flashman Posted January 6, 2017 Report Share Posted January 6, 2017 (edited) I was looking at this http://terracepodcast.net/category/worst-xi/page/2/ and although there obviously was a Thistle Worst XI, it has disappeared. I have selected my own Best and Worst XIs since promotion below, including my rationale. I actually struggled with picking players for the Worst XI. Best XI GK - Cerny: Reliable, does all the basics well and vocal enough to organise the defence. A definite step-up in class from any other keeper we've had since coming up. LB - Booth: Loved watching Taylor-Sinclair, but I would argue that Booth is better defensively and probably puts a better final ball in. CB – Lindsay: Still prone to the occasional lapse when he gets caught dwelling on the ball, but the improvement since he came in is immense and he really looks like he has played as a first choice for years. Chipping in with some much needed goals and worth a million quid to us regardless of how other teams value him. CB – Barton: Tough on Mair and Frans, but I had to find a place in this team for Barton. Best ball player at the back since Shaggy and adds a whole other dimension to the side with his passing and ability to bring the ball out from the back. If he continues in the same vein or improves, he can justifiably be called the best footballer at the club right now. RB – O’Donnell: If Dumbuya hadn’t got injured this would have been a much closer call, but O’Donnell’s fine goals and contribution to our counter-attacking play was a joy to watch. Improved on the defensive side of his game while he was with us and I still have hopes he can reach a higher level than Luton. DM – Osman: Form hasn’t been as commanding this year so far, but has provided solid support to the defence and breaks up the pay well. Deserved to be made captain based on his consistent performances until now. Not sure about the old leaning over the ball until he loses it and expecting a free kick –should ditch this asap. DM – Bannigan: Look forward to getting him back and fit for next season. His undeniable contribution to the team can be summed up by our failure to qualify for the top 6 when he got injured. Played in the right role he bosses the game even against top 6 teams. AM – Lawless: The wee man has disappointed since signing his new contract, but has undoubted ability and has scored some valuable goals. At his best great, at his worst anonymous. A case could certainly be made for Higginbotham instead, but over the time in the Premier league, I’d say Lawless has made the greater contribution overall. AM – Erskine: A fit Erskine driving at them worries every defence in this league. For me his 3rd coming as a Thistle player has confirmed his Premier league quality and we lack a creative spark without him in the team. AM – Edwards: Even when he is playing poorly, Edwards has an immense workrate. Similar to Jimmy Craigan in that respect and also that they could both show moments of great quality, but Edwards has the potential to develop further for me and gets involved in a lot of our play. After a shaky period has established himself as a regular now. FW – Doolan: He scores in fits and starts, doesn’t have the physique of a typical lone frontman, but scores double figures every season and has great first touch (mostly). I can’t believe that he is still at the club, but already one of the best forwards to grace the Thistle jersey and could end up 2nd top goalscorer of all time with a couple of purple patches over the next 2-3 years. He’s come a long way from Auchinleck Talbot. Subs GK – Gallacher: Technically better than Foxy and knew how to organise a defence. CB – Mair: For the steadying impact he had on a shaky defence, might not have stayed up without him. Honourable mention to Frans, who had some limitations but had a decent record of clean sheets. LB – Taylor-Sinclair: Great signing from Montrose, rampaged down the left side until leaving for Wigan. Only had one main ‘trick’ of leaving the ball behind and cutting in and his final ball wasn’t as consistently good as his build up play deserved. RB – Dumbuya: Get well soon Muzzy! Elliot has been a plucky stand in as usual, but what a find Muzzy was when we thought we might never replace O’Donnell. Solid at the back and skilful going forward. Hopefully stays fit once he gets back as we have missed him so far this season. CM – Welsh: Showing some very good form now, but in the past guilty of dwelling on the ball. Always looking for the ball and chips in with goals and assists. Set pieces have, with a few notable exceptions, been mince. AM – Higginbottam: Second half of his first season he was terrific, got you out your seat, nice mix of skill and dig. If you say he didn’t excite you during that short period, you’re lying. Before and particularly after this he seemed to lose interest and fall out of games too easily. Haven’t missed him, but love watching his highlights. FW – Taylor: A couple of passionate flings that never translated to a long-term relationship. A great alternative to Doolan, if he had more composure in front of goal, he’d surely be playing at a higher level. Would we take him back if he became available again? Worst XI GK – Stuckmann: