laukat

Interesting. Care to give us any names? The statement said expressions of interest by 12th which at less than a week suggests a quick appointment

A worrying development. Just don't tell us Dick Campbell was spotted within a 50 mile radius of Firhill Has to be considered just for the comedy value No thanks. Cheque book manager with tombola tactics.

Who's going to be first with 'Owen Coyle spotted on Firhill road' ?

Craigan is an interesting one. I can see why some would want him but I don't think the current situation at Thistle lends itself to a novice. There's quite a striking similarity to Jim Goodwin. Both leaders on the park with a no nonsense style. However Goodwin has been willing to give up a fledgling media career to give management a go at Alloa. So if you want that type then Goodwin would be a better bet.

Robbie Neilson would be a good shout but I think Dundee United wanted to appoint him but they need to buy out the remainder of his MK dons contract. If they're struggling with that cost I can't see us stumping up. Jim Goodwin and Danny Lennon might get a mention but for me I would want Ian McCall. We need someone capable of rebuilding a team and that's what he does. If we consider appointing Duffy, Hughes or ex-old firm players (Stuart McCall, Ally McCoist, Barry Ferguson etc) then we would be as well closing the doors for the remaining home games.

Correct if not overdue decision. All the best to Archie and Shaggie in the future hopefully they will find employment soon at another club.

He's gone https://ptfc.co.uk/ptfc-news/club-statement-4/

Absolutely correct and that was the key part of Archie's attacking plan. Without overlapping full backs you need you're right and left midfield to be able to go past the fullbacks and a clever number 10 able to slide a pass inside the fullback Mutombo and Fitzpatrick are decent wide options and in my opinion its a choice between Erskine or Spittal as number 10. Instead we start with Storey and Spittal on the wings which in turn placed so much reliance on Bannigan, Slater and Erskine to breakdown the opposition that we became very predictable. Storey is a striker if anything you could see in the second half in particular (before Doolan was subbed) that his natural positioning takes him into central areas whereas natural wingers such as Mutumbo and Fitzpatrick gravitate towards the touchline At half time I expected changes. Either Fitzpatrick for Storey or Mutumbo for Spittal instead we waited until we were 2 down before making a sub. To my mind Slater and Bannigan are 2 of the best midfielders in the league but they are starting to make mistakes as we are becoming so reliant on them to make something happen

I think a different manager assuming he signs a competent right back has a starting line up as below Bell A.n.other Keown McGinty Penrice Erskine Slater Bannigan Mtumbo Doolan Coulibally Subs: Quitongo, Fitzpatrick, Storey, Elliot, Mtawbe In my opinion more than good enough to make the play offs but only if the ruthless streak is restored to the team

Agree, There is no point waiting another week. I would genuinely like to know if anyone can see how Archie can turn this around?

From the moment the team was announced today there was never any doubt in my mind that we would lose. Elliot needed dropped for his own sake as his confidence is gone, his hesitancy is spreading to others and when he is struggling so badly with his own game asking him to lead as captain is a joke.You simply cannot keep playing a player and making him captain when he makes such horrendous mistakes as the one at Dunfermline. It sends the entirely wrong message to the rest of the players. The players needs to know that if you don't perform you don't get picked - no exceptions. The subs today were bizarre. You're 2 down at home and we're doing like for like substitutions. Common senses dictates you take of a defender and play an extra attacking player. The atmosphere today was like a morgue, apathy has taken over firhill and there is a complete lack of leadership on the board, in the dugout and on the park. The daft thing is we have a good enough pool of players (with the exception of a desperately needing a right back) a change of manager could easily turn this around.

I thought we looked very comfortable up until Captain Calamity struck. That was despite changing to 3 at the back to accommodate Christie's defensive weaknesses We went down from the SPL last year largely because Archie chose to play Elliot ahead of recognised fullbacks in the closing games of the season. Is he going to sacrifice this season just to prove Elliot isn't a right back or wing back? Elliot's confidence is shot and the captaincy looks a burden on him. Give the armband to Bannigan and drop Elliot for his own sake. There must be someone in the reserves who can play right back? If not sign someone/anyone who is a proper rightback or our season is over

From where I was sitting the first goal came from him and Spittal not being able to decide who should go to the man with the ball. That sort of indecision is not good for any player but when one of them is the captain its a real problem. As we don't have another right back we need to continue with Elliot but there are others in the team who have greater credentials for being captain. Bannigan after a run of games would be the obvious choice and Keown's commitment today was much more captain like than some others however McGinty is the one that consistently impresses me. He is commanding in the air and has stopped the hoofballs. His pass to Spittal for the opening goal was the difference between another ponderous 30 pass side to side movement and something with an actual cutting edge. He also bailed out Penrice a few times and Elliot at least once.

