laukat

Thought we looked pretty decent in the first half at moving the ball up until we hit 20 yards from goal. Seemed to breakdown at that point with a variety of issues. Lawless and Chalmers seemed to take a succession of heavy touches. Fitzpatrick and Reading seemed to get close to each other and closed off any space. Stanway was getting too close to Lawless and cutting off Logan's underlapping run. Stanway and Crawford never really got beyond the Stranraer back line mainly because they played much deeper than Edinburgh which perhaps needs Wilson and Rae to think about how we breakdown a team that defends in that way. Difficult to judge the second half as we made quite a few subs more based on who needed a rest than who was not performing. Watt took his goal well and did look generally very good, Horn showed up well and MacKenzie looked comfortable at that level. Of the starting 11, I thought McBeth, O'Reilly and Ashcroft were best. Logan, Chalmers, Lawless, Stanway and Crawford all had good moments if not quite as fluent as Edinburgh. My concern was our left side. Fitzpatrick still looks out of form and the combination of him and Reading isn't really working. they both tend to run into the same space which isn't great and confusing as they both look similar from a distance. Reading got caught under the ball a lot and I suspect against better opposition that will get more exposed. I would like to see another leftback brought in as I think there will be games we need to defend for longer or see out and so far I'm not convinced Reading can do that plus it would allow Low to go out on loan.

First half we were very good. Possibly the best attacking play since the playoff run at the end of 22/23. The movement of Chalmers, Stanway, Crawford and Logan was a joy to watch. Been a long time since we've seen midfielders go beyond our front line and get in behind the defence but Stanway and Crawford did that really well. Lawless looked really good as he just see's things others don't. The interplay between him and Logan looked like watching a replay of Lawless and MacMillan. If we have been 7 ahead by halftime I don't think Edinburgh could have any complaints. Bud needs to do better with the Edinburgh goal but his distribution was pretty good as he was consistently hitting the channel between right centre-back and right-back to give Fitzpatrick something to run at. Second half raised some concerns. Logan dropped out the game as an attacking threat particularly when Lawless went off however not sure if that also was because he's not got the fitness to do 90 minutes of running beyond the wingers. Fitzpatrick and Reading never really clicked and neither is great a defending. Reading can carry the ball quite well but unlike Logan he wants to overlap and more than once was getting to close to Fitzpatrick and closing down his space, Reading also looked our defensive weak point and O'Reilly was having to step in quite a few times. Our midfield seemed to stop dictating the play and making the runs beyond the defence particularly when Stanway was subbed. I think that more shows that we are very light in midfield and I also think we don't have a midfield 'leader' demanding players raise their game. Of the subs Watt looked a little rusty but surprisingly good in the air and you can see he picks up some decent positions that should lead to goals. Horn again looked decent and if he had scored from his shot that would have been the best goal of the night. MacKenzie tried his best to add pace to midfield but he still lacks the aggression and presence that he needs to rediscover to be anywhere near ready to start in a championship game. Falconer only got a few minutes and never really got a chance to get involved. Really could do with a midfielder before the county game and additionally 2 fullbacks, a striker and goalkeeper before the season starts.

I think we needed someone with Watt's profile and confidence to move on from Graham. Would have been a lot for young unknown striker to take over as main striker and then have some people compare to Graham. Watt is probably also the best of what we can get and I reckon every other team in the league bar maybe County who have potentially a better striker and St Johnstone who have too many strikers, would have taken him. He also adds pace and a bit of guile to our attack. If we are playing 4-2-3-1 a front four of Chalmers, Fitzpatrick, MacKay and Watt looks pretty quick although personally I think Lawless has shown in pre-season that he still a much more creative player. I would also hope that Watt realises that he's no longer a premier league player and we are probably at the top end of what he can now expect to get. So if he has a good season with us he'll still be able to make a decent living in football for a few more years. A bad year and he could quickly find himself on the scrap heap. Still need another midfielder, at least cover at rightback, 1 maybe 2 strikers, another keeper and possibly cover at centre-half and leftback. However we now have a reasonable starting 11 and probably enough of a team and options to go into the league cup with and perhaps have a little more time to get those players in. Also gives a fighting chance of getting through the group stage of the league cup and potentially getting prize money that could be used to increase the playing budget.

Lewis Bud

He seems the sort that would be full committed to the captaincy role, so I thought his tattoo's were part of the 3rd kit pattern when I first glanced at the pictures.

Partick Thistle 2025/26 third kit now on sale! | Partick Thistle FC

I think this is a good point. We seem to get young players to be part of the first team squad but then limit their development by not having a clear idea of what the next step is from squad member to first team started. In recent times Mackenzie has suffered from being used to fill in at a number of positions rather than getting him out on loan to a team that would play him in his regular position with the hope he returns a season later ready to compete for that position. Diack similarly looked ready to go out on loan a couple of seasons ago but we kept him around as 3rd choice striker and started to force him into positions that he's not really built for. Last seasons loan to Airdrie was a start but Championship level is probably a bit too much for him to restore his confidence. Unfortunately with his injury it looks like he won't get a loan until January again. Stanway has progressed further but has had the chance to go on loan and has never really been put in any other position than midfield which has probably aided his development. So in my mind the the big issue with our development of players is not getting them regular game time in their preferred position when they have shown they are too good for youth football but not quite ready for the first eleven. The only real way to address that is to get them out on loan to a club that will play them. Perhaps if we had a co-operation arrangement with a Dumbarton or Stirling we might bridge that gap

I think Cammy Logan deserved his contract based on his 2 x 45 minutes performances. Hopefully he's relatively cheap as I think we will still need another right back in and we have literally no-one else in that position. Last year we ruined Kyle Turner by playing in that position because we had no cover for Megwa. Also would be a good thing to have 2 people competing for that position as reviews from Forfar and Queen's fans on Cammy are mixed so having another option would be desirable. He's still quite young at 23 so hope he kicks on but equally we need to be able to take him out of the team if his confidence drops. Beyond another right-back we still need 2 strikers, a central defender, a midfielder and possibly a leftback. Of that we need at least a striker in before Friday (although I think the mention of making Fitzpatrick a temporary striker has some merit) I suspect our transfer business is being described as a "slow burner" as we will be looking to the loan market more than we have over the last few seasons.

