partickthedog

It would also be fair to say that Ade creates a lot of chances for himself by very good play. Several of these one on ones or attempted lobs which have resulted in disappointing finishes have come from balls which Ade is not the natural favourite to reach. He has used speed, strength, determination, ball control and trickery to make the ball his own, to hold off and get away from defenders and to home in on goal. It will not be long before the Azeez is on fire chant becomes a staple of the North Stand.

No problem, to the tune of Agadoo Ickpeazu zu zu We're Jags fans and we love you

I remember that when we were in the lower leagues, an insult which was often sung to the tune of "Hello, Hello, Give us a Goal" was "Hello, Hello, Worse than East Fife". I cannot recall why they were specifically singled out apart from the name fitting in quite well, as other teams, for example East Stirling, were regularly worse than them. I suppose that if you join the away fans at the Shyberry, you could sing it towards the Airdrie fans, especially if their team is losing. "East Fife, East Fife, Love of my life" would fit the same tune. Maybe you could start a trend.

Would not argue with you, but we would need O'Donnell, Higginbotham and Taylor to re-create the epic goal away to Dundee United! ..........mind you, on that argument we would require Scott Fox to roll the ball out to Higgy in the first place.

With apologies to the OP, in this post I will slightly change the terms of reference.The first team selected is the team I would go for on the basis that every player would play to the best of their form in that given match. That would be some game to watch! The second team selected is the team I would go for if every player were to put in their average performance. Some players who are regularly good and sometimes brilliant get into both teams. An erratic genius such as Kallum Higginbotham is in the Marvellous Marvins but not the Steady Eddies. I will not try to justify every choice, but a few words of explanation may be helpful. With the supercharged team all playing brilliantly and overwhelming the opposition, there is less need for Osman's more destructive qualities and you can accommodate the more creative and energetic Edwards further back, leaving Erskine and company to weave their magic further up. On a more normal day, Osman becomes essential, Edwards' running and covering power is needed to augment the midfield and support the attack, while Erskine becomes less central, but still worth having as even if only 50% of what he tries comes off, that may still be a vital contribution. I always thought that Dumbaya and Amoo had a good understanding which is why I have deployed them as the right side combination in the average team. Even an average Amoo may nick you a goal as well. BEST FORM XI Cerny O'Donnell Barton Lindsay Taylor Sinclair Edwards Bannigan Lawless Erskine Higginbotham Taylor AVERAGE FORM XI Cerny Dumbaya Barton Seabourne Booth Osman Bannigan Erskine Edwards Amoo Doolan

Point of order. My recollection is that Danny was not sacked. He came to the end of his contracted period of service and St Mirren did not offer him a new contract.

No chance of getting Miles Storey. Steve Bruce is lining up a joint bid for him and our old sweeper Simon Storey. He thinks that A Villa should have two Storeys.

I can't think of another current central defender who scores goals from set plays with such monotonous regularity. McAuley's goal against Hull was his fourth in the Premier League this season and the way he attacks the ball in the opposition's box is a delight to watch. This comes from Garth Crooks' Team of the Week on the BBC Football website. Maybe he should think of Liam Lindsay.

I think you are probably right. David Wilson strikes me as being similar to (but perhaps somewhat less outgoing than) James Craigen, energetic, hard-working and reliable, but possibly just lacking that extra element of quality that makes for a premier league standard player. Go on David, prove us both wrong!

Ridgers sounds like a type of crisps of the thick, wedgy and crinkly variety.

League 1 level should enable Wilson to be a regular starter and get a volume of first team games under his belt. I suspect that while Championship may be his level in due course, he would (perhaps like Kevin Nisbet) find it difficult to force his way into the starting eleven of a Championship team, and end up playing cameo roles from the bench. That may be OK for a striker as there tend to be more substitutions and rotations in the forward roles, but a midfielder like Wilson has to prove that he can go box to box for the whole 90 minutes and maintain his quality and energy levels.

We were also fortunate not to concede a penalty for the Osman "falling down" tackle against Sevco.

Any comments on the quality of play should take into account that it is an absolutely horrible day with gusting wind and sheeting rain. I think that we have done fairly well in the circumstances and had the better of the game. May take a scrappy goal to win this.

I am predicting just one change from the starting line up v Dundee. Amoo had his best game of the season away at Kilmarnock and he might be given the right wingback slot. Christie was brilliant at Ross County but less effective v Dundee. If Lindsay is not fully fit, then I would expect Gordon to come in as against Dundee.

Amazing, thank you. Dougie Somner-Hammer of the Highlands! He was obviously a fan of sumner football.

Hope you got a Big F-ing Card from the Big F-ing Belgian!

I could never understand the words of Last Christmas . Last Christmas A gave his heart to B B then gave this heart away to C This year A wants to give his heart to D, being someone special. How did A get his heart back from C.?

How did Doug Somner manage to score 19 in friendlies? From the dates you give, he had 4 pre-seasons with Thistle. Even if you assume a high number of 5 frendlies per season, he would have to net an average of just about one a game which is very hard to keep up over such a large number of fixtures. Furthermore, generally a player would not play every minute of every friendly and you would expect other strikers to be given more of a chance as Somner would have proved his fitness, sharpness and scoring touch without question. Did we score barrowloads of goals against weak opposition or was Somner just in incredible form in friendlies?

What can we do to make home games seem more like our successful away games? Or put it another way, what things are Thistle players doing away from home which they could helpfully introduce into their approach to home games? One simple start would be to shoot towards the Thistle fans (ie the North Stand) in the second half. The wins against Falkirk, Dunfermline and Morton in our Championship winning season, all based on strong first half showings, are happy history now. Top league games rarely open up much until the game becomes stretched in the second half. Aiming towards, and being encouraged by, your own fans at that point seems to be right on so many levels.

This season has been particularly difficult that way. Usually I start the season wanting any team to beat the OF. Perhaps by about the turn of the year, the league position has crystallised and there are a couple of direct rivals whom you have to hope lose to everyone including the OF, while the rest are free to hammer them as often as possible as it will not directly affect us. Therefore the dirty secret closet OF supporter dilemma affects only a handful of games and we can just about square our consciences. But with more than half the league having been our direct rivals for a couple of months and continuing to be so for the foreseeable future, it is becoming a heavy burden to bear. Maybe we could use this thread as a sort of confessional, as admitting these feelings openly to our fellow Jags believers may be a cathartic or even a cathpartick experience.

As they say in surveys, I strongly agree with the above statement.

Seasonal best wishes to all forumites, especially to the Watsons and all those who have to follow from afar for health, work or whatever other reason.

As you say, seeing "the goals being scored right infant of us" gave us all childlike pleasure.

PS could substitute New Year for Christmas to give longer shelf life.

With apologies for borrowing your best lines, here is my attempt. It only works if you pronounce Erskine as it is spelled to rhyme with Devine Chris Erskine Lindsay and Devine Dools our super number nine With Tomas in fine form And Sean in the mood Christmas for Jags fans Is looking good