Season Thus Far

[pezza70]

How would everyone rate our season thus far as we head into the break and who has been our POY 

I would give our season a ranking of B+, we have improved greatly since not getting through the group stages of the cup and I think we can definitely finish top 6.

My POY thus far has been Remi, from the disaster of loosing Zander and the doom and gloom of Parish as our no 1, he has been nothing short of brilliant in my eyes, special mention to May, who has turned the clock back to the Stevie of old.

Thoughts?

Edited November 13, 2022 by pezza70
Typo

[Wendy Saints]

More pleasing is the team being more of a team.. no one ‘star’ each capable of ‘shining’ seem to be playing for each other.

Last minute goals highlight the will to win. 
I do agree Remi fitting in well and good to see a bit confidence in goal. Thought Parrish was instrumental in our win against the Rangers, a bit wily with his time wasting and had a couple of good saves.

May and Clark work well together and Spoony is well .. just Spoony flashes of brilliance enough to turn a game. 
Mitchell gives a sense of security at the back and Carey and Wright capable of driving things forward.

much to be optimistic about and considering our cup teams have virtually been dismantled think Davidson should be given some credit..

Came onto some form at the right time so sitting in the top six not bad at the break.. hopefully enough depth in the squad to avoid the playoffs, as we all know apart from the top 1 it’s a tight league.. ;-) 

[rik2304]

Better than expected.

Also many of the signings have been better than I expected but Davidson is still too negative and does too many bizarre things for me to be totally comfortable yet.

[Wendy Saints]

4 minutes ago, rik2304 said:

Better than expected.

Also many of the signings have been better than I expected but Davidson is still too negative and does too many bizarre things for me to be totally comfortable yet.

Can’t disagree too much but enough signs of change to allow a wee bit optimism.. 

[MrBored]

Work in progress for me. Much better than last season, but still inconsistent and liable to put in a shocker for 45 mins.

Mitchell, McGowan & Matthews have been very good signings.

[Sergei]

11 hours ago, Wendy Saints said:

much to be optimistic about and considering our cup teams have virtually been dismantled think Davidson should be given some credit..

Most normal fans give him it, while still being frustrated at the negative tendencies and calmly pointing out there's work to be done, but there's still a group with a pathological hated for the guy that will only give him the absolutely minimum of credit through gritted teeth before immediately moving on to slaughter him for aspects they disagree with. It's really weird, OTT behaviour and not something I expected from Saints fans. 

Personally he's doing well but must do better. 

[Brian Potter]

Recruitment has been key. Can name six/seven of the new signings who have been good.

Davidson, rightly so, took a lot of critisicm last season and was lucky to keep his job. He deserves credit for this season so far. 

I’m confident this set of players will win games and score goals. 

[Wendy Saints]

3 hours ago, Sergei said:

Most normal fans give him it, while still being frustrated at the negative tendencies and calmly pointing out there's work to be done, but there's still a group with a pathological hated for the guy that will only give him the absolutely minimum of credit through gritted teeth before immediately moving on to slaughter him for aspects they disagree with. It's really weird, OTT behaviour and not something I expected from Saints fans. 

Personally he's doing well but must do better. 

I agree ..Callum has done something no Saints manager has done nor will do again so admit I’ve probably cut him a lot of slack, plus I hate slagging any Saints manager or player as we get an hard enough time from everyone. I'm not a happy clappy fan either and would be lying if I said I have enjoyed the time since we won the cups. Tommy got similar criticism but had an easier transition with players I feel.

It’s only half term so room for improvement but if we can’t be on our manager/teams side who can be.

[blueheaven]

Our League Cup campaign was an absolute disaster and at that stage of the season me and my friends were taking guesses at how many points adrift we'd be at the bottom of the league by the time the World Cup break came around. I honestly struggled to see us even scoring a goal, let alone pick up any points. So yes, absolutely, the fact that we've reached this stage and we're in the Top 6 is a big surprise and shows a significant improvement. 

