First Round Review.

[parsforlife]

With most of us completed our first round of fixtures how are you shaping up?

2nd with 18 points is a very good start for us, dropped our standards in the most recent games and there’s a question if late goals are papering over some cracks. Tough to complain too much but we should be controlling games better, and not relying  on a good 10 minutes to save the day.  7/10

other sides

Alloa,  can be a decent passing side but not really getting results. Lost to queens but beating inverness was unexpected. 5/10

Arbroath,  organized but not scoring anywhere near enough, performances seem to be improving recently and can possibly kick on.  5/10

Ayr.  Not really sure what’s happened here,  seemed to start well but have dropped off badly in recent weeks.  One of only 2 to lose to the bottom 3. 6/10

Dundee.  3-0 and you fucked it up.  More than enough talent in the side but managed by McPake. Scrambled themselves into a play-off spot but only ahead of morton who have a game in hand,  miles behind the pace of the front runners.  4/10

Hearts.  With the gap in budget the expectations for them are very high,  their dreams of going undefeated have ended already and haven’t found other games as easy as they’d have liked however 7 wins from 8 is still very good.  8/10

Queens.  Shite,  Roll over most weeks. Managed 1 win but look to be going down without a fight. 0/10

Morton.  Things were not looking good under hopkin and off-field seem a shambles but 2 wins from 2 since him going puts a very positive spin on an otherwise tough start.  6/10

Inverness-  see Ayr.

Rovers. Best team we’ve played by far and I’m sure they couldn’t have imagined to have had such a strong round of fixtures. 9/10

How do the good folks of P&B view the opening 1/3 of the season.

Edited December 26, 2020 by parsforlife

[vikingTON]

I feared the worst for our collection of ringers at the start of the season but we've done well/been lucky with our defensive signings. McAdams has pulled off some very good saves and isn't a total clownshoe; Ledger has also been a surprisingly solid addition and Fjortoft was looking very good until dropping to the bench after Hopkin's departure. Other than an aberration against Raith we've been stuffy and have dragged teams down to the very low level of our forward options and are reliably nicking enough points.

I expect us to do a bit worse in the remaining two rounds but if there isn't another plot twist or five in our clowncar soap opera behind the scenes - or we get an injury to McAdams - then we should be fine which has been in doubt for various reasons so far this season.

7(th)/10

Edited December 26, 2020 by vikingTON

[Ludo*1]

Dundee.

Horrendous start and some would say it's the lowest they've felt as a Dundee fan. I'd say that'd be a stretch but it's hard to argue. To so consistently see a draw or defeat snapped out of the jaws of an easy win is ludicrous but what's worse is to be able to so easily pinpoint it to an exact managerial decision and this shows how out of his depth McPake really is.

Unbeaten in 4 and Alloa up next - I'd like to think we've turned a corner but we are Dundee and always find a way to screw things up. Ridiculous to see us sitting in the top 4 with a third of the league now played. If we get our act together, we can put a little bit of pressure on Hearts (who have the title in the bag) and battle it out with Dunfermline for 2nd.

We are lucky we have the best player in the league in Charlie Adam or we'd be worse than QotS.

3/10.

Edited December 26, 2020 by Ludo*1

[RossBFaeDundee]

Quite simply, swap only the manager for someone better with a winning mentality and you could argue we might well be sitting pretty in 2nd with an eye on the title race. The fact we're up to 4th rn feels like a testament to the quality of this league. Only having wins against QoS, Arbroath and Morton and constantly capitulating against the more competitive teams is hardly encouraging for a team just eyeing a playoff berth, nvm the title. We had plenty of inconsistency and stop-start unbeaten and winless streaks last season, and that looks to be the case this season too.

I am, however, in a good mood after yesterday's win, and so choose at this moment to believe there is reason for optimism, though I am sure the misery will return with the next couple of matches.

[DeeTillEhDeh]

Quite simply, swap only the manager for someone better with a winning mentality and you could argue we might well be sitting pretty in 2nd with an eye on the title race. The fact we're up to 4th rn feels like a testament to the quality of this league. Only having wins against QoS, Arbroath and Morton and constantly capitulating against the more competitive teams is hardly encouraging for a team just eyeing a playoff berth, nvm the title. We had plenty of inconsistency and stop-start unbeaten and winless streaks last season, and that looks to be the case this season too.
I am, however, in a good mood after yesterday's win, and so choose at this moment to believe there is reason for optimism, though I am sure the misery will return with the next couple of matches.

We've dropped 6 points in games we were leading in and didn't close out - that would put us comfortably in second place just 2 points behind Hearts.

Our manager still gives me the fear - even if we got to the playoffs we are just not consistent enough to string together the results needed.

