First Round Review.

[TheGoon]

Would expect Morton to finish around 6th/7th, don’t think there’s enough in the squad gor a genuine playoff push but that’s fine. Was always just about getting through this season in one piece. We should just about manage that.

[Distant Doonhamer]

19 hours ago, parsforlife said:

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

 

Overly generous IMHO.

[Derry Alli]

21 hours ago, parsforlife said:

  miles behind the pace of the front runners.  4/10

 

There's only one runner in this race, mate. Sorry nobody has pointed that out to you by now. 

Edited December 27, 2020 by Mr. Alli

[ayrunitedfw]

Ayr United- We have been a massive disappointment this season to be honest. Going into the season I was really happy with the squad we had assembled and the players we had brought in however other than Cammy Smith the other new signings have ranged from meh to total dug meat. The target at the start of the season was to make the promotion playoffs however the way it’s going we look more likely to be sucked into a relegation battle. MK should now be under severe pressure to get it right. I’m not saying at this moment in time he should be sacked however the jury is still very much out on him and there are some really worrying signs, main one being for me is when we concede a goal we always seem vulnerable to concede again straight after and give ourself a mountain to climb. Our next 3 games, Morton (H), QOS (A), Alloa (H) are massive and failure to take a substantial amount of points from these and we could be up shit creek. 

[QosLoyal]

Shaping up nicely for a 8th place finish in league 1 next season.

[Gorgie greatness]

Most teams are pish.

[grumswall]

Most teams are pish.

That's why your playing in this league.

[Gorgie greatness]

7 minutes ago, grumswall said:

14 minutes ago, Gorgie greatness said:

Most teams are pish.

That's why your playing in this league.

Much like you we were voted into this league. A negative for us a positive for you!

[Stellaboz]

Delighted. Absolutely delighted. Playing average for a while now and only one defeat? Incredible.

[grumswall]

Much like you we were voted into this league. A negative for us a positive for you!

Because you were too shite for the league you were in and we were too good for the league we were in.

[SEETHING]

19 hours ago, Ludo*1 said:

Dundee.

Horrendous start and some would say it's the lowest they've felt as a Dundee fan. 

Lovely news - I enjoyed that opening day result a great deal. 

[Ludo*1]

26 minutes ago, SEETHING said:

Lovely news - I enjoyed that opening day result a great deal. 

Sorry - I think you've misread that as just the Hearts game. We never expected anything that day it was the failure to bounce back that irked.

[johnnydun]

1 hour ago, Gorgie greatness said:

Much like you we were voted into this league. A negative for us a positive for you!

Oooft! "Voted into this league".

Still hurting I see.

Glorious.

[DeeTillEhDeh]

Hearts fans heads still detached from their bodies.

[lichtgilphead]

8 hours ago, Insert Amusing Pseudonym said:

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

Are you up for a charity bet?

Hearts win by 15 points or more - you win

Hearts win by 14 points or less (or finish below 1st) - I win

£20 ok? 

If I win, money to RNLI

Edited December 27, 2020 by lichtgilphead

[DAFC.]

Cannot ask for more from a Pars perspective. We’ve beat the Champions-elect and are still within distance of top spot. Standards dropped off a bit from the start and we kinda shit-fested results the past few games but I’ll take it all day long otherwise it’d be the same mid-table mediocrity pish we’ve come to expect in the post-admin era. We’re only in the beginning of this new period of investment and the signs are really positive so future is looking good for us. Getting a play-off place is obviously the aim but getting 2nd place would be a massive boost given one less round of fixtures will have to be played. I think we are more than capable of getting it as long as we keep doing what we have done and grind out results when there is slight dips.

[Waspie]

Pretty mixed so far. We tend to start slowly anyway and with the loss of influential players over the summer, and also starting the season with other key men injured, it has been challenging at times. Only 1 game (QoS) where we didn't turn up at all but too many really poor goals conceded in other matches where we generally competed reasonably well. Desperately need to add some pace and cutting edge in attack too. We are currently a fair bit weaker than the teams of the last two seasons. Taking all that account have to be happy enough with 8th at this stage. Our prospects will now depend on being luckier in keeping important players fit and boosting the attacking options when the window opens. 

Think overall the standard is pretty mixed. Hearts so far are looking like Neilson's United team in that they are clearly stronger than everyone else but  still managing to be rather unconvincing and not as good as they should be. The best team performance I saw was ICT but that was against QoS, and ICT were then poor against us. Not hugely impressed with anybody else in the games I've seen. 

[San Starko Rover]

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. 

Don’t think your assessment is in anyway unfair, as the new team who got lucky with the vote I’m sure a few teams will have done what you suggest especially the first few games. This next round of fixtures should give us an idea of whether we’re as good as we seem or have just been underestimated it’s probably somewhere In between. I’m not bothered either way as I’d have taken 8th before a ball was kicked and I’m just enjoying watching us at the moment as on our day it’s really good to see the passing and movement with such a young team.

[TxRover]

3 minutes ago, San Starko Rover said:

Don’t think your assessment is in anyway unfair, as the new team who got lucky with the vote I’m sure a few teams will have done what you suggest especially the first few games. This next round of fixtures should give us an idea of whether we’re as good as we seem or have just been underestimated it’s problem somewhere In between. I’m not bothered either way as I’d have taken 8th before a ball was kicked and I’m just enjoying watching us at the moment as on our day it’s really good to see the passing and movement with such a young team.

 

This is spot on. 15 points from 8 games (Hearts the only miss) is a good start toward safety, but the second go around will test both how other teams adapt to us and how our coaches can adapt to them. We had some issues last season, but JMcG seems to have a decent grasp of the necessary changes within games, and a reasonably successful record of plotting twists to surprise opponents as well. With Vaughan coming back in February, we hope, our offensive potential might just improve appreciably, so injuries will be our primary concern, especially in back where we are weakest.

10/10 versus what we wanted or hoped for.

7/10 as played, due to letting teams get back in games.

Probably 5th place in the end due to lack of depth on the back line, but chances for a place between 4th and 7th. I suspect 3rd is too much of an ask, and doubt we could collapse below 7th.

[Specky Ginger]

The thing that has surprised me most this season is the standard of goalkeeping. 

Craig Gordon is obviously way above this level, Jamie MacDonald has been good for us so far, the Ayr keeper looked fine against us, although not overly worked, and I've always rated Neil Parry, despite not covering himself in glory at our 2nd goal on Saturday. 

However, there are many others who are either inconsistent, or in some cases, absolutely rank rotten.