Wouter Vrancken has warned his returning Hearts stars must look to the future and leave their previous Parkhead title pain behind them. The Jambos head back to Parkhead for the first time since May when, under Derek McInnes, they lost a final day title shootout to Celtic.
Hearts are now under new management and there are a number of new faces in the playing squad. The message from their current boss is that they must look forward and not back.
Vrancken: Don't live in the past
Vrancken stated: "That's the most important thing, I think. But I'm convinced that the players will be in their heads in the game on Sunday and not in the past. You cannot live in the past; this is sports. You have to move forward and you have to look forward and you have to take on the next one. I'm pretty convinced and confident that it will be like that."
The Hearts boss insisted that if any pain from last season remains, his players must use it positively. Vrancken claimed: "I hope the fire is there every game that we play, and not only because something happened in the past.
"Like I said, you don't have to look in the past too much because otherwise it's negative energy, and we need positive energy. This fire has to burn when you play every game, especially the top games, and when you can make a result there, we do a good thing in the league.
Positive signs from European display
"So all those things, and going further on what we showed today, I think the first 70 minutes were really great. Talking about what we want to see on the pitch and playing football, I saw short combinations, short spaces, which is really good, with a lot of runs, a lot of good chances.
"I think in the last third we had to be more efficient because we took some chances ourselves when the other one was totally free to have an even better chance. So we have to take all those positives towards what's coming."
It will be the Belgian's first trip to Celtic Park as Hearts manager and he is keen for his team to make their mark. Vrancken admitted: "I'm looking forward to every game we play, also today to show you in Europe. But again, you live for those top games, and you want to play those top games.
"That's why you're a top professional in sports. You want to perform on that level, and you want to also show you're at a level and have results at that level and we will work hard for it."
Big month ahead for Hearts
Hearts are now in the midst of a big month of domestic and European action. They drew with Nordjaelland in their Conference League opener and after Celtic, they head out to Turkey to take on Mo Salah's Trabzonspor. Hearts were left deflated by the Danes' late equaliser on Thursday evening.
The Hearts head coach acknowledged: "Yes, but it's a huge game after a huge game this month. We had it already months ago, so we know what it is, taking care of your body, showing there and being there ready for the next one. This is, again, a step to make, and I think we showed ourselves on a good level, with a good performance.
"It's a pity that you get the goal, because when you just defended and the deflection was not there and you could bring the result in, then everybody was really happy. Now it's a bit of a disappointment of the result, because knowing against this side, taking the three points would be great.
Vrancken is likely to freshen up his squad with Tomas Magnusson available after his European suspensions. Celtic are in the same boat having come off a taxing clash, which they lost, away to Benfica.
He added: "It's all months like this, so we have to be top level, every time in energy and quality, in what we want to show and see on the pitch. We have to take the confidence of our performance from the first 70, for sure, to the game on Sunday.
"You have some things in your head, of course, of what you want to do or who you want to see sometimes, but the most important thing is how they recover, little issues maybe and how they recover. Maybe it's on matchday itself, when you only have two days' rest, maybe it's matchday itself that you make the decisions."