[Broken Algorithms]

This is probably one of the best Rovers teams going since the start of the millennium. We're all expecting the arse to collapse out it or wait until summer when our best players are all inevitably picked up by bigger clubs in the top flight. At the moment, our fans are just enjoying how we've been playing. There's only been a couple of games (Dundee away, Caley away) where we've not really been at the races: even yesterday in horrendous conditions we still had lads like Hendry, Tait and Ross all trying to get on the ball and causing issues with their passing and movement. 

Duku will understandably get a lot of attention. A lot of people both inside and outside of our fanbase were sceptical when we signed 2 complete unknowns but they've both been top class. They had both been brought in through a firm of agents so I'd expect both to be going in the Summer. 

Regan Hendry's contract is also up in the summer but it wouldn't surprise me if he signs a new deal simply to try to help us get a fee for him in a similar way to Dylan Tait- he's spoken at length about how he's enjoyed his time with the club and was still coming to our games even after his loan from Celtic was cut short through injury. If he does leave, not a single fan will grudge him the opportunity - he's a player who still came to Rovers after Falkirk tried to chuck significant sums of money at him to take him away. He then proceeded to put in four outstanding performances in against them and the only time they got close to stopping him was Michael Tidser going in knee high in a tackle. 

I think fans of other clubs will be more surprised by Rovers than our own support. At this level, teams are far more expansive and won't sit back: at league one we'd often come undone by teams like Forfar who would sit in and play to frustrate even when they were a goal down (the final game of last season being a great example). John McGlynn v2.0 has been a joy to watch - his first Rovers squad were miles away from aesthetically pleasing football but they got results. This lot have been completely different and if it continues for the rest of the season I feel like we might make a good case for a top 4 finish. 

[Shandon Par]

3 minutes ago, Broken Algorithms said:

 

I think fans of other clubs will be more surprised by Rovers than our own support. At this level, teams are far more expansive and won't sit back: l. 

Obviously it has been quite distressing to see how good you lot are but is part of that maybe a lack of homework by opponents (ie disrespect)? “It’s only Raith, who have just come up from the seaside league”. Be interesting to see if you can keep up the results or if teams will adopt a particular approach to playing Raith. 

[Shandon Par]

I’ve been an unashamed Crawford fanboy all along and just can’t agree with Pars fans finding so much to criticise about performances. Went out for a walk with the dog for five minutes yesterday and it was like recreating The Revenant. To dig out a win in such conditions was superb.

We’ve pretty much got what we expected so far. O’Hara is on a 3 yr deal IIRC and has come on and won the odd game for us. Decent bit of management. Dec McManus was never going to replicate Nisbet’s goal tally but he can be a match winner and does so much work for his team mates. Decent goal threat from other areas was going to be the way we replaced Nisbet’s goals. 

Crawford has never lost a league match by more than two goals and that flags up the general stuffiness of his approach. He doesn’t talk about styles of play or having a philosophy. It’s all about winning, studying opponents, developing players and trying whatever it takes tactically or personnel-wise to win. 

We’re not a swashbuckling team that sweeps teams away each week. I’d rather have the results we’ve had than pats on the head for playing well. So many 1-0 wins, and in the cups in the last year or so we took Celtic to extra time, St J too, pumped Killie and in the league beat Hearts. 

9/10 for the season so far but I think he’s a decent manager and decent all round guy to have in charge.

 

[CALDERON]

Pleasantly surprised with our start. Didn't expect us to be at the bottom, but we've looked far more capable than I feared. Long way to go though. 

Other than Ayr, ICT, Dundee and Dunfermline, the other sides we have played have looked no better or worse than the upper end of league 1 last season. Granted we have improved in the summer, but was surprised at how abject the likes of Arbroath were. 

I expect a far tougher set of fixtures now teams have played us. I do think teams have been caught off guard, especially by Mcglynn breaking from tradition and actually putting a tidy passing side together. 

Can't see us being involved at the bottom, but could be anywhere between 2nd and 7th. 

[Derry Alli]

Shite. No two ways about it. Absolutely, ridiculously shite. 

 

[HoBNob]

1 hour ago, CALDERON said:

Pleasantly surprised with our start. Didn't expect us to be at the bottom, but we've looked far more capable than I feared. Long way to go though. 

Other than Ayr, ICT, Dundee and Dunfermline, the other sides we have played have looked no better or worse than the upper end of league 1 last season. Granted we have improved in the summer, but was surprised at how abject the likes of Arbroath were. 

I expect a far tougher set of fixtures now teams have played us. I do think teams have been caught off guard, especially by Mcglynn breaking from tradition and actually putting a tidy passing side together. 

