17 games, 10 goals

[GG Riva]

And there we have it - a brilliant example of optimism and pessimism. 

DA-go looking on the bright side, Falkirk failed to take advantage of our dropping 2 home pts by doing the same.

RP, bemoaning the fact that we missed an opportunity to extend our lead over them to 9 pts.

You pays your money.....

ETA. If both teams had won as might have been reasonably expected, how would you have viewed it?

Edited December 6, 2022 by GG Riva

[Legend85]

For what it's worth I think we've been terrible to watch at home especially in the first half.

Two draws against Peterhead and Clyde.

Not sure it's saying much comparing the football this season to what we watched last season given how poor it was. 

Our home form could be what bites us in the arse because we are then relying on the away form.

[Raymie]

I'm not sure the football this season is much different to last?

What is different is that we are playing against a poorer standard of team and our confidence is high because we are winning most of the time.

[Eastendtales]

And we're much more organised, that can't be underestimated 

[Par_fect]

1 minute ago, Raymie said:

I'm not sure the football this season is much different to last?

What is different is that we are playing against a poorer standard of team and our confidence is high because we are winning most of the time.

Well there you go

[livipar2]

Biggest thing for me is the players look like they care and that they actually want to be here.  They are giving everything.

That may be the least we are entitled to expect but it’s clearly not what we’ve seen in recent years.

 

[rosythpar]

3 hours ago, Digs said:

A hard watch? Have they though? It's not been free flowing samba football but it's night and day from the stuff we were watching last year which actually was hard to watch.

Folk have to start using a bit of perspective and context. I'm not saying I'm completely happy with how the team are playing, it's not amazing and I;d like us to start taking chances, and getting on the end of more balls into the box but it is a million miles from being bad. We're getting results with a solid starting 11 and a squad that is only about 70-80% complete, and doing it with a fair bit of ease. We've only lost one game all season and we still have the January window to come with money available to strengthen. I'm not sure who else will be getting stronger, Falkirk clearly can't afford it.

Yeah it has been a hard watch and that's including some of our victories at home. I know a lot of people feel the same way about the home performances. Teams will be happy enough to come to east end sit in and come away with a point but it's up to the management team to come up with tactics to break teams down. Far too many draws at home which hopefully wont come back to bite us. The away form has been very good.

If we do manage to get promoted we will have to be brutal and have a big clear out of most of the players out of contract. 

[GG Riva]

42 minutes ago, livipar2 said:

Biggest thing for me is the players look like they care and that they actually want to be here.  They are giving everything.

That may be the least we are entitled to expect but it’s clearly not what we’ve seen in recent years.

 

I've heard from more than one reliable source, that there's a lot of harmony in the squad and that all the players have a great attitude and are "good lads."

While this might be expected from a team sitting 5 points clear, I've met most of the first team players myself now and I believe my sources assessments are spot on. 

While these attributes alone aren't going to win promotion, singing from the same hymn book is certainly not going to harm our chances.

[Rossmcno1]

Think people forget just how difficult it is to break down teams who sit so deep at this level.  Very few teams come into league 1 and blitz their way to a title like we did in 2016.  That team had some real level up talent for this division, and the nearest competition to us was Ayr, who ended up being pretty woeful when they stepped up.   The manager has focussed on getting best out of what he’s got and has decided to make us a tight team who give little away, and rely on us to get a few one goal wins.  Which so far is working, and January comes with hope/promise of some new bodies to enhance what we have.  
 

surely after last season no one really expected us to come down and win by 4 goals every week…?  

[kelty_par]

4 hours ago, rosythpar said:

If we do manage to get promoted we will have to be brutal and have a big clear out of most of the players out of contract

100%. Mcpake needs the freedom to be able to build his own squad 

[Grant]

While we may have some money left over, the January transfer window is notoriously quite difficult, we must have spent a bit last January and only Donaldson? Really worked. 

[DA-go Par Adonis]

We did get in some players that should have worked though - the likes of Lawless and Polworth are playing in teams who are above the level we were at last year i.e. not fighting relegation in the Championship.  Stolarczyk was a good signing also.  

The glimmer of hope is that there might be some quality available, and hopefully it is easier to integrate them into a team that doesn't lose very often.

[Superally]

I think we are perhaps more attractive as a proposition that earlier this season given our position in the league. There might be a few players who are attracted by having a league championship medal on their CV

 

[SanguinePar]

Don't agree at all about a clearout being essential if we get promoted - on the contrary, I think what we need is a bit of continuity from season to season. Starting again from scratch at the same time as moving up a level sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.

McPake has built a team who are solid defensively, and just lacking that creativity up front and in midfield to really take the next step - if we go up, then that squad will largely have eared their shot at playing at the next level, and there's every reason to think that they can shine if bolstered by a little bit of extra quality.

[Grant]

1 hour ago, DA-go Par Adonis said:

We did get in some players that should have worked though - the likes of Lawless and Polworth are playing in teams who are above the level we were at last year i.e. not fighting relegation in the Championship.  Stolarczyk was a good signing also.  

The glimmer of hope is that there might be some quality available, and hopefully it is easier to integrate them into a team that doesn't lose very often.

I'd forgotten about the Poly goalie! I liked him.