Match Ratings Against Partick ( merged )

[micole]

If Cathro had been manager we'd have lost heavily. Partick look a very decent team.

Agree.

[Jambof3tornado]

I wonder if Randall is a better wing back than midfielder

I'd suggest he is.

[feedthefox]

I'm not disputing any of what you've pointed out bud. The guy puts in a shift. What I've highlighted is his piss poor distribution/decision making when he's got he ball. Specifically when he's got an option to pass. Game after game the same thing with his going for the wrong and often harder option that never comes off for him.

 

Yesterday on the edge of the box in first half he's got an easy square ball yet he tried to thread a pass through on goal and hits the defender. Right at the end all he needs to do is play a ball either into Walkers feet or thread it through for him to run onto and he hits it with power into Walkers chest. It's no shock this takes Walker by surprise and he can't take the sting off the ball, loses it and also loses his footing. The look on Walkers face said it all yet Isma moaned at him for failing to control it! He seemed to be moaning about a lot of things!

 

Someone I know said something and I'm starting to think they've got a point. He doesn't seem to have a footballing brain. He's good and putting in a shift or running/chasing lost causes but when it comes to being clever he's not capable.

 

I don't like criticising our players and I think Levein can actually work with him but he need to be more savvy.

 

 

Fair enough can't argue with your specific points, the look on Walkers's face was priceless when he got that pass from Ismael at the end, a real wtf!!!

[jambogirlglasgow]

Can't really take to Isma at all. Seems to constantly take the wrong option, and is miles away from having any football brain., Don't think you can teach that. Hopefully I'm wrong though.

[portobellojambo1]

Lone striker or not. ISMA was a 5 tops today.

 

I'd agree with that John. Yes, people can say he was up front on his own and it was hard, but that is something the manager has to address. Once any player is on the park fans can only then make judgement on what an individual player contributes. I wouldn't have expected him to win much, if anything in the air given the three defenders he was up against were all big, tall and well built. But I'd agree with you that a 5 would have been the most from yesterday, as he didn't use the ball awfully well when it was on the ground. Hopefully we learn from this for next week, and if Lafferty isn't available to play alongside Goncalves then we put Stockton in instead (we could have used him yesterday and left Randall out of the side).

[John Findlay]

I'd agree with that John. Yes, people can say he was up front on his own and it was hard, but that is something the manager has to address. Once any player is on the park fans can only then make judgement on what an individual player contributes. I wouldn't have expected him to win much, if anything in the air given the three defenders he was up against were all big, tall and well built. But I'd agree with you that a 5 would have been the most from yesterday, as he didn't use the ball awfully well when it was on the ground. Hopefully we learn from this for next week, and if Lafferty isn't available to play alongside Goncalves then we put Stockton in instead (we could have used him yesterday and left Randall out of the side).

Agree. It was a game calling out for Stockton yesterday. Just to noise up the Thistle centre backs. Isma constantly looks for a foul when he loses the ball. 7 times out of 10 it's not. He is just bad at holding the ball up. When he does lose it. 9 out of ten times he makes NO EFFORT to win it back. He still needs a good kick up the arse at times.

[RobNox]

Souttar , Callachan and Walker were our best player good cameo from Milinkovic. Grzelak woeful Randall not much better apart from a good shot in the second half. Keeper had a couple of real howlers and a couple of good saves. Overall poor display until last 20 minutes.

 

Sent from my LG-K350 using Tapatalk

A good summing up, pretty much as I saw it.  Hopefully Grzelak and Randall are dropped for the visit to Dundee.

[Watt-Zeefuik]

Calling Isma useless is over the top but he does routinely fail to see better options when he's in the box. He can hunt his shot so much he misses easy chances to square the ball for a better chance.

[RobNox]

The problem for me was that the way we lined up left Isma isolated up top.

 

When I saw the team line up before the game, I assumed that maybe Jamie was going to be deployed in a more advanced position, just behind Isma (as a number 10 if you like), but that wasn't case.  As a previous poster said, it looked like a box formation in the middle, with Jamie and Randall as the more advanced midfielders and Cowie and Callahan sitting back.

 

However, neither Jamie or Randall really got forward enough to support Isma up front.  Randall was largely ineffective for me, and Jamie spent a lot of time dropping deeper, trying to get on the ball.  I feel a diamond formation may have been better, with Jamie at the top, and probably Cowie at the base.

 

The other thing that got my goat was the number of times we resorted to long balls.  If we are playing with 3 centre halves and one player up, surely the aim is to either play through the opponent in midfield, or play around them using our wing backs.  If we were resorting to long balls then we needed to get Stockton on and probably Randall off.  If we were sticking to one-up, then we should have had Malinkovic on for Randall much  earlier.  We looked far better as an attacking force once Smith-Brown and Malinkovic were on.

 

To be fair to CL, he has stated that his priority so far has been getting the fitness levels up and ensuring that the team he puts out is capable of competing, he hasn't spent as much time thinking about formations / playing style.  With three games under his belt, I'm sure he will be starting to formulate his ideas, both in terms of who are the players he feels can do a job, and what formation / style best suits that group.

[McCrae]

[quote name="gnasher75" post="6271457" timestamp="1506191936"

We need to stop chopping and changing needlessly and get some consistency.

 

The changes were forced upon us due to injury. Not much you can do about that.

[Haken]

The problem for me was that the way we lined up left Isma isolated up top.

 

When I saw the team line up before the game, I assumed that maybe Jamie was going to be deployed in a more advanced position, just behind Isma (as a number 10 if you like), but that wasn't case.  As a previous poster said, it looked like a box formation in the middle, with Jamie and Randall as the more advanced midfielders and Cowie and Callahan sitting back.

 

However, neither Jamie or Randall really got forward enough to support Isma up front.  Randall was largely ineffective for me, and Jamie spent a lot of time dropping deeper, trying to get on the ball.  I feel a diamond formation may have been better, with Jamie at the top, and probably Cowie at the base.

 

The other thing that got my goat was the number of times we resorted to long balls.  If we are playing with 3 centre halves and one player up, surely the aim is to either play through the opponent in midfield, or play around them using our wing backs.  If we were resorting to long balls then we needed to get Stockton on and probably Randall off.  If we were sticking to one-up, then we should have had Malinkovic on for Randall much  earlier.  We looked far better as an attacking force once Smith-Brown and Malinkovic were on.

 

To be fair to CL, he has stated that his priority so far has been getting the fitness levels up and ensuring that the team he puts out is capable of competing, he hasn't spent as much time thinking about formations / playing style.  With three games under his belt, I'm sure he will be starting to formulate his ideas, both in terms of who are the players he feels can do a job, and what formation / style best suits that group.

Wouldn't argue with any of that. Another slight frustration for me was that Partick had played 120 minutes midweek. I thought we might have tried to take advantage of that, but they had as much running as our guys, if not more.