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Garscube Road End
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4 minutes ago, Emsca said:

yeah wondered how long it would take you this week.

Is that your only solution to any problem- change the management and start again?? Ad infinitum.

Yes its annoying, yes its frustrating, yes I am angry, but as a Thistle supporter I truly think this is when we need to pull together, not start looking for scapegoats.

I wondered when you would bite. Must great to be a fanboy. The club needs cleared from top to bottom. Culture of jobs for the boys. I dont expect to change anytime soon.

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59 minutes ago, Garscube Road End said:

I wondered when you would bite. Must great to be a fanboy. The club needs cleared from top to bottom. Culture of jobs for the boys. I dont expect to change anytime soon.

Gerry Britton doesnt pick the team. Archibald I get. We tried gary Caldwell and.....ironically this team currently is worse than last february. The one positive is that we are 3 points away from safety. 12 nail biters to go. 

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1 hour ago, Barney Rubble said:

I get the impression that iMac thinks he is picking the same Bannigan that he sent out on loan to Ayr 9 or so years ago. With every respect to Stuart, he is nowhere near the player he was before his injury. If he were, he wouldn't be playing for us right now.

O'Ware I knew nothing about before he signed apart from his statistics, which were decent. Like Stuart, he doesn't appear to have recovered the level of potential he supposedly had before his injury.

In summary, maybe iMac should consider moving these two on and starting afresh with new fulcra to his squad. Like others, I like the jib of Brian Graham's onfield attitude. Maybe that's a foundation to move us on from the unacceptable onfield standards that have polluted performances since 6th April 2017.

As someone who used to edit a magazine called “Fulcrum”, it is wonderful to see the plural form “fulcra” being used correctly. 
 

Barney, you have cheered me up after such a miserable performance.

I agree with you about Graham’s attitude. Also think that Penrice really cares and was the only one to put in a decent showing last night. At least he did try to straighten up our attacks and displayed some drive and determination.

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McCall needs to look at the goalkeeper situation also. 

Arthur: nice guy and club legend. However that in no way qualifies him as a competent goalkeeper coach. The quality of our keepers have steadily declined since his arrival which is a worry. Other than Scully, I think Arthur's predecessors; Hinchy and Gallacher were much better at improving the standard between the posts. 

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Think bannigan gets a lot of unfair criticism. Yes he has made mistakes and yes he probably isn’t the same player as he was, however he’s also been surrounded by a shower of absolute dross over the last two years in a very unsettled team. He never hides. I’ve seen every home game over the last two seasons and plenty away too.  He is most definitely not the problem. 
 

I actually do think however that he probably should have moved on- for his own sake given the level of stick he takes from our support. 

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Having finally calmed down after last nights debacle I’ve decide to clutch at straws...

most teams in this division are not blessed with great talent but are organised, disciplined and get stuck in. We should expect the same so here goes with my “survival 11”...

This gets off to a bad start as neither keeper fills me with confidence. So it’s the toss of a coin in that one.

O’connor. On two showings looks good to me, doesn’t shirk a tackle, is calm under pressure and has a good turn of pace.

Brownlie on one showing is good in the air, strong in the tackle and has a reasonable turn of pace.

Mayo, hasn’t played but some posters on here say he is a strong defender. Inexperienced but what choice do we have?

Penrice makes the odd critical mistake but no doubting his commitment and some good play.

Mckinnon, even if it’s 65 min a game get him biting some ankles. It’s what he’s good at.

Cole/Bannigan, neither playing well but no doubting their commitment and endeavour. Maybe a win next week will see them a little less under pressure from a volley of abuse from the stands if their next pass goes astray.

Cardle, frustrating as hell but he’s 100% determined.

Graham throws defenders all over the shop, scores goals and constantly barks at his teammates. Should be captain.

Rudden, ok not played much but believe he wants to win, has a bit of pace and aggression too. Might be the ideal partner for Graham.

i still think we’re favourites for the drop and if the management can’t get some results out of that in 12 matches then serious questions need to be asked. I welcomed McCall but he really needs to coach, organise and discipline this lot into winning games starting on Saturday. Other teams are doing it with less resources.

Anyway hope over expectation for Saturday..

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7 hours ago, laukat said:

After last nights depressing performance I've tried to get myself in a better frame of mind for what lies ahead. If you're loking for an optomistic way of looking at things then I think its the following...