Harsh on any of them really but Stuckmann gets my vote. Short term cover, lost couple of bad goals. LB – Carroll: He came, he saw, he left. CB – Piccolo: Still think he could have been a player, but we had a bad record with him in the team, as with at least one other in this team. Played like a nutter in his trial game, but probably one of his better performances. CB – Muirhead: Maybe unlucky with injury, I had high hopes for Aero and I wish him all the best wherever he goes. RB – McMillan: Actually a good player, but for all that the manager says he was a good pro, his own explanation of his failed drugs test raised more than a few questions about his off-field choices. CM – Kerr: About 3 years off the pace. Panic signing surely…? CM – Osbourne: Looked like one of the best players in a side struggling badly and then got injured. Maybe it was just a co-incidence that our record was so poor with him in the team, but we looked better without him. LM – Nesbitt: Might have been a decent player on loan from Celtic, but I think he conceded a daft penalty or something early after coming in and was pretty much never seen again. RM – German: 15 minutes of first team football. Looked like he should have been a good option in the final 3rd. Can only assume he was gash in training. FW – Mukendi: Another with relatively few minutes. I thought he deserved a bit more of a chance. FW – Baird: Not for lack of effort, but didn’t click with the team. No goals. Subs GK – Fox: Foxy gave us some good service, probably looks a worse keeper now we’ve been spoiled by Cerny. Beats any other keeper into the squad due to his consistent ability to get beaten at his near post. CB – Richards-Everton: Cheap and cheerful, worth a punt, didn’t work out. CM – Wilson: Showed some promise early this season, but we have too many good players there at the moment. Probably needs to move on for the sake of his own career. Hopefully the loan move works for him one way or the other. CM – Moncur: Surprised we never got to see more of him. Looked good when we finally saw him. Took too long to get up to full fitness I guess. AM – McDaid: Getting few mins here and there and seems to have played well in a few development games. I hope he makes it, but running out of time realistically. FW – Pogba: I quite liked him. He definitely gave us another option up front and held the ball up well. In many respects I preferred him to Azeez, especially if we are playing against Hamilton. Edited January 6, 2017 by flashman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jag Posted January 6, 2017 Report Share Posted January 6, 2017 Difficult to argue with most of that best XI Flashman. I would probably put Higgy in ahead of Edwards though. I'm a big fan of Ryan but he hasn't reached the levels of consistency needed yet. Higgy was incredible the first season we had him and I also thought he played a big part the season after, although he didn't quite hit the heights of the previous year. For pure ability and what he brought to the team, I think Lyle Taylor would just get my vote over Doolan. Sentimentally, Doolan would be in there but Taylor made such a difference to our all round play during his two brief spells. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Dastardly Posted January 6, 2017 Report Share Posted January 6, 2017 I might have Seabourne ahead of Lindsay. I think that Liam has the potential, but it was Seabourne who organised the defence and was the steadying rock last season. I can't stand the guy, but again for influence, Paton as holding midfield ahead of Ozzy ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jag Posted January 6, 2017 Report Share Posted January 6, 2017 (edited) I might have Seabourne ahead of Lindsay. I think that Liam has the potential, but it was Seabourne who organised the defence and was the steadying rock last season. I can't stand the guy, but again for influence, Paton as holding midfield ahead of Ozzy ? Paton never played for us in SPFL DD. Edited January 6, 2017 by Jag 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashman Posted January 6, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2017 (edited) LocationBlackburn Team:Partick Thistle Posted Today, 03:32 PM I might have Seabourne ahead of Lindsay. I think that Liam has the potential, but it was Seabourne who organised the defence and was the steadying rock last season. I can't stand the guy, but again for influence, Paton as holding midfield ahead of Ozzy ? I can certainly see what you mean about Seabourne, but my heart was always in my mouth with his jersey pulling in the box, which is a skill in itself to do without giving away too many pens. Setting aside the fact that Paton left when we got promoted, as pointed out by Jag, Paton had better long passing and was a very capable defensive midfielder, but I would consider Abdul on for to be more valuable than Paton and considerably more 2 footed... Abdul has got forward a bit more recently and had a couple of nice short crosses for assists. Edited January 6, 2017 by flashman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weebaw1 Posted January 6, 2017 Report Share Posted January 6, 2017 Good stuff but of course open to disagreement. McMillan was an excellent player for us but not in the same class as O'Donnell. I would replace him in the diddy team with Gordon notwithstanding some level of improvement recently. I would also have Fox,Stevenson and Pogba starting in the diddy team. This team would concede from every set piece and opposition centre backs could have a cup of tea before beating our strike force to the ball. I don't think we saw enough of German and Mukendi so they shouldn't qualify. Also, couldn't leave out Higgy or Taylor. They were usually excellent for us. Love Edwards and Dools but those 2 gave us some magnificent moments. Would like to see Higgy hitting the heights again. Except against us! