Ayr Utd v Thistle

[Albert's Ghost]

Amazingly - we only need to draw to go back top.  Can't see it myself.

[Garscube Road End 2]

The boy Akinyemni will rip us a new arse.

[Albert's Ghost]

That possibility had occurred to me as well.

[Dick Dastardly]

Oh god. Match thread started already. Lucky to hold it to single figures 

[laukat]

Please, please and pretty please can we start players in the natural positions. If that means playing an out of form central defender or a central defender that might struggle to do 90 minutes then just do it and adjust later in the game if needed.

Just to be clear Cammy Smith's natural position is in back of the stand as far away from the grass as possible.

Also need to fix Ross Docherty quickly. 

[milhouse]

7 minutes ago, laukat said:

Please, please and pretty please can we start players in the natural positions. If that means playing an out of form central defender or a central defender that might struggle to do 90 minutes then just do it and adjust later in the game if needed.

Just to be clear Cammy Smith's natural position is in back of the stand as far away from the grass as possible.

Also need to fix Ross Docherty quickly. 

We need to fix Kevin Holt quickly

[Auld Jag]

As well as Docherty and Holt, we need to get Tiffoney sorted as well.

[McCall Out]

Need to sort the new manager

[dl1971]

Never ever predict a thistle result. I was lulled at half time today so now I'm going to hold my counsel. Needless to say I'm hoping those who predict the worst are wrong. Please 

[Lenziejag]

12 hours ago, laukat said:

Please, please and pretty please can we start players in the natural positions. If that means playing an out of form central defender or a central defender that might struggle to do 90 minutes then just do it and adjust later in the game if needed.

Just to be clear Cammy Smith's natural position is in back of the stand as far away from the grass as possible.

Also need to fix Ross Docherty quickly. 

Did you see Brownlie yesterday ? I thought McMillan was better there in the 1st half than Brownlie was in 2nd. 

[Anniesland Jag]

After back to back maulings and key player injuries Tuesday night will be a measure of our mettle ,team spirit and ability turn things around .Would settle of a point,however, we know we are capable of three with a bit of self belief.

 

[Dick Dastardly]

27 minutes ago, Anniesland Jag said:

After back to back maulings and key player injuries Tuesday night will be a measure of our mettle ,team spirit and ability turn things around .Would settle of a point,however, we know we are capable of three with a bit of self belief.

 

Interesting to see that this time you’re not calling it “must win”. What has changed from last time ?

[Anniesland Jag]

15 minutes ago, Dick Dastardly said:

Interesting to see that this time you’re not calling it “must win”. What has changed from last time ?

Oops sorry,forgot to add “ Must win/draw “ in terms of restoring team spirit and title challenge.

[Dick Dastardly]

5 minutes ago, Anniesland Jag said:

Oops sorry,forgot to add “ Must win/draw “ in terms of restoring team spirit and title challenge.

Damn. Out of reactions so can’t add a down arrow !

[Anniesland Jag]

19 minutes ago, Dick Dastardly said:

Damn. Out of reactions so can’t add a down arrow !

Cue wheezing snicker.

[Fawlty Towers]

Just to add to the fun, Willie Collum is the ref for Tuesday night.

[lady-isobel-barnett]

3 hours ago, Lenziejag said:

Did you see Brownlie yesterday ? I thought McMillan was better there in the 1st half than Brownlie was in 2nd. 

My thoughts exactly. 

Gotta a feeling we may need to go to a makeshift back three till Holt is back fully fit. Not sure how we do that as currently I wouldn't have Brownlie even in a back three. Muirhead's carrying an injury to boot. If/when Docherty is absent playing an extra CB is more compelling. 

A major downsides of playing a back three is of course one less midfielder and a loss of width. In saying that Tiffoney is no where near giving us a sustained presence in a wide position and Lawless is a clever player and can easily fit in a narrower set up. As for the midfield, well they're not playing as effectively as I'd have hoped. Plus one or two I previously thought were crucial to the team are not playing like certain starters. Besides I'm not sure we need five in midfield when given half a chance Sneddon & centrebacks will punt the ball over the midfield.

