TopCat

Perfectly calm. Seen us relegated plenty of times before, and i will see us relegated plenty of times in the future. 
The frustration is we have went from such a good place (top six in February) to such a bad place so quickly.

Yeah agree with this. We had goal scoring midfielders in McGrath and Ronan the past two seasons and it was their goals that kept us clear of the relegation battle both times. They've both left and there's seemingly no replacement, none of these players Robinson has signed is a goal scoring midfielder.
Unless Kiltie can step up that's a huge hole in the goals for column. We are relying on perma crock Brophy and the boo boys favourite target Main to deliver the goods.
Terrifying. 

The last time we played Edinburgh City was also in the last game of the group stage of the league cup, in July 2016.
On that day goals from Shankland, Walsh and Baird got us a 3-0 win to get us 9 points out of 12, but due to an earlier defeat it wasn't enough to get us through and out we went. 
The manager had been appointed during the season before, but he hadn't exactly inspired confidence in his tenure and failure to get out the league cup group was another big blot on the copy book. The poor form continued into the ensuing league campaign, and just six games into it he was fired.
Funny old game, isn't it?

Based on the 14 games against teams in the top two leagues since he arrived. Nine defeats, three wins. two draws.
That's relegation form over an extended period, plain and simple. 

Robinson targeted top six and Europe when he was appointed, that's what he said in his initial interview.
To be honest, i'd bite your hand off for 10th now. The regression from the day of his appointment to now has been remarkable. So yes, i'll be optimistic and have us in 10th too.
Killie 11th 
St Johnstone 12th
 

Never seen the game, but my word these stats make for grim reading:

Two shots on target against a team of teenagers from the Lowland League? Huge improvement needed, quickly.

I suppose it's a sign of where we are, that on the eve of a game against a depleted part time league 1 team with a 29 year old player-manager, I'm not at all confident we are going to win. I mean we should win, and we probably will, but i won't be the least bit surprised if we don't. 
It goes without saying that anything that is not three points all but puts out the cup, and would really put a big cherry on top of Robinson's poor start as St Mirren manager. There is a slim chance we could go through with eight points if we drew, won the penalty shout out and then beat Edinburgh. But it's unlikely, especially with our poor goal difference. It's a big game for the club, need to get the best available on the pitch and go all out for a much needed win:
Urminsky
Strain-Shaughnessy-Dunne-Tanser
Erhahon-O'Hara
Henderson-Kiltie-Grieve
Ayunga
1-1
(St Mirren to win 3-2 on pens)

Brophy's had issues with his fitness long before he joined us, he was injured at Kilmarnock before he came. Infact the only season in his career where has made more than 30 league appearances was last season, so that injury hit campaign was actually the least injured he's ever been over a full term. Quite remarkable for a 26 year old really.  
Are these continual fitness issues for three separate clubs suddenly going to resolve themselves? Maybe, hopefully. It's certainly more likely that he will continue to miss several games a season due to injury., he's already missed the first one. Is either one of Ayunga, Main or Grieve capable of scoring 10+ goals next season? They'll need to be. Without Ronan and McGrath's goals from midfield we need someone capable of hitting the net on a regular basis and staying fit. I'm not sure we have someone like that in the squad to be honest.  If i had to bet on our top scorer next season i'd go for Kiltie.

Yeh we did, both of them got released by Rangers (lol).
With Reid it's obvious he has no interest at being at the club beyond next summer and he will certainly not be signing another deal with us. We either let him go now and accept a deal that we can tailor to what we believe is best for the club long term, or let him go for a development fee next summer, where we will have much less control. There's no third option.
I can't see him getting many minutes this season, so him leaving now is not going to have a great impact on the first team. He will be below O'Hara, Baccus and Erhahon and probably Flynn too for the centre midfield position.  So yeah, i'd be inclined to take the money and the add ons now as opposed to going down the development fee route.

He's at a difficult place in his development at the moment. He's probably not good enough or ready yet to hold down a first team regular place, though he possibly could a year from now. He will be gone by then.

Cashing in now is the most sensible thing to do. He is fortunate with the clubs who are showing an interest in him. Add in at least a non-negotiable 20% sell-on and add-ons for appearances.

We were a shambles tbh. We played a strange 4-3-3 formation which didn't really work at all. None of the five new signings that started played well and we got what we deserved, which was a defeat.
Arbroath obviously have players who aren't as good as ours, and a much lower budget. The difference was they're a well coached and well drilled side. We certainly aren't and we haven't been since Robinson arrived.

