The Arch

Every so often I see this thread title, and think the prodigal son Derek Lyle has returned. Thought I should share.

Some good points made in this thread, but this is the best of them. It's a slow trajectory at times, but our squad is definitely improving, and has with every window.

This is what a Hibs supporting pal had to say on him. "Think he'll suit you guys. Better going forward than he is defensively. Was compared to Gareth Bale when he first broke through (don't laugh) but lost his way with a bad attitude and poor fitness levels. "Don't know if he still mixes with the same crowd, but he was in with a bad lot. But told the penny has dropped at last."

He was playing emergency right back in those games, and they're now signing a recognised right back on loan - Keith Watson from Dundee United. Think Booth would be a good signing, and I quite fancied him in the summer.

Wouldn't surprise me if SOD turns it down in the hope he gets a bosman to United in the summer. I probably would do the same.

Sounds like Dundee United are stepping up their move for SOD. Be a shame if he leaves, especially with the McMillan situation. Always been a big fan of his despite being a bit weak mentally. The horrid abuse he received from the poster Ian Mac and Dave J didn't help. Actually think Christie Elliott could make a great right back. He did really well at left back for the second half of the Motherwell game, after Banzo got tore to shreds.

SOD would be a big loss. Has his faults, but think he's been very good in general this season. A brilliant outball when we're attacking the North stand. Could be looking for a completely new set of full backs on both sides if SOD leaves and McMillan's situation resolves badly.

Club said the suggestion I put to them wasn't the case. So I don't know if that's down to details being slightly wrong, or it being a completely different issue. I don't think Jordan told his dad about the suspension until just before statement went out, so I caught him cold on it. Hard to know the truth really but he'll obviously have his son's back. In summary, I don't know what McMillan has done.

I don't know if the truth will ever come out on this one. It's not really in the club's interests to confirm, so unless he admits it, it's legally too dodgy for a paper to run the claims. I was the lucky journalist that got to speak to Jordo's dad. He says there's no truth in the main rumour that's going round. Make of that what you will. Ideally McMillan will still be a Thistle player and return to left back in a few weeks. All depends on how bad the truth is though...

Thought that was about the most enjoyable game of the season yesterday. As much as I like Fraser, Osman and Bannigan, I think one needs to drop out when everyone's fit so we can continue with Stevenson off Doolan. We looked so much more dangerous than we have previously, and Stevenson's definitely looking more like the player we hoped for the last few weeks. The young lads did well I thought, although Keenan's first 15 minutes were stuff off nightmares. Lindsay certainly has the physique for this level, and McDaid is someone who should be getting a bit of game time from the bench. He uses the ball well, has pace, and did really well for Doolan/Fraser's sitter. Think left back is obviously the priority because we've been torn apart down that side in the first half of the last two games. Elliott's maybe the best stop gap, but who knows when he's back. I think the top six is away from us, but we really should be pushing for 7th/8th spot. Nobody in the bottom half could live with us if we played like we did in the last half hour of the first half.

What I like He's not Tommy Craig He's ruthless. Could easily have kept guys like Steven Craig and Lee Mair along the way, but has ditched them in the search for better He spots weaknesses and tries to improve them. Our centre half pairing is miles better than what we had at this time last year. He's stuck by guys who could easily have been discarded. Players like Lawless, and O'Donnell could easily have been ditched after a disappointing second half to last season, but have gone on to be two of our better players. He signs well, in general. I don't think anyone thought we'd find a better version of Osbourne, but we have, and he's not a crock. That he's never thrown Sean Welsh under the bus over his injury woes. Generally I like a lot about him. Would happily have him as manager long term What I don't like For over a year we were conceding late goals despite being a very fit team. Hard to know how much of it could be blamed on the management, but it was pretty embarrassing for a while. I can't think of many obvious others. What a guy #GoArchie.

This Belgian article seems to suggest we're in talks about an 18 month extension, and sounds like he doesn't seem opposed to it. http://www.voetbalbelgie.be/nl/article.php?id=88750

I think it's brilliant. Sort of thing you'd expect to see at Dortmund's ground or something like that. If it was possible to do similar improvements to other bits of the ground/The Bing, I'd love to see it happen.

I liked the story about the Aitken Suite accidentally turning over to a porn channel halfway through the game. Classic.

I love Sean Welsh. Genuinely can't remember feeling more sympathy for one of our players. It's not his fault he keeps getting injured. Would be delighted if he got back to full fitness.

