Stevo1968
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Posts posted by Stevo1968
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46 minutes ago, airdrieman said:
Agree with a lot of what has been said. Beat Cove next week and the Falkirk result goes our way on Tuesday and we could be sitting top of the league. Which is remarkable given some of our performances and results so far. On the flip side, when we turn it on we're excellent, solid at the back (aside from a few hiccups recently) and dare I say it even exciting to watch?! While I don't want to ham it up too much as the sides we've beaten in the league (Peterhead, Clyde and Forfar) will all be in the bottom half this season I do think at our best we can beat or at the very least takes points off every side in this division. Beating the 'poorer' sides isn't something to be sniffed at either since it's generally something we've struggled with in recent years. When we're off though we're completely and utterly inept. The performances in the Dumbarton and the recent League Cup games were pitiful. Thistle away was a missed opportunity also. That inconsistency (especially at home) and our inability to come back from losing positions are still big concerns for me. Next week will be a good marker for us.
Can't argue with the performance yesterday. If/when Sabatini is fully fit I'd still have him in my midfield every week though.
Apparently sabatini Kerr and Gallagher all weren’t fully fit
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9 minutes ago, Chapelhall chap said:
There was, in the 2nd half, , one delicious pass inside the full back by Dale Carrick and that is something you rarely see from our CB midfielder(s). Mind you it never led to a goal Sabatini can do it, but Murray seems to favour a runner/athlete rather than a football player. The score was a wee bit hard on us but they scored their chances whilst we got there but failed again. It's the League that matters so today does not need too much concern.
I remember that pass from Carrick but can’t agree with what you say about sabatini, I think he’s very overrated by our support maybe because of the foreign name it bringing excitement but he barely passes forward and takes more touches than he needs most times..
Best I’ve seen Robert play though and it was more of a central role!
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14 minutes ago, ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds said:
Who out of McKay and Kerr played in the back 3 and who was in midfield?
McKay in midfield and Kerr in the back 3, kerr done well against a bit CF and McKay filled a jersey and nothing more!
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5 minutes ago, airdrieman said:
It does make you wonder, and I don't know his personal circumstances that may have swayed his decision, but maybe we should have pushed the boat out to sign Andy Ryan? A natural goalscorer, a striker who can create and covert chances for himself (and who's a good footballer too) and a striker who turns draws and defeats into wins. No harm to them but the combined wages of Burke, Moore, Walker, Hughes and Pyott would surely have been better spent on Ryan or A.N. other striker (plus the offer they'd have received obviously) considering none of them are likely to play for the club this season or any time soon.
Said this before we didn’t need to sign foreign randoms or guys that haven’t played professionally before we needed experienced players even just 2 or 3
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2 hours ago, Spanish Armada said:
Who ever it was that said that “they don’t get all the fuss about Sabatini” yesterday proved how good a player Sabatini is and has been
Quite confident it was me that said that and I don’t think I’m being picky if I repeat that statement, not seeing he’s poor, think he’s alright but not so sure if his name was something like ‘dean Ritchie’ people would be so buzzing about him...
He’s his best when he moves the ball quick and not go on pointless dribbles, there’s a difference with being composed and taking forever on the ball!
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IMO we created similar amount of chances to score 5 last week but this week we took them, Crighton looked shakey again to begin with but grew into the game!
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1 minute ago, Glenmavis Diamond said:
That aged well too
Negative normans never change
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Hard to single anyone out but thought Kerr was like a rolls Royce today, absolutely strolled it!
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3 hours ago, airdrieman said:
Do not understand why MacDonald has been dropped. Kerr, McKay or Fordyce moving to right-back? That central midfield still isn't creative enough either. Poor stuff.
Spot on mate..
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35 minutes ago, ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds said:
Had a look over it and while there are other factors to consider such as who was playing and who we were playing against, since the start of last season (and counting league games only) the numbers show that 4231 has been our most used and probably most successful formation.
In 15 games using 4231, we've scored 24, conceded 13, and picked up 27 points. That's an average of 1.8 points per game, 1.6 scored per game and 0.87 goals conceded per game.
We've only used a standard 442 in 4 league games, and in those games we've scored 4, conceded 7 and picked up 4 points. That's one point per game, one goal scored per game, and 1.57 conceded per game.
We've used 352 (or 532 depending on who you ask) in 7 league games. In those games we've scored 7 goals, conceded 11, and picked up 10 points. That's 1.43 points per game, 1 goal scored per game, and 1.57 goals conceded per game.
We also used a narrow 442 on five occasions at the end of last season. This involved Wedderburn sitting in front of the back 4 with three midfielders in front of him, so I like to call it a 4132. Using this we scored 5, conceded 1 and picked up 10 points. That's 2 points per game, 1 goal scored per game, and 0.2 conceded per game.
