
Fast forward a few weeks to the media suite on the ground floor at the Gorgie ground after the Jambos slid out of the Champions League on an aggregate of 6-0 to Austrian side, Sturm Graz. Mistakes proved costly, and Graz gleefully punished them. The fans did not enjoy.
The Austrian Football Bundesliga combine are experienced European campaigners, and it showed over the two legs, with their 2-0 win in Scotland’s Capital underlining their superiority, but the match identified that the Hearts players are finding it hard to adapt to a new head coach and a fresh style of play.
Certainly, it is early days yet for the affable Belgian who has 11 new additions to fit into his squad. Vrancken argues that he is only weeks into his tenure, and he needs time for things to bed in, but modern football fans don’t give mangers much time to get it right.
Expectation was high in Jamboland after they came agonisingly close to winning the William Hill Premiership, minutes away, in fact. Their heroes had led the league for months.
Hearts then lost their manager, Derek McInnes, their top scorer, Lawrence Shankland, and their combative Aussie midfielder, Cammy Devlin, all to Rangers, while other players also departed.
In came 47-year-old Vrancken, a former Belgian Coach of the Year, and a man singled out by analytics as a replacement. Yes, we are only two games into the season, and starting with fixtures in the Champions League is a tough ask, but back-to-back defeats and no goals. The Men in Maroon had chances in Austria and spurned them. Costly.
On the evidence so far, the new-look Jambos look disjointed and the players on duty at rain-soaked Tynecastle in midweek failed to put any real pressure on their opponents. The home did enjoy 64 per cent of the possession, but possession is not everything. You have to make that possession count.
Hearts certainly mounted spasmodic attacks, but, overall, there was no end product. Goals win games and there was little evidence of the football which forced Hearts into the headlines last season in Scotland and earned them a world-wide profile. A hard act to follow.
On Tuesday, fans voted with their feet, and many left the stadium after the second Sturm Graz goal hit the net.
Overnight, critics used words like “embarrassing”, “woeful”, “outclassed”, to describe the performance.
It is harsh to say that Vrancken is under pressure after the first defeat in months at Gorgie, and the club are still in Europe. They slip down to the Europa League third qualifying round where they will meet either Portugal-based Benfica or St Gallen. The Swiss lead 2-1 from the first leg on Sunday and Hearts will know their opposition after Thursday night’s return in Lisbon (20.00).
Hearts must focus on domestic football and the next port of call is Aberdeen. They must hit the ground running when they visit Pittodrie on Saturday (kick-off 17.30) and the Granite City has not proved a happy hunting group for the Men in Maroon in the recent past.
The new head coach talks about “making steps physically”, being sharper in front of goal, of needing to play for 90 not 60 minutes, and of still learning about his players as well as bedding newcomers and a new stye in, but eight of the men who started on Tuesday remained from last year when they were runners-up to Celtic and split the Old Firm with Rangers in third spot.
Some have switched positions. Stephen Kingsey, for example, and, one of the new additions, Calvin Miller, recruited after a storming season for Falkirk on the left flank, appeared on Tuesday on the right wing. They also have a new goalkeeper to blood in competitive action, 6ft 6in Beau Reus, as Alexander Schwolow has departed back to his homeland for family reasons.
Incidentally, fans who remained stood to applaud the affable German as he walked around the group waving at the final whistle, rightly so.
To Aberdeen now. They are also evolving. However, the Dons are into the final 16 of the Premier Sports Cup, but their demanding manager, Stephen Robinson, who won the Premier Sports Cup with St Mirren last season, stresses that his men are still work in progress.
Hearts are also work in progress, but Vrancken has to lift his men who suffered their heaviest defeat in a two-leg European tie in midweek. Not easy, and he does not have much time. Defeat at Pittodrie would not go down well and the fans are understandably nervous about a traditionally tough fixture.
FLASHBACK: Vrancken (right) at the initial press conference alongside Graeme Jones, Hearts’ sporting director. Picture Nigel Duncan
