A couple of decent signings (even loans if necessary) and some extra time to get everyone fit/develop a proper understanding could see us right near the top challenging.
what was pre season for?
Obviously it's a chance to settle on a team and get players as well-prepared for the season as possible.
Of course, because we live in the real world, things don't often run smoothly. Phelan was thought to be an automatic midfield choice, but ended up leaving at the very end of preseason. Whilst Reeves got barely any match practice after spending most of his time training with Kilmarnock and Donny.
I'm perfectly willing to say it was a bad result and that Sinnott has work to do to sort things out. But there are some extenuating circumstances here.