Just In - Boxing Day

[kennymac29]

Morton number 4 dives 20 yards after a pull by sinky and madden says no it's a dive, no booking. Morton number 2 body checks Sinclair when breaking down the wing, no booking.morton number 16 stands 3 foot from the corner flag to obstruct the taking of a free kick late on, no booking. Forbes breathes on mad mental fairy hardie booking.

 

We were poor and should have been out of sight at half time but the inconsistency of primadonna madden was outrageous. Worse of it is that he's refd Europa league games.

 

It's tough at the top but what happened to homer refs!! Bring back willie young.

 

End of the day the best team won, after the red card, so bring on airdie. We are better at chasing than leading anyway.

[Winter of '63]

...but wasn't convinced with Craig either looked lazy (not tracking back, prefering to stand on the keeper for a kick out), and selfish with the one he should have laid on for a screaming Erskine, again maybe just a badday at the office

On at least two occasions in the second half, Craig stood about 10 yards away from the keeper, allowing him an easy roll out to their centre back who then brought the ball out and drew our midfield giving them time and space to attack. it didn't seem very bright for an experienced player.

Craig has done pretty well for us but I would much rather see Lawless and Erskine on the park.

[lady-isobel-barnett]

We scored against Cove with ten men, but not in the league.

Forbes was silly going in for that challenge today when on a yellow. We are not a dirty team and the more interesting fact is the ratio of yellows to reds. Lowest and highest in the division?

Forgotten about scoring against Cove but even that exception was an own goal.

Interesting fact re ratio.

Perhaps I and others are jumping the gun with concern about the number of orderings off. Must say I've not been impressed with the examples set by the few experienced players. Paton (relatively experienced) twice in the calendar year, Murray against Morton and Craig v Cove. Even Archie got in on the act, albeit nearly a year ago when he nutted Imrie.

[jagsfan1963]

Watching WBA v QPR on. MOTD (still with me?). The West Brom second goal just shows how bloody inconsistent referees can be!

[jagfox]

Watching WBA v QPR on. MOTD (still with me?). The West Brom second goal just shows how bloody inconsistent referees can be!

 

I'm with you. Far more contact on Green in QPR goal than Craig put on Gaston, imo. Green's positioning was criminal, and Fortuné was entitled to stand his ground.

[lewcal]

Still perplexed as to how we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.ref was absolutely ridiculous in some of his decisions and in my opinion was the sole reason for morton getting back into the game.in all honesty though we should have been out of sight at half time.I know it was a soft sending off but Forbes should have realised the ref was a bomb scare and not have dived in for his "2nd" booking.we are anything but a dirty team but our disciplinary record is something of a concern now.crazy as this will sound,in my opinion,thistle are the best footballing team in the division but when teams like Morton,Hamilton,Dunfermline play like they do it may not be enough to win the league!!!

[northernsoul]

Referee gifted Morton an opportunity from a set play for their first goal, even though Forbes clearly and cleanly won the ball. Not going to say anymore more, the above sums up the afternoon.

 

Must say though, that was the first time in months where Jackie had his worst substitute decisions. Really baffling and counter productive.

 

Edit: Forbes was outstanding for an hour then completely threw that all away by getting himself sent off. He cost us a point.

 

Looking forward to see how we cope without him, despite his positive performances. It gives someone else a good chance to get back in the starting XI.

Edited December 27, 2012 by northernsoul

[twinny]

On the argument that Smith was all over the place for the second Morton goal. I agree, couldn't tell what he was trying to do, but he wasn't the only one. Defence was all over the place too.

[Norgethistle]

On the argument that Smith was all over the place for the second Morton goal. I agree, couldn't tell what he was trying to do, but he wasn't the only one. Defence was all over the place too.

 

Apart from Archie the defence did not look comfortable at times yesterday, don't know what happened at half time horlicks instead of hot orange as the team seemed to go to sleep second half

[Mr Bunny]

On the argument that Smith was all over the place for the second Morton goal. I agree, couldn't tell what he was trying to do, but he wasn't the only one. Defence was all over the place too.

