5 reasons why live Scottish Premiership games been awful so far this season

Last night saw the eighth televised game of this new Scottish football season as the Sky Sports cameras pitched up at McDiarmid Park for the re-arranged game between St Johnstone and Aberdeen. They needn't have bothered. It was a turgid game of football with very little happening other than a continuous reel of misplaced or aimless passes, before Ryan Hedges climbed off the bench to win the game for the visitors with a deflected effort in the last five minutes.

It was quite possibly the worst game of football so far this season. At a point where the SPFL could have a previously untapped, football-starved audience from other parts of the UK tuning in, this was far from a "great advert for Scottish football". But, to be fair to both teams involved, it certainly hasn't been the only poor spectacle to be screened this campaign.

Of the eight games shown live on Sky Sports, none of have been thrillers, and only two deserved to be considered for pass marks. Celtic may have hammered Hamilton Accies on the opening Sunday, but they played excellent football while doing so, and Accies actually gave a good account of themselves despite the 5-1 scoreline. The Hoops' other game, a 1-1 draw against Kilmarnock, was by no means a classic, but at least had the intrigue and tension of a non-Old Firm side taking points off the Scottish champions and reigning treble-treble winners.

So why have the matches been so poor? There are five contributing factors:

Bad luck

We shall begin with a defence of the league. Not every game this season has been dreadful. In fact, some have been entertaining. Unfortunately, due to a small sample size and the luck of the draw, these haven't been the matches picked for live coverage.

Hibs v Kilmarnock and Dundee United's return to the top flight against Johnstone were both decent games from the opening weekend. Instead, Aberdeen against Rangers was chosen as the curtain-raiser. It was the right choice. Some of the matches between the two rivals at Pittodrie have been excellent over the last few years. On this occasion though, Ryan Kent's first-half goal was one of few talking points as Rangers won comfortably without leaving second gear.

In the midweek matches on August 11 and August 12, there were four goals shared in Ross County v Kilmarnock and Motherwell v Livingston. The day prior, fans had been forced into a deep sleep by Dundee United 0-1 Hibs.

On Saturday, August 15, we had both Dundee United and St Johnstone fighting back from a goal down to win away from home, with late goals in both matches, along with a deceptively entertaining 1-0 win for St Mirren at Hamilton. Unfortunately, the two Sky matches that weekend, Hibs-Motherwell and Livingston-Rangers, ended in a 0-0 draw. If anyone saw a goalless game coming at Easter Road for that match then please post this weekend's lottery numbers in the comments below.

Some observers have blamed Sky's insistence on showing as many Celtic and Rangers games as possible as a reason for the poor representation of the league thus far, but seeing as the two Celtic games have been among the better ones it's hard to point the finger at the broadcaster or the Old Firm on this occasion.

Lockdown hangover

German football came back, English football came back, Italian football came back, many leagues returned and the football reached the previous standard, or at least came close to it, but none of them had to wait as long as Scottish teams. Our players went nearly five months without a competitive game. Other than time spent out injured, it's the longest period the majority of them will have gone without a competitive match in their entire career.

Typically, when a manager brings a player back into the side after five months in the cold, regardless of how much he's been training or playing reserve matches, they will struggle. Doing lockdown runs or playing pre-season friendlies against teams in your own league is no substitute for competitive football. There's a significant amount of rustiness that's still to be shaken off.

Lack of new talent

It's been a weird transfer window with nowhere near as many signings as would typically be made by a summer recruitment drive. With English Championship clubs deciding to extend their season into the summer, there wasn't the typical number of free agents available, while even some of the better clubs in League One and League Two held onto players for longer with the decision to end the season prematurely not being made until June and the play-offs being played behind closed-doors thereafter.

There's also the matter of every club cutting their cloth due to the financial constraints of playing football and paying footballers with no income from gate receipts or money spent inside the stadium on matchdays. Kilmarnock and Livingston have made the most signings so far with 10 each [just after writing this, Livi announced a double-signing to take their total to 12]. It sounds a lot, but typically half of the league will have made at least that many signings so far. By contrast, Celtic, Dundee United and Hibs have only made three each.

Of the signings who either didn't play in Scotland last season or arrived from a club outside the SPFL, only Luke Bolton (Dundee United), Aaron Tshibola (Kilmarnock), Leon Balogun (Rangers), Alex Iacovitti (Ross County), Danny McNamara (St Johnstone) and Joe Shaughnessy (St Mirren) have played with distinction to this point.

Cautious managers

Outside of Celtic or Rangers, name a manager who preaches attacking football or even a style where the ball remains firmly on the deck. There aren't many, if any.

Ross County have been quite entertaining to begin the campaign, but with Ross Stewart as one of their most important players there's still a tendency to go long at times. Motherwell and St Johnstone reinventing themselves as attractive teams over the previous 18 months hasn't carried into this campaign so far. Motherwell will likely get there after a slow start, though new manager Callum Davidson's attempts to mould his Saints side into a 3-4-3 has not been conducive to entertainment so far.

Aberdeen continue to induce eye bleeding, St Mirren are a respectably organised unit that lacks punch in attack, which can also be said of Kilmarnock. Livingston can play in the final third once they've knocked it long, though who knows what they'll look like after the departure of Lyndon Dykes. As for Hamilton, everyone should begin to wonder if they aren't immune to relegation after all, looking a notch or two below everyone else thus far.

Even Hibs haven't been that great to watch despite their unbeaten start, save for moments in the opening game against Killie and their dismantling of a shambolic Livi side the following weekend. In very un-Hibs fashion, Jack Ross has favoured direct football rather than a passing attack Hibs fans prefer to see from their side.

There’s nothing wrong with individual teams going direct or playing pragmatically in isolation, but when so many are adopting such a style there’s a tendency for opponents to cancel each other out. Until we get more managers altering their approach and throwing caution to the wind these dull contests will likely continue.

No fans

Why do we love Scottish football? Is it because it stacks up to other leagues in terms of free-flowing moves, electric players and stunning moments of skill in every contest? No! Of course not! We love it because it's ours. We cherish its idiosyncrasies - namely, the bampottery and how, despite the obvious gulf in class between other leagues that dominate our TV screens, we're just about the most passionate collective group of supporters you can find. Football is life in Scotland for many supporters and right now hundreds of thousands are being denied the chance to go roar on their favourites because of the ongoing pandemic.

We really should have seen this coming. Obviously Scottish football wasn't going to be as entertaining without fans inside a ground. Passion is what our game is all about. Without any substitute for that, players aren't going to be able to reach their optimal standards. We just have to hope the suffering can soon come to an end and we can get back into stadiums where we can give our players that extra lift.

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