This doubt will last forever...or will it?
The season hasn’t really begun and already the doubters are out.
It would be fair to say there are still gaps to fill and tactics to be tweaked, if Tuesday night’s efforts are anything to go by.
It wasn’t exactly a hark back to the Paisley side’s glory days of just a few months ago. The excitement in the play was gone, the atmosphere was flat and there was little in the way of flair as the Buddies crashed to defeat at the hands of Livingston.
Hardly a ringing endorsment by any means, especially when you consider where the vast majority expect Livi to be come the end of the league season.
But is early yet and luck doesn’t appear to be on Saints side by any matter of means.
The injuries are piling up, with Kyle Magennis, Dale Hilson, Adam Eckersley and Josh Todd already ruled out for a few weeks. Eckersley and Magennis were definitely set to become first team regulars this season, while Todd and Hilson have the potential to in the starting XI.
There has been quite an outcry for new players, especially after the disappointment of the defeat on Tuesday. But those to vent their frustrations in the manner of boos come the full-time whistle would be better off taking a step back to reflect.
It was the first home game of the season, nonetheless.
I’m not one for boo boys at the best of times, but it is at the very least understandable when you’re mired in a relegation battle, waiting until the first week in December to get a win on the board.
But this is the League Cup, and depending on how you view the competition then some would say the season hasn’t truly gotten under way.
Was it dire? That’s a matter of opinion, but there were indeed very few, if any, positives to take from over the course of the 90 minutes.
Defensively the side still needs some work, while the loss of Magennis in the middle of the park is always going to be a blow, although Ian McShane has managed to plug that gap. Up front? I think they still need another body. John Sutton hasn’t been given too much of a run out over pre-season, but with his presence and experience, if handed a starting jersey I’d have confidence he would still delivering despite being one of the elder statesmen in the squad.
Saints haven’t exactly set the heather alight, but there have so far been glimpses of a side resembling the one that so dramatically beat the drop last time around.
Partick Thistle will tomorrow provide another stern test, although we should maybe expect another stuffy game if Alan Archibald, present on Tuesday, takes a leaf out of Livingston’s book.
But any match up with a side higher up the ladder has the opportunity to provide a catalyst for the coming weeks and months. It happened last season when the Buddies knocked Dundee out the Scottish Cup, and although this time it is the League Cup, there is an opportunity there for St Mirren to build upon.
For a team that is notoriously bad starters to the league campaign, these coming weeks provide the chance to start the season with a canter.