There are some comments on here about fans still being unhappy with Davidson's negativity. Personally I couldn't care less about that. As long as we're getting the right results, I'm not fussed about how we play. I'd much rather see us stuffily grinding out good results and getting back into Europe and cup finals, than playing incredible one-touch sexy football but struggling at the bottom of the league.

I'd have to say though that most of my long-term concerns about Davidson haven't actually changed. I still think recruitment and future planning have been poor, I still think he sticks too rigidly to a pretty limited system, and I still think he has no interest in bringing young players through. The current run of form has been fantastic but I do worry about how long it's going to be sustainable for, and how long it'll be until we need to have another significant rebuild.

The league is so tight that really the second half of the season could go either way. A couple of good results could propel us towards Europe, a couple of bad results could put us back in trouble. But of late I've actually been looking forward to going to games again, and that's a great feeling to have.

[John Bonham]

28 minutes ago, blueheaven said:

Our League Cup campaign was an absolute disaster and at that stage of the season me and my friends were taking guesses at how many points adrift we'd be at the bottom of the league by the time the World Cup break came around. I honestly struggled to see us even scoring a goal, let alone pick up any points. So yes, absolutely, the fact that we've reached this stage and we're in the Top 6 is a big surprise and shows a significant improvement. 

There are some comments on here about fans still being unhappy with Davidson's negativity. Personally I couldn't care less about that. As long as we're getting the right results, I'm not fussed about how we play. I'd much rather see us stuffily grinding out good results and getting back into Europe and cup finals, than playing incredible one-touch sexy football but struggling at the bottom of the league.

I'd have to say though that most of my long-term concerns about Davidson haven't actually changed. I still think recruitment and future planning have been poor, I still think he sticks too rigidly to a pretty limited system, and I still think he has no interest in bringing young players through. The current run of form has been fantastic but I do worry about how long it's going to be sustainable for, and how long it'll be until we need to have another significant rebuild.

The league is so tight that really the second half of the season could go either way. A couple of good results could propel us towards Europe, a couple of bad results could put us back in trouble. But of late I've actually been looking forward to going to games again, and that's a great feeling to have.

That’s the thing I don’t get about the lingering negativity anongst some about the manager. We stuffily ground out regular wins under Tommy Wright while not playing well and he didn’t get anything like the stick that Callum has been getting from some. 
 

After a poor season last year he has got us back to being difficult to beat, not conceding, and grinding out results. How is this different to the Tommy era? Is it beacause we had one poor season last season, in ridiculous circumstances where the guts of the squad were pulled from under Callum’s feet on deadline day leaving him in the most difficult position? 
 

It’s daft to hold that kind of grudge against him imo but it seems to me that is where a lot if it stemmed from. 
 

He brought in experience this season to steady the ship and I totally agree that we want to see youngsters coming through but there are plenty out on loan at the moment that suggests a plan is there for the future - Sinclair and Ferguson good examples. Let them develop then bring them through. 
 

folk wrote of the signings of mcgowan, Clark, Considine before they had even kicked a ball - whilst there is a way to go they have all proved really shrewd signing so far. There seems to have been a real issue among some folk around us signing a few experienced players over 30 for some reason? They have all been massive in transforming the team and have brought heart and character. Exactly what was needed I would say. 
 

No doubt this season is still in the balance with the league being so tight but there is no question the potential is there to have a very good season again. 
 

Let’s enjoy where we are, the recent run of results, and get behind everyone when we get back. 

Edited November 14, 2022 by John Bonham

[BroganGoals]

Overall decent start to the season. Top six at this stage is good, with only three teams have conceded less goals and five teams have scored more than us. Some of the football early on was brutal but there are some nice passages of play creeping in. The team appear to all play for each other and the manager. 

[rik2304]

Did I want Callum sacked last season? Yes. Especially after Kelty.

Would I lose sleep if he was sacked tomorrow? No. Still lots of doubts but the corner might be being turned.

 

Do I hate him or have an agenda against him? No. Absolute nonsense.