With Alloa drawing last night we are only 3 points off 9th and have played the same games. Considering how bad our results have been in January we're not adrift. If QOS lose today then theoretically we could be joint 8th next Saturday if results go our way and at that point QOS would only having 1 game in hand. With QOS and Morton having to play each other twice its hard to see how we get detached so we perhaps have time to recover.

Last nights performance was awful however we were missing some first team starters who will be available for Dunfermline next week (i.e. Zanatta, Brownlie hopefully Mackinnon and Rudden) and a couple of better options for subs (Barjonas and Mayo)

The performance v Ayr at home suggested that the recruitment in January was positive with perhaps the only problem being it didn't go far enough. We should have probably signed another wide player so that we weren't reliant on Cardle. Without seeing Mayo its difficult to know how reliant we are on O'Ware at left centre back or MacKinnon as a holding midfielder.

What is obvious is that the duds in the squad are still largely still those pre-McCall. Austin, Mansell, Jones, Williamson and Robson look to be not good enough and question marks appearing over Saunders, O'Ware, Cardle, Zanatta, Fox and Gordon. So far of the McCall sigings Graham, MacKinnon, O'Connor and Brownlie are clear improvements. Hopefully Rudden and Mayo will be when we get to see them. I've not been impressed by Barjonas but the early assesment of McCall's signings suggest he still has an eye for a player therefore if we can scrape by this season then next season has promise.

With the ICT game being postponed we have 10 days to prepare for QOS at home on the 3rd March which looks like a 6 pointer.  QOS will have had to play Morton on Saturday prior to playing us which will be 2 6 pointers in a row for them so you would like to think we are getting them at the best time.

Overall I still think we won't really know have a sense of where we are until we play Morton at home on the 28th March. With 3 out of 5 at home in March and all the home fixtures against those around us (QOS, Alloa and Morton) it looks the make or break month. If we win our home games between now and Mortonon the 28th the situation will look entirely different.

This post appears to have helped my sanity to return after last night. Good post.

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4 hours ago, Garscube Road End said:

I wondered when you would bite. Must great to be a fanboy. The club needs cleared from top to bottom. Culture of jobs for the boys. I dont expect to change anytime soon.

Yeah heard it before- complete clear out and start again.  Its really that simple.

And lets just imagine , for a minute, that brings no improvement - what then???

4 hours ago, Garscube Road End said:

I wondered when you would bite. Must great to be a fanboy. The club needs cleared from top to bottom. Culture of jobs for the boys. I dont expect to change anytime soon.

 

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I don't get the calls for a clearout from top to bottom or the idea that we should get rid of McCall.

We had clearout under Archie in the summer of 2018 and we got worse GC had a clearout in January 2019 and summer 2019 and we again got worse.

At some stage we need to back a manager to take us forward and allow him to form a team.

To my mind we have got a manager in McCall and a mangement team that we should back.McCall's not perfect but I can't think of another manager that we could afford that I would rather have managing the team.

I would really love to know from those questioning McCall's position who they they think should be in charge?

If we need to look at getting a clearout its probably more those above McCall.

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54 minutes ago, laukat said:

I don't get the calls for a clearout from top to bottom or the idea that we should get rid of McCall.

We had clearout under Archie in the summer of 2018 and we got worse GC had a clearout in January 2019 and summer 2019 and we again got worse.

At some stage we need to back a manager to take us forward and allow him to form a team.

To my mind we have got a manager in McCall and a mangement team that we should back.McCall's not perfect but I can't think of another manager that we could afford that I would rather have managing the team.

I would really love to know from those questioning McCall's position who they they think should be in charge?

If we need to look at getting a clearout its probably more those above McCall.

Well said. Thankfully the vast majority of fans realise this is a rebuild job and it will take time. Replacing managers every 6 months is not viable for a club with our resources. The keyboard warriors who call for change constantly do so without a simple understanding of finance. They howl at the wind, ironic considering the weather. 

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9 hours ago, laukat said:

I don't get the calls for a clearout from top to bottom or the idea that we should get rid of McCall.

We had clearout under Archie in the summer of 2018 and we got worse GC had a clearout in January 2019 and summer 2019 and we again got worse.

At some stage we need to back a manager to take us forward and allow him to form a team.

