Fearchar

We're very fortunate to have another goalkeeper in Fox that can kick with either foot. What Tuffey also did, that I'd like to see more of, is throw the ball out to a waiting player: it retains possession, whereas a kick up the park is often just a lottery, since there's so much time for all the players to see where the ball will land and to position themselves accordingly. Scully seems to be a better shot-stopper than any other keeper we've had for a while. In a perfect world we'd have Kenny Arthur's penalty-saving abilities, Scully's shot-stopping and Tuffey's distribution (most of the time - although some of his long, low kicks out ended up going out of touch)! In the event, Fox offers the best combination of skills at the moment, while Scully is a good replacement. We're actually doing very well in cover for that position.

That's really cute! Trust me - you'll have your own child/ren (or even nieces and nephews) in a few years' time and then you'll really regret giving it away.

Doolan came to the club as a left-footed striker; since then, he has become very competent in the air (although he isn't so tall as many of this division's centre-back giants) and recently he has begun banging in goals with his weaker (right) foot. Obviousy, he doesn't just rely on the club's training, but concentrates on improving where he sees his own weaknesses too. I think he's a real find, and one that's worth investing in - to the point of getting his contract lengthened asap.

I used to live near there, and my late father and I both preferred Lesser Hampden: the seating was perfectly adequate (benches with no backs), and when the referee had to climb up the stairs to the pavilion between rows of spectators, they could make observations on his need to remember his specs when he came back out, or on how he'd got over the shock of not knowing his parents. The same went for the players, of course, and that may not have made them play better, but they weren't going to shirk on effort either.

Surely it's much easier than all that! 1) Rangers wound up and a shopping mall built in Ibrox to give local employment (as well as the boost of no payments made for tickets that can't be afforded there). 2) Celtic banned from playing in Scotland, and their ground compulsorily purchased, to be rented out to Clyde FC. Any further restructuring, etc, can safely be left to the other clubs to sort out among themselves.

He tackled Erskine instead of the ball (which was well ahead of Erskine by then) with two feet, as you say: a straight red was justified. Many of the scuffed shots seemed to be from left-footed players forced to use a right foot. However, it is good to see players shooting once more.

It certainly looks, from that angle, that the red card was justified. I wasn't so sure from the away supporters' stand. The penalty for a foul on Cairney still doesn't look justified, and the video doesn't clarify the incident that led to the other penalty. (The still pics seem to make it likely that it wasn't justified either.)

So for that reason you'd rather have Erskine on the park than, say, Simon Donnelly? So would I.

Sorry - you're right about the numbers - it should have been 11 - but 11 is from the second half. (My son joined my friend and me for the second half, but sat lower down in the first.) The "enjoyment" was, of course, the reaction to dire head tennis. I doubt if my friend will accompany me to a football game again.

Naughty! Pic 10 is from the second half, Tommy.

This team has no heart. The players just accept the style of play dictated by the opposition - even the pitiful apology for headers offered by Raith Rovers - and then follow on, playing to their own weaknesses. That display was not the worst from McNamara's teams this season, but it was rank - big punts and headers being the order of the day. I've seen much classier play from local amateur teams. Scott Fox has lost confidence again (as you could see from his hesitance about positioning, and his lack of shouts to his defenders), but after being exposed repeatedly against poor opposition, perhaps that's natural. The Raith Rovers goals came from players being allowed room to run about where they pleased in the box without being picked up, and then Fox not being sure whether to come out or to stay on his line. Raith Rovers failed to capitalise on a few other similar opportunities too. The problems begin with losing or giving away possession and then not closing down the opposition - really basic errors. Scott Fox's kicks out are as good as giving the ball away - certainly when it's a kick-and-rush side like Raith Rovers, because they're used to winning the ball in the air. He did throw the ball to a Jags player once: more, please! The team desperately needs a leader - someone to give it backbone. Fox should be dropped for Scully next week so that he can review what has gone wrong. Archie should be dropped. Some thought needs to be given to who is going to direct the midfield. Pass marks today - Doolan, Erskine and Naismith.

That has been true of Partick Thistle teams for many years now: if you want pearls, you need to start with grit. The team's performance was adequate in the second half because they were in possession most of the time, against tired opposition. However, when there's a challenge for the ball, it takes 2 or even 3 Jags players to gain possession from 1 opposition player - and even then, sometimes, they lose it. Any opposing player in possession is allowed to run unchallenged with the ball at his feet - no challenge, and no marking! Most Jags player left in the wake of an opponent in possession then give up and decide that there's no point in doing any more. A player in a team with a will to win would track back and get in another challenge - if not the next one, then after another of his teammates had challenged and slowed down the opposition player even more. Any opposing player in possession should be given as little time and space a possible to pass or to shoot. Contrast that with the open invitation to goal offered up to Ayr United so many times last night. It would be nice to be in a position to tell these players that when they're toying with minor-league opposition in a European competition, they can slack off and let the opposition see the ball from time to time - but until they reach that level, the players' job is to hinder the opposition in every way allowed by the rules until possession is regained. The coaching team should be instilling that attitude in players at every opportunity, but that's not what we're seeing on the park. Instead, we get hard-luck stories: "It was frustrating not to get the win that we feel that we deserved". No, you don't deserve a win if your players won't work for it, Jackie. That's the way the world (not just football) works. Let's be frank: Paul Cairney is one of the more limited players we field - he's easily outrun (no pace) and he doesn't have the physique to challenge in the air or even shoulder-to-shoulder on the ground - but he makes up for it with determination. That's why he's an automatic inclusion and why he's the top scorer - from midfield. He also tracks back, so that if he loses the ball, he often gets a second chance to challenge for it. It's not talent, but attitude. Doolan is another player worth mentioning for his attitude - tracking back on the field of play and working on his own to improve his weak points. (He scored with his weaker foot and with his head last night.) A team that puts 4 past the opposition has trounced them; if it gives away 2 in the process, then it's proof that there are serious shortcomings in defensive play (i.e. when not in possession). Sadly, there is no sign that the message is getting through to Messrs McNamara and Donnelly. If they don't become a bit 'nastier' and get the players to approach football the same way, then they won't make the impact that later on, in hindsight, they'd have wanted to make.

