Partick Thistle 🔴 🟡 Vs Dunfermline Athletic ⚪️⚫️

[Winter of '63]

What a difference a goal makes. I listened to Dougie Donnelly at lunchtime remembering that in his early broadcasting days reporters had to leave games early to get to the studio and then completely change their intended match reports for late goals. This was the case today.

We started well enough and there were about 5 yellow-card+ challenges in the first 20 minutes from Dunfermline. The game then slumped into a series of niggly fouls and directionless football - no pattern of play and no chances created. Roberts stopped one shot which was going past the post but neither keeper actually made a save with the Pars keeper obligingly being nutmegged for our goal. We all left Firhill happy with the 3 points.

We defended quite well, Megwa looked good and O 'Reilly made some brave & determined challenges for high balls including the one which led to our goal but that's about all the positives. I'm not sure why we signed Nilsson, Ashcroft, Smith or Crawford and for such a bloated squad there is not much threat coming off the bench although Chalmers looked a bit better when he come on.

That's three home games I've seen this season - poor opposition and dull matches. We're now fourth top but that is looking like our limit.

 

 

[Fawlty Towers]

Happy with the win and personally don't think we were as bad as some are saying (not so say I thought we were great). The one thing I am certain of is that Dunfermline got what they deserved - nothing! I assume Euan Anderson's birthday was recently and he got a new whistle as a gift and wanted to make sure it worked as he was giving it plenty of use.

Edited September 21 by Fawlty Towers

[jagfox]

[Auld Jag]

Imo we had most of the possession  in the first 25 minutes or so without any pressure on their keeper after that the game was even. It wasn't a great game overall, that wasn't helped by a very inconsistent ref or Dunfermline's antics, their players falling over for no apparent reason but to stop and break up play. A good 3 points after getting a point last week at Ayr, let's hope it is the start of a positive run of results for us.

[The Thistle Archive]

 

 

 

[jagfox]

7/9 points. The kind of pace we need.

[laukat]

That was pretty poor today and in truth the game should have ended 0-0. However to get 3 points when you're not playing well is a good sign.

Formation in my opinion looked like 3-4-3 however I have seen others suggest it was 3-4-2-1. Either way it just seems like the coaching team are trying to overthink it.

Too many long balls in the hope that Graham could flick it on and when we did get the ball in the Dunfermline half we were in such a rush to give it back. There was no guile to our play, no attempt to keep possession or move the Dunfermline defence about just constant battering away with the same singular tactic.

Megwa looked good and a massive improvement on our right back options however his delivery was poor. O'Reilly, McBeth and Muirhead were solid but all 3 love a long ball too much as does our keeper. Crawford has some work rate. We look like to a team struggling for confidence and fluency hopefully the win starts to bring the confidence back.

[Barney Rubble]

Delighted with the win, and many thanks to the players and the management team for achieving it.

But let's face it, we were fortunate to get there.

Random thoughts:

- Dunfermline in the second half were way more composed in possession, but thankfully had no penetration up front.

- We were sound defensively but were directionless in midfield. Marginally improved with the introduction of Ben Stanway and Logan Chalmers (cannot believe I just typed that...)

- Fitzpatrick, Graham and Ablade were so starved of decent service it was embarrassing

- Why have we suddenly gone long ball this season when playing through the midfield worked so well for the last couple of years?

[lady-isobel-barnett]

4 hours ago, jagfox said:

Obviously happy with the win but not sure about that formation at all as we created very little up until the later subs.

What is the point in having three forwards when they are half the width of the pitch apart?

Agree with that.  Exchange a centreback for a midfielder and we might have been able to get more compact up top. 

One positive for me was the positions Fitzpatrick took up. He might not be on the best of form but I like him in that free role. Well, I assume it's a free role. Aiden wide left all the time was getting too predictable and part of a too rigid set up. However that formation today might just be effective on a narrower pitch but we'll struggle to get goals elsewhere.

