It’s not too latte for Jags’ survival bid
CRAIG SWAN
ADAM BARTON reckons it would be good for Partick Thistle’s players to discuss their survival struggle over coffee.
The Firhill defender admits confidence within the group is shattered after another dismal display in their 3-0 Premiership defeat by Hearts.
The defeat edged the Jags closer to relegation with just three points between them and basement Ross County ahead of the teams meeting in a colossal Dingwall dust-up a fortnight tomorrow.
But Barton believes chatting through their issues away from the club could be just what they need to halt their slide.
Barton said: “We’re here to help each other. I’ll sit down and chat with someone, even if it’s just going out for a coffee and talking about the game and stuff like that.
“The last thing you want is to be sitting at home on your own thinking about mistakes. That just drags you down.
“We have days out and go for lunch, hopefully we can build on that. But you can only do so much off the pitch, it comes down to winning games.
“Everyone knows what they have to do. If we could pinpoint the problem then we’d solve it straight away.
“In football, there’s that many people around you – there’s staff, players and a lot of minds with individual ideas. So it’s hard to know what the problem is. Maybe we need a sit down and a good chat.”
Barton has confessed the time for rollockings, arguments and screaming matches in the dressing room is over.
The Thistle midfielder knows the only way they’ll save their skins is to pull together as a group.
Barton said: “Bad words flying around have gone and we’re quite quiet now.
“We’re all in it together and we’re a solid unit. Everyone is quite close and we’re a good team.
“Our confidence is low and in football that’s the biggest thing – confidence.
“I think the harsh words have passed. It’s time for individuals to step up and play their own game.
“If you have a good game and another follows then we have a chance.
“It’s players doing things they don’t normally do. For example it’s short passes and you can tell when heads go down. It’s not that people don’t care it’s just a lack of confidence.
“It’s things like making bad decisions or players not performing as well as they can in training because of confidence.
“If you’re flying high you’ll try things and they’ll come off. Right now even five-yard passes aren’t coming off for us.
“There’s people who go under when they don’t have confidence and that’s one of the big things in football. You get to the top by forgetting about it and moving on.”