First Third Review

[AUcal]

As the title says really - how have your club performed so far?

Are they exceeding your expectations? Is it very meh? Have they let you down massively? Do you want the manager to be sacked?

We are a few games past the actual 'quarter' point, so a third it is.

Ayr have very much exceeded my expectations. The league cup group stages (a tournament we usually do quite well in) was an utter shambles and we looked a complete basket case. Maybe Bullen was just experimenting, maybe the players were still in holiday mode - whatever it was doesn't really matter now as we have been decent overall in the league, which has surprised just about everyone.

After the first few games I think I commented on here that I was pleasantly surprised we were not completely shite and would likely be okay in the grand scheme of things. Which was a relief. Since then we have manged to upkeep some pretty decent (if occasionally inconsistent) form and now look like one of the real contenders for at least the top four. Credit to Bullen for that. Obviously, Akinyemi has been an excellent find and signing him on a 2 year deal is an superb piece of business. Same goes for the deal for Ben Dempsey and retaining Andy Murdoch's services for a few years more. There are several others who have proven to be better than expected and with the more recent additions of Brad Young, Josh Mullin and Logan Chalmers, we look a good attacking outfit for the level. At the back we still look like conceding a goal in most games, but Musonda and Kirk are a huge improvement on what has come before at centre half. 

Overall, very happy so far. Especially considering the previous 2 seasons and our cup games in July.

Edited October 28, 2022 by AuAl

[johnnydun]

Pish.

[jagfox]

First quarter was pretty good overall. Scoring goals and averaging over two points a game.

The second quarter seems set to be quite another story...

[bdu98196]

Slightly concerned over the rising number of key players injured, but overall satisfied sitting where we are expected. Its proving a competitive league again this season and still see PT & Dundee (expect they will invest further in Jan) to be the main contenders for the play-off spots but as we have seen nobody in the top 6 should be written off yet.

Defensively given the injuries we have still performed well, however some more goals being scored would be nice.

[madton]

Not do Thirds down Ayrshire way?

For Morton, prob a bit better than most fans expected.

Couple of possibly surprise results against Inverness and Queens park away whilst a disappointing home loss to Arbroath. Pumping Accies 5-0 probably the highlight.

Losing to Partick at Firhill isn't a bad result generally but being pumped by them was,  but credit to the team, they have bounced back and won 10 points form 12 since, including 3 clean sheets in a row.

Sitting with the best defensive record at home too, only 4 goals conceded in 6 games.

If you had said we would be 3 points off top after 12 games, we would all have taken it, you just wouldn't expect to be sitting 6th in the league if you were! 

Concern for us is squad depth. We have a squad of 19 players, 1 appears be to finished in Lithgow, 3 are just kids in Green, McGregor and King, and 1 is completely unknown in terms of condition in Ambrose so will be a challenge to maintain this level of form going into the winter months. We need to hope we are still in contention for the top 4 come Jan then hopefully we can bring in some quality in the final 3rd as even though we are doing ok at the min, we are still very light up top and have no one to come on and change a game. To only have 4 players on the bench( 2 of which were kids) last weekend sums up our situation.

Dougie has recruited well, just like he did last season. Gillespie, Crawford, Grimshaw, O'Connor, Baird and Schwake have all settled in well.  Quitongo has impressed when available, unfortunately 3 red cards( some very harsh decisions IMO) means he has missed a few games but a good option for us. Kabia, jury still out, good at times but far too inconsistent. 

Chance to go joint top tonight is nuts considering where we were 4 weeks ago, getting pumped 5-1 by Thistle, but that's the nature of this league, absolutely mental!

 

 

 

[Richey Edwards]

After the League Cup group stage, it looked like we were in for another terrible season as Bullen had somehow managed to make us look worse than we did last season.

However, league form has been very very surprising and we have looked very good at times this season with some excellent results being picked up - Dundee, Partick and the two wins against Queens Park in particular.

Dipo Akinyemi has been some signing. Most of us had probably never heard of him before he arrived, but he has been absolutely spectacular and I hope we hang onto him for a long time. Charlie Albison has also come on leaps and bounds this season and has become first choice keeper.

I fully expect the wheels to come off at some point - it's the Ayr United way - but a very promising start to the season.

