Bad Luck, Bad Strikers Or Bad Tactics?

[The Legend Blows]

This truly has got to be the most frustrating Thistle team I've had the pleasure/misfortune of watching in the last 25 years. I can't make up my mind if our strikers are really unlucky or just really poor at this level. Probably a bit of both. With our inability to source another front player before the window shut and the free agent market looking poor I think it's time to try something else. Personally I will be raging if we get relegated playing 90 yard football because at the moment the slide is just around the corner. Archie needs to think outside the box until January at least when one or two options might be available. How about trying one or two of the under 20's? How about starting with 2 up front and stop leaving the front man so isolated. How about trying someone else up front who ain't a recognised striker? Welsh, Gabriel, Lawless, Bannigan, anyone! Quite frankly they couldn't be any worse.

Looking forward to Chris Jack's next Evening Times column along the lines of '(Insert thistle players name) says goals will come' Reality check. No they won't. Thank god for Hearts deduction.

 

[potty trained]

I'd bring McGuigan back from his loan spell.

[Hopeless Unbeliever]

I really wish we could see a parallel universe where the forumites managed the Jags for the rest of the season. The solution to playing a team off the park at Firhill but missing some great chances is definitely to ditch our best striker and start playing a different system.

[ThickAsThieves]

This truly has got to be the most frustrating Thistle team I've had the pleasure/misfortune of watching in the last 25 years.

Most frustrating in 25 years?

 

Have I honestly just read that?

 

Most entertaining, sure, but most frustrating?

 

I'm away for a lie down.

[ThickAsThieves]

To answer your question - bad luck combined with bad finishing. Doolan isn't a bad striker and our tactics are mostly spot on. We're just lacking a little bit of quality, guile and confidence in the final third. It goes a little deeper than just bad luck, as it's happening far too often, but there's certainly an element of it within our problem.

[The Legend Blows]

Btw. Hannes Anier ain't the answer either. Prepare yourselves for the Estonian version of Christie Elliot when he signs on the dotted line. He ain't a striker.

[lady-isobel-barnett]

Btw. Hannes Anier ain't the answer either. Prepare yourselves for the Estonian version of Christie Elliot when he signs on the dotted line. He ain't a striker.

 

Thanks for the heads up on that . You truly are our No1 oracle on all things to do with goal scoring or not goal scoring depending on which way you look at it.

[Harry Wragg]

Theres a lot of talk about certain players not being up to top flight standards but just look at some of the young talent of other teams where the manager isnt scared to try them out in the first team , we're sitting here with a talented bunch of under 21's , why dont some of them , one at a time, get a game and see how they go , cant be any worse than the flops weve been chancing so far !!

[potty trained]

cant be any worse than the flops weve been chancing so far !!

 

Oh Jesus, I need my bed, I'm just going to get angry with people!

[Hopeless Unbeliever]

Bloody hell. I truly believe some people don't deserve this team. We were terrific for 70 minutes tonight. We know our shortcomings, Archie knows our shortcomings. We lost our best player in a generation in the summer and we're still probably only one player away from being a top 6 SPL side.

 

It's frustrating to watch at times because we know how good this side are/can be, but if you think these times are bad ones to be a Thistle fan there is no hope for you.

Edited October 7, 2013 by Hopeless Unbeliever

[Jaggystu71]

We haven't tried big Henoc Mukendi as a lone striker, remember what Zola of Aberdeen done to us. How about Chris Duggan?

[Hopeless Unbeliever]

I don't know how to put this any more simply: Kris Doolan is the best striker we have by some distance. That is even more true when considering specifically the lone striker role.

 

His dry spell is terrible though, no goals in one game is shameful stuff.

[David Stevenson]

Theres a lot of talk about certain players not being up to top flight standards but just look at some of the young talent of other teams where the manager isnt scared to try them out in the first team , we're sitting here with a talented bunch of under 21's , why dont some of them , one at a time, get a game and see how they go , cant be any worse than the flops weve been chancing so far !!

We were better than Hibs by a distance. They took just about the only chance they made. The BBC highlights actually encapsulate the essence of the game for once. To girn about "flops" is just ridiculous. We have a young team on the pitch already, or have you forgotten that? Have you even seen the U-20's play? Maybe you took the trip to Peterheid to see them beat the Dons. If any of them were ready, do you think Archie would hesitate to play them?

Edited October 8, 2013 by David Stevenson

[ThickAsThieves]

Theres a lot of talk about certain players not being up to top flight standards but just look at some of the young talent of other teams where the manager isnt scared to try them out in the first team , we're sitting here with a talented bunch of under 21's , why dont some of them , one at a time, get a game and see how they go , cant be any worse than the flops weve been chancing so far !!

Aye, we need to give youth a chance! Tired of seeing Bannigan, O'Donnell, Taylor-Sinclair, Lawless, Muirhead and Balatoni playing. Past it.

[Lenziejag]

You can understand the guys sentiment though. We lost another simple goal and I thought the heads went down. Doolan s one on one miss was criminal. If our best striker is missing chances like that, it is no wonder that a pessimistic viewpoint is creeping in. The players have a tough job on their hands and they will need to keep working hard.

[Keiththejag]

That was entirely predictable from the moment Doolz hit the keeper with that sitter.It seems like a confidence thing.Five games at Firhill and two penalty goals to show for it.

 

Thats relegation form.Its not just misfiring in front of goal,its getting there.The final cross has by and large been absolutely pants and our set pieces rank rotten.Bet it wasn't just me who predicted how far the late free kick was going over.Or that our corners would be as well being passed to their keeper.

