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Thistle vs QotS Thread


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3 hours ago, lady-isobel-barnett said:

Didn't think Bannigan had a great game by any means but amazing how quick folk forget his performance at Inverness. What both the player and the management team need to concentrate on is what went right the week before. The positive being that Bannigan isn't a spent force even if we've only one game to go on. If there's a negative it is his inability as a senior player to lead and maybe requires to be led.

I was surprised Cole didn't start on Saturday but I was also quite surprised he didn't start at Inverness as well. Guess  McCall went with the team performance ahead of Cole's individual performance during the week. Personally think a Cole/Banzo partnership in central midfield is well worth trying. Doesn't of course deal with the lack of an out and out defensive mid, something I suspect will be on the shopping list come January. 

I hope you're right, but I came away on Saturday wondering what to make of, and being alarmed slightly at,  McCall's (alleged) statement that 'Bannigan is the best midfielder in the division'. I fail to see that, and it wasn't just Saturday's performance that made me feel that, but he has been the centrepiece of the tip-tap machine that very often goes nowhere very slowly. The role he plays in is to create and we haven't done much creating over the course of a year - the Inverness result begins to look like the exception not the rule. As ever, will be delighted to be proven wrong. 

I do think a Cole/Banzo combination might be worth trying, the suspicion being that these two may be too similar in approach (as, it seems to me, Zanatta and Cardle are). I thought that might have been why Cole didn't start alongside Banzo.

Still slightly concerned at Bunter's rather rose-tinted view of the game. We lost at home to the second bottom in the division.

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Banzo is still the same style of player he was when we won promotion to the premier and the season following. He hasn't changed, but the quality of player around him has. I was very critical of him when he got sent off against Ayr but I thought he had a reasonable game at the weekend. People expect him to be super creative but that simply wont happen. He is a link man in the vein of Scott Brown. I agree that a combination of him and Cole should be explored. As for the manager giving a perhaps overly positive review of the game, what do people expect? The team are short of confidence so why diminish that any further. 

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1 minute ago, dl1971 said:

Banzo is still the same style of player he was when we won promotion to the premier and the season following. He hasn't changed, but the quality of player around him has. I was very critical of him when he got sent off against Ayr but I thought he had a reasonable game at the weekend. People expect him to be super creative but that simply wont happen. He is a link man in the vein of Scott Brown. I agree that a combination of him and Cole should be explored. As for the manager giving a perhaps overly positive review of the game, what do people expect? The team are short of confidence so why diminish that any further. 

I'd started writing exactly the same. He was pivotal (literally) in the best Thistle team I've ever seen. Unfortunately he's now pivotal in a very ineffective team.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think his form is what it was, but I don't think he's changed too much

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This is the first game I've been to in a while.  I work most Saturdays unfortunately, but had the chance to go for a change.

1st half

Our centre backs were out fought on the ground and in the air,  QoS looked stronger and more agile.  We rarely won, or got anywhere near the second ball, inviting a lot of  pressure.  To be fair we never really seemed to get the break of the ball, but you make your own luck by hard work.  The defence looked fragile and QoS very dangerous every time they came forward.  Outstanding save from Fox.  Some good work down the left from Robson who looked fairly decent at left back.  Most of our problems seemed to come from giving or losing possession too easily and allowing QoS to break on us.

2nd half

A much improved performance (I thought - though most disagree).  We seemed to gain momentum and really should have taken the lead.  The handball was a stonewall penalty for me, but in any case I'm not quite sure how the follow up effort didn't end up in the net.  Up until Queens started timewasting (their first "injured" player) I thought there was only going to be one winner.

The delay in game cost us momentum and we lost our way for a while, and it was almost inevitable that QoS would score.  They did, and then they continued to manage the game in a similar vein.  At times we did build momentum, and Kenny Miller really should've scored with his free header, although it must be said the Queens defence were mostly comfortable in repulsing our attacks.  Cole added something extra when he came on, but the second penalty shout would've been a travesty if given (wouldn't've complained mind you).

Second very good stop from Fox as well and I'll admit that it did feel like we could get a goal.