[D'Jaffo]

It’s been a good start and I’ll be honest in that I’ve not see one opposition team actually look that good against us. Cove are probably the best team I’ve seen when they came to Somerset last weekend but I’m not sure how much of that was a true reflection on them or whether everything just happened to click on the day.

[qpfc]

Overall, I’ve been very pleased with our season as it stands. Going into the summer, we had released a large portion of our squad that finished 4th in league 1 the season before, so a wee bit of rebuild was needed. The brand of football is certainly a hell of a lot more entertaining than last season and although we’ve had a couple horror shows, most notably against Ayr on two occasions, we’ve settled into the championship without much fuss 

Recruitment has been decent on the whole. Mal Boateng, Grant Savoury and Dom Thomas have been the outstanding additions and have really added that extra bit of quality that’s needed to bridge the gap from league 1 to championship. Still some massive questions marks over Jason Naismith and Johnny Kenny but at this level, not every signing will turn out to be perfect. 
 

What’s really evident this season is the vast improvement in players that have been here for the last year or two. Guys like Robson, Kilday and Murray are all arguably playing their best football for QP now and that’s despite them being around since the league 2 season. The development in Jack Thomson has been incredible also. He was ropey for large parts of last season but now he looks one of the best centre mids in the championship. Just shows you what a legitimately decent manager in Coyle and installing confidence does to players 

Ayr are definitely the best team to play us this season, particularly Akinyemi who has looked a cheat code against us. However, I can’t say there’s anyone else that’s actually looked that great. I guess that’s the beauty of the championship that anyone can beat anyone on any given day

Edited October 28, 2022 by qpfc

[Guest]

Very pleased with our start and also our playing style, although we do seem to be too open at times but I suppose that's the trade off for playing attacking football and scoring goals at the other end.

Unlike some others I really can't see the wheels coming off, as it were, simply because it's not through luck that we're top of the league, it's through having quality footballers for this level and also a very strong and pretty large squad. Guys like Mullin, Chalmers, Musonda and Murdoch are all proven as top class for this level and then we have Dipo who has consistently looked like he should be at least one league above our level and our other English based recruits such as Dempsey who's top class and young Andy Kirk (on loan from Arsenal) who's improving with each game but already looks like he'll have a very good career. Brad Young (on loan from Villa) is also improving with each game and is now adding goals alongside his excellent workrate. Albinson has also been top class between the sticks and there's no doubt that Aidan McAdams is now second choice. These guys aside, Reading is a very capable full back at this level, McGinty can do a job when called upon and Ashford, McKenzie, JML, Daire, Houston, McAllister and Smith are certainly all capable players at this level and none of them look out of place when called upon.

I also believe that due to our strong squad we'll cement our place in the top 4 over the coming months and as for January, we also seem to have a bit of cash behind us now and also the increased gates and revenue should help even further should reinforcements be required. Virtually our entire squad are on at least 2 year deals (3 for Dempsey) so we shouldn't be losing anyone either unless it's for silly money in the case of Dipo.

Another positive aspect is the squad rotation deployed by Bullen which keeps everyone involved and match fit and the togetherness of our whole squad, which again you can't really put a price on. All in all it's a pretty happy place down the Somerset road just now which certainly hasn't always been the case.

A long way to go and no doubt some unforeseen disasters just waiting on us, but I honestly think we should be looking forward with much confidence given our start, our squad and the general feeling at the club just now.

[AUcal]

1 hour ago, madton said:

Not do Thirds down Ayrshire way?

Did think that, but because a quarter in this league means having played everyone once I thought I'd stick with that. May update it though.

[Raith_Raver]

We should be definitely be higher up the league, but we're now climbing: our defence, after initially being seriously depleted is now very steady and our midfield play is second to none in this division. Unfortunately our forwards have been utterly inept, but now thath Vaughan is set to return, with Gullan in the wings optimism is surging.

[D'Jaffo]

We should be definitely be higher up the league, but we're now climbing: our defence, after initially being seriously depleted is now very steady and our midfield play is second to none in this division. Unfortunately our forwards have been utterly inept, but now thath Vaughan is set to return, with Gullan in the wings optimism is surging.

Until Vaughan gets injured again after about two games.

