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[allyo]

Said to my Dad coming away from the game today, that I didn't feel like I'd been at a game. There was no excitement, nothing to get me interested, I was yawning through much of it. I don't think you become a bad manager overnight, and I think Archie has been a good manager. But I do think there comes a time when it's just not working any more. In Thistle's case that seems to have happened some time ago. I was absolutely in favour of giving them a chance to turn it around. I think they'd earned that. 

But I do think time may have run out. The positive start that was needed hasn't happened, and the club now looks like it needs a kick up the erse. I certainly wouldn't have any arguments left, if the change was made now.

[Auld Jag]

51 minutes ago, allyo said:

Said to my Dad coming away from the game today, that I didn't feel like I'd been at a game. There was no excitement, nothing to get me interested, I was yawning through much of it. I don't think you become a bad manager overnight, and I think Archie has been a good manager. But I do think there comes a time when it's just not working any more. In Thistle's case that seems to have happened some time ago. I was absolutely in favour of giving them a chance to turn it around. I think they'd earned that. 

But I do think time may have run out. The positive start that was needed hasn't happened, and the club now looks like it needs a kick up the erse. I certainly wouldn't have any arguments left, if the change was made now.

Ran out of likes. But this is spot on. I didn't think County looked anything great,but once they scored they were never in trouble.

[laukat]

He's gone https://ptfc.co.uk/ptfc-news/club-statement-4/

[lewcal]

Absolutely woeful today. After tannadice I decided I wasn't doing away games anymore and would only go to home games seen as I had renewed my season ticket but that performance today was up there with some of the most toothless and boring games I've ever witnessed and just makes me even more angry at myself for buying into the statement released about promotion, competitive budgets, playing the thistle way blah blah blah. I can handle getting beat but when yet again another average but organised side brush us aside with ease it sticks in my throat. I take no pleasure from saying this but I do think change is needed. No fight, no passion, no ideas and no light at the end of the tunnel as it stands.

[allyo]

1 minute ago, laukat said:

He's gone https://ptfc.co.uk/ptfc-news/club-statement-4/

Thoughts totally with him. Great Thistle guy, club legend.

Time had come but take no satisfaction. Wish Archie all the very best. 

[Winter of '63]

An insipid performance from a team lacking in direction. County didn't have to be particularly good to trouble our defence - they scored from yet another defensive blunder and a soft penalty and defended efficiently for a comfortable victory - I haven't been so bored at a game since St Johnstone were last at Firhill. 

Bannigan, Erskine, Slater & Spittal are all good footballers with the ability to be challenging at the top of the league but the balance of the side is not right. Elliot has always lacked the guile to beat a defender or make an incisive pass or cross and now repeatedly passes the ball backwards to kill the momentum of attacks.  Storey annoys me more than any Thistle player since Leigh Hinds - he received the ball in good positions on three occasions and failed to even get the ball into the box...his only other contribution was to get in Penrice's way. We make space on the wings but carry no threat.

Losing O'Wear was s blow but the defensive recruitment has been appalling - Elliot, Keown and McGinty aren't very good but we have no alternatives.

My thoughts when leaving the game were that it was the end of the road for Archie...while typing this, I found out that it is.

 

[Barney Rubble]

Aaacch ****.

So sorry for them both.

However something had to change.

 

[Legs Like A Spider]

A great servant to the club and always behaved with dignity but the club is greater than any individual and it just hadn't been happening for Archie for some time. Had to happen.

Hope he finds another job in football where he can develop his skills and who knows maybe one day he can return.

Credit to the Board I didn't think they had the bottle, lets hope they do the right thing now and our season can be saved. 

[Weebaw1]

Quitongo, Fitzpatrick, Melbourne might be good. Archie was so stubborn we never found out.

Storey, Keown and Spittal have been useless every week for a year(except QOS) but they start every week!

