jagfaelivi

Can't agree more with Firhillista. Good post! We are a lot more stable and harder to beat but as for getting forward in numbers and getting into positions in the last third....... forget it! And then, of course, corner after corner that you just know is going to be weak and easy to defend. What do we do? A simple thing would be to , as often as possible get forward quickly from midfield and get as many as possible into the box. If you watch, when the ball goes forward there are too many players just ambling in a forward direction and more often than not they don't get the distance of the box. Oh for Amoo, now he's got a bit more confidence, just to try to get into the box. Hearts get all those penalties because they get players into the box. What do we do? Hold the ball up well and then cross, inevitably to the one attacker waiting amidst the whole of their defence. It NEVER works but we continue to do it. Why? Surely the penny has to drop sometime?

I think some of the posts on here are a bit unfair on Thistle. What Clarke has given that lot is even more physicality which we found hard to match. They held on, tugged jersies, backed in and fell to the slightest contact and the ref gave them everything. Has there EVER been a game when an away side got more free kicks than they got today? When we lost 1-0 at Tynecastle I thought that Madden treated it as a man's game and let play flow - if he had been in charge today it might have been a different story. I seem to go on about it every week but we are still DIRE at corners and free kicks. Does no thought EVER go into these? Igroan every time we get one and just think it would be better giving their goalie the ball back because we are fantastically consistent. We NEVER do anything remotely dangerous. And why didn't Amoo run at them IN the box - we might have got one of those penalty thingies? All in all it was a nerve jangling afternoon and I was exhausted after it - but I knew before I got to Firhill it would be like that. Roll on Tuesday night!

This situation tomorrow is one we have failed in so often before; when we lost 4-1 to them last season, when we lost to Ross County when they were starting their run last season, when Dundee ran over the top of us in the first fifteen minutes earlier in the season..... I could go on. C'mon Jags! Give us a brilliant show and play the way you can! 4-1 to us with Pogs, Ryan, Lawless and Dools to score before a Magenis consolation. We know you can do it!!!

We are more than due a home success against the fermers!!!! We really have to take it to them.

Yeah!! The golf!! That's why I wouldn't fancy summer fitba'.

Stunning fact just been given by the commentator on the currently showing Swindon v Wigan match in tier 3. Wigan have 1400 at the match having had coaches provided by the club. "They have tripled their away support from when they were in the Premier league ". So are we to believe that they , on average, were taking 300 odd supporters to away matches in England's top flite? Just where does THAT put us Jags fans as travelling supporters? Magnificent I would say . Or have I been hearing things? I know you'll think I'm a nerd watching this but I'm just waiting for the golf to come on...... That's my excuse!!!

This is a real problem for the Jags and Scotland in general. 75k supporters turn up at the "Theatre of Dreams" and just look at how shocking they have been for the last few seasons. Are people continuing to watch football down south despite the wall to wall coverage by Sky et al? I don't know but it appears to be the case. Is Scottish football just failing " to get out the bit" as my old mother would have said? We are hopeless internationally, Celtic continue to be the team to beat but ,should be ,given the ludicrous advantage they have in resources. BUT even they are midgets in British, never mind in European and world terms. Everything seems to be about survival - for nine out of the top twelve it is about staying in the division at all costs. And these"all costs" means head in the sand for the people who run these teams/clubs, stay in the "elite" at all costs. This does not make for entertainment. Hearts are going through a complete revival; it's like being brand new to their fan base, a mixture of "we showed them and will show them", " here this woman is good", "we are good and doing well". So we have new shoots of growth there, hopes for a better future. Dare I say it won't last because at the end of the day we ( the whole of Scottish football) is not creating competition or finance or positives about the future to move on and up. All we see are the millions being pumped into the game down south, Barca on the box playing a game that is light years away from our "product", and out team struggling to hold things together on a glue pot of a pitch on a freezing November night. We have to introduce some hope for success - a bigger league, some joy in the cups might help the Jags but it makes you think that Scottish football is going nowhere. Because of (shortly to be again) only two teams ever having the finance and support to win things regularly the whole Scottish game will continue to struggle. Look at that League that has been published on here where the big teams have been eliminated and everybody seems to have a chance. Would THAT not bring the fans back and teams would be going for it rather than making the whole thing about survival and trying to keep up with the big boys? Rangers and Celtic , two giants amongst midgets, have been the worst thing that ever happened to Scottish football. We had the Souness years and that dragged everybody along the route of importing expensive foreigners and that proved to be about cheating everybody. But we all tried it, we lost a generation of football playing boys because they weren't given a chance because of European imports. Then the whole thing collapsed as we had no money and this coincided with the rise of Sky and the awareness of what we were watching bore little or no resemblance to what the rest of the world was doing. So we are where we are. Unfortunately!! And having to live with it.