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThickAsThieves Posted January 6, 2017 Report Share Posted January 6, 2017 Cerny O'Donnell Frans Seaborne Booth Osman Bannigan Lawless Erskine Higginbotham Doolan Fox Lindsay Taylor-Sinclair Osbourne Edwards Elliott Taylor 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebiglemon Posted January 6, 2017 Report Share Posted January 6, 2017 "Piccolo: Still think he could have been a player" This comment devalues your judgement !!! Pogba: I quite liked him." I'm sure he was a nice guy. But really...a total dud who got way too many chances. My definite starters: O'Donnell, Barton, Forbes (kidding) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandy Posted January 6, 2017 Report Share Posted January 6, 2017 Muirhead doesn't deserve to be in the worst XI. Big Aero was better than that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashman Posted January 6, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2017 Muirhead doesn't deserve to be in the worst XI. Big Aero was better than that. I really hoped he would make it, but in the end Balatoni adjusted better to the top flight. Aero was massive for us in the Chamionship winning team and certainly by no means a diddy. I was struggling a bit for someone to partner Piccolo. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashman Posted January 6, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2017 "Piccolo: Still think he could have been a player" This comment devalues your judgement !!! Pogba: I quite liked him." I'm sure he was a nice guy. But really...a total dud who got way too many chances. My definite starters: O'Donnell, Barton, Forbes (kidding) Gabby had a lot of good points, but he was quite poor in his tactical awareness and decision making. Pogba could hold up the ball well enough and bring others into the play, but didn't get into enough scoring positions. I do have a soft spot for some of the players who just never made it. Other threads in the past have dealt with guys who were actual wage theives like Fulton or Andy Thomson or Bonnes and others before and after them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weebaw1 Posted January 6, 2017 Report Share Posted January 6, 2017 Derek Johnstone. All time biggest wage thief. A shocking excuse for a footballer and one of the worst ever to play for Scotland. By the time he got to us he was obese. And I haven't even discussed his management skills! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebiglemon Posted January 6, 2017 Report Share Posted January 6, 2017 Derek Johnstone. All time biggest wage thief. A shocking excuse for a footballer and one of the worst ever to play for Scotland. By the time he got to us he was obese. And I haven't even discussed his management skills! He didn't have any management skills, in his heyday he was a class act though, don't be blinkered. Hilarious by the time he got to us though. But he didn't appoint himself player/manager. Someone was responsible for that call. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roque Posted January 6, 2017 Report Share Posted January 6, 2017 I can't stand the guy, but again for influence, Paton as holding midfield ahead of Ozzy ? Paton left before we were promoted, but even if he didn't, he is absolutely nowhere near Osman as a footballer. I'm not sure what he's done to suggest he's more influential on the team than Abdul either. Totally agree with the suggestions of Muirhead in the worse XI. A class act throughout our promotion season and looked like he'd easily make the step up, but he got injured for a while pretty early into that season, and when he returned looked a shadow of himself. Became a hoof-merchant and was clearly terrified of guys with pace running at him. I thought he really struggled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roque Posted January 6, 2017 Report Share Posted January 6, 2017 Cerny O'Donnell Frans Seaborne Booth Osman Bannigan Lawless Erskine Higginbotham Doolan That would be my exact starting 11 as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaggernaut Posted January 6, 2017 Report Share Posted January 6, 2017 Excellent thread! No mention of Conrad so far...... neither good enough for the best XI, nor deserving of being named in the worst XI, I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashman Posted January 7, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2017 Excellent thread! No mention of Conrad so far...... neither good enough for the