ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds

Who do we think will replace ATS in next week’s team then? Could be Deveney with Ballantyne switching back to the right and Watson in at centre half but I’d personally prefer to see McCabe come in at centre half as that wouldn’t shuffle a successful back four so much. Quite happy with Watson playing at right back as he’s a player I like that I just don’t rate at centre half at all.

If Peterhead don’t gut that squad they could be in trouble next season. As poor a team as I’ve seen in League One and the Highland League beckons if big changes aren’t made.

Shimla Cottage is ridiculously good value. It’s not my favourite Indian but hard to argue with their deals, I’m sure you can get 4 curries with rice, naan, mixed pakora, spiced onions and poppadoms for not much more than £20. Used to be able to not long ago anyway. I’ve noticed the old Clock Bar in Coatbridge has a new sign up this week, “Tawa Indian Kitchen” but haven’t found anything online about it.

Same team starts next week for me. Ballantyne had one of us best games since he joined, definitely lose something in attack with him on the wrong side but he was still a threat down the wing and defended really well. McMaster offered more in the holding midfield role than McCabe has this season. He made a mistake when he gave away the penalty but other than that he was good. I’d rather have Devenny in the midfield than Telfer at the moment as well. I think at Telfer’s best he’d start but when he’s off his game you just get more from a guy like Devenny out of pure desire and commitment. Brilliant for Gabby to get a hat trick and Gallagher to score the best goal I’ve ever seen in person. If McCabe gets back in the team it should be at centre half.

Do we think it’s Cammy or ATS at left back? I think probably Cammy tbh. Happy enough with the changes, McCabe can manage from the side and Telfer’s been poor. Didn’t know if McCabe had the guts to drop Telfer tbh but good to see he does. I imagine he’ll come on at some point so it’s up to Charlie to give the level of performance he was at a few weeks ago.

We should sack McCabe and appoint Gallagher with Frizzell as assistant

Doesn’t look like we’ll be in the playoffs come the end of the season at this rate. Given where we’ve been over the last few seasons, especially last season, and given that we are one of four teams (ourselves, Dunfermline, Falkirk, QOTS?) that employ full time footballers in this division, that’s a massive failure. Nowhere near good enough.

He’s better than Ally Roy who’s had two Championship clubs since leaving us. I’d argue better than Leighton McIntosh as well who is currently at Cove.

Frizzell and Rae’s injuries this season could get in the way of a potential move to a higher division, but there’s enough quality to warrant a good move. McCabe and Fordyce I’d expect to stay on as manager and assistant. Telfer has had some good performances but realistically hasn’t done enough to warrant a move to the Championship based on his time with us and Falkirk, although you never know. As has been mentioned, Gallagher is part time so we’re maybe the team that suits him best. The real worry for me would be Smith. Hard for me to see what keeps him at League One Airdrie and I think him going to Raith Rovers is quite likely (Murray and Fife being the main two factors). Will be sad to see him go as he’s probably been my favourite player of the last 5 years. Of others not mentioned, I think McGill could potentially have a Championship offer. He done well last season but his season was interrupted with injuries. This year he’s improved in my opinion, and he’s still only 22. Euan Deveney has consistently improved over the season as well and is still very young. It’s possible that there’d be interest in him.

In theory I think McCabe moving into defence and a return to last season’s centre half pairing is a good idea, and I think McCabe maybe would do better in that role since he reads the game so well and it would help him influence us playing it out from the back, but I’m not convinced we have a player that can take McCabe’s midfield role. We’d need a calming influence in that defensive midfield position (akin to Agnew) and I’m not sure it’s a role that Telfer, Frizz, Stanway, McMaster, Devenny etc could play. I want to see it, but I don’t think we have a midfield that will allow it anymore. Something I was thinking about earlier, remember how Easton used to drop deep to almost reach the centre halves because that’s how desperate he was to get on the ball and advance the play? I think we miss that more than any of his tricks or attacking flair. We don’t really have anyone doing that anymore. Another big change from last season is that we never seem to have any calm, patient and controlled possession anymore. We’ve played great stuff at times, and arguably have looked better in flashes than last season with the quick attacking play with the ball on the deck, but I think we would benefit from slowing things down from time to time and just progressing the ball with a bit of patience and controlling the game. It’s a 90 minute game and not every move has to be about getting the ball and bodies up the park in a matter of seconds. I think that style of play has cost us a lot of goals, especially when you consider the first two Falkirk goals at the weekend. Wasted possession in midfield when things could have been calmed down and played more sensibly instead.

