King Kenny

We started ok, spent most of the game in their half before missing some decent chances. First set piece to defend and we concede. So predictable and tiring to watch. Raith didn’t offer much at all but didn’t need to, we had no idea how to break them down. Fitzpatrick may have been double marked but he showed absolutely zero appetite to try and work out a way round it. He’s got all the talent but sadly not the attitude to match. We just played in front of Raith, Lawless was nullified and McMillan is out of form. Our form is dreadful and Doolan needs to find a solution and quickly. Tonight was worrying, the players looked out of ideas and effort. A really poor crowd as well

A good point being made about our midfield not assisting the defence. I've noticed in loads of games that the opposition find it alarmingly easy to progress through the middle of the field leaving our defence completely outnumbered. We signed Wiiliamson, Alston, Robinson and McInroy who all play in attacking positions and we've tried them all at various times in a more defensive position which just hasn't worked. Stanway is ok but has a long way to go to be a regular starter in that position and McBeth might be the answer long term but needs time to adjust (which we don't currently have). Bannigan is clearly struggling but even at the peak of his powers he was never a defensive midfielder. It should be a worry that Doolan didn't see the need to replace Docherty in the summer. We would have struggled to match his quality but a defensive midfielder should have been high up on the recruitment list and not the host of more forward minded players above. McCall had a decent record of recruiting players but could also be guilty of overloading with similar players and trying to shoehorn them in. Kyle Turner played most of his time under McCall out wide and only under Doolan in a more central position did he show his true potential. It must be tempting when offered decent (on playing history anyway) players to sign them on the basis you might not get better. That is something Doolan will hopefully become wise to as he gains more experience. He is still very early in his managerial career and this poor run of form is concerning. It is up to Doolan to find the ways to rectify it and that might be making some harsh decisions on who to drop etc. Archibald was too loyal to many players and they ended up costing him his job. Doolan needs to find a way to overcome this or he will quite rightly be facing the sack. A big few weeks coming up for him and the team, lets hope they can find a way through it.

Doolan doesn’t know how to set up a team in any other formation from what we currently play. His philosophy has always been “you score 3, we’ll score 4”. Sadly our defence is so bad we can’t score enough goals any more. He needs to show he can change this and quickly, the rest of the league have caught us up very quickly. That back 5 can’t start again on Saturday. Even bring in another defender and play 3 at the back with McMillan and Milne pushed on. Anything but chucking the same 11 out again and hoping for a change.

Officiating aside, we’re just not up to much this year. Our defence is poor and our midfield offer nothing other than pedestrian sideways passes. Once Fitzy has been hacked out the game, that’s us finished in an attacking sense. Sideways passes until someone hits a poor cross in to the box and we start again. Adeloye offers nothing as a sub, can never get up to the speed of the match quick enough. We might still do enough to get to the playoffs but we’ll not be going anywhere based on the goals we concede. Stewart distributes the ball quickly but seems very similar to Sneddon and Mitchell. A poor night all round, less said about the officials the better.

Fair enough to Doolan for holding his hands up but it’s pretty basic management that you give things five minutes to settle down after scoring before making subs. They couldn’t cope with Lawless, to replace him with Diack was daft. He’s a good prospect but he’s not a winger, looked well out his depth. Graham made the defenders work, Adeloye does absolutely nothing in comparison. Our subs were woeful, Alston especially looked like he’d played 100+ mins. Just very frustrating, a chance to get to a QF and make some money and chucked it away against a very poor team.

This game was always going to be physical, the first half has gone as predicted after seeing our starting lineup. Far too soft.

Made far tougher work of that than required. Started very slowly (again) but worked our way in to it and deservedly took the lead. Shocking error from Sneddon let them back in it but we’d missed several half chances before that. Nicely taken goal by Fitzpatrick and a great header from Neilson who had an excellent game. I thought Muirhead was poor and the free kick for their second was rash from an experienced player. We’ll have enough for a playoff spot but can’t see us troubling the top 2 which given our summer upheaval seems fair enough. Graham and Lawless had good first half showings but were poor in the 2nd. Thought Bannigan and Milne had decent games.

