Thistle vs. Ayr

[javeajag]

Well his other comments to the press at least indicate he knows things and players need to change ... the official site questions are always positive and putting a positive spin on everything 

we need a bit of realism ... the teams not good enough , the players are not good enough 

[Third Lanark]

10 hours ago, Weebaw1 said:

We only conceded 1 goal. That’s not too bad.

But we score o goals nearly every week.  Storey and Spittal are supposed to be attackers and they play every week. Ask yourselves if this is related.  

Who wants to watch this garbage? 

I agree our defence is shaky but the palpable lack of goals needs addressed first.

I thought Christie was our only ‘pass’ today. I hope he can maintain some good form.

 

Doolan and erskine are also supposed to score goals - it’s amazing how lightly they get off compared to the others 

[laukat]

8 minutes ago, javeajag said:

we need a bit of realism ... the teams not good enough , the players are not good enough 

Here's hoping the manager is good enough. A lot rests on it.

[eljaggo]

In the Caldwell quote from the National mentioned above, he refers to the January transfer window, but apparently not to loan signings.  If the Club is as financially healthy as is believed, there is presumably no restriction in hiring loanees before the transfer window opens i.e. now.  Leaving changes until January might be too late, even if many good players are signed.  I would hope that Caldwell is actively seeking loan players at the moment. 

[a f kincaid]

Talking about reality...where do people expect to pick decent players in the January window?  It’s typified by clubs offloading players they want rid of.  Unless the club are prepared to spend some decent money actually tempting clubs to release their better players, all the window will do is stir the dross.  I originally thought we had a bunch of Premiership players who thought they were too good for the Championship.  Now I’m wondering if we’ve got League One players who think they’re good enough for this division.  Other posters on here are right.  There needs to be some serious decisions taken about some senior players who can’t hack it any more.  No-one is bigger than the club.  It’s becoming a laughingstock.

[Barney Rubble]

9 minutes ago, eljaggo said:

In the Caldwell quote from the National mentioned above, he refers to the January transfer window, but apparently not to loan signings.  If the Club is as financially healthy as is believed, there is presumably no restriction in hiring loanees before the transfer window opens i.e. now.  Leaving changes until January might be too late, even if many good players are signed.  I would hope that Caldwell is actively seeking loan players at the moment. 

We're maxed out on available loans at the moment. We already have Scobbie and Gordon, so can't bring anyone else in from the Scottish league.

[Norgethistle]

32 minutes ago, laukat said:

 

The whole reason for a new manager was the current squad was underperforming and a new manager could get more out of them. I'm not seeing any eveidence of that. If he thought he couldn't improve the squad then surely when accepting the post he should have insisted on signing a couple of unsigned players immediately to get points on the board?

 

 

They’re are a few underperforming but the majority are duds, not good enough for this league, 1 or 2 can be carried by a team but when the core of the team are not footballers they will bring the few players we have down.

Year after year of poor signings have left us in this mess

[Fawlty Towers]

11 minutes ago, eljaggo said:

In the Caldwell quote from the National mentioned above, he refers to the January transfer window, but apparently not to loan signings.  If the Club is as financially healthy as is believed, there is presumably no restriction in hiring loanees before the transfer window opens i.e. now.  Leaving changes until January might be too late, even if many good players are signed.  I would hope that Caldwell is actively seeking loan players at the moment. 

I thought that the rules had changed with regards to loan signings so that the only players we could bring in prior to January would be those currently without a club.

[jlsarmy]

18 minutes ago, Third Lanark said:

Doolan and erskine are also supposed to score goals - it’s amazing how lightly they get off compared to the others 

Doolan didn’t play yesterday and Erskine came on as a sub , in the last two games how many chances have we created for our forwards to score , Doolan is still making the same runs he did when Lawless or Erskine would feed him in , there is no one in the team who has got the ability to create chances ( maybe Erskine apart ) , no midfielder pushing forward to create a 3 v 2 situation.

Any Centre forward in our team would struggle to score goals such is the balance of our team .

[laukat]

2 minutes ago, a f kincaid said:

 I originally thought we had a bunch of Premiership players who thought they were too good for the Championship.  Now I’m wondering if we’ve got League One players who think they’re good enough for this division

In my opinion the players are good enough for this level bar a couple of exceptions. If you look at their past records I don't think any of them have played at a lower level than were they are just now. To me that suggests there is something wrong with the collective mindset and culture.

We need someone at the club to drive a new sense of purpose and get the playing squad to work as a unit. Archie for his failings had that until we finished top 6 and then it was almost as if he had reached his pinnacle and didn't know where to go next.

There is an inbalance in the playing squad (too many forwards, too little defenders and even less right sided options). There is also no-one on the field for the current thistle team that opposition players fear going into a tackle with or that any of the Thistle team fear getting a b*llocking from.

