After yesterday’s defeat to Celtic, it doesn’t get any easier for Hearts as the games come thick and fast.
The Jambos have now won just one of their last six matches after an initial slight uptick under new boss Neil Critchley and are still in bother at the wrong end of the table.
Up next is a European trip to Cercle Brugge on Thursday night and they then welcome high-flying Aberdeen to Tynecastle on Sunday.
The Jambos have a good home record against the Dons but they have been a different proposition this season under Jimmy Thelin.
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Hearts told to prioritise Aberdeen over Cercle Brugge
Critchley has so far been rotating his squad quite a bit amid a packed schedule between Europe and domestic stuff, although probably in a more measured way then predecessor Steven Naismith.
They now face two games in four days again after having the international break and the smart money would be on the Englishman making a few changes for both matches.
Hearts legend John Robertson has told him he should be keeping his best XI in reserve for the Aberdeen game as that should be the priority.
Robbo feels European progress is almost already guaranteed while league points are much-needed.
Speaking on Sky Sports, he said: “Hearts are in a bit of a sticky position where he’s saying that it’s not an eleven man game now, it’s a squad game.
“I understand that but Hearts right now, especially in the league, need to know their best XI and formation, because they’re in trouble and they need to get out of that.
“So right now they’re in a very strong position for Europe where I think they can and will qualify for the knockout stages.
“But now he needs to know his best XI for the league matches and play it. There’s now six points to St Johnstone and Dundee and he can’t allow that to get bigger, they’ve got games in hand as well.
“Whatever his [Critchley’s] strongest XI is, I’d be keeping that for the Aberdeen game because the league position is more important just now.
“Because they’ve still got three more matches to get one more win to qualify for the knockout stages.”
Critchley has Hearts dilemma
It would appear Critchley does have a dilemma for this week ahead.
What Robertson says does have merit as Hearts are almost there in terms of making it out of the league phase in the Conference League. One win from their last three matches should do it.
However, a wider point he may be missing is that they could even go one better and finish in the top eight of the league phase.
That would put them straight through to the last 16 rather than having to take part in a play-off round first.
There is also the fact that Critchley probably doesn’t even view himself as having a ‘strongest’ XI. He likes to mix and match depending on the game and opponent and that is likely what he will do here.