(Health Warning! This is a gloomy and pessimistic view of our prospects – the optimistic analysis will appear tomorrow - ed)
Woodsie and Corrigan make plans
The match against Aberdeen summed up why we should be worried about our prospects for the rest of the year. We dominated the first half and played some nice football but we struggled to create chances. The opportunities we did create were squandered – Partridge missing from nowhere, McFadden blowing two one on ones, Lehmann blazing over – and we were made to pay for them. The one thing relegated teams usually have in common is that they can always look back and say ‘if only’. We appear to be saying ‘if only’ every weekend right now.
Of course, it takes poor defending as well as poor attacking to lose you matches and we make any powder puff strike force look lethal. Aberdeen ventured forward once in the first half and were given tons of space to cross, our ‘keeper watched the ball zip across the six yard line and their striker contrived to miss a free header when it looked impossible not to score.
In the second half, Aberdeen scored a joke goal after the re-start where several of our players made individual mistakes. After that, they walked through our midfield pretty much at will and it was only the fact that they also lack creativity that stopped them going several goals clear. Of course, they were always threatening and it looked inevitable that something would happen. Another unchallenged cross and an untracked run from midfield ensured that we could mark another tick in the loss column.
There are going to be tough times this season and ocassions we do not play well. That makes it even more important that we capitalise on ‘good’ performances. Failure to win games at home when we should wrap them up will come back to haunt us.
The next three games are crucial to the rest of our season. We will be destroyed at Ibrox and what little confidence remains in our side will be shattered. Then we have relegation crunches against Livingston and Thistle. If we play badly, we will lose to committed sides who fight for everything. If we play well, it is still likely that the best we will get is a draw – we cannot take our chances and we cannot defend.
James McFadden is suspended for the Rangers game and we have a clutch of other players who are approaching bans. We will have to rely on extremely inexperienced youngsters when we really need to pick up points to stop our season falling apart. If we continue to play the way we have done, it’s likely the most we’ll get from the next three games is one point. That may not be enough to keep us off the bottom of the league. And, once we’re there, will we be able to get off it?
Interesting times lie ahead.