Diamonds are Forever

Not sure that's true with Falkirk, there's no real reason to give squad players a game as there's nothing to save the first 11 for. They have an unbeaten run to continue and will be desperate to do that. There may be the odd player who they are not sure about offering a contract to who gets a run out but I doubt it will mean any major changes to the team. Similar situation to Dunfermline last season (think they had a club record to go for?) and they kept on going full steam to the end of the season. Accies are a different situation as teams assured of play-offs always mix things up. However their form has been very up and down anyway so there probably won't be any noticeable difference.

I've been wanting this for a while. He was a wide player coming through at Killie and it shows at this level where he simply doesn't have the touch, awareness and close control in those congested areas that a natural attacking midfielder has. Last season ended well but I thought for chunks of last season he was poor in there as well. When he's out wider there's not as much pressure on his touch as he has more space and he can go by a man and put good crosses in. His best season for us was his first under Murray when he played in the wider role in a diamond, he would get the ball in wider areas on the half turn in space and drive up the pitch. His goals/assists return from his attacking midfield role isn't good enough and I think he's had a long enough run to show it, I'd move him a bit deeper and wider and put McStravick or Lyall in there.

There's definitely plenty of resting/rotation going on at the moment for this busy spell of games. McCabe took himself out last Saturday but back in on Tuesday, I'd imagine the same will happen on Tuesday. I don't think he thinks he can play 2 games a week so will play himself in the tougher games. Telfer's played the full 90 of previous 2 games so wouldn't be surprised if he was brought off a bit early for Tuesday. The strikers are getting rotated round, and I was surprised Hancock was available today but assume he was rested and only used if needed, which he was. Would expect him to start Tuesday too and Ballantyne to drop out. Like others I think Frizz needs rested/dropped but he seems to be the one who is immune, I just don't think he offers enough and although we don't have amazing alternatives I do think Lyall or McStravick could do a job in that role.

If results this weekend are anything to go by it could be more. I'd say 45 is safety, anything between 40-44 and you could still be in trouble. ICT getting 4 wins and a draw in 9 games is perfectly feasible, as is Ayr/Dunfermline/QP getting 4 wins each. I know everyone has to play each other so they can't all win, but equally it means every week teams beneath us are guaranteed to get some points as they are playing each other. The top sides are poor so every game is winnable for every team. Not saying it's a disaster of a result, but was just surprised to see people think it was quite a good result or that 'nothing was lost' - nothing was lost to QP but we lost ground on a few teams round about us which is ultimately what matters.

Not sure I share that positive thought, obviously it's preferable to losing when 1-0 down and in isolation it's an okay result as this version of QP are a decent side. But in the context of the season drawing at home to a bottom half side is a bad result. This weekend we've lost 2 points on Arbroath, Dunfermline and ICT, gained 1 on Ayr and gained nothing from QP despite playing them at home. We now only have 4 home games left and it's been our home form which has largely kept us above he relegation spots. Draws will probably be enough to keep Arbroath at bay, but other than that they will have us heading down the league given other teams results at the moment.

I think he's been like that most of the season, he always looks a bit heavy legged to me. I'd expect him to offer a similar performance level as someone like Telfer does but if you compare them this season it's night and day. Not always a huge fan of reducing everything to stats but Frizz has 0 goals and 2 assists in 23 league games, and that's as our most advanced midfielder. Our lack of quality up front has been spoken about and doesn't help, but that's simply not a good enough return from someone playing that position, you can't really spin it any other way.

That keeper looks like he's never played before. Obviously the defending is terrible but he completely sells himself for the 1st and the 6th. The 4th his positioning is hopeless and leaves the goal empty, and the 5th is calamitous. He's mastered the art of waving his arms around at everyone else though in that kind of 'what am I playing with?!' type way, unfortunately for him he appears to be at the same level as the rest of them.

There's no doubt it's grown arms and legs a bit, McCabe is good at saying the right things to sound like a modern manager and that's caught on with the media. In reality we're not particularly attacking (as our goals for shows) and we do have more variety in our play than people think (away from home anyway, at home we tend to play the same most games). It is true that generally we try to build from the back and a huge amount of our goals come from that, as do a few of our conceded goals (see recent Ayr game). Last night was probably us a bit more direct going with 2 strikers, but we don't typically play like that. I certainly don't see it as a weakness at all that McCabe will mix things up, there was a spell early last season where he seemed he might become one of these stubborn managers who plays the same way no matter what, however he's learned to adapt and alter things depending on the opposition and that's what's allowed us to go from a free scoring side last season to a pretty solid side this season with virtually the same players. If we'd kept playing how we did last season without improving the squad we'd already be relegated. If you'd said this time last season that we'd be able to go away to Dundee Utd and win 2-0 you'd have been laughed at, it's the fact we've been able to play different styles that has given us a chance this season.

