Thistle v Ayr

[javeajag]

Here’s the thing …..doolan always talks about ‘taking care of the ball ‘ and yet we seem to not understand a basic law of football that the longer the pass the higher the probability of losing possession……so enter muirhead who last continually pumped the ball long and gave away possession time after time …..I estimate his successful pass completion as about 10%

if Williams ( who was actually fine as a makeshift right back ) had played like muirhead last night people would be in meltdown 

[Fawlty Towers]

16 hours ago, Jimmy McD said:

I watched the Clyde game and our Ji Stevenson was playing for them, what a shift the youngster put in, we could do with him just now..

I forgot that game was on the television, what position was Stevenson playing?

[lady-isobel-barnett]

1 hour ago, Fawlty Towers said:

I forgot that game was on the television, what position was Stevenson playing?

Someone who watched the game more intently will be better equipped to reply. From the little I saw Jai looked to be playing (assuming Clyde had a back four) at wide left midfield.

[Mr Bunny]

11 hours ago, Emsca said:

Not convinced their goal was offside . Would not have been happy if that decision has been given against us !

Watched the replay in highlights a few times (to find a pause that gave the best view) and the guy is offside by about a foot or so. My surprise is that the linesman didn't miss it, being quite close. Well done!

BTW looked at the penalty as well. Thought it wasn't at game. But the replay shows the ball takes an odd bounce so Aero doesn't get a connection. He is lying on the ground then and there's a bit of coming together with the forward. In real time I can see how the ref gave it though it's a bit unlucky. We still shouldn't have let the situation develop though. Our defence looks better with Aero back and Milne looking a bit like his old self, but our midfield don't give them enough protection.

I wonder if our signings are too much influenced by Dools being a forward. When they're on form our attacking line is very good.  But he doesn't seem to have grasped the need for a defensive midfielder. Some folk may have criticised him at times, but we really miss Docherty.

[The Thistle Archive]

HALLOWEEN NIGHT HISTORY FOR THISTLE & GRAHAM

● In what's surely a post-Dingwall bam-up from some sick teuchter at the SFA, Ross Hardie, Ross MacLeod & Ross Nelson are the three match officials.

● There have been 21 afternoon kick-offs on 31st October (1885 to 2020) but history is made as Partick Thistle play on Halloween night for the first-time ever.

● Brian Graham becomes the first Jag in history to score 10 (TEN) competitive goals versus Ayr United.

● 61-goal Brian Graham enters the All-Time Top 30 of our competitive scorers chart.

● Thistle concede a penalty in a third consecutive match for the first time since August 2011. See our full historical list of every penalty faced.

● Thistle go 7 competitive home games without defeat versus Ayr United, 1 away from equalling the H2H record.

● Kris Doolan's Jags go 4 competitive games without a win for the first-time.

ongoing sequences:

● 36 consecutive competitive appearances for Steven Lawless, 18th Feb 2023 to date. (Longest run since: Aidan Fitzpatrick - 43 games, 3rd Dec 2022 to 21st Oct 2023. Club-record: Johnny Jackson - 313 games, 28th Aug 1926 to 25th Mar 1933.)

[lady-isobel-barnett]

2 hours ago, javeajag said:

Here’s the thing …..doolan always talks about ‘taking care of the ball ‘ and yet we seem to not understand a basic law of football that the longer the pass the higher the probability of losing possession……so enter muirhead who last continually pumped the ball long and gave away possession time after time …..I estimate his successful pass completion as about 10%

if Williams ( who was actually fine as a makeshift right back ) had played like muirhead last night people would be in meltdown 

Gotta agree with a lot of that. In fact spot on.  However I don't believe that Muirhead's long ball unreliability is the crux of the matter. You've gotta ask the why and in my mind it comes down mainly to slow distribution. Muirhead is only a cog in a wheel that doesn't turn fast enough. He can't "take care of the ball" if he doesn't receive it early enough. His punts are partly damage limitation.

Anyone can see that Neilson is faster and more comfortable on the ball. He's also got the added advantage of an out ball to Milne. If Muirhead's long passes are only 10% successful then why does he receive the ball so often? There lies the bigger fault. And that fault stems from at times receiving the ball ahead of Neilson or more likelier than not Neilson not receiving the ball quickly enough.

To repeat I agree with what you say. How can we "take care of the ball" when we play long speculative punts too often? I just feel we need to look less at the poor delivery and closer at how it came about.

 

 

[fenski]

I agree that long balls out of defence often come about because there appears to be no other options available, and getting the ball back in to play makes it easier to play out from the back. Muirhead's accuracy was poor last night, but he wasn't the only one - McInroy's radar was off too a few times in the first half. One of the reasons, I reckoned he should be playing further up the park. However, he also won the ball back a few times in front of the defence in second half at key moments.

[exiledjag]

I'm afraid I have never been a fan of Muirhead.

I think he is OK and reasonably reliable as the 'second" man in our central  defence as long as he has a player like Holt playing beside him.

As the 'main man though I think he isn't strong, intelligent, responsible or mature enough for this role. In fact I think as Balatoni was once described, 'a bomb scare'!

Yellow cards, red cards  a mistake and penalties are I feel just around the corner for Muirhead.

IMO Doolan should, in addition to a strong defensive midfielder, be looking for two big hard tackling  but mobile central defenders!

As long as Muirhead is our main man in central defence we will be vulnerable regardless of the midfield cover we may or may not be able to provide.

I doubt we have the resources to sign any of the above.

Sorry about the above but I thought he was the weak link in the McNamara/Archibald promotion team and as far as I can see he hasn't improved.