To my mind we have got a manager in McCall and a mangement team that we should back.McCall's not perfect but I can't think of another manager that we could afford that I would rather have managing the team.

I would really love to know from those questioning McCall's position who they they think should be in charge?

If we need to look at getting a clearout its probably more those above McCall.

Out of likes. But agree completely.  People also need to be realistic about just how mad this division is this year. 

 we probably require to win 50 per cent of our remaining fixtures to survive. 
a sobering thought is that only one team in the whole division has one 50 per cent of their last 5 games! (Arbroath).  Over the last ten games (excluding Dundee United) 6 points separate 2nd in form guide to 10th. My point is because everyone picks up points from everyone else, it’s going to be exceptionally difficult to climb out of this. We need a good run whilst we need someone (probably qos) to spiral downwards. That Tuesday night game in early March looks very important to me. 
I agree the run from mid March to mid April is key and an opportunity to survive but it would mean we would have to become the form team of the division for a month. Just let that sink in. It’s hard to envisage presently. 
 

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18 hours ago, Garscube Road End said:

I wondered when you would bite. Must great to be a fanboy. The club needs cleared from top to bottom. Culture of jobs for the boys. I dont expect to change anytime soon.

Fanboy. I see this word in print a fair amount these days but have never once have I heard it used in conversation. Could somebody please elucidate?

It appears to me to be used as a mild insult but I might not be on the right track. Also can anybody be a fanboy/fangirl?  And is there an opposite (antonym) or would you just be a non-fanboy/non-fangirl?

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3 hours ago, jaf said:

Out of likes. But agree completely.  People also need to be realistic about just how mad this division is this year. 

 we probably require to win 50 per cent of our remaining fixtures to survive. 
a sobering thought is that only one team in the whole division has one 50 per cent of their last 5 games! (Arbroath).  Over the last ten games (excluding Dundee United) 6 points separate 2nd in form guide to 10th. My point is because everyone picks up points from everyone else, it’s going to be exceptionally difficult to climb out of this. We need a good run whilst we need someone (probably qos) to spiral downwards. That Tuesday night game in early March looks very important to me. 
I agree the run from mid March to mid April is key and an opportunity to survive but it would mean we would have to become the form team of the division for a month. Just let that sink in. It’s hard to envisage presently. 
 

We have 12 games left and everyone of them is key. The sooner we can start  a run  of victories the better. That is assuming we are going to start one. I do not understand how McCall got much better results from a squad he did not rate,than he has so far managed to do with a squad that is more of his choosing. I know it takes time for players to gel and we have had a few injuries. We need to see the much praised January signings coming to fruition as a team soon.

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13 hours ago, dl1971 said:

Well said. Thankfully the vast majority of fans realise this is a rebuild job and it will take time. Replacing managers every 6 months is not viable for a club with our resources. The keyboard warriors who call for change constantly do so without a simple understanding of finance. They howl at the wind, ironic considering the weather. 

It's possible to be critical of the management team without calling for them to be sacked. That's the sentiment I've encountered most since Friday.

Our form during January/February last season played a huge part in keeping us up, but we appear to have gone backwards during the same period this year, despite the backing given to the manager.

It feels to me that McCall is being judged to a different standard than some previous Thistle managers, despite the circumstances being largely the same. 

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5 minutes ago, Dark Passenger said:

It's possible to be critical of the management team without calling for them to be sacked. That's the sentiment I've encountered most since Friday.

Our form during January/February last season played a huge part in keeping us up, but we appear to have gone backwards during the same period this year, despite the backing given to the manager.

It feels to me that McCall is being judged to a different standard than some previous Thistle managers, despite the circumstances being largely the same. 

+1.

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I’ve seen a few posts referencing the fact that Penrice cares. That’s great. I care too, but I shouldn’t be playing left back either.

He’s garbage and the only reason he isn’t hounded by our fans is that he’s homegrown. He might care but his performances have been dreadful and the only reason he’s still in the team is because the only other left back is Tommy Raffle Winner Robson.

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18 minutes ago, Dark Passenger said:

It's possible to be critical of the management team without calling for them to be sacked. That's the sentiment I've encountered most since Friday.

Our form during January/February last season played a huge part in keeping us up, but we appear to have gone backwards during the same period this year, despite the backing given to the manager.

It feels to me that McCall is being judged to a different standard than some previous Thistle managers, despite the circumstances being largely the same. 

This.

