exiledjag

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?

I don't think this is a particularly good draw both in term of progressing or finance. I would gladly swap this for a game at Ibrox against Rangers (and with a 30/40k crowd). I think wecwill be lucky to get 12000 for this game. However looking on the positive side Aberdeen are not the team they were. Goodwin is in the early stages of changing the squad and as a result they have been inconsistent. If we can start on the front foot and get our wide player attacking their defence them that might shake their confidence. One thing is certain the Jags will need to turn up for this game with the right attitude, team and tactics. Wouldn't be surprised if we play 5 in midfield.

We are scoring some cracking goals this season. Given the game was in the closing stages I really admired the patient and composed build-up to the goal. The first cross to beyond the far post really had Gaston stretching. I thought he might have put the ball out for a corner but perhaps he did well to even reach the ball. Lawless's cross and Fitzpatrick"s run to the near post were excellent and where did he learn to head a ball like that! Great goal against a team who seemed to have everybody back defending.

Very good comment - made me laugh as did some of Pogba's performances. Suspect there is no brotherly love in the Pogba family!

Checking our results from the start of the season, league and league Cup I hadn't realised that we had only lost 1 game (Queens Park)! So our results read: played 10, won 7, drawn 2, lost 1. GF 22 & GA 12. (counting Kilmarnock as a draw after 90 mins). A vert good level of consistency! Perhaps the only criticism is the GA column!

Hope we can repeat this result or better on Saturday! So who do we want in the quarter final? Ourselves, Dundee and possibly ICT (if they can beat Motherwell tomorrow night) would be the only non-SPL Teams left in the competition. I would like to avoid both. I don't fancy a trip to Ross County. Looking at opponents we could draw, depending on tomorrow's results, for example, Hearts, Livingston Motherwell, Kilmarnock, Aberdeen, Dundee Utd, Rangers and Celtic there are a number of winnable games there. Being purely selfish I would like Rangers at Ibrox! 30000 there tonight to watch QotS so good financially. If we are looking to win the competition then it's got to be a Home draw against Livingston, Motherwell, Dundee Utd or a Championship Team. Good result tonight and a big well done to all at Partick Thistle FC and the fans who managed to attend the game.

Dundee in 5th place - looks good! Would expect a resurgence once they get acclimatised to the championship!

Yeah, Turner should be on. At least IMC has kept Smith on the bench so far! Akinola needs a good game to match his pace.

Agreed. The long pass can be a goal maker if played when appropriate and delivered accurately. For example, into space behind the opposing defence for Tiffoney or another wide/forward player to run onto. It is never appropriate when executed because the player in possession can't see a better option. If this is the case the manager should be berating the other players for not running into space to help out the player in possession. The only other occasion a long ball could be justified is when it's necessary to clear defensive lines if under severe pressure.

I don't mind Muirhead returning to the back 4 to partner Holt. With McMillan and Milne at full back this looks solid. However I wouldn't let Smith anywhere near the first 11. I fail to see what he brings to the team and in my opinion he is, excepting the odd flash of good play, largely ineffective. I am a supporter of IMC but his favouring of Smith over Turner is poor judgement. Anyway to the Raith game. If we approach the game with the same attitude and purpose as the ICT game and play with the same directness and intensity we will win. As I said on the ICT game thread I eould like to see us work the ball better, cut out the long forward passes to players who are already marked and bring Sneddon back in goal. Oh and leave Smith on the bench.

Agree with your comments. When I saw the team formation 3-5-1 my first thoughts were we are set up to deny ICT space in the middle of the park and to attack and defend (if necessary) on both flanks. This worked a treat even to the point of Tiffoney, when needed, doing a lot of defending to support Milne. The pace we now have in the team allows IMC the option of giving ground and possession in the middle of the park knowing that when we get the ball we can counter attack with pace. ICT got beyond our back line 3 times in the game and one of those occasions was a break of the ball. Around the 6 minute mark I really enjoyed watching Milne give Samuels a yard of a start overtake him and regain possession of the ball. I was surprised Samuels wasn't substituted as he got absolutely nothing out of Milne. However against better teams the long ball out of defence may cause us problems. But as you say we are getting better at working the ball and we did play some really good stuff at times. Just need to do more of this and fewer of the long stuff excepting of course a long one for our pacey players to run onto! Credit to IMC for recruitment, team selection and tactics. I am and remain an advocate of Turner in central midfield and I am unsure of Mitchell over Sneddon. Otherwise happy. IMCs next big challenge is to achieve consistency of performance. But new players bedding in and still early in the season.

Sums things up as they stand very well. Having belatedly now watched the game a few observations. The first and fourth goals were simple but great and good examples of what can be done with good off the ball running, good and intelligent passing including the final delivery and good finishing. Whereas Graham's goal was laid on a plate for him he still had to get into the proper position to score. Dowds on the other had had a little more to do and he did it well. It was impressive the way we cut through the ICT defence while they struggled to get beyond our back line. I agree that Lawless played well and is looking like a very good signing. If he keeps this up a good dose of humble pie will be due from me. So many good players on the park on Friday and a well deserved win. My MOTM was Harry Milne. Still some old failings evident. Too many long balls out of defence coming straight back at us. We need to retain possession and 'work' the ball better! ICT were allowed too much possession in the second half and our midfield unit though not overrun has to do better. Not sure about Mitchell. Happy we have him but didn't think he is playing well enough to replace Sneddon who finished last season as our first choice keeper. We need consistency as our main priority and to know with some certainty which partick thistle team will turn up, especially away from home.

A hard game coming up. ICTlook to be in good form with the recent thrashing of Cove. We seem to be back into the 'don't know what team will turn up mode. One thing I think is certain we will need to Score ateast twice to win as Samuels will score at least one for ICT.

We are the champions by Queen. On second thoughts perhaps not appropriate - not a local band!

A hard fought 2-0 win for the Jags whatever team and formation we play. If not the above a 5-0 romp, again, for the Jags.

OK we can agree to differ on our opinion of IMC. All that remains to be said is "welcome to Partick Thistle Lee".

DD I think you are misquoting IMC . He actually says Lee Hodson "was my number one target to add to the defensive ranks"! The meaning of the full quote is a lot different from simply "number one target". When you consider the signings of McMillan, Milne and Muirhead, Hodson was clearly not the number one target. I interpret IMC'S comments as LH was his number one target to provide cover for the defensive ranks. Hope this makes sense

Agree