Thistle ❤️💛 v Raith🔵

[Jimmy McD]

We could have played there till 10.00o'clock tonight still don't think we would have scored.. What's with the aimless headers from us , every opportunity it's a header away, most times it goes to an opposition player, why and not try to control the the oncoming ball and pass to a teammate. I drive's me crazy the amount of times we do it..

[King Kenny]

I thought Raith were awful, worst I’ve seen from them in a while. 
 

I put that down to us being good and I felt a bit for the payers today. We had chance after chance in the first half, Drozd especially and it’s just not happening at the minute. 
 

You can see the players start to make poor decisions as the game goes on and we still haven’t scored. Hopefully one goes in off a backside soon and we’re off and running. 
 

Unless Drozd was injured not sure why he went off and not Aidan. Fitzy was very frustrating today, he played so narrow in the second half giving zero option to Reading. He really needs to click soon or he’ll be out the team. 
 

Looked a pen on Samuel, would need to see again. Ref was frustrating, quite enjoyed how he let play go but he also missed a lot of glaring fouls. 
 

Loughrey was great, bullied Oakley and that showed in Oakley’s reaction at the end. Oakley and Watt having a competition for striker carrying the most weight at the minute. 
 

Dempsey looked ok and also thought Stanway looked sharper when he came on. 
 

7 points behind is a bit worrying but we just need to keep plugging away, the chances are there. 

[laukat]

Thought first half we were better than Ayr, Queens Park and Stenhousemuir. Like the combination of Smyth and Dempsey in midfield and having Ashcroft back brought some leadership.

Henderson in behind Samuel in was also a good change and meant we played a more conventional 4-2-3-1 rather than our usual 4-1-4-1 which caught Raith a little by surprise.  Would prefer to see Watt in the number 10 role as I think he can be more creative. 

Poor decision making is causing our inability to score. Sometimes we're delaying the pass when we should be moving the ball quicker, sometimes we're crossing when a shot is on. Neither winger is massively on form and I don't remember the last time one of them cut inside and tried to shoot for the far corner. That said the fundamentals of our play for 70 minutes suggest we will eventually start to click.

Second half I thought Raith changed their formation which brough them into the game and unusually for Wilson and Rae they didn't anticipate the change and instead stuck with the same formation throughout. Perhaps the management team are also lacking a little bit of confidence

We really could do with a couple of signings just to give us a lift and maybe add something new.

[Fawlty Towers]

Not to step on Thistle Archive's toes but that is now 23 home league games unbeaten which matches the records from 1910/1911 and 1970/1971 

Can't add much to what others have said, just need to work over the next 2 weeks on finishing.

[lady-isobel-barnett]

Thought we were over elaborate inside their box but that was a better home performance than v QP or Ayr. Two or three times we missed scoring what would've been likely contenders for team goal of the season. The downside to that is it just highlights that propensity to take too many touches.

Maybe does seem like a defeat but somehow I don't feel too down tonight.

[Jimmy McD]

Not Only are our forwards not scoring but we are not getting anything from the midfield either, all dried up..

[johnkebab71]

Another great shift from Fitz today…worse than a man down. 
 

Don't overly agree with the booing at FT but understand the frustration. Cant keep having so much possession and not putting these teams away. 

Hopefully that’s the end of Crawford in the starting eleven now as liked the shape with Dempsey and Henderson. 

Raith looked very poor. 

Hopefully start clicking soon. 

 

 

[Auld Jag]

9 hours ago, partickthedog said:

I suppose that it is indicative of the incredibly high standards that Wilson & Rae have set that a narrow loss away from home, the first defeat in the league for 8 months, combined with a handful of low scoring games almost seems like a mini-crisis.

If I can attempt to venture an explanation for this dark cloud of concern, it is not so much that the play and the results have been absolutely terrible, it is more that for the first time Wilson & Rae seem powerless to find and implement solutions. On so many previous occasions whether within games or between games, Wilson & Rae have made tactical tweaks, changed formations and/or personnel, and altered the flow in an imaginative and positive way.