Can't see us being involved at the bottom, but could be anywhere between 2nd and 7th. 

Looks like you play Hearts twice in the next round of fixtures aswell, certainly a bit more difficult than playing QoTS twice! I'd say you're anywhere between 2nd and 5th. 

If I was to pick the playoff sides it would be any three from Dunfermline, Dundee, Raith and Inverness. (on account of them having Robertson) Morton though have quite a favourable run of games coming up though, I know their fans seemed very pessimistic about the season but they were good against us and the new manager might be able to do better with the squad. 

Suppose it depends on if any players leave during January etc. 

[callum-ayr]

[Insert Amusing Pseudonym]

I'd give us about 7.5.  7 wins out of 8 won't get Robbie much credit given our relative strength but it's decent.

We can veer from looking like we'll really struggle to blowing teams away, sometimes within the space of 20 minutes like Saturday.  If we're anywhere near our A game then we'll win but we are slack enough, often enough, to give teams a decent shot at beating us.

I expect we'll win the league by about 20 points, largely because no-one else looks significantly above the pack and we'll just keep winning the vast majority of games.  The target is to take our home threat into away games

[topcat(The most tip top)]

With the drama of last season's cup semi and final the league's been overshadowed but things are going about as well as we could expect. I'm giving it a B+.

There's a few issues at the back but this season isn't going to be defined by the number of clean sheets. It's going to be about avoiding being held to 0-0 draws against opponents who sit in. 

 

 

 

 

[Trogdor]

Ayr so far... Meh

[D'Jaffo]

Ayr United

Can’t help but feel disappointed with the season so far given the amount of, what we thought, were good signings. So far I’d probably say a 5/10 as it’s mostly been a mixed bag this season.

[ThroughtheTurnstiles]

We thought you'd never ask..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NuYXQBw5xo

Edited December 27, 2020 by ThroughtheTurnstiles

[topcat(The most tip top)]

6 minutes ago, Insert Amusing Pseudonym said:

I'd give us about 7.5.  7 wins out of 8 won't get Robbie much credit given our relative strength but it's decent.

We can veer from looking like we'll really struggle to blowing teams away, sometimes within the space of 20 minutes like Saturday.  If we're anywhere near our A game then we'll win but we are slack enough, often enough, to give teams a decent shot at beating us.

I expect we'll win the league by about 20 points, largely because no-one else looks significantly above the pack and we'll just keep winning the vast majority of games.  The target is to take our home threat into away games

20 points would seem like quite a lot for what is only a 27 game season.

You've also probably been bookmarked by some weirdo in Fife or Renfrewshire who will then stalk you for years reminding you of your mistake when it turns out to be 12 points 

 

[Insert Amusing Pseudonym]

18 minutes ago, topcat(The most tip top) said:

20 points would seem like quite a lot for what is only a 27 game season.

You've also probably been bookmarked by some weirdo in Fife or Renfrewshire who will then stalk you for years reminding you of your mistake when it turns out to be 12 points 

 

A risk I'm prepared to take.  I think we'll get about 70 points, so maybe only 15.

[Homer Thompson]

17 hours ago, parsforlife said:

With most of us completed our first round of fixtures how are you shaping up?

2nd with 18 points is a very good start for us, dropped our standards in the most recent games and there’s a question if late goals are papering over some cracks. Tough to complain too much but we should be controlling games better, and not relying  on a good 10 minutes to save the day.  7/10

other sides

Alloa,  can be a decent passing side but not really getting results. Lost to queens but beating inverness was unexpected. 5/10

Arbroath,  organized but not scoring anywhere near enough, performances seem to be improving recently and can possibly kick on.  5/10

Ayr.  Not really sure what’s happened here,  seemed to start well but have dropped off badly in recent weeks.  One of only 2 to lose to the bottom 3. 6/10

Dundee.  3-0 and you fucked it up.  More than enough talent in the side but managed by McPake. Scrambled themselves into a play-off spot but only ahead of morton who have a game in hand,  miles behind the pace of the front runners.  4/10

Hearts.  With the gap in budget the expectations for them are very high,  their dreams of going undefeated have ended already and haven’t found other games as easy as they’d have liked however 7 wins from 8 is still very good.  8/10

Queens.  Shite,  Roll over most weeks. Managed 1 win but look to be going down without a fight. 0/10

Morton.  Things were not looking good under hopkin and off-field seem a shambles but 2 wins from 2 since him going puts a very positive spin on an otherwise tough start.  6/10

Inverness-  see Ayr.

Rovers. Best team we’ve played by far and I’m sure they couldn’t have imagined to have had such a strong round of fixtures. 9/10

How do the good folks of P&B view the opening 1/3 of the season.

Pretty generous score for Queens