Robbie Neilson is delighted with the way his Hearts squad have adapted to their new style of play.
A new 3-4-3 system has been implemented during pre-season, but Neilson also wants his players to be more aggressive in their pressing.
Despite going down 2-0 to Sunderland at Tynecastle on Saturday, Neilson was able to take plenty from the game and he hopes to see evidence of the lessons learned against Stirling Albion tomorrow night.
He said: “I’ve been absolutely delighted. Even the game on Saturday, we created a lot of chances and it was just that final moment.
“The defensive aspect of it, we’re asking the players to be a bit more aggressive in their pressing and it’s just working on that and making sure at time we’re not overly aggressive.
“But also we can’t sit too deep.
“Saturday was great because it gave us a lot of footage and a lot of things to talk about.”
Hearts can secure their place in the knock-out stages with a win at Forthbank tomorrow night and they’ll have some big names back to try and make that happen.
“The Premier Cup games are great because they allow you to get some competitive games in early,” said Neilson.
“We expect a tough game tomorrow night at Stirling. They’ve won two out of two and are sitting on six points. Then we have Inverness who we competed with last year.
“So it’ll be two good games setting us up for the league opener.
“ Armand [Gnanduillet] is back in the squad so he’ll be available and [Josh] Ginnelly, [Stephen] Kingsley and [Craig] Gordon are all back in as well.”
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