[blueheaven]

32 minutes ago, John Bonham said:

That’s the thing I don’t get about the lingering negativity anongst some about the manager. We stuffily ground out regular wins under Tommy Wright while not playing well and he didn’t get anything like the stick that Callum has been getting from some. 
 

After a poor season last year he has got us back to being difficult to beat, not conceding, and grinding out results. How is this different to the Tommy era? Is it beacause we had one poor season last season, in ridiculous circumstances where the guts of the squad were pulled from under Callum’s feet on deadline day leaving him in the most difficult position? 
 

It’s daft to hold that kind of grudge against him imo but it seems to me that is where a lot if it stemmed from. 
 

He brought in experience this season to steady the ship and I totally agree that we want to see youngsters coming through but there are plenty out on loan at the moment that suggests a plan is there for the future - Sinclair and Ferguson good examples. Let them develop then bring them through. 
 

folk wrote of the signings of mcgowan, Clark, Considine before they had even kicked a ball - whilst there is a way to go they have all proved really shrewd signing so far. There seems to have been a real issue among some folk around us signing a few experienced players over 30 for some reason? They have all been massive in transforming the team and have brought heart and character. Exactly what was needed I would say. 
 

No doubt this season is still in the balance with the league being so tight but there is no question the potential is there to have a very good season again. 
 

Let’s enjoy where we are, the recent run of results, and get behind everyone when we get back. 

Just to respond to your points ...

- Under Tommy we had a level of consistent success that we're yet to see under Davidson. Davidson has had one very, very good season (with Tommy's team) and one very, very bad season (with a mix of Tommy's team and his own team). Yes, Davidson lost some key players, but let's not forget that Tommy regularly lost his key players too (and was often given no budget to replace them). And let's also not forget just how bad we were for much of last season - we never saw those kind of lows under Tommy, and he never had us in any real relegation danger (and on the occasions where we had slumps, he always brought us out of those slumps looking stronger). I don't hold any sort of grudge against Davidson and would still love to see him do well here, but that doesn't mean turning a blind eye to the things that I feel haven't been good enough.

- I hope you're right about the youngsters. But Davidson inherited a young squad and has made it significantly older, and we're now at a point where (Max aside) we don't see our own young players even make the bench any more. He's signed a *lot* of players (many of whom seem to quickly disappear), and on occasions where we've had injury problems (central midfield, for example), he's gone out and signed more new players rather than give chances to our youngsters. Personally I think he struggles with trusting inexperienced players, but if he doesn't find a way to do that then we'll never see the next Kerr/McCann come through, and that's going to hold us back (especially if he wants to carry on spending in the way he has been so far).

- Personally I didn't write off any of the signings, and individually I have no issue with the older players like McGowan, Clark, Considine, Carey, Murphy etc. My worry is with signing so many of those older players at the same time, and giving them fairly long contracts. None of them are going to get better, and none of them are going to move on for a fee. We're basically going to end up with a significant number of players all becoming too old and reaching the ends of their careers at the same time, but not enough young players coming through. Most of the signings he's made who are at the "right" age are only here on loan, so are short-term fixes. To me that all points towards another big rebuild on the horizon. I agree that, in the short term, those players have made a big contribution to turning things around - but what's the long term plan?

[rik2304]

And what's weird is that for every person labelled as as "hating" Davidson or having an "agenda" against him there are plenty who are happy to apportion blame on other people/staff.

[Kilgour]

I have definitely gone from glass half empty to half full. There seems to be an excellent team spirit amongst the players.  I think Remi has exceeded my expectations,Considine has been pretty solid, Clark has impressed and encouraged the rejuvenated Mayso but red card apart I just love the attitude and ability of Mitchell .  Callum was kept on last season and he has responded this season.

[Ginger Bakers rebel army]

4 hours ago, John Bonham said:

That’s the thing I don’t get about the lingering negativity anongst some about the manager. We stuffily ground out regular wins under Tommy Wright while not playing well and he didn’t get anything like the stick that Callum has been getting from some. 
 

