Jags draw a blank


The Thistles failed to find the net, but for Partick especially it wasn't for the want of trying, a couple of glaring misses enabling Inverness to take a point and that moves them back above Aberdeen and Dundee United, although Motherwell took the biggest leap into second place.

Today's report is made in school, The Mantis & Alternative Maryhill show that great minds do think alike..........

The Mantis thought we were very poor today, thought Partick were more up for it and worked very hard. The lad Doolan missed a sitter of a header before half time although it would have been harsh on us.

Second half they must have missed at least 3 more sitters and we were lucky to get a point. Archibald seems to encourage them to shoot on sight with the result that they kept having to fetch new balls every time somebody blootered it out of the park.

We only showed quality in flashes, you could see the difference in the sides there, but it only lasted about 2 mins at a time.

First look at Williams and not very impressed, centre mid along with Draper who wasn't at his best either today but probably because he was doing two jobs.

Seen Marley a few times now and though he's got the skill and pace, not sure he's got the temperament or the heart. Not sure about Tremarco either, fairly solid but doesn't have any idea what to do with the ball.

Would like to see Dave the Rave back with Shinzaa, Josh and Warren who as usual were superb. Doran not bad but lacks that extra spark. Wee Billy battled away as always for little reward, too many long punts for him to fish out of the sky. Keep it on the deck and we're a good side.

Felt sorry for Nicky Ross who was hooked for Greenhalgh, who in turn looked like he could have changed the game if he'd got half an hour.

Alternative Maryhill agreed we didn't get started at all yesterday, which was particularly frustrating as Partick looked like they might have wilted if we'd put any sustained pressure on them - they didn't have a great deal of presence and conceded possession in midfield relatively easily. The problem was, so did we, and in the end Partick created the far better chances and were unlucky not to win.

There's no question that we missed Foran's influence, and the decision to play Williams in his place was somewhat surprising - he's eased off the ball far too easily, isn't strong enough in the tackle and seemed to be chasing the game most of yesterday. I'd hope to see Ross in there for the Celtic game, but the fact that Ross has been the first player substituted in each of the last two games (wrongly, in my opinion, in each case) makes me wonder how important to the team Hughes believes he is. Greenhalgh did pretty well when he came on and has maybe staked a claim for a place, but I'd like to have seen him replacing either Williams, with Ross dropping back, or Doran, whose performance levels are currently way below the level they were at in the early games of the season. There's perhaps an argument for resting him for a couple of games and making him fight for his place ahead of the semi-final. I think that Doran at the top of his form is unquestionably part of our strongest team, but at the moment he's a long way short of that form.

The defence was pretty sound throughout, with with Meekings and Brill the stand-outs, but they were culpable in the hugely ineffective long ball strategy that we employed for most of the game - my one gripe with both Brill and Gary Warren is that they don't seem to look for a good out-ball properly but instead just hammer it up towards McKay or Doran. If we do that against Celtic then we'll just be inviting pressure onto us and we'll take a hammering. I am, I must confess, a bit worried about the Celtic game now - if we struggled to create anything against a hard working but limited Partick side, then I can't see how we can hope to take anything against a side that is, it is now becoming clear, streets ahead of the rest of the league. Hopefully Hughes can look at yesterday's performance and set us up in a way that actually plays to our strengths on Sunday.  

   

And he has some sympathy for the new gaffer here.........There was a noticeable lack of creativity or meaningful possession in the middle of the park yesterday and it meant that we built very few decent moves and more often than not the midfield was bypassed altogether. Williams offered neither strength nor creativity in that position, which meant that Draper, as Mantis pointed , was doing two jobs.  I'd hope that Ross, while lacking Foran's dig, would at least give us some vision in there. I'm not sure if Devine would do that.

Of course, Ross might just find himself completely outmuscled and outpassed by the Celtic midfield; there are no easy solutions for Hughes here.

Date: 26.12.2013 Venue: Firhill Park, Glasgow Attendance: 2887
Referee: Willie Collum

Partick: 0
Lineup:  Fox, McMillan (O'Donnell 46), Piccolo, Balatoni, Sinclair, Craigen, Bannigan, Lawless (Baird 79), Higginbotham (Forbes 66), Elliot, Doolan

Subs (not used): Gallacher, Muirhead, Kerr, Wilson

Scorers: none
Booked: Elliot (40)
Sent Off: none

Inverness CT: 0
Lineup: Brill, Shinnie, Warren, Meekings, Tremarco, Draper, Williams, Watkins, Doran, Ross (Greenhalgh 72), McKay
Subs (not used): Esson, Raven, Devine, Polworth, Pepper, Agdestein
Scorers: none
Booked: Williams (70), Watkins (90)
Sent Off: none