GinolasBald

I agree with you that we won't be winning many battles against the Celtic defence, but I should've probably been more clear in what I mean about stopping Van Dijk getting on the ball. I've noticed that Van Dijk has a tendency to take the ball and move forward with it at his feet numerous times every game, with Taylor there, in my opinion, it would limit the opportunities he has to do so which would take out one of the big threats that Celtic can cause and keep VVD in defensive positions to mark Taylor. Its not necessarily about winning balls in and around the Celtic defence or in their box that I think the game will be won and lost, moreso that if we can keep their centre halves occupied, then this would hopefully create more space for our attacking players playing behind Taylor. I actually do think that Doolan should start in behind Taylor as opposed to Stevenson as I think that would work well and on the few occasions we will get to attack, we would be more of a threat. Can't see Archie doing that though.

I know this isn't directed at me, but I agree with DP. Taylor will rough up defenders for 90 minutes. Van Dijk is a top quality defender, but does not like big strikers who'll play off him and give him hassle all game. He likes to have time on the ball and win headers to feel comfortable. Taylor won't let him do that. As much as I love Dools, his game is totally different and feel that Taylor is better equipped to lead the line tonight.

If I hadn't bought the 3 game package then I highly doubt I would be going tomorrow night. Still, positive vibes. Celtic have an eye on Milan, let's try and nick a draw. Minimum expectation is to keep our goal difference remaining positive.

The team I would play- Gallacher O'Donnell Frans Seaborne Elliott Osman Fraser Higginbotham Stevenson Lawless Taylor The team I think Archie will play: Gallacher O'Donnell Frans Seaborne Booth Osman Bannigan Higginbotham Stevenson Elliott Taylor Archie never seems to start Lawless against Celtic for some reason, and I can't see that changing tomorrow night. Would love to see the wee man run at that Celtic defence in the space behind their wing-backs who like to bomb forward, but can see Archie going with Elliott there to be a bit more direct. I would start with Christie at left-back because I don't think he's done anything wrong there to merit being dropped, plus while I do think Booth deserves a chance, nothing he showed against St. Mirren proved to me that he'd be any better there than Elliott. Archie doesn't drop Bannigan so I can see him starting there instead of Fraser, and surely he needs to start with Taylor up top, or even Doolan because Stevenson up there just doesn't work.

I don't think he isn't good enough at this level. He showed at times last season that he can cut at this level. He has just been horrendously off-form for large chunks of this season and last. At the moment I would have him as backup for Fraser and Osman, but his form in the first few games of this season, and for large spells of last season, prove that he definitely is good enough to stay in this league.

I was standing directly beside the guy who was giving Fritz abuse, and told him to leave him alone and watch the game. The same guy was turning round and giving verbal to those behind him shouting to "fckin support the team" and when folk were calling for Archie to make changes to the team after 20-30 minutes, he shouted "change whit? How can he change it?". Fans turning against each other is ridiculous. We are supposed to be "supporters". Booing the team after 20 minutes achieves absolutely nothing, we should be "supporting" them to push on and bring the game back. I was furious after what I witnessed in that first half from the players and management, but did I feel the need to boo? No. Instead I decided to shout louder in my encouragements to the team in the hope that this would help them to salvage the game. Nothing worse than seeing players' heads go down because then any hope for a result is lost. At the risk of sounding cheesey and/or cliched, we should all be standing together, North Stand-ers and Jackie Husband-ers supporting the team for 90 minutes and being the 12th man. Abusing the team, and fellow fans, is not on.

If we play like we did first half on Saturday or last Friday night then it'll be double figures. Second half on Saturday we improved but hopefully we can keep this scoreline respectable. A draw or a win would be heavenly, miracles can happen....

I don't think Archie knows what our best starting eleven when everyone is fully fit is. He's seldom, if ever, had the luxury of being able to choose from a completely fully fit squad. I would argue that it would be this: Gallacher O'Donnell Frans Seaborne McMillan Osman Fraser Higginbotham Stevenson Lawless Taylor As I've said before, Osman and Fraser should be the ones who play together in the middle. Bannigan and Osman are too similar and therefore don't play well together. Osman does what Bannigan does better and so should start before him. Osman does the dirty work, Fraser spreads the play/sprays balls wide forward. Higginbotham on form starts every week. That hasn't happened at all this season but it was when Taylor came in last season that Kallum kicked on so we should give him another couple of weeks in the team with Taylor up top, if he still isn't performing then a spell on the sidelines should beckon for him with Elliot coming in. McDaid is not ready to play week in/week out, as good as he's shown himself to be in flashes. The McMillan thing doesn't look to be getting sorted anytime soon so Booth/Elliot can fill in there until he's back match fit. Doolan is adequate backup for Taylor, who should be starting every week when fit, or can also play in behind him in the even of Stevenson being injured/off-form. We do have a good squad, with good depth, but Archie needs to start getting the best out of them, which I don't think anyone can argue that he is.