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1 hour ago, Dark Passenger said:

It's possible to be critical of the management team without calling for them to be sacked. That's the sentiment I've encountered most since Friday.

Our form during January/February last season played a huge part in keeping us up, but we appear to have gone backwards during the same period this year, despite the backing given to the manager.

It feels to me that McCall is being judged to a different standard than some previous Thistle managers, despite the circumstances being largely the same. 

This day last year we beat Alloa BUT were on the cusp of a terrible run in the league......between 17th February and 23rd March last year,  we won 1, drew 1, and lost 3 - 4 points out of a possible 15 - lets hope we do better than that over the next 5 games (and I expect we will).

Then our final 7 games, we won 4, drew 2, and lost 1 - that was a great run which it is difficult to see being replicated.

Between January and May, February was our poorest month for %age of points picked up and included the abject defeat at Dunfermline!

It was actually the run at the end of season that gathered us most points

I suppose that just shows all is not yet lost.

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14 minutes ago, jaf said:

This day last year we beat Alloa BUT were on the cusp of a terrible run in the league......between 17th February and 23rd March last year,  we won 1, drew 1, and lost 3 - 4 points out of a possible 15 - lets hope we do better than that over the next 5 games (and I expect we will).

Then our final 7 games, we won 4, drew 2, and lost 1 - that was a great run which it is difficult to see being replicated.

Between January and May, February was our poorest month for %age of points picked up and included the abject defeat at Dunfermline!

It was actually the run at the end of season that gathered us most points

I suppose that just shows all is not yet lost.

And 1 January - 16 Feb?

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21 minutes ago, Dark Passenger said:

And 1 January - 16 Feb?

Sorry I wasn’t debating that point. My point was the upcoming games this year give an opportunity to redress that balance given how few pointe we picked up in them last year.  ( the rest of the form from 1 January being superb). I am just hoping our mid feb to mid March blip last year is the same as our Jan/Feb blip this year. But even if it is , it’s tricky to see us getting the same results in the other games for remainder of season that we achieved last year. For reference - 
 

january - 5 from possible 9 

february - 6 from 12 

march - 7 from 12

april - 8 from 15

may 3 from 3 

 

 

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On 2/15/2020 at 1:28 PM, laukat said:

After last nights depressing performance I've tried to get myself in a better frame of mind for what lies ahead. If you're loking for an optomistic way of looking at things then I think its the following...

With Alloa drawing last night we are only 3 points off 9th and have played the same games. Considering how bad our results have been in January we're not adrift. If QOS lose today then theoretically we could be joint 8th next Saturday if results go our way and at that point QOS would only having 1 game in hand. With QOS and Morton having to play each other twice its hard to see how we get detached so we perhaps have time to recover.

Last nights performance was awful however we were missing some first team starters who will be available for Dunfermline next week (i.e. Zanatta, Brownlie hopefully Mackinnon and Rudden) and a couple of better options for subs (Barjonas and Mayo)

The performance v Ayr at home suggested that the recruitment in January was positive with perhaps the only problem being it didn't go far enough. We should have probably signed another wide player so that we weren't reliant on Cardle. Without seeing Mayo its difficult to know how reliant we are on O'Ware at left centre back or MacKinnon as a holding midfielder.

What is obvious is that the duds in the squad are still largely still those pre-McCall. Austin, Mansell, Jones, Williamson and Robson look to be not good enough and question marks appearing over Saunders, O'Ware, Cardle, Zanatta, Fox and Gordon. So far of the McCall sigings Graham, MacKinnon, O'Connor and Brownlie are clear improvements. Hopefully Rudden and Mayo will be when we get to see them. I've not been impressed by Barjonas but the early assesment of McCall's signings suggest he still has an eye for a player therefore if we can scrape by this season then next season has promise.

With the ICT game being postponed we have 10 days to prepare for QOS at home on the 3rd March which looks like a 6 pointer.  QOS will have had to play Morton on Saturday prior to playing us which will be 2 6 pointers in a row for them so you would like to think we are getting them at the best time.

Overall I still think we won't really know have a sense of where we are until we play Morton at home on the 28th March. With 3 out of 5 at home in March and all the home fixtures against those around us (QOS, Alloa and Morton) it looks the make or break month. If we win our home games between now and Mortonon the 28th the situation will look entirely different.

How many games have we won at home? 

 

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