Greenock Morton ⚪️🔵 vs Partick Thistle 🟡🔴

[Lenziejag]

5 minutes ago, javeajag said:

And yet here we are still 4th going nowhere……we rarely play well and eventually it catches up with you.

The quote was that we couldn’t put a run of results together. I think that 22 points out of 27 is a decent run. It’s the 1st 9 games that has cost us this season. Will we make any inroads in the teams above us - I don’t know. There’s certainly not much room many more bad results.

[javeajag]

2 minutes ago, Lenziejag said:

The quote was that we couldn’t put a run of results together. I think that 22 points out of 27 is a decent run. It’s the 1st 9 games that has cost us this season. Will we make any inroads in the teams above us - I don’t know. There’s certainly not much room many more bad results.

The first 9 games do actually count as well……I doubt even you think we can beat Falkirk or livi ….a wasted season 

[stillresigned]

That was certainly a very poor performance at a shitheap of a ground, against an opposition that frankly wasn’t exactly top drawer. These are the games that you must take something from, it is frankly unforgivable to lose such soft late goal for a professional football team!

[dl1971]

16 minutes ago, stillresigned said:

That was certainly a very poor performance at a shitheap of a ground, against an opposition that frankly wasn’t exactly top drawer. These are the games that you must take something from, it is frankly unforgivable to lose such soft late goal for a professional football team!

Late goals happen all the time. Ironically we only started playing after we went behind. As others have said a wasted opportunity on many levels. 

[jaggy]

A few said after Saturday that at least we’ve stopped losing late goals 🙄

Away form is the problem, 10 points from 9 games isn’t good enough. Home performances aren’t great but at least we don’t lose (so far, that’s it jinxed for Saturday)

[partickthedog]

Morton had the better of a poor first half. They at least tried to thread low passes through our defence, but we resorted to aerial hoofball and nothing was sticking with Graham or Robinson.

Second half was a lot better from both teams. Bannigan was again our best player and seems to have had a real resurgence of form. For their first goal, I think that Roberts should have stayed on his line, as by rushing out he made up the Morton attacker's mind for him.

From around minutes 60 to 80, starting from just before our goal, we were excellent. Chalmers had the beating of his man, and did a lot of good work before his cross was flicked in cleverly by Fitzpatrick. Chalmers also combined well with Megwa when he came on. We looked the more likely to score the winner, and had a lot of pressure, and a few chances in their box.

Then for the last 10 minutes we inexplicably switched into defensive mode. Morton came back into the game with the inevitable outcome.

Edited December 31, 2024 by partickthedog
Added in some more information

[Fearchar]

That game was sacrificed to a footballing philosophy that does not work at this level. If players repeatedly dwell on the ball until they can find that one team-mate without a marker, they lose any possibility of surprising the opposition with an attack, and make their inflexible setup open to a quick counter when possession is lost.

More aggression and less of that ponderous cogitation are needed. Do these players, at the 2nd level in Scottish football, really believe they are world-beaters that can control games as they like? They need to graft - to drive forward into the opposition box as often and as quickly as possible. That way they might just earn a place in a Premiership squad: as it is, they're journeymen at a low level that are lucky enough to play alongside an aged goalscorer and an agile shot-stopper. Hoping to win back possession and then waiting for them to do their stuff is simply not enough.

[lady-isobel-barnett]

Wasn't there but sounds like Morton dragged us down to their level. They're often quite good at that. For those in attendance, was that the case?

[Lenziejag]

1 hour ago, javeajag said:

The first 9 games do actually count as well……I doubt even you think we can beat Falkirk or livi ….a wasted season 

That’s exactly what I said about the 1st 9 games. I only go to the home games, but missed the Falkirk game.  I would say that I don’t think any of the other teams have been better than us - Livingston maybe just shaded it. Why would I not think we can beat them. Livingston have lost their last 2 games and Falkirk have only won one of their last 3

[partickthedog]

9 minutes ago, lady-isobel-barnett said:

Wasn't there but sounds like Morton dragged us down to their level. They're often quite good at that. For those in attendance, was that the case?

I think that would be unfair on Morton! In the first half they were the only team trying to play some decent on the ground football, whereas we were playing too many long high punts in the vain hope that Robinson and Graham (neither of whom were at their best today) could make something of them.

Our style of play improved in the second half as going into the wind made it more productive to keep the ball down. Bannigan and Chalmers both came well into the game in their different ways. Megwa also had a positive impact. After 20 minutes showing some decent attacking flair, we then sat back and let Morton come on to us.

I would not say that how Morton played dragged us down. There was very little anger and unpleasantness and not many bad fouls. It was not a battle in the way that these games often can be (the battle was more against the weather than it was against Morton). We dragged ourselves down in the first half, dragged ourselves back up for a good part of the second half and then dropped off towards the end.

[javeajag]

38 minutes ago, Lenziejag said:

That’s exactly what I said about the 1st 9 games. I only go to the home games, but missed the Falkirk game.  I would say that I don’t think any of the other teams have been better than us - Livingston maybe just shaded it. Why would I not think we can beat them. Livingston have lost their last 2 games and Falkirk have only won one of their last 3

Because our away record is dreadful might be one reason 

[Third Lanark]

35 minutes ago, partickthedog said:

I think that would be unfair on Morton! In the first half they were the only team trying to play some decent on the ground football, whereas we were playing too many long high punts in the vain hope that Robinson and Graham (neither of whom were at their best today) could make something of them.

Our style of play improved in the second half as going into the wind made it more productive to keep the ball down. Bannigan and Chalmers both came well into the game in their different ways. Megwa also had a positive impact. After 20 minutes showing some decent attacking flair, we then sat back and let Morton come on to us.