[jim slavin's lunchbox]

Let me say firstly that as we appointed GC as manger, he should be given time and resources to build a team that reflects him and his ideas.  What worries me is that he seems to come from the same modern day coaching school as our previous manager ie football by numbers/ transition/ possession etc. IMO totally wrong for the position and league that we are in.  I’m also concerned about some ideas that are still being peddled around such as promotion and the supposed fact that we have a talented squad.  I agree that the manager should have a good look at the team and decide who can do it and who can’t but players such as spittal, storey, erskine, are the reason we are in this mess in the first place.  Add to that storer, slater, mutumbo, Ntambwe and you have back to back relegation.  I’ve heard a lot about our attacking options but our lack of goals proves that we really have no options at all.  Don’t even get me started on the defence.  That’s just plain and simple mismanagement.  

[Auld Jag]

Just now, JAG1970 said:

Caldwell appears to have given a very different perspective of the game / our general situation to the media, compared to his “soft” one on Jagzone. I can’t find an online link to share but The National quotes him:

”This club... should be higher up this league. We are where we are for a reason and that has to change. Players maybe think the manager keeps changing in modern day football , but the players will change.  If you’re falling out of favour with PTFC in the championship where do you go after that? 

The January window is coming up and I’ll find the reason we aren’t winning and make changes to make this club better and stronger and fighting up the other end of the table”. 

Clearly unimpressed with the squad but he will need to find a way of winning games before January!

Hope he is kicking a few backsides. As I have said before his managerial career could be on the line. Fail with us where next for Caldwell? But even worse we could end up in league 1.

[westertonjagfan]

46 minutes ago, jlsarmy said:

Doolan didn’t play yesterday and Erskine came on as a sub , in the last two games how many chances have we created for our forwards to score , Doolan is still making the same runs he did when Lawless or Erskine would feed him in , there is no one in the team who has got the ability to create chances ( maybe Erskine apart ) , no midfielder pushing forward to create a 3 v 2 situation.

Any Centre forward in our team would struggle to score goals such is the balance of our team .

Spot on. 

[dougie247]

who is all out of contract in January?

are our loans full season?

[javeajag]

I think this is a good discussion on where we are .... no personal abuse or vitriol just trying to work out where we are and what we need to do ... 

the manager must be given time and he has indicated he will try and do things in January ... let’s hope he can steady the ship before then 

on Doolan he’s a penalty box striker and if we don’t get good balls to him there we won’t score that lack of creativity is telling 

[dl1971]

Was Doolan dropped or injured?

[laukat]

18 minutes ago, dougie247 said:

who is all out of contract in January?

are our loans full season?

Jeffries, Melbourne and Scobbie's loan deals expire in January. Quitongo and Bannigan are out of contract in January

[javeajag]

20 minutes ago, dl1971 said:

Was Doolan dropped or injured?

injured

[Jaggernaut]

13 minutes ago, laukat said:

Jeffries, Melbourne and Scobbie's loan deals expire in January. Quitongo and Bannigan are out of contract in January

With the possible exception of Bannigan, show them all the door!

[lady-isobel-barnett]

Gotta say I was surprised at the set up yesterday. Even if the defence had been playing solidly I'd not have wanted to see Bannigan in a dual role. He's not above criticism as a playmaker but as a rule he's our most influential player and makes by far the best use of the ball. He ain't tho' equipped to break up play and ill judged tackling has always been a weakness. 

Surprised then if we were going with three up front that he didn't have someone a bit stronger to play alongside him. I realise that with Gordon injured that someone had to be Brice or Storer (McCarthy at a push). Players that maybe are not starters for a good reason. But then why line up that way in the first place?  A midfield trio of Spittal, Bannigan and Slater is incredibly weak from a defensive point of view. Mutombo and Storey offer little tracking back and certainly only help bolster a weak midfield marginally. 

Not over keen on a 4-3-3 on a big pitch unless the full backs are charging forward but with no effective midfield cover that's hardly an option. Given the circumstances yesterday I wouldn't be too critical of the back four, both as a unit and in individual performance. They were exposed for much of the game especially when Ayr were on the break. Shaky tho' they have been with proper protection in midfield they just might not be the worst of our worries. With three front men supported by two non defensive midfielders we should have been creating far more goal chances, and not scoring from what little we did create are in my mind a bigger concern than our defensive frailties. 

 

[laukat]

Just now, Jaggernaut said:

With the possible exception of Bannigan, show them all the door!

I would sign Quitongo and Bannigan on longer deals. Melbourne might be worth retaining as cover for penrice or to allow him to move to midfield or left sided central defender

Jeffries and Scobbie need to go to allow a right back and right-sided centre back to replace Elliot and challenge/replace Keown.

