MarciaBlaine

Same starting line up as last week, so Banzo is on the bench again after all.

He had food poisoning

No match thread, so may as well start one. We played them in a televised game this time last year and romped home 5-1 winners. Don't think it will be as easy this time and also don't see it being as free-flowing a game. A tight Thistle win would certainly be the upper end of my expectations. No absence worries besides Ngwenya. Suspect Bannigan will come back in - Doolan doesn't often tend to drop players due to form, but will usually bring trusted senior players back in after an injury spell. Of the midfield 3, I hope Stanway for one keeps his place. Pushing McInroy further up and benching Alston?

He comes across well here. A genuineness about his fandom and seems to have an achievable, long-term vision.

Agree with this and others who note our need for a defensive midfielder. However, as folk have said, Neilson could play there, and Muirhead has in the past. Williams may also be a shout as mentioned in another thread. The issue is that all three are CBs, and right-sided ones at that. So imo bringing in a first choice left-sided CB frees us up to try out other options in the midfield, therefore if we prioritise that position first, it gives us breathing space and shores up the defence anyway. (An Abdul Osman type would still be gratefully received too, of course.)

I'm guessing as well that the international break followed by a weekend for the SFA's cup competition means the SPFL are in no rush to do all the paperwork regarding suspensions. Though the potential for violent conduct reds leading to an immediate ban, as @partickthedog says, might counter that idea?

How long is Graham suspended for? If it was a yellow during the game plus a straight red after being subbed plus another yellow for celebrating our goal after he was sent off, does that equal 2 reds and a significant ban?

Suspect Doolan was being a little coy with his injury updates. I'm expecting another one or two to be unavailable. Would also like to see Lyon playing in a 3 with Stanway and McInroy sitting deeper. The latter should never play on the wing again after QP but has a lot more threat when central.

Will the usual streaming restrictions apply within the UK or is that only for Saturday games?

To echo others, DU were pretty average and we didn't make them work hard for any of their goals. The differences were their press and their energy without the ball (though strangely they didn't have the same energy in possession), and our dithering when we had the ball - time and again players were letting it bounce or taking their time instead of meeting it. McInroy the biggest culprit for me, though Ngwenya, Bannigan, Milne and others also guilty. Fitzy looked our biggest threat despite being man-marked, so he was a loss. We had absolutely no width, hence no zippy crosses into the box. Goodwin clearly saw that you nullify that and you stop us playing. Notable that when Lawless got up the park, Ngenya was consistently behind him as opposed to McMillan who would be bombing up in support. Have to say Stanway should come in for Bannigan. Our midfield was empty today. And the comparison in quality between their CBs and ours was night and day.

This, more than any of the specific issues, is what is getting to me. Liberally washing our dirty skants on bloody Facebook makes us look completely tinpot.

Yep. It’s not an argument against fan ownership. But it’s a pretty convincing argument against the petty squabbles of rich men.

That’s just a tweet promoting it. It’s a Herald thing - the link points here https://www.heraldscotland.com/newsletters/sport/2606/ (you need to look for the OTIG ‘tile’ on that page to sign up)

There was always a cracking ‘warts and all’ book to be written about the Jacqui Low/PTFC Trust/fan ownership saga. I like to think that somewhere out there is a grizzled journo looking forlornly at their just-finished manuscript and pouring themselves a large one…

£500,000.00 https://ptfc.co.uk/ptfc-news/partick-thistle-fc-announces-strategic-investment/

The decision to announce both things separately with a gap in-between is a bit of an odd one. Appreciate the sentiment in the TJF email to members that they'd have wanted to consult with fans ideally, but the immediate crisis with reduced cash reserves meant there was no time.

Hoping for some clear and informative comment from TJF on this.

McMillan back next week according to the pre-game Jagzone interview. I don't think Williams is injured, just dropped.

In terms of what we could have done better yesterday: Distribution from Sneddon was slow and poor... ...though that was not entirely his fault I think. I was crying out for the full backs in particular to spread out and move up the pitch every time, but they didn't (presumably under instruction). That in turn, even it it hadn't provided an out-ball, would have opened up the centre of the pitch for a throw/pass. Also real failures of movement, in the midfield particularly, to show a bit of movement and display their availability for a pass. Because of the above but also more generally, we were so often forced into a lumped long ball, which is the one single thing you should never do to Arbroath. They eat that stuff up for breakfast, every single time. Our press was abysmal, especially compared to Arbroath who snapped at our heels all day. Time and again we had a man on every player but we were 3-5 yards away from him. We really lost the game through poor play without the ball, imo. Look, Arbroath are never going to be littered with players who'll dribble past you when you get touch-tight. They will look for a quick simple pass and then run fast towards your goal. Giving them space to do that is bonkers.

Muirhead has at times played as a defensive DM and I think he could do that job. But he's one of very few CBs, our other main area of deficiency.

Did you give that talk to the other team?

I don't have a problem with him going to a team in the same league. If he plays well he'll help Ayr take point off everyone except us, and if he doesn't we've still saved a wage. The kicker would be if Ayr finished above us thanks to his contributions, of course, but I don't see that happening (famous last words...)

Could be but also if clubs have, for example, outdoor areas in the stadium environs that'd be included, I think. I'm thinking at the back of the JHS would be in that bracket, though I may be wrong.

It needn't even be cash really. If clubs had a way of tapping your card to a contactless reader to get in, they'd get the automation (and hence cost-cutting) benefits while not inconveniencing most people. I know a further minority would only pay actual cash but it seems like a no-brainer to let people tap their debit card for entry.

"...'cause Thistle Da's hate everything"