Agree with @lady-isobel-barnett that we can be quite fixated on formations such as 4-2-3-1, 3-5-2 etc when in reality they are only really starting positions. From what what I have seen in the 2 friendlies so far Wilson is changing the nature of how the fullbacks play. We have for the last few seasons been used to seeing overlapping fullbacks when we have possession so that it creates overloads in wide area's. To my mind it was noticeable against Glenafton and against ICT that Wilson is looking for the fullbacks to either underlap or be more central and almost become the midfield allowing the likes of Stanway and Crawford to make runs into the box and get beyond the strikers. In theory pulls a wide defender into central area's and leaves our wingers with more space and a 1v1 against the opposition fullback which in turn makes us less predictable in attack and less reliant on a striker for goals. Second half of the ICT game showed this particularly when Lowe and Logan were our fullbacks. Logan is very good at making underlapping runs, Lowe is pretty good on the ball and able to pick a pass and put in a decent cross. Harkness tried to play as an overlapping fullback putting more pressure on our weak midfield and whilst Reading was trying to underlap Fitzpatrick he's not as good as Low on the ball and got caught in possession a couple of times. So if we are looking at formations against ICT we looked more like a 2-3-2-3 when we had the ball with occasional periods where either Logan, Stanway or Crawford would go further forward and we end up with almost 5 up front but people finding space in the defensive channels rather than just out wide and overloading the fullback. Downside is that if an opposition can break quickly they will find space in wide areas which will in turn mean our centre backs getting pulled wide. So might not be the worst thing to have a centre back play as CDM who can drop in central in that scenario and immediately have 3 at the back. Where I think the issues are is that I'm not convinced Reading can play in that system as he looks more like a wingback who can carry the ball but struggles with delivery and on defensive duties. Low looks better in possession but still not got the physicality required for the defensive work. Whilst we become less reliant on a striker to score goals we need a striker with better movement to create spaces for the advanced midfielders to exploit. For our wingers to exploit the 1v1's requires them to have a few tricks which I think only Chalmers and Lawless truly have as Fitzpatrick and MacKay are more about pace. Conversely we need the wingers to have pace to cover back quickly and Lawless doesn't have that. I would also add that we will be asking O'Reilly and Ashcroft to do a lot more quick changes of direction so we might well find they start to pick up more injuries than last season. I like Dolan and I think he can cope with first team football but we might still need another centre half for cover

I think we should be signing Cammy Logan. If he's relatively low cost (and given he was at forfar last season he surely can't be looking for megabucks) at worst he is decent cover but he does look like he might be better as fullback than Reading is on the other side. Harkness looks a long way short of the required standard. No.9 didn't look brilliant but not sure if thats because he only met his team mates in the last few hours and he maybe hasn't played much in the last few weeks. Certainly didn't do anything tonight that would make you think he was worth a contract. Horn looks our best striker right now and that was before Diack got injured. Midfield was a mess first half. McBeth as CDM steadied the ship and allowed Crawford and Stanway to press higher. However we really need another midfield option as I don't think that 3 are good enough at Championship level. Falconer showed some nice touches when he came on but still not sure he's physically ready. Lockhart looked decent and maybe the most first team ready of the midfield youngsters. Dolan showed up well at centrehalf and looked physically capable of playing first team football. Thought Low's passing was better than Reading but Low does need to bulk up a bit. If we sign Logan then we still need another right-back to at least provide cover. Need at least 1 midfield starter, 2 strikers and another goalkeeper as a minimum.

Of the 3 trialists, who all had a shot at right-back, only really Cammy Logan looked worth another look. Harkness who started the second half looked nervy and generally not at the races. The 3rd trialist never really got much time and didn't do anything wrong but equally never did anything of note. Diack was poor in the first 45, Horn looked much better and scored a nice goal from a tight angle. Thought Lockhart and Dolan also gave a good showing. Midfield looks thin. Mackenzie needs to improve and Falconer needs to hit the weights in the gym as he still looks to easy to push off the ball. Chalmers looked several classes above everyone else and if he had scored from the run he started on the edge of our area it would have been some goal

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Graham's comments are interesting form different perspectives. Its difficult for any ex-pro to get a managers/head coach position. So to reject one can't have been an easy decision. His interview mentions its Head coach and not the actual manager. I wonder if one of the things that maybe played on Graham's mind was that between Doolan being fired in February and Barraclough being appointed in April, Graham was the de facto manager as there was no Sporting Director. He had signed players in February and had undertaken all the aspects of the role. So when he's offered the Head coach position and its clarified what his remit was going to be was it in effect a demotion in his mind?

Rae should have the experience we require in an assistant coach and I think he will be the first coach that wasn't an internal promotion or previous employee of the club in our coaching setup since Neil Scally? so hopefully brings a fresh voice and ideas. As our chairman put it he should also fill the 'alpha-male' role. His obvious Orange tendencies and some of the pictures of him that used to do the rounds on social media do him no favours. However when you look at some of the names being floated about like Gordon Dalziel then on balance I'm ok with this. Doesn't sell season tickets but makes some footballing sense and could have been much worse