This sums it up, especially in the first half. The standard of our passing was awful, constantly giving the ball away which just invites pressure. United pressed us but our movement was non existent. It was the same 2nd half vs Caley, players making runs behind opponents rather than in to space to receive the ball. Our only option is to then go long which inevitably leads to losing possession.

That’s a fair point. My frustration with Fitzy is how much talent he clearly has but when he’s not at his best, he is miles off it. He’s still relatively young and will improve but his off the ball play needs to be miles better (and yes, he’s far from alone).

Fitzpatrick is either a 9/10 or a 2/10, nothing in between. Compare his output to the United wingers tonight and it’s night and day. Zero effort off the ball from him. Our new favourite tactic of shelling long diagonals doesn’t do us any favours either. We started the game tonight with zero belief we could win and out performance matched that. United are a poor team, it’s a poor standard of league this year so heaven knows why we sit off them so much. Young Diack looks decent, deserves a shot. We really need some midfielders in January.

Miles off it again. Our midfield is abysmal

I’m not sure our defence is that poor but our midfield certainly is. They offer zero protection for our defenders and zero options to play out from the back. Our best play came from Neilson taking the ball forward himself. I heard a few laughs when Muirhead was awarded Motm but I thought he was decent enough alongside Neilson in difficult decisions. We didn’t do enough with the wind advantage in first half and then struggled to get out against it in the second. Fitzy had a poor game bar a couple of runs (his cross at the end was crying out to be attacked). Adeloye offers nothing. Caley were decent enough but a draw was probably just about fair result overall. Would need to see their goal again but a few players didn’t look to cover themselves in glory.

Frustrating but it just highlights our weaknesses as outlined in various previous posts. I think we need an improvement on Sneddon/Mitchell but doubt that will happen in January. Nothing really between them, both prone to bad mistakes but I think Mitchell's distribution probably edges him ahead. I thought Neilson was unlucky to be penalised for a foul for their 4th but it was criminal to have that many bodies near the ball and not stop the quick free quick, we were always on the back foot after that. Williams unlucky to be dropped, perhaps he deserves a start over Muirhead in his favoured position in the next game. Adeloye hasn't really done anything all season to show me he deserves to be first choice sub let alone start. Diack showed more in his cameo last night, Adeloye barely moved.

I don't agree that we were dreadful. We had a couple of injuries requiring a reshuffle and some players out of position. Morton came looking for a scrap and for too long we got involved. The game was constantly being stopped by the ref and our players were getting caught up in the atmosphere. It was only when we got the ball down and started to pass round Morton did we get our rewards. Morton deserved nothing and got nothing, a dreadful team. We can play much better and will again but we did enough to win that. I've been critical of Fitzpatrick but he was excellent today, can't be easy to constantly get hacked to bits running at full speed. I thought Wasiri was fine on the left and McMillan did well considering how long he's been out. I thought the red for Graham was a bit OTT, yes he gestured to the fans but was it really any worse than what he was getting from the stands? A booking would have sufficed. His behaviour after that though wasn't acceptable. He should have headed down the tunnel instead of offering fans to come down. He then proceeded to head down the stairs (I'm assuming to try and get up to the stand and was stopped by Mitchell who had run back from the bench). While coming back out to celebrate in front of the Morton fans is great sh*thousery and very funny, he might get in some bother for that. From what I saw of Adeloye when he came on, we'll definitely miss Graham when suspended.

Second half was a big improvement on the first half display. I know we have injury issues but Doolan needs to stop playing so many guys out of position. Stanway was lost in the first half, can’t play with his back to goal in the 10 role. As echoed by others, what is the point in McDonald if he can’t start in Fitzpatrick’s absence? Williamson did well defensively but didn’t get by his marker once, choosing to play backwards every time. Thankfully Milne showed glimpses of last years form and helped drive us forward. I think most teams would struggle missing the key starters that we currently are but that still feels like 2 points lost. Doolan needs to improve his in game management quickly, the lateness of those subs last night was baffling. Williams was fine at right back. I actually think he could be a decent player but seems to play at 80%. If he upped his aggression and pace of play I think he’d be an asset. Neilson is very good, brings the ball out well. The less said about Muirhead’s shot the better!

