First Quarterly Review

Well it has been as bad a start to a season as we've had, 1 win and 1 draw from 9 games and sitting bottom of the table. Where does that leave us, well looking at the table and after seeing every team I'd say we're in a mini league of 6, from QoS sitting on 11 points to us sitting bottom on 4. These 5 teams are where we have to do better against in the 2nd quarter, if we do then things will be looking up for the 2nd quarterly review, if not then I'm afraid relegation will be more of a probability than a possibility.

After the 1st Quarter:

5. Queen of Sth.  9 -5_ 11 pts

6. Morton ......... 9 -3_ 10 pts

7. Dumbarton...  9 -4_ 10 pts

8. St Mirren.......  9 -3_  7 pts

9. Alloa............  9 -14_ 5 pts

10. Livingston...  9 -9_  4 pts


We've got 4 very winnable games ( St Mirren H/QoS A/Raith H/Morton A ) before playing  Hibs & Sevco, so we really must take at least 7 points from those 4 games, that's allowing 1 defeat, a draw and 2 wins, tall order after our first quarterly performance but it is based on what I've seen from those teams playing against us and my expectation of us doing better against them in our next encounters.

If we get at least 2 wins out of those games then i'll be pretty happy, if not then I just can't keep my optimism for us turning it around going.

Was just about to start a thread called 'The Collector's quarterly report' but you've saved me the trouble. I'll keep it simple: we've been absolutely atrocious. Best player: Gibbons (can't get a game for some reason), worst player: Jamieson.

Our 5 best players:
Gibbons
Buchanan
Gallagher
Gordon
Sheerin

Rest have been useless.

Wouldn't have said any of our players have stood out.
Was expecting big things from Gordon who seems to get sent off a lot and has missed 4 league games.
Gallagher is too busy thinking about jail because he's been shite
Longridge is featherweight and scared to go past the half way line
Millen is fucking hopeless
Pittman can try, but he's being found out all the time.
Gibbons just passes the ball side ways, other than that belter of a shot on Saturday.
Glen tries like a bear but just isn't championship level
Hippo can fucking do one
Buchanan, again, does fuck all. Don't know how many sitters he needs to miss.

I do like the look of big Sheerin. He's not the most talented but his hearts in the right place, he wants to do well and shows this at all times. Give him a start over Buchanan any day.

Been painful at times, until we chuck Burchill it's going to get worse.

Glen puts in some quality balls, gets stuck in and even scored a goal, I'd give him pass marks.

Pittman has had some outstanding games, also gets pass marks for effort.

Gibbons has had a few MoTM awards and looks a trier.

Gallagher & Gordon are solid when defending balls hit towards them or when players are trying to get past them but have been standing around the box in a lot of the goals we've conceded so not too sure about having them as our better players category just now.

Hippo is a talent but his attitude leaves a lot to be desired, and he's nowhere near as good as he thinks he is. When he's in the mood he's a great player to have but he's at that point of what he does next decides where he goes from here. Gets his head right and starts working hard on his weaknesses (and he has a few) or wastes his and our time believing he's better than he is and doesn't need to try to get better.

Buchanan is excellent at closing down players and forcing them into mistakes, works like a bear and has a good experienced footballing brain on him, with Sheerin I'm sure he'll get a few goals this season.

White has a good attitude on him as well, must be frustrating for him being our top goal scorer last season and being 2nd fiddle to Buchanan but he tries like a bear when he comes on and also looks good with Sheerin, I think he'll get his chance at some point this season and will be invaluable on keeping us safe again.

Sheerin, well I've made my thoughts clear on the big fella so no need to go over old ground, good target man for Buchanan & White to play with.

That's my list of our best players and on their day they're all stand outs, just not had that many games where they've been on their day I'm afraid.

The problems started during the summer when Burchill recruited a squad he didn't want. He wanted the majority of the squad he had last season but because of the off-the-field constraints, he knows himself that he's ended up with players that he had no intentions of having i.e. Millen, Duckrell and even the likes of Georigev and Hugo Faria.

Since then, we've been the joint worst team in this league along with Alloa. I'm not accepting the excuse anymore that we play well and are just unlucky or we've lost the majority of our games by one goal, that's the sign of a manager and a team who just won't admit they're not good enough to cut the mustard at the second tier of Scottish football. Burchill has now clearly shown, like the majority of managers we've had in the last ten years, that he has no backbone. If the players can't be professional to accept the fact they're letting themselves and the fans down, then they shouldn't be professional footballers to start with.

