Talking points from the Premiership weekend

Accies on fire

When Hamilton swept into the SPFL after defeating a hapless Hibs side in the Playoff Final many supporters of Premier League sides predicted an instant return to the Championship. After the opening day defeat to Inverness those predictions seemed justified. Hamilton were effortlessly dispatched by the Highlanders who barely broke sweat as they eased to a 2 – 0 victory at New Douglas Park.

But since then they've notched up four straight wins, scoring eight and only conceding one goal and now find themselves second in the league behind ICT having taken 12 points from a possible 15. Alex Neil learnt quickly from an error strewn performance against Inverness and since dropping Michael Devlin, who was culpable for one of the goals, the Hamilton defence looks resolute.

The BBC highlights of their victory over Ross County made them look like flipping Barcelona.  Little flicks, back-heels aplenty (courtesy of Dougie Imrie, who was having one of his occasional world-beating days), carving out chances at will.  They could have been four up by half-time, which is as much down to their quality as County's ineptitude.  Heck, even Michael McGovern's penalty save was terrific.  They chose a good day to turn on the style, having given away 1,000 free tickets.  Hopefully a few of the freeloaders will pay to come back.

They already find themselves 12 points clear of County and St. Mirren – two sides who Accies were expected to be battling with to avoid relegation. If Inverness under John Hughes hadn’t enjoyed such a strong start there would be almost no discerning voices should Neil be awarded the Manager of the Month award for August. AS

Incoherent Celtic

If it is indeed true that Virgil Van Dijk missed Sunday's game because "his head isn't right" and his partner is due to give birth, Celtic can only hope that the Dutchman's personal issues are settled pronto.  Their backline again looked dreadfully vulnerable at Dens Park, with Efe Ambrose's confidence well and truly shredded and Emilio Izaguirre going through his worst funk since arriving at Celtic Park.  If in fact Van Dijk is agitating for a move - and gets it - the prospect of the erratic Ambrose beside the green Jason Denayer, who will inevitably have a bad patch or two of his own (as all young players do) will be salivating for opposing strikers.

Further up the pitch, it's easy to see why Alexander Tonev and Mubarak Wakaso have been brought in on loan.  With James Forrest injured, there's no attacking width at all.  Watching Jo Inge Berget, a number ten, play on the left wing was cringeworthy; the Norwegian was in Paul McGinn's pocket from the word go and was hooked before half time.  Ronny Deila has a couple of free weeks now to solve the conundrum of Celtic's attack, a puzzle that may become even trickier if the rumours of Stefan Scepovic turning his back on the club are true.

Paul Hartley is a genius

They said it couldn't be done, but Paul Hartley has managed to get Gary Harkins and Paul McGowan working effectively in the same team.  He even succeeded in getting a decent performance out of Phil Roberts, who seemed like a daft signing after his travails at Falkirk last season, but who tormented Izaguirre in the first half on Sunday.  Add in the clever set-piece routine that led to James McPake's goal, and Dundee's intriguing habit of cutting their half-time break short to go out and warm-up, plus the team's ability to change formation pretty seamlessly during matches, and you can tell that this guy puts a lot of brainpower and work into what he does.  This is a man who could become a very successful football manager indeed. LS

Motherwell need to make some deadline day moves...

Motherwell would have probably got away with a goalless draw, had they not needed to tinker with the defence late on against St. Johnstone - Zaine Francis-Angol went off injured, meaning that Simon Ramsden became the fifth(!) player to appear as left-back for them so far this season.  Ramsden's unfamiliarity with the position certainly wouldn't have helped with the build up for Brian Graham's winner.  But if 'Well's defensive problems can be blamed on injuries, the same excuse isn't available for their forwards.  They haven't scored in four league games now.  With Henrik Ojamaa still getting up to speed and Lionel Ainsworth having a rotten patch, there's no service for an isolated John Sutton, who in turn looks off the pace as well.  Stuart McCall could do with bringing in players at both ends of the pitch, which makes his post-match comments that he hasn't got the budget to do so very concerning indeed. LS

...and so do St. Mirren...