I think they'd probably need to win at least 6 of their remaining 11 games, maybe a couple of draws too. And given they've won 1 of their last 18 league games that does look pretty much impossible. It's so hard for any side to go on a winning run in this league, let alone a side with Arbroath's issues. I don't agree they'll be cannon fodder though, I'd never be very confident of us picking up 3 points at Gayfield... and they'll still take points off a few teams.

In fairness to Poch the fact Chelsea have spend that money on complete and utter dross isn't his fault. Neville alluded to it, Chelsea had 'bigger names' but when you actually look at the ability of the players it's not quite the chasm in ability that it should be.

I'm not sure, there's no way to definitely tell but if you look across to Taylor-Sinclair when the ball is played they look around level. It's certainly very close so wouldn't blame the linesman. As I said in our thread our back-line needs to be a better unit, ATS is behind everyone else. I disagree with Mullen's challenge though, he makes contact with the ball but only after barging into McGregor, I think it's a foul. However it would have been a yellow and a free-kick so it's irrelevant to the outcome.

Every game of football is won or last by 'individual errors' and 'individual quality', individual moments within the system and structure provided by the management. They are also all his signings/re-signings are they not? So best case scenario is he's just a terrible judge of player. It's a totally meaningless statement designed purely to abdicate responsibility from management. Managers never want to discount individual brilliance, but are always quick to discount individual errors as not their fault. Can't have it both ways. There could maybe be some merit in the comment if the errors were the exception to the norm, say if Falkirk lose next week to a couple of howlers. But when you're doing as badly as Queens there is quite clearly a deeper underlying cause i.e. the manager. The fact he's still trying to pass off these results with that excuse is incredible.

Honestly I think that's the wrong way around. Part of the reason the midfield is so ineffective going forward is because absolutely nothing is sticking up front. Todorov absolutely has to do better than what he is doing. I'm not asking for Prime Zlatan up there on his own, but win a few fouls, take the ball in properly, lay it off to forward moving midfielders. The service he is getting is absolutely typical of lower league service to a lone striker and if he can't utilise it to some extent then he shouldn't be playing. Someone like Dowds last week showed what an extremely limited striker can still do. Oakley is a better player but he also is hardly getting great service and is smaller physically than Toddy. At the very least get your body between ball and man and go down and get fouls, but he just gets brushed out the way. I agree the midfield has issues by the way and that they don't offer enough going forward, but Todorov is part of that. You need some kind of focal point to play off otherwise you get stuck playing sidewards passes all game, which we do.

McMaster is a good player when we are dominant in possession because his defensive weaknesses aren't exposed and he's neat and tidy on the ball. However in an evenly fought game he doesn't have the ability to play as a solid defensive midfielder, as you say he's weak physically (mainly due to his age in fairness) and doesn't get close enough to players. There's no way that Quitongo should have been able to keep the ball for that long and then get a cross in yesterday. Get closer and/or foul him earlier in the move if necessary. Like you say ideally he should be playing home games against weaker sides to begin with until he learns the game a bit more and gets stronger. Morton away is the last game you want to be starting him in this league.

Ballantyne still looks rusty to me so I wouldn't worry about having to leave one (at the moment, him) out and phase him back in. We also have loads of games so rotating between some of them will be needed. I think we're already doing that and would fully expect McCabe and Watson to play on Tuesday. The focus should just be on getting a system that gets the best out of the 11 playing and if that means that a good player misses out then so be it. If any of them could play as a striker I'd be up all for a bit of experimenting! But sadly I doubt it...

For all the complaining, the 2nd goal is comfortably onside. ATS plays him on in the middle. Us losing goals from failed offside traps has been a theme of ours in recent weeks. Need to be better drilled in that area.

Yeah that's how I presumed we'd use the reserve team, but seemingly not. ATS has hardly played for months so not sure how ready he'd be to play when needed (like today!), but he doesn't play for the reserves, Ballantyne, McGill and Gallagher all coming back from injuries but not featured. Even early on in the season when Todorov was only getting 10 mins as a substitute he wasn't playing for them (from what I remember). I've said before I couldn't care less about the reserve results, but if it's just a team full of fringe players who never play for the first team then I'm not sure what the point is. It seems more like a youth team than a reserve team. McCabe is probably worried about these guys picking up more injuries playing reserves so would rather get them back to fitness by gradually getting them back into the first team where the risk is at least worth something in terms of maybe getting us results, but that's really not an optimal solution. I know first team games will obviously be much quicker and higher intensity, but they shouldn't really be used to get players up to a basic level of fitness which seems to be the case with a few of them.

