So are you an optimist or a pessimist?

[Handsome_Devil]

Interesting start to the season.

An optimist would say you have to be thrilled with seven points from those four league fixtures, the team is showing great character to get results when not playing brilliantly and we'll only get better when KVV, SOD and Ojala find form/fitness. We're on the verge of recruiting another top-flight player from abroad to continue the new approach to transfers and have two players in the Scotland squad. The manager shows flexibility to coax the best he can out the squad.

A pessimist would say we only played remotely well against Hibs and lost anyway, and we were lucky Devlin missed an open goal for Livi before we absolutely robbed Dundee in the league. We threw away the League Cup with another pathetic exit. Woolery and Amaluzor are useless, the midfield remains agricultural at best and we have a manager determined to inflict awful football on us as his means to a (hopeful) end.

Where do you sit? The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. I fear we're heading more for the latter though I'm far from certain..that said, it's been clear for years you can be moderately successful in Scotland (see 2017/18) by being solid, hard-working and waiting for the likes of Livi and Dundee to throw you points as in the last two weeks.

That sort of mid-table season depends entirely on having a cup run to liven it up - get that next year and grinding out way to seventh or eighth is fine. If not, it'll be a long, long season watching what we've produced in every game other than Hibs in the hope the medium term plan, with all these three-year deals, comes good in 2022/23.

[sieb1886]

I ain't in the middle football-wise, but somewhat perplexed about how I support / criticise the current performances.

Today, should've been 3 points but we blew it... again !

'Nuff said IMO

[Handsome_Devil]

Alexander has had more than 20 league games now and picks up points at an average whixh would make the top six easily and almost certainly get Europe. The optimist would say over that long it's not just luck.

The pessimist would say otherwise and that any manager who saved us from relegation and has that record but isn't universally loved is still jury's out for a reason.

[Well below the Equator]

Given the size of our club (support, budget etc), our continued top flight survival since the '80's is quite an achievement (Hibs, Hearts etc all have gone down in between). We've come very close to a couple of outstanding seasons, and come close to a few disastrous ones. After the promising (??) start to 2021-22, I'd be inclined to give GA until the new year to see if he can't bed in the new signings, especially in defence, and to see if KVV can't stay fit and link up with Watty.