League table comparison

After 21 games

2017/2018
http://www.footstats.co.uk/index.cfm?task=league_full

Team played/points/goal difference

Celtic 21 50 +33
Aberdeen 21 42 +9
Rangers 21 39 +16
Hibs 21 34 +4
Hearts 21 29 +2
St Johnstone 20 26 -7
Kilmarnock 20 25 -3
Motherwell 20 20 -4

2018/2019

Celtic 20 42 +32
Rangers 21 42 +27
Kilmarnock 21 41 +12
Aberdeen 21 36 +10
Hearts 21 36 0
St Johnstone 20 34 +1
Livingston 21 30 +7
Hibs 21 29 +8

Looking at some of the predicitons of where we'll finish in the league, I thought it'd be interesting to do a wee comparision between now and a year ago.

We're 5 points down after 21 games compared with last season.
Last year we were 16 points behind the leaders, this year it's 'only' 13 (obviously due to Celtic's performances)
Last year we were 8 points behind aberdeen, compared to 7 this year.
Much has been made of the form of our strikers and lack of creativity in midfield, but our goal difference is up from +4 to +8.

It's just the way I am, but I'm optimistic that 2-3 decent signings, fully fit 1st choice strikers and a shorter injury list could see us kicking on for the rest of the season and going for a top 4 finish.

:flag:

Good work and I agree I don’t think we are as bad as some would have you believe with addressing the above.

We were in 4th place at this time last year and finished fourth despite an amazing second half of the season. We are in 8th currently so it is hardly surprising many think we will finish around there. Unless we improve compared to the teams above us we won't finish higher. Last year is no measure for that and a single signing is unlikely to make a massive difference.

This time last year we weren't that good either though, better than we are now but still not great. We were on a run of 2 wins in 10, we had the same creativity issues as we do now, we had the Stokes problem hanging over our head, Simon Murray wasn't playing against part time sides and we were about to lose our first derby in years.

Last season was amazing as a whole but it took genuine title winning form in the second half of the season for us just to secure 4th and given that we have won fewer, drawn more, lost more, have fewer points and are lower down in the table than we were this time last year, I don't think it's unreasonable to suggest that it will take that same title winning form to get us anywhere near the top 4 this year.

Some of our results against the poorer teams have been appalling this season otherwise we could have easily matched last seasons 1st half total.
No chance of playing as well as we did 2nd half of last season but we need to reel in St Johnstone as soon as possible to ensure we are top 6 before the April split.
As this is happening Kilmarnock should be falling towards us. Gauld will do better in the midfield than Hyndman and hopefully David Gray and Anyepong can stay fit although things have not looked good for the latter. Additionally Cummings may return this month. Enjoy the ride folks!

I think you can bury yourself in the stats and easily forget the how the team is operating.cleary we are not miles off points wise,but early season fixtures were very favourable to us and we never took nearly enough points in the first half of the season.second half fixtures are a bit more daunting ,being at home 4 times between now and the end of march could go for us or against us.hopefully the team has a similar push to last season and teams will no relish playing us at there own bit.ur right though couple more additions and a reduced injury list will see us scrappin away in the top six,although I feel it in ma bones we might show how much big efe was an integral part of the defence by conceding more goals.but hopefully big daz and paul rediscover form and porto is back soon for the push.👍

We were the best team in Scotland from January to May based on points gained. We’d need a repeat of that to finish 4th again, which isn’t particularly realistic, given Rangers, Kilmarnock and Hearts have all improved since.

Realistically, we should be content with making top 6 in the league, focusing on a good Scottish Cup run, and I’d like to see us aiming to build a strong team for next season instead of more stop gap 6 month long signings that may leave in the summer.

This years league table is a fair reflection of where we’ll finish IMO, not last years.

Yes, we’ll probably strengthen in this window, but so will everyone else and unless we do significantly better than everyone else with signings, we’re going to end up around 7th or 8th.

It’s all about doing better than the teams around us. The usual suspects have improved significantly while we’ve went backwards. There’s nothing to suggest that trend will be reversed this window, so I think we’ll end up 8th.

I think the issue is that our second half of last season form was championship winning form. And a lot of people think that it will be very tough to replicate

I'm convinced we've got a collection of decent players but our midfield still lacks running power and Gauld alone won't fix that.

Some of the performances and runs of form have been relegation material, and I've been surprised by all of the relegations I've witnessed as on paper you'd expect those Hibs teams to do better.

A midfielder who can run all day, a bit of pace out wide (who won't miss a huge chunk of our games through injury) and a couple of strikers to challenge/ replace/ help Flo and McLaren and we should be getting into the top 6.

If we go into the second half of the season without these positions addressed then we'll be lucky to cling onto 8th.

Still need players in key areas in midfield centre half striker and probably wide player.

Need to win next 2 games to kick start league. Still well in touch at present but continuation of too many draws needs to be addressed.

Being five points worse off than last season isn’t that much of a surprise with the loss of McGinn etc and what else has went on.

Some of the other teams have improved vastly though.

I think we'll finish top 6

We are doing all the right things in the transfer market to suggest we'll have a much stronger second half to the season.

So this time last year we were five points behind the team in third. This year it's twelve points

Even with a fantastic second half to last season we didn't actually catch the third placed side, so a bit of realism is in order as to what we can achieve this season

I think a top six finish is the best we can hope for, and even that will be a challenge.