Just In From Perth

[Big Col]

What are you looking for from our full backs? For most other weeks SOD has been criticised for his end product and today was no different however he defended very well particularly in the second half when he was targeted and coped very well.

Yep, no complaints about defending - coped well with what was thrown at him. My main gripe today was losing the ball too often and also miscontrolling the ball. But still young and will learn from today, just as the other players will continue to learn.

[jags on tour]

Fracas? Where abouts? I was up the back, behind the goal to the left of the camera and didn't see anything!

 

It was to the right of the tv camera, some fold were standing at the back of the stand , then I heard some guy and girl yelling at someone infront, looks like they nearly came to blows!

[Veejag]

Remember that guys like Bannigan and SOD are not yet at their natural physical peak yet. 3rd game in a week played at a high tempo and an insane amount of games in 2013.

 

Hope we can get them going again for a week on Monday.

[cjag78]

Great first half but in the second we were guilty of letting them play a bit,I was really impressed with dools and think he will get better and better the more games he gets, i also thought bannigan was much improved until he stopped chasing and i also saw him shirk at least two challenges again.

 

Higginbottom had three men round him when he got the ball for most of the second aswell but i thought any threat we had dissapeared when he went of and appart from a few powder puff shots Elliot did nothing for 90 mins, i am happy to be corrected but i dont remember him having a great game when he has started.Gallagher could have done better with there goal it looked like it went right under him from where i was but the defence were guilty of letting them get the shot off.

 

I also think in the last 20 christie and bannigan looked shattered and would have liked to have seen forbes and lawless come on forbes must be wondering what he needs to do to get a run in the team, he has been decent when he has got in.There defence looked tired and Lawless, Forbes and ( i might get shot for saying this but ) Baird would have caused them problems and if those two were on with fresh legs we would have maybe took the three points and i just dont understand Craigen for higginbottom when youve got attacking options on the bench.

 

All in all it is a good point away from home and for most of the game we looked much better than them.

 

P.s. Murray Davidson is a p***k and should have been aff, he did nothing but foul all day ( i counted seven ) and it took the ref till 70 mins to speak to him.

[Trotter]

 

P.s. Murray Davidson is a p***k and should have been aff, he did nothing but foul all day ( i counted seven ) and it took the ref till 70 mins to speak to him.

 

Murray Davidson one of these footballers who thought he was destined for bigger things when linked with Sevco & had trials lined up down South.

 

Then he ended up back where he started within a couple of months.

 

Not sure what the hype was if yesterday anything to go by!

 

Edited September 29, 2013 by Trotter

[dougthejag]

I haven't managed to get to any games this season - hoping to rectify soon - but read the forum with interest after each game. Most games seem to follow the same pattern. We do well in the first half. Opposition reorganise at half time and come at us in second half.

[Scott J]

Just saw the goal. Good finish from dools but why did the saints defender let it in? If you watch it he is close enough to clear then almost stops as if he is letting it run out. Cheers mate!

[JeanieD]

Both side will probably be disappointed about the goals they lost.

[The Sunnylaw Jag]

Just saw the goal. Good finish from dools but why did the saints defender let it in? If you watch it he is close enough to clear then almost stops as if he is letting it run out. Cheers mate!

I think it's only til you see from the back of the goal it seems to be travelling faster and further away from him than it does from other angles.

[lady-isobel-barnett]

Against Motherwell and Aberdeen we were slow coming out the blocks. In every other league match we've dominated the first half. Can throw in the game at Tannadice as well. Yesterday we scored in the first half for only the second time in nine against top division opponents. The Herald is reporting 8 goals from 92 attempts at goal in the 8 league matches and I'd imagine the majority of these attempts were in the first 45 minutes. Clearly a pattern of not hammering home our first half superiority is emerging. It also means that teams are regrouping at half time and dealing more effectively with us. That in turn might mean when we play them again they'll be organised from the off.

 

The down side of not being able to score and/or requiring another striker has been done to death on here. We've got to live with that till January at least and perhaps in financial reality till the end of the season. My gut feeling tells me we'll be alright this season but I also feel the cushion we have at the moment from the play off spot is crucial. I hope if we continue playing the way we've been doing the fans will still turn out in numbers and that dropped points won't affect the crowd to much. We need that extra revenue if we are to strengthen the side.

