Neil Critchley’s Hearts reign could not have got off to much of a better start.
There was plenty of talk through the week about the rights and wrongs of the Tynecastle side appointing the former QPR and Blackpool boss, deemed a failure in those jobs by some although he has a different view of it.
But he was picked on the basis of the data analytics used in the search and certainly seemed to win over some Hearts fans in his presser during the week.
Fully winning people round comes on the pitch though and it may only be one game but yesterday’s home performance against St Mirren will mean he has made plenty of inroads.
A dominant display saw Kenneth Vargas give them the lead in the first half, before a brilliant Daniel Oyegoke strike was added to by a first senior goal for James Wilson, 17, and Blair Spittal put the icing on the cake at the end.
- READ MORE: Neil Critchley reacts to first Hearts win as he details what he’s learned from St Mirren hammering
Critchley Hearts tweaks
The new manager made some changes to the way the side played, selecting a team that on paper looked likely to be a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3, similar to what interim boss Liam Fox had been operating with.
However, it became clear it was more of a 4-4-2 with Lawrence Shankland and Vargas playing as a front two.
It was very fluid though and former Jambos winger Neil McCann saw it as more of a 4-2-4 with attacking midfielders Yan Dhanda and Spittal linking up with the front pair to cause the Buddies all sorts of problems.
The pundit told BBC Sportscene: “On the evidence of what happened today, I really liked what I saw. I think Hearts recruited really well in the summer. I don’t think Stevie (Naismith) was able to get the best out of his new recruits. But Neil certainly did it today.
“But he tweaked a few things to enable that to happen. It’s not like a 4-4-2. It virtually was a four and a two and those four players were allowed to be in touch with each other all the time. They were given very little defensive responsibilities.
“That meant the two holding midfielders were sometimes backed up by James Penrice getting high. But you can see Vargas, Dhanda, Spittal and Shankland as the four, so many times they were encouraged by the guys sitting behind to go and express themselves, and go with an abandonment and a freedom to just go and create.
“It was almost like a front pairing. It wasn’t like Shankland in the 10, it was a proper front two with Vargas. Dhanda on the right was asked to supply ammunition and Spittal was encouraged to come inside and get in touch with the box.”
Lawrence Shankland and Kenneth Vargas link-up for Hearts opener
That old-fashioned front two worked a treat and the two of them linked up to find the opener.
Neither has been on form this season with Shankland only finding the net once so far and this was Vargas’ first. But it was beatifully worked.
And McCann added: “This was a proper, old-school, front two pairing goal. A little over, spin round the courner, a delightful pass from Shankland.
“So often Kenneth, he disappoints in the final third. But it’s a really smart finish. And they really kept that going in the second half.”