Was ill yesterday so missed it much to my dismay. But listened to the commentary. The thing bugging me about this thread is the thing I've been harping on about all season and probably well before that too. Somebody, maybe more than one person, said about how bad we are at free kicks, corners , defending same and even throw ins. NOW , given we have done REALLY well after the first nine games with our limited resources how much could we achieve if we offered a bit of threat with set plays and defending them? Some teams don't offer anything else other than being clever in the set piece part of the game. They are usually boring but come into their own when they get a set piece - the old Stoke, St Johnstone just off the top of my head. WHAT IF WE COULD IMPROVE TO JUST ORDINARY? Please, please, please Archie do something with this as we have the players I'm sure. Practice makes perfect and we should be doing it over and over and over. It has been attributed to both Gary Player and Lee Trevino but it is as true now and with football as it was in their golfing heyday " the more I practice the luckier I get". For "lucky" read "better"!!!!

Saw Hippolyte last season a couple of times at Livi and then last night playing at the Falkirk Stadium. Houston obviously saw potential and the lad caused havoc when he came on last night. When was the last time a Jags player did as much as that versus a "big " team? And Hemmings, who was on trial with us only to be rejected after his great season at Cowdenbeath..... Both in the very area of the pitch we look very short. Are we missing things or is potential about more than just ability? Attitude, lack of arrogance, ability to fit into the dressing room? There are obviously gems still out there - look at how well Hartley, for example, has done, digging them up. Comments?

Yup! The passing was absolutely dire and we tried too many first time flicks for passes that come off about one time in twenty at our level. And don't even get me started on the corners and free kicks...!!!! WHEN are we going to do something about them? Every time we get a free or a corner my heart sinks cos I know we would be as well to pass it back to their keeper. It's been going on for years....... Anyway , today, I reckon there must have been a bit of tiredness involved after our activity of the last few weeks. But c'mon Archie surprise us with a bit of creativity on set pieces. After all it's the ONLY thing some teams have to offer!!!!

Sorry to hear that about Gary's family. I hope it will not be long before he is back doing his best for us. Thinking of you Gary.

We got closed down repeatedly, failed to control the ball on a bumpy pitch and had several players for whom the game went past without them noticing. Motherwell well in charge and the class of McDonald showed through though the Fir Park club are part of a recurring culture in Scottish football - if somebody breathes on you, you go down as if you've been hit by a sniper. I remember when it was a man's game ......

What about the one against Hibs at Easter Road when he ran from the half way line? Forgotten at which point he hit it home.

George is indeed still with us and a remarkable specimen of a man. He will be 80 on 1st June and being a non drinker and smoker would easily pass for somebody 25 years younger. I bumped into him through the golf not long ago and he looks fantastic for his years.

I guess that we all have different opinions but there seems more or less unanimity that our Geordie boy had a great game and was a worthy man of the match. Funnily the guy I sit beside always slags him and says he " is just not a footballer" despite my protestations. The same guy was wanting him off from the start - "we can't play wi' nine players" ( the other "passenger" according to him was young Aidan!!!). Anyway it was good to see this forum endorse my opinions. But hasn't Christy done well? He would run through a brick wall for us and he has certainly been working on his technical shortcomings. I just love to see him running at the opposition and if Lawless would do the same we might even get one of those penalty thingies sometime this decade. There continues to be an astonishing statistic! Anyway well done Christy and keep up the good work. You are well on the way to becoming a great Jag!

Robbie Neilson and Stevie Crawford were sitting next to me in the Jacki Husband and had obviously paid to get in and the Hearts manager went home with one of the cushions under his arm. Shameful!!!