After a poor season last year he has got us back to being difficult to beat, not conceding, and grinding out results. How is this different to the Tommy era? Is it beacause we had one poor season last season, in ridiculous circumstances where the guts of the squad were pulled from under Callum’s feet on deadline day leaving him in the most difficult position? 
 

It’s daft to hold that kind of grudge against him imo but it seems to me that is where a lot if it stemmed from. 
 

He brought in experience this season to steady the ship and I totally agree that we want to see youngsters coming through but there are plenty out on loan at the moment that suggests a plan is there for the future - Sinclair and Ferguson good examples. Let them develop then bring them through. 
 

folk wrote of the signings of mcgowan, Clark, Considine before they had even kicked a ball - whilst there is a way to go they have all proved really shrewd signing so far. There seems to have been a real issue among some folk around us signing a few experienced players over 30 for some reason? They have all been massive in transforming the team and have brought heart and character. Exactly what was needed I would say. 
 

No doubt this season is still in the balance with the league being so tight but there is no question the potential is there to have a very good season again. 
 

Let’s enjoy where we are, the recent run of results, and get behind everyone when we get back. 

 

[Ginger Bakers rebel army]

There’s a politician in there somewhere !

[MySpazz]

Can agree with Kilgour above

 

I have definitely gone from glass half empty to half full. 

[Rob]

Read somewhere recently along the lines that CD didn't want youngsters held back by sitting on the bench never getting a game with players ahead of them.

Can't really argue with getting in experienced players to steady the ship this season. Think the Summer signings have all been good.

[pezza70]

So a quick question has this break come at a good time for us as we are on a nice roll and we might lose our momentum we have been building or is it good to give the older members in our squad a nice break to freshen up?

[Pat McGroin]

10 minutes ago, pezza70 said:

So a quick question has this break come at a good time for us as we are on a nice roll and we might lose our momentum we have been building or is it good to give the older members in our squad a nice break to freshen up?

I’ll let you know at New Year!

[Linky]

Much better than expected. I never thought we would be bottom of the league, but I was expecting a 10th place finished (and may still be proven right).

Some signings have been much better than I'd imagined. I think Remi Matthew's current stats say he's been the 4th best 'keeper in the league. Wotherspoon coming back changes things significantly, and surely Kane hasn't got long to go.

I do feel like the signings were a bit random at times, and we've spent money on players only to leave them out. I wonder what Tommy could've done with that money. We've been lucky that Dundee Utd have had such an awful start and others, like Motherwell, have had disruption with managers going. With the long contracts we've been handing out, my worry is what the team will look like in a year's time.

I'm optimistic in that we're looking more like we were under Tommy actually: good team spirit, grinding out decent results.

[garydavidson]

1 hour ago, pezza70 said:

So a quick question has this break come at a good time for us as we are on a nice roll and we might lose our momentum we have been building or is it good to give the older members in our squad a nice break to freshen up?

We have the second best form after Celtic over the last five games: 

Let's see how the training camp in Preston goes! 

[Cagey]

43 minutes ago, garydavidson said:

We have the second best form after Celtic over the last five games: 

Let's see how the training camp in Preston goes! 

Not going to Spain to our sister club ?.

[Cagey]

49 minutes ago, Linky said:

Much better than expected. I never thought we would be bottom of the league, but I was expecting a 10th place finished (and may still be proven right).

Some signings have been much better than I'd imagined. I think Remi Matthew's current stats say he's been the 4th best 'keeper in the league. Wotherspoon coming back changes things significantly, and surely Kane hasn't got long to go.

I do feel like the signings were a bit random at times, and we've spent money on players only to leave them out. I wonder what Tommy could've done with that money. We've been lucky that Dundee Utd have had such an awful start and others, like Motherwell, have had disruption with managers going. With the long contracts we've been handing out, my worry is what the team will look like in a year's time.

I'm optimistic in that we're looking more like we were under Tommy actually: good team spirit, grinding out decent results.

I am sure I read somewhere that Kane had a setback in training and was going back to specialist. Not very promising if that's the case.