I didn't think there was a huge amount in it first half although we barely looked like scoring and our ball retention was poor, I thought United were wasteful in possession as well. Their first goal was awful, every single player following the ball and not looking at Sibbald standing all alone to pick his spot. Our midfield from the word go were miles off it. The gaps between midfield and attack were very similar to the Arbroath game. Bannigan should have been hooked at half time never mind play the full 90 minutes. Allowing Holt to wander forward and have a shot which Sneddon kindly palmed in to the net just summed up how much of a soft touch we are. Sneddon was awful from start to finish. His reaction to the second goal was what got me the most. 2-0 down, 30 mins left I'd be hoping he's getting the ball back to the middle to restart as quickly as possibly. Instead, he's standing drinking his water as his team mates shout at him to get the ball back. Every goal kick is slow and ponderous, every other kick is a big punt to Robinson against two giants in Holt and Gallagher. Our senior players are so ill disciplined when the going gets tough. Muirhead was a stick on for a red card after the early yellow and Graham smashing in to Docherty was the kind of petulant action he's known for. The whole team just collapsed after the second, something that seems to be coming a bit of a habit. United will win the league, they have a squad of players far superior to anything we can dream of. Some of the guys on our bench must be wondering when they'll get a chance. Doolan needs to come up with some answers and quick. If he isn't confident that some guys like Williamson, Alston, Stanway etc can produce better than Bannigan then it doesn't say much for his transfer dealings.

You could tell after 5 minutes we had no idea how to break Arbroath down. Laboured sideways passing followed by a hopeful diagonal from Neilson or Muirhead. Once they scored it was game over. Mackenzie didn’t cover himself in glory for the first but we still had two chances to clear and the guy who scored had the freedom of Firhill to tap home. For Muirhead to then turn and berate Mackenzie was unnecessary and naive, it clearly affected him for the rest of the match. We have one right back in the squad, far too many midfielders who are all very similar and not one ball winning player. That comes down to poor recruitment and possibly shows Doolan’s inexperience. We may have won comfortably last week but Arbroath were always going to be a much tougher opponent. Easy to say in hindsight but playing Ngwenya at RB and Alston/Robinson in midfield might have given us some more experience and dig. Im not a massive fan of Sneddon or Mitchell but Sneddon was awful today. Zero communication with his defence, ponderous distribution and mostly aimless punts to a towering Arbroath defence. Mitchell at least appears to have much quicker/better distribution. A bad day at the office but must be one of the few games when absolutely zero players would get a pass mark. Graham, Milne, Muirhead and Bannigan were particularly dreadful out the senior pros. I moan enough about Fitzpatrick, a more frustrating player you’ll struggle to find. All the skill in the world but far too many times he has zero application.

Enjoyed that, both teams put on a decent game. Great first half until we gave away a very poor goal. In saying that, I thought the defence were very solid with Muirhead and Neilson having good games. Milne much better 2nd half as well. McInroy has the great ability of being in the box when it matters, think he’ll score plenty for us this year. One concern is our central midfield area. Queen’s centre halves waltzed forward time and again in the second half pinning us back. Doolan needs to work on our press, it was non existent at times. Graham took his goal well and played ok but taking him off and replacing with Adeloye might have helped stretch the game. Lawless was my man of the match, he was outstanding. Fitzpatrick needs to take a look at the work rate and desire of Lawless if he wants a decent career. He was poor today, needs to realise he has to be at it for the whole game. All in all, a very good win against a decent Queen’s Park team. Plenty to work on but a far more positive performance.

A few things about our summer business had me slightly concerned. Making Graham captain might have been the obvious choice but I feel Doolan has made a rod for his own back as it makes him much harder to drop. He’s been great for Thistle but his current form is poor and along with Bannigan, I don’t see the sense in giving him a 2 year deal. We seem to have been slow off the mark signing players only to then sign a plethora of midfielders when it’s obvious our defence is a big issue. Neilson is potentially a good signing and should start against Queens Park along with Muirhead (who has been poor but has more experience than Williams). It was always going to be a tough ask against a strong Hearts team but the performance was worrying. Next week is huge, lose that and we’re pretty much out of it already. Bannigan offers nothing more than Stanway, perhaps it’s time to give him a shot just like Stuart got all those years ago. A big few weeks for Doolan, he needs to show that he can handle adversity and get us moving in the right direction again. This time was always going to come in his career, sadly it’s probably come a lot sooner than he/we had hoped.

