lady-isobel-barnett

Feel that just not losing next up at Hampden would be a major step towards our quest for 4th place.

I reckon Chalmers will be well marked in coming games. We really need to get one of our other wide players into the starting XI to take the pressure off.

Agree there. I posted early in the thread that I'd take a draw as long as the performance levels were increased. So I've no major complaints re last night. Played far more as a team. Minor point but I thought on Saturday Graham was wrong to sub himself so early. Last night I thought he should've gone off before the end. We could've done with a bit more possession up the field later on. The line up and selection worked well and nullified Livingston for much of match. I'm guessing we'll tweak that slightly in coming games. Just a wee bit more positive?

Thanks for everything and I'm extremely sorry to hear of your personal situation. I also understand why you could be "uncomfortable with the direction" the forum has been taking. At its best I view the forum rather like pre and post match patter in the pub. A place where you can argue the toss about players, the odd rumour or two and general football/Thistle matters. And just like the pub if you go on and on about one particular issue you'll soon find yourself propping up the bar at the quiet end talking to yourself. One major difference between pub banter and the forum is respect. Folk say things on here that they either wouldn't say face to face or if they did would start a rammy. There's some posters who seem to take themselves too seriously on here. Perhaps we're all guilty on occasion, and it's not much of a sin, but there's definitely a few serial offenders on this forum.

Alas Livingston is in the Middle East.

Someone like to tell me what 's going on? I still get confused between Al Qaeda and Ikea. Wasn't much better with MI5 and MFI.

Pity we're out of the Cup. It's played over one leg.

Looks like a sensible signing. Good left sided cover. Not played for a couple of months but hopefully match fit or not that far away.

RIP, Mark.

In subsequent posts looks like Albert's Ghost has attempted to apologise for his wording. I'm sure the vast majority of us agree with robphil. If that's agreed JJ doesn't no longer needs to recycle his views, which we're all aware of, on yet another thread. Having said that I'd just like to forget about the Airdrie game. So maybe a forum tiff is less irksome than discussing Saturday's second half. 🙂

That's sound logic. To add to that if (let's hope when) we require to see a game out Jakubiak is a far better option than Diack (at present). He can hold on to a ball, can use his pace and lay it off, whereas Ricco has been found lacking in these areas. In terms of scoring goals I'd say Jakubiak for Diack is a neutral. I suspect the finances involved will be also close to neutral So the squad is improved albeit marginally. Plus come summer we get to make a better valued judgement re Ricco's future.

Credit to Hearts for having a good returns policy.

He doubled his goal tally last season with the Pars. His two goals both scored also at Somerset Park. Just wait until we get them down there in the play offs.

It's a difficult decision. I imagine there's a strong argument to just bite the bullet and hope we stumble into 4th place, if only for the place money. That wouldn't come so much from complacency more the idea of not pouring more money into a season that's sort of over big picture wise. I think tho' it would be risky if the Club/management were to accept above. That would be like downing tools, the very thing the players were getting accused of recently. My guess is we'll bring in one, maybe a couple, of players, obviously on the cheap, to show intention if nothing else.

Not the least bit confident about this game but you never know. Around the turn of the year Livingston were far from unbeatable. That was probably their wobble period and now they're back to being very hard to beat. I doubt there's much chance last night will have taken much out of them as they made early subs and had two or three regulars remain on the bench. If there was significant progress on performance I'd settle for a draw. Guess that progress will need to come from playing as a team, tho' maybe just moving the ball faster will suffice. Midfield needs to get on the ball and use it far more effectively.

All the best to Aero. A player that really loved playing for us. I think there was a tacit agreement with Doolan/The Club that if Aaron wasn't getting game time his situation would be reviewed in January. I'm sure having missed that deadline the loan spell is a forerunner to a permanent move.

Still there but he's out injured at the moment.

Likewise, but you don't need to go back so far. The team of 12/13 does it for me. In fact a game against Airdrie epitomises that kind of football. 7-0 with I think 6 different scorers.

Struggling here, but I do like a challenge. How's about Connemara? Cleo-pat-era? Wee **** Sparra? Nah, give in.🙂

Cut it out. Just cos it's Rangers there's no need for all that orange patter!

One of our constant failings has been our inability to see a game out comfortably. Back then fortunately our ceding of possession and deep defending was often compensated by excellent back line defending from Ashcroft & O'Reilly. It's commonly accepted that the team constantly chasing the ball will tire ahead of team that has the lion's share of possession. Not arguing that we were equally as fit as our opponents, just pointing out a contributing factor. Turn that on its head. If you've a team that's forever giving away possession whether thru long punts out of defence, poor joiny up stuff from its midfield or a tendency to defend too deep, then that team really needs to be fitter than its opponents.

He got his jersey very muddy. 🙂

Kinda half agree. I think we may have fitness/stamina issues. Maybe if our players aren't good enough they need to compensate by being that bit fitter? But I do agree that doesn't explain how these issues are so significant when we make 5 subs. The five outfielders that remained included two full backs on loan from top tier clubs plus two centrebacks who appear as fit and mobile as any from rival teams. And Chalmers looks up to speed.

Back to yesterday. Was surprised at the starting line up. If Martin is as effective as he was with Accies he'd do the job of breaking up play better than Crawford & Bannigan combined. No surprise both picked up yellows. Neither are clean tacklers, which then makes a job they're not good at that much harder. Is there a particular reason Martin didn't start? Always good to see a youngster get a run out but that usually happens when a game is won or lost. Why was young Falconer preferred to MacKay? If it's a matter of fitness why was Dan MacKay even on the bench? Thought Graham was having one of his better games. He was for once winning a fair share of headers and his link up play much improved on recent weeks. Ironic then that he subbed himself yesterday when he's been normally on for a whole game. Perhaps he thought his presence was better required on the touchline? Said at half time I felt we were up a notch or two performance wise, but could rue not getting another goal or two when we were clearly on top. Maybe we should've had a penalty in the 2nd half but in general that was a totally half hearted showing. Lack of fitness may well be a factor but we made 5 substitutions with the only non defender, Chalmers, playing the full game. Rather worrying then if players aren't even deemed fit to play only part of the game. Re the Rhys McCabe thingy. If there's substance to him being appointed then the advent of a Sporting Director appears to be of more importance. He's another young relatively inexperienced coach that would benefit from an older head with good contacts looking after sourcing players. No idea who that would be but I'd suggest that this Sporting Director isn't called Jackie McNamara🙂.

Doesn't say much about Doolan's management style when he continued with Graham as captain.