Diamonds are Forever
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Posts posted by Diamonds are Forever
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If we have Hancock and Megwa/Ballantyne available I think the system yesterday works as they are good enough to provide width and it removes the need to play with attacking wide players - definitely our weakest area squad wise. Similar thinking to the 3 at the back with wing backs that we played away at Raith in that it gives us width without having to play weaker players. If we get ahead in the game it also gives the option of McGregor off the bench on the counter, just like against Abroath, and yesterday where he nearly got in a couple of times. If things aren't going well we have Gal to come on (or whoever isn't starting that day).
I thought the biggest reason it worked though was that it allowed us to press from the front more effectively as we had to 2 players up there. That meant they couldn't just pass round our isolated striker like teams would normally do, that allowed Frizz and Telfer to then follow up and press them into kicking it out of play or going long which most of the time met Fordyce's head.
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Totally dominant performance. Only negative is that we didn't score from open play but we did look much closer to doing so today. Inverness never had a chance (from what I can remember) and once we scored I never thought we'd lose a goal. Hancock was superb as he has been for a few weeks, but everyone played well.
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1 minute ago, Jack Reed said:
Why,because I'm traveling every week to cheer him on , Running reserve sides ,academy sides I'd rather we promote our own players then maybe we could maybe generate some cash for our team .
That's got nothing to do with the point though has it? You said you'd think he would show more commitment. Firstly he is a loan player so has no real say if Hibs want him back anyway, he has to do what his employers ask him to. He is a Hibs player and part of the deal with getting him is that we get a good player and Hibs get him out playing games. And he is extremely committed on the park, he's won 2 of the 3 available POTM awards since he has been here, so to try and make out that him potentially being recalled is a lack of commitment to Airdrie is absurd on numerous levels.
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18 minutes ago, GordonS said:
Eddie Howe next for the chop? How long before bin Salman decides heads must roll?
He overachieved last season but was also helped by Liverpool and Chelsea being terrible, and Spurs and Villa being nowhere. This season they've all stepped it up (apart from Chelsea) and they've dropped back down. I think they've also found that you can progress too quickly, they don't have the squad to deal with Champions League, Premier League and cup competitions (which they are clearly desperate to win) and it's meant their form in all of them has suffered as injuries have piled up.
To your question, it will depend whether the owners think last season was the outlier that it was, or whether they think that's where they should have been and that this is them dropping off now. They have tough league games coming up and away to Sunderland in the cup. If they lose all those I think he's in trouble, I'd be surprised if anything happened sooner though.
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1 hour ago, Jack Reed said:
You would think he would have some commitment to Airdrie,
Why? He's a Hibs player trying to make it at Hibs. He's up to match sharpness so a good training camp could see him getting first team opportunities in the second half of the season. It's not really up to him anyway, if he's asked/told he's going to Dubai then he doesn't have much choice as an employee of the club.
He'd be a big loss but if Ballantyne is back around the same time then that would make up for it, no idea when he is back though?
It's been said by everyone but a couple of quality signings are needed, particularly in attacking areas. However given the lack of signings under McCabe I'd be surprised if we signed anyone, plus getting that quality in January is extremely difficult. It's crucial that if we are signing players we go and get them this week instead of waiting until late January though.
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2 minutes ago, The Master said:
The elbow caught his right foot immediately before he went down. It wasn’t much, but it was enough.
Even Neville and Dean acknowledged that before doubling-down on “he’s gone down in stages”.
He is able to plant both feet on the ground after the contact in a normal fashion, before falling over. It is never a penalty.
It's one of these absurd ones where virtually everyone knows it's a wrong decision but because of the original decision it isn't deemed as 'wrong enough' to be overturned.
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4 minutes ago, parsforlife said:
I think you need to consider if the goalkeeper is moving before the shot because they’re trying to get a sight of the ball .
You also can’t consider how likely they were to save it, doing that is asking the ref to judge how good the player is which isn’t fair on eitherThey surely have to though - most of the time in the case of goalkeepers 'preventing the player from playing the ball' is going to mean stopping them having a reasonable chance of saving it, which is a judgement. If Trafford had been another 5 yards to his right but was still unsighted then that goal gets given as it's then essentially a shot in to an empty goal and has no effect on his ability to play the ball. An extreme example obviously but the point is there must be a point where the referee is having to consider that. In this case I think Trafford is close enough, and as you say maybe shifting his weight to see, that I'd say offside.