Totally agree with this. In my opinion, one of Taylor's best attributes was hassling defenders off the ball. Drew both centre halves to him and roughed them about for 90 minutes, occasionally giving away free kicks for being too over-zealous with them, but he was always letting them know he was there and because of this, he created space for other attacking players, and I firmly believe that this is why Higgy flourished so much in the second half of last season.

IIRC Dools played there in the Hibs game where we won 3-1 last season behind Taylor and we looked like we were going to score every time we went forward, so I wouldn't be averse to doing that tomorrow, especially if Stevo isn't fit/fully fit.

This.

He seems to have a habit of getting caught in possession once per game, but usually seems to make up with it with a perfectly-timed challenge to win the ball back, which I suppose makes up for it. I'd arguably say that Osman is our Makelele who does all the dirty work in our midfield lays the ball to others to build attacks with long passes, through balls etc. As much as I like Bannigan, this is why Osman should be playing with Fraser in CM. Osman wins the ball back and can hand it to Fraser who has the ability to make defence splitting passes.

No idea why people continue to bite with this pish. Clearly saying stuff like this to provoke a reaction, don't give him one.

We were absolutely shocking tonight. Worst performance since we came up. I would hate to watch St Mirren every week, but they dealt with us so comfortably. No idea what game the people who said Booth was decent were watching, I think I would've rather had Carroll there. Awful game generally. Only highlights were Osman and Osbourne's battles. That'll be Osbourne out for the rest of the season now, Saints fans are lucky he lasted this long though. Hopefully that'll be the last of the talk about top 6 and we can concentrate on staying up, and maybe trying to string two consecutive results (that aren't losses) together.

I phoned the office trying to book a ticket for a friend and they said bookings can't be taken over the phone because a season ticket needs to be shown so can only do it on the night or if you go to the office in person. Forgotten my password for booking online and have had no response whenever I have requested a new one...

Forgive me if this has already been discussed, but I was looking on the ticket site and noticed that there is an option, albeit unavailable to purchase tickets for, for the Celtic game, which I'm assuming is the rescheduled game from New Year's Day. It's saying that it is the 25th February, with a 5.30 kick-off. Not heard any confirmation of this before, and surely it can't be a 5.30 kick off on a Wednesday night? Is this just a technical error or does anyone know if it will actually be on this date?

Ah, forgot about that. Fan's favourite Craigen for Bannigan then!

With SOD out and Elliot a doubt apparently, it'll be a depleted backline that we have to go with by the looks of it. I'd rather avoid Balatoni playing RB. Potential for a 3-5-2 maybe? Gallacher Balatoni Frans Seaborne Osman Higgy Bannigan Fraser Lawless Stevenson Doolan Realise that doesn't offer much cover on the flanks and if Bannigan and/or Fraser don't make it then it would almost be impossible to fill that midfield unless Craigen comes in for one of them, but might be worth looking as a makeshift alternative?

Agree with you PT. I don't think anyone has walked into a Greaves shop whether they've been able to see a Thistle top in the window or in the football section and thought "oh I'm going to go to the Thistle game at the weekend if they're playing at home". The only time I've ever heard of something remotely like that happening is someone I know buying the garish pink camo top from a few years back when they were reduced to a fiver. The location of TTL isn't ideal, but most existing fans who buy the strips and leisurewear will do so regardless of where they are being sold. I don't think the club will have lost any money in sales of this kind of product because of the move from Greaves to TTL. To have them being sold in Greaves is handy, but the people who will be buying the products will buy them regardless of where they are being sold. TTL have an online presence and so I would say its handier for someone to order the stuff online and have it delivered to their door. Plus, I'm sure that I ordered my top last season to be collected at the store so its not as if you have to traipse all the way out to Port Dundas to find they don't have your size, without checking online first.