On top of this we need to sign a leader in midfield who can kick a few backsides mid-game.

[laukat]

3 minutes ago, lady-isobel-barnett said:

Not over keen on a 4-3-3 on a big pitch unless the full backs are charging forward but with no effective midfield cover that's hardly an option

Agree with this. I think if we play 4-3-3 we need to play Bannigan, McCarthy and Brice so that when we defend we are much more compact 4-5-1. Best we've played in recent weeks was the last half hour against Dundee United were we had a midfield of Bannigan, McCarthy and Slater. It allowed Mutombo, Quitongo and Erskine to sit right on their 3 centre backs when we attacked and United struggled to get out of their own half.

Slater has been reasonable but I think we need to sacrifice his creativity to make ourselves harder to beat so I woudl go for Brice instead of Slater. I think we should be going for the following

Bell

Christie-Keown-McGinty-Penrice

McCarthy-Brice-Bannigan

Erskine-Quitongo- Coulibally

I've seen a few comments questioning esrkine but he still appears to be the one most likely to create goals. We are in such a desperate state right now that we need players that will dig in so if for nly that reason Spittal and Storey need a spell on the sidelines

 

 

[Steevo]

I think Slater has been one of our better players this season so find it surprising he’s taking a fair bit of criticism on here. Bannigan gets caught on the ball and we lose a goal from it,then yesterday Slater was told to go deep and start play from there because Bannigan kept misplacing passes. Second half Bannigan looked knackered yet escaped with little criticism. Yesterday the goal was lost because of our defenders and Bells inability to clear or catch in his 6yd box. Yet again the midfield is called into question. Then people say Spittal should have took the free kick late on but he’s had a few free kicks and not scored so didn’t see anything wrong in someone else being given the chance. The manager sees our players up close all week and will pick players he obviously feels can do a job, but there’s guys  on here for instance saying we should play Jeffries and Melbourne etc. There’s a reason why these guys haven’t pushed into the starting lineup even when we are struggling and that’s because they’re no better than who’s starting. I do feel sorry for Sneddon though because I think the lad should have kept his place. 

[Weebaw1]

3 hours ago, laukat said:

Agree with this. I think if we play 4-3-3 we need to play Bannigan, McCarthy and Brice so that when we defend we are much more compact 4-5-1. Best we've played in recent weeks was the last half hour against Dundee United were we had a midfield of Bannigan, McCarthy and Slater. It allowed Mutombo, Quitongo and Erskine to sit right on their 3 centre backs when we attacked and United struggled to get out of their own half.

Slater has been reasonable but I think we need to sacrifice his creativity to make ourselves harder to beat so I woudl go for Brice instead of Slater. I think we should be going for the following

Bell

Christie-Keown-McGinty-Penrice

McCarthy-Brice-Bannigan

Erskine-Quitongo- Coulibally

I've seen a few comments questioning esrkine but he still appears to be the one most likely to create goals. We are in such a desperate state right now that we need players that will dig in so if for nly that reason Spittal and Storey need a spell on the sidelines

 

 

Seems a reasonable team to me though I’d move Penrice to CM instead of Ntambwe and give Melbourne a go.

At the moment I can’t see a way out. We lose 0-1 against crap every week and I don’t even get grumpy any more. Had a pint pre match yesterday but accepted defeat before ko, just like the players.

It reminds me of fatboy Johnstone’s reign and all those pre Lambie dark days. We need someone to pull us out of despondency. NOW. I call on the magnificent Chris Erskine to provide an Indian summer to his career and cheer us all up.

[Moantherags]

1 hour ago, Steevo said:

I think Slater has been one of our better players this season so find it surprising he’s taking a fair bit of criticism on here. Bannigan gets caught on the ball and we lose a goal from it,then yesterday Slater was told to go deep and start play from there because Bannigan kept misplacing passes. Second half Bannigan looked knackered yet escaped with little criticism. Yesterday the goal was lost because of our defenders and Bells inability to clear or catch in his 6yd box. Yet again the midfield is called into question. Then people say Spittal should have took the free kick late on but he’s had a few free kicks and not scored so didn’t see anything wrong in someone else being given the chance. The manager sees our players up close all week and will pick players he obviously feels can do a job, but there’s guys  on here for instance saying we should play Jeffries and Melbourne etc. There’s a reason why these guys haven’t pushed into the starting lineup even when we are struggling and that’s because they’re no better than who’s starting. I do feel sorry for Sneddon though because I think the lad should have kept his place. 

I agree Slater has been one of our better players, but there's no way fitzpatrick is no better than some of that staring line up. Storey 49 apps 3 goals striker. Fitzpatrick 8 apps 3 goals midfielder. Come on!!