On your second point, I'd say that's also the case for the 'clear goalscoring opportunity' law so it's not unique for a referee to have to make some kind of prediction into the future, which does involve an element of judgement on player ability.
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16 minutes ago, parsforlife said:
Pretty clear one for covering the keepers view.
Is the push enough for a penalty? I don’t think so. There’s no decision that can be made to just give the goal. It’s offside or penalty.
But the law is that it's only offside if it 'prevents the player from being able to play the ball' by being in his line of vision. Trafford was already moving the other way before the ball was struck, and given how close in it was and the pace of the shot there is no chance he was getting near it. Does that therefore meet the above criteria?
Geniune question by the way. I don't know how much they have to take account of whether the goalkeeper has any realistic chance of saving it (which is clearly subjective anyway).
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43 minutes ago, Diamonds02 said:
Tbf Callum smith turned into that player when he was with us. People forget he hardly set the world alight in his first season with us
Smith was a couple of years older, had already played for 3 clubs in Scotland at the same or higher level, and was only on loan anyway. We were also bouncing around mid-table in League 1 so weren't under such pressure to get immediate results at the time. Smith struggled to score goals that season but overall was good and got a move to the Premiership on the back of it.
Anyway my point wasn't that McStravick can't become as good a player as Smith, it's that he isn't as good a player now. And our first trip to the Championship in 10 years is not the time to be pinning hopes on an 18 year old who'd never played in Scotland and barely played in NI. I think he'd be fine as a squad option to play if we have injuries and in the odd cup game. But to be relying on him as one of our main attacking options is poor recruitment.
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1 hour ago, Kenny_m said:
Murray Aiken’s mobility is missed more than i first thought but I’m not sure we can wait for him to come back. Midfield too one paced. I’ve been mentioning McStravick for weeks now. In the modern game you can’t keep giving the ball away. Skilful yes, but simply not ready for this level.
I find/found the McStravick signing really strange. Not criticising him as he's young and gives his all. But in terms of the signing itself it just raises questions. Firstly from what I can tell he's a number 10 type player, but he's never played there or if we does Frizz is playing in that space too. I don't see him as a wide player, he doesn't have the pace or directness to be a threat out there. We apparently paid money for him, I know it won't have been a major amount but any fee at our level is pretty rare and any available funds should have been going into ensuring Championship survival and signing ready made players. Signing an 18 year old who may have potential to essentially replace a proven player like Callum Smith makes no sense.
I know the club would probably say they can't win in the sense that fans are always asking for young, talented signings. I have no issue with them as a supplement to a quality first 11, but they need time to get up to speed and earn a spot on the first time. McStravick has 'earned' his spot by virtue of having no viable options ahead of him, not because he's been particularly good.
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4 hours ago, Kenny_m said:
That's not my recollection of it. Vast majority of posters on here pretty much had concerns about the "quality" of the squad.
Yeah that's my thoughts. The general consensus was that we needed to add quality, but we were limited by the budget and saying we need better signings is easier said than done. When the signings didn't really materialise I said I was willing to wait and see and judge by the results. What else can fans do anyway? We started to the season well and were promoted for the first time in a decade, it's hardly beneficial to go slating the club/signings from the off. The top end of the pitch is where we are being found out and that is where you need to spend a lot of money to get the quality players. Without knowing the budget and who was available it's hard to judge what we could have done in that area.
I do think a legitimate question is were we perhaps too focused on having another League 1 campaign. The 2 Hibs boys were surely signed for League 1. Aiken has done well but not convinced we'd have signed him in the summer if we'd already been promoted. Same for O'Connor. And sounds like a few of the others were already signed up (or at least had agreed to) before we got promoted. It's difficult because promotion was decided almost on the toss of a coin with penalties so you are having to plan for 2 eventualities. Plus just being in the play-offs means you are 2 weeks behind everyone else in terms of planning. But like I said up the thread, the Hibs boys, McGregor, McStravick and McMaster all seem like signings for League 1. It may just be that is our market, but was it that we were planning for League 1 and then had to change course after promotion, but had already accounted for a chunk of the budget with signing these guys up (or being in the pipeline in the case of McStravick)?