I don't think it's unreasonable to say we should not be losing at home to part time teams. It has happened before, but it doesn't happen often, it tends to occur when the club is at a real low point. The last time we plunged such depths was a 0-1 loss against Dumbarton in 2017 when we were in the midst of a relegation battle in the second tier. The result and performance on Saturday was a return to those dark days.
Don't see anyone realistically saying he should be sacked now - that would be ridiculous. However his record since arriving in February has been atrocious. 14 games, nine defeats, two draws, three wins. Two of those wins came against Mark McGhee's joke Dundee team. 
Given how terrible our end of season form was under him, he really needs to get a good start this season. That would be getting us out the league cup group (ideally as a seed) and getting three or four wins on the board from the opening set of 11 fixtures. If he fails to do either of those then his position will rightly come under threat. The league cup situation is out of our hands now, nine points might not be enough to get us through - it wasn't in 2017 - we will simply need to win our remaining three games and hope results elsewhere go our way.  If we play in the league like we did on Saturday we will just lose every week, like we mostly have since he arrived.  
He's been backed in the window and he's been backed early, I don't remember us before having six new signings announced by this stage in the season before. Isn't he on record saying there might be one more, budget dependent? There's not going to be a huge amount of new arrivals, the vast majority of our summer business started the game on Saturday, and i thought all five of them played terribly.
Since you brought up Jim Goodwin, we hadn't lost in any of the previous nine league cup group stage matches under him, up till Saturday. He never lost once in eight games against non full time opposition. And that lump it long to Ayunga - who didn't win a header all day - strategy we employed on Saturday was some of the most turgid football i've ever seen at St Mirren Park. Our only chances of note were headers from crosses into the box, we offered nothing else at all. It was a truly terrible watch.
 

I wasn't at the game on Saturday, so I don't have an idea of how we played, though what I can't understand is how a part-time team, who have had less time pre-season training than us to prepare for these games, can come away with victory and hold their own? Do they take a different mental approach to these games and we still use it as a 'pre-season'?

It doesn't worry me in the slightest that we were defeated in this game with it being so early on, though the comparison to resources etc, I would have expected us to pick up the required points.

The League Cup , realistically , is the only competition where we might have a chance of actually getting to a final. To lose an early game at home to lower league opposition is pretty poor stuff. 

Yes, why has no one moved this to the correct forum? 😅
We will surely win the game, a few of Arbroath's players are still on holiday apparently. It's a very kind draw and really four wins out of four in this group is what we should be aiming for. 

Yes, why has no one moved this to the correct forum? 😅
We will surely win the game, a few of Arbroath's players are still on holiday apparently. It's a very kind draw and really four wins out of four in this group is what we should be aiming for. 

Yes, why has no one moved this to the correct forum? 😅
We will surely win the game, a few of Arbroath's players are still on holiday apparently. It's a very kind draw and really four wins out of four in this group is what we should be aiming for. 

Apologies to @TopCat but this is the match day section. 
So, the first real game of the season, as some have mentioned, this is an important competition for us, a chance to get some cash in and, who knows, a cup final appearance has to start somewhere.
The bookies have us at 1/2, with Arbroath at 4/1.
No excuses, none of that "it's early season/players haven't settled shite", it's the same for all teams.
A win's a must. 
 

Shame we don't get to give him a proper send off. He correctly swept up at the player of the year awards the other night, what a signing he was. As i've said before he is one of the best Saints players i've seen in 30 years, he was a real joy to watch.  
 

Brophy has been good for us, when he's played, he is our top scorer with eight goals. His problem has been he's never been consistently fit, he seems to play for a few weeks then get injured for a few weeks.
I am sure he will be here next year along with Main and Greive and they will all get minutes and goals - like they all have this season. I think that Lewis Jamieson and Kieran Offord will come into the squad as back up to those three, and depending on how they do in the league cup and early weeks of the season we may not need another striker. 

@TopCat been on the glue again. 

Under six weeks till our first competitive game of the season, and we will welcome the best part time team in Scotland to Paisley. How many new signings will be making their debut here? A win against the team seeded second in the group will put us in the driving place for top spot, qualification to the next round and well on the road to Hampden.
2-0
O'Hara '12
Greive '84
Attendance 3,015

Hope he gets homesick like Thommo..........not a chance!

Spot on, these are very important games for the football club. We have two chances to win a cup every year, and this is one of them. We must - and i'm sure we will - take them seriously and we need to make sure we win the group. 

Spot on, these are very important games for the football club. We have two chances to win a cup every year, and this is one of them. We must - and i'm sure we will - take them seriously and we need to make sure we win the group.