Next seasons expectations.

Don't think Dundee will beat either County or Killie, my dislike of Hughes would trump my dislike of Dundee though, and i'd be wanting them to do it just to have him relegated with his 3rd team, Hartlepool, Raith, and hopefully County. Just so nae aunt employs him again.

Need Killie to beat Accies and Motherwell to beat County tomorrow first, then Dundee to win the play off final against County. Dundee have just chucked together a lot of journeymen who have played at a higher level, but still look shite, but County have Hughes as their manager, and he usually throws the players under the bus before their final game, just to save his own shite rep, completely destroying any moral his team may have had left.

Far too early to speculate on next seasons expectations. Based on our last 5 league games of 1 point from 15 and a -11 GD it will be a miracle if we finish 11th. However 9 of the -11 were to Glasgow’s ugly sisters, so technically the other games were close & as I’ve repeated ad nauseum, we never turn up after the split.

Recruitment is vital, especially if we are losing our current main strikers. JET certainly started performing as we hoped he would when he signed, Pops seemed to link well but despite suggestions that he scored for fun in training, he didn’t score enough in games (didn’t really get a good run of games either mind you). The defence & midfield weren’t as helpful in the goals charts this season either. Okay Forrest got a few but mainly against lower league sides. The guys that went on loan scored reasonably well but again that was against lower league sides. So signing someone or getting someone we already have to bang them in is vital.

A decent goalie would also be needed as a real challenge to Max for the starting position.

The two signings we have already made seem to be defensive/midfielder types.... hopefully both better than the guys we already have or we will only stand still in terms of progression & we all know the cliche, standing still in football is really going backwards.

So hopefully whoever else has been targeted to come in gets signed quickly & with a good preseason & Betfred Group games we can get the league campaign off to a flyer.

But right now, after the season ending like a waterlogged squib, I really don’t expect anything but a relegation battle.

Bertie Bassett wrote:Far too early to speculate on next seasons expectations. Based on our last 5 league games of 1 point from 15 and a -11 GD it will be a miracle if we finish 11th. However 9 of the -11 were to Glasgow’s ugly sisters, so technically the other games were close & as I’ve repeated ad nauseum, we never turn up after the split.

Recruitment is vital, especially if we are losing our current main strikers. JET certainly started performing as we hoped he would when he signed, Pops seemed to link well but despite suggestions that he scored for fun in training, he didn’t score enough in games (didn’t really get a good run of games either mind you). The defence & midfield weren’t as helpful in the goals charts this season either. Okay Forrest got a few but mainly against lower league sides. The guys that went on loan scored reasonably well but again that was against lower league sides. So signing someone or getting someone we already have to bang them in is vital.

A decent goalie would also be needed as a real challenge to Max for the starting position.

The two signings we have already made seem to be defensive/midfielder types.... hopefully both better than the guys we already have or we will only stand still in terms of progression & we all know the cliche, standing still in football is really going backwards.

So hopefully whoever else has been targeted to come in gets signed quickly & with a good preseason & Betfred Group games we can get the league campaign off to a flyer.

But right now, after the season ending like a waterlogged squib, I really don’t expect anything but a relegation battle.

Both seem to be goal scorers though, and Obileye was the 2nd highest in the Championship.

Guthrie went right off the boil getting goals, hopefully he'll chip in with 5 or 6 again next season but i think Obileye will make a decent contribution, and not just from set pieces.

Defensively we need to be a lot better than we were too, we lost a lot of points conceding soft goals from set pieces when there was nothing in games, lost the cup final that way too, so the 2 defensive signings could make a huge difference in how well we do. It'll be tough repeating the season we just had, getting into the top 6 again, for a third season in a row, but making ourselves hard to beat would go a long way, and we'd all prob take 9th place and another comfortable end to the season, away from the relegation dog fight. That's where our expectations/target will be, before our fans get carried away with themselves, and moan about only finishing 6th.

So there it is, Killie v Dundee in the play off finals.

Don't think Killie have been relegated yet, so maybe about time they had a spell in the lower league, but that would leave us as the only plastic pitch team in the top flight, and there'd no doubt be a lot more pressure on the SPFL Premiership to get rid of it, so maybe better having 2 of us up here for a bit more clout.
Still think Killie having Lafferty will make the difference, and Dundee will stay down for another season. My predictions are going so well just now though, so no doubt Dundee will win.

Right then…. 1st game of the new season done & dusted… expectations…

Premier Cup - quarter final
Scottish Cup - last 16
Final League Position 9th

Player to watch - Obileye
Top Scorer - Anderson
Surprise package - Kabia

Would dearly love us to win the Scottish cup,  really no reason we couldn't get to a final in it the same as the LC, it's the same teams we have to face. Anyway.

Premier Cup - Final (with a bit of luck avoiding Sevco).
Scottish Cup - Quarter final (but hoping we can go a bit further this time*).
Final League Position 6th (got a wee feeling we could even get 4th*).

Player to watch - Anderson
Top Scorer - Anderson
Surprise package - Penrice

*both the SC and league position depends on us being stronger in the run in, we're def capable of doing it, but we need to keep it going to the end of the season, and not just up until the split.

I may have to make an amendment to my expectations, after seeing that shitshow yesterday it doesn't look like we're getting out of the group stages let alone making another final.

