exiledjag

In October we have 4 away games (ICT, Hamilton, Ayr & Raith) and 2 home games (Morton & Queens Park). If we are still top of the league after these games then I would say we are genuine title contenders. However I would settle for still being in touch with the leader and in the top 4. Why are my aspiration so modest? Well we can't defend against set piece plays and we are not clinical in front of goal! I won't be looking to sack the manager as long as we are in the top 4.

Please excuse the many typos towards the end. Contribution was too lengthy for someone of my age and like the Jags I ran out of 'energy and concetration' at the end.

Totally agree wit your comments about possession turning into goals. This weakness of not scoring enough goals is a historic one and not unique to IMC. The greatest forward line in red and yellow in my life time was Cowan, Whitelaw, Hainey, Duffy and McParland (add Flemming I think when Whitelaw left) and according to Neil Duffy they failed to win the league because they couldn't score enough goals. That forward line was against the likes of the Rangers 5 of Henderson, McMillan, Miller, Brand and Wilson. Kilmarnock had players like McInally, McIlroy, Sneddon and the aging Andy Kerr. We have just never been able to afford a prolific goal scorer and when we occasionally find a good goalscorer we can't afford to keep him, for example, the afore mentioned Andy Kerr, McAdam, Melrose, Somner and Bone. Dominating some games snd not turning possession into goals has been a Thistle trait for as long as I have been a Jags fan and that's over 60 years. I suspect this isn't going to change anytime soon. The answer if we can't score enough goals at one end of the park is not to lose them at the other end. The number of goals lost from set plays is serious. This is something IMC and others can do something about. He has to look at this as a defensive unit problem and that to me means bringing Sneddon back In goal. When he was our No.1 I felt the defence played better as a unit by showing more alertness, awareness, organisation and discipline. With Mitchell in goal the defence seems nervy and disjointed. This isn't all down yo Mitchell as we must forget we are looking, with the exception of Holt and entirely new back 5. All good players individually but not knotting together do far.

So the Cove bogy strikes again. Will probably have to settle for addressing only one bogy (Arbroath) this season

Thanks

No McKinnon?

I agree with the above. In respect of Graham I have noticed a few occasions this season when at the end of a game he has been holding an ice pack against a knee so perhaps a spell being an impact sub won't do him any harm. The Mitchell/Sneddon situation is interesting. Sneddon finished the last season as our No.1 keeper winning over most fans in the process yet this season he starts as No.2! Mitchell as our No.1 hasn't done badly enough to be moved to the bench yet hasn't done enough to impress or convince most fans that he is better than Sneddon or deserves to be No.1. So how did this come about. McColl, Scally, Archibald and Arthur (and others) see the squad in training every day. The importance of doing well in training has increased over the years so perhaps Mitchell has shown better form, attitude and or commitment in training than Sneddon. I admit this is total speculation but something must have happened to justify this change in the pecking order. Turning to today's game. I hope we turn up with the right attitude. The players should be fit and raring to go after the enforced break. If we do the above and play to form we should win. However there is no room for complacency as I recall Cove being no push over when we played them when we were in League 1. In fact have we ever beaten them?

This season we seem to have a bench full of impact subs with Dowds being a good example. That's another of the big differences from last season.

Great result for the Jags and a clean sheet as well.. A big well done to the manager, his staff, the players and last but not least the fans who attended and gave the team fantastic support. Now for a top of the table clash with Ayr Utd next week. Anyone know if this game being televised?

I like the look of that team. Hope it performs as expected!

My constant in the games I have seen, two each at Firhill and Arbroath, is that Arbroath have had two big central defenders who got away with everything short of murder. The referees in these games were dreadful and IMO in every game both central defenders should have had a yellow card and one a red card for persistent fouling. So a requirement for today's game is a referee who is impartial and who applies the laws of the game. I agree with you that our squad is the strongest, probably since we were relegated, but if the referee repeatedly favours ones team (Arbroath) over another (Jags) it will make things difficult no matter how strong our squad.

Apologies for typos Too early on a Saturday morning for me and eyesight not as good as it use to be! Still going for 2-1 the Jags.

Arbroath is about 1.5 hours drive South from where I am and I can confirm its very windy here at the moment. My experience of living on the East Coast leads me to believe it will be just as windy at Arbroath. Can we beat a team that historically we don't do very well against twice in the same week. Also there is our tendency to give teams in need their first win of the season. Nevertheless although this will be a tough fixture I believe we can win. We will though have to cope much better with the wind than we have done on previous occasions. Looking at the other fixtures a win could result in us putting some distance between us and some of our main competitors. Dundee, Queens Park, Ayr , Raith and ICT could all drop points today as all are involved in 'tricky' games. I fancy Queens to get a draw at Dundee, IAyr not to win at Morton and home advantage to give Raith the edge though I would like an ICT win. If we think we can challenge for the then title more fistance we can put between ourselves and Dundee the better. They are still finding their feet in the Champioship but when they fo I think they will go on a winning run. 2-1 the Jags.

Billy Gilmour!

And how many times should Aberdeen have been relegated?