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1 minute ago, Rhys McCabe Hype Train said:
Must admit I did think this malaise would’ve come before it has. All through the summer we did not sign enough (any?!) players of sufficient Championship quality… yet most of the “happy clappers” were declaring that we could crash the promotion play-off places.
Have to wonder why, if he was training with us as claimed, we missed out on Wotherspoon… or why we didn’t try to get a hold of Dan O’Reilly or Lewis Strapp? Surely it can’t just be down to money especially after the extra cash from the League Cup progression.
See also there are claims that Gabby is off to Raith in January? Can anyone substantiate?
Gabby's goals last season will always make him fondly thought of, but he's contributed nothing this season and is presumably on (by our standards) a big contract after last season, so would be a good move for the club if he was to go and allow us to try and get someone else in.
Absolutely no idea why Raith would sign him though, utterly bizarre if true.
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1 minute ago, Mr November said:
Can’t argue with that. They’ve never fully clicked when played together in midfield have they? I’ve been quite vocal about Raith away being our best performance for ages and that shape suiting the current squad but even that day McMaster was our least impactful midfielder. Funnily enough our other best performance was Thistle at home when we looked fairly decent with him and McCabe together but dominated the game after McCabe went off injured.
I think in a dominant team, like the second half of last season, he is a useful player as he keeps things ticking over, fills in gaps and provides a good base to build attacks from. The problem is this season we clearly aren't dominant so his keeping possession has no real end purpose and it just looks safe and negative. I'd have him in the same bracket as McGregor and McStravick, a decent young player who could contribute over a season, but he shouldn't have to be playing every week. Another year in League 1 would have been ideal for him.
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10 minutes ago, Mr November said:
McMaster has been fine this season. He had some excellent performances at the start of the season (he was our best player in August) and has tailed off since then. Telfer and Aiken have been the pick of the midfielders this season, the others have been a bit more mixed at best, but overall McMaster has been better than I expected at this level.
17 minutes ago, David Fernández said:Well tbh you've completely got an agenda against one player in particular and I'm just pointing it out. There's one thing criticising the boy but calling him an 'Imposter' is way over the top. He's a defensive midfielder and his job is to win the ball back and play short passes to the more creative players within our team. I don't think Dean McMaster is the biggest problem that we've got within the squad, it's our lack of creativity going forward and our poor ability to finish and create chances in the final 3rd, surely that's something we can all agree on eh?
He is definitely worse when McCabe is playing. It's like he goes into his shell more and just gives the ball to McCabe or Fordyce instead of looking to be pro-active with it. Not blaming McCabe for that by the way, that's up to McMaster to have the confidence to dominate a game, but I do think McCabe probably demands the ball more which makes McMaster more passive.
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We've lost 9 league games and 6 have been by 1 goal (plus Tannadice which was a 1 goal game until the 95th minute) which shows we are in games in terms of the scoreline but in reality I never really feel we are in the game because we don't look like scoring. I've never seen a side so incapable of sustaining attacks. I think we probably think we are sustaining pressure because we are keeping the ball, but we're just keeping it in our own half (with the other team quite happy for us to) and never actually building up any pressure or putting 3 or 4 attacks together in a row. You watch teams who go behind in games and usually they have at least a 5 or 10 minute spell where they hem teams in, get corner after corner or attack after attack, we never do that. Obviously the quality of players is part of that but I definitely think it's lack of game management too. To sustain those attacks there are times when it's all about territory and just keeping the ball in the opposing third, even if that means giving the opposition throw-ins near their own corner flag to keep them boxed in. It gets your own fans up and their fans a bit edgy. But we give them such an easy out by passing back to Fordyce and or Rae, putting our foot on the ball, slowing the game down and letting them push up the park. By the time we've passed it around again it's another 5 minutes before we venture up the park. That was a big 3 points for Ayr today and with 20 minutes to go we should have been making them nervous and pinning them in, however the longer the game went on the more likely it was that they scored rather than us.