 

Sounds like a rant and it is,but its not all negative.We do play attractive passing football and can outplay most sides in this league,but they all have something we dont,they're clinical up top.The confidence issue is only going to get worse.If its annoying for us,how must the players feel after again dominating a game and getting hee haw?

[Alan Hansen]

You can understand the guys sentiment though. We lost another simple goal and I thought the heads went down. Doolan s one on one miss was criminal. If our best striker is missing chances like that, it is no wonder that a pessimistic viewpoint is creeping in. The players have a tough job on their hands and they will need to keep working hard.

 

Really hard to take last night we need to keep plugging away as we are still playing quite well and lets face it

if we had a better goal scorer he would be on the park,that's why these guys can command so much cash they

are like hens teeth,the difference last night was they had Liam Craig no more no less.

[johnkebab71]

I'd bring McGuigan back from his loan spell.

 

No thanks

[bell]

i think some people should try and keep it in mind that we're not really Barcelona, we're Partick Thistle, and we aren't going to win every game. perhaps the success last season just went to people's heads a little too much, but a reality check is long overdue. we've been playing good football for the past few years, and have developed a squad that play well together, and a system they're all used to. drastic changes to that now will only have adverse effects.

[Dark Passenger]

How about trying someone else up front who ain't a recognised striker? Welsh, Gabriel, Lawless, Bannigan, anyone! Quite frankly they couldn't be any worse.

 

This your solution to "bad tactics", then? I'd save your fingers the strain next time.

[Trotter]

Doolan isn't the problem. He's highlighted because of his miss last night but as has been mentioned, he's far & away the best striker at the club.

 

The 1st XI last night are probably the best 11 players at the club. We've an abundance of central midfielders & are lacking depth & different options in the 3 positions behind Doolan imo.

 

So much so that Bannigan looks a shadow of the player from earlier in the season playing in his current role.

 

It's a bit of bad luck at the moment yes but what concerns me more is the lack of front options.

 

This is in no way a dig at the manager but we knew all Summer that we'd need to add quality & depth to the squad across all areas. We lost Craig & Erskine to be replaced by Baird & Higginbotham but haven't added anyone else there.

 

For what it's worth, this is where the Board should be investing in a scouting network to assist the manager & also putting their hands in their pockets for a few extra quid for front players (if required to do so) instead of it being a generous local benefactor supplementing wages!

[Mr Bunny]

Theres a lot of talk about certain players not being up to top flight standards but just look at some of the young talent of other teams where the manager isnt scared to try them out in the first team , we're sitting here with a talented bunch of under 21's , why dont some of them , one at a time, get a game and see how they go , cant be any worse than the flops weve been chancing so far !!

 

Only Bannigan is under 21. Quite a few are 22-24 years old with nobody around 30 years or over which is a very young team for this league.

[QueensXkid]

Forget about last night ,....I fear there could possibly be worse to come in our next match against the ex league leaders who will be hurting like hell after they're going over by St johnstone....then again we've had better results away from firhill sadly.. who knows!Anyway I'm in the camp that says keep the faith with the boys we've got ...it would be suicidal to make some of the changes suggested on this forum.But I do think that possibly even just one player starting to hit the target would lift the boys Stick with the players stick with the system, but continue to give it all youve got,

[stillresigned]

Bloody hell. I truly believe some people don't deserve this team. We were terrific for 70 minutes tonight. We know our shortcomings, Archie knows our shortcomings. We lost our best player in a generation in the summer and we're still probably only one player away from being a top 6 SPL side.

 

It's frustrating to watch at times because we know how good this side are/can be, but if you think these times are bad ones to be a Thistle fan there is no hope for you.

i think some people should try and keep it in mind that we're not really Barcelona, we're Partick Thistle, and we aren't going to win every game. perhaps the success last season just went to people's heads a little too much, but a reality check is long overdue. we've been playing good football for the past few years, and have developed a squad that play well together, and a system they're all used to. drastic changes to that now will only have adverse effects.

Agree entirely, at the end of the day we're a smalll team with not alot of money and that has been so for as long as I can remember. The way we play is the correct way to play football the fact that we habve difficulties up front has been done to death elsewher on this forum. Suffice it to say that I can see no quick and easy solution, other than playing as we have done and showing faith in Archie's footballing philisophy. I for one would be happier being a Thistle supporter, than supporting most of the dross I've seen us play against. its not helped that certain players e.g. Lawless have gone off the boil. No one was more frustrated than me last night and I'm sure I was far from alone.So what can we asl Archie realistically to do? For a start we could tighten up our concentration at the back and stop giving easy goals away, last nights was a case in point while Craig admitedlly took his goal very well, our defending was rather stucatto to say the least. Up front, as I've said before perhaps playing Elliot up front might be an option worth exploring as well as maybe playint two dedicated strikers. However, I don't see any of these options making a difference to our fundamental problem of lack of goals. I repeat I'm confident that if we continue to play the way we have that by the law of averages if nothing ese we're gonna give someone a real doing. Hopefully it'll be sooner rather than later. Oh and a wee word to that little sh*t Chick Dung, we#re not going down.

[read'n'yell]

I reckon Higginbotham could play up front, and this would also allow for Craigen to be back in the team - I think he is missed. It's ashame that there is no place for Fraser anymore with Welsh and Osbourne being undropable really. Be good if there was a way to fit him in but it would probably involve a change in formation as I don't really think Welsh could play that more advanced role. Perhaps he could though and we then have Fraser and Osbourne behind.

 

The only thing with this, is it is not a long term plan and could maybe only work for a couple of games. But getting Doolan and Bannigan out the team for Craigen and Fraser, while pushing Higginbotham and Welsh forward, could be a good idea.