 

Think we struggled in midfield in 2nd half which put pressure on defence. Forbes, while a good player doesn't have the engine (hate that expression but it's well understood) of Bannigan, Paton or a fit Welsh.

 

He was one of our main attacking players in the first half - and should have scored twice - but was unable to combine attack with defensive duties in second half. You could see him struggling to get back at times. That left us out numbered when this happened.

 

On top of this Muirhead does OK at right back but it's not his best position and that showed when we were under pressure. On top of that towards the end of the game Sinclair looked out of sorts and was slow to get back to defend - carrying an injury? Neither were awful but they were weaknesses which really showed up badly when we went down to ten men.

 

Finally - and I think this is where we can blame the manager - we needed players who could come on and liven up the team. But 2 of the players, and the 2 that were picked to come one, were not 100% fit and were unable as a result to contribute much.

 

Our options? Well I won't mention Murray as that will annoy some folk but Doolan has played midfield before and even if played up front he's the kind of player that can and will come back and help the midfield out: he's got the running. Of course there's no accounting for the sending off, except maybe if we put Dools on and Forbes had been told to sit back more in midfield in a 4-4-2 he might not have been running about looking to make an unnecessary tackle and getting sent off.

[MerryHell]

Our options? Well I won't mention Murray as that will annoy some folk but Doolan has played midfield before and even if played up front he's the kind of player that can and will come back and help the midfield out: he's got the running. Of course there's no accounting for the sending off, except maybe if we put Dools on and Forbes had been told to sit back more in midfield in a 4-4-2 he might not have been running about looking to make an unnecessary tackle and getting sent off.

 

Not making a substitution? That was an option.

IMO we took off two fit players and replaced with two who weren't 100%. When we went down to 10, we were never going to win that.

Who would have been on the bench if Welsh and O'Donnell we given some extra time to recover? I cant think just now, but sure it would have been better than having them there.

[Blackpool Jags]

On the argument that Smith was all over the place for the second Morton goal. I agree, couldn't tell what he was trying to do, but he wasn't the only one. Defence was all over the place too.

 

Correct.

 

I've got to say, also, that I disagree with the perception of SoJ being lazy etc. In the second half, he came back and defended every set piece, and there was plenty of them thanks to Madden.

 

Smith has to be replaced by Fox next game, imo. Just hasn't got that overall quality we need when we're under the cosh for spells, like yesterday.

[lady-isobel-barnett]

I've got to say, also, that I disagree with the perception of SoJ being lazy etc. In the second half, he came back and defended every set piece, and there was plenty of them thanks to Madden.

Agree in fact he even started an attack from a defensive position.

Did everything you expect of a spearhead striker and more.

[twinny]

Correct.

 

I've got to say, also, that I disagree with the perception of SoJ being lazy etc. In the second half, he came back and defended every set piece, and there was plenty of them thanks to Madden.

 

Smith has to be replaced by Fox next game, imo. Just hasn't got that overall quality we need when we're under the cosh for spells, like yesterday.

 

Yep, noticed Craig winning the ball at the near post and generally helping out defensively. We needed it, but because he was our only striker and the one who can hold the ball up, we struggled to hold onto it as a result.

 

Criticism of him for being lazy reminds me of criticism of Kenwyne Jones at Stoke. He's supposed to be on the end of every aimless punt up the park, even if he wins the ball in his own six yard box and passes to a defender who punts it up the park.

[jagfox]

Erskine showed flashes yesterday. I think with Aaron M at right back he seems to be more defensively minded? This affects his foraging runs forward. Any thoughts on this?

[John Blutarsky]

He was also impeded rather a lot, mostly shirt pulling. Hate to say it but he should learn to go to ground as pleading with match officials got no returns.

[Lin1876]

I think we miss O'Donnell at right back more than any other player because there's no logical replacement. Muirhead does a decent job, but he's too defensive for the role, and his efforts are better spent alongside Archie/Balatoni in the centre. I think Muirhead does drag Erskine back slightly to compensate, but there's not too much in it. Erskine still looked like a threat until he was taken off.