I thought we played quite well in parts but have the old problem of being really short of quality up front. I'm not expecting a Shankland standard player but you have to have someone who will hold the ball up, win headers and get free-kicks, Todorov did none of that today, I thought he was really poor even considering the standard of opposition. McGregor can run channels and tried hard, as did Todorov, but neither can offer enough in a game like that to pose a real threat. I know Todorov is on a wee goal run just now but it is still my concern for the rest of the reason that we lack ruthlessness up front. I was sat watching the Morton game the other night thinking we'd be a real force if we had a player like Oakley leading the line for us. We're a nice side defence through to midfield but are a bit blunt up front. On the positives I thought Watson and Hancock were excellent - with the exception of the 2nd goal where Hancock was doing the hokey cokey with the defensive line, he either had to play offside or drop deep but ended up doing neither. More than made up for that though with his cross for the goal and all round performance though. Watson was our best player 2nd half and it'll be interesting see where Ballantyne fits in as neither deserve to be dropped. I obviously wanted to win but part of me is glad it's out the way and we can start focusing on the league again. Ayr is a huge game on Saturday, a win there and I'd have huge confidence we can start looking up the table, a defeat and things are looking a bit hairy again with the 2 toughest fixtures in the league to come.

You're correct, with the exception of Arbroath away this season we are well in every game we play but we do lack quality in attacking areas. The vast majority of our games are a single goal win or defeat as we don't lose many but don't score many either. I think it will be a good game overall but hard not to see Hearts winning with Shankland up front.

Yeah I've thought the same regarding Stanway. I liked him, he was a decent player and he seemed to have a great attitude and enthusiasm. He's also the best diver I've seen at Airdrie since Paul Lovering, I think he won 3 penalties in half a season from the bench. But quality wise I'd never have thought he was ready to go straight in and start in a promotion hunting/title challenging side. He couldn't get a start for a League 1 side last year. I guess he's the type of player that if he's surrounded by enough quality could do the job of the more destructive player, but it doesn't really seem like that at Thistle.

The thing about 'Championship quality' is that it largely depends on who the manager is and whether he can get the best out of them. Depending how you define our best 11, at least 9, arguably 10, of our best 11 made up the side that finished 21 points behind you last season, conceded 30 more goals and drew 2 and lost 2 against you. Plus 1 of the players that we signed who has added to the team was sitting on your bench for most of last season and was released having presumably been deemed not Championship quality. I'd have said the majority of our squad wasn't Championship standard during the summer but they've more than held their own, mainly due to good management. Despite recent form I still think there will be twists and turns and we're certainly not out of it either so I'm not saying that we're anything special. But if I was on the Dunfermline board I'd be asking how a side that finished that far behind you, who still have basically the same team, have made up such ground.

If we put McCabe back in midfield I think we'd have to change system a bit and go with 2 sitters. Neither McCabe or McMaster can really play the role that McStravick plays so one would need to drop out if we keep the same system. Would mean going back to 4231, which then reveals the problem of our lack of wide players again. Against a better side it might be worth it, however I think we'll struggle to score anyway so going even more defensive in midfield will just make it less likely. I've barely seen Lyall so it's hard to say with certainty it's what I'd do but on paper a straight swap with him for McStravick would be my pick.

Can I also add to the ridiculous complaints: Fans saying it's disgraceful that they have to sit about 15 seats to the side of where they normally sit due to the middle section being for hospitality. What a hardship indeed... Fans commenting about 'glory hunters' turning up for the big games. And my favourite, complaining that there will be 'No parking' cones on the surrounding streets meaning they'll either have to walk a bit further or get the bus/train. That's not to mention complaints about tickets prices, the venue for the Challenge Cup Final and numerous other bizarre things. We've been hopeless for years playing in front of tiny crowds, now we have a decent side, fans returning, playing big sides in the cup and have reached a cup final and yet 5 mins of looking online and you'd think there is a sizable portion of fans who'd prefer to go back to the days of playing in front of 700 fans and losing to Albion Rovers just so they could sit in their own seat and not be inconvenienced by any of the things that come with being a reasonably succesful football club.

I'm not really sure showing a screenshot of Sterling diving in, looking away with his eyes closed is really the best way to claim he was 'in control'... If he had control why is he sliding in with huge speed when the ball is already long gone? I'd say he's out of control and it was down to luck not judgement that there was no injury. There's more than enough there to justify a red card.

Not sure where that is from but we clearly haven't going by the tickets still on sale. The middle section is for hospitality and the end section isn't for sale, so if we'd sold 3000 we'd be virtually sold out given the stand holds 3700. Not going to count up the available seats but looks to me about 2000. I think we'll sell about 3000 by Sunday but we haven't yet.