St.Johnstone vs Partick Thistle

[Eduardo]

Everything just breaks down as soon as the ball is in the middle of the park. Craig never plays a decisive ball forward and is always passing backwards and Maclean slows down every attacking break and allows opposition defenders to get back. I honestly don't see what these two players in particular bring to the team. If Fisher was a saints youth player the attitude from the stands would be so different, some of our fans should be ashamed at what they were shouting at him tonight. He is still a young man. Scobbie offers so little in an attacking sense, the only pass marks tonight are for Shaugnessey.

[slf]

Tactically they shouldn't have gave us the chicken and leek pie.farting like fuq I was.a simple steak pie or maybe pie beans and chips would have sufficed.alex tot tens team should have been given a bit longer tae answer the questions .nice wee move fae mr totten producing his saints scarf .no mention of marble staircases  either ,superb.unfortunately I think stevie maskrey has put on a bit of weight,get him intae the gym.that Allan Moore needs gagged and thon Thomson looks good for a veteran.

the hospitality wis Braw apart fae having tae go oot and watch the match.

[The Real Saints]

Aside from our goal, I can't really think of any redeeming moments in tonight's performance. It was an excellent assist from Fisher. Kane was in the right place at the right time. That goal should certainly put him in contention for a starting place. Cummins will hopefully be dropped from the team after apparently learning nothing from the previous occasion he decided to round the keeper.

 

It's concerning that we have produced such a spineless display when, after the result at Pittodrie, we should have been approaching the match with an air of confidence. We were dreadful throughout the game. We didn't look capable of scoring a goal. After we (remarkably) scored a goal, we didn't look capable of scoring another goal. 

 

Our passing lacked any sort of urgency. Partick moved the ball quickly and directly. In comparison to the Jags, it was embarrassing to see how sluggish we were.

 

We defended terribly for both of their goals. Their attackers had far too much space and time on the ball. 

 

Liam Craig's successful conversion of a penalty does not mean that he suddenly merits a place in the starting line-up. His recent performances should decide that. As far as I'm concerned, he hasn't been good enough. Having said that, there were plenty of equally poor displays tonight.

 

In addition to my previous post regarding Darnell Fisher, is it acceptable to boo John Sutton onto the pitch? It was a very poor display from a minority of our supporters.

Those are my thoughts. Partick merited their win once again. They play good football. I wouldn't be surprised if we finish in the bottom six, but I think that some Saints fans are being incredibly premature in calling for Tommy's departure. Our Scottish Cup win wasn't the last brilliant moment of the Tommy Wright era. We finished 4th last season and qualified for Europe once again. We're still in contention for a similar league finish. We probably won't finish 4th on this occasion, but we've turned things around on countless occasions before. As far as I'm concerned, relegation is an improbability. 

[Broon]

I'm sure at one point today Tam Scobbie pulled his bandages over his eyes so he couldn't see the shite that was unfolding in front of him.

Manager got it wrong again. A narrow midfield diamond offered no protection to Fisher who struggles positionally at times (seems to get drawn in narrow). That turned out to be a disaster. Mannus couldn't do anything about the first but the second is the same shitey goal he's been conceding all season, a wee trundler into the corner from 20 yards. He just can't move his feet quick enough. Oh well, this is a bit depressing eh  

[Shaggy Jenkins]

Honesty on this occasion for the second the ball did take a bobble, he looked pretty set to get it and it took a strange bounce 

[nickyg]

Pretty abject display really, cannot really think of one player who really performed well. Don't think Mannus could do much about either goal as shots were right in the corner. Problem more to do with the defence, badly missing Wright and a bit of determination to do the dirty side if putting blocks in. That was really hard to watch tonight, agree with lot of what's been said before we look so slow and pedestrian it's painful. Think Tommy had his tactics wrong as Thistle played 5 in midfield with Pogba on his own up front and he arguably caused our defence more grief than McLean and Cummins did between them, just don't seem to have the physicality required. Only Kane came out with any credit from tonight the rest very poor. Our Midfield was overrun. I also ask myself about team preparation as how many times this season have we lost early goals. We start so slowly can't help thinking there's something needs changed re how we prepare been doing the same pre match routines for years.

