“Everyone knew when I was coming here that Hearts is a big club,” said English defender Kent, who acquired Edinburgh from Peterborough eighteen months ago and has been a reliable performer ever since. That’s why I’m playing all these major games and doing what I’m doing now.

“This is what we want to accomplish; you want to always push yourself against stronger players and teams. We want to win the big games, but they are coming at us fast. After playing Rangers, we now take on the two top teams in the league because we want to push ourselves. And in between is an away game in Europe.

I came here to challenge myself and play these games, which is why I came. You don’t want an easy ride, and we’ve got to put ourselves to the test; it’s challenging but fun. Even if we dislike losing, we must find the good in it, grow from it, and strive to use it to improve. These are difficult and significant games.

Given a dismal start to the season that lost manager Steven Naismith his job, Hearts’ league needs seem more urgent. As a result, there is pressure on a team that wants to finish in the top four to move up the standings quickly. Kent is well aware of these expectations, but he thinks there is still plenty of time to catch up to teams that are higher up.

“We know the situation we’re in, but we can’t place too much importance on it,” Kent added. Even though November is the last month of the season, it’s not like we’re chasing. We are aware that we must always improve, but you must also be able to think clearly.

“From the standpoint of the league, things can change rapidly. We all know that this season hasn’t been good enough, and I am aware of that. However, football may change drastically; a string of wins makes things appear somewhat better. However, we also know that it puts pressure on you if you don’t obtain them. It must be done game by game; attempt to enter as

More time spent with Critchley, who joined the team last month and is revolutionising Hearts’ football style, will have benefited Kent and his teammates who are not on international duty.

Kent continued, “The manager has worked on the finer details.” “I think the last few games have shown you what we’re attempting to accomplish and the faith he has placed in us to succeed. He has been helpful in certain ways, but we must improve.

“No one was performing well enough at the beginning of the season to merit results. Our performance has improved, and the boys are now playing like we should. It is all focused on achieving results, which is what we are doing.

The timetable has prevented the manager from spending a lot of time on the training field. It has been a month since we played seven or eight games. For him to recuperate and work on the areas he wants to focus on, the international break is crucial. In order to improve, we must make certain adjustments.