Friday 9th August, 2019 at 4:51pm
Partick Thistle are back in action this evening as the Jags get their first taste of Friday night football this season. Dundee United are the visitors and, as the bookies’ early title favourites, look to build on a convincing opening day victory over Inverness at Tannadice. For the hosts, they’ll be looking for a much improved performance from their first Championship game of the term which saw them draw 1-1 with Peter Grant’s Alloa. Tonight’s game will be a good early test of the Jags’ abilities against one of the division’s best sides. Thistle boss, Gary Caldwell, spoke to ptfc.co.uk ahead of the game:
“It’s a massive game for both teams. This league is unique in that there are no matches you look at as easy games with last Saturday’s one at Alloa being a prime example of that, but ultimately it’s important that you beat the teams around you when you’re pushing for promotion.
“At the moment, Dundee United are the benchmark. They’ve spent heavily in the last two windows and I think they’re the team with a target on their back. It’s going to be a very difficult challenge but it’s one we believe we can win.”
Caldwell then looked at United’s on-field style and what he feels they’ll try to do come kick-off.
“I think they’ll be aggressive in terms of how they play and get the ball forward. Last Saturday they were trying to feed Lawrence Shankland as much as possible and it worked for them so we’ll have to be on our game defensively and deny them the opportunity to give him quality service.”
The game is live on the television this evening and Gary is looking forward to the occasion as his side look for their first win of the new league season.
“It should be a good atmosphere. You always like playing at home in front of your own fans and as I’ve spoken about, against Dundee United; it’s an important game. We were really disappointed with the performance last Saturday but now the players are focused on the United game and improving our levels.”
After playing on the artificial surface at the Indodrill Stadium last week, the gaffer is pleased to be back on the excellent grass at the Energy Check Stadium at Firhill.
“We don’t use the surface as an excuse because our performance wasn’t good enough last Saturday but we are still looking forward to being back on the grass. It’s easier to play passes on the grass surface and that’ll help us to impose our style on the game.”
There has been plenty of paper talk surrounding the club this week but the manager says that keeping the squad focused on footballing matters has been very easy.
“The players are very professional and they’ve been more focused on improving their performance from last weekend than anything else. We got together on Monday and looked over the game with the players and you could tell they were angry with themselves. That has manifested in the form of a raised intensity in training and I feel like we’re now in a really good place ahead of the match.”
A more in-depth video interview with Thistle manager, Gary Caldwell, is available to watch on JagZone now as well interviews with Sean McGinty and Jamie Sneddon.
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 18:50 tomorrow.
For a full list of all the great content you can access from just £5.99 per month as a Jagzone member, click here.
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