Now perhaps we’ll find out how good some players are.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, lewcal said:

Absolutely woeful today. After tannadice I decided I wasn't doing away games anymore and would only go to home games seen as I had renewed my season ticket but that performance today was up there with some of the most toothless and boring games I've ever witnessed and just makes me even more angry at myself for buying into the statement released about promotion, competitive budgets, playing the thistle way blah blah blah. I can handle getting beat but when yet again another average but organised side brush us aside with ease it sticks in my throat. I take no pleasure from saying this but I do think change is needed. No fight, no passion, no ideas and no light at the end of the tunnel as it stands.

I'd no likes left

[lady-isobel-barnett]

2 hours ago, Weebaw1 said:

Quitongo, Fitzpatrick, Melbourne might be good. Archie was so stubborn we never found out.

Storey, Keown and Spittal have been useless every week for a year(except QOS) but they start every week!

Now perhaps we’ll find out how good some players are.

I'm far from convinced that you actually believe that. Most of us I'm sure already know the likes of Quitongo and Fitzpatrick are good players with considerable potential to improve. I very much doubt it was stubbornness that precluded them from being played. One wasn't even match fit.

[partickthedog]

Always like to take some positives from any game, but difficult to do so from yesterday's dispiriting display.

Probably have to settle for the following:

1) Amazing last ditch defending-save from Jamie Sneddon, followed by blocks from James Penrice and Niall Keown, to keep the score, at least temporarily, at 0-0.

2) Superb ball-winning attack-halting tackle by James Penrice just before half time.

3) Stuart Bannigan took a really sore tackle which resulted in Draper's dismissal, but seemed to survive it OK. 

[Auld Jag]

9 hours ago, partickthedog said:

Always like to take some positives from any game, but difficult to do so from yesterday's dispiriting display.

Probably have to settle for the following:

1) Amazing last ditch defending-save from Jamie Sneddon, followed by blocks from James Penrice and Niall Keown, to keep the score, at least temporarily, at 0-0.

2) Superb ball-winning attack-halting tackle by James Penrice just before half time.

3) Stuart Bannigan took a really sore tackle which resulted in Draper's dismissal, but seemed to survive it OK. 

Being able to take positives out of yesterdays display you should be a manager. Is your application in yet ?

[lady-isobel-barnett]

8 hours ago, partickthedog said:

3) Stuart Bannigan took a really sore tackle which resulted in Draper's dismissal, but seemed to survive it OK. 

Being rather random here and off on a tangent.

I know some folk have said Draper is the type of player that we need.  I agree we're short of physicality in central midfield and he fits the bill in terms of having that bit of dig we're missing. The other side of the coin tho' is we have to be careful with what type of "hard man" we sign. His team winning 2-0 with maybe 60 seconds or so to play and Draper lunges in to a tackle like that. Looked to me it could've been a straight red. Complete idiot.

More to the point all this talk of Ian McCall reminds me of one near constant in his time at Firhill, David Rowson. I don't think punters would be looking back on McCall's tenure with the rosy tinted gregories if he had had a player in the anchor role that was an utter liability. On the contrary Rowson was rarely even suspended and as reliable as any player I've seen.  His reliability made the whole team tick. A fit Isaac Osbourne would've done the same at a division up. 

I maintain whichever manager we get he has to get that role in the team sorted asap. Shaky defenders become that bit less shaky when they've got a defensive mid they can rely on in front of them. 

[allyo]

9 hours ago, partickthedog said:

Always like to take some positives from any game, but difficult to do so from yesterday's dispiriting display.

Probably have to settle for the following:

1) Amazing last ditch defending-save from Jamie Sneddon, followed by blocks from James Penrice and Niall Keown, to keep the score, at least temporarily, at 0-0.

2) Superb ball-winning attack-halting tackle by James Penrice just before half time.

3) Stuart Bannigan took a really sore tackle which resulted in Draper's dismissal, but seemed to survive it OK. 

