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Thistle v Killie


Lambies Lost Doo
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So …. Don’t look like a title winning side but can we get too 4 yes that’s still possible which would be a reasonable result 

credit to sneddon with a great save in the first half and the penalty save in the second 

main issue is midfield to front we never got behind them or created much and resorted to cross balls that never looked like working and didn’t have a plan B 

rudden gave a good headless chicken impression today and his ball retention and lay off was very poor …, Graham was just poor

time to maybe  consider Graham up front with tiffoney behind and a more solid midfield  four 

lots of work do 

 

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8 minutes ago, Thistle88 said:

We aren’t a top European side we are a Scottish championship side with a striker that’s decent in the air. 

A winger has to get the ball past at least the fullback, launch it into the air for one striker in the goalbox to beat two giant centrebacks facing the right way, with the head, a rounded surface that offers little control, to get it past the third giant facing the right way, who's also allowed to use his hands. Outside corners, which can be trained for to use the speed of the ball, how often does a cross result in a goal? I'd bet it's successful in fewer than 1 in 10 cases. That goes at every level, which is why successful teams have abandoned it.

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6 minutes ago, Fearchar said:

A winger has to get the ball past at least the fullback, launch it into the air for one striker in the goalbox to beat two giant centrebacks facing the right way, with the head, a rounded surface that offers little control, to get it past the third giant facing the right way, who's also allowed to use his hands. Outside corners, which can be trained for to use the speed of the ball, how often does a cross result in a goal? I'd bet it's successful in fewer than 1 in 10 cases. That goes at every level, which is why successful teams have abandoned it.

The crosses don’t necessarily have to be in the air plenty of goals come from balls into the box. Winger/inside forward what ever you want to call it. I’d rather have seen Murray and Tiff start either side of Graham/Rudden than the we are setting up at the moment. At least then We have a player to come on and try and change the game !

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1 hour ago, Yellow & Redneck said:

Defence is a nightmare. Not helped by the fact that Rudden seems to be repeating his antics from the first 2/3rds of last season. 

Proof as if it was needed that this team is a lower mid-table side. McCall needs to get the back line sorted. 

Got to disagree, not the defence that is the real issue, the way McCall is setting up the team IMO is wrong .

Today for example, it looked like a 4 4 2 with Tif and Kyle Turner playing in the wings of the midfield 4 , first half neither of the wingers tucked in to help Bannigan and Docherty which meant they started to lose control of the midfield.

There is a lack of physicality in midfield which is getting highlighted against the better teams .

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20 minutes ago, jlsarmy said:

Got to disagree, not the defence that is the real issue, the way McCall is setting up the team IMO is wrong .

Today for example, it looked like a 4 4 2 with Tif and Kyle Turner playing in the wings of the midfield 4 , first half neither of the wingers tucked in to help Bannigan and Docherty which meant they started to lose control of the midfield.

There is a lack of physicality in midfield which is getting highlighted against the better teams .

Aye, defence aren't the issue, imo. We got bossed around in midfield today. I really like Doc but today wasn't his finest game.

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21 minutes ago, jlsarmy said:

Got to disagree, not the defence that is the real issue, the way McCall is setting up the team IMO is wrong .

Today for example, it looked like a 4 4 2 with Tif and Kyle Turner playing in the wings of the midfield 4 , first half neither of the wingers tucked in to help Bannigan and Docherty which meant they started to lose control of the midfield.

There is a lack of physicality in midfield which is getting highlighted against the better teams .

Completely agree Turner drops to the right of midfield when we are out of possession and I just don’t think it works that well. Playing another winger type rather than the two up top would allow Turner to be the attic king midfielder of a midfield 3 where I think he is much better suited.

And like I said previously the options from the bench never filled me with confidence that they could make any impact on the game.

