First game of the league campaign

[The Legend Blows]

😡

Edited August 6, 2023 by The Legend Blows

[Dick Dastardly]

4 hours ago, The Legend Blows said:

This post is aimed straight at TJF, PTFC and whoever else is running Partick Thistle. Can we once and for all dispense with the Utter BS that is the YouTube tidbits we get from the official channel. Just make it f@#king free for everyone to watch. Classic example is our opponents today.

Player Reaction

Manager Reaction

Match Highlights

Why do we persist with the subscription Bullstish. Complete and utter madness. Would love to know the income we get from this. I for one subscribe to all Championship clubs YouTube channels so what is the point of Thistle making 2K or whatever by shafting their loyal support. Make it free now. First thing I'd do if I was in charge. Engage with the support and stop rinsing them!!!!

 

And can we have it in writing please. I really can’t be arsed with these stupid videos, even if they were free

[Fawlty Towers]

11 hours ago, erty13 said:

Whilst we are having a go at some of the team, let's not forget Brian Graham who was rubbish today.

Not once did he win the ball in the air. I don't think he had a shot on target. I do remember him shooting at goal from 50 yards out.

Yes he was being fouled, but the ref just like most refs will not give him the benefit of doubt as he plays for the foul rather than win the ball.

Did he contribute anything in his 75 minutes. 

His header back across goal lead to our opener and he also put in a great ball which McInroy should have scored from.

[Fawlty Towers]

8 hours ago, The Legend Blows said:

This post is aimed straight at TJF, PTFC and whoever else is running Partick Thistle. Can we once and for all dispense with the Utter BS that is the YouTube tidbits we get from the official channel. Just make it f@#king free for everyone to watch. Classic example is our opponents today.

Player Reaction

Manager Reaction

Match Highlights

Why do we persist with the subscription Bullstish. Complete and utter madness. Would love to know the income we get from this. I for one subscribe to all Championship clubs YouTube channels so what is the point of Thistle making 2K or whatever by shafting their loyal support. Make it free now. First thing I'd do if I was in charge. Engage with the support and stop rinsing them!!!!

 

I do agree with you (and others) about our interviews anf highlights. I don't think we will see any change this season now simply because the £5.99 per month times the number of subscribers will be factored in to the budget so to put things out free would then create a shortfall. However I do think that the club or TJF should be consulting on this issue so we have a different model in place for next season.

I am going to contact TJF to see if like the matchday programmes this is an issue they are going to look for feedback on and also put forward a suggestion I have for a scheme which could compensate for the loss in Jagzone money. If others are wanting changes to Jagzone then I suggest contacting TJF so they can take that forward with the club.

[The Legend Blows]

4 hours ago, Dick Dastardly said:

And can we have it in writing please. I really can’t be arsed with these stupid videos, even if they were free

Search for Raith Rovers on YouTube if that makes it easier for you

[Lambies Lost Doo]

So from my 1st game I'd say our starting XI is below

Mitchell

McMillan | Williams | Muirhead | Milne

Bannigan | Williamson or Lyons from fan feedback

Lawless | McInroy | Fitzpatrick

Graham

McInroy more a #10 than 2nd striker with Tiffoney at end of last season when Turner moved back into the midfield 2.

Docherty replacement still to be bedded in.

Need to bring back our defensive solidity that we had for the majority of tge Doolan run.

What I saw in the 1st half gives me confidence especially the right side of McMillan & Lawless 

 

[lady-isobel-barnett]

Yesterday's game was one of extremes.

The good extreme. When we were on the ball we were very good. Positive passing, moving the ball reasonably fast and with surprisingly decent interaction. I say surprisingly due mainly to the newish midfield. I had assumed that McInroy, being probably the stronger defender would've played deeper. But for an absolute newcomer he was impressive in a more attacking role. We may have the "Turner" role covered, in open play at least.  Williamson did fine playing deeper alongside Bannigan when on the ball. BW was involved at the start of many of the positive moves.

The bad extreme. Off the ball we were shocking. Allowed a rather limited (on the day) Raith side to waltz thru our midfield. We did I suppose at least get bodies back behind the wall, but being a bit lightweight that hardly stopped our defence being exposed too often. Williamson is not an impressive ball winner and we all know about Banzo's tackling ability. Actually it was surprising we only conceded two goals. I can't tho' make a case for that being a positive. A combination of luck and poor finishing from Raith kept the goals against tally down. 

Doolan has taken the blame for the poor result. I go along with that rather than blaming it on bottle merchants. Changing the shape to protect the scoreline by putting two upfront is a tried and tested tactic. But that only works if the two up top are capable of holding play up, in effect defending in the opposition half. Adeloye, once he's had game time, may be fine for that but Dowds most certainly isn't. In effect the formation change was equivalent to playing/defending a man down. 

Edited August 6, 2023 by lady-isobel-barnett

[watties wallies]

how about

Mitchell

McMillan Muirhead Mulgrew Milne

Williamson McInroy

Lawless Robinson Fitzpatrick

Graham

 

[Auld Jag]

As i thought at the game and now confirmed after watching highlights.

