Cup shocks can sometimes be written off as bad days at the office.
We’ve all seen teams head to a lower-league side in the cup, dominate the game but get hit on the counter-attack and end up losing.
When that happens it’s frustrating but you can write it off as the football gods being against you.
One of those days.
Dundee United didn’t have one of those days at Falkirk on Saturday, however.
They were well-beaten by the better side.
And that’s a worry.
No crisis
Now, I don’t want to go overboard on the very first match of the season.
It is still pretty much pre-season, players aren’t fully up to speed and signings still need to be made.
This time last year United had an even worse result at Spartans and responded with a superb start to the league season.
So it needn’t be a crisis or anything like that.
It is worrying, though.
Because that’s two seasons running where United have kicked off on the wrong foot.
And Falkirk were better than them, there certainly didn’t look like a division between the sides.
I didn’t even think the Bairns were that great but they deserved their win.
Show something different
Patience among supporters won’t last as long as mine.
Jim Goodwin will certainly know there was a section of the fanbase who weren’t happy with how things were going at certain points last term.
He’ll be furious about Saturday.
After just one game of the season, the pressure on him has already ramped up.
The home fans will want to see something different tomorrow when Stenhousemuir come to Tannadice.
As a manager you are judged by results.
And Goodwin has had some stinkers in the cups.
Now he and his team need to show something in front of the home crowd.
I saw a lot of the same poor stuff from last season in Saturday’s performance.
When United were off form in the Championship they were a tough watch.
There have been a lot of changes this summer but there was some familiar stuff at the weekend.
New signings
We must remember, though, that the recruitment this summer is an ongoing process.
There are still more new faces to come in and ideally they will lift the group in terms of confidence and quality.
There were four new signings in the starting line-up at Falkirk.
It’s too early to judge them individually.
But as a team there is plenty of work to do to come together and to be ready for the Premiership kick-off in just a few weeks.
Kristijan Trapanovski and Vicko Sevelj are completely new to Scottish football, too, and will take time to settle in.
You don’t get that time, though, if days like Saturday’s are repeated.
The pressure is already ramping up after one game – only results will calm that.
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