Just In 0-0 V Saints

[brodieboy]

Not much in the way of quality out there today.

 

Frederic Frans looks like an excellent acquisition albeit for the short term.

 

I blamed the conditions at half time but the game got worse as the weather eased!

 

Surprised at the substitutions and lack of ambition by AA. Clearly too scared to go for the win today. We miss Higgy and Fraser terribly. Craigen and Elliott are so far behind them in terms of ability.

 

Why not go two up or give it a go with a more attacking formation? In the end, Fox had to bail us out of yet another last minute defeat.

 

Saints were rank and there for the taking today.

[jaggy]

They are unbeaten in the last 8 meetings at Firhill

[falklandal1]

Yes,it was so obvious that they didn't want to make any changes other than up front,thought that we controlled the game for long spells but lacked a cutting edge and a bit of luck.Think that Osman is a great find,we need to find some one to play with Kris,i am old fashioned,i like someone with a bit of height up front.Thought that they were there for the taking,why we didn't play more at there left back I don't know,he was atrocious,spent most of the game looking for offside.We may have saved a few bob not signing McFadden,all he did was winge,as a matter of fact it appears that wingeing is a must or you don't get a game with St Johnstone.The officiating just seems to go from bad to worse,the referees don't seem to be watching the same game as the rest of us,or am I just being a bit harsh.

[potty trained]

Thought the first 45 was some of the best football we have played in the return to the top flight. We were crisp in attack getting in behind attacking with pace. We won the ball back with strength and determination.

 

I don't know how the defender blocked the Craigan shot in the 6 yard box. He leathered it After he had hit a weak shot earlier.

 

However.

 

The second half felt like two teams with an eye on mid week.

 

Frans and Seaborne with O'donnell and McMillan looks our best back 4.

 

Why can't Fox play it long to the right hand side just once?

 

Our throw ins are useless.

 

 

 

 

[Auld Jag]

Imo only one team was trying to win this game and St.Johnstone just got a load of players behind the ball.

[falklandal1]

That's another reason I prefer Gallagher to Fox,Fox hangs on to the ball too long,consistently kicks the ball to the exact same place,maybe its an instruction from AA that the ball must be kicked wide out left.Dont know why we don't ever seem to get an advantage from throw-in"s,its something that they must talk about at training,or maybe not.

[1 John Lambie]

Fox takes forever to kick/pass/throw the ball out. By which time the other team are back in their positions & ready to defend.

[jags on tour]

thought we played well but lacked a real cutting edge as folk have said before. Nothing came off for Doolan all day, he didn't have a shot on goal.Lawless played well but didn't support Dools enough, the same with Craigen and Elliot, the latter two just shat it and kept passing the ball back the way to Banzo or Osman. Defensively we looked solid,Banzo and Osman strolled it, McMillan and Frans were probably the pick of the bunch, Big Frans looked solid and likes to play it out of defence without being a bombscare. wouldn't mind seeing him n Seaborne having a few games together although he'll be offski in January. desperately need Higgy n Fraser back for a bit of creativity and for someone to have a dig at goal. I thought we should have maybe took Craigen off for Ecclestone or Doolan and Craigen off for Ecc and Stevenson to try and mix it up a bit, dunno if we seem to be too wary to go and win a game or if Archie genuinely sees the game different and keeps making the same like for like subs which don't actually change anything.

on to Parkhead.........

[king of spain]

As an attacking sense that second half showed up how poor we are without higgy. Doolan seems to vanish in the second half of games and the front three behind today proved that none of them are consistently good enough for this level.

[Ferris Bueller]

Yep, don't think either side played to their best - especially with the first half wind and rain. At the end of the day, happy with a point as I wasn't reallly expecting anything out the game. Main concern is that Doolan's OK after going over on his ankle (by the looks of it). We definitely had the best chance in the first half, had a tap in waiting to be put in, but the pressure of the moment seemed to put the player off. Think it was Doolan.

[Winter of '63]

Blustery wind...cold & wet...endless head tennis...few serious attempts at goal...not a great day's entertainment.

