Dundee United were thrashed again as Hearts picked up a comprehensive 4-1 win over Jack Ross ' team at Tynecastle. But Ross has warned against any "knee-jerk" reactions after his team shipped 11 goals in four days to heap early pressure on the manager.
The Arabs went into the game looking to pick themselves up after their seven-goal humiliation against AZ Alkmaar but it took less than a minute for Hearts to pile on the misery. Lawrence Shankland wasted no time in coming back to haunt his old team as he opened the scoring after just 42 seconds.
Barrie McKay and Jorge Grant added to the misery - the latter coming after another mistake from Mark Birighitti in the United goal - and while Steven Fletcher pulled one back from the penalty spot, Josh Ginnelly rubbed salt into the wounds deep into stoppage time. Ross, speaking on BBC Sportsound, admits his team were miles off it again and urged them to find the character to bounce back. But he was quick to remind frustrated fans that it is the same Dundee United team who beat AZ Alkmaar at home - and believes they'll get back to showing that form soon.
He said: "Overall we're nowhere near the levels we need to be at. To come to venues like this and win, we need to be better. There were patches of the game where we were OK but we need to be better than OK for 90-plus minutes.
"Our response to losing the first goal was good, but the start of the second half we were desperately poor, and then the game becomes a struggle. We've had a really sore four days and you find out more about yourself in these situations, but we need to dig deep as we've got a big game next weekend."
Asked if the weekend mauling played a part in their poor start, Ross said: "It shouldn't. It's my responsibility to ensure we prepare properly. The manner of the (first) goal was desperately poor. You can't have that so early in the game, but that's nothing to do with Thursday, it's just to do with doing the fundamentals right early in the match.
"I'm not downplaying the last two results because they're nowhere near acceptable. But you can't be knee-jerk - it's the same group of players that produced an outstanding performance last week and were good at Kilmarnock on the opening day of the season. We need to remember that, but we'll take a deep breath and prepare for what lies ahead."
Ross also refused to criticise keeper Birighitti who dropped another clanger for Hearts' third. Asked if the keeper held his hands up to the mistake, Ross said: "I've not asked him in there. I spoke a lot, because they have to own responsibility of not performing well. I'll own the responsibility of the collective, but individually they need to look at their own performances and where they're at.
"They're bruised at the moment, but we can't just say everything will be OK. It's early in the season, but we've had a really chastising four days as a collective. They're going to have to show strength of character. They need to find it, and they will find it, but they need to find it quickly."
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