Unfortunately after 5 years believing that things will change in the ways that are required is at odds with the evidence that has been provided. Add to this that we've seen the story before (relegation from the premier league followed by failing to take ruthless action leading to a decline over a number of years happen ) and its not difficult to see why blind faith isn't going to change this. Losing games to tactical mistakes or individual errors is something that you can see how it can be improved however lacking desire and a will to win is the biggest problem and its becoming more of a feature of Archie's team. After 5 years how do you bring that back to the squad? It can in part be done by signing players that would kick their grannie to get 3 points (Hamilton excel at this) but we have signed largely technical players. So we will probably have some decent wins at firhill but I don't fancy our chances on a wet night away to Alloa. It can also be addressed by changing either the management team or changing the culture at the club. Sacking Archie in the summer wasn't the only choice when it came to changing the management team. We could have went for a more experienced coach who had a bit more fire in his belly. Changing the culture at the club would have required sacking the management team in the summer to show that failure isn't without repercussions. However we are were are and whilst loosing to East Fife isn't great because the competition is of such low importance its not the result that will make the board act. The earliest they would act , in my opinion, would be after the Alloa game on the 20th October if results continue to be poor.

To be fair when the 'Les Mottram goal' happened there weren't too many thistle players stopping the referee to tell him he'd missed both a goal and Martin Clark picking up the ball and handing it back to the goalie. The real question is will the referee and linesman admit their mistake and what will their punishment be? I don't remember Mottram saying sorry and I think he went on to be in charge of referee training so didn't exactly harm his career. I think he also refereed the playoff game at tannadice which given the history was bizarre

Is it not a bit strange that we have signed 5 players on 6 month contracts? (Bannigan, Quitongo, Jeffries, Melbourne and Scobbie) Does this mean that if we're not in contention by January we'll be looking to shed some wages? Surely if we're paying a fee for Quitongo you would want him on at least a 12 month deal?

Scobbie doesn't actually look like a bad signing as he can cover 2 positions but he's not what we needed when we have such obvious other gaps in the squad I hope Christie Elliot doesn't get injured or suspended or not really know how to play right back...

Scobbie is a left back or central defender

please be a right back

I think the problem with Niall Keown is he doesn't know if he's coming or going. He doesn't look like he's part of the team and is only getting played due to injuries. Its not something I think Niall is doing deliberately its the by product of the manager insisting he signs a reduced deal or leaves. Better for all parties if he moves on but to still have this unresolved 5 days from the end of the transfer window is not good. What happens if there are no bids for him at the end of the window? Does he continue to be used only in the event of injuries or does he bring him into the fold on wages that the rest of the squad would be envious of?

If you were a motherwell fan and even if they hadn't got the last minute equaliser I think you could have looked at that team and thought they gave everything. They didn't show the opposition too much respect and played a controlled amount of aggression We on the other hand have no aggression whatsoever. Storer is the only 'nasty' one in our team and to be honest he looks more of a liability than an asset. Even when we drew 2-2 in the game Barney referenced we didn't batter sevco in the way that motherwell did today. We are a club missing a 'nasty' streak. Our chairman is a nice person, our manager is a nice person, our captain is a nice guy, we try to play nice football and we are nice to players. We need to bring back the nasty.

Just watched the Motherwell game. Anyone remember the last time they saw a thistle team put that level of intensity into a game never mind one against the ugly sisters? Motherwell don't have a substantially better playing squad than us but every team that plays them knows they will have to fight for the points. Who in our team do we see as having the ability to hold their own in a battle?

That was awful. Took us to the last few minutes to get anything threatening on target and even that was due to their keeper dropping the ball on erskine's head. United were average at best and in the end they won comfortably Looking at other results, Falkirk look to be the worst of the bunch and yet we just held on to a 2-1 wind at home. This will be a long hard season unless something changes very quickly. I don't see any drive or passion in this team just 11 players playing football by numbers. At no point did it ever look like we would turn the game around and its been a long time since I've seen an Archie team that I think can turn a game around. I think another manager could do a lot more with this playing squad.

I think that puts Storer's spot in the team under pressure. Looks more like a number 10/ attacking right mid than a threat to Doolan

Gordon was very good first half. Sat in front of the back 4 and broke up the Falkirk play which in turn helped McGinty enormously who looked very comfortable. Storey as a the single striker worked very well and in my mind it was between Gordon and Storey for man of the match. In the first half we were very strong on the right side with Slater, Erskine, Elliot and any Falkirk attack was coming down Penrice's side. In an attempt to counteract this Archie moved Slater to left midfield but that then made us weaker on the right and Falkirk got more joy out of Elliot than they did out of Penrice and a more clinical team would have made us pay. We really needed to bring on another defensive midfielder and switch to a 4-3-2-1. The limitations off our bench mean the only way of doing that was to put Melbourne on and push Penrice into midfield but I assume Archie didn't want to alter the back 4. Not sure if we were better or Falkirk are awful. We still need another defensive midfielder, a right back and cover for striker