McInroy could have had a debut hat trick, we were fortunate that McMillan and Fitzpatrick were in the right places to take advantage when he missed number 1 and number 3 chance but nobody could follow up when he put his shot by the post when set up by Graham.

Raith Rovers first goal took a massive deflection off Milne.

First league game of the season, imo we should have a better idea of what type of season and what end of the table we will be at after the first 1/4 of the league games have been played.

 

[sandy]

12 hours ago, Auld Jag said:

I think some should remember that Dools has been our manager for just short of 6 months. This is his first managerial position. He lost a number of our main players from the past few seasons and is building a team with a smaller budget than previous seasons because we now have people in charge of our club who are doing the right thing and are not willing to put the future of the club in danger. He has also had to cope with losing his Father only a few months back.

Was i disappointed when we lost the play off final an emphatic yes.

Was i disappointed as i left Firhill today again yes.

Will Dools make mistakes, of course he will,but if he shows he learns from it, he will be a better manager.

Imo unless we go on a run that puts us in danger of going down, the manager should get the backing of everybody at Firhill.

This is such a good post @Auld Jag

[Garscube Road End 2]

55 minutes ago, watties wallies said:

how about

Mitchell

McMillan Muirhead Mulgrew Milne

Williamson McInroy

Lawless Robinson Fitzpatrick

Graham

 

Does Robinson actually exist?

[Fawlty Towers]

1 minute ago, Garscube Road End 2 said:

Does Robinson actually exist?

Well he did the half time draw on Saturday.

Unfortunately the tombala lid closed too quickly and he has 3 broken figures!

On a more serious note he was asked when he was returning but I could not make out if he said he was aiming for the Airdrie game or it was going to be after that game.

[Lenziejag]

I thought after McMillan scored that it reminded me of the majority of the play off games and particularly for the 20 minutes or so afterwards when we had another of couple of really great chances to score again. It was pretty even for the last 15 mins of 1st half and I thought we scored against the run of play. Second half we were comfortable without creating any clear cut chances. The effect of the subs was that we sat back and allowed Raith to come on to us. McMillan was the standout player for me until he went off - hope it was just due having not played this season rather than breaking down. Fitzpatrick and Milne were chalk and cheese from last week. Williamson also had a good 1st half. Neilson looked comfortable on the ball when he came on and I wouldn’t be surprised if he started in place of Williams. 
As much as I was disappointed with the result, the stats suggest that the draw was a fair result.

[Jaggernaut]

Having finally seen each of the goals we lost (no thanks to the shitey PTTV live stream), well the first one was just an unlucky deflection which could just as easily have gone the other way. The second was just a collective failure of the defence, which had just been messed about by the manager. 

Quite right of Dools to hold his hands up for the loss of two points, although we squandered several better chances to score. 

[watties wallies]

26 minutes ago, Garscube Road End 2 said:

Does Robinson actually exist?

yes he does   he has his package booked on one of those ferries sittin doon the watter

[Lambies Lost Doo]

1 hour ago, watties wallies said:

how about

Mitchell

McMillan Muirhead Mulgrew Milne

Williamson McInroy

Lawless Robinson Fitzpatrick

Graham

 

I think Mulgrew legs have gone.  Was a good player but we want younger. hungrier, faster players.

[laukat]

I wasn't at the game but just watched the highlights. 

The tracking back by the midfield was hopeless particularly for the second goal. No idea what Bannigan and Alston are doing but they left 2 Raith players unmarked in the box which is mad with only 2 minutes left in the game.

Looks like we have loads of midfielders but they are all too similar. Not finding someone to do the Docherty role is already looking like a big mistake.

 

 

[fifexile]

3 hours ago, Fawlty Towers said:

Well he did the half time draw on Saturday.

Unfortunately the tombala lid closed too quickly and he has 3 broken figures!

On a more serious note he was asked when he was returning but I could not make out if he said he was aiming for the Airdrie game or it was going to be after that game.

He said he reckoned one more game and he would be back. Guess he's aiming for the hertz game

[JAG1970]

For me the positives were

the return of McMillan and the near telepathic relationship he has with Lawless. Once the former is back to full fitness it will be a big bonus and more goals as a consequence.

McInroy looks to have real potential once he gets a few games under his belt, reminds me of Albert Craig in terms of “ghosting” into the box to get on the end of passes. 

Harry Milne is getting back to the form of last season, he probably won every ball in the air yesterday too. Great piece of business having him on a contract until end of next season.
 

Unlike some others on here I thought Graham had an excellent first half (for the reason’s already given by Partick The Dog further up). And Adeloye could be a real quality addition / alternative to Graham, something we’ve never had with Graham. 
 

Downside was our ability to defend a two goal lead. Aside from the wrong changes by Doolan (we all make mistakes and he clearly won’t repeat that one), the new signings will take time to gel but an experienced defender would be a plus. But there’s potential here too - some Hearts fans are astounded that they have let Neilson go out on loan, and whilst Williams has made some mistakes he has shown some raw talent too. I don’t think Muirhead is necessarily the guy to help improve him, hence an experienced quality defender would be good even if it meant limited game time but lots of coaching. On that point, do we have a permanent assistant or could we appoint someone with significant defensive experience… or bring back Shaggy?! 

