Wouter Vrancken demands unity as Hearts seek to bounce back from Thun defeat
After three Conference League fixtures the Jambos have one point out of nine.
Wouter Vrancken insists Hearts will have to stick together following their self-inflicted 3-1 Conference League defeat by Thun in Switzerland.
The Scottish outfit, without 10 players through various injuries, fell behind in the 22nd minute when defender Jamie McCart knocked the ball into his own net.
Thun doubled their lead in the 33rd minute through striker Brighton Labeau after a poor attempted clearance from captain Stephen Kingsley – who went off later with an injury – and then Furkan Dursun grabbed a third in the 56th minute.
Jambos defender Stuart Findlay then gave some unrealised hope of a comeback in the 82nd minute when he headed in from close range.
After three Conference League fixtures Hearts have one point out of nine and have won just two of their last 10 fixtures in all competitions.
Vrancken told TNT Sports: “Like I said already to the guys, we have to stick together now.
“We know which situation we’re in with all the circumstances.
“And there’s only one thing that you have to do now and that is stick together and keep working hard.
“In general, it was not good enough in quality and can you blame them?
“Yeah, on one hand you can because you want to always expect the best and want the best.
“On the other hand, I’m still proud of what they did already in the run-up games.”
Kingsley was replaced in the second half by 19-year-old Matthew Gillies, called back from a loan spell at Stenhousemuir amid the club’s injury crisis, and Vrancken admitted there was an element of risk playing him on the artificial surface which the Jambos boss had criticised.
He said: “We talked it through before the game of course, a few days before the game.
“And yeah, it’s always a risk, especially when it’s another surface, and especially when it’s bad like that, but he was confident in playing and that’s where we are.”
Hearts’ next Conference League game is against Ligue 1 side in Monaco at Tynecastle on November 26 but Vrancken is more concerned about the home William Hill Premiership game against Falkirk on Sunday.
He said: “Monaco’s a really strong side, maybe the strongest side we will face in Europe.
“So we will see when we get there, because I think there are a lot of important games before that, especially on Sunday.”