Hearts are in a real struggle after their loss to ten-man Kilmarnock.
Since Neil Critchley’s appointment there has been a belief the Jambos are back on the right track with performances suggesting they can start to get the results to follow.
But alarm bills were ringing throughout that turgid 90 minutes in Ayrshire and have been ever since.
Critchley was ‘stunned’ by Hearts’ performance at Killie and accused his players of not showing a desire to get back into the game, something he insists he hadn’t seen until that point.
Jambos supporters liked seeing Critchley get angry and honest after the game and heaped praise on him for that, as he still seems to have the backing of the majority.
However, one pundit expressed doubts over whether the manager is the right fit for Hearts.
Time will tell but one ex-Jam Tarts star insists the current situation is embarrassing.
Stevenson doubts Hearts have the stomach for the fight
Right now, Hearts appear to be in a relegation fight.
They can of course get out of it with a reasonably favourable run coming up, but few would back them to come through that unscathed.
If they continue with performances like last weekend’s then they will be in a real scrap between now and the end of the season.
Former Tynecastle midfielder Ryan Stevenson doesn’t think they have the stomach for the fight.
In his Daily Record column, he said: “The facts are the facts right now, we’re a week away from Christmas and we’re sitting bottom of the league. It’s embarrassing.
“To see the amount of fans that travel to Copenhagen, to then go and travel to Kilmarnock three days later. The players should be brass affronted with themselves.
“Think of the amount of people that are spending money to come and watch them and they are serving up that rubbish.
“I genuinely wouldn’t be able to show my face! That on Sunday against Kilmarnock I have never seen anything like it. It was just shocking.
“For Kilmarnock to go down to 10 men but Hearts were devoid of ideas. There was no personality. Nobody was there taking the game by the scruff of the neck.
“They could still have been playing there against Kilmarnock today and not yet scored. Never once in my time – even in administration – did we ever let ourselves down like that.
“As much as we were bottom but we were always close, even the year when we were 15 points behind. I think if we didn’t have that points deduction, we would have finished sixth or seventh.”
He went on: “For Hearts to be sitting bottom of the league is embarrassing. So the immediate future is that they need to get a result tomorrow night. Following the Conference League clash, they have two massive home games against St Johnstone and Hibs.
“That could lift the mood because being bottom of the league is such a negative. It is wild that a club like Hearts could be looking at another relegation.
“The next six to eight weeks are so big for the club, and that’s obviously a spell with the window in it as well. See all the teams running about them, they’ve all done it year in, year out. I don’t think that our players are strong enough to deal with a relegation battle, I genuinely don’t.”
Hearts deserve flak if they can’t beat Petrocub
The Jambos can breathe new life into their season by progressing to the knockout stages of the Conference League with a result against Petrocub tonight.
The Moldovans are already out and Critchley’s men would have been heavy favourites to beat them anyway.
So there will be big expectation at Tynecastle even taking the recent run into account.
Stevenson added: “The Hearts players owe the fans big time – and if they don’t beat Petrocub in the Europa Conference League then they deserve everything that comes their way.
“The bottom line is the final group clash at home to the Moldovans is now the biggest game of the season. They need to win to qualify.
“And they should be beating a team who are third in the Moldovan league. They should be able to sweep Petrocub aside and I really think they will because again, the stadium will be sold out and the fans will get behind them just like they always do.
“But the flip side of that coin is if they don’t win, they absolutely deserve pelters, and I mean everyone from the top to bottom of the club. You’d surely think with the quality Hearts have, the players they’ve got, they wouldn’t be sitting bottom of the league a week before Christmas. But here we are.”