The Jambos are on an 11-day training camp in Germany after returning to Scotland briefly following a spell in Austria.

Skipper Craig Gordon has raised serious concerns over the sharpness of the team, who followed up defeat by BV Cloppenburg with a 1-1 draw against Rott Weis Essen on Saturday.

The central presence of former interim head coach Eduard Malofeev in their training camps has alarmed the Hearts support after his disastrous spell in charge last year.

Malofeev took over when Valdas Ivanauskas went on sick leave in October but failed to win any of his seven games in charge amid reports of out-dated training methods.

And during his spell in the hot seat former skipper Steven Pressley - flanked by Gordon - revealed "significant unrest" among players over the running of the club.

Malofeev took up a post with MTZ-Ripo in Belarus, who are also backed by Hearts majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov.

But he has briefly rejoined interim head coach Anatoly Korobochka and assistant Stephen Frail, and Pospisil has revealed more disquiet over the nature of training.

The Czech striker, who netted in Saturday's 1-1 draw, said: "If we have good training sessions it's more enjoyable than always hard work and running."

The 27-year-old also revealed the long time spent away from his wife and son was proving hard.

"I have never ever had such long training camps," he told Hearts World.

"When I was free it was okay but with family at home waiting for you it is difficult.

"Now there are times when you are sad because you don't see family but it's part of football.

"Austria was very nice surroundings and it was the first session after the holidays so every player took it well.

"Now it's worse because it's the second training camp, again very long.

"Players are getting tired and so psychologically it's not very popular for the guys, but we have to do it."

Gordon had hit out after the game on Saturday, saying: "We still have three weeks, but if we are going to be ready we need to change things now and start improving right away.

"Whether it's training methods or whatever, we need to start working on that sharpness.

"Every team we play, no matter what league they are from, is overrunning us."

The Scotland keeper today played down reports of unhappiness but still expressed hope that training would now be focused on football.

"I have heard reports from back home that there is supposed to be unrest amongst the players but that is absolute nonsense," the 24-year-old told Hearts News.

"Yes, it's tough training in 32-degree heat and much of the training is methodical, but we are all very focused on the challenge ahead of us.

"Perhaps the story has grown arms and legs as it is true that we are all keen to be further ahead with our training than we are at present, but that is a natural feeling.

"Many players at many clubs have this feeling before the season.

"As a team we now expect that our training will progress towards football-specific programmes and this will complete our preparations."