Edited September 21 by lady-isobel-barnett

[Derby Jag]

That was dreadful 

The football we are currently playing is really poor for the quality of player on show. I was really dispirited with what we showed today.

Megwa was good as was O'Reilly but Graham needs dropped...I don't see what he's adding to the team at present. Turner was also poor but he kept showing and trying to make something happen but very little came off for him. 

Happy to win but yet again we look miles off a title challenger.

Constantly changing formation and team is a sign of a weak manager. 

[Garscube Road End 2]

Time for Doolan to stand down. We are performing dreadfully.  

He doesn’t seem to have a clue to what he is doing.

Replace him before we get totally disconnected from the title.

He has been given the resources for a big squad and is doing nothing with it.

For God's sake Doolan just go!

[fenski]

Lots of players individually looking good, but just not adding up to a team performance.

Megwa was good, but O'Reilly was probably my pick and Chalmers looked in the mood when he came on.

[Jaggernaut]

Dreadful performance. Passing shocking, dead balls (mostly from Turner) useless, huge gaps left in midfield for the opposition to run freely at our defence. Throw-ins: the worst I've ever seen! Nobody moves, until a player comes to within a yard, gets it and immediately tries to give it back to the thrower, and they're already both hemmed in. 

Thank goodness for Fitzpatrick! One of those trademark goals where he makes a good diagonal run across the goal and then hits a left-footed shot that surprises/beats the keeper. ETA: Just saw it again, and this time it wasn't a run across the goal, but still the same type of run in the box.

As somebody mentioned, neither Graham nor Ablade were getting anything like the service they needed to be able to get shots on target. BBG's first touch when he's trying to keep possession rather than a flick-on is worse than a donkey's.

Very promising debut for Megwa; I have a feeling that he will get even better. Wins a lot of headers for a wee guy.

Stanway looked up for it when he came on, whereas Turner was just wasteful all afternoon.

Great to get 3 points out of that!

Edited September 21 by Jaggernaut

[Jaggernaut]

5 hours ago, Jagtastic said:

 

I might have missed something, but what is going on with the bing? The scaffold was bad enough but at least brought advertising revenue. The black sheeting, bulk liquid containers, pallets and planks of wood look is next level embarrassing. 

Maybe it's the start of the groundwork for a new stand.......

[The Legend Blows]

6 hours ago, javeajag said:

Keep playing like this and the crowds will turn down , it was a very hard watch 

I'm in that boat. First home game of the season. Last of 2024. Awful turgid performance. Might come back in the new year to see Lawless. Been a ST holder for the last few years but glad I've not blindly renewed this year.

[Jagtastic]

1 hour ago, Jaggernaut said:

Maybe it's the start of the groundwork for a new stand.......

They might want to start with the trees at the back before they become a problem for the retaining wall. Or GCC decide they warrant a tree preservation order 🙄

[The Legend Blows]

For me the key to all of these performances is what we do when in possession of the ball.

In the majority of the games we have the biggest amount of possession.

I've not sat with a pen and pad to take notes, but how we concede possession is key. My 13yr old son said 'I wonder what our possession stats would be if we stopped punting the ball up field, 80% maybe?' 

I know possession stats mean nothing, but McBeth and Muirhead's default panic response is to launch it. In McBeths case, often to a space that is different to where his brain wants him  to hit the pass. Doolan has to see this and drill it in to him to keep it simple. Is this kind of BS play not analysed? 

Not rocket science if my 13yr old is clocking it!

[javeajag]

Last season we could score but couldn’t defend with goals against hitting 1.8 at their peak. Doolan rightly addressed that and since then we have been defensively solid…..4 goals conceded in 6 league games. Good.