 

SoJ was excellent yesterday but went off in the second half. He was unlucky not to have a couple of goals by then, and as frustrating as his moment of selfishness was (where he fired over instead of teeing up Erskine for a tap in), it's the sign of a good striker. I hope we keep him.

[Lenziejag]

Much has been said about whether Smith should be in goal or Fox. I think we should look at the facts. We have lost 5 times this season - 3 in the last 5 games when Smith has been between the sticks. Of course, people will say that it might have been the same with Fox. If Fox is fit, he should play on Saturday.

[Jaggernaut]

Much has been said about whether Smith should be in goal or Fox. I think we should look at the facts. We have lost 5 times this season - 3 in the last 5 games when Smith has been between the sticks. Of course, people will say that it might have been the same with Fox. If Fox is fit, he should play on Saturday.

 

Agreed.

[Armand2]

Not been as gutted to lose a game for a long time.

 

We didn't lose the game because of the referee but we were forced to defend situations that we never should have because of him; he was totally and utterly abysmal. It is infuriating that, week after week, these incompetent fools are ruining a game of football with their decisions or, more so, the consistency of them. We ended the game with four yellow cards and a red card despite the fact that it wasn't a dirty game at all. Sinclair's booking was a piece of nonsense but you could put up with it had the referee produced a yellow for the subsequent countless occasions where Morton players committed similar "offences". Forbes' first booking was pathetic which led to the equaliser and the Morton defender certainly made the most of what was a pretty innocuous challenge for the second. For the second week in a row, we've had a referee who did his best to spoil the game yet this idiot is to be promoted to Category 1 on the UEFA list of officials - absolutely bewildering.

 

It's becoming the same old story with us dominating spells and passing up countless opportunities to score - it was eventually going to come back and bite us on the arse. Craig missed an absolute sitter at the back post in the first half - almost identical to the sitter he missed at Cappielow too. Not altogether sure why the first goal was ruled out, will need to see it again but, from where I was sitting, it looked like typical overprotection of goalkeepers again.

 

The goals we lost were, largely, due to Smith's poor goalkeeping and being incapable of sufficiently clearing the ball from danger. As soon as Fox was even semi-fit, he should have been back in. Mistake number one from Jackie.

 

Mistake two and three were the totally bizarre substitutions; O'Donnell, in particular, was evidently unfit. We took off two of our most creative players, who admittedly weren't having the best of games, and replaced them with boys who were blowing out their arse after 10 minutes. Unfair to put them on the pitch in a game like that and two very poor decisions, especially considering we had both Shug and Doolan sitting on the bench.

 

Muirhead isn't a full back, end of. Either play him at centre half or not at all. Weatherson had Balatoni in his pocket from the first whistle - still not sure why Archie didn't go man for man with Sloth. Sinclair was poor throughout and looked very lethargic.

 

I've heard some people give Forbes pelters and suggest he should have been hooked; all I can say to that is that it is complete and utter bullshit. I would say that it was arguably Ross' best performance for us; beat his man on a number of occasions and looked like our most likely attacking threat.

 

Paton was his usual tireless self but never really imposed himself on the game. Bannigan played reasonably well too, particularly in the first half. The aforementioned Lawless and Erskine had quiet games by their standards and Craig did well although he never bullied the Morton defenders in the same way as he did at Cappielow.

 

What we lacked yesterday was someone to take the game by the scruff of the neck and orchestrate everything. Morton had that, in my opinion, in Martin Hardie. If they can keep him fit, they'll be our title rivals without a doubt. It was a very Lambie-esque performance from Morton.

 

Good that we've got a game on Saturday to try and bounce back immediately.

[flashman]

Alright the ref was poor and the substitutions bewildering, but what we really need to look at is why Morton wanted it more than us in the first 35 mins of the 2nd half. If we had shown the heart and desire of the last 10 mins earlier in the second half, we would have won.

 

If we had finished any one of the half dozen or so great chances we had, we would have won.

 

If the ball had been passed around neatly on the deck instead of lumped into the air, we would have won.

