BBC Sport Scotland chief sportswriter Tom English has been answering your questions.
Stephen asked: Such a disappointment thus far and the exit from Europe exposed the lack of energy on the pitch and the void of technical expertise off it to make changes and motivate the team. Does Steven Naismith have the football IQ to pull Hearts out of this decline or should the board make a brave decision and make an early change of management?
Tom answered: I know a lot of Hearts fans want the change made now, Stephen. I suspect that the board will give the manager another three or four or maybe five games to see if he can turn it around.
They’ll want to be seen to be giving him every chance. That’s fair enough, but I was never a fan of the appointment in the first place. A club like Hearts needs an experienced operator in the chair. Now that Lawrence Shankland‘s goals have dried up, the manager’s inexperience is being seen in its full light.
One of the problems is that in their next five games they have Celtic (away), St Mirren (away), Dinamo Minsk (away) and Aberdeen (away). That’s a fiendish run when you’re looking to prove you have things under control. They also have Ross County at home in the middle of that run – the most must-win game in Naismith’s brief managerial career.
Publicly and privately they’re backing the manager, but they’re not blind to what is going on. The Tynecastle crowd has made its feelings abundantly clear. ‘Improve quickly or else’ seems to cover the situation as it stands.
Gez asked: Hearts fans deserve much better than the miserable start we’ve had, but bearing in mind we are similar in size of support and resources to Aberdeen, Hibs and Dundee United (when they fill the ground out), do you think some of our frustration is born out of expecting third and cup finals every season when that won’t always happen?
Tom answered: I think the fans now expect third, Gez, and it’s not an unreasonable expectation. There are only a very small number of teams who are in with a realistic shot at third and I’d say, on paper, Hearts have the best squad of the lot.
The team is boring to watch right now. They’re not scoring goals, not entertaining, there’s very little cohesion and no discernible sign of a gameplan and they’re losing games. The constant chopping and changing of players and systems does not inspire confidence in the management team. These are tricky times.
About the fans expecting third in the league and cup runs, it’s not unrealistic for supporters to expect better than what they’ve been getting this season.