Also think i've overshot our league position by a place or 6. Still have faith in Anderson being our top GS, and one to watch. 2 out of 4 aint bad.

Bertie Bassett wrote:Right then…. 1st game of the new season done & dusted… expectations…

Premier Cup - quarter final
Scottish Cup - last 16
Final League Position 9th

Player to watch - Obileye
Top Scorer - Anderson
Surprise package - Kabia

Right then… 2nd game of the season done & dusted… modified expectations…

Prem Cup - out at Group Stage
Scottish Cup - out first tie
Final league position - 12th

Player to watch - the opposition on any given day
Top scorer - anybody’s guess
Surprise package - Martindale still in the job at season’s end

Sorry guys I’m even more negative than usual… probably just the COVID that I’ve tested positive for today

Hopefully it’s a false positive and I get an all clear from my lab test… but I doubt it.

Cheers Troy; at the moment it just feels like a head cold & I've experienced worse head colds than this but who knows, it might get worse before it gets better. At least I’ve had both jabs so hopefully that is helping to minimise the negative effects.

Best wishes on a speedy recovery Bertie.

Still on for the league cup final then.

Bertie Bassett wrote:

Bertie Bassett wrote:Right then…. 1st game of the new season done & dusted… expectations…

Premier Cup - quarter final
Scottish Cup - last 16
Final League Position 9th

Player to watch - Obileye
Top Scorer - Anderson
Surprise package - Kabia

Right then… 2nd game of the season done & dusted… modified expectations…

Prem Cup - out at Group Stage
Scottish Cup - out first tie
Final league position - 12th

Player to watch - the opposition on any given day
Top scorer - anybody’s guess
Surprise package - Martindale still in the job at season’s end

Sorry guys I’m even more negative than usual… probably just the COVID that I’ve tested positive for today

Hopefully it’s a false positive and I get an all clear from my lab test… but I doubt it.

Wasn’t a false positive & a week on it’s still lingering & another two in the house have tested positive as of Friday.


Reassessing expectations after somehow scraping into the knock out stages…

Prem Cup - 1st KO round
Scottish Cup - out after 1 tie
League - 10th would feel like winning the title…. Unfortunately I genuinely think we are going to be relegated outright. My only hope is that Ross County & Motherwell struggle because I don’t see us troubling anyone else over the season.

Player to watch - Shinnie
Top scorer - Anderson
Surprise package - Kabia (if he gets games)

Well i'm still on for my League cup prediction, negative Troy is like his prediction, oot, and feck knows with Bertie, he keeps changing it from game to game.

On yesterday's showing, Odin Bailey could be the surprise package, mainly because at the time we didn't know we'd be signing him, but looks a good addition to the team.

So far so good on the league then, unless we plummet like a month old Killie pie into the play offs. I really thought we'd make top 6 but i'll settle for comfortably staying up again.

Troy and  Auld Nick must be delighted on how our season went going by their expectations.

Hmmm, can’t say I’m delighted as we have not yet secured 9th or better.
Looks like I got Anderson right, annoyingly he got injured whilst looking likely to break the top division single season scoring stat (went with stat rather than record to get the 4 word alliteration).

Obileye was my tip as the one to watch…. Erm, no, got that wrong, he’s fluctuated between decent & bombscare for most of the season. I suppose that could make him compelling viewing but I assumed “one to watch” meant “potential player of the season material”. I then modified it to Shinnie & after his goal against Celtic I thought I was on to something… but no.

Surprise package, I went with Kabia but he got punted out on loan despite looking half decent whenever he made an appearance.

With the benefit of hindsight, Nouble fits both categories for his contribution since coming back from Arbroath. He needs to add goals to his repertoire but his hold up play, linking & defending have been superb.

Bit of spin going on here, Nick genuinely believed we'd be relegated, sitting on 38 pts is already more than St Johnstone will finish on and Dundee are def finishing 12th. Happy to be quoted on both points at the end of the season.

Yeh, last minute disasters have done for us this season. I am thinking specifically of Aberdeen (home), Ross County (away) and the horror show v Motherwell last week. We'd be comfortably in the top six without them.

On the other hand it wouldn't be me if I didn't have something to say about the referees who as a whole have been particularly woeful this season. Baffling decisions apart, we have been handed some amount of yellow cards. At the latest count, more than any other team in the league. Contrary to urban legend we are not a dirty team but when practically every manager in the league figures Livi physicality into their pre-match build up it is little wonder that the men in the middle have that in their head at every 50/50 challenge.

Hopefully we will stay up. I'm taking nothing for granted but if we do, a fifth season for a team with our budget would be a remarkable achievement.

Liviforever wrote:Bit of spin going on here, Nick genuinely believed we'd be relegated, sitting on 38 pts is already more than St Johnstone will finish on and Dundee are def finishing 12th. Happy to be quoted on both points at the end of the season.

I did say that but the relegation comment was based on the starting line up and performances of the early group games which I knew was unlikely to be the starting line up when everyone was fit and the squad was completed. My expectations originally were 9th.

St Johnstone are capable of beating all the teams in the bottom 6; I don’t think they will win all 5 games but I can see them scraping 3 1-0 wins.