Stephen Robinson says it's 'utterly ridiculous' that Naismith is under pressure

Stephen Robinson says the suggestion that Steven Naismith is “under pressure” so early in the season after everything they achieved last campaign is “utterly ridiculous”.

The St Mirren manager, who is preparing to host Hearts in Paisley this weekend, conceded that is “the world we are living in” but backed the Tynecastle club to be up the top end of the Premiership in May.

Speaking to the media on Friday, he said: “I am wary of Hearts every single time, they have a fantastic manager in Steven Naismith and they have an abundance of talent in their 30-man squad.

“Steven strengthened over the summer by adding some really good technical players like Yan Danda and Blair Spittal, they have very good players and huge threats from everywhere, Lawrence Shankland is one of the best strikers in the league.

“I have no doubt that Hearts will be up challenging at the top end of the table, they will have a run in Europe and we will have to make sure we are at the very top of our game.

“Believe me, there will be nothing being taken for granted, when you say they’ve been on a ‘poor run’, the season has only just kicked off.

“It depends on what way you want to twist the statistics, but we will have a very tough game against a very good side.

“I don’t know if they will have any insecurities as I’m not in that group, what we know is that we will need to put 96 minutes together.

“We have to solely concentrate on our own game, we are aware of Hearts, we know their threats and we know their weaknesses, but we will have to bring our A game for 96 minutes if we want to win on Saturday.

“I think it’s utterly ridiculous (that Naismith is under pressure), for a manager who got his team into Europe, he is a young manager, he has done very well and I have a lot of respect for him.

“It’s the world we live in, unfortunately within two or three games statistics can be twisted whatever way you want.”