Former defender Ryan McGowan believes Hearts are going through a "transition period" and will need more time to adapt under Wouter Vrancken.

Amid an injury-ravaged spell, the Tynecastle side dropped to fourth in the Premiership on Sunday following a 5-2 home defeat by Falkirk.

Vrancken's side have looked dangerous in attack but vulnerable off the ball as the Belgian attempts to implement a different style from that of his predecessor, Derek McInnes.

Speaking on the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast, former Hearts player McGowan said: "At the moment, Hearts are in that transition period, when there are still some players there who weren't brought in under this philosophy.

"They're still probably getting up to speed or are maybe not capable of playing the way the manager wants them to play. They'll just take that little bit longer to adapt to it.

"He is possibly having to simplify the way he wants to play because of the players available. And then players also need to take responsibility."

Hearts have been plagued by serious injury problems, as well as defensive troubles, having conceded eight goals in their past two games. However, McGowan believes their problems cannot be attributed to one factor.

"There's obviously issues there because you don't concede that number of goals if there aren't any issues," he added.

"There are so many goals they've conceded in the last six weeks that are just individual errors.

"I just feel like you can't pinpoint Hearts' issues at the moment on one thing. It's a massive combination of all of them."