If ever a team got handed something it was the fake Thistle. The equaliser was just a gimme and their penalty was laugh out loud. AND there were two pens for the visitors to which wee Willie Winkie was completely oblivious. Oh that we EVER got things on a plate like that.

I'm not really sorry to harp on about it but Nevin and Butcher on Sportscene tonight went on about how effective / good Ross County are with corners and free kicks - " they must work hard on it in training". Us? At the beginning of the second half we had something like half a dozen corners in two or three minutes. Sportscene didn't even show any of them because we were so rubbish with them!!! "Poorer" or " teams with fewer resources" frequently work their socks off making any set piece options they get in games difficult to defend - and this happens in every league. It can be learned and we have the manpower, Lindsay, Seabourne, Pogba. Surely we can do something about this - or do our abysmal efforts just go on and on and on?

Am I expecting too much for us to, sometime in the next decade, create some sort of threat from corners or free kicks? Do we ever either deliver them well of try to do something just a wee bit clever? Just how often is it a floated ball which the opposing goalie could field with one mitt or , in the case of free kicks, it goes past everybody out of play or somebody is offside or somebody fouls a defender? It is almost tedious how little we create. I almost groan when we get a corner or free kick in what should be a dangerous area. Because NOTHING will happen. In case you think I am being totally negative I'll say that we have improved our defending out of sight and our midfield puts in a shift but we still create next to nothing up front. Is this just our position in Scottish football or is there a chance that sometime we might see something happening up front?

Young Aidan scored three of Celtic's four goals against us in the two Development games this season. Am very hopeful he can cause a bit of damage for us. Best of luck Aidan

The media ( mainly BBC Scotland, Preston and Gordon) were over the top about the Dundee strugglers' third win of the season yesterday. I watched the first half on Alba last night and, PLEASE CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG, what I saw was a whole lot of punting the ball forward from the back against a fragile tractor drivers' defence. To suggest they were wonderful is hype as far as I'm concerned. At least the Ayrshire team tried to play passing football but got caught out. Are WE going to be overwhelmed by this punt and run? I hope not. Comments please.

I watched a documentary about a year ago and there were football people on it including agents and the thing that came over loud and clear was that the NEED for scouts was a lot less necessary than it once was because EVERYBODY who was available/ looking for a club was intimated on several web sites. Our guys will be pretty well aware WHO is out there in their range and that, probably, is the reason that several teams in our area seem to be going for the same people. Our budgets are pretty similar and the people we are chasing are probably known to most people.

I still think we are not direct enough - what is wrong with RUNNING at their defence? We persist in trying to play wee one twos - when did it ever work? And I would suggest we are not good enough to do them. We watch too much of the top teams on tv I think , the Barcas and Man Cities of this world. If wee Stevie ran at them we might even get a penalty one of these years. No wonder we don't get any. The ball turns into a hot potato when we get into the last third and do we have ANYBODY to deliver that killer pass? NOPE! Don't see it!

Laura's grandad was the late Lord Robertson the High Court judge who was on the Jessie McTavish case all these year's ago. He was also a former Captain of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers ( Muirfield to you and me) I had the pleasure of playing against him several times in the club's annual match with Edinburgh University. And I have to say what a gent he was. If Laura has half the integrity he had she will be exceptional. So with these genes I can see why she chose the Jags!!!

The more it goes on the more I appreciate Archie's low key style; not for him the attention seeking sound bite. Always a gentleman who has good things to say about the opposition. Now we are beginning to see a subtlety about the way he sets the team up. Tonight, for example it was a master stroke sending Pogba on and it was arguably the big man's most effective showing in a Jags shirt. It has, in the past, irritated me that we get so little attention from the media. Archie does not give them much and I've been negative about his bland interviews.BUT he certainly lets his team do his talking on the patch. The thing that surprises me is that our manager's understatedness in interview belies his cheeky sense of humour, intelligence and confidence that comes out loudly and clearly in the couple of "meet the manager nights" I've attended. The master plan is falling into place Archie. Long may you and Shaggy continue to pull the wool over the eyes of the opposition!! Well done Big Man!