Stephen1876

Back to pressing in ones compared to Raith who are pressing agressively as a team and moving the ball quickly

Stanway’s pressing, Neilson’s reading of the game and tackling and Fitzpatrick’s pace have all been very impressive.

I think he struggled badly at Morton as a young player and when he left made a remark to the effect that they were a brutal fan base to play in front of when low in confidence. Ironically he has played almost all of his career at a higher level than Morton.

This game and our next league match against Airdrie feel quite important in terms of cementing a playoff place. Two trips to Fife and one to Tannadice in December will make it a tough month, albeit we have often looked better on the road this season.

I’ve thought for ages that there is a player in Dowds but it hasn’t happened at Firhill yet. Had a debate with a guy at Ayr in the playoff game last year who said he was a total diddy, Paul Keegan type. Not sure we should be leaving him at Ayr in January as he is doing well for them

A nod also to Zander MacKenzie. He had a chastening experience against Arbroath and came on tonight to play against Thomas. Thomas got the better of him a few times but he stuck to his task.

Agreed. As a at Firhill, I thought their problem was the lack of an instinctive no.9 like they had in Simon Murray and sometimes trying to play one pass too many. I couldn’t believe the amount of space we gave Thomas and Robson given that they put us to the sword several times last season.

That was an eye bleedingly bad first half from Thistle but a great move to win the penalty. We are fortunate that QP don’t have an instinctive number 9 type player. We will regret it if we keep giving Thomas and Robson as much space down the left as we are

I actually thought Williamson was decent at the start of the season, and we fell out of the Airdrie and Raith games when he went off. Strange how he has just dropped out of the picture, and Alston hasn’t yet even been in the picture

The pitch is looking great, credit to the Caley groundsman

Is there any indication of how long McMillan and Williams are out for?

And he is off the mark in a quite remarkable game. His first goal since November 12th last year

336 Queens’ fans today in a derby after three wins on the spin - it’s hard to see this not ending in tears for them at some point.

Strangely a guy who had a really decent lower league career in England, but was dross for us, was Lucas Akins

Worrying that, despite all of the central midfielders we have, we had to put a centre half in midfield to supposedly shore things up. Banzo and Alston are good players but they are far too slow and poor in the tackle to play together . Our pressing today was also a shambles. Airdrie were knocking it about at the back and rather than collectively pressuring the ball, individual players were closing down and no one cut off the outball. Hard league spell coming up with QP at home and then trips to Greenock and Ayr.

Tiff had a similar pre-Thistle ratio, nine goals in 90 appearances.

It’s a fair point but I’d be quite happy to sign a player like Tam O’Brien and let him remain part-time if he preferred.

I could listen to Dools speaking all day - intelligent, eloquent and clearly thinks hard about the game. He appears to have a very clear idea of how he wants his team to play and the type of player he wants. He needs patience in the season ahead. I do think he could go really far in the game.

Very disappointed to see all three go and will be hard to replace, but completely understandable. All three (plus Tiff) have been excellent servants to the club. I wish them all the best, with the usual refrain of except against us Doc in particular signed presumably in anticipation of a promotion push to the top league but ended up playing in League 1. He could have walked away from that pre-contract but didn’t. Like everyone else, I think we may have a period of steadying the ship. However, being positive, we have the two best full backs and two best wingers in the league and Graham will still cause teams problems. There are also some echoes of the 12/13 team. McCall left, McNamara had done little but we finished his first full season very strongly after a mediocre campaign. If I remember correctly, our main man Paul Cairney left and we were hesitant about the year ahead. Let’s be honest - who had heard of of Aarons Muirhead and Sinclair, James Craigen, Lawless or SoD. Jackie did though build a brilliant team around those players, some experienced heads like Archie and the emerging Banzo and Welsh. It’s not all about money all the time, as much as it helps. Dools has had us playing some brilliant stuff - next test is now his eye for a player.

Agreed - one of the real challenges facing Dools was the extended season and late end to the playoffs, presumably because of the World Cup. We go to Peterhead four weeks on Saturday and the League Cup is not to be overlooked given it’s revenue potential. It’s a very short timescale in which to build a team - we all need to be patient if we don’t get off to a fast start.

Agreed - it’s not going to be easy, but a strategy is a long-term thing which may several plans within it. It would be good to see us develop a clear identity, particularly around the academy.

The news today is worrying if not surprising, and shows the disregard of the previous board and their failure to dispense their duties as Directors. In adversity does though come a (possibly long-term) opportunity. I feel for several years we have lacked much of a recruitment strategy and this presents a chance to follow one and develop a clear identity. We didn’t enter the 2012/13 season that positively but McNamara had a clear and affordable plan - a core of experienced players (e.g. Archie, Craig), supported by good lower league signings (the two Aarons) and young players cast off by SPL clubs (Lawless, SoD, Welsh etc). When we first went down to the Championship, we had a scattergun approach to recruitment. I have no idea what Caldwell’s approach was and McCall clearly liked experienced players he trusted with a spattering of young, mainly Rangers loanees (which certainly wasn’t awful). For me, we should now be building the club around a core of experienced players (Graham, Lawless, possibly Muirhead and Banzo or a signing like Paul McGowan or David Witherspoon) with a combination of: - The best of the academy like MacKenzie and Stanway (but the fans will need to be patient) - Talent from the lower leagues like Charlie Reilly or Callum Smith (although he is now at Raith) - Young talents who haven’t quite made the grade in the top league or England This could be supplemented by: - Part-time players who are good enough but don’t want to play full time, Eg Tam O’Brien. - Astute loans like Nouble (Arbroath), Chalmers (Ayr) etc. Morton were competitive this season finishing level on points with our far better squad, but could hardly put a team on the park at the start of the season. Further afield, the likes of Leyton Orient and Stevenage were tipped for mid table and the drop respectively and both went up. All about clever recruitment and building a good side rather than a good team of individuals. Next season will though probably be tough and the fans will need to stick with Dools and be patient with the young players.

I have nothing but respect for Tiff - was brilliant for us and a huge reason we got out of League 1. I’m surprised an English club didn’t fancy a punt on him but I wish him all the very best and thanks for some great moments and superb football.

Not a stat as such (or a stat at all!) but a coincidence that, if we go up on Sunday, all three professional clubs with which Christie Elliott played will have been promoted.

Slightly off topic but huge credit must also go to the ground staff this season - looking at the pitch last night, you could have been forgiven for thinking it was the first day of the season. It has allowed us to get the ball down and play in a way that was impossible last season and contributed to the turgid end to that season.