[laukat]

4 hours ago, Lenziejag said:

Did you see Brownlie yesterday ? I thought McMillan was better there in the 1st half than Brownlie was in 2nd. 

I think its unfair to compare McMillan and Brownlie's performances. 

McMillan did ok given he was playing both in central defence and on the left side which is asking a lot of him but he does have a tendency to try and win balls that he shouldn't be challenging for and leave a big space in behind. At one point in the first half he was up on the left wing. A better team than Queens (who I wasn't that impressed with) or a team with a better centre forward (Ayr?) take advantage of it. Its not McMillan's fault as thats his natural instinct and if you play an overlapping wingback in the centre he will sometimes do what an overlapping wingback does.

Brownlie is being brought into a game halfway through when everyone else has their eye in and is having to play pretty much the whole second half with only 2 midfielders to protect and neither of those if really a defensive midfielder. That being said Brownlie has clearly lost a bit of pace and gets outjumped by Queens big central defender for the second goal. 

Personally I think we need to move to 3-5-2 for Tuesday for a couple of reasons.

First of all if Tiffoney isn't fit we don't really have an in form replacement. Fitzpatrick and Smith have shown for different reasons that they can't play there so a front two of Lawless and Graham or Graham and Dowds may be best.

 Secondly it give us the least worst option for covering our injuries at the back. It may also provide some mitigation if Docherty is still injured. Assuming Docherty is injured I would go with the following to try and win ugly.

Mitchell 

McMillan-Akinola-Hodson-Brownlie-Milne

Turner-Muirhead-Bannigan

Lawless- Graham

[Dick Dastardly]

What about a Levinesque 9-1 setup to give us half a chance of a draw

[MonehJags]

2 hours ago, laukat said:

I think its unfair to compare McMillan and Brownlie's performances. 

McMillan did ok given he was playing both in central defence and on the left side which is asking a lot of him but he does have a tendency to try and win balls that he shouldn't be challenging for and leave a big space in behind. At one point in the first half he was up on the left wing. A better team than Queens (who I wasn't that impressed with) or a team with a better centre forward (Ayr?) take advantage of it. Its not McMillan's fault as thats his natural instinct and if you play an overlapping wingback in the centre he will sometimes do what an overlapping wingback does.

Brownlie is being brought into a game halfway through when everyone else has their eye in and is having to play pretty much the whole second half with only 2 midfielders to protect and neither of those if really a defensive midfielder. That being said Brownlie has clearly lost a bit of pace and gets outjumped by Queens big central defender for the second goal. 

Personally I think we need to move to 3-5-2 for Tuesday for a couple of reasons.

First of all if Tiffoney isn't fit we don't really have an in form replacement. Fitzpatrick and Smith have shown for different reasons that they can't play there so a front two of Lawless and Graham or Graham and Dowds may be best.

 Secondly it give us the least worst option for covering our injuries at the back. It may also provide some mitigation if Docherty is still injured. Assuming Docherty is injured I would go with the following to try and win ugly.

Mitchell 

McMillan-Akinola-Hodson-Brownlie-Milne

Turner-Muirhead-Bannigan

Lawless- Graham

When you see that team on paper, then I definitely overrated the depth of our squad earlier in the season. 

McCall rates or rated Brownlie as one of the best defenders in the division. I would compare him to Tam O'Ware, stood by him hoping he would come good. After nearly 3 years you have to wonder when he will be moving onto a team like Forfar because we can't afford to keep wasting wages on guys like that

[Jaggernaut]

O'Ware: one of the biggest wastes of a wage at Firhill in many years.

[Dick Dastardly]

2 hours ago, Jaggernaut said:

O'Ware: one of the biggest wastes of a wage at Firhill in many years.

