Robbie Neilson believes Hearts have been “too negative” in the final third during their recent slump in form.
They remain sitting pretty in Premiership table, nine points ahead of HIbs in third place.
But they are without a win in their last five games across all competitions.
The Jambos managed just two goals in that run as numerous chances haven't been taken and it's proven costly.
They've continued to dominate possession but Neilson wants to see that converted into goals, as they were doing earlier in the season.
And he wants it to start this Saturday away to St Mirren.
“We’ve found it a bit difficult,” he admitted. “We’ve been creating chances but not taking them and we’ve been a wee bit too negative in our play. We’ve had a lot of possession, which is what we want, but it’s what we do in that final moment.
“Earlier in the season, we would create five chances and score three. At this point in time, we’re creating five chances and not taking any. It’s those wee details that we need to get better at.
“You just go through periods in a season. It happens every season. We’re at a level where we’re not going to win every single game, every single week. So we have wee periods when the spark isn’t quite there.
“We’ve had eight games in 26 days and felt a wee bit fatigued and we hoped the break would get us back going again.
“Last week we created numerous chances - we just didn't take them.”
Craig Halkett is set to make a welcome return from a hamstring injury ahead of schedule this week, while Craig Gordon and Liam Boyce’s Covid isolation is over.
“I think we’ve missed him the last few weeks,” said Neilson of Halkett. “Craig’s been really good for us this season and with the form he was in, we were speaking to him about trying to get in and around the Scotland set-up.
“He was starting to get there, but this injury came at a difficult time for him and us. We’re delighted to get him back in and hopefully he can show his worth again.
“Boycie should be back as well. It’s another one of our senior players and we’ve missed a number of them in recent weeks, along with Michael Smith.”
After Tuesday night’s fixture against Dundee was postponed, Hearts are the first opposition new St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson will face, and Neilson wasn’t surprised to see him return from England.
He explained: “He did really well at Motherwell. He went down to League One with Morecambe and getting the opportunity to return to the top flight in Scotland so I’m not surprised he’s jumped at it.”
It looked at one stage as if Neilson was about to lose player development manager and Under 18s coach Steven Naismith to the vacancy, but he’s glad the former Tynecastle skipper elected to stay in Gorgie.
He added: “Steven’s got the Youth Cup game tonight and hopefully they get through to the final. He’s been doing really well, developing the young players and there’s a couple out on loan who are starting to get nearer the first team. So I’m pleased he’s decided to stay.”
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