The main issue for me is still just a total lack of quality in the attacking areas though. Frizz was better today I thought but he still has virtually no end product for all the times he gets the ball in good areas. McStravick has a nice touch but is always on the edges of a game and doesn't offer anywhere near enough in his all round play. Over a season if given service Gal will get goals but he misses a lot of chances so we need to create loads, but we create very little. McGregor, O'Connor and McStravick are all young guys who would be decent squad options in League 1. McGregor was signed for League 1 (and didn't get a game), O'Connor was signed for League 1, and McCabe said when we signed McStravick that he'd tried to get him last season, so he was also signed with League 1 in mind. But we're relying on them being our main creative force alongside Frizzell in the Championship. Todorov seems an increasingly weird signing given McCabe clearly doesn't want to use him, and Gabby's form has fallen off a cliff. If we could get a couple of quality attackers in I think the rest of the team is of a standard that we'd probably stay up, but how we get these players and where they come from is anyone's guess.
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17 minutes ago, Elgin Macca said:
Does anyone know what the tickets in this uefa ballot are for? As in is it un-bought tickets from the last one?, a set number kept specifically for this ballot? Or I read it could be just returned tickets from the associations which could mean it’s pointless applying for Scotland ones?
I'm sure un-bought ones were offered back out the following week, so it's not that. Plus they are also selling more knock-out round matches so it can't just be unsold association tickets. There surely can't be many unsold association tickets anyway, Scotland's were ridiculous prices and still sold out easily, I'd imagine that the majority of nations will easily sell-out and those that don't won't be far off.
Unsold tickets will be added back into the pot for the overall ballot, but they must have kept back a chunk. Admittedly, I'm not really sure why. There is also the the 'Prime Seats' which weren't available in the last ballot, perhaps they were holding them back to see demand before deciding how much to rip off fans for them.
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All teams will be a bit worse with 3 or 4 starters missing, but I don't buy that as the major issue here. Ballantyne is a huge loss but we're never going to have a player as good as him waiting in reserve so I'm not sure what people expect there. Apart from McGregor we have all our attacking options available and they are a mile off the standard needed for this league (Gal excepted, if given service) which is why we are continually in games but lose them by 1 goal. McGregor has done okay this season but the fact that a 19 year old who couldn't get a game for us in League 1 is seen as a massive loss probably tells us all.
Our goals against record is 5th, our goals scored is joint last, this despite us having lots of possession in most games. The only conclusion to draw from that is our attacking options aren't good enough. Filling out the squad with more squad options isn't going to help us here, we need a couple quality attacking additions - clearly a lot easier said than done.
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5 hours ago, TheGoon said:
My favourite golfer so it’s all very depressing. A lot of the same discourse you had around Jordan Henderson. “Could YOU turn down £450m??” probably not mate - but I’m not on £150k a week already.
I understand old c***s going, and guys that are never really going to be challenging for majors - but someone in Rahm’s position is wild. Complete and utter greed.
He'll still be challenging in majors though. I'm sure he was offered insane amounts of money last year but rejected it, but winning the Masters thus extending his exemptions, plus watching the likes of Koepka still competing/winning majors while playing LIV, will I'm sure have swung things in LIV's favour (although I'm sure a few extra million might have helped too).
I think we'll enter a weird phase in Golf where the PGA will slowly decline, sponsors will pull out or cut their sponsorships and viewing figures will fall. But I don't think those viewers will necessarily transfer over to LIV. Viewing figures for the majors will probably increase as it's the only time you'll see all the best players and there will be added spice with the LIV players and PGA. But I think golf will lose a lot of fairly big fans who feel disillusioned - a lot of the best players play in a format which is terrible, the historic PGA events will have 2nd rate fields, and the World Rankings will become even more absurd.
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1 hour ago, No_Problemo said:
With thirteen points I’m obviously on the lower end, but I guess a points based system would mean I was guaranteed not to be stuck with the ridiculously priced tickets.
Am I more loyal than someone on any number of points below me though? Absolutely not - any number of reasons as to why I’m currently higher than numerous people.
IMO, the benefit is the ticket itself and knowing in advance that you are guaranteed so it is far easier/cheaper to plan etc etc.
