ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds

Quite surprised at the sheer amount of Dumbarton fans on this thread using the excuse of 'no robust or dangerous challenge in the game' to question the three red cards. I don't really know what happened with MacLean's red so can't comment on it, but when two players already booked for dissent commit fouls that are very clearly worthy of second bookings there's not much to argue with. We were garbage and lucky to get the win but I enjoyed it anyway.

Paul Watson released by Dunfermline. Wouldn't mind us taking a look at him since our current third choice centre back is Rhys McCabe.

If a racist comment has been made then the person making the comment should be banned, regardless of who it was aimed at or whether it was made in a private conversation or was shouted from the rooftops.

Difficult to understand what exactly has went on as someone that is entirely not "in the know", but from what I can see Rico's statement doesn't actually specifically mention that he heard what was said himself, and given that most fans including those I'd trust on these matters (I wasn't actually at this game) have said they never heard anything I'd say the story that the racist remark was made in relatively quiet conversation and was overheard and reported by another spectator (the parent of another player) seems extremely plausible. Rico released a solid statement after the Alloa game explaining what had happened and the next morning the club announced that they would be investigating the incident. At this point everything seems to working fine. Rico had said that the club were supporting him and we had no reason to believe that the club would fail to conduct a solid investigation. A few weeks on and the club announce that due to lack of evidence and only one witness they have been unable to take further action. On its own this would be disappointing but fine as we all know that dishing out a punishment without proper evidence could leave you in a difficult position from a legal standpoint. The issue with the statement is the comment, "It was also important to ensure that our club and supporters as a whole, were not unfairly accused of using racist language. We believe that this process has been a vindication." That sentence is at best poorly worded and at worst throwing Rico under the bus. The comments from Rico's brother and his agent, as well as Rico's absence from the squad at the weekend make things look even worse. These comments claim that the investigation was basically a farce and that Rico has been poorly treated by the club. These claims should be taken as seriously as the initial allegations of racism. The club wrongly stated that the investigation process was a "vindication". You can't use "lack of evidence" as a vindication on behalf of an entire football club and its fanbase. However, what would be a vindicating process would be if the club could prove that they acted properly and ethically in their investigation process. If they can't prove this and one of our players claims they did not act properly or ethically then it looks very bad indeed, whether that be by mistake or design. I hope to see Rico back in the team soon, but after reading some comments from certain fans on here and on other social medias I'm worried about what kind of reception he could receive.

Well to be fair we actually haven't conceded a single goal with Kerr and Fordyce as a centre back pairing in a back 4. First game of the season we used a hopeless back 3 then since then every game except two we've had one of them unavailable. Both of those games were 3-0 wins too.

With that in mind aptly named diamond formation could be the way forward. Currie Watson Kerr Fordyce Quitongo McCabe Frizzell McInroy Easton Smith Gallagher Could make an argument for McInroy playing the deeper role with McCabe pushed up a bit more but I thought McInroy seemed to have plenty of energy and looked good going forward yesterday and McCabe has definitely looked better in the deeper midfield role than he did on the right of the midfield three when Agnew was playing there. We'd still have two McGills and Salim fighting for a place in that lineup as well.

That's what I was thinking as well. Would most likely mean a change to 4231.

Been thinking about this as well. I'd have McCabe as one of our best players but if McInroy's going to be as good as he was yesterday he has to play. Can both play in the same midfield without a formation change?

2-1 flattered Clyde. Apart from the last 15 minutes or so of the first half we were utterly dominant. Easton and Gallagher superb again and a really strong debut from McInroy who started well and improved as the game went on. Two lovely goals as well.

Stream's stopped on 57:06 as if it's finished. Refreshing the page restarts the stream from before kick off and when I skip ahead it just reaches 57:06 again and stops. Anyone else watching the stream experiencing this?

No Dycey is unexpected, don't think he's missed a game since signing at the start of the 19/20 season. Presumably Watson will move into centre back and McGill will play right back which is fine but I'm looking forward to a game where we're not forced to play players out of position, especially considering how good Watson's been at right back recently.

On the subject of that, I've been getting emails from Queen's Park advertising their hospitality since I bought tickets for the League Cup game at Firhill and it really looks like they put in a decent effort to make it a good day out. At £50 per person it is a bit steep but I suppose so is £18 for a matchday ticket

Thought Watson, Gal, Frizzell and Easton were all superb today. Hopefully Kerr's injury isn't too bad because we'll definitely want him and Fordyce as our main centre backs and McCabe returning to the team as a midfielder and not a defender.

Anyone's guess as to how that 11 lines up. Frizzell at left back maybe? If it's Agnew at left back then I've no idea who would play the deeper role in midfield without McCabe in the squad. Could be a back 3 with Smith and Frizzell as wing backs possibly but it's not often Murray abandons a formation that's been getting results so I'd expect the usual 433 which reverts to 451 if we score first.

If Rico said it happened then it happened. There's literally no reason to assume he's lying or misheard something. I'm hoping he gets a cracking reception from the crowd tomorrow. Such a reception would not be 'virtue signalling' and it would also have nothing to do with his ability or performance as a certain moron in this thread seems to believe. It would simply be the crowd getting behind our player to show him that we support him and want him to feel welcome at his place of work (that really shouldn't need to be explained). I'm obviously disappointed by the incident but I'm glad Rico went public with it. Racism is not an issue that can be quietly dealt with, it needs to be publicly shamed in order to actually attempt to remove it from society. Giving Rico our full support and kicking out the scumbag that abused him would show any bigots that they aren't welcome within our support and that can only be a good thing.

