Arabs v Jags Friday Night

[Third Lanark]

58 minutes ago, Barney Rubble said:

Steven Anderson was certainly a good signing.

 

So was Blair Spittal who was completely underrated 

[geecee]

2 hours ago, sb1876 said:

Shouted that at the TV many times tonight.

Graham was a lot worse.   Bannigan gets all the flack but when he wasn't playing over the last few games we were even worse. Raith prime example. 

[JAGSMAN1968]

Just back from that.   Awful, gutless display. 2nd to every ball, in fact, we didn't look fit!

Too many off it, Arabs could have at least 6

4th best we can hope for. 

(why does Dools not like Adeloye??)

Edited December 30, 2023 by JAGSMAN1968
.

[partickthedog]

Harry Milne had an excellent game. Sadly he was the only one to gain above pass marks. Lewis Neilson who generally has been very good was really off it tonight. 

Credit also to the fans who gave strong support and seemed to drag the team back into the game especially in the second half.

That was a strange game. I think many of the comments on this thread reflect the terrible start and the deflating ending. Right from the kick off we were on the back foot and the only surprise was that we emerged from the first 20 minutes only 0-1 down. What little possession we had we handed straight back.

However, for a solid hour (approximately minutes 20-80) we were very much in the game, despite not playing particularly well. A fair head of steam was built up especially in the middle portion of the second half and there seemed to be the potential to snatch an equaliser even though we fashioned very few good chances.

Therefore a poor performance and well beaten in the end, but somehow it could almost have been so much better.

[Third Lanark]

2 hours ago, geecee said:

Graham was a lot worse.   Bannigan gets all the flack but when he wasn't playing over the last few games we were even worse. Raith prime example. 

We were better against Raith than we were against United.  Granted we weren’t great but still better than against United 

[javeajag]

It’s becoming a concern that the post match interviews from the players are much more honest and realistic than the nonsense Doolan talks….maybe they could have a word with him.

[erty13]

5 hours ago, Third Lanark said:

We were better against Raith than we were against United.  Granted we weren’t great but still better than against United 

All teams have to do against us is stop the attacks from the wings. Our only plan is get to the byline and cross the ball for Brian to bundle in. We have no pace through the middle. One upfront against some teams just does not work.

Goodwin knows how to beat us. 8-0 from the two games.

[MarciaBlaine]

One interesting thing from last night is that we're usually beaten by teams slowing down the pace of the game to something that suits them and stifles our attacking verve. That's certainly a recurring observation I have at Firhill, though I don't go to many away games.

In contrast, DU (and Raith before them) were very good at quick concise passing with great movement off the ball to make further passes available. The game was played at their pace, which was too much for us to handle.

Which probably is another reliable indicator of us being the third-best team in the league.

[eljaggo]

Maybe the transfer window should be more about freeing up wages in loans or moves, than new faces.  That would make Doolan take decisions and concentrate minds.  We have a super abundance of slow midfielders with the result that every attack goes through Lawless or Fitzpatrick, and most managers are aware of that. The team is unbalanced.  Sneddon has his faults but he is often hindered by slow-witted outfield players. Any blame lies elsewhere.

Team looked really slow last night, both in movement and reaction times, and that was the greatest difference between the teams.  Not sure that a defensive coach is the answer.  As others have said we could do with a big, dirty central defender with a nippy central midfielder lying off him to create quick movement up the centre of the park.

All these points have been made many times, and I struggle to understand why Doolan persists with some players who reinforce the team's evident weaknesses.

[Norgethistle]

2 hours ago, javeajag said:

It’s becoming a concern that the post match interviews from the players are much more honest and realistic than the nonsense Doolan talks….maybe they could have a word with him.

Perhaps he doesn’t want to publicly throw the players under the bus, but would prefer to do that in the dressing room

[javeajag]

Just now, Norgethistle said:

Perhaps he doesn’t want to publicly throw the players under the bus, but would prefer to do that in the dressing room

He doesn’t have to throw anyone under the bus just give a realistic assessment of how we did which the players seem to be able to do. His post match comments last night are crazy.

