Early Thoughts On Next Week

[PaleGreySky]

Yesterday, there were too many failures. Surely there'll be some changes for next week, in addition to forced changes for Kinniburgh, and maybe Archibald. If Archibald does make it, let's hope McCall doesn't stick with what we had yesterday, with McNamara in defence and Rowson into the midfield.

 

I'd think it's about time one of the younger players gets a chance in our completely failing defence. Haven't seen much of them, but who is best of the younger defenders - McGeough, Kyle Lochhead? We might even end up with Maxwell... Cairney needs to be dropped from midfield. He was absolutely dreadful yesterday, and literally barely touched the ball before being subbed. Bannigan or MacBeth into the midfield, or Campbell if people in the know feel he deserves his chance.

 

 

I definately think we need to have a go at Cowdenbeath at home. 4-4-2 rather than 3-5-2 for me.

 

A Keeper

 

Paton

Robertson

Archibald/McGeough

Boyle

 

Flannigan

MacBeth/Bannigan

McNamara/Rowson

Erskine

 

Hardie

Doolan

 

 

Leaving:

Maxwell

Lochhead

Cairney

Hodge

Buchanan

Burns

Donnelly

[GrantB]

We NEED a new keeper in.

 

Totally agree that we need to go 4-4-2 and shock horror, I would also start with Erskine. I'd also drop Cairney totally from the 16 until he pulls his socks up and starts behaving like a professional footballer.

 

Surely we have enough about us to get a result against Cowdenbeath at home? I'd give McCall one last chance with this game, if we lose (or even draw) then he should do the decent thing and walk.

[Third Lanark]

We NEED a new keeper in.

 

Totally agree that we need to go 4-4-2 and shock horror, I would also start with Erskine. I'd also drop Cairney totally from the 16 until he pulls his socks up and starts behaving like a professional footballer.

 

Surely we have enough about us to get a result against Cowdenbeath at home? I'd give McCall one last chance with this game, if we lose (or even draw) then he should do the decent thing and walk.

I see Cowdenbeath played with a 17 year old keeper for most of the game yesterday after tehir number one was sent off after 5 minutes. I presume this same keeper will be in for them next week. Apparently he did really well for them.

 

Now I know our under 19's lad is also very young but could he be any worse than the way Halliwell has been selling games to the opposition lately. I think its time he got his chance and Halliwell was dropped.

[hellas]

The biggest problem with Halliwell is that there is no pressure on him from any other keeper to keep his standards up.I doubt Hinchie will ever start another game and the young boys, who knows.

[kni]

McBeth is still injured but I agree with the original post. I would give Shepherd a game in goal and give Archie a rest on the bench. My team would be

 

Shepherd

Paton

McGeough

Robertson

Boyle

Flannigan

Hardie

McNamara

Bannigan

Buchanan/Burns

Doolan

[uberteeb]

I can't wait for next Saturday, I can guarantee it will be a fast flowing game with intelligent passing, wonderful movement off the ball and I'm fairly sure the home team will win at least 4-0.

 

Oh, I'm going to the Emirates not Firhill by the way.

[jags365]

The 'Mid field' has been totally non-existant for the majority of the season. I'd have Flannigan on the right, Hardie and Rowson centeral and Erskine on the left with Doolan and Sid coming back in up top.

[Thistle_1876]

I like Flannigan but i dont know why he thinks he is Beckham and put in every corner and free kick to no avail, i would like to see Hardie and Rowson in the middle for a bit of dig with Cairney just in front putting pressure on the opposing defenders.

[MerryHell]

I'm not even going to pretend I could pick a team for next week - we are just so inconsistant. Last season was the same - i'm sick of looking at the 'struggling' teams' records and seeing how much their results against us have helped them. This season; Morton - 2 wins (1 against Thistle), Stirling - 3 wins (two against Thistle, including their only home win to date), Cowdenbeith - 2 home wins (one against Thistle).

 

It's depressing that one week we can beat the likes of Dundee, Ross County and Falkirk, yet within weeks be beaten by 'lesser' teams.