I wouldn't even say 'best' but the closest thing to consistency are: Gallagher, Glen, Sheerin and Gordon. The rest, I feel, have either been inconsistent or plain pish with Millen, Hippolyte, Longridge and Jamieson the most infuriating.

If we don't get five wins in the next quarter, we're getting relegated.

Achilles, no offence mate, but you really seem to have it in for Buchanan. Think about it this way - how can the third top scorer in last season's Championship suddenly turn to shit? Let's not forget, Buchanan got more goals than any of our strikers did last season, even Shagz. So, to me it suggests that the manager isn't doing his job correctly (which he isn't) and/or the system doesn't suit him (which it didn't up until last week). He is by far and away the most intelligent forward we have, to not play him in favour of solely playing Sheerin would be astoundingly daft. Don't know if you went to the game against Alloa but having him playing off Sheerin is what will keep us up, something that we didn't do against Dumbarton and resorted to type of floating high balls into the box at every opportunity.

Agree with LF regarding his assessment of the players. Can't really add anymore than that other than the full-backs are what will see us finish 9th or even worse, 10th. Millen wasn't good enough for League One so how is he suddenly deemed Championship standard. I hate demeaning players, but he can't run, he can't defend, he has one trick in the book, which is crossing the ball in from deep, and even at that it doesn't beat the first man 95% of the time. I think there's a bit more room for improvement with Longridge, I think he actually gets forward well but he needs to work on his positioning and final ball. He's looked a bit better the last few games and him coming off on Saturday fucked us a bit.

I think a lot of us need to be realistic here, to an extent. Don't try and beat round the bush - we are one of the smallest clubs in the division. We're at an advantage to an extent, but also burdened by having such a large stadium which we clearly can't afford to service to the detriment of the playing budget, as well as all the off-field financial obligations and shenanigans. I wouldn't be surprised at all if our budget was the second or third lowest in the league, it certainly must be in the same territory as Dumbarton and Alloa. Of course we're going to get lumbered with a mixture of lower league diddies (Millen, Longridge), failed youth players (Gibbons, Hippolyte) and ex-Juniors (Sheerin, Pittman). Realistically speaking, I think 8th is where we should be finishing, 7th at an absolute push. We just don't have the consistency to go further up the table. That said, there's no way on Earth we should be performing this badly. Burchill is still undecided with the style of play we're adopting, constantly chopping and changing the tactics and formation, as was mentioned previously at least we're playing two up front now. The make-up of the squad is atrocious, only two true full-backs in there, three professional 'keepers - that'll bite us in the arse later in the season. I'd give Burchill until Christmas because truthfully on paper, there's nobody really available who'd improve us by any great measure. I'd have loved to have seen Burchill appoint an experienced assistant to give the coaching staff a boost. But, it's jobs for the boys and all that. No noticeable improvement in the next quarter and he should be gone, tbf.

Finally, Darren Cole as captain - fuck right off.

As we seem to be in THAT position again I thought I'd check back a few seasons to see what points total was needed in the past to avoid straight relegation.

2014/15 Cowdenbeath-25 pts
2013/14 Morton-26 pts
2012/13 Airdrie-22 pts
2011/12 QoS-32 pts

So prob need to be looking at around 30 ish points and we're on 4 pts after the first quarter. That's leaving us looking at picking up 3 wins a quarter or 2 wins with 3 draws, we can do that in our next 4 games with the teams we'll be playing.

The more i see Hippo the more he reminds me of Snodgrass...he has the skill and the ability to work magic but his attitude is often his downfall...his form at the tail end of last season was like watching Snoddy in his prime

Mullen reminds me of Snoddy a bit, gets knocked down easily then sits on his arse throwing his arms in the air moaning about not getting a foul instead of getting up and trying to win the ball back.  

Hippo is more into exaggerating a foul with rolling about on the ground looking like he's been shot. He no doubt gets fouled but he needs to calm it down a bit with the play acting afterwards.

Ok we are bottom after 9 games but we are not detached and have shown enough against the poorer sides to suggest we COULD be better than them. Don't forget we were bottom with 9 games LEFT last season so there is no need to panic just yet.

Next few games will give us a better picture of what the season holds...but Alloa's results are just as important as ours.