Was so happy to see Bannigan getting up. Hope he's okay. 

[Woodstock Jag]

31 minutes ago, lady-isobel-barnett said:

Being rather random here and off on a tangent.

I know some folk have said Draper is the type of player that we need.  I agree we're short of physicality in central midfield and he fits the bill in terms of having that bit of dig we're missing. The other side of the coin tho' is we have to be careful with what type of "hard man" we sign. His team winning 2-0 with maybe 60 seconds or so to play and Draper lunges in to a tackle like that. Looked to me it could've been a straight red. Complete idiot.

More to the point all this talk of Ian McCall reminds me of one near constant in his time at Firhill, David Rowson. I don't think punters would be looking back on McCall's tenure with the rosy tinted gregories if he had had a player in the anchor role that was an utter liability. On the contrary Rowson was rarely even suspended and as reliable as any player I've seen.  His reliability made the whole team tick. A fit Isaac Osbourne would've done the same at a division up. 

I maintain whichever manager we get he has to get that role in the team sorted asap. Shaky defenders become that bit less shaky when they've got a defensive mid they can rely on in front of them. 

David Rowson...

A left field shout for manager?

[RaveOnBobbyLaw]

41 minutes ago, lady-isobel-barnett said:

Being rather random here and off on a tangent.

I know some folk have said Draper is the type of player that we need.  I agree we're short of physicality in central midfield and he fits the bill in terms of having that bit of dig we're missing. The other side of the coin tho' is we have to be careful with what type of "hard man" we sign. His team winning 2-0 with maybe 60 seconds or so to play and Draper lunges in to a tackle like that. Looked to me it could've been a straight red. Complete idiot.

More to the point all this talk of Ian McCall reminds me of one near constant in his time at Firhill, David Rowson. I don't think punters would be looking back on McCall's tenure with the rosy tinted gregories if he had had a player in the anchor role that was an utter liability. On the contrary Rowson was rarely even suspended and as reliable as any player I've seen.  His reliability made the whole team tick. A fit Isaac Osbourne would've done the same at a division up. 

I maintain whichever manager we get he has to get that role in the team sorted asap. Shaky defenders become that bit less shaky when they've got a defensive mid they can rely on in front of them. 

This.  A no nonsense midfield boss should have been Archie’s absolute priority, instead he ends up scrambling around and signing Ntwambe. That and not signing a right back were his  final transfer calamities. 

[Weebaw1]

14 hours ago, lady-isobel-barnett said:

I'm far from convinced that you actually believe that. Most of us I'm sure already know the likes of Quitongo and Fitzpatrick are good players with considerable potential to improve. I very much doubt it was stubbornness that precluded them from being played. One wasn't even match fit.

So if they’re so good why the Hell didn’t they ever play?

If it wasn’t stubbornness, then crass stupidity!

[lady-isobel-barnett]

1 hour ago, Weebaw1 said:

So if they’re so good why the Hell didn’t they ever play?

If it wasn’t stubbornness, then crass stupidity!

Quitongo is recovering fitness and Fitzpatrick is a very young lad with great potential. If you believe it's crass stupidity to slowly introduce into the first team a 17 year old, who in turn only last season was being slowly introduced into the U20s, well then that's your opinion.  Clearly that policy worked well when he was a 16 year old. From what I've seen of Melbourne he looks useful going forward but Penrice appears to be the better defender. Admittedly James could have played in centre mid to accommodate Melbourne. Perhaps playing beside Banzo and thus having two left sided centre mids wasn't considered exactly ideal? 

It doesn't mean because things haven't worked out for a manager that everything he did do was wrong. In my mind if Archie had brought in a competent right back and a hard but clean tackling defensive midfielder he may well be still in a job. I very much doubt that playing Melbourne, Fitzpatrick and a recovering Quitongo would've saved his fate. 