 

St Johnstone were as poor a side as I've seen at Firhill since we have been back in the top division but although we passed the ball about quite well at times we didn't really carry much of a goal threat. We again had nine starters today from the promotion winning squad including three who weren't first choice picks - arguably four as Steven Craig probably started more games than Doolan and as against Motherwell , we looked a better side than the opposition. While I find the Sack Archie Brigade every time we lose a game tiresome, I get almost as irritated by those that seem to think Thistle are overachieving simply by being better than the Dick Campbell era. The standard of the opposition is really not that great this season - we are without our two best players and we have only one decent striker who is not at his best but I've yet to see a team come to Firhill who look superior to us.

 

Frans looked as if he was playing well within himself though big Graham is a bit of a donkey. Bannigan got the ball down and made sensible passes, O'Donnell,Lawless & Osman were good and I think McMillan is better at left back. Craigen has real energy and gets into some great positions but not much comes of it. Elliot threatened to do something really good but also showed some poor touch and hit a few aimless knock-ons.

 

I've still to see anything from Ecclestone to suggest that he will add much to the team.

Edited October 26, 2014 by Winter of '63

[lady-isobel-barnett]

Fox takes forever to kick/pass/throw the ball out. By which time the other team are back in their positions & ready to defend.

 

I noticed that yesterday but his distribution is generally far quicker and accurate than Gallacher. Not that accuracy with throw outs and side kicks is too difficult. When Fox made his good save late on there was the possibility of a useful counter that went a-begging. Fox milked it as if we were holding out for a point.

 

Conditions yesterday were pretty bad. The top left of the pitch looking from the North Stand was extremely sodden. That was the area of the pitch that caused most concern at last season's abandoned game, ironically against St Johnstone.

[robphil]

far from our best but at least we tried to play football on a miserable afternoon of wind and rain. st johnstone were a cynical, ugly, spiteful team whose contribution to the 'entertainment' we paid to watch consisted of humping high balls to graham who would then try to cheat his way a free kick on the edge of the box. imagine having to watch them every week...?

[The Cup]

Saints have won the Scottish Cup and played in Europe on the back of being ugly and hard to break down.

 

Personally I'd rather have success than moving the across the pitch between Osman, Bannigan and Balatoni and calling it the passing game.

[The Sunnylaw Jag]

I think that's a game we would have lost last season. Nobody played badly but Elliott and Craigen do need to add a goal threat to their game. As for entertainment, the pint where Graham got booked was hilarious as you could see him getting more and more frustrated as the ball got passed away from him.

[Bleeding Gums Murphy]

I don't know why I'm surprised at this thread but Fox & his distribution wasn't our biggest problem.

 

Doolan ran his heart out again with no one getting close to him. Lawless did his best but too often when he did get in the box it was Doolan who was outside trying to provide him.

 

Craigen- plenty of effort again but 1 goal in 60 odd appearances I think it is now shows he's not the man to get the goal. The one time he got himself into the box yesterday he didn't show composure, he didn't even put his laces through it, he more or less passed it back.

 

That & the chance where Doolan unfortunately trod on the ball are from memory the only clear cut chances we created yesterday.

 

Same old story, plenty of the ball playing in front but no cutting edge when it matters.

 

As has been said they came for a point, got the bodies behind the ball & we gave them it.

 

Can't fault many of the players for effort but surely the manager should've changed the system to try & get all 3 points?

 

Like for like subs changed nothing.

 

Ecclestone looked even more isolated than Doolan & McDaid for Elliot in the last couple of minutes was a pointless sub as if it hadn't worked for the previous 89 minutes then what made him think it was going to work in injury time.

 

This was a team who looked like they'd lost their last 5 league games & as I said, we gave them what they wanted, namely something from the game.

 

I know folk will come on & say it's manager bashing again but surely no one can disagree with the above assessment.

 

These are the type of games which may cost us dear at the end of the season.

 

Incidentally, the opposition manager changed his team's tactics after 20 minutes to try stop O'Donnell bombing forward & went 4-5-1 from a 4-4--2. McFadden tucked in on their right & Croft their left.

 

Did our manager even attempt to counteract this?

 

It is unfortunately a recurring theme & we're becoming predictable to play against.

 

We miss Higgy but aside from him & Fraser - Seabourne a given but I'm thinking offensively- the team we had out is Archibald's preferred personnel & system.