 

Lets focus on areas we have control of and can improve in instead of blaming the (incompetent) ref.

 

The first 15 mins was a return to our devastating early season form, but we were as poor in the second half as we were good in the first.

 

Thought Archie was fantastic.

[twinny]

I thought that Erskine and Forbes were phenomenal in the first half, they were behind everything we did going forward with Craig on the end of everything. Forbes was fouling persistently though and I can understand the first booking, even if I don't agree that it was a foul.

 

Erskine wasn't in the game in the second half, Morton did exactly what we had done in the first half and pressured us on the ball and played keepball themselves and did it very effectively. We couldn't cope and lost as a result. Simple as that.

[Lenziejag]

We didn't deserve to lose that game and even a draw would have been unjust. Over the game, Morton were not better, they didn't have more chances. We lost because we made the wrong decisions when we had clear goal scoring chances.

[Watson Towers]

...totally bizarre substitutions; O'Donnell, in particular, was evidently unfit. We took off two of our most creative players, who admittedly weren't having the best of games, and replaced them with boys who were blowing out their arse after 10 minutes. Unfair to put them on the pitch in a game like that and two very poor decisions, especially considering we had both Shug and Doolan sitting on the bench.

 

Muirhead isn't a full back, end of. Either play him at centre half or not at all. Weatherson had Balatoni in his pocket from the first whistle - still not sure why Archie didn't go man for man with Sloth. Sinclair was poor throughout and looked very lethargic.

 

I've heard some people give Forbes pelters and suggest he should have been hooked; all I can say to that is that it is complete and utter bullshit. I would say that it was arguably Ross' best performance for us; beat his man on a number of occasions and looked like our most likely attacking threat.

 

Paton was his usual tireless self but never really imposed himself on the game. Bannigan played reasonably well too, particularly in the first half. The aforementioned Lawless and Erskine had quiet games by their standards and Craig did well although he never bullied the Morton defenders in the same way as he did at Cappielow.

 

What we lacked yesterday was someone to take the game by the scruff of the neck and orchestrate everything. Morton had that, in my opinion, in Martin Hardie. If they can keep him fit, they'll be our title rivals without a doubt. It was a very Lambie-esque performance from Morton.

 

 

what he said, including the Hardie comments.

 

Agree with all this almost to the letter. "Almost", though, as I think Forbes was both quite brilliant but latterly utterly hopeless: hindsight makes it an easy call, but I'd have hooked him when it was evident he had entirely ran out of steam after an hour or so. The performances of Erskine, Lawless & Bannigan all deteriorated after 50 minutes or so, but Forbes just dissapeared.

 

As I said in a previous post, he is a joy to watch, but he really will have to demonstrate that he can also be an asset when the shrapnel start to fly.

 

In the first half Forbes was like the best bits from Charnley or Cairney - finding space where there just wasn't any, then cooly pinging 40-yard passes to players that no-one else had even seen were free! His use of the dead ball is great too; that's some left foot.

 

Unfortunately, the Charnley comparison held uncannily true in the second half: his tracking back was feeble, he couldn't tackle a fish supper (ref has been getting pelters on here but surely the booking was for persistent fouling?) then... off he goes, and it's game over.

[MWM]

Erskine made the run and initial pass for the first goal so his contribution was there. Forbes has came onto a game lately too. Muirhead showed clearly hes not a right back, got a bit of a roasting at times. Archie I thought was brilliant, but Weatherson isn't the player he used to be.

 

The substitutions were absolutely awful more like playing with 8 men as both were off the pace.. Also felt at the second goal Smith made a bit of a meal of it with a half arsed palm. Either catch it or punch it as hard as possible away, you can't be in two minds.

 

Referee was an absolute ********, his inconsistency was shocking, booked a couple of our players minutes before Sinclair was sandwiched by two of theirs and he doesn't give a card.

 

Expecting us to go there on Saturday and put up a cricket score. They are absolutely gash and we won't take the game as lightly as we would have had we won.

Edited December 28, 2012 by MWM