lady-isobel-barnett

Women's Round Two AHHH AHAA HAAH 👍

Never paid much attention to it at the time but were we not kicking off at 3pm during the Covid times? Lights on nobody home.

Men's 2nd Round AAHHA AHHAH AHHHA HHAHH 👍

But neither Turner nor Bannigan can tackle. If we can't break up play we then have to rely on the opposition losing the ball. That said if we don't play McBeth in midfield then I would agree that a Bannigan & Turner partnership might be the best alternative.

Not that I disagree with the rest of your post but yes, throw ins are truly terrible. May be wrong but I think we took only one shy quickly yesterday (Fitzpatrick, who then made an arse of the return ball). Losing possession too cheaply has been a problem all season and throw ins only exemplify that problem. That and slow distribution from the keeper are two parts of the game that if we worked on may help us move the ball thru midfield at a better pace.

Maybe didn't express myself well. Improvement was defensively.

I thought there was improvement from our last home game despite losing out on a couple of points. Livi look a better outfit than the Pars. However we continue to make very few scoring chances. Problems by and large are all of an attacking nature. In contrast I thought McBeth broke up play well protecting the back four, who in turn looked comfortable defensively. We just seem no further forward in the advanced areas. No penetration thru midfield and little co-ordination in attack. As a generalisation it's often the case the manager gets over criticised whilst the players get off lightly. But our problems are very much down to the management. We've got midfielders and forwards with proven ability. I think today's goalie, back four and defensive mid look fine. It's up to Doolan to select five further up the field to compete in a far more effective manner. Time is fast running out.

I hope it's not a back three but surely not 4-4-2?

That's excellent! Can't wait to see JJ's.

Genuinely don't know if our own Donnie McKinnon could speak Gaelic. But if he did it's likely his brother Ronnie (many Scotland caps) could also. Anyone able to clear that up? eta a quick look on the excellent Thistle Archive site confirms Donnie did speak Gaelic.

1. Agree. Back 3/5, unless one of the centrebacks routinely crosses the half way line, too negative and further cedes midfield to opponents. Besides Megwa & Milne are capable defenders and both have the energy to hit the goal line AND still play fullback. I'd say the back 3 (back 5) set up only becomes an option away on a narrow pitch or late on defending a clear lead. 2. We don't have that "someone" apart from McBeth (questionable to many at that), and it's obvious that he's preferred at centreback. I'd suggest that lack of of a midfield ball winner was part of the reason we went to a back3/5. I guess we'll just have to continue with two midfielders playing the role of of one. Not ideal but looks to me unavoidable. 5. & 6. kinda related. I feel we play too many balls, both long and short, to Graham. He'll get more goals if he can drift into scoring positions. Constantly involving Big Brian in attacking build ups negates that somewhat. If there's less involvement there he doesn't necessarily have to be playing well to keep him on. Less likelihood of him tiring as well. We've got midfielders capable of joiney up attacking play. Getting close to Graham and getting past him. Why we haven't seen more effective build up thru midfield to date is one of the more disappointing aspects of our play so far this season.

This fact checking business is a doddle.

Mirroring us in a way. Assembled what looked like a very competitive squad. Strongly fancied for the title but find themselves way behind the league leaders and currently placed nearer to bottom of table. In fact "mirroring" might be the wrong word as they were I believe stronger favourites for title and results are more disappointing than ours. Btw I'm neither against the director of football/head coach route nor for that matter anti McCall, if that position arose. But certainly he's currently not doing anything of note.

I know little re loans. Does that mean the window's shut for short term loans as well? Like others I feel we have rather too large a squad. Even with injuries we have players not getting playing time. Others more on the periphery lucky to make the match day squad. Into the bargain, and not meant as a criticism, Doolan tends not to vary starting line ups. Competition for places is important but so is players getting game time.

Apart from fitness, stamina etc there's three aspects to assessing Graham as a player*. 1/Number of goals scored against sitters missed, positioning when scoring chances created. 2/Link up play, back to the goal stuff, assists etc. 3/Amount of quality service he receives. *Apart from the occasional heid gone moments I doubt his captaincy is in question. Generalising I know but I reckon No3 is in his favour. He's not receiving enough quality balls either from wide positions or thru midfield. No 2 isn't ever Brian's strongest suit, which exasperates things if he ain't scoring. Re No 1, because of poor service it's perhaps unfair to assess Graham's current goal conversion rate. Just not enough data. It's all very much a management problem. Players get dropped all the time for tactical purposes even if they don't deserve to miss out. There's no reason whatsoever that makes Graham undroppable. That said it's far from clear to me whether dropping Brian is an answer.