[deej]

At half time, Partick were doing little drills between the group, pass and move, quick feet, then some stretching. 

 

Saints subs? Pair up, ping 50/60 yard passes to each other. Excellent.

[541ntees]

Radio off. Mad Men on Amazon. Feck this sh ite. 

Dons 1st wife or 2nd?

[St Mikey]

Got to love some of these quotes by TW. A wee blip is a couple of games, not 3 months of shite but says we are on a bad run of form and will get better. Sorry TW but we can't possibly get any worse!

 

He can defend his players but we will not. Playing crap is playing crap, irrespective if they are good lads.

FInally, if we have conceded too many goals, why the feck did you not solidify it in January? Too many individual mistakes but these players keep their place in the starting XI.

We won't win against ICT, thats a fact. Their midfield will run all over us just like every other team. 2 central midfielders with knocks and never 100% fit.

These issues are due to the management and the training, end of. Nothing is being worked on effectively between games and that is so apparent.

 

"There's a wee blip at the minute and they do show their frustration. If we go and win Wednesday night [against Inverness] they'll be back cheering you on again.

"I'll defend my players. We're still in the top six, but we know we're on a bad run but we'll get better.

"We've conceded too many goals all season and that's killing us. Individually we've made too many mistakes over the season."

Edited March 2, 2016 by St Mikey

[bromdass]

At half time, Partick were doing little drills between the group, pass and move, quick feet, then some stretching. 

 

Saints subs? Pair up, ping 50/60 yard passes to each other. Excellent.

I noticed this, sums up the difference in the 2 teams perfectly

[Dave H]

I noticed this, sums up the difference in the 2 teams perfectly

not many teams do what Thistle do. But it looks professional.  I like the keepie uppies between players we do. Think the record is 7. Seriously What was more interesting to me was Thistle had a coach of some sort working with the players just like pre match.  Our subs are out of sight, out of mind and just mess about for 15 minutes. Balls going anywhere.  This needs addressing and so does our kickoff tactic of thump the ball wide and often out.

 

 

[Dr Christmas Jones]

 When Sturrock was going through a bad spell and the players weren't performing it was double training sessions and a stint up Kinnoull hill ( just an endurance climb I may add).  The squad soon bucked up their ideas.  You hear Brad Mackay saying stuff like, he can't wait to get back to the card school and stuff. It's not a bloody day camp. 

[Dr Christmas Jones]

not many teams do what Thistle do. But it looks professional.  I like the keepie uppies between players we do. Think the record is 7. Seriously What was more interesting to me was Thistle had a coach of some sort working with the players just like pre match.  Our subs are out of sight, out of mind and just mess about for 15 minutes. Balls going anywhere.  This needs addressing and so does our kickoff tactic of thump the ball wide and often out.

 

 

 Totally agree.  It's football for Christ sake not rugby.  Let's humpf it down the wings and play a bit of chase. No. Let's play the ball on the ground and try to create as many chances as possible to win a game of football in 90 mins.  

[RandomGuy]

What our players do at half time has absolutely no bearing on the result, are folk just picking fault with absolutely everything they can possibly think of now?

[Edstar101]

What our players do at half time has absolutely no bearing on the result, are folk just picking fault with absolutely everything they can possibly think of now?

Not entirely, but it could be one of many contributing factors to the overall mindset of the players

If it didn't make any difference at all, why have some teams decided to do it?

[rik2304]

Ratnamara had the United players doing all kinds of fancy shite at half time.

[dave mc]

Don't know what Liam was thinking at the first, a half hearted attempt to block, at the second Ando does his customary turning his back, although they weren't the only factors in two soft goals

[RandomGuy]

Not entirely, but it could be one of many contributing factors to the overall mindset of the players

If it didn't make any difference at all, why have some teams decided to do it?