 

We've been sussed by the opposition.

 

[Firhillista]

Don't mean this in any way personally, but this is a load of shite. It IS 'manager bashing', whatever you might claim. The idea that simply by changing the formation during a game, you're going to a win is more likely to see goals conceded that anything else. If we're so predictable, why couldn't experienced managers like Hughes and McCall take advantage of that? We lacked creativity and a cutting edge in front of goal yesterday - how do I know this? One, because I was there and, two, Alan Archibald said so in his after-match comments! He also pointed out that two of our more creative players are currently out injured and we're missing them. Duh! Archibald is a young manager who is still learning his trade, but, and I think this is the vital thing, he's getting most things right. He deserves our support.

Edited October 26, 2014 by Firhillista

[Jagtastic]

Would have been fuming if I was a St Johnstone fan at the the park the bus tactics on show. It's up to us to break them down though and as others have said we are really missing higgy in that regard, even if he's not having a great game his running commits defenders and pulls them out of position. Lawless played well but quite often just ended up crowded out before anything was on. It might have been a consequence of the weather but thought our free kicks around the box were particularly awful yesterday. On the upside, Frans looked solid and effective. Always available to take the ball short from Fox and his distribution was pretty good too. Him and seaborne together with higgy and Fraser back in the team would be nice but unlikely anytime soon.

 

Observations on a few StJ players... Lee Croft is a fat, unfit mess. Embarrassing that he gets a game in the premier league in that condition. His Stephen Pressley style "fall into the player and claim he fouled you" routine whenever Sod strolled past him was pretty pathetic.

 

Is Brian Graham such a greetin faced tool against other teams or does he reserve it for us? Doesn't like playing against defenders where he can't win every high ball and hits the deck at any presented opportunity. He seems to get genuinely wound up playing against us, his frequent hissy fits can be quite funny to watch.

 

I'm glad we didn't sign McFadden.

 

[partick monkey]

Rubbish game... I hate watching St Johnstone but that style of play always seems to work against us. It's the same with Ross County.

Unfortunate that our best chance of the match came when Doolan was on the deck injured. If he'd been on his feet, I'm convinced he'd have buried that.

I feel this team doesn't capitalise enough on the periods of the game when we've got the momentum and the other team are on the ropes. There were times especially in the 1st half where St Johnstone couldn't get near the ball and were defending really deep. We looked certain to score at this point but when it broke down, instead of keeping the pressure on at maintaining the momentum, we just lost all sense of ungancy and let them off the hook. I think we need to take more risks sometimes in games...

Very sporting of McFadden to pass the ball back to Fox when he found himself in the box with the ball at his feet and nobody near him. Cheers James.

 

[whitburn]

Have to say Balatoni was excellent yesterday. Credit where it's due....he never has a bad game against Graham...won every header I think. Man of the match could've been him, O'Donnell, Lawless or McMillan. St J did what they did at Firhill last season...but don't have May up front so are now like Ross C.

 

We missed Higgy and Fraser.....Stevenson may well have been worth a punt in the second half...for something different because what we had wasn't goin to amount to anything. Only chink of light was Lawless and some cool chipped passing from Osman.

 

If we can't create a chance against a nine man defence we need to get Accies mentaillty for the next 2 or 3 games. We are not playing badly and no one yesterday was suffering from lack of confidence. Praying for the quick return of Higgy Fraser and Welsh.

[jagfox]

Sportscene will struggle to fill our allotted two minutes of match action this evening. A real 0-0 snorefest. Plenty of style but little substance going forward. I thought the back 6 if you include Osman all did well although Saintees showed little, if any, ambition.

Doolan didn't get a shot away in anger and Craigen while running his heart out contributed little.

With Frans added to Osman and Balatoni we should really be creating more from corners and free kicks in the attacking third. Craigen at least got the ball in the box a few times from his corners. The least said about our free kicks the better.

Goal kicks seem to be the same tactic of trying to find Elliott for the flick on but were ineffective.

A meh match on a meh day against meh opposition. Meh!

Nothing lost, little gained.

[clarencegarter]

How Craigen got 90 mins is beyond me. He is not at this level and never will be. Yes he runs and runs but there is never an end product. The one real chance he got yesterday from 6 yards out he decided to pass it back to the keeper.