I agree that the quality of English PL games has gone down significantly in the last few years, however it doesn't appear to have waned any viewing figures (as far as I know) or interest generally in it, and that's due to the media circus that surrounds it and Sky's coverage and relentless advertising of it which maintains interest in nothing games and what attracts people to watch them. Think this proves that Thistle should be making more of an attempt to advertise games, obviously I don't mean go overkill like Sky do, since they have the resources to do so, but as far as I'm concerned there is zero effort from the club to advertise and maximise attendances at games, outwith their own social media outlets, which hardly will reach out to 'new' or 'neutral' supporters. The Big Thank You for the United game was a great incentive, and I get that was aimed at "thanking" existing supporters, but I feel the club missed a trick on not advertising this more widespread in order to try and attract folk who might not have gone to the game to come along. Paying an extra fiver to have a drink and soup and a sandwich before the game might've ended up getting more people through the gate, which means more £22 admission fees. Feel that the club need to expand on their advertising and reach out further than just existing fans on social media.

The taxi app on my phone (for a private car) says that from Firhill to Braehead Arena it'll be £11.20, would imagine it would be a bit more in a black cab.

I have no idea how you've managed to find something to complain about from one of our players of the season. If all these players are fit, I would go with Gallacher O'Donnell Balatoni Seabourne Elliot Fraser Bannigan Lawless Stevenson Higginbotham Doolan McDaid flattered to deceive at times last week but could make an impact from the bench if Higgy isn't on form or Lawless tires. Elliot played well at LB against Motherwell and against County there'll be more opportunities to go forward, harsh on Keenan to be dropped, but doesn't look totally ready for this level as of yet. Don't think Lawless can be dropped after last week, and if Osman's fit then I'd replace Bannigan for him. Frans can have this game on the bench and come back in for the St. Johnstone game the following week once he has gained a bit more fitness.

Saw a headline from The Sun online: JORDAN McMILLAN’S dad has vowed his son will fight his shock suspension from Partick Thistle. The Jags defender has been told to stay away from Firhill after the club launched an internal probe. Probably absolute garbage due to who's reporting it, but it'd be interesting if he actually did. ETA: See The Cup has beaten me to it!

I would keep McDaid in, play Elliot at left-back and have Higgy ready to come off the bench. McDaid's performance merits a start although I can see Archie playing with Higgy over McDaid because it's such an important game. I would also like to see Lawless keep his place against County, not least because he has a great scoring record against them!

We were outstanding yesterday. Echoing what others have said that when I saw the team sheet, I thought we'd be in for a horsing. Glad I was proved wrong. The first 5 minutes, then from the Dundee Utd goal to half time was probably I've seen us play since we got promoted. Thought Lindsay was probably my man of the match. Won everything against decent, experienced attacking players and looked comfortable all game, Balatoni played his part in marshalling him so credit to him there for his best performance in a long time. Think the criticism for Lindsay for the goal is harsh. Won the ball in the air, aimed for Keenan who switched off and Mackay-Steven (I think) just came from nowhere and snatched the ball away and broke. As far as I'm concerned, their second goal was just a mistake between two inexperienced players. They'll learn from that and move on. Keenan pretty much had a baptism of fire first 15 minutes, and Dundee Utd seemed to keep playing the ball on his side but eventually grew into the game after the first goal, definite potential for a decent player there. McDaid showed that he is our next Higgy. Not afraid to go and beat a man, and very skilful, once he bulks up a bit so that he doesn't get outmuscled by the bigger defenders in this league (like Stevie Lawless has this season), he'll be a great player and will make us a lot of money. Lawless and Stevenson were excellent, Fraser was good but needs a bit better decision-making when playing his long balls. When they come off, they can be incredible, but sometimes he ignores the simple pass to play needless cross balls which gives away possession cheaply. Doolan had a good game, but could tell that he hasn't been starting recently and I thought he lacked a bit of sharpness, particularly for the sitter he missed. Goal was well taken though. Criticism only comes for the ref for denying us a stonewall penalty in the first half, and just generally having an awful game. The standard of refereeing in this country is absolutely appalling. No idea why some people are even mentioning Craigen here, had about 3 nothing touches of the ball in the short time he was on and didn't have time to make any sort of impact, since he was only brought on to avoid Bannigan sent off. I have a feeling that if Craigen was to score a hat-trick of 30 yarders next week, people would still moan about a misplaced pass he made. If we can get 4 points from our next two games then that would be a massive achievement. Win at County next week is a must though.