laukat Posted September 15 Report Share Posted September 15 That was awful For anyone that didn't make it, tonight was essentially a re-run of when we lost to Livingston in the playsoff under Archie. Like Livi, Stenhousmuir defended in a 3-6-1 knowing we were never scoring and then MacFarlane decided to virtually throw one in his own net. I think Stenhousemuir might have got into our box twice in the second half but scored from one of them. We on the other hand camped out around their penalty box but I don't remember their keeper making a save. Our formation and style of play is predictable. If Fitzpatrick or Drozd can't create something we create nothing. When the subs come round its the same subs - switch the wingers, switch Watt for Samuel, throw fresh legs on and hope plan A works with different personel. We play like Archies team in 2018 but with less talented players. We've only really performed in 1 game this season against livi. Every other game we have loads of possession then get to the 18 yard box, create nothing and don't shoot Some really rank performances but the one that probably annoyed me the most tonight was Smyth. We know he can play but he keeps on trying the impossible rather than the straight forward thing of put in a cross or take a shot. I think a few players need dropped and we need a change of formation. Its harsh or Loughrey but we need Aschroft back in as we lack a leader and hopefully him and O'Reilly together restores some direction and keeps Smyth in check. I'd drop Crawford and Stanyway then switch to a 4-4-2 so we can start Watt and Samuel together and play 4 in midfield with Fitzpatrick, Demspey, Smyth and Drozd. McPherson has generally been ok but think its time Ingram got a chance Got a real fear that last season Wilson, Rae, Samuel, Stanway and Let'sosa massively overperformed and this season they are back at the usual level. We have too many players of the same type. Our midfielders are all either 6's or 8's, we have no real number 10. Our Wingers all play the same way. Our strikers both want to play with their back to goal. We really could do with a proper number 10 and a striker that wants to run in behind. We are not a good team to watch right now 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAGSMAN1968 Posted September 15 Report Share Posted September 15 Just back from that toothless display. Really awful, I think we can forget about promotion this season. Need a centre forward, at least, maybe a couple more. Rant over, goodnight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaggernaut Posted September 15 Report Share Posted September 15 (edited) Stenhousemuir: Part-time players in a team with a Premiership mentality. Partick Thistle: Full-time players in a team with Championship ability. That was as inept as you'll ever see, starting with Watt's absolute sitter of a miss (again). I don't think I've ever seen such a succession of totally worthless corner kicks. Whether short or directly into the box, the ball never got further than the first defender, or (occasionally) it was wildly over-hit, like most of our few crosses from direct play. Throw-ins: the absolute worst of any team. They give us no advantage whatsoever. Short and to a player who has a defender on his back, so our two players are quickly hemmed in, ball lost. Basic ball control skills- weighing a pass correctly and trapping a ball first time so it's under control: it looks like these are totally unknown to our players. Our goalkeeper, casual with a pass that almost cost us dearly, and too casual thinking he had the ball and that nobody would challenge him. Shooting ability: let's face it, it's zero, but then again we're not even creating more than one or two shooting opportunities in every game. Back to the drawing board for tactics and basic training. Edited September 16 by Jaggernaut 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaggy Posted September 15 Report Share Posted September 15 Awful performance. No threat whatsoever. Can’t really add any more to what’s already been said by others. Last season we sometimes made changes in formation at half time but this season it’s just all like for like subs and very predictable. Teams that don’t score enough win nothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaggernaut Posted September 15 Report Share Posted September 15 Bring back Diack and give him the same kind of run that Watt and Samuel automatically get even though they score zilch and miss absolute sitters week after week! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lady-isobel-barnett Posted September 15 Report Share Posted September 15 Didn't understand why we were so dependent on playing the long ball in the first place. But if you do you have to expect to be challenging for loose balls. Something we failed to do. Stenny just about deserved the 3 points even if they were gifted them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlgarveJag Posted September 15 Report Share Posted September 15 Too many simple mistakes and poor ball control. Stenny weren’t any better in that department and for sure the wind and the surface played a big part. Too many times we let the ball bounce before an attempt to trap it and the unpredictable nature of the surface punished every time. One clearance to the shy line bounced at the line and returned to the park. I can’t get screw back like that from a well chalked cue. From the stream it didn’t look as bad as Jamie Sneddon experienced at Arbroath but it still looked horrible out there. One to forget and move on to Saturday on our billiard table and no excuses for anything other than 3 points. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Legend Blows Posted September 15 Author Report Share Posted September 15 (edited) Not much more to add to the comments above. Pretty much sums up everything that happened in the 90. Did notice at one corner in the 1st half, Drozd shouting up to the bench asking what to do from the corner. They then proceeded to f£&k up what they were trying to do. It's absolute amateur hour at the minute. I'm generally quite positive about Wilson but I'm starting to wonder. Only other thing I noticed is that there's zero link up play through the middle. We don't have a striker to link up the play so it all goes out wide. When the ball does come in we then don't have a striker to bully defenders and do the Brian Graham work. I know others will blame the midfield for not being creative, but there's no link man in the front line and it's killing us. I've had the misfortune this season of seeing two Thistle games, Stenny tonight and Stenny in the cup. We're miles off it in the final third and I can't see it changing. We may get joy against bottom half teams now and again but we're headed for more playoff heartache as it stands. I still blame the management team and the SD for not addressing the now 15 month striker issue. Thankfully I've not bought a season ticket so weather permitting, I'll save myself for Arbroath away in December. Edited September 15 by The Legend Blows Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auld Jag Posted September 15 Report Share Posted September 15 43 minutes ago, laukat said: That was awful Got a real fear that last season Wilson, Rae, Samuel, Stanway and Let'sosa massively overperformed and this season they are back at the usual level. Unfortunately that may be the case. On the other hand it could be that management and players have heard so much that we are favourites for the title and feel they don't need to work for it. Hopefully this is the reminder that everybody at Firhill needs, if we are going to win promotion we need to work for it. Getting some set piece routines worked out and also shooting practice for starters. Once again it looks like our away form could be a problem. I read somebody saying we have won only 3 of our last 18 away league games. It is still early in the season and not too late to turn our form around, but if we want to win games and the league we need to score goals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thistle4celtic1 Posted September 15 Report Share Posted September 15 First drop to the bench for me is Smyth 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellow & Redneck Posted September 16 Report Share Posted September 16 Now I see why St Mirren fans couldn't stand Smyth. Breezy evening on a hard plastic pitch slick with water - so what does Smyth do? Play shit3 lobbed balls with the outside of the boot that rolled out for a goal kick every bloody time (I counted six from him alone). Any player with more than two firing neurons would know that it wasn't working. Major issue is that MW has been figured out tactically. We have sod-all through the middle of the pitch, so as long as you keep Drozd and Fitzy out of the game, you've essentially nullified our "attack." It isn't being helped by exemplifying what we already know: Stanway and Samuel hit a purple patch last season - but Championship is squarely their level; Watt is at least a stone too heavy with his best days way, way, way behind him; Crawford is Bryan Hodge incarnate; and Fitzy is probably wondering why he didn't just sign for St Mirren because he clearly can't be arsed here. The tale of the tape last night was simple. Stenny have an experienced and competent goalkeeper while we simp for developing a child from another team. And, last week Stenny moved fast to sign another striker in Kargbo, while we stubbornly refuse to address the obvious deficit at the top end of the pitch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlsarmy Posted September 16 Report Share Posted September 16 That was shocking last night , we had 10 days to prepare for that game whilst Stenny had 3 days after their Cup Game . We’ve now scored 2 goals in 5 games so everyone can see where the problem lies but we still let Horn and Diack leave on loan with no replacements MW needs to make big decisions, Ingram, Ashcroft and Dempsey all need to be starters . The pals act with Tony Watt has to stop as he is offering us nothing Best we can hope for this season is a play off place again. Sorry forgot to mention our Sporting Director and Recruitment Officer as well , wages that should have been spent on the playing squad . 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnkebab71 Posted September 16 Report Share Posted September 16 (edited) The middle of the park has been an issue all season so far. Not sure what the best combo is but whatever it is it doesn’t include Crawford and possibly not Stanway right now and certainly not both together. Need Smyth to be braver and drive through midfield and cut out the Hollywood passes (if he can). Dempsey has to start and we desperately need a striker unless we can utilise Henderson better. corners were an absolute disaster, Oniell and Loughrey have to be going mental at them…an Ashcroft or Graham certainly would be. Lose on Saturday and we are in a bit of bother. Edited September 16 by johnkebab71 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eljaggo Posted September 16 Report Share Posted September 16 I can just about get my head round the difficulties in finding a decent striker, but what I can't figure out is our inept set pieces (corners, throw-ins etc) We are a full time team - what do they do all week? Mark Wilson needs to make some decisions - we may be becoming complacent as others on here have implied. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lady-isobel-barnett Posted September 16 Report Share Posted September 16 1 hour ago, eljaggo said: I can just about get my head round the difficulties in finding a decent striker, but what I can't figure out is our inept set pieces (corners, throw-ins etc) We are a full time team - what do they do all week? My guess is they do practice set pieces etc and to extent. Further guesses they over complicate matters and possibly underestimate the opposition who then don't simply defend them but attack the ball. I'd back that up with the number of times we're wrong footed immediately after our attacking set pieces (mainly corners). Pressure gone and the ball back in our own half. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eljaggo Posted September 16 Report Share Posted September 16 8 minutes ago, lady-isobel-barnett said: My guess is they do practice set pieces etc and to extent. Further guesses they over complicate matters and possibly underestimate the opposition who then don't simply defend them but attack the ball. I'd back that up with the number of times we're wrong footed immediately after our attacking set pieces (mainly corners). Pressure gone and the ball back in our own half. I take your point, but the oppo response is very consistent as you say, so why don't we practise our response to their response. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fawlty Towers Posted September 16 Report Share Posted September 16 Just to prove that stats can show anything, it looks like we are quite attacking on paper but that is not what is happening in reality. I suppose you can have a lot of shots on goal in a game but if they are of the "keeper throwing bunnet on them" variety it does not help. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert's Ghost Posted September 16 Report Share Posted September 16 Anyone think McFarlane was fouled? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellow & Redneck Posted September 16 Report Share Posted September 16 6 minutes ago, Albert's Ghost said: Anyone think McFarlane was fouled? Nope. Boy is almost 6ft 5" and didn't command his area at all. A slight bump that could have gone either way, but he was weak as piss. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laukat Posted September 16 Report Share Posted September 16 41 minutes ago, Albert's Ghost said: Anyone think McFarlane was fouled? Definitely not. He just didn't jump. Clearly hadn't factored that Stenhousemuir had subbed on a basketball player and just assumed he didn't have to jump particular high to gather the cross On corner kicks - we had against Livingstone a clever and effective corner kick routine where Fitzpatrick pass the ball along the goal line to Drozd, Drozd passes it back to an onrushing Fitzpatrick and either causes chaos in the box or laid it off to Smyth for a shot. Never seen it any other game since, instead we either go short or lump it in with neither having any great effect. Why aren't we using something that appeared to work? Equally on freekicks in the Livi game we had a nice we routine were Smyth sprinted round the pack and got laid in for an attempt on goal. Looked quite effective, but never seen it again. Why? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lady-isobel-barnett Posted September 16 Report Share Posted September 16 48 minutes ago, Albert's Ghost said: Anyone think McFarlane was fouled? I was fairly close and I'm sure the Stenny lad got to the ball first. Any infringement came after and McF might just have had a case if a third party scored. Clear mistake from Liam. He couldn't leave it to his defence when up against a six & a half footer. He must have known he'd have to come for the ball. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruchillnomore Posted September 16 Report Share Posted September 16 No foul on the keeper just very poor at crosses. Warning came 5 minutes prior to the goal when a cross came in and he was second to it. stats say he is 6 foot 6 inches tall…… with his hands raised above his head probably reaches a point of 7 foot and still manages to come second 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Legend Blows Posted September 16 Author Report Share Posted September 16 (edited) Highlights are up on Stenhousemuir YouTube. No foul. Edited September 16 by The Legend Blows 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auld Jag Posted September 16 Report Share Posted September 16 4 hours ago, The Legend Blows said: Highlights are up on Stenhousemuir YouTube. No foul. Imo when you see the view from behind the goal it's a foul and if VAR was in operation it would have been disallowed. That aside we made more than enough chances to be ahead before they scored. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordanhill Jag Posted September 16 Report Share Posted September 16 9 hours ago, eljaggo said: I can just about get my head round the difficulties in finding a decent striker, but what I can't figure out is our inept set pieces (corners, throw-ins etc) We are a full time team - what do they do all week? Mark Wilson needs to make some decisions - we may be becoming complacent as others on here have implied. Because everyone is looking for a "decent striker" and its something you identify last Season and be starting the hunt over 12 Months ago At best we are getting third pick from the Loanees of larger Clubs as we don't have a partner arrangement with any Club Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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