I think it would be incredibly harsh to ditch Elliott. I don't believe I'm actually saying this, but I think Higgy will have to be on the bench for this one, even if fit. Archie's always rewarded players for form, quite rightly. Agree on Archie's subs. I disagreed with a few last week, and Lawless being the one to come off this week, but he's called it right. Having a guy with pace to come on late is such an asset. Also from watching it back on Alba, I didn't appreciate at the time quite how good a game Osman had. I know it's almost expected now, but he used the ball very well second half, and broke it up nicely too.

I would definitely keep McMillan, Lawless, Higgy and SOD. I never thought we would see a right wing of SOD and Lawless again after they were both phased out last season, but both have worked on their weaknesses, and been two of our better players this season. Because McMillan, Frans and Seaborne are all out and out defenders, we can now afford to play a more maverick full back like SOD every week. McMillan has been great this season, particularly at left back. Had terrible distribution yesterday, but was still solid as a rock. Reasons for keeping Higgy are obvious. Think I would almost certainly keep Balatoni, who is good enough to be one of our main three centre halfs. I might change my mind on this but think I would probably also keep Elliott and Craigen. Man U had guys like John O'Shea, Park Ji Sung who are content as squad men, and give their all in 15-20 starts a season, and I think they're probably our equivalent. He's guys Archie clearly trusts, and bring back in when we go through a bad spell. Welsh I'd definitely keep if fit. Fox is an interesting one because Scully's coming back next season, and it won't be as third choice goalie. Either Gall goes on loan or something, or Fox is maybe shipped out. I'd like Muirhead to go out on loan, but even with that, I think he's almost certainly going to be ditched. Shame, but as said, I don't think he's ever recovered mentally from the headbutt incident.

That was absolutely dreadful for the most part, but we haven't got what we deserved from St Mirren games since getting promoted, so nice to even it up a bit. First half was a horror show, but things improved a lot with Fraser's introduction. And even more so when Doolan and McDaid came on. Obvious positives were Frans and Seaborne, who were very steady all day. In the 180 minutes Frans has played, I'm struggling to think of us being cut open at all, although St Mirren and St Johnstone were both mince. McDaid looks an exciting sub. Nice to have a bit of pace to come on. Constantly see him in the gym, which suggests he is taking it all seriously. Hopefully see more of him. Once everyone's fit, we should pull away from the bottom two spots I think. Hopefully we'll play better football than that too.

Anyone know what happened to Eccleston yesterday? If he wasn't injured it was maybe a surprise that he wasn't in the squad, although his performances have been so so.

It's an interesting discussion. I like Bannigan, but thought he offered absolutely nothing yesterday in midfield. His ball retention in general is very good and you can see at games like Parkhead everyone's always looking to give it to him, but I can't see at this moment in time him being someone bigger teams would be interested in. He's not really brilliant defensively or great going forward. When he has a chance to go for goal he nearly always holds back, and I think he needs a bit more conviction. Think Welsh coming back in will be good for the balance of the side. Our team's always looked at its most composed and balanced over the last two/three years when Welsh has been on the pitch. Big decision on which out of Fraser/Welsh/Bannigan/Osman falls out when everyone's fit because it's a bloody tough call. They've all been guaranteed starters when fit, so something's got to give.

If he'd brought on Frans, and they'd scored, he'd have been criticised for going too defensive. Odd game. Don't think either team played particularly well, yet we get six goals. Showed great mental strength coming back cause I so no way back after the second. On the last minute equaliser I was more pissed off with the space we gave their player to pass it to Andreu, rather than Balatoni. Ball wasn't right in the corner either, yet Fox barely shifted his body. Carroll's positioning is absolute mince. Was gonna get sent off, so Archie was right to take him off. If SOD is injured for long, we should just play Bannigan there. We seemed to play for territory quite a lot, which is unlike us. Hitting it into the corners because they'd always hit it out at a throw in. Accies were hopeless under the high ball, and 1st/3rd goal came from them misjudging it if I remember right. Great to see Welsh back. Didn't do a great deal, but you can tell he'll solidify the team and improve our passing. Win against St Mirren, and it will have been a decent enough start to the season.

I think its a tactical appeal as much as anything else. Would be much easier to cope without him when Fraser/Welsh are fully fit in a few weeks, than just now.

Unless they forgot to tweet about it, it sounds like he got the 90 minutes. Delighted for him because he's had a rotten time with it. When him, Fraser and Higgy are back this will probably be the most strength I can remember a Thistle team having(bar upfront and maybe on the wings).

Other guy is Chris McCluskey, ex Stenhousemuir goalkeeper. Talk he might have played for us at youth level but don't know if that's true.

Paton is one of the two arrested, in case there was any doubt.