That is quite a claim. There is a long list up for that accolade 

[laukat]

6 hours ago, MonehJags said:

When you see that team on paper, then I definitely overrated the depth of our squad earlier in the season. 

McCall rates or rated Brownlie as one of the best defenders in the division. I would compare him to Tam O'Ware, stood by him hoping he would come good. After nearly 3 years you have to wonder when he will be moving onto a team like Forfar because we can't afford to keep wasting wages on guys like that

I think the problem with our squad strength just now is we clearly have injuries to 3 key players (Docherty, Holt and Tiffoney) and a number of players off form/ not working hard enough (Akinola, McKinnon, Fitzpatrick, Mullen). When you add that Muirhead isn't fully fit that means we only have 2 fit and reasonably in form midfielders (Bannigan & Turner) and zero central defenders.  Muirhead was signed to be a squad player and cover at central defence, right back and CDM. The fact we rely on him at centre half means we don't have cover at CDM and have had to play our second choice centre half in pretty much all games. So its not so much the squad depth that's the problem but squad depth in 2 positions.

Also that having a squad of talented players is meant to propel standards as those not selected do more to impress to win a slot. However something looks wrong with the attitude of Fitzpatrick and Mullen. The Dundee fans thought Mullen had a bit of a petted lip and I wonder if Fitzpatrick looks at Smith assumes he's the managers favourite because he's getting more game time than him and has largely given up? Fitzpatrick has talent but on current trajectory he'll be in league 1 next season.

The comparison between Brownlie and O'Ware is extremely harsh on Brownlie. 

Brownlie was very good from when he arrived and player of the season when we won league 1. A fully recovered Darren Brownlie would in my opinion be one of the best defenders in the championship, a fully fit Tam O'Ware would still only be Tam O'Ware.

[lady-isobel-barnett]

13 hours ago, laukat said:

Brownlie was very good from when he arrived and player of the season when we won league 1. A fully recovered Darren Brownlie would in my opinion be one of the best defenders in the championship, a fully fit Tam O'Ware would still only be Tam O'Ware.

Don't disagree. However even if McCall agrees we may still have a sort of Catch22 situation. Play Brownlie game after game till he regains match fitness and becomes one of the best defenders in the division. Doing just that we risk plummeting down the league, and even with the best super fit centreback in the Championship all hopes of promotion are gone. McCall won't play Stanway, Lyon etc for parallel reasons. Gaining first team competitive experience in his mind could cost us points.  

The very fact that McCall selects Muirhead, who hasn't fully recovered from an injury and requires injections to play 90 mins, ahead of Brownlie (and Akinola for that matter) speaks volumes.

 

[JAG1970]

29 minutes ago, lady-isobel-barnett said:

Don't disagree. However even if McCall agrees we may still have a sort of Catch22 situation. Play Brownlie game after game till he regains match fitness and becomes one of the best defenders in the division. Doing just that we risk plummeting down the league, and even with the best super fit centreback in the Championship all hopes of promotion are gone. McCall won't play Stanway, Lyon etc for parallel reasons. Gaining first team competitive experience in his mind could cost us points.  

The very fact that McCall selects Muirhead, who hasn't fully recovered from an injury and requires injections to play 90 mins, ahead of Brownlie (and Akinola for that matter) speaks volumes.

 

With 6 months left on his contact come the turn of the year IMC must be thinking of offloading Akinola early, especially if he is successful with his apparent interest in Shaughnessy.

Be interesting to see if he starts Mitchell tomorrow night. Sneddon might have picked the ball out of the net 8 times in two games, but I think he was blameless for all of them. Not sure Mitchell would have done any better given how we defended as a team. 

Need Docherty back for this one. Might be another chance for Fitzpatrick to start if Tiffoney isn't fit - if so, he really needs to grab it. Has been pretty disappointing so far. 

Like the Brownlie "get fit" challenge, Mullen needs more game time to see what he's made of but is only getting a few mins towards the end of games. Weston is probably too inexperienced to gamble with, in which case why did we sign him. It's not working for us, the player or his club.