These past few weeks, despite a strong squad and a plethora of options on the bench, that magic dust seems to have deserted them. I am thinking and hoping that this is a temporary phenomenon, and that both players and management team will soon be back to their best, starting today.

Agree. When i did the league prediction pre season, i had us 3rd. I said imo we would find it hard to replicate what we did last season never mind going one better. Last season has raised the expectation for this season and so far we are still waiting on some of the players who did better than expected last season to get going this season and also maybe the management team to come up with some new ideas as well. We are only 7 games in the league, so still time for them to do something. Imo today in the first half in particular we were unlucky not to score, hopefully once we score that will be the catalyst for many more.

[jaggy]

9 hours ago, sandy said:

No Bud again *rolls eyes*

You have a problem wanting poorer players to play as 1st choice. Turner now Bud 🙄

[The Legend Blows]

7 hours ago, JAG1970 said:

We’ve scored 5 goals in 7 games, only Arbroath and QP have scored fewer. Neither of our two strikers has scored. Henderson when match fit might be the answer to our no.10 problem, but the failure to sign a striker looks as if it’s going to cost us a lot of points between now and January. Perhaps too many. 

Absolute disgrace in my opinion. Sporting Director and the management team should fall on their swords come May when the inevitable playoff sh1tshow unfolds as per the last 5 years. Total embarrassment 2 years in the making come May 2027 not signing a striker.

Can only hope they somehow pull a striking gem from the transfer window hat come January. Might still have enough time to steal the title if they do.

 

Edited September 20 by The Legend Blows

[thornwoodjag]

9 hours ago, The Legend Blows said:

Absolute disgrace in my opinion. Sporting Director and the management team should fall on their swords come May when the inevitable playoff sh1tshow unfolds as per the last 5 years. Total embarrassment 2 years in the making come May 2027 not signing a striker.

Can only hope they somehow pull a striking gem from the transfer window hat come January. Might still have enough time to steal the title if they do.

 

At least you’ll b happy if the rumours are true about Baraclough leaving. 

[Flycatcher]

There must be a striker who is looking for get playing time till Jan and a free agent.....

Or are we so skint that we can't try that ?

No real sign of change with the  lack of goals .....

Can't wait for this till January 

This lull cld cost us the league 

[Yellow & Redneck]

Despite his penalty yesterday, Diack has played 53mins of football for Ross County. Both MW and IB need their bloody head examined when they said "we let the boy choose where he wanted to go" despite knowing full well he'd still be second or even third choice striker at County. Absolute madness from our management team. 

If he won't play this season, and we are too skint to sign anyone else, then bring him back to Firhill. 

[Yellow & Redneck]

Despite his penalty yesterday, Diack has played 53mins of football for Ross County. Both MW and IB need their bloody head examined when they said "we let the boy choose where he wanted to go" despite knowing full well he'd still be second or even third choice striker at County. Absolute madness from our management team. 

If he won't play this season, and we are too skint to sign anyone else, then bring him back to Firhill. 

[Dick Dastardly]

1 hour ago, Flycatcher said:

There must be a striker who is looking for get playing time till Jan and a free agent.....

Or are we so skint that we can't try that ?

No real sign of change with the  lack of goals .....

Can't wait for this till January 

This lull cld cost us the league 

Why must there be ? If there was then we wouldn't be the only ones looking.

[Jordanhill Jag]

1 hour ago, Dick Dastardly said:

Why must there be ? If there was then we wouldn't be the only ones looking.

The point is ~ we weren't looking - or we would have had one in the Summer - if your looking for a decent Striker that search starts 12 Months in advance - not just before the Window closes 

So clearly there was a decision made that we didn't need one ~ nor a back up in Diack

 The decision not to add an additional Striker to the Squad would be done by the Sporting Director & the Coaching Staff ( and advised to the Board ).

