D*ck waving to despair - Whose fans' hopes will crash and burn?

['WellDel]

Title aspirations, a top six berth, or maybe a cup win. Everyone starts out with hopes and dreams for the season ahead.

This season there seems to be a bit more money than usual flying about, and several clubs have made some eye-catching additions to their squads which have got their fans positively jizzing at their prospects and potential for the new campaign.

The smart money, going by their spending power and acquisitions so far, would be on the biggest city clubs to make up the top six, (Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee Utd, Hearts, Hibs, Rangers). As we know though, this is rarely the case and at least one fails spectacularly. Will that be the case again this year?

Of the other six sides, County and Livi seem to have made a couple of shrewd additions, and McInnes will be back with a point to prove with his Killie side, so they will all be hoping to upset the apple cart and usurp at least one of the 'big 6'.

I can't see anyone stopping Celtic, but after scraping by Livi and their shambolic Champions League performance, have Rangers strengthened enough to secure what should be, with their resources, a guaranteed 2nd place finish? Will Ross's new look United falter? Has the 'Maroon Pound' been spent wisely? Will Hibs Hib's it?

Who will be this seasons fall guys?

[Handsome_Devil]

I think I mentioned it in our thread but for me one of the most intriguing things this year is Aberdeen, United and both Edinburgh teams all splashing the cash (or seeming to from the outside at least) at the same time. Clearly the circumstances at each are slightly different and financially it might not be a complete disaster regardless of what happens on the pitch if they manage to sell someone...but in purely sporting terms, there's a 99% chance at least one of them will be left with a big plate of expensive failure. Hearts I think are taking a pretty good calculated risk but if I was a United fan I'd be both very excited and very nervous about what's to come. Aberdeen and Hibs are in the middle between them.

As for the rest, it's the same as usual really. One of the Old Firm will win the league and the other will be second in whichever order they please.

In terms of relegation, St Johnstone and ourselves look absolutely honking and there's pressure on St Mirren given their end to last season (though I thought last week they weren't nearly as bad some of their fans made out). Don't know enough about Killie, Livi, County to form much of an opinion though the latter pair obviously impressed albeit in losing efforts in tough opening fixtures.

[YassinMoutaouakil]

Dundee United have signed well and have a lot of individual quality but I don't really see how it works as a team on paper. A midfield 3 chosen from Levitt, Sibbald, McGrath or Harkes doesn't make much sense to me.

[VincentGuerin]

Hearts are playing ten midweek games between now and the World Cup break. By comparison Aberdeen will play two and Hibs will play one. Dundee United's schedule remains to be seen. So I expect a difficult first part of the season, which many will simplistically use to say Hearts have gone backwards.

Price of success, but look out for Hearts featuring on this thread in the coming months.

Main task for Hearts up to the World Cup break, in terms of league football, is trying to be in touch with whoever is third. Any more than that will be a big bonus.

[Dons_1988]

2 minutes ago, VincentGuerin said:

Hearts are playing ten midweek games between now and the World Cup break. By comparison Aberdeen will play two and Hibs will play one. Dundee United's schedule remains to be seen. So I expect a difficult first part of the season, which many will simplistically use to say Hearts have gone backwards.

Price of success, but look out for Hearts featuring on this thread in the coming months.

Main task for Hearts up to the World Cup break, in terms of league football, is trying to be in touch with whoever is third. Any more than that will be a big bonus.

Excuses thread for this pish 

[betting competition]

4 minutes ago, VincentGuerin said:

Hearts are playing ten midweek games between now and the World Cup break. By comparison Aberdeen will play two and Hibs will play one. Dundee United's schedule remains to be seen. So I expect a difficult first part of the season, which many will simplistically use to say Hearts have gone backwards.

Price of success, but look out for Hearts featuring on this thread in the coming months.

Main task for Hearts up to the World Cup break, in terms of league football, is trying to be in touch with whoever is third. Any more than that will be a big bonus.

There is league cup quarter finals in October so it could be another game for Aberdeen and Hearts. 

[VincentGuerin]

4 minutes ago, Dons_1988 said:

Excuses thread for this pish 

Pressure all on big-spending, fixture-light Aberdeen, for me.

Fail to finish third this season and Goodwin will need to apologise live on tv before being ritually executed on the beach and his body chucked in the sea, as Pittodrie is burnt to the ground and Aberdeen FC consigned to the history books (more so than is already the case).

[Dons_1988]

2 minutes ago, VincentGuerin said:

Pressure all on big-spending, fixture-light Aberdeen, for me.

Fail to finish third this season and Goodwin will need to apologise live on tv before being ritually executed on the beach and his body chucked in the sea, as Pittodrie is burnt to the ground and Aberdeen FC consigned to the history books (more so than is already the case).

Executing the manager for not finishing 3rd is a statement that we are a massive club so I’m in. 

[Melanius Mullarkey]

5 minutes ago, VincentGuerin said:

Pressure all on big-spending, fixture-light Aberdeen, for me.

Fail to finish third this season and Goodwin will need to apologise live on tv before being ritually executed on the beach and his body chucked in the sea, as Pittodrie is burnt to the ground and Aberdeen FC consigned to the history books (more so than is already the case).

Aberdeen are already in the history books. 

Have you even heard of the 1980s?

[Mark Connolly]

St Johnstone will finish 9th and keep Davidson as their manager.

