Getting fitness back key to Jambos being a force again

Striker Isma Goncalves has admitted Hearts have lacked fitness in the early stages of the season.

A number of players at Tynecastle have hinted at a poor fitness regime under the watch of former head coach Ian Cathro, but that is all changing under the new management.

First Jon Daly and now Craig Levein have been quick to address the problem, and Goncalves suggested the lack of fitness may have been holding Hearts back.

He said: “All the players have said it, we are working more (now) because I think we were not fit enough, so we are working more on that now.”

When asked if he personally had felt under-prepared, he added: “A little bit, all the players (did).

“Now we are working more, we can see a difference from before.”

Levein has wasted no time in shaking up the training schedule for his players, and the new focus has been welcomed by Portuguese forward Goncalves.

He said: “It’s been a different week, we have been working more physically and from Thursday and Friday we worked tactically, which is different but it has been good because I think we needed to work more physically.

“He has a different way of thinking about football, he likes the players to be fit and fight before everything, and then to play.”

Hearts travel to Hamilton today hoping to pick up their second win of what has been a turbulent season so far, and Goncalves recognises the importance of the fixture.

“It’s a game that we have to win and we will do everything we can to win,” he said.

l Ryan Christie is eyeing three points at “fortress” Pittodrie as Aberdeen seek to continue their promising start to the season.

Last season’s runners-up have started the new Ladbrokes Premiership season in good form and come up against a struggling Kilmarnock side today.

Lee Mcculloch’s side have just one point from their five games, and Christie thinks the trip to Aberdeen could be a tough ask.

“We’ve made the home ground a bit of a fortress and teams don’t enjoy coming here,” he said. “That puts the pressure on us and we have to rise up to that and make sure no team comes here and picks up any points.

“Over the course of the season, if we’re playing at Pittodrie we think we should be winning the game, which I think is another big pressure to put on ourselves, but a good pressure to have.”

He added: “Everyone in the changing room wants to put on a real performance and get the three points.”

The midfielder has been a regular in Derek Mcinnes’ side so far this season, making four starts in an unbeaten start to the season, and he is excited by the early form shown by the Dons.

“The way we have played in some games has been brilliant.

“We’re going into games and really dominating possession and controlling the tempo of the game, and that’s something we’re only getting better at.”