Its a Big Decision -so there would have been numerous discussions at Multiple Levels  & the Recruitment Director would not have one on his target list at the turn of this Year 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jordanhill Jag]

5 hours ago, thornwoodjag said:

At least you’ll b happy if the rumours are true about Baraclough leaving. 

There is zero chance he is leaving to go back into management 

[Dick Dastardly]

17 minutes ago, Jordanhill Jag said:

The point is ~ we weren't looking - or we would have had one in the Summer - if your looking for a decent Striker that search starts 12 Months in advance - not just before the Window closes 

So clearly there was a decision made that we didn't need one ~ nor a back up in Diack

 The decision not to add an additional Striker to the Squad would be done by the Sporting Director & the Coaching Staff ( and advised to the Board ).

Its a Big Decision -so there would have been numerous discussions at Multiple Levels  & the Recruitment Director would not have one on his target list at the turn of this Year 

 

 

 

 

 

How do you know we weren’t looking ? Maybe we found one or two who decided on other offers ? The point is that we don’t know the facts, other than it is disappointing that we haven’t got a number 9 in. 

Way too easy to pontificate on a forum like this when you yave no idea of the facts.

[Jordanhill Jag]

3 hours ago, Dick Dastardly said:

How do you know we weren’t looking ? Maybe we found one or two who decided on other offers ? The point is that we don’t know the facts, other than it is disappointing that we haven’t got a number 9 in. 

Way too easy to pontificate on a forum like this when you yave no idea of the facts.

Because every Club starts the process of recruiting for the following Season as soon as the January Window Shuts ~ its standard practice 

There is a list of key areas that we need to strengthen drawn up & an approx budget given to the Board  

Key Roles are agreed ~ and a list of potential signing targets identified for each area we want to strengthen - initial discussions are then held with there agent to see if the Player(s) are interested & what sort of Money they want - you will have at least four options as signing targets 

The Sporting Director has his list - gives it to the Recruitment Director - they put names to the Coach for final approval 

Its a process - you don't roll up and hope couple of Strikers will sign in July ? 

So extending Salmonds Contract was seen as the priority & putting Diack out on loan both point to the fact we didn't see signing a Striker as something we needed - obviously resigning Fitzpatrick & Stanway were seen as key signings and we have a Budget so they were part of the allocated Budget

There is no pontification - our Sporting Director - Recruitment Director - Coach & Board use the same process as every other Club 

And as we have a Sporting Director & a Recruitment Director - unlike other Championship Clubs ( who rely on there Manager ) we have the resource to be working on this process Full Time throughout the Season ~ and the Coach deals solely with the Squad Performance  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Fearchar]

There is a problem with attitude: both Wilson and Henderson were complacent in the after-match interviews: "..the goals will come" and "We're doing a lot of good stuff," are not good enough responses to make winners out of a squad that has plenty of talent, even if it doesn't have an out-and-out striker that scores for fun every week. There's a certain smugness that was certainly not evident in the opposition, and guess what? Every opposing team learns from it when that happens - game after game.

This team has to learn to shake off that complacency and start raging when denied a win. They are supposed to be professional competitors, but not one of them has the heart of "Boab". After a result like that, they should be arguing with each other and trying to pin the blame. The good humour in this squad is like a house built on sand, and it collapses at the slightest puff from opponents. Perhaps some of those on the bench need to sit among the more vocal of our long-suffering supporters in order to shake up ideas on the pitch.

[Jaggernaut]

We played a lot of good stuff (forgetting the bouts of header tennis) and got into positions where either a good final pass or a good finishing strike could have resulted in us scoring. Unfortunately, neither of those positions came together as required. Final ball: usually under-hit (doesn't get past the first defender) or over-hit (high above and beyond everybody, out into a forlorn part of the field). On three occasions Samuel looked well placed in the penalty box to get a shot in, but each time the ball arrived behind him instead of in front of him. Now, Samuel can't trap a ball or control it sweetly when it lands right in front of his feet, so what is he expected to do with one that lands behind him!?