Is that an attempt at a joke? Hopefully whoever it was is identified and banned from the stadium by the club. Takes a lot of guts for Rico to make that kind of statement and I salute him for it. Would be good if we could give him a show of support from the crowd on Saturday imo.

By my count we'll have two subs on the bench against Alloa. If McCabe or Dycey are among the new positive cases we're in real bother. Reckon we'll bring in a defender on loan until January since Lyons will likely be out until then anyway.

Not really any surprises that it's McCabe and McGill getting the goals for us today. McCabe's been by far our best player so far this season and McGill's looked really prolific in front of goal.

McCabe at centre back then. I think that's a mistake but hopefully it works.

Totally agree. McCabe looks capable of controlling games for us. If we remove him from that midfield we risk sitting in and inviting pressure on our makeshift defence. I'd also argue that being our deepest midfielder doesn't make him the one best suited to playing in defence. Better just sticking one of the taller lads capable of heading the ball away in there imo, which might be McGill tbh I can't remember perfectly but I'm sure he's looked quite tall on the pitch.

Assuming the six mentioned are correct then the defence really is in bad shape. The match preview mentions Kerr still wasn't ready to return from injury so he wouldn't have been involved anyway but the rest really are a worry, especially with Lyons also out injured. If Currie McDonald S.McGill Fordyce Agnew Frizzell McCabe Easton Smith Gal G.McGill That's the best I can come up with. If McGill's played centre half before and the missing players mentioned above are correct then he's definitely in there. I've thrown Agnew at left back for no reason other than the fact that he is actually left footed but we've been told that McDonald can play either full back role and is good with both feet so it could be him over there and someone else at right back. Ritchie's played there before and Gal's played as a wing back for us in the past. I feel like Smith would put in a decent shift from a wing back kind of role as well.

Yes and no. McCabe is playing that role in the midfield three and doing well in it, but if we were to switch to 4-4-2 and play two centre mids I don't think there's anyone in our squad I'd trust to play alongside him as the rest all seem like they'd need to be in a three (too attacking, too raw, too knackered etc). That's fine if we keep playing a three but if we wanted to go with two up front to get the best out of Gal (and fit our strikers like Gabby and Salim in the team without pushing them out wide) then it becomes more difficult. The only way to have a midfield three and two centre forwards at the same time is to play a back 3 or to play a midfield diamond.

Strangely enough, the midfield (the main problem in most Airdrie teams in recent memory) is the area I'm happiest with at the moment. McCabe's been excellent imo, and Easton probably looks our most dangerous player. I like the look of Frizzell too and I think they make a good midfield three. The problem there is that I feel we're forced into a midfield three since our midfielders are mostly quite attack minded. For example, I think McCabe could play as one of the centre mids in a 4-4-2 but I don't think there's another player at the club I'd trust to slot in beside him. Frizzell and Easton are very attacking players, Agnew doesn't seem to have the legs to play such a role week in week out, and the likes of McDonald, Scott McGill, and Ritchie are very raw. Defensively we've been pretty poor and I do wonder if that has anything to do with switching to a back four after training entirely with a back three. I'm hopeful that Kerr returning from injury will help though I'd stick with the back four and probably play Watson at right back. The forwards are a more complicated issue. Assuming we play 4-3-3 as we have been there should be one centre forward and two players out wide, but it's not exactly clear who should be where and I think this is the area that Murray really has to sort out. The three that started today were the strongest three available (they're definitely better than Allan) but I think Murray has to think a bit about how to get the best out of them, seeing as neither Gallagher or McGill should really be out wide. Diamond formation (how apt) might work but it puts a lot of pressure on the full backs to provide width (although if the midfielders and forwards give them proper support out there they should manage). I'm fairly confident there's quality in this squad. Despite the awful start I think it's a better squad than any we've started the last few seasons with, although possibly missing one defensive midfielder to tie the whole team together (not a clue where we'd find that player). We've seen before how far a good run can take you in this league, we need that sooner rather than later.

Quite clear for me after watching the highlights that MacLean's tripped Wardrop and conned the ref by feigning an injury. It's still a bit clumsy from Wardrop to commit there on a booking when we've got a fairly comfortable 2-0 lead, but he's really not done anything wrong. Ultimately we should be doing much much more to hold onto a 2-0 lead with 10 men and I thought Murray's subs were very poor in that regard. I know still images are generally a very poor way of judging a challenge in football but this being the moment of contact quite clearly shows MacLean sticking his leg out as Wardrop runs by him to the side. Really poor decision.

Quite clear for me after watching the highlights that MacLean's tripped Wardrop and conned the ref by feigning an injury. It's still a bit clumsy from Wardrop to commit there on a booking when we've got a fairly comfortable 2-0 lead, but he's really not done anything wrong. Ultimately we should be doing much much more to hold onto a 2-0 lead with 10 men and I thought Murray's subs were very poor in that regard. I know still images are generally a very poor way of judging a challenge in football but this being the moment of contact quite clearly shows MacLean sticking his leg out as Wardrop runs by him to the side. Really poor decision.