I personally think Telfer should play a more advanced role than Frizz. Telfer can be really good when we’re dominating but offers nothing defensively. At least Frizz puts himself a bit and is good at retaining possession in tight areas. Not saying it would solve everything but when we started that last game with 4-1-2-1-2 Frizzell was so advanced and at times uninvolved. I think I preferred him last season when he was more of an 8 than a 10.

Granted Murray ultimately did fail because the goal is and always promotion, but we were never this easy to beat under Murray and he inherited a really poor team and consistently improved it every year. McCabe inherited Murray’s team and fair enough he lost Easton and some others we had on loan but we still have the core of last season’s squad, Watson, McCabe, Fordyce, Frizzell, Gallagher, Smith, McGill were all regular starters last season, and we’re miles off last season’s form. He’s a young and inexperienced manager who will learn as he goes, but it looks like we won’t be getting promoted anytime soon. An experienced coach or DoF working with McCabe while he learns the ropes could make a world of difference.

McCall as DoF would be ideal I think. McCabe’s major issues are his lack of experience and the fact he’s on the pitch. McCall would offer experience and be able to watch the match from the stand. Falkirk’s first two goals today came from really sloppy play in the middle of the park, first from Stanway then from Telfer. Thought Smith had to come on because Falkirk were getting far too much joy through their right back, but that three man midfield was far too soft. Telfer can be good but he offers absolutely when we aren’t strolling it.

I’m sure Currie was part time for us and because of that I was actually a bit surprised he signed for QOTS. As far as I know Gallagher is now our only part time player and the way McCabe seemed to prefer McGill over him at the start of the season made me wonder if he wanted rid of the hybrid system in favour of going fully full time but that might have changed now that Gallagher has became undroppable and arguably our POTY.

It’s criminal that we never signed another proper centre half for the first team this season. It’s been said a few times by myself and others but relying on either Watson or ATS (two full backs) to play next to Dycey isn’t good enough. ATS is fine, and I like Watson at right back but it’s just such an obvious weakness in the squad. Was hoping that Lachie Byrd might have been brought in to go straight into the first team but a few weeks later it certainly doesn’t seem that way. Interesting that McCabe’s went for Stanway and a change of shape to replace Smith rather than a straight swap and McGregor. We’ve looked good playing the narrow midfield diamond with a front two in the past so I think it could work well.

McCall as gaffer and McCabe as player/assistant. Would do nicely for me.

Yeah basically a two goal lead with ten men but we still bottled a three goal lead since we were 3-0 up before that incident.

Didn’t get a good look but it came from a free kick given the wrong way. Doesn’t really matter because we shouldn’t be crumbling that easy with a 3 goal lead regardless.

11v11 showed we’re every bit as good as (if not better than) the league leaders, but we’ve got absolutely no bottle. Wrong subs and tactics with 10 men but honestly, it’s even worse than us crumbling after a red card, we’ve crumbled every time we’ve gave away a penalty.

Someone suggested Ballantyne at left back with Watson or Byrd coming in for a bit more defensive solidity. It’s not necessarily a terrible idea but you’ve got to trust the players you’ve got in their best positions, especially when they’ve been consistently improving like Deveney has. I honestly think our best bet is to go and try to dominate the game and attack from the off anyway. Dunfermline haven’t had a great deal of firepower but they’ve been solid and have consistently got good results. Don’t think a cautious approach would get us anywhere.

Don’t think it would be fair to drop Deveney because he struggled against Dunfermline months ago. For the last couple of months he’s been one of our most consistent performers. It’s possible he might struggle on Saturday against stronger opposition but I’ve been very happy with his recent performances.

Against a better team we’d have been losing at half time with the amount of times we gave the ball away at the back. Think we were good for the win, as Clyde were poor but would’ve preferred another goal to be more comfortable. As much as he’s a deplorable human being and most decent Clyde fans will be glad he isn’t at their club anymore, that could’ve been 3-1 Clyde with Goodwillie playing. Ref was awful.

I’d take Kerr back in a heartbeat and would never have got rid of him personally, as I always rated him. Not sure if he wasn’t offered a deal or chose to leave due to a lack of game time towards the end of his spell (remember he sat on the bench while McCabe played centre back ahead of him). He’s probably returning to Scotland but most likely not with us imo. Could turn out to be a very good signing for one of our League One rivals, can see him joining any of the full time teams in this division.

Gallagher, Telfer and Deveney all outstanding today. Probably the best game Fordyce has had this season as well, although there was a moment in the second half where he passed it directly to an Alloa forward. Easily forgotten when you have a comfortable lead and it doesn’t lead to a goal. Happy with that performance.