You can't borrow a blanket off your bed? (Great for cutting down echo.) Or buy a few cheap directional mikes? (http://www.maplin.co.uk/3-microphone-pack-4564) Apologies for hijacking the thread. If we keep playing the way that the coaching team wants, we'll look great, especially in good weather, but we'll sink out of sight in this division. We've seen it before with Simon Donnelly's loveely layoffs up front, but with no end result. Cairney seems to be the only player prepared to ignore the advice he's being given and take a more direct approach; no suprise, then, that he has the highest goal tally. It's time for Messrs McNamara and Donnelly to stop reinforcing each other's ideas and to take some advice from outside. Advice from the King of Spain, perhaps?

That reminded me of us playing Dundee right off the park and getting gubbed by 3 goals: it reflects the attitudes of the current management that football should be played in a certain, attractive way without deviating to take account of the circumstances, such as a poor playing surface, an ice-cold wind, a kick-and-rush opposition and the standard of refereeing in the First Division. If we were playing summer football at a higher level, we might give a good account of ourselves, but unless McNamara and Donnelly start to realise what results are telling them, we're heading for trouble in this division.

Not just that - he was full of heart. He could pick up the team on his own and get them winning. Not to mention the ability to injure an opposing player with a free kick when that player was foolish enough to stay too close! (A happy memory from Deadwood.) No-one has mentioned SID here: wonderful touches on the ball. Still not enough grit to select him for an all-time favourite team, though. Someone has mentioned Simon Storey - great at reading the game, which contributed to keeping him as sweeper, and keeping the formation at 5-3-2, perhaps after it should have been changed.

How times change! I still have my degree certificate - but it was only written on paper.

It has seemed to me that McNamara and Donnelly have started to believe the general propaganda that goes the rounds among football pundits: "you have to play open, attacking football" and "it doesn't matter how many goals are scored against you as long as your team scores more". That's best left to the collective idiocy of football pundits. The reality is (and has been for all of this century and much of the last) that all success in football is built on teams that can defend well. If your players are taught not to tackle and not to close down the opposition at all times when not in possession, then those players will lose several games to high scorelines, and they will never be able to aspire to league domination. Today was an object lesson in how a shaky defence can destroy a team from the inside: the midfield completely lost control, because the players felt they had to track back all the time, while the forwards could only try to catch the big punts up the park from Fox, while facing away from the goal they were attacking. Fox didn't have enough confidence to give the ball to defenders, and so resorted to route 1. It has been easy to see for a long time that O'Donnell is not up to playing fullback, while Cole was a mistake as fullback; Bannigan was constantly drawn out of position on the left and so couldn't protect Cole. All credit to Robertson, who tried to make up for some of this and dominated the high balls to the centre, but he's too slow to cover fullbacks who are caught out. Pat Fenlon knew what he was doing when he sent Welsh out on loan. He was a waste of a jersey in midfield today. Let's hope that the management team learns from this. Either they brush up on defensive play or they get external advice in on how to do that, as Big Col suggests.

Stewart has had his chances and should be sent on his way. No team can afford to keep a forward player who spurns opportunities to score and fails to score when he has a one-on-one with the keeper - and I'll not mention how he was getting dispossessed so easily. I hate blaming the result in a team game on one player, but this time it was down to squandering that one opportunity.

Is it not simply the case that in a forward position Erskine is very hard for the opposition to deal with (and he gets fouled a lot, including in the penalty box), but when defending he is pretty ineffective? He also has an eye for goal. He favours one side too much to be effective on the wing. Conclusion? He should be played either as an out-and-out forward or just behind the strikers.

Yes.

As has been pointed out repeatedly on this forum, there is no "heart", "grit" or whatever you might like to call it, in the current team. Scott "Boab" McCulloch and Martin Hardie are the last players I can remember to offer that. At the match against Livingstone, O'Donnell came on at right midfield and was very impressive. This showed that the team does have what's needed in midfield, but unfortunately Paton's failings at right back have meant that O'Donnell has been moved to plug that gap. (Yes, I know that O'Donnell was touted as a right back, but it is clear that he is more comfortable and more effective coming forward than in defending.) Doing without Archie, following his red card, may be a help in midfield, since we won't have such a dire need to allocate someone to cover central defence from there. In effect, Paton has been pulled to the centre and we've gone back to playing 5-3-2 so that the central defence doesn't get too exposed by the slow, easygoing "leader" of defence.

Nae smeddum. Chan eil smior annta.

To be fair, that's the first time that he's said anything like that: usually his statements are considered and based on the game as it was - something of a contrast with some previous managers, some of whom were apparently watching a very different game in a parallel universe.