I would not say that how Morton played dragged us down. There was very little anger and unpleasantness and not many bad fouls. It was not a battle in the way that these games often can be (the battle was more against the weather than it was against Morton). We dragged ourselves down in the first half, dragged ourselves back up for a good part of the second half and then dropped off towards the end.

Was it not blues who scored that Megwa was supposed to be marking? But was nowhere near him

[Lenziejag]

1 hour ago, javeajag said:

Because our away record is dreadful might be one reason 

Doesn’t mean it’s going to stay dreadful. We got 10 points from our 1st 9 games, then 22 from our next 9. Things can change.

[Lenziejag]

11 minutes ago, Lenziejag said:

Doesn’t mean it’s going to stay dreadful. We got 10 points from our 1st 9 games, then 22 from our next 9. Things can change.

Fun fact. In 2012/13 season we had 10 points from our 1st 9 away games. We didn’t lose another one after that, winning 6.

[jaggy]

15 minutes ago, Lenziejag said:

Doesn’t mean it’s going to stay dreadful. We got 10 points from our 1st 9 games, then 22 from our next 9. Things can change.

I mentioned earlier we have 10 points from 9 away games, that’s bad. It will need to change big time but I’ll be surprised

[jaggy]

1 minute ago, Lenziejag said:

Fun fact. In 2012/13 season we had 10 points from our 1st 9 away games. We didn’t lose another one after that, winning 6.

Interesting fact but let’s not compare the teams. Also we had a change of manager who found a way of getting results away from home

[partickthedog]

1 hour ago, Third Lanark said:

Was it not blues who scored that Megwa was supposed to be marking? But was nowhere near him

I was referring more to Megwa's generally positive impact on our attacking play down the righthand side and especially how he combined with Chalmers.

Fair point about the second goal. I cannot remember how the passage of play developed (JagZone highlights should help), but Megwa was indeed in a strange position in central midfield. Maybe he had a good reason for being there? Maybe not? Anyway, the result was that to his credit Ablade tried to cover the right fullback position but he could not stop the cross. I did not see who was supposed to be marking Blues, but you may well be right.

My comment was meant to be general rather than specific to one passage of play!

[partickthedog]

One small consolation is that by losing a match to a late goal, you forfeit only one point, whereas if you concede a late equaliser you forfeit two points. 

Therefore hanging on to leads (which we have generally done successfully) is more valuable than hanging on to draws (especially when the team we lose to is not a direct rival as regards league position).

I would regard this as looking on the bright side, but I appreciate that others may regard this as clutching at straws!

[Jaggernaut]

4 hours ago, Fearchar said:

That game was sacrificed to a footballing philosophy that does not work at this level. If players repeatedly dwell on the ball until they can find that one team-mate without a marker, they lose any possibility of surprising the opposition with an attack, and make their inflexible setup open to a quick counter when possession is lost.

More aggression and less of that ponderous cogitation are needed. Do these players, at the 2nd level in Scottish football, really believe they are world-beaters that can control games as they like? They need to graft - to drive forward into the opposition box as often and as quickly as possible. That way they might just earn a place in a Premiership squad: as it is, they're journeymen at a low level that are lucky enough to play alongside an aged goalscorer and an agile shot-stopper. Hoping to win back possession and then waiting for them to do their stuff is simply not enough.

Exactly this; I couldn't put it any better.

[Jordanhill Jag]

On 12/31/2024 at 9:14 PM, Lenziejag said:

Fun fact. In 2012/13 season we had 10 points from our 1st 9 away games. We didn’t lose another one after that, winning 6.

I think the fact we changed Manager & Tactics half way through the Season had a bearing on results  

[Lenziejag]

8 hours ago, Jordanhill Jag said:

I think the fact we changed Manager & Tactics half way through the Season had a bearing on results  

No doubt about it.

The point I was making is that things can change. (whether you change manager or not). We have won 3 of our last 5 away games having not won any of the previous 4.

[jaggy]

2 hours ago, Lenziejag said:

No doubt about it.

The point I was making is that things can change. (whether you change manager or not). We have won 3 of our last 5 away games having not won any of the previous 4.

2 of the 3 wins were against the bottom 2 teams in the league. You can make anything look good with highlighting certain statistics. 

[javeajag]

2 hours ago, Lenziejag said:

No doubt about it.

The point I was making is that things can change. (whether you change manager or not). We have won 3 of our last 5 away games having not won any of the previous 4.

Or the more things change the more they remain the same……

[Lenziejag]

1 hour ago, javeajag said:

Or the more things change the more they remain the same……

Which means what ?

[Jordanhill Jag]

4 hours ago, Lenziejag said:

No doubt about it.

The point I was making is that things can change. (whether you change manager or not). We have won 3 of our last 5 away games having not won any of the previous 4.

Look - lets be realistic - Falkirk would need to implode 

Then both Ayr & Livy would also need to start struggling at the same time Falkirk imploded 

Then we would need to go on to a string of wins 

The odds against that all happening at the same time are highly unlikely 

All our recent form has meant is that we are sitting 4th ( safely )  - we might nudge up to third at best 

So its the Playoffs & Ayr & Livy are Far Better Teams than we played in previous Playoffs - odds against us getting past them are slim 

So whilst you keep chasing - you start being realistic -and start putting in place a structure for another couple of Years in the Championship 

the Extra £300K Player Budget  is not getting repeated - we trade at a massive loss ( with No plans for reduction ) - we have a very large Squad & Wage Bill ( all there for the next couple of Seasons ) 

And we have No Plan B 

When we were promoted last time - we had an overhead & structure that could easily be managed if we didn't get promotion - this is No Longer the Case