Corners: the less said, the better. Just an appalling waste of possession for us.

Throw-ins: actually an improvement; almost fell off the sofa when I saw us do a long throw when we were getting more desperate near the end. And it least it got us into the penalty box, which 99% of our other throw-ins never do.

Defence: solid enough, which got me increasingly nervous about a smash-and-grab raid near the end, but McFarlane looked more solid than he did last time, had one or two saves. 

Got to say that we also had little luck luck with some of our shots, with deflections and good saves conspiring to deny us.

Tony Watt: seems to be getting bigger every week.

[Dick Dastardly]

11 hours ago, Jordanhill Jag said:

Because every Club starts the process of recruiting for the following Season as soon as the January Window Shuts ~ its standard practice 

There is a list of key areas that we need to strengthen drawn up & an approx budget given to the Board  

Key Roles are agreed ~ and a list of potential signing targets identified for each area we want to strengthen - initial discussions are then held with there agent to see if the Player(s) are interested & what sort of Money they want - you will have at least four options as signing targets 

The Sporting Director has his list - gives it to the Recruitment Director - they put names to the Coach for final approval 

Its a process - you don't roll up and hope couple of Strikers will sign in July ? 

So extending Salmonds Contract was seen as the priority & putting Diack out on loan both point to the fact we didn't see signing a Striker as something we needed - obviously resigning Fitzpatrick & Stanway were seen as key signings and we have a Budget so they were part of the allocated Budget

There is no pontification - our Sporting Director - Recruitment Director - Coach & Board use the same process as every other Club 

And as we have a Sporting Director & a Recruitment Director - unlike other Championship Clubs ( who rely on there Manager ) we have the resource to be working on this process Full Time throughout the Season ~ and the Coach deals solely with the Squad Performance  

 

 

 

 

 

 

That is one possible scenario, and may well be what happened, but there are many other circumstances which might have contributed to getting us into this hole. We don’t know what happened, so please stop stating things as facts, just to press a pro or con agenda, when we don’t know. We are in a goal scoring drought, and that is the only fact. 
 

As for Diak, I don’t think he is good enough, so probably not relevant to this debate. Whether he stayed or went, I don’t think he was going to get a game, so the loan gets at least part of the wage off the books. Bet we never see him in a Jags shirt again 

[Jordanhill Jag]

1 hour ago, Dick Dastardly said:

That is one possible scenario, and may well be what happened, but there are many other circumstances which might have contributed to getting us into this hole. We don’t know what happened, so please stop stating things as facts, just to press a pro or con agenda, when we don’t know. We are in a goal scoring drought, and that is the only fact. 
 

As for Diak, I don’t think he is good enough, so probably not relevant to this debate. Whether he stayed or went, I don’t think he was going to get a game, so the loan gets at least part of the wage off the books. Bet we never see him in a Jags shirt again 

There isn't another scenario ~ the process is the same for every Club - I've neither commented positively nor negatively on the situation  

Regards Diak ~ again I've neither commented positively or negatively  ~ nor passed opinion on if he was Good enough - nor the requirement to get a wage off the books. 

all of these things are the decisions of the Sporting Director who balances the Football Budget & is responsible for Recruitment  - that's why he is there  

 

[lady-isobel-barnett]

Probably should be generalising rather than talking about an individual but there's another balance to be made regarding Diack. What's best for the player himself against what's preferable for the Club just now. If loaning him out is better for the player over the long term, whether or not he's going to be at our Club, then I believe that's the way to go. If the player in question hadn't come thru our youth system that may be different but in this case we've got the reputation of the Academy to consider. Loaning Ricco out and thus hopefully giving him the opportunity to progress as against a season at best being a bench warmer with us, will be seen as the correct move player wise. 

Yet to be seen if County will prove the correct fit for the player but that's perhaps another matter.

 

 

 

[The Thistle Archive]

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