I agree with that, but regardless the purpose of a points system is basically to represent 'loyalty' in some kind of objective way and to reward those who are 'more loyal' with tickets. If you sign up to a points based system then you sign up to a proxy loyalty system and the extension of that is that the most 'loyal' get priority.
I don't understand the logic which says it's okay to to use this measure of loyalty to decide who gets tickets, but not to decide who doesn't have to pay ridiculous prices for those tickets. It's just an extension of the same thinking. It makes no difference to me as I won't get tickets anyway, but I can see why some fans don't agree with how they are being sold.
I would add that the main issue is the ridiculous ticket prices, as someone else said. If they were reasonably priced then no-one would care and it wouldn't matter.
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I think he'd need a good finish this season (like top 4) to get a Premiership gig, probably a Livi or St Johnstone type job, and even then it would still be seen as a bit of a 'different' appointment. That said, he's a lot more managerial experience/success than Steven MacLean, Barry Robson, Stevie Naismith and others who get given jobs at that level.
The added interest is that it would mean retiring aged 31 while still playing in the Championship, plus Fordyce retiring too (assuming he went with him). A big enough job offer would take that decision out his hands but a smaller step up the ladder might not be enough to tempt them to hang up the boots. I don't see him leaving this season and football can change very quickly, a poor 2nd half of the season and everything changes.
A big game on Saturday, expect another tight game which is impossible to call. We really need to start turning these narrow games into wins soon though.
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13 minutes ago, parsforlife said:
On Todorov, I obviously haven’t seen him play for you, but he’s someone many of our fans still feel we should have kept.
His move to you made sense in terms of the stature of club I expected him to sign for, but in style of play I don’t think he’s exactly a perfect fit, His assets are, 1. Predatory goal scoring and 2. Holding the ball up.
Your style of play completely removes the requirement for part 2. Rarely are you punting the ball up for the big man to win. The first part any side will want, but again it’s not as important when you’re looking to score the so called perfect goal through integrate passing over getting it wide and putting in into the box.
On the weaknesses side, on top of the lack of passing he’s slow as f**k, which in a side like yours who I think counter very well will show up badly.
TL/DR: Is assets are not yours. His weaknesses show up badly in your system.
That makes a lot of sense. I think it was the type of signing where you think 'we need a Plan B' and he'll be it. In reality we hardly ever go to Plan B. A bit like our game against yourselves with 9 men last year it's generally Plan A and then more of Plan A.
That said, in 3 or 4 games this season he's been brought on and had good chances to score late on to rescue a point or win a game and not taken them. So although we're clearly not set-up to play to his strengths he's still had opportunities to do what he was signed for.
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1 minute ago, cb_diamond said:
Couple of points:
There is a major drop off between Gal and Tod, that drop off is that one is a striker who scored the vast majority of the goals in the team so far this season, the other is a striker that barely scores ever. That's significant.
In terms of McGill, McGregor, McStravick and O'Connor, one of these things is not like the others. I'm pretty sure Magic is the only one who would get near any other first XI in the league. O'Connor wouldn't even get a game at the top end of the league below. The other two just don't cut the mustard currently
Our midfield contains a couple of decent players, but they really haven't set the heather on fire apart from in spells (Dean first couple of games, Aitken the five games or so until his injury, Friz in spells generally)
Defensively we have two great full backs, but our full back cover is also our CD cover and a huge step down in quality (eg Watson, Hancock). At CD we have great experience but possibly the slowest CD partnership in the league irrespective of which combo plays.
Again not being a naysayer, we have a decent nucleus, but suggesting we have a squad good enough for a full championship campaign is miles off the mark.
Gal is a better player than Todorov, but I'm not convinced it's a massive drop-off in ability but in fairness we've not seen much of him to know (that in itself maybe tells us quite a lot about what McCabe thinks though).
With the attackers, I agree they aren't good enough, that's my point and what I also said after Saturday's game. But I don't see it as a 'lack of depth' issue as to me that implies that the first choice ones are much better than the rest, which I don't believe to be the case. McStravick has shown some nice moments and seems to be gradually improving but I don't think he'd get near many other teams at the moment. I'd rather see him more centrally because he ends up on the fringes of the game a lot out wide, but I don't think that will happen.