[javeajag]

16 minutes ago, eljaggo said:

Maybe the transfer window should be more about freeing up wages in loans or moves, than new faces.  That would make Doolan take decisions and concentrate minds.  We have a super abundance of slow midfielders with the result that every attack goes through Lawless or Fitzpatrick, and most managers are aware of that. The team is unbalanced.  Sneddon has his faults but he is often hindered by slow-witted outfield players. Any blame lies elsewhere.

Team looked really slow last night, both in movement and reaction times, and that was the greatest difference between the teams.  Not sure that a defensive coach is the answer.  As others have said we could do with a big, dirty central defender with a nippy central midfielder lying off him to create quick movement up the centre of the park.

All these points have been made many times, and I struggle to understand why Doolan persists with some players who reinforce the team's evident weaknesses.

We should be worried about January signings as doolans signings so far have been very very poor.

[Norgethistle]

2 minutes ago, javeajag said:

He doesn’t have to throw anyone under the bus just give a realistic assessment of how we did which the players seem to be able to do. His post match comments last night are crazy.

He stated we were crap first half, couldn’t pass and couldn’t get a foot on the ball, but improved in second half. 
 

What went wrong he was asked “we lost 3 goals” is fair enough 

[Fawlty Towers]

This thread is about the Dundee United game so keeping it short on that aspect - we were very poor and deserved to get beaten.

In the wider context of the season though it is not all doom and gloom. We currently sit 3rd at the halfway mark (for us) and are 2 points and 2 places higher than at the same point last season. Also the teams in 2nd, 3rd & 4th last season all had a game in hand over us.

If we can finish 3rd this season it will represent our best Championship finish since we were relegated from the top flight.  The next 2 games - both at home against the current bottom two teams gives us the opportunity to hopefully widen the gap between us and those challenging for a play off spot. However we should remember what happened last season when we had back to back home games against Cove & Accies.

There does need to be some work done in the transfer window but, for me, if we can stay in the top 4, give ourselves a chance of promotion and get things off the pitch in a better place then it will have been a decent season.

[jlsarmy]

20 minutes ago, Norgethistle said:

Perhaps he doesn’t want to publicly throw the players under the bus, but would prefer to do that in the dressing room

Absolutely, as we’ve got to play in 3 days time .

Dundee United and Raith with their new investment have got better teams at the moment.

Sitting in 3rd place is where we deserve to be at this time

Teams like Dundee United knew where our perceived threat came from ,down the right and left side and doubled up on us which negated BG’s influence as well

If there is remotely even a chance of getting Kyle Turner on loan till the end of the season, we should jump at that in a heartbeat

Sure he’s not enjoying not playing and been managed by Derek Adams

[exiledjag]

9 hours ago, geecee said:

Can't blame Sneddon tonight.  A scramble at the first and two good goals late on. A couple of good saves.  Better team won.  3-0 didn't flatter them. 

Agree that Sneddon wasn't to blame for the first 2 goals but I thought he should have come for the cross for the 3rd goal. At least that would have put some pressure on Watt.

As for the first goal it was a scramble but Stanway and Neilson were standing like statues instead of moving towards the ball or blocking Watt.

The second goal was a good strike aided by a limping Muirhead not being mobile enough to block. 

Though DU were clearly better than us I think we paid them too much respect by standing off them all night instead of getting close to them and actually making tackles. 

Back to the drawing board.

[lady-isobel-barnett]

1 hour ago, MarciaBlaine said:

One interesting thing from last night is that we're usually beaten by teams slowing down the pace of the game to something that suits them and stifles our attacking verve. That's certainly a recurring observation I have at Firhill, though I don't go to many away games.

In contrast, DU (and Raith before them) were very good at quick concise passing with great movement off the ball to make further passes available. The game was played at their pace, which was too much for us to handle.

Which probably is another reliable indicator of us being the third-best team in the league.

I think you're spot on. Dundee United and Raith are the only teams that have beaten us with pace as opposed to relying primarily on counter measures.

Others have rightly pointed out we often look anything from leggy to dead on our feet towards the end of a game. But this I reckon is less to do with overall fitness and far more to do with our lack of possession. It's generally accepted (and fairly obvious) that if you have two equally fit sides the team with less possession will normally tire first. As a game progresses we see so little of the ball and lose it so quickly we're bound to tire first. Obviously substitutions alleviate this to some extent but less so last night (and to a degree at Starks) when the opposition have the bulk of possession from the word go.

