🔴🍀🟡 Patrick Thistle v The Thistle 🔴 ⚫

[TheScarf]

3 minutes ago, Stephen Malkmus said:

It's interesting to hear that Samuels was playing out wide on Saturday as from the highlights it appeared as though he was playing through the middle (that's where he got his goals from and his blocked shot for Shaw's goal). If he's nominally playing out wide but is actually being told to make diagonal runs in behind to a central position to get on the end of through balls that's pretty much as good as playing him up top imo.

I was thinking that too.  His pace across the defence will cause teams problems.  It worked a treat against Cove's geriatric back line on Saturday.

[Denspark1893]

On 13/08/2022 at 17:57, jagfox said:

Thistle will win this fucker ️

Bold.... you will probably shitfest a 0-0.... and be thankful for it ya bunch of shite the beds

[Juanhourjoe]

Billy Dodds has been known to change formation to match up to the opposition in the big games. Will we see something different, of stick to what we've been doing so far? Looks like Partick and Dundee look to be both playing a 433, so id expect to see us use it at some point this season

[Girth]

Two challengers for a playoff spot. I’ll go 1-1. 

Thank you. 

[jagfox]

29 minutes ago, TheScarf said:

I was thinking that too.  His pace across the defence will cause teams problems.  It worked a treat against Cove's geriatric back line on Saturday.

I wouldn't put you off wagering on him scoring on Friday night m9.

[jagfox]

26 minutes ago, Denspark1893 said:

Bold.... you will probably shitfest a 0-0.... and be thankful for it ya bunch of shite the beds

Thank you.

[Highland Capital]

1 hour ago, alsy said:

Genuine question, as I wasn't there on Saturday: I agree about Samuels being more effective centrally, but why do you feel that Oakley starting would strengthen the team? 

I do like having someone in the team with a bit of presence who can drag us up the park though granted he was pretty useless against Arbroath.

 

[TheScarf]

Seems to be a decent option to stretch a tiring defence but hes never a starter in a million years.

[alsy]

3 hours ago, Highland Capital said:

I do like having someone in the team with a bit of presence who can drag us up the park though granted he was pretty useless against Arbroath.

 

Yeah, he was awful against Arbroath, although tbf the conditions weren't helping anyone. Think I agree with @TheScarf though - he's an option to bring on when we need something different, but at the moment I'd prefer to see us stick with Mckay nominally ahead of Mackay, Doran and Samuels, with the greater fluidity that gives us - Samuels can sometimes be the spearhead as Mckay has the game intelligence to play anywhere across that supporting three - or even with Samuels as the 9 ahead of any three from Mackay, Boyd, Doran, McGregor, Sutherland (when fit) and Shaw (although not sure he's a starter). Basically anything that has us playing football from the start rather than falling into the habit of trying to hit a target man.  Samuels has definitely proved himself a decent finisher across the playoffs and then again on Saturday.    

Edited August 15, 2022 by alsy

[JagsCG]

I don't see us keeping a clean sheet in this game if our defensive performance is as poor as it was last weekend (hopefully we've spent the week working on set pieces however). McCall has a few big decisions to make, does he stick with Mitchell in goals or revert back to Sneddon? Does Bannigan come back into the side? Will we change from a 4-3-3 to 2 up top? The latter question is probably most interesting, with Dowds getting off the mark competently last week I wouldn't be against him starting. Massive fan of Brian Graham but he seems to miss a sitter every week just now, on the other hand we've scored 6 league goals so far and Brian has had a hand in 5 of them - even when he doesn't score he's used as a vital focal point for those around him so dropping him may be unwarranted making a front 2 more likely. 

I'd take any kind of win but I reckon it'll finish 1-1. 

Edited August 16, 2022 by JagsCG

[SandyCromarty]

21 hours ago, alsy said:

Yeah, he was awful against Arbroath, although tbf the conditions weren't helping anyone. Think I agree with @TheScarf though - he's an option to bring on when we need something different, but at the moment I'd prefer to see us stick with Mckay nominally ahead of Mackay, Doran and Samuels, with the greater fluidity that gives us - Samuels can sometimes be the spearhead as Mckay has the game intelligence to play anywhere across that supporting three - or even with Samuels as the 9 ahead of any three from Mackay, Boyd, Doran, McGregor, Sutherland (when fit) and Shaw (although not sure he's a starter). Basically anything that has us playing football from the start rather than falling into the habit of trying to hit a target man.  Samuels has definitely proved himself a decent finisher across the playoffs and then again on Saturday.    

The line up on Saturday was 4-4-2 with Samuels up front ahead of Billy Mackay, and we now know that that worked well, Samuels is too easily dispossessed on the wing so his position on Saturday is where he needs to be with the two Mackays feeding him.

[alsy]

53 minutes ago, SandyCromarty said:

The line up on Saturday was 4-4-2 with Samuels up front ahead of Billy Mackay, and we now know that that worked well, Samuels is too easily dispossessed on the wing so his position on Saturday is where he needs to be with the two Mackays feeding him.

Ah right, thanks. I like the sound of that. I just assumed it was a 4-2-3-1, as Dodds tended to use that a lot last season.

[PB1994]

6 minutes ago, alsy said:

Ah right, thanks. I like the sound of that. I just assumed it was a 4-2-3-1, as Dodds tended to use that a lot last season.