The game yesterday was crying out for us to put two up front but instead again Archie will only go like for like and took off Doolan and put on Eccleston who was anonymous for the 20 mins he got apart from his pathetic attempt at a freekick in the last minutes.

Thought the big man at the back done well and him and balatoni bossed Graham out the game. Will be intresting if Archie drops Balatoni to accomodate Seabourne.

All in all a poor game where we decided to have a lot of possesion and a lot of sideways passing but never troubled their keeper once.

[Bleeding Gums Murphy]

Don't mean this in any way personally, but this is a load of shite. It IS 'manager bashing', whatever you might claim. The idea that simply by changing the formation during a game, you're going to a win is more likely to see goals conceded that anything else. If we're so predictable, why couldn't experienced managers like Hughes and McCall take advantage of that? We lacked creativity and a cutting edge in front of goal yesterday - how do I know this? One, because I was there and, two, Alan Archibald said so in his after-match comments! He also pointed out that two of our more creative players are currently out injured and we're missing them. Duh! Archibald is a young manager who is still learning his trade, but, and I think this is the vital thing, he's getting most things right. He deserves our support.

 

I'm not saying it's not criticism of the manager, but I would like to think its open to discussion & constructive.

 

I genuinely feel a lot of folk's opinions are blinkered as Archibald a 'legend''.

 

Just so long as I understand that finishing in the bottom 2 this season doesn't matter as we've a young manager learning his trade.

 

Just out of curiosity, when does this cease to be? Alex Neill a young manager? Paul Hartley? What about Jackie McNamara?

 

Archibald managed at the top level longer than all of them wit the exception of the 4/5 months McNamara got as a head start when joining DU so not sure this 'young manager learning his trade' argument can still be used.

 

Last week it was the ref's fault, this week it was the injuries. When you start looking for excuses other than we weren't good enough then the phrase 'clutching at straws' springs to mind.

 

2 weeks in a row we've seen more of the ball than the opposition but we've 1 point from 6 to show for it.

 

The manager signed Stevenson, Ecclestone, Carroll... 3 of the highest earners at the club sitting on the bench whilst the manager goes back predominantly to the players & system which won us the first division.

 

Strange he doesn't back those 3 especially being his players, not McNamara's

 

Surely these players were signed to add extra creativity & enhance the team yet when we're missing ,arguably, our most creative player he doesn't back any of them to step up!

 

The manager picks the players, tactics & makes the subs therefore will be judged on that.

 

Yesterday's marking at the first St Johnstone corner was beyond belief. Leave the 6ft 4 donkey with a free header 6 yards out. Luckily it came to nothing but the same can be said for the majority of our attacks.

 

Then in last minute of the game, their no 18 I think it was is allowed to run across the box to get his head on the ball at near post.

 

Set pieces are diabolical.

 

Then there were the other tactics we were going to employ this season (see pre season comments) but as I said he's still using the tactics we used to win first division.

 

As for our subs, sorry they're rubbish with of without Higgy in the team.

 

Hamilton have stolen a march on us, when you put their XI against our XI from last few weeks, how many would you take & who would you replace?

 

Not many, if any, I'm willing to bet.

 

So then it's not just to do with our creative players being missing?

 

As I said, St Johnstone came with the idea of not losing yesterday, we gave them little to worry about to get exactly that.

Edited October 26, 2014 by Bleeding Gums Murphy

[The Cup]

That Eccelston attempt at the end was pathetic. I know we missed Higgy but surely someone could have done better than a big taebash into the wall.

[potty trained]

Glad to see the Craigan haters out again. Seems strange they missed his chance that was blocked by a last ditch scramble in the first half.

 

So he had at least two shots on target. How many did the team have?

 

It really beggars belief that there are people in our support who would rather sit behind their keyboard and look for negatives at every opportunity.

 

We have a team built on youth and desire trying to play good football. We have players who have come from outwith league football and have progressed and stepped up to play in the top league in Scotland. I am very proud if that and support them as best I can.

 

One of them is contributing more desire, effort and teamwork than our highest paid player. The player brought in to improve the attacking midfield option.

 

But no, there are some fans who'd rather talk down these guys. Absolutely baffling.