[Lenziejag]

Having just watched the game on alba, I don't think any of the players deserve criticism for the performance. As has been said Bannigan has been a bit off in the last couple of games, but was involved a lot yesterday. I didn't see anything wrong with SOD's performance. Dools deservedly man of the match closely followed by Conrad and Osbourne,who definitely adds a bit of muscle. Really think we are a match or better than 7 or 8, and don't have any fears for the Hibs match.

 

[lady-isobel-barnett]

Far from thinking SOD had a good game by his standards. His control let him down too many times. However defensively he was fine, tho' I can't remember his involvement when they scored. Also he was often up against Brian Easton, who had a relatively quiet match. Anyone who has seen Easton play will know for a defender he can be tricky and certainly takes a lot of watching.

[Garscube Road End]

Thought SOD defended well, and I think his defensive abilities have improved. His distribution leaves a bit to be desired, but he's young enough to learn.Osbourne looks immense.

[Jaggyman]

Feel the criticism of SOD is a bit harsh he did a lot of good work defensively although he wasn't at his best going forward. Game of 2 halves we were the better team 1st half and they were better 2nd half. Some good stops from Gallacher but he looked at fault for their goal. Thought Doolan ad Osbourne were our best and thought Elliot and Higginbotham looked out of sorts. Would have taken a point before kick off and on balance of play a draw was probably the right result. Bring on the Hibees. Monajags

[Garscube Road End]

Feel the criticism of SOD is a bit harsh he did a lot of good work defensively although he wasn't at his best going forward. Game of 2 halves we were the better team 1st half and they were better 2nd half. Some good stops from Gallacher but he looked at fault for their goal. Thought Doolan ad Osbourne were our best and thought Elliot and Higginbotham looked out of sorts. Would have taken a point before kick off and on balance of play a draw was probably the right result. Bring on the Hibees. Monajags

 

Fair play to Gallacher for admitting as much on Alba.

[Willjag]

Because the likes of SOD and Bannigan have been regulars over the last season and a bit, I think we are all guilty of forgetting that they are only 21 and still learning. Consistency is a few years away yet for both these guys but the standard these two are playing to at the moment, bodes well for the future if they keep their heads screwed on.

[Alan Murray]

Just watched the game on Alba and it’s a decent performance. Happy with a point from this game.

 

Surprised Elliot survived the 90 mins, was not in the game much. I thought he should have came off instead of Higginbotham. I thought Baird should have had the last ten mins or so because Doolan tired. Chris played well and good to see getting on the score sheet. I thought he might have done a little better with some of the half chances that came his way. He took his goal very well though.

 

We need to get more players forward when we attack; too many times we only had Doolan in the box when the ball gets put in.

Gallagher was at fault for the goal but we gave MacLean too much space to shoot. Noticed a few times during the game we were slow to shut them down in dangerous areas.

 

I thought both Muirhead and Balatoni had good games at the back.

 

Osbourne has quickly become an important player for us; if he gets injured we are going to miss him especially at away games.

Edited September 29, 2013 by Alan Murray

[read'n'yell]

I think Balatoni has been absolutely solid this season (apart from the couple of slips he seems prone to) but Muirhead, I feel, has been indifferent. If you watch the game properly and count how many times he wins the ball, I would say it is only about 50% of occasions. While Balatoni probably wins the ball 80-90% of the time. I thought before the season started that it would be the other way about, but Muirhead doesn't seem to have the physical side of his game developed yet and it's allowing their strikers to win too many balls. It is something I have noticed throughout the season and has really been highlighted in his last two games. Against Kilmarnock and St Jonstone, their strikers definitely got the better of Muirhead.

 

Our defence has on the whole been good, but we will never keep a clean sheet if this isn't stamped out. While we are not scoring barrel loads of goals, clean sheets are vital in getting wins rather than draws. Muirhead has to be a lot more clever in how to defend against the better forwards in this league.

 

Another slight note about our back line - other teams defences seem to throw their bodies to block shots getting through and it means a lot less shots on target for us but we don't seem to quite have that survival last ditch instinct yet. I think Muirhead should of also blocked out St Jonstones goal yesterday, I think if it was at the other end of the park, then a body would of been thrown infront of the shot. But I'm not going to blame Muirhead for that - don't want to sound like I'm singling him out but in terms of keeping clean sheets, I think it is Muirhead that needs to improve.