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1 hour ago, JAG1970 said:

Surely Scott Brown fancies a return to Glasgow :D

I fear we need that sort physicality. A "Murray Davidson" type player would be the sort of ideal template. Docherty and to a lesser extent Bannigan might get away with their defensive responsibilities if the rest of the midfield wasn't so lightweight. And, by playing two up top, we're also a midfielder down.  Docherty has a fair bit of dig about him but only relative to his size.

A couple of years ago Bell could have played centre mid, a role he's played many times before. We'll probably end up having to play Mayo or McKenna there when Docherty gets injured/suspended anyway. So maybe worth giving one of them a run out in defensive midfield sooner than later.

Btw I don't agree that we were quite the equal of Killie in the first half. We would've been the better side if we'd played the ball thru midfield more often. Killie's defence was too competent to be fazed by our continual reliance on the long ball.

Edited by lady-isobel-barnett
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We started brightly but were then second best to  a dour Kilmarnock side who had the Tommy Wright trademark of games with record numbers of throw-ins. Their hoofs from the keeper were much more effective than our efforts - Graham just looked clumsy today.

We could still finish in the top four particularly with the dreadful starts from Dunfermline & Hamilton who I expected to be challengers but the disappointing thing is that I don't see much room for improvement in this squad. I like McCall but he has built an unbalanced squad with obvious flaws which just about every poster has identified.

We don't have an attacking threat from full back - Foster and McKenna are unlikely to go past defenders or put in incisive crosses. The options are more of a kind - centre backs who can play full back. Maybe Hendrie will be an upgrade.

Even more glaring is that we are lightweight in midfield - Bannigan, Turner & Tiffoney are good footballers but small and not tacklers - Smith, Hastie and Murray are in a similar mould. I didn't realise that Rudden is such a skinny, gangling type of guy - frequently outmuscled today.

Docherty's contribution was again poor - unable to win or retain possession. We need a midfield ball-winner like a young version of Abdul Osman - tall, quick and powerful who can shield the defence and pass the ball on to our creative players.  We have loaned a player to Alloa who might have been able to play that role.

The Mural of David McParland is magnificent.

 

 

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Brought 12 pals to the game today from my football team. None of them are Thistle fans. Their thoughts as follows:

1. Poor use of space: left flank often open to attack from through Foster but his space frequently ignored.

2. Over reliance on hopeful balls to strikers which were easily dealt with by Killie defence.

3. Midfield often fragile and vulnerable to tackles or blocks which killed moves stone dead.

4. Lack of guile in possession when attacking. Predictable and easily read passes on every attack.

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1 hour ago, Barney Rubble said:

Groundhog Day today.

Reminded me of that phase 25-30 years ago when we regularly conspired to lose 0-1 to a Tom Black penalty.

When was the last time we scored against this mob at home?

 

I am remembering a Kallum Higinbotham overhead kick as perhaps being the last meaningful goal though Conrad Balatoni did later score a "consolation" in a 1-4 defeat. 

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Pretty standard stuff, sadly.

Played well enough for the majority of the first half without really threatening and then our usual sleepwalk at the start of the second half resulting in two poor goals being lost.

Docherty was dreadful today, if he wasn't a McCall favourite then not a chance he would have lasted 90mins. Constantly gave the ball away and looked well off the pace.

The defence were poor, I lost count of the amount of times they let a long ball bounce and it was only a matter of time before it led to a chance/goal. To be fair to Shaw, he took his goal extremely well.  McKenna is solid enough defensively but doesn't have the pace/guile to offer much goiong forward and Foster looked very much like a guy in the latter stages of his career by the end of the game.

Kyle Turner has shown in spells that he is a talented footballer but we won't get the best of him being stuck out wide. Might be an idea to start him behind Rudden in the next game and see if that brings us any joy. It might also stop us launching long balls to Brian Graham.

Killie weren't pretty to watch but they had us sussed after about 25 minutes and they rarely looked troubled by any of our attacks. Their big keeper was very commanding, took every cross we played with ease.

Tiffoney looked ok and at least tried to beat his man but his dive was laughable, even more so because he'd already gone past the defender.

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