Hearts defender Stephen Kingsley has experienced heavy European defeats before, but he insists the 4-0 loss to Sturm Graz in the Champions League second qualifying round first leg feels different.
Kingsley, who has been on the end of thrashings away to Fiorentina, PAOK and Istanbul Başakşehir, said the overriding emotion after last Tuesday's match in Austria was frustration rather than being outclassed.
Frustration over missed chances
Hearts failed to take their big opportunities, especially when the score was 1-0. Apart from a crazy nine-minute spell in the second half where they conceded three goals, they looked comfortable and held 67% possession.
“Everyone's spoken about it, especially in our changing room,” Kingsley said. “When you look at the scoreline and the actual performance, it's very hard to take getting beat 4-0. I've been a part of games in Europe where it's been 4-0 or 5-0 and it rightfully has been a 4-0 or 5-0 game. There's been a couple. But I didn't feel like that, I know the result was bad, which it was and it wasn't good enough. It wasn't good enough in both boxes but we're positive that going forward we know we can create chances. We should be scoring goals, we should be doing better defensively. If we get that bit right, we know for a fact that we're going to kick on. We believe it's a matter of time and we just need to keep working hard.”
Belief in comeback at Tynecastle
Hearts recovered well after conceding after just four minutes in Graz. An early goal in the return leg at Tynecastle on Wednesday could give hope, but Kingsley is not overly concerned if it doesn't come immediately. “If you look at the game on Tuesday, I know they obviously scored early but then after that there wasn't much in it. We had chances, we could have gone and drew 1-1 at half time. So no, I don't think we need to score in the first five minutes to be honest. I think as long as we start on the front foot and we show the intent to be the aggressor and take the game to them and I think we will. I think coming back to Tynecastle has obviously served us well in the past and we always up our game there. But we definitely need to look to be aggressive and hopefully get the first one and show what we're about in the first half. Then hopefully the goals start rolling.”
Adapting to new manager's style
The defeat was a chastening start for new Hearts boss Wouter Vrancken, who is implementing a more expansive style compared to Derek McInnes' hard-to-beat approach. Kingsley acknowledged teething problems but believes the Belgian's methods will pay off. Kingsley, who captained the side in a 1-0 friendly win at Raith Rovers on Friday, added: “It's a new style so it's not going to be perfect straight away. It's just a different manager, different style, different philosophy. I think it's just going to take time to adapt. It takes time to adapt to any style to be honest but one that I think the gaffer is looking for, fast, exciting, good free-flowing football. It’s obviously a bit different from how our last manager wanted to play. It's going to take time and obviously it's a new group of players as well. There's been so much change over the course of the summer. It's finding our feet and finding that balance of what the gaffer wants and putting it into practice. It's much better having games instead of training. You can actually put it to the test against teams.”