 

Still, i'm already looking forward to Saturday; win, lose or draw, somehow watching Thistle makes my working week worthwhile.

 

Still, lose to Cowdenbeith and serious questions have got to be asked of McCall.

[Big Col]

It doesn't matter what team the "manager" picks. He has clearly lost the plot and hasn't a clue how to turn things round. According to his comments in NOTW, the formation yesterday was open - wtf? It was same as Falkirk and that was nowhere near open.

 

He hasn't a clue and I fear we will struggle to get anywhere near 20 points before the festive break.

 

He should admit failure and walk away tomorrow and take his "coaches" with him.

[Hopeless Unbeliever]

The thing is 3-5-2 as a formation has its place at this level, Lambie swore by it in the 1st and 2nd. Leaving aside the obvious flaws in comparing today's team with the last Lambie team, I still think 3-5-2 is probably our best option. The major flaw with McCall's 3-5-2 as I see it is the role of McNamara. We can't play a 3-5-2 with McNamara as a holding midfielder. Again looking at Lambie's team (if only for player type comparisons) we typically played with a midfield 3 with Danny Lennon as the deepest lying of the 3, a far far more attack minded player but also one that offered a lot more in terms of movement than McNamara.

 

We got away with this at home to Falkirk because they set up in a similar way, trying to play through the middle of us and we simply clogged the space. Without being at the game against Stirling it seems like they exploited our vulnerability in wide areas, which is one of the main weaknesses of McNamara (and our midfield generally). A 3-5-2 relies on the midfield offering support to the fullbacks when the opposition's fullbacks get forward, something McNamara doesn't do with his limited mobility, Flannigan is terrible at and Cairney isn't doing nearly as well this season (I actually thought he did well against Falkirk but the general consensus is he was terrible at Forthbank).

 

Flannigan merits holding his place despite his drawbacks in this regard since his set-pieces are our one attacking outlet at the moment. We need Rowson back for McNamara. Even though he's had his poorest start to the season in Thistle colours he is still much better at covering the wing backs than McNamara and also more comfortable moving with the ball which is an important part of a 3 man midfield. The other position is up for grabs. McCall knows the progress of the youngsters better than me so if he thinks one of them can come in and do the job then they should be in. There is no reason they shouldn't have the fitness to be able to cover back when needed and they all look like having decent ability on the ball to offer an attacking threat. Otherwise, with the options available at the moment Hardie is the man for the job. He is a far more defensively responsible player than he was when with us before, and offers some muscle that our midfield is lacking (and will compensate, alongside Rowson, to some degree for Flannigan's complete lack thereof).

 

Obviously we'd then miss Hardie upfront but he'd still be an obvious target from set pieces (including goal kicks) and we are (relative to the rest of the squad) relatively well served upfront, even if 3 of the 4 strikers are completely incapable of finding the net (I don't particularly think Hardie is much stronger in this regard, nor his goal threat much weakened from playing in the midfield).

 

 

The only way 4-4-2 comes into the equation for me is if Erskine forces himself into the team, and even then that inevitably involves Flannigan and Erskine as wide midfielders, which would be a concern. I think Erskine is doomed to be a peripheral player at least this season although perhaps one that is capable of replacing Flannigan if the latter's positive contribution dries up.

 

Basically for those that don't want to read the above essay, my team for Saturday would probably look like this (assuming Archie and Rowson fit):

 

Halliwell (I don't know enough about the alternatives except Hinchy, shudder)

 

Paton Robertson McNamara Archie Boyle

 

Hardie Rowson Flannigan

 

Doolan A.N. Other

[Big Col]

Anything less than 3 points against Cowdenbeath (who seemingly have a few injuries plus will play an inexperienced goalie) will be a disaster.

 

We should play an attacking line up, dump the negative p1sh from past couple of weeks and really go for it - which is what should have been done on Saturday. Let's not have 6 or 7 defenders in the starting 11.

 

Practice attacking football on the training pitch this week please.