[Hank Scorpio]

2 minutes ago, D'Jaffo said:

Until Vaughan gets injured again after about two games.

Come on, mate. 

[CoveRangers1922]

After appointing McIntyre and witnessing his "man management" (aka Rory) and "tactics" (play 4-1-4-1 every week with Mitch up top by himself) we're about where I'd expected us to be. Granted he played 4-4-2 last week which was a step in the right direction.

 

Not many highs other than the 3-1 win against Dundee at Balmoral.

With a few capable loans added late on in the transfer window we're starting to look more competitive and able to pick up points. Raith game aside our performances have improved. 2 defeats, 3 draws and 2 wins in 7 isn't spectacular by any means but it's a hint of optimism after losing 4 on the bounce.

Jack Sanders has added some steel to central defence and Kyle McClleland from Hibs looks a composed partner for him. Unfortunate he's out for another 3 weeks. These two mean that the likes of Reynolds, Neill and Ross are backup rather than starters.

Max Johnston and Charlie Gilmour have come in and cemented their places. Yule's return has balanced the midfield and brought some energy alongside the free-scoring Connor Scully (words I thought I'd never say), and with Fyvie due to return that will only help us further. It brings me joy to see Vigurs warming the bench and collecting the balls at half time.

Jury still out on Longstaff who's been getting some plaudits from some Cove fans and from away fans. He's got ability to go by his man and create space but he needs to show it constantly and get involved in games more. McDonagh opened his goal account last week but I'd rather having the aging McAllister who was still deadly if given a chance and worked well with Mitch who I expect to get more goals if given a striking partner.

Suspect our second quarter will be better than our first as we find our feet in this division but doubt we'll rise much higher than were we are currently. If we do we'll need to tighten up back. A couple of losses and we could be in an unwanted position. Flip side of that is McIntyre would be away.

As for the other teams I've seen so far, I thought the early season Caley side looked threatening with Dan MacKay feeding Billy McKay along with Samuels' pace in behind. Defence looks solid too. Their injury list is eye watering and will do well to maintain their top 4 position in the coming weeks.

Ayr the best team I've seen at Balmoral so far and until recently I thought Thistle looked the real deal. They were my tip for automatic promotion. With Holt out though, Brownlie or Akinola partnering Aero isn't watertight. Debatable whether Dowds is top of Championship standard, not for me and therefore there's maybe an over reliance on Graham and Tiffoney, who seems to be battling fitness, to get the goals. Do like the majority of recruitment made my McCall and still think Thistle will be up there at the end.

Dundee surely the club most capable to improve given their riches. Spiders look comfortable at this level and have spent wisely. After visiting Cappielow I didn't expect Morton to be flying so high so credit to them.

Wouldn't be surprised if the clubs in the top 5 now were the ones there at the end of the season. Will take a marked improvement for any of the bottom 3 sides to climb the table significantly.

 

 

 

Edited October 28, 2022 by CoveRangers1922

[itzdrk]

4 hours ago, Hank Scorpio said:

Come on, mate. 

One game. 

[Tattie36]

It’s been pretty awful.

A bad run of injuries and suspensions coupled with “mixed” recruitment means we’ve struggled badly, particularly to score goals. Having said that, things seem to be moving slightly in the right direction.

First 6 games - 2 points out of a possible 18.

Second 6 games - 8 points out of a possible 18.

Replicate the last 6 in the next 6 and we’ll at least still be in touch by half way, if we’re going on the usual 41-42 points for safety.

A very important 3 games coming up, 2 at home to Ayr and Cove and 1 away to a faltering ICT. Would be great to pick up a couple of wins but could easily come away with nothing.

Edited October 28, 2022 by Tattie36

[Highlandmagar]

Thistle. Predictable.

Great start.

Get found out.

Get pumped.

[Lichtie78]

Our start not actually that bad when you consider we point blank refused to sign anyone good in the summer

[vikingTON]

B+. If we could replicate the first third to get 54 points over a season, then it would be a tremendous effort given the squad and resources at Imrie's disposal right now. 

The standard of the pace-setters is weak enough to suggest play-offs are possible, but our squad depth is non-existent and that'll be enough on its own to keep us out of the running over the full season.  

[Girth]

It’s been absolute trousers thus far.