And if we have to go long, due largely to having a fragile midfield, we need forwards (Lawless excluded) that can at least hold and control the ball, even just to give the rest of the team some breathing space.

[javeajag]

1 hour ago, Norgethistle said:

He stated we were crap first half, couldn’t pass and couldn’t get a foot on the ball, but improved in second half. 
 

What went wrong he was asked “we lost 3 goals” is fair enough 

He actually said we were on the ascendancy and in command in the second half … he’s on drugs 

[lady-isobel-barnett]

3 minutes ago, javeajag said:

He actually said we were on the ascendancy and in command in the second half … he’s on drugs 

Well he's at least half right. We most certainly were on the ascendancy in the 2nd half. Albeit from a very poor first half. 

[JeanieD]

I fear post-match managerial comments are not dissimilar to the frankly laughable “question times” at the various parliaments around the country. The “answers” provided are at best disingenuous and at worst insults to the intelligence of the general public.
Doolan is no better/worse than other managers in this respect. Defending the indefensible is meat and drink to the press/manager relationship - it’s just a pity that the defending on the field was less reliable.

[Jaggernaut]

I've only seen the goals on Youtube. The first was slightly unlucky: a scramble in the box with the break going their way and not ours (but another cross early in the game immediately causing us problems!). The second and third showed dreadful defending: nobody putting in a tackle at their second, and nobody jumping anywhere near the ball for their third.

We need three or four players out the door next month, to be replaced by better players. And apart from maybe a handful of players in the squad, for me nobody who leaves will be sorely missed.

[stillresigned]

13 hours ago, Winter of '63 said:

We look an ordinary side with our third place a reflection on the standard of the other sides. The structure of the side again looked flawed with once more McInroy then Alston offering no threat and no defensive cover. I wasn't surprised that there were gaps in midfield when Stanway went off.

Fitzpatrick had a real off night & Neilson wasn't great either. I prefer Diack to Adeloye who I wouldn't be disappointed to see leave at the window- the same applies to Williamson, McGinlay & MacDonald, none of whom even made the bench.

Doolan's signings have been almost universally disappointing - it will take really good recruitment at the transfer window to turn us into a credible play-off candidates - I'm not optimistic. 

 

Fair assessment if you ask me?

[dl1971]

2 hours ago, javeajag said:

He actually said we were on the ascendancy and in command in the second half … he’s on drugs 

We get it. You don't like doolan. 

[Third Lanark]

16 hours ago, Barney Rubble said:

This is a point for debate.

Has he really progressed since his first spell with us?

IMO, he was on his way out under McCall because he was rank rotten for most of last season. He does seem to have responded to KD's coaching though - whatever that may be - and he certainly took the opportunity when Banzo got injured during the play-offs.

He seems to have been enjoying his football since then, which is a good thing.

But the plain fact is he's still playing at the same level he was playing at 5 years ago.

 

Fitzpatrick was not on his way out under McCall.  McCall planned to extend Fitzpatricks, Lawless, Dochertys, Holts, Turner and Tiffoneys contracts before being told there was no money left due to the massive overspend.

Amazing how Fitzpatrick appears to be the main blame for defeats.  Yes he was poor last night but him and Lawless were still our most dangerous players.  I wasn’t impressed by any of our players last night barring Lawless

 

Also does anyone really think Fitzpatrick went out to deliberately put in a poor performance on his 100th appearance when he was talking about before the game how proud he was to have reached 100 appearances 

As for the rank rotten last year comment- complete over reaction.  Do you think so many fans would have been delighted at him signing a new deal with us if he was?  He had decent games and some poor ones.  If it wasn’t for his goals against Arbroath that got us to a decent payday against Aberdeen in the cup and in particular his goal against Dunfermline in the Scottish cup which got us literally a club saving payday against Rangers then I hate to see how much more of a financial mess we would have been in

Edited December 30, 2023 by Third Lanark

[javeajag]

36 minutes ago, dl1971 said:

We get it. You don't like doolan. 

Not at all …..there is no evidence he can recruit well so give him some help…think of the money he’s wasted on six players who rarely ever start….it doesn’t follow that just because you played football you can recruit well, coach well or manage well …..