Looking at the table, only the league leaders have scored more than us. The bad news of course is on goals conceded, where in just 7 games we have let in 6 more than anyone else. Ouch.
11 months ago I started a thread pointing out that at that stage, our average goals conceded of 2.0 per game was worse than that of the relegated team in 9 of the previous 11 seasons (see below).
2000/01 - 1.89 - St Mirren
2001/02 - 1.63 - St Johnstone
2002/03 - 1.87 - Motherwell
2003/04 - 1.76 - Partick
2004/05 - 1.87 - Dundee
2005/06 - 2.07 - Livingston
2006/07 - 1.45 - Dunfermline
2007/08 - 2.18 - Gretna
2008/09 - 1.53 - ICT
2009/10 - 1.50 - Falkirk
2010/11 - 1.55 - Hamilton
2011/12 - 2.16 - Dunfermline
Back then most of us thought our defence was really poor. Well this season we are up at 2.29, with the Celtic and Motherwell thrashings obviously having an impact.
I'm not concerned about it. And I'm not going to mention the northbound departures of **** ****** and ***** *****. It's very early days, and last season we tightened up considerably as the season went on, and I'm sure we will again as the defensive line-up settles down, injuries are overcome, and they finally get to gel at the back. It's also a consequence of the radical overhaul in the style of play this season, which is leading to more goals at both ends.
I like it this way. The game is all about goals, and we now know that a game ain't over if we give the opposition a 2 goal head start. And I'm very pleasantly surprised that we are scoring so many without having replaced our top scorers from last season.
There will always be criticism of a defence that concedes more than we'd expect, but at least nobody can complain about the lack of entertainment in our season so far.
Looking at the table, only the league leaders have scored more than us. The bad news of course is on goals conceded, where in just 7 games we have let in 6 more than anyone else. Ouch.
11 months ago I started a thread pointing out that at that stage, our average goals conceded of 2.0 per game was worse than that of the relegated team in 9 of the previous 11 seasons (see below).
2000/01 - 1.89 - St Mirren
2001/02 - 1.63 - St Johnstone
2002/03 - 1.87 - Motherwell
2003/04 - 1.76 - Partick
2004/05 - 1.87 - Dundee
2005/06 - 2.07 - Livingston
2006/07 - 1.45 - Dunfermline
2007/08 - 2.18 - Gretna
2008/09 - 1.53 - ICT
2009/10 - 1.50 - Falkirk
2010/11 - 1.55 - Hamilton
2011/12 - 2.16 - Dunfermline
Back then most of us thought our defence was really poor. Well this season we are up at 2.29, with the Celtic and Motherwell thrashings obviously having an impact.
I'm not concerned about it. And I'm not going to mention the northbound departures of **** ****** and ***** *****. It's very early days, and last season we tightened up considerably as the season went on, and I'm sure we will again as the defensive line-up settles down, injuries are overcome, and they finally get to gel at the back. It's also a consequence of the radical overhaul in the style of play this season, which is leading to more goals at both ends.
I like it this way. The game is all about goals, and we now know that a game ain't over if we give the opposition a 2 goal head start. And I'm very pleasantly surprised that we are scoring so many without having replaced our top scorers from last season.
There will always be criticism of a defence that concedes more than we'd expect, but at least nobody can complain about the lack of entertainment in our season so far.