If football was judged on performance in the middle third of the pitch, St. Mirren would certainly be a top six side.  Until the ball got in the box, they looked just as slick as a much higher-rated Dundee United side.  But the Buddies' attack remains utterly impotent without Steven Thompson's testosterone to fuel it (sorry, that's an unpleasant image), with neither Callum Ball nor Ross Caldwell looking remotely like a threat at this level.  And the defence is just a bombscare, looking comfortable for long periods yet still managing to concede three goals.  Captain Marc McAusland was a particular culprit, and would surely be dropped if Tommy Craig had a decent alternative.  It may be that Jim Goodwin or Jeroen Tesselaar are deployed in central defence after the break, or, even better, a better player brought in.  Craig can go on all he wants about performance, but goals decide games.  St. Mirren can't score at one end, and can't stop conceding at the other. LS

...and so do Partick Thistle...

Partick Thistle just don't look dangerous in the box, which isn't surprising given that they haven't been playing with a natural centre forward.  Alan Archibald has plenty of really talented midfielders, and clearly wants to play them all, but perhaps he'd be better off with Kris Doolan leading the line instead?  Doolan proved last season that he offers at least a bit of a goal threat.  He's also the only senior striker on the books at Firhill, so if Archibald doesn't rate him then I'd imagine he'll be hunting one before the window closes.  They could do with another winger too, especially as they badly miss having Aaron Taylor-Sinclair striding up the left flank to compensate for a lack of midfield width.  LS

Stevie Ferguson fails his audition

The Patrick Kluivert story was frankly hilarious, but at least provided Ross County fans with a distraction from their humping at Hamilton.  One thing is for certain though - the new manager won't be interim boss Stevie Ferguson, who failed his audition miserably.  They have a big decision to make in the next two weeks, and their new boss will find it very difficult to get much out of this motley crew between now and January, when he can sign players of his own.  Things might be better by the end of the international break though, as hopefully the defence will have at last been together sufficient time to know each other's names...or at least play like they do.  The sight of that back four strikes more dread in hearts than the sight of the four horsemen of the apocalypse would. LS

Where Are They Now?

Alex Salmond has talked about “the missing million” voters in the run up the independence referendum and whilst there may not be as many missing football fans as that there are certainly a fairly large number who no longer attend matches. At Inverness, who continued their undefeated start to the season and scored two excellent goals in the process, there was an uncomfortable feeling when the crowd was announced as 2,830.

Attendances at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium have long been a bugbear for many. After ICT defeated Celtic 1 – 0 in the Scottish Cup in 2003, captain Bobby Mann famously quipped that the fans "are great when they turn up".  Attendances at ICT have been in decline for a number of seasons with the average crowd falling from a peak of just over 5,000 in 2005/06 to around 3,500 last season.

But it’s not just Caley Thistle who are experiencing this trend. Already, Ross County are seeing a big downturn in crowd figures this season and, over a much longer period of time, sides like Motherwell, Kilmarnock and St. Johnstone have seen attendances fall dramatically whilst over the space of a few weeks Aberdeen, who entertained Real Sociedad in front of a crowd of 17,000, have “lost” 6,000 fans. Indeed the Dons were roared on to League Cup success in front of an incredible 40,000 supporters not too long ago

The supporters are out there but what causes them to go “missing”? Cost is frequently held up as the main barrier to attendances but clubs won’t cut prices unless they can guarantee the increase in crowds that would offset that reduction. The quality of football on show isn’t always great but it’s hard to see how this can be improved with ever shrinking finances for clubs to play with. The frequency of fixtures is perhaps another issue that creates a lack of interest but this is one that could only realistically be addressed through league reconstruction.

The sad thing is that those that are staying away are missing some of the most competitive league seasons in recent memory. AS

And another thing...

I know that when the ball goes in via the woodwork and then the keeper, it goes down as an own goal.  But can't an exception please be made for that Greg Tansey strike?  If ever there was a goal that deserved Alan Partridge 'foot like a traction engine' commentary, that was it...  LS

Andrew Sutherland (AS) occasionally writes for When Saturday Comes.  He would never miss an ICT match unless he was offered a date with the lead singer of CHVRCHES...who he would then take to said ICT match.