The Scottish Premiership opened with 18 goals across six matches over four days. St Johnstone beat Kilmarnock 4-3 on flag day, St Mirren opened with a win and went top after gameweek one, and Aberdeen were among the sides making the strongest early impression.
The opening weekend picture
Stephen Robinson said Aberdeen would not have won that game last season, which is a fair read on how much more stubborn they looked. Simo Valakari also talked about being harder to beat, and St Johnstone backed that up by turning a game many expected them to lose into three points.
The other useful takeaway came at Dundee Utd. Jim Goodwin said they want to play a bit more, and their shift toward short passing, building from the back and choreographed midfield rotations gave the opening weekend a different feel from the old safety-first version.
St Mirren's start should be treated with care, because losing 13 first-team players in the summer makes any early table position provisional. Still, a win and top spot after gameweek one is a better sign than most would have expected from a side in that much turnover.
Early pressure on the bigger names
Celtic's opening-day win over Dundee did not settle much. Their only two summer signings, Camilo Duran and Kasper Høgh, came with a combined £17m outlay, but the fit still looks unfinished, and Høgh's early return, a 6.0 rating from one Premiership appearance and 94 minutes, suggests the structure around him needs work.
Høgh is not the only one under a spotlight, but the early evidence points more toward a shape issue than a verdict on the transfer business itself. The league has only played one weekend, so the sensible read is that Celtic still need clarity rather than conclusions.
Rangers also left room for concern after the draw at Dundee United. Derek McInnes was open about still hunting for "difference makers", and that is the part of the weekend that will stick if Rangers keep struggling for invention in wide areas.
Hearts are the other club already feeling the temperature rise. There have been sporadic signs of encouragement, and they did control the game at Pittodrie before the late collapse. That leaves the situation less settled than a simple crisis label would suggest, but it still counts as an unwanted opening to the season.
The first weekend did not settle the league, but it did separate the sides with early momentum from the ones already chasing it. St Johnstone, Aberdeen, Dundee Utd and St Mirren came out looking organised; Celtic, Rangers and Hearts did not.
Written by Sam Whitfield with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