With the midfield I'm not saying they are amazing. I was referring to the lack of depth point. We have 6 midfielders who are all basically of the same standard, if you asked 10 Airdrie fans who should start when fit you'd probably get 5 different combinations. The only game where we've had any issue putting out a good midfield was at Tannadice and that was with 4 players injured - no team would cope with that.
Whether we have a squad good enough for a Championship season depends on your definition of what 'good enough' means and whether it's the squad depth you are referring to or the starting 11 when most players are fit. I think the squad depth/size is fine and is easily on a par with similar clubs our level/budget - have a look at the issues Ayr had early season and especially Morton. I just think we lack an 'X factor' player/s in the final third that would swing these narrow games in our favour. Stick Dylan Easton and Lewis Vaughan in our team but keep everything else the same and suddenly we'd be a real threat, but we just don't have that level of player.
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On 03/12/2023 at 16:45, cb_diamond said:
I won't go back to the broken record I was in July/August about our terrible squad depth outwith the first picks but feel there needs to be an effort to strengthen in January. I may be alone in this but I wouldn't be gutted if O'Connor went back to Hibs to get loaned out further down the pyramid, which is very cl arly his level. Also agree about how utterly disappointing Gabby has been at this level. He's been found out badly. Particularly as I assume that he will be one of the highest earners having resigned in the summer after a long negotiation.
I don't agree that's the case at all. I think what we're lacking is attacking quality in the starting 11, not depth in the squad. There's not some massive drop off from Gallagher to Todorov, or between any of the wide options McGill, McGregor, McStravick or O'Connor (perhaps excepted). I think we could play any front 3 from all our options and it wouldn't really make much difference. We also have loads of options in midfield and the defence has coped well with injuries/suspensions.
I think we are missing a quality number 10 and at least one quality, or majorly on-form (like McGill last season), wide player and we'd be a cracking team. Unfortunately they are the positions along with striker which require the most money and we don't really have it. The hope is that the likes of McStravick and McGregor will develop into that, and that McGill regains his form somewhat.
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22 minutes ago, Mr November said:
I think that’s probably why the back five looked good for us. As you say we’re generally fine defensively, have plenty of players in midfield who are decent on the ball and then one of Gallagher/Todorov up front. It’s probably the best way of fitting in our best players at the moment without being ridiculously narrow or ineffective out wide. As you say, we’re generally organised and you can tell what the plan is, I think it’s just tweaking things to best fit the squad we have at the moment.
Yes I'd agree. I generally don't like 3-5-2, partly because it's a formation you only play when you are lacking something (which is case in point with us I guess) however it's definitely the best way for us to get our best players on the park, or more specifically not having to play players who are weaker.
The only problem is that I think its success relies on having Ballantyne and Megwa available. With Ballantyne an injury concern and Megwa only on loan until January (I think?) it's maybe not the most stable long term option and McCabe might prefer going with our usual system and trying to play guys into form.
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Airdrieonians 23/24 Championship Thread♦️
in Scottish Championship General Chatter
Posted · Edited by Diamonds are Forever
I think ideally that's what most fans would want, but the issue is that the players you want to sign on multi-year deals often don't want to sign-up for 2 or 3 years. We were favourites to get relegated at the start of the season and it's still possible we could be, if you are a player in your early to mid twenties who thinks they should be Championship level, maybe even Premiership in the future, it's a big risk to tie yourself to a club that could be back in League 1 next year. A good potential example (and quite a funny one) is Paton at Queens Park who signed a 3 year deal in the summer, if they don't turn things around he'll be back in League 1 for another 2 years potentially at the point where he would have been thinking about moving upwards.
In terms of the manager it's maybe not as big an issue because it's such a precarious job that you'd be stupid to turn down a longer contract, although I'm sure there would be some kind of agreement about moving on if the right club came in.
The only 2 ways we could encourage guys to stay would be offering huge wages, which even then might not work for someone very career driven, and obviously we can't afford that. The other is to be succesful this year so players don't have any fears about signing a 2 year contract. I think it was Kenny_m who mentioned that short term signings are important to ensure success and therefore convince guys to stay for the longer term, which I think is spot on. If we could really push on in the next few weeks we'd be an exciting club to sign up for next season, if we're battling out down the bottom players who have options will be off.