 

Bannigan, again, dispointing. He needs time on the bench - I see Higginbotham played the central of the forward three midfielders to accomodate Bannigan getting the left side which is obviously more suited to him. Felt it hampered Higginbotham and outwith the first 20 mins Bannigan failed to do anything of note. Craigen is a ready made player for that central slot behind the striker, and Higginbotham/ Lawless and backup of Elliot/ Forbes are perfect for the wide roles. I also think the Osbourne/ Welsh partnership works a treat sitting infront of the defence, so there is no room for Bannigan atm.

 

Really pleased for Doolan, I think he has proven in past couple of games he's our number 1 just now, but as other mentioned he drifted out later in the game and would like to of seen Baird brought on. Really impressed as well with Sinclair, who has managed the step up much better than I thought. O'Donnell - it's not quite happening yet. Solid in defence but needs to work on his passing and crossing but as a defender first and foremost I have no complaints - got a feeling McMillan will really push him for a place when fit though.

 

Happy with Galacher, yes probably should of saved the goal but made a few decent saves as well. Good backup to Fox.

[cyprusjag]

Couple of observations

Just as well Doolins goal came in first 6 mins-don't think he would have had the energy if it had been the last 6 mins.He worked his socks off

And please when we have headers at goal could we try and head the ball down-all our headers seem to be at a nice height for the keeper.Well played guys

[Armand2]

Considering we have rarely left McDiarmid Park with any points in recent times, I was relatively pleased with the result yesterday. Both teams will feel like they could have won the game but I think a draw was a fair result.

 

We started the game brightly and were using the width of the pitch to spread the ball about quite well. The goal came as a result of a more direct approach; ball in behind a very cumbersome St Johnstone defence and Doolan did excellently to round Mannus and squeeze the ball in from what looked like a very tight angle. He had another couple of good chances, one in particular sticks in my mind, and Higginbotham found himself in some decent positions but was reluctant to have a pop.

 

As others have said, it was very similar to numerous games this season where we were in the ascendency yet never capitalised on our dominance and we paid the price with a really poor goal. Archie mentioned something about a foul in the build-up but I can't say I noticed anything; what I did notice, and not for the first time this season, was some pretty pedestrian defending from O'Donnell - out of position, dallying back and to compound matters, turning his back on the shot - and a total lack of defending from Christie. From where I was sitting, Gallacher definitely looked unsighted but perhaps could have gotten down quicker.

 

The second half was end-to-end and the game became quite stretched which would have suited Lawless, in my opinion; not sure whether he was carrying a knock or if Archie simply didn't want to disrupt the shape of the team but I was surprised by the lack of substitutes especially considering the exertions of the midweek game at Tannadice.

 

Individually, I thought Doolan was superb and is the complete antithesis to Baird; clever movement, great technique, excellent link-up play and a constant threat to the St Johnstone defence. Higginbotham had quite an industrious game and was beginning to exploit the space that was appearing as St Johnstone pushed for a winner; was a little surprised that he was subbed instead of Christie. Special mention to Osbourne who had his best performance in a Thistle jersey, in my opinion; he will be invaluable against more physical teams. I thought the triangle of Gallacher, Balatoni and Muirhead was solid and, yet again, the latter two kept May very quiet.

 

Bannigan looks tired and shirked a couple of tackles which is quite unlike him. Perhaps he is carrying a slight injury and is conscious of doing further damage but I heard similar stories last week. Christie deserved his start but didn't do nearly enough; very good impact player but nothing more at this moment in time. That said, I would definitely advocate him starting against Inverness as we'll need to match them physically and Lawless could get bullied out of the game.

 

With eight games gone, I think there's a noticeable gulf in class in this league. Aberdeen and Dundee United are comfortably the best teams we have played; Motherwell completely nullified us in the first half but were really no great shakes whereas St Mirren and Hearts were on par with last season's opposition (I missed the County and Killie matches). I expect Inverness to fall into the "best" category along with Celtic, of course. I suspect Hibs will be similar to St Johnstone and will fall somewhere in between. If we can iron out a few kinks and Doolan can start to find the net regularly, there's absolutely no reason why we shouldn't be challenging for sixth place.