 

[laukat]

1 hour ago, lady-isobel-barnett said:

In my mind if Archie had brought in a competent right back and a hard but clean tackling defensive midfielder he may well be still in a job

Spot on. Unfortunately Archie had a unexplainable love for Elliot as a fullback. Wanting to make Elliot first choice right back was not great, having no cover for that position was unforgiveable. Elliot's had a decent amount of injuries and its hard to fathom how he thought he could go the full season with no cover.

It gets worse when you think back to last season particularly in the games after the split the desire to play Elliot at either right or left back just defied belief when you consider we had Penrice and Dumbaya available. Its not difficult to see how some of the players start to lose faith in the management with bizarre decisions such as that.

I actually think with Bannigan returning we had enough of a midfield to protect the defence and he was slightly unfortunate in Gordon getting injured just as he appeared to be settling into the role of holding midfielder. If you also add in McCarthy's injury there are a number of midfield options so its harsh to be too critical of the recruitment in that area.

There are other problems in the squad. We have so many attacking players that a lot of them will struggle for any game time and when players don't play they start to get unsettled. To me that came about because we made signings that were either knee-jerk to fill the squad (Mutombo) or opportunistic (Coulibally, Quitongo). If these were genuine planned signings you would have expected either Mutombo to start more games or Quitongo to have signed for longer than 6 months.

For the new manager after he gets a right back his next priority may well be trimming the number of attackers in the squad.

[Weebaw1]

On 10/7/2018 at 4:40 PM, lady-isobel-barnett said:

Quitongo is recovering fitness and Fitzpatrick is a very young lad with great potential. If you believe it's crass stupidity to slowly introduce into the first team a 17 year old, who in turn only last season was being slowly introduced into the U20s, well then that's your opinion.  Clearly that policy worked well when he was a 16 year old. From what I've seen of Melbourne he looks useful going forward but Penrice appears to be the better defender. Admittedly James could have played in centre mid to accommodate Melbourne. Perhaps playing beside Banzo and thus having two left sided centre mids wasn't considered exactly ideal? 

It doesn't mean because things haven't worked out for a manager that everything he did do was wrong. In my mind if Archie had brought in a competent right back and a hard but clean tackling defensive midfielder he may well be still in a job. I very much doubt that playing Melbourne, Fitzpatrick and a recovering Quitongo would've saved his fate. 

 

Convoluted and over elaborate.

Get our best players playing!

[Third Lanark]

On 10/7/2018 at 4:40 PM, lady-isobel-barnett said:

Quitongo is recovering fitness and Fitzpatrick is a very young lad with great potential. If you believe it's crass stupidity to slowly introduce into the first team a 17 year old, who in turn only last season was being slowly introduced into the U20s, well then that's your opinion.  Clearly that policy worked well when he was a 16 year old. From what I've seen of Melbourne he looks useful going forward but Penrice appears to be the better defender. Admittedly James could have played in centre mid to accommodate Melbourne. Perhaps playing beside Banzo and thus having two left sided centre mids wasn't considered exactly ideal? 

It doesn't mean because things haven't worked out for a manager that everything he did do was wrong. In my mind if Archie had brought in a competent right back and a hard but clean tackling defensive midfielder he may well be still in a job. I very much doubt that playing Melbourne, Fitzpatrick and a recovering Quitongo would've saved his fate. 

 

Quitongo has been with us as a player for a month and before that had been training with the club for another month- I’m at a bit of a loss as to why either his fitness is not better or why he hasn’t been given longer on the pitch 

[Jaggernaut]

Too fed up with Jagzone to have watched the highlights, so watched the Ross County equivalent.

Thistle: slow, sideways, back, slow, tip-tap, slow, sideways, slow, back,... punt.... possession lost.

County: guy gets ball, drives fast, direct right through our defence, Thistle 0 Ross County 1.

Surely it can't get worse.

[allyo]

That's the hope

[Alan Murray]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcjIYbm54-I

County got lucky on the first goal and not sure what Elliot is doing for the pen.