[Gordie]

a keeper

 

Paton, Robbo, Archie, Paddie

Jackie,

Rowson, Flannigan,

Hardie,

Liam, Dools

 

 

 

subs from

 

a keeper

 

balatoni

burns

campbell

mcbeth

mcgeogh

Edited October 25, 2010 by Gordie

[northernsoul]

There is just no mental strength in this team at all. A massive, massive worry.

[Big Col]

We need to change the management team NOW to have any chance of staying in this division this season. It is clear they cannot do the job and are incapable of changing tactics/personnel for each game or to reflect the way games go.

 

Failure to act will cost us dearly.

[Auld Jag]

Dont care how we manage it but a victory on Saturday is a must.If we win we are only a point behind Cowdenbeath.Before the season started i said to my son we would be alright because Cowdenbeath and Stirling Albion are in the league.we must win on Saturday if not McCall must go.

[angry gaz]

Feat the worst on Saturday.Cowdenbeath have a young keeper and a few injuries and I expect them to be ultra defensive.Can see the game as us pounding them for the whole match and not scoring then losing a couple of goals on counter attacks.

Got to the point where I don't think it matters what personel are on the pitch for us ,they are all much of a muchness anyway.Biggest game of the season,lose it and mentally the team will crumble.I hope the team are being worked on the training pitch this week until they are dropping.

[jags365]

Feat the worst on Saturday.Cowdenbeath have a young keeper and a few injuries and I expect them to be ultra defensive.Can see the game as us pounding them for the whole match and not scoring then losing a couple of goals on counter attacks.

Got to the point where I don't think it matters what personel are on the pitch for us ,they are all much of a muchness anyway.Biggest game of the season,lose it and mentally the team will crumble.I hope the team are being worked on the training pitch this week until they are dropping.

My thoughts as well...

[Fearchar]

There is just no mental strength in this team at all. A massive, massive worry.

To my mind, that is Hardie's contribution: physically, he is both slow and lacks stamina.

 

McNamara is similar, and he doesn't have the sophistication of, say, Sid.

 

We've been losing to the teams that move faster up and down the park - and that's just about all of them in the First Division. So we can't afford more than one slow player in midfield, with, at a pinch, another up front. My inclination would be to play Hardie, because of his grit. Otherwise, we should blood as many youngsters as we can, because they are the only ones that have the pace and the stamina to drive the team out of the relegation zone. There are more than enough old heads on the park, such as Archibald and Robertson, to guide them in any case. Doolan is our only consistent scorer, while Buchanan looks useful coming on as a sub to change the kind of play and introduce more pace towards the end of games, when both sides are tiring.

 

Here's a suggestion:

 

Shephard

 

Paton - McGeough - Archie/Robertson - Boyle

 

Cairney - Rowson - Flannigan - Bannigan/Erskine

 

Doolan - Hardie

 

Subs:

Hinchcliffe/Halliwell

Buchanan

Bannigan/Erskine

Archie/Robertson

Burns/Grehan

[northernsoul]

Here's a suggestion:

 

Shephard

 

Paton - McGeough - Archie/Robertson - Boyle

 

Cairney - Rowson - Flannigan - Bannigan/Erskine

 

Doolan - Hardie

 

Subs:

Hinchcliffe/Halliwell

Buchanan

Bannigan/Erskine

Archie/Robertson

Burns/Grehan

 

Swap them around. We all know Cairney has been poor of late but we need his grit and bite in the centre of midfield, his natural position. We can then try to maximise Flannigan's decent crossing by allowing him to whip them in from out wide.

 

If that was the midfield playing Hardie up front could be useful so he could try and get onto flannigans crosses. Would still like to see him in midfield though. Although we need his experience to bully there defence. Something you would have liked to have thought he would of done on Saturday but he got no service whatsoever.

Edited October 26, 2010 by northernsoul

[Jaggyman]

Not been to a game for weeks due to work and was looking forward to it till i realised i have never seen us beat Cowdenbeath