Second goal today was really poor. Starts from Graham not closing down to Fitzpatrick not getting back in quick enough to a free cross followed by a free header. Doesn’t matter how good we think our quality is, don’t put in the basic effort in this league then you’ll struggle to beat most teams. To be fair to the players, that can’t be labelled at them too often but they looked well off it today. I think the team could be doing with freshening up. The only way we’ll know if Doolan’s recruitment is any good is to give them a try.

When Turner moved in to the middle of the park you could see how good a player he can potentially be. Sadly he spent a large period of his Thistle career stuck out on the wing due to McCall's love of signing central midfielders and shoehorning them in to positions they couldn't play (see also Crawford, Smith). Docherty was a decent defensive mid at this level and Holt was excellent for us as well. As much as I would have liked to keep all three, it is worth remembering they were part of a side who failed to get promotion out of a fairly poor league this year. Doolan might have a few tricks up his sleeve and maybe we'll start to see some of the youth players get more than a token 5 minutes. It's going to be a tough season but who knows, we might just be pleasantly surprised.

When that penalty was awarded that familiar feeling started to creep back in to my mind, I'm sure I wasn't alone. As mentioned above, giving them the ball back straight from kick off was ridiculous and gave them the full impetus to make the comeback. Even then, we passed up some glorious chances to win it. Those and the numerous ones on Thursday are why we are not going up. It's a sore one and will take a while to get over. The team will be very different next year and if the rumours of financial uncertainty are true, we might not have the most competitive of squads. I'd imagine the likes of Tiffoney,Turner,McMillan and potentially Milne will be off to suitors from the league above, Docherty/Holt already away if rumours to believed and some of the bench fillers will be released. The league will be extremely tough next year, we're going to be up against it so it would be nice if we could get some news from the board over the next couple of weeks how things are shaping up. I've a lot of faith in Doolan, I think he'll do a good job going forward. He's very positive and talks well. Today will be a sore one for him and I imagine he'll be emotionally drained given what has gone on over the last few weeks but I'm sure come July he'll be back and ready to roll. It's certainly going to be an interesting summer.

Strange to feel slightly disappointed with 3-0, would have bitten your hand off at the start of the game! I think that shows how good we were in attack tonight, it could easily have been 5 or 6. As mentioned elsewhere, our keeper and defence deserve great credit for keeping the late Ayr surge at bay, that clean sheet could be very important. I've been critical of Brownlie but he was excellent tonight. Muirhead and Lawless were the pick of the bunch for me though, didn't put a foot wrong all night. Like others I wasn't sure about Stevie coming back but he is up there as one of my favourite Jags to watch over the last decade. Such a clever player and his partnership with McMillan could easily cut it in the league above. One foot in the final but the tie doesn't feel quite dead just yet. Great to see Firhill so busy and when the crowd helped fill the JLS in the second half, it was absolutely bouncing. No idea why they waited for the players to be back on the pitch before letting them swap stands mind you! Credit to Ayr as well, that was one of the biggest away supports at Firhill in a long time.

Strange game but the late winner from Graham could be crucial in so much as it swung the momentum back in our favour. Fitzpatrick was excellent when he came on, constantly driving at their full back and beating him with ease (so much so, he was subbed). When they switched Oakley over to face him it seemed to throw Fitzy off his game and the lazy backwards pass he gave followed by Docherty giving it away gave Queens the momentum to get that second goal. Poor from the defence for both of Thomas goals although Queens did well to break our press for the first one. No idea how Mitchell let’s the equaliser by him, looked a relatively easy save. No reason why we can’t go to Ovhilview and score a few, their defence is awful. I think the worst thing we can do is try and sit in on a 1 goal lead.

Tiffoney was done ten minutes before half time. He spent the whole of half time in the physio room before hobbling around for twenty minutes. Why was he not taken off sooner? He’s done this previously this season and we had no attacking outlet down the left which caused us to constantly play sideways along the back. Docherty wasn’t fit and Graham was miles off the pace. Doolan was poor to keep them on Fitzpatrick I’ve mentioned before. Terrible attitude, summed up by throwing the ball away when we needed to win the game. He’s frustrating as the two late chances created show his ability. Big chance squandered, playoffs at best now