Friday 11th January, 2019 at 4:10pm
With five new signings involved, Partick Thistle drew 1-1 with Dundee United last Saturday with the first half performance particularly impressive and one of the best of the season so far. However, despite the strong start and admirable point, results elsewhere meant the Jags dropped to the bottom of the Championship.
Nevertheless, Thistle have an immediate opportunity to get off the foot of the table as they take on the team in ninth spot, Falkirk, tomorrow. Jags boss, Gary Caldwell, spoke to ptfc.co.uk ahead of the fixture.
Gary began by reflecting on last weekend’s draw in Dundee and discussing how his side can carry over the things they did right into this weekend’s fixture.
“There was plenty to be happy with from that game, especially the first half. There was attacking intent and energy to match it which meant they had to rely on their ‘keeper to keep them in the match. We didn’t let them breathe for the first 45 minutes.
“However, we didn’t keep that up in the second half which is disappointing. I think we showed good character to stay strong after their first goal and ensure that we did get our point. We need to show that again this week.
“At the end of the day, a point at Tannadice is a good point, but it means nothing if we don’t go and build on it with a better result this week.”
The Jags boss then looked back on Thistle’s last meeting with Falkirk, which came back in November, the match finishing 1-1.
“That game was one that we definitely controlled, like we have in a few games since I’ve been here, but in that game we created nowhere near enough in front of goal. We did manage to get in front but it was only for a minute which was very frustrating because Falkirk didn’t really open us up regularly that day.”
Saturday’s opposition have been very active in the transfer market with the Bairns signing a plethora of players including the likes of Paul Dixon and Ian McShane. Despite the new faces, Caldwell insists that his squad will be prepared for whatever team Ray McKinnon puts out.
“It does make it a bit more difficult. We obviously don’t know exactly how he’s going to set them up but we have looked at their games over the last couple of months and can get a general idea of what we think they might do.
“Either way, we try to help our players be as tactically aware as possible when it comes to our opponents so that if they change something then we can react to that and counter it in the most efficient way possible.”
There has been plenty of speculation on the future of one Thistle player in particular this week and Gary gave the latest on Chris Erskine’s situation with the Club.
“Another Club came and asked if they could speak to Chris. He hasn’t played as much as he would have liked which I think has been frustrating for him but that’s completely understandable. I wouldn’t want to stand in his way and prevent him from speaking to another club but he’s still a Partick Thistle player, he has been training well and he will be part of the squad on Saturday.”
The gaffer finished by explaining his plans for the rest of the January transfer window following a busy first week of 2019.
“We’re still working to bring more players in, as we will right up until the end of the window. We’ve always said it’s a long window and as long as we come out in February with a better squad than we started January with, then we’ll have taken a step in the right direction.
“We started quickly and added a few names that we thought would improve the squad. Now it’s time to take stock, breathe and continue working towards the rest of the targets that we need.”
More exclusive preview interviews with Kris Doolan, Christie Elliott and Jags gaffer, Gary Caldwell, are available to Jagzone subscribers – log in now to see them.
Jagzone members will also be able to watch extended highlights of the game.
Can’t make it to the Energy Check Stadium at Firhill? Jagzone members can listen to live audio commentary of the match. JagZoneLIVE begins at 2:45pm on Saturday.
For a full list of all the great content you can access from just £5.99 per month as a Jagzone member, click here.
Article Copyright © 2019. Permission to use quotations from this article online is only granted subject to appropriate source credit and hyperlink to ptfc.co.uk.