How on Earth does it contribute? We've been doing it for nigh on ten years, at least. McNamara used to have his starting eleven out with specially hired fitness coaches at half time to "gee them up" for the second half while the subs went through a routine like Thistle, and 9/10 we still pumped the bastards.

[Dave H]

Don't know what Liam was thinking at the first, a half hearted attempt to block, at the second Ando does his customary turning his back, although they weren't the only factors in two soft goals

yet everyone around me was going crazy at Fisher for the first?!  Pick a player you don't like and howl abuse at him.... I didn't dare correct them as the were going nuts.  It's another game where we keep backing off. Back off, back off and they get an attempt at goal.   Also the lack of niggle fouls in and around half way is frustrating, a simple foul would get us regrouped and break up attacks which would help prevent the constant back tracking our defence does.

midfield is our weakness.

 

Edited March 3, 2016 by Dave H

[Broon]

yet everyone around me was going crazy at Fisher for the first?!  Pick a player you don't like and howl abuse at him.... I didn't dare correct them as the were going nuts.  It's another game where we keep backing off. Back off, back off and they get an attempt at goal.   Also the lack of niggle fouls in and around half way is frustrating, a simple foul would get us regrouped and break up attacks which would help prevent the constant back tracking our defence does.

Fisher was way too narrow but we still had cover. The problem was nobody had any idea who was supposed to be right midfield. Liam being at right mid was a bit of a joke. He still should have pressured the guy though and the centre half should have closed when he cut inside. Was a terrible goal.

[Radford 72]

Last night was hopeless, the worst performance of the season. I've seen positives, or at least reasons not to panic, in most of the matches through this poor run but there was nothing last night. So for the manager to say we will get better doesn't fill me with confidence, as we appear to be getting worse. A couple of decent results against Motherwell and Aberdeen shouldn't mask that.

More generally though, I worry that we are heading in the wrong direction but can't do anything about it. There are hallmarks of 15 years ago. Clark took over a good squad with good character and did very well initially over his first couple of seasons. He carried that into his third season, although the poorer results became more common. At Xmas of 2000 we were well placed to make the first ever top six but then went on a horrendous run of 2 wins from 18 games and limped home in tenth place.

The alarm bells were ringing and with Clark's patchy signing record we didn't do enough in the summer of 2001. He lasted a few games of 2001/02 before being dismissed but even without the poor appointment of Stark, the damage had been done and I doubt we'd have stayed up. Geoff Brown admitted the board (he had a peripheral role at the time because of illness) had waited too long before sacking Clark, despite his previous good record.

In the present day, this squad is signed up for next season and the manager has over three years on his deal, so what can actually be done? Steve Brown isn't going to give him a six-figure pay off and equally he's not going to walk away from that. How much wriggle room is there going to be with most of the squad signed up and with Wright's signing record do you trust him to get the right players? He may not get his primary targets because of finance but if the best he can do after that is guys like Morgan and Doyle then that is still a worry.

He needs to prove over the next couple of games he can get this squad playing again. I have my doubts he'll manage it though.

[Edstar101]

Next season could (and possibly should) be all about the young guys we have out on loan or currently playing in the development squad

Major refresh required, and if we don't have the cash to attract younger more mobile players then we need to blood our own

[Kilgour]

Why oh why must we play catch-up all the time ? Could we not burst out the traps,sting a few passes and score first,thus giving us some confidence and belief.

I know we dont set out to struggle early doors,but we do.To lose 6 points to Jags in 8 days is not a blip ,its embarassing

[Radford 72]

Next season could (and possibly should) be all about the young guys we have out on loan or currently playing in the development squad.

Who though? The hype around Thomson is entirely unjustified IMO and I just don't see the quality elsewhere that is going to make an impact. Thomson took away any momentum we had last night and just doesn't look nearly ready for me, which is a concern considering he's 21.

Throwing young players in is another similarity to the end of the Clark era, guys like McClune, Forsyth, Panther, Maher etc... that never played in the top flight again.

My guess is we are creating the next generation of Montrose and East Fife players, rather than Premiership quality performers.

 

[sixties saintee]

Take it no mention by tommy as to why Brown not even in Squad