This thread isn't just for over confidence, is it?

[VincentGuerin]

I expect Hearts' woes to be at their peak in October.

In October Hearts play Celtic and Rangers, have away games at Killie, Aberdeen, and Ross County, and play 3 European games.

I expect much wailing and gnashing of teeth on Kickback.

Underlines how important early points on the board for Hearts are this season. Hibs, United, St Johnstone games in the next few weeks all very big.

Edited August 4, 2022 by VincentGuerin

[The Other Foot]

24 minutes ago, VincentGuerin said:

Hearts are playing ten midweek games between now and the World Cup break. By comparison Aberdeen will play two and Hibs will play one. Dundee United's schedule remains to be seen. So I expect a difficult first part of the season, which many will simplistically use to say Hearts have gone backwards.

Price of success, but look out for Hearts featuring on this thread in the coming months.

Main task for Hearts up to the World Cup break, in terms of league football, is trying to be in touch with whoever is third. Any more than that will be a big bonus.

The whole time I've watched the game of football - more than three decades - and I've never once seen the 'European Hangover' effect in real life. People talk about it every season, but it never seems to come to fruition. 

 

I will, of course, lie down and open my legs to any empirical evidence that you thrust before me. But from casual observation, there seems to be very little correlation between quantity of European games and league performance. 

 

Ok, stat nerds.... begin thrusting. 

Edited August 4, 2022 by The Other Foot

[VincentGuerin]

8 minutes ago, The Other Foot said:

The whole time I've watched the game of football - more than three decades - and I've never once seen the 'European Hangover' effect in real life. People talk about it every season, but it never seems to come to fruition. 

 

I will, of course, lie down and open my legs to any empirical evidence that you thrust before me. But from casual observation, there seems to be very little correlation between quantity of European games and league performance. 

 

Ok, stat nerds.... begin thrusting. 

Well, when did a non-OF side ever play so many games in a run like this?

I think it's quite clearly going to be a factor.

[Dons_1988]

5 minutes ago, The Other Foot said:

The whole time I've watched the game of football - more than three decades - and I've never once seen the 'European Hangover' effect in real life. People talk about it every season, but it never seems to come to fruition. 

 

I will, of course, lie down and open my legs to any empirical evidence that you thrust before me. But from casual observation, there seems to be very little correlation between quantity of European games and league performance. 

 

Ok, stat nerds.... begin thrusting. 

I’m no statto but had a look back to the 07-08 uefa cup groups season. 

Our record in the 8 games following European games was 2 wins, 2 draws and 4 defeats 

[The Other Foot]

2 minutes ago, VincentGuerin said:

Well, when did a non-OF side ever play so many games in a run like this?

I think it's quite clearly going to be a factor.

That's my point, I don't think it's clear. There have been games played against Celtic or Rangers where the story is 'oh, they've just played Barcelona three days ago, they're going to be knackered' and the other team still gets a humping. 

[The Other Foot]

1 minute ago, Dons_1988 said:

I’m no statto but had a look back to the 07-08 uefa cup groups season. 

Our record in the 8 games following European games was 2 wins, 2 draws and 4 defeats 

Sounds like you're at least stat-curious. 

[VincentGuerin]

1 minute ago, The Other Foot said:

That's my point, I don't think it's clear. There have been games played against Celtic or Rangers where the story is 'oh, they've just played Barcelona three days ago, they're going to be knackered' and the other team still gets a humping. 

True. But Hearts don't have a budget ten times-plus of the sides they'll be facing.

And we don't have a huge squad relative to the league. There's clearly going to be an impact on performance of playing basically every midweek, and going abroad four times.

[DukDukGoose]

2 minutes ago, VincentGuerin said:

True. But Hearts don't have a budget ten times-plus of the sides they'll be facing.

And we don't have a huge squad relative to the league. There's clearly going to be an impact on performance of playing basically every midweek, and going abroad four times.

I think Hearts over performed last season too.

Definitely made some good signings but Souttar leaving will be a big blow 

[Darren]

In what sense did Hearts overperform? Everyone else was total shit, Hearts weren't. Finished in exactly the right position.

[VincentGuerin]

10 minutes ago, Merkland Red said:

I think Hearts over performed last season too.

Definitely made some good signings but Souttar leaving will be a big blow 

I still haven't made up my mind on this. Hearts were never spectacular last season, but just solidly better than most teams we played. I thought that from the first round of fixtures, even when we drew at home to Hibs and Aberdeen, I thought we looked a better side than both. Ultimately that proved to be the case.

It's also worth pointing out that Hearts had a lot of fitness issues last season with the likes of Souttar, Halkett, Smith, Boyce, Baningime, Devlin etc etc and still coasted it. - I think people have almost forgotten that in Baningime (sp) we have been missing one of our best players for months, and won't have him back till the new year.

We've got a good keeper, which some fans seem to see as something we should apologise for. We certainly needed to add a finisher, as we were very wasteful in a lot of games, especially at home. Shankland may or may not solve that issue, need to wait and see.

Souttar is a big player to have to replace, but we did do without him in 11 league games last year. We need to wait and see what the situation with Kingsley is, but losing him to a long injury would be a big blow.

I think in a straight league-only season I'd have us down with a very good chance of finishing third again. But I do think a lot of people (our own fans included) are massively over-looking the impact of the congestion we're about to run into.

Edited August 4, 2022 by VincentGuerin