Now we struggle to score …..6 in 6 games, we won’t get promoted until we radically improve that number. The real concern is that we are struggling to create any chances. The service to the strikers is non existent, did we have any shots on goal yesterday apart from the goal ? Nope. And the final pass or cross was woeful.

we also seem to have reverted to punting aimless long balls, I lost count of how many times muirhead and Macbeth gave the ball away. Macbeth managed three in a minute ant one point.  Everyone can see Graham is off form but will never get dropped so the focus needs to be in midfield where things are still not right. I think brannigan or stanway starting yesterday would have been better.

im also not sure the ‘tweak’ to what seems to be his preferred 3-5-2 system helped much either though at times we lined up 5-3-2 or it seemed 5-4-1.

we were lucky to get a win yesterday - ‘ we didn’t create much ‘ doolan - and their keeper should have saved the shot, we will take it but need to improve substantially for next week.

still not convincing after 6 games.

Edited September 22 by javeajag

[allyo]

I used to be on this forum all the time. But I've kind of went off it, same reason as other social media (and football to some extent), because its a bit negative not really good for my mood.

I thought after today's last minute goal I'd have a look, just to relive the moment, see all the "Yaaaaaassssss", "Come on Jags!!", "Great goal Fitzy!!!". One message, "Thank god for that". 

Oh well. Back to my book.  🇧🇪

Edited September 22 by allyo

[Lenziejag]

In a way I understand the frustration of some on here, but I don’t understand the gloom and doom. OK, we lost to Alloa, but that is in a competition that is derided as being a “diddy cup” and undervalued because of the inclusion of the “B” Teams. But, we haven’t conceded in the league at Firhill and only to needless penalties or with 10 players when away from home. I don’t think any of the teams we have played, except Falkirk, have been better than us and we might well have held on for a point there with 11 players on the park.

[Weebaw1]

15 hours ago, Yellow & Redneck said:

I predicted in July that Graham wouldn't score double digits this season. At this rate, I'd be surprised if he gets 5.

He looked like an old man.

[partickthedog]

Maybe dropping Graham from the starting line up is a bridge too far for all sorts of reasons. However, Doolan must be ready to substitute him a whole lot earlier. Diack has looked sharp when he has come on, and his only disappointing performance was when starting against Falkirk and having to play lone striker in a ten man team which is a tough ask for anyone. If we go back to Fitzpatrick and Chalmers as favoured starters, maybe bringing on Ablade and Diack on together could pose new problems to a stubborn opposing defence.

There used to be a strong case for keeping Graham on in a tight game, because he was so good at defensive duties at corners etc. Now we have a whole posse of tall and strong head or boot it away defenders, and we do not need Graham so much. I would prefer to have faster players up the field for when the game stretches late on.

[dl1971]

It's pretty obvious that we are missing Stevie Lawless in particular. In fact our relative lack of goals is primarily down to the absence of him and McMillan. We should not be so reliant on Graham delivering 20 plus goals like last season. The focus is on him to score, but our entire midfield 4 or 5 need to do far more from a scoring sense. It's a team game after all....nb agree that subs need to be on far earlier and give Diack more game time. 

[javeajag]

36 minutes ago, Lenziejag said:

In a way I understand the frustration of some on here, but I don’t understand the gloom and doom. OK, we lost to Alloa, but that is in a competition that is derided as being a “diddy cup” and undervalued because of the inclusion of the “B” Teams. But, we haven’t conceded in the league at Firhill and only to needless penalties or with 10 players when away from home. I don’t think any of the teams we have played, except Falkirk, have been better than us and we might well have held on for a point there with 11 players on the park.

If you look at the squad we have, indeed we listed 38 players in the programme yesterday, we should in this league be challenging at the top of the table ……let’s hope we soon are but we won’t get promoted simply by having clean sheets.

[Lenziejag]

25 minutes ago, javeajag said:

If you look at the squad we have, indeed we listed 38 players in the programme yesterday, we should in this league be challenging at the top of the table ……let’s hope we soon are but we won’t get promoted simply by having clean sheets.

Well, we will if we continue to score a goal a game !