Dodds used 4-4-2 for the majority of last season didn’t he? Relying on Shane Sutherland working his arse off to track back when we didn’t have the ball.

[alsy]

21 minutes ago, PB1994 said:

Dodds used 4-4-2 for the majority of last season didn’t he? Relying on Shane Sutherland working his arse off to track back when we didn’t have the ball.

Maybe you're right, yeah. Towards the end of the season when Chalmers was starting more, it just seemed to me that Sutherland, Doran and Chalmers would play ahead of Welsh and McAlear, with Sutherland often tucked in to allow Carson to overlap, and Chalmers roving about; so not really like a traditional 4-4-2. But then with so many players in the squad who nominally can play wide, or in the 10, or as a striker, and who do switch during the course of games, the formation never seems that rigid.    

[PB1994]

9 minutes ago, alsy said:

Maybe you're right, yeah. Towards the end of the season when Chalmers was starting more, it just seemed to me that Sutherland, Doran and Chalmers would play ahead of Welsh and McAlear, with Sutherland often tucked in to allow Carson to overlap, and Chalmers roving about; so not really like a traditional 4-4-2. But then with so many players in the squad who nominally can play wide, or in the 10, or as a striker, and who do switch during the course of games, the formation never seems that rigid.    

Yeah, that’s fair. Probably ended up more of a 4-2-3-1 towards the end of the season.

I personally prefer a 4-2-3-1 as it means you don’t get outnumbered in the middle of the park, though I think we need to try give Samuels a run of games up front plus having McKay in the team. Daniel MacKay on one wing and another on the right. You could play Mckay in a deeper “10” role I suppose and you also have Doran and MacGregor who can play there. Leaves Oakley firmly in a back up third choice striker role plus I’m not convinced by Shaw out wide and I haven’t seen Boyd so it’s very harsh to judge him but I just feel we could do with another winger.

I know that won’t be happening as I’m 99% certain our transfer business is done.

[alsy]

4 minutes ago, PB1994 said:

Yeah, that’s fair. Probably ended up more of a 4-2-3-1 towards the end of the season.

I personally prefer a 4-2-3-1 as it means you don’t get outnumbered in the middle of the park, though I think we need to try give Samuels a run of games up front plus having McKay in the team. Daniel MacKay on one wing and another on the right. You could play Mckay in a deeper “10” role I suppose and you also have Doran and MacGregor who can play there. Leaves Oakley firmly in a back up third choice striker role plus I’m not convinced by Shaw out wide and I haven’t seen Boyd so it’s very harsh to judge him but I just feel we could do with another winger.

I know that won’t be happening as I’m 99% certain our transfer business is done.

Personally I'm sort of grieving the loss of Walsh for the bulk of this season. I know he's probably underperformed for us overall and that he tends to vanish from games, but he is the sort of player who could make a difference; he looked brilliant against Hamilton in the final league game of last season. You're almost certainly right about the transfer business though, especially as Sutherland and Walsh will presumably be back at some point. 

[PB1994]

1 minute ago, alsy said:

Personally I'm sort of grieving the loss of Walsh for the bulk of this season. I know he's probably underperformed for us overall and that he tends to vanish from games, but he is the sort of player who could make a difference; he looked brilliant against Hamilton in the final league game of last season. You're almost certainly right about the transfer business though, especially as Sutherland and Walsh will presumably be back at some point. 

I had totally forgotten about Walsh, which probably says a lot about him so far in his second spell. He was fantastic in that Hamilton game, if he can get back fit and close to that sort of level then he’s be perfect out on the right.

Sutherland was our best player last season but having quite a serious injury I’m not sure if he will ever get back to that sort of level again, considering he’s what 31/32 now. I really hope I’m wrong.

[Highland Capital]

2 hours ago, SandyCromarty said:

The line up on Saturday was 4-4-2 with Samuels up front ahead of Billy Mackay, and we now know that that worked well, Samuels is too easily dispossessed on the wing so his position on Saturday is where he needs to be with the two Mackays feeding him.

No it wasn't.  Samuels was on the right wing cutting in.  Mckay was up-front with Doran just behind him.  

1 hour ago, alsy said:

Ah right, thanks. I like the sound of that. I just assumed it was a 4-2-3-1, as Dodds tended to use that a lot last season.

4-2-3-1 was the closest way we could describe the line-up on Saturday.  I definitely prefer Samuels as a proper 9 - but he definitely wasn't playing that role on Saturday, rather playing wide and drifting into the centre.

Edited August 16, 2022 by Highland Capital

[alsy]

44 minutes ago, Highland Capital said:

No it wasn't.  Samuels was on the right wing cutting in.  Mckay was up-front with Doran just behind him.  

4-2-3-1 was the closest way we could describe the line-up on Saturday.  I definitely prefer Samuels as a proper 9 - but he definitely wasn't playing that role on Saturday, rather playing wide and drifting into the centre.

Ah well, I guess I'll see for myself on Friday night - assuming, of course, that Dodds goes with the same front four in consecutive games for the first time this season.

[SandyCromarty]

1 hour ago, Highland Capital said:

No it wasn't.  Samuels was on the right wing cutting in.  Mckay was up-front with Doran just behind him.  

4-2-3-1 was the closest way we could describe the line-up on Saturday.  I definitely prefer Samuels as a proper 9 - but he definitely wasn't playing that role on Saturday, rather playing wide and drifting into the centre.

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