best XI, nor deserving of being named in the worst XI, I guess. Aye, sounds about right. Took a good while to adapt, then did pretty well, then decided to try his hand elsewhere, which in hindsight didn't really pan out. Reports recently that Ayr knocked back a 5 figure bid from a foreign team for him. Think almost every centre back since has been an improvement, but he might have kicked on if he'd stayed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodstock Jag Posted January 7, 2017 Report Share Posted January 7, 2017 Best: Cerny O'Donnell Frans Lindsay Booth Osman Barton Bannigan Erskine Higginbotham Doolan Subs: Fox (narrowly over Gallagher), Dumbuya, Taylor-Sinclair, Welsh/Fraser, Edwards, Lawless, Taylor Worst: Stuckmann McMillan Mair Piccolo Carroll German Moncur Kerr McDaid Baird Mukendi To be honest though McMillan is only there because he wasted such a good gig. We've not really had any shit wing backs since being promoted. Most of the worst team are positions filled by default by virtue of players being punted for being chronic. I think it's a good sign that in any given best team, only two or three aren't at the club, and in all cases we have very acceptable alternatives ready. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Dastardly Posted January 7, 2017 Report Share Posted January 7, 2017 My memory is not great. Was Steve Lovell in the Premier League side or was that the 1st division ? Deserves to be in the worst XI if only for falling so far short of expectation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashman Posted January 7, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2017 (edited) My memory is not great. Was Steve Lovell in the Premier League side or was that the 1st division ? Deserves to be in the worst XI if only for falling so far short of expectation Ooft! 7 seasons ago, so still in first division. Lovell was a disappointment. According to Wiki he is Eddie Howe's half brother. Famously dated Amy MacDonald. Git. In that season we had Martyn Corrigin, Willie Kinniburgh, Bryan Hodge, Jim Hamilton, Marc Corcoran, Stephen McKeown, Maxie was still a player and 2 charachters by the names Erskine & Doolan were in the squad. Buchanan was scoring the goals, Archie was trying to keep them out and I believe Ryan McBeth was a bigger prospect than his teammate Stuart Bannigan in ou youth team. Edited January 7, 2017 by flashman 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lady-isobel-barnett Posted January 7, 2017 Report Share Posted January 7, 2017 To me the fact that Frans is seen as a legitimate choice for the right centreback slot highlights a weakness in our teams since we came back up. Maybe over the hill but I'd probably go for Lee Mair as he at least had organisational ability. Mair/Lindsay or even Lindsay/Seaborne would imo be preferable to a Frans/A.N.Other partnership. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindau Posted January 7, 2017 Report Share Posted January 7, 2017 Have to agree with the Aero comments. Really thought he would kick on and get a pretty decent club. To put him in the diddy 11 is ludicrous though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodstock Jag Posted January 7, 2017 Report Share Posted January 7, 2017 To me the fact that Frans is seen as a legitimate choice for the right centreback slot highlights a weakness in our teams since we came back up. Maybe over the hill but I'd probably go for Lee Mair as he at least had organisational ability. Mair/Lindsay or even Lindsay/Seaborne would imo be preferable to a Frans/A.N.Other partnership. Why? Frans was demonstrably better than Seaborne: the stats showed from what I remember that Frans and Lindsay were our least profligate CB pairing in the season in which we conceded the fewest goals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackpool Jags Posted January 7, 2017 Report Share Posted January 7, 2017 Ooft! 7 seasons ago, so still in first division. Lovell was a disappointment. According to Wiki he is Eddie Howe's half brother. Famously dated Amy MacDonald. Git. In that season we had Martyn Corrigin, Willie Kinniburgh, Bryan Hodge, Jim Hamilton, Marc Corcoran, Stephen McKeown, Maxie was still a player and 2 charachters by the names Erskine & Doolan were in the squad. Buchanan was scoring the goals, Archie was trying to keep them out and I believe Ryan McBeth was a bigger prospect than his teammate Stuart Bannigan in ou youth team. Wow, didn't think it was so long ago that Lovell 'graced' the hallowed turf, but come to think of it you're right. I don't know about others, but Lovell had the greatest ratio of great expectations > disappointment quotient in my book. If he had been on 10p for every ball he kicked and 30p for every shot on target, he'd have drawn a total Thistle career wage of about £3.90. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindau Posted January 7, 2017 Report Share Posted January 7, 2017 To be fair to Lovell and I agree I thought he would be a fantastic signing, he chucked it pretty soon after leaving us and going back down south, due to injury problems. We certainly didn't see the real Steve Lovell at Firhill 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.