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Thread: Mid season reflection

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2018
    Posts
    960

    Mid season reflection

    I would like to hear what folk expected this season in terms of league positions, Cup runs etc, also would be interested to know what folk think is the points tally needed to finish 10th or better.

    For me other than being reasonably confident we would stay up I had no expectation in cup, I actually expected us to go out early to allow us to concentrate on league.
    My opinion won't be popular but with what he has to work with and the disruptions I would give Mellon 10/10 for what he has achieved so far.
    Some players clearly are below the level we and the club would want if we want to be a top 6 club, hopefully that gets addressed over next few windows, but being honest it is a poor standard league and I don't see a whole lot of quality in any of the bottom 8.

    Providing we can keep our best then with the right recruitment it shouldn't take too many windows additions to be seriously thinking of challenging the not much better Dons and Hibs standard for euro spots, can see us also in cup semis and better.
    If we sell our best cheaply and/or don't recruit quality then this will go against owner's ambitions and statements and I will be pissed off and will vent.

    Back on topic my prediction is 36 points will be the survival tally, I think we will get 43 points and finish 9th

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2018
    Posts
    960
    Meant to say at least 9th sorry

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Posts
    3,698
    I’d give Mellon 8/10. Some hiccups and not a job done yet. Other than Livi twice and Peterhead though we’ve not lost to anyone we shouldn’t have.

    I view the bottom 8 as very competitive. Everyone is fighting and there are no mugs.

    Great thing if we got in top 6 is that would save us from relegation.

    Top 6 is achievable from our position and lead over 7th if we win some of the winnable matches in January

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Posts
    13,630
    Disappointed with the cup run. National Cup competition and we're going out at the hands of a team two leagues below us. Terrible.

    More than satisfied with league position. Sitting fifth on 25 points and three or four wins from safety of relegation if previous seasons are anything to go by. With the amount of draws we get, I expect this to be achieved by mid Feb.

    Happy with Mellon. He's clearly a coach as well as a manager. The players play how he wants them to play which is only done by commanding respect. Hopefully next year we kick on and play the way we the fans and the manager wants us to. Would obviously like us to be more attacking but keeping us in this league is priority and we are on track to achieve that with room to spare.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Posts
    569
    Above the playoff place do for me. Lot can happen yet.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Posts
    5,351
    Think MM underestimated Peterhead and should have went 5 at the back.lol.

    I think all of us would have bitten your hand off for our league position and points total at this stage of the season and you know you are doing OK when there's nae threads next door about how 5hite we are

    I expect a real dogfight for the rest of the season and would be happy enough just to avoid the play off spot with 4 or 5 games left to play and then MM can take the shackles off and show us what we'll have to look forward to in season 21/22.......we can only dream

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Aug 2018
    Posts
    960
    Another downside of finishing last season early was that with league wrapped up we could have seen a few players been given a good run to see what they could do with no pressure.
    Up to now pretty much every game has been full on pressure.

    Point being if players couldn't play to their best with nothing on the line then they would never be able to and possibly could have got rid freeing up a wage or 2 to recruit better

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Posts
    16,058
    Quote Originally Posted by tHeArAb View Post
    Disappointed with the cup run. National Cup competition and we're going out at the hands of a team two leagues below us. Terrible.

    More than satisfied with league position. Sitting fifth on 25 points and three or four wins from safety of relegation if previous seasons are anything to go by. With the amount of draws we get, I expect this to be achieved by mid Feb.

    Happy with Mellon. He's clearly a coach as well as a manager. The players play how he wants them to play which is only done by commanding respect. Hopefully next year we kick on and play the way we the fans and the manager wants us to. Would obviously like us to be more attacking but keeping us in this league is priority and we are on track to achieve that with room to spare.
    I'd agree with all of the above.
    There's been a lot of debate about whether the squad is a 'Championship' one etc and in fairness, with the exception of Benji who has matured into a Premiership player the only others we have as definites are Shanks McNulty and the new addition Fuchs.

    So that's 4 players. Liam Smith and Jamie Robson have also stepped up so maybe make that 6. Clark has been a wee bit in and out but has the goals to prove he's also there.
    So now we're up to 7, if you agree. (You probably don't!)

    Which means we're arguably starting every game with 4 players below or just below the level we need. To do that and be sitting 5th/6th is a very decent achievement by the manager given that he was in the door about 5 minutes before we kicked a ball.

    Some people are a wee bit quick with criticism because TA possibly had targets who would have been at the club now if our status hadn't been in doubt until the last minute dime to the Court case fiasco.

    Yes some of the football has been poor to watch but in recent games I've seen wee signs at times that we can keep the ball better and be a bit more patient in the way we look to create. I think we'll finish between 5th and 8th, very hard to guess due to what's happening at other clubs plus Fuchs out for how long we don't know.

    So as things stand I'm happy overall. The big question now is how many players can we move on in the middle of a pandemic to get some better quality in the door. It could be as bad as none in none out. Or 3 out to get 1 in and I'd settle for that right now.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Posts
    264
    Quote Originally Posted by tijuanataxi View Post
    Above the playoff place do for me. Lot can happen yet.
    Too right a lot can happen. Ross County were as high as fifth in the first few weeks of the season and look where they are now.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Posts
    1,006
    My reflection on the season so far......

    Before a ball was kicked I was happy to take anything above playoffs as events throughout the summer caused much disruption with preparation for the season. Changing manager who had to deal with the squad already in place, Court cases to fight for the promotion all while covid is stopping fans from coming in and putting real restraints on the finances.

    When Mellon came in, he said the right things. Talked up the current squad "these are the champions" was prepared to give everyone a chance. In the early weeks of the season, He was certainly getting more out of the squad. "we are Dundee United" hit the right note with many fans (i personally didn't like it) Tactically we looked good and held our own against some decent teams at the start of the season. High tempo and Pressing is what we all wanted and we were getting it.

    Then we got a doing from killie and Rangers. suddenly we went from a team who would hassle opponents with plenty of energy to a team happy to DEFEND DEFEND DEFEND. Almost to the stage, we looked scared to even cross the halfway line. He seemed to have fallen into the trap that most managers do by resorting to worrying about the opponents rather than continuing with the attacking style that was working for them. When we've been bad, We've been Really bad! so much so that the front line would hardly get into the final third never mind a shot. Poor stuff (peterhead in cup summed this up imo)

    He has started recently to go back to a more attacking style and has shown that it can work more effectively than the 5 at the back tactic. I dont have a problem with us being defensive in certain games but when we play the run of the mill teams esp at home i expect to see us go at teams more.

    I would rate him as a 7/10.
    Doing well with the squad he has but do feel he can be using it more effectively e.g using mcmullan/appere when needed.
    End of the day this season was always about survival so anything above 11th will still be a success for me but i do prefer us much more if we try to attack more as we have some decent attacking options.

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