Hearts boss targets another title tilt despite style change

Hearts head coach Wouter Vrancken is looking to replicate last season's strong Scottish Premiership showing despite his rebuilt squad having to adapt to "a totally different style of play". And, with the Edinburgh side having already stumbled out of Champions League qualifying, the Belgian heads into his league debut away to Aberdeen on Saturday admitting he needs results "as soon as possible". Hearts finished runners-up last season, losing out to reigning champions Celtic in Glasgow on the final day after having led for most of the campaign. But head coach Derek McInnes moved to Rangers along with top scorer Lawrence Shankland and key midfielder Cammy Devlin, while Hearts have also lost their two main goalkeepers. Vrancken has brought in 12 new players along with different methods on the training ground but stresses the targets are still the same. "Level-wise, it's a totally different style of play, so comparing levels is difficult," he said. Will Scottish Premiership return to two-team title tussle? Hearts to face Benfica in Europa League qualifier Who has your Premiership club brought in & let go this summer? "At the end, you want to compete for the highest position possible, so in this case it's the same. "For us, it's being ready as soon as possible, quality-wise, because there are a lot of new things, staff but also players. "But still we need the results. It's about results and showing the quality there." Hearts lost 2-0 at home to Sturm Graz on Tuesday for a 6-0 thrashing on aggregate and Vrancken knows his side need to improve at Pittodrie. "In football, there is no long term, it's only short term and it's only what you can do in the next game," he said. "At this moment, we're just thinking about having a good result and trying to go there to take a win. That's the aim." Vrancken has studied Aberdeen closely and expects some tactical changes in Stephen Robinson's first full season in charge. "I saw a lot of games of them, of course," he said. "I think the style that the manager is bringing in, they also like to construct a little bit more than they maybe used to last year." Vrancken believes an opening-day victory would provide a boost to morale. "This would be really, really important," he added. "I think when we can make that happen, it makes a lot of difference." Visit our Hearts page for all the latest news, analysis and fan views Get Hearts news notifications in the BBC Sport app