 

Overall - we have to be taking points of QoS but it was a game either side could have won - Queens took their chance, we didn't.  I would echo the lack of players in the box when presented with crossing opportunities, and that there needs to be an improvement in quality of cross delivery.

However, there are signs of improvement and that the team seems to be looking to play a quicker more expansive game.  Having seen Thistle play twice on TV so far this season, those performances were nothing short of shambolic.  There is at least cohesion now in this side.  We'll play worse and win under McCall I think.  

Cautiously optimistic.

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I don't think the criticism of Bannigan equates to scapegoating or 'hate' - we've all seen what he can do over the years - but he's clearly not the player to drive the team's play. He's best at threading play together, short passes to bring other players into the game (for older fans, a bit like Alex Rae!), but he's not going to run things.

I've always known he favoured his left foot, but this season he's beginning to look like a negative image of Paul Paton - always moving to get the ball onto his preferred foot. It means the ball sticks with him for longer than it needs to and our play becomes ponderous and predictable.

Cole, on the other hand, is capable of recycling the ball quickly and getting it forward at speed. (Whether our forwards are up to doing anything with it when they get it is another matter.)

Bannigan can be a hugely effective player, but I think he needs to be playing further up the park. (He used to score goals. What happened to that?) He's not suited to the 'quarterback' role he's being asked to play.

If anyone can get the best out of him, McCall can.

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One of the consistent failures of coaching here has been to get players to use both feet competently. Paton is just one example, but Bannigan and Erskine have also shown a tendency to become more, not less, one-footed as time went on. Why does this happen when other players like Doolan have obviously worked to overcome that kind of weakness? Zanatta is another player who clearly feels one foot is only for standing on, and it will be interesting to see if that is picked up and worked on.

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34 minutes ago, Fearchar said:

One of the consistent failures of coaching here has been to get players to use both feet competently. Paton is just one example, but Bannigan and Erskine have also shown a tendency to become more, not less, one-footed as time went on. Why does this happen when other players like Doolan have obviously worked to overcome that kind of weakness? Zanatta is another player who clearly feels one foot is only for standing on, and it will be interesting to see if that is picked up and worked on.

Strangely (or perhaps not so strangely when you think about) a one footed left sided player can get away with this deficiency more than a right sided one footer. Can mind  asking McCall years ago about Paton only being able to use his right foot. He agreed and pointed out that difference between lefties and righties.

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2 hours ago, lady-isobel-barnett said:

Strangely (or perhaps not so strangely when you think about) a one footed left sided player can get away with this deficiency more than a right sided one footer. Can mind  asking McCall years ago about Paton only being able to use his right foot. He agreed and pointed out that difference between lefties and righties.

Hmm. So why is it different? Just because there are statistically more places available for left sided players?

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18 hours ago, allyo said:

Hmm. So why is it different? Just because there are statistically more places available for left sided players?

My suspicion would be that left-footed players are more difficult to get used to (simply because of numbers), and so attacking left-footed players pose more of a problem for most defending players. That extra touch of unpredictability may even be useful for defenders who are tackling, too.

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Aye that's how I take it as well, more statistical than anything else.

Probably taking it a bit too far but a natural left sided player should in theory get more competitive game time than his equivalent right sided counterparts. With that extra game time it may make the player slightly less one footed to support Semi's post???

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23 hours ago, Fearchar said:

One of the consistent failures of coaching here has been to get players to use both feet competently. Paton is just one example, but Bannigan and Erskine have also shown a tendency to become more, not less, one-footed as time went on. Why does this happen when other players like Doolan have obviously worked to overcome that kind of weakness? Zanatta is another player who clearly feels one foot is only for standing on, and it will be interesting to see if that is picked up and worked on.

Agree completely . But what age is Zanatta?

Working on your weaker foot should be getting drilled into them before they have left primary school.

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On 10/9/2019 at 12:33 PM, Emsca said:

Agree completely . But what age is Zanatta?

Working on your weaker foot should be getting drilled into them before they have left primary school.

Aye that Messi is pure shite and don't start me on Maradona...

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