[Garscube Road End 2]

2 minutes ago, JAG1970 said:

For me the positives were

the return of McMillan and the near telepathic relationship he has with Lawless. Once the former is back to full fitness it will be a big bonus and more goals as a consequence.

McInroy looks to have real potential once he gets a few games under his belt, reminds me of Albert Craig in terms of “ghosting” into the box to get on the end of passes. 

Harry Milne is getting back to the form of last season, he probably won every ball in the air yesterday too. Great piece of business having him on a contract until end of next season.
 

Unlike some others on here I thought Graham had an excellent first half (for the reason’s already given by Partick The Dog further up). And Adeloye could be a real quality addition / alternative to Graham, something we’ve never had with Graham. 
 

Downside was our ability to defend a two goal lead. Aside from the wrong changes by Doolan (we all make mistakes and he clearly won’t repeat that one), the new signings will take time to gel but an experienced defender would be a plus. But there’s potential here too - some Hearts fans are astounded that they have let Neilson go out on loan, and whilst Williams has made some mistakes he has shown some raw talent too. I don’t think Muirhead is necessarily the guy to help improve him, hence an experienced quality defender would be good even if it meant limited game time but lots of coaching. On that point, do we have a permanent assistant or could we appoint someone with significant defensive experience… or bring back Shaggy?! 

Bring back Shaggy?. One half of a failed management team? No thanks!

[ChiThistle]

Still fuming from yesterday’s game.  Appreciate Doolan taking blame for changing shape, but it still doesn’t excuse the players being able to deal with the strategy and adjust.

[JAG1970]

15 minutes ago, Garscube Road End 2 said:

Bring back Shaggy?. One half of a failed management team? No thanks!

More an example than a genuine name but it raises an interesting point of what constitutes success and failure…. That management team kept us in the top league for 5 seasons including a top 6 finish which is comparative success given the clubs history over the last 40-50 years. I would say anytime spent in the top league is success, with failure being in the bottom half of the championship or lower,  and middling being top half and pushing for promotion.

Edited August 6, 2023 by JAG1970

[Third Lanark]

55 minutes ago, JAG1970 said:

For me the positives were

the return of McMillan and the near telepathic relationship he has with Lawless. Once the former is back to full fitness it will be a big bonus and more goals as a consequence.

McInroy looks to have real potential once he gets a few games under his belt, reminds me of Albert Craig in terms of “ghosting” into the box to get on the end of passes. 

Harry Milne is getting back to the form of last season, he probably won every ball in the air yesterday too. Great piece of business having him on a contract until end of next season.
 

Unlike some others on here I thought Graham had an excellent first half (for the reason’s already given by Partick The Dog further up). And Adeloye could be a real quality addition / alternative to Graham, something we’ve never had with Graham. 
 

Downside was our ability to defend a two goal lead. Aside from the wrong changes by Doolan (we all make mistakes and he clearly won’t repeat that one), the new signings will take time to gel but an experienced defender would be a plus. But there’s potential here too - some Hearts fans are astounded that they have let Neilson go out on loan, and whilst Williams has made some mistakes he has shown some raw talent too. I don’t think Muirhead is necessarily the guy to help improve him, hence an experienced quality defender would be good even if it meant limited game time but lots of coaching. On that point, do we have a permanent assistant or could we appoint someone with significant defensive experience… or bring back Shaggy?! 

I’m beginning to be a bit puzzled as to why we gave Williams a 2 year deal (Robinson too given his injury record).  I thought Williams had been well scouted - but he seems to be struggling a bit possibly because the Scottish game can be a different pace to that down south.  But if that’s the case why sign him for 2 years instead of a shorter time frame to see if he adjusted okay 

[Albert's Ghost]

1 hour ago, Third Lanark said:

I’m beginning to be a bit puzzled as to why we gave Williams a 2 year deal (Robinson too given his injury record).  I thought Williams had been well scouted - but he seems to be struggling a bit possibly because the Scottish game can be a different pace to that down south.  But if that’s the case why sign him for 2 years instead of a shorter time frame to see if he adjusted okay 

One thing we learned yesterday  - Williams is a terrible right-back.  Doolan's mistake was to move Williams out of central defence, rather than directly replace McMillan with Neilson.

[lady-isobel-barnett]

1 hour ago, ChiThistle said:

Still fuming from yesterday’s game.  Appreciate Doolan taking blame for changing shape, but it still doesn’t excuse the players being able to deal with the strategy and adjust.

Kris put two upfront aimed primarily at ball retention up the pitch. A play that backfired due to the inability of the front players to retain the ball. The other eight outfield  may well have adjusted to the set up. Fairly certain they did. Any failings defensively were evident throughout the game.  We were very poor off the ball all game. Effectively replacing a midfielder with Dowds just made matters worse.   

Perhaps if we had persisted with the starting formation we may just have stuttered our way to three points.