In terms of points per game, 4132 is the winner here, but in the five games we used it we beat Peterhead, Clyde and East Fife, drew with Dumbarton and lost to Montrose. Given we never used it against Falkirk or Raith Rovers you could argue that it's not a fair sample compared to the other ones. One thing this shape definitely has going for it is the defensive record. Fair enough it wasn't used against the division's two big boys, but only conceding one in 5 is seriously good going.
442 might seem solid, but we've conceded more goals per game using it than any other formation, and by a considerable amount (perhaps not surprising after seeing us lose 2-0 to Dumbarton while using it at the weekend). 352 has a fairly poor defensive record too, but this is a bit warped by that 4-1 hammering we took in Methil.
The clear winner for me is 4231. It's the only formation we average better than a goal a game with (a bit grim that we're that toothless with every other formation). Obviously the momentum and form we had going when we used this formation might have pushed the goals per game higher than it should be, but 1.8 is far better than the rest. While doing this, we were also conceding less than a goal a game. Maybe not as solid as 4132, but it's fairly solid and also gives us goals. 1.8 points per game over a considerable amount of games is decent and would have us in the playoffs most seasons.
So there it is, it's probably nonsense that doesn't matter but it turns out we score more when we have a decent link between midfield and attack, and concede less when we have a midfielder that sits just in front of defence on his own. We also don't concede that much when we just go for it and play attacking football.
Quick summary for people who hate stats or reading long posts: going for it and attacking good, sitting in and inviting pressure bad.Backs up my previous post and thoughts, great analysis!
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12 minutes ago, Jack Reed said:
Bit of quality in midfield would help, in fact a bit of quality all over would help,
Quality all over but I think you need a ‘10’ type player to bridge the gap between midfield and forward no necessarily different ones behind.
Bottom line is if we take our many chances on Saturday and Crighton doesn’t have a shocker then we’re not even mentioning the midfield...
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49 minutes ago, TheBuckfastTriangle said:
Easy to say with hindsight, but Kerr/McKay in a midfield up against a stodgy Dumbarton always felt suspect to me, not nearly enough movement in there.
As @Diamonds are Forever points out, 4 attacking players (at most) is always going to make it difficult to score goals. Our full backs don't tend to spend enough time high enough up the park to provide an extra threat and the midfield certainly lacks a cutting edge. Our best spell under Murray was when Kurtis Roberts filled this role and linked things up/was prepared to go beyond the strikers. Maybe this is the equivalent of Forfar away last year where Murray realised that the mindset had to be more forward thinking - we can only hope.
My concern now would be that a "passable" season would still be around the 15 points per round of fixtures and with only 3 from 9 so far, only 4 home games in each of the remaining "thirds" and the last 4 games of this quarter suddenly looking very awkward (Cove and Montrose at home, East Fife and Falkirk away) I'm not sure where those points are coming from. The next 2 league games do seem like important fixtures in terms of our season.
If I’m being honest I don’t see what difference a different midfield would have done to that game we had more than enough chances to win that game that fell to our strikers. They go in we’re not complaining about anything so it’s the forward line that are to be blamed for the lack of cutting edge, they had enough of opportunities!
it’s the formation I think that is the issue, we’ve never done well in a 442, 4231 was the formation that brought us success last year and a first game of the season win and good performance against Patrick so why change it...
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7 minutes ago, ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds said:
Who we voting for player of the month? Carrick because it's the only correct answer or Sabatini just to make a point?
Just me that doesn’t see the big fuss with sabatini? Yes he’s better than McKay but nothing special...
also watched the highlights and the amount of chances we had to win that game was more than enough, Crighton defending was awful..
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I’ve never been one to call for the manager to go but I do think it’s time him and Miller were gone, the team looks stale and needs a new lease of life to guide them imo
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2 minutes ago, Passionate said:
Did the manager want and therefore sign these players..
Think you’re spot on and it seems our director of football has much more of a say than the manager, we needed experienced players but instead we signed unknowns randomly
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And if the new boys aren’t getting a sniff they’re obviously not good enough or not doing enough to earn the chance!
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Is everyone missing the abysmal defending by Crighton for both goals? We had more than enough half chances to win that game but a top experienced striker scores then and that’s not what we have!
it’s confirmed to me that McKay offers nothing to our team he offered a long throw that Kyle Connell can now do /!; we can beat around the bush all we like but if his da wasn’t involved in the club he wouldn’t be playing, end of!
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51 minutes ago, AndyDD said:
That's good. Wonder if anyone will have played their way into the lineup on Saturday. Maybe one of Sabatini, Kerr or McKay will lose out to Stokes. Be interesting to see how we go.
I think one of them will lose out to Connell rather than stokes if anything
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2 hours ago, Mr November said:
It looks like we played Hearts yesterday and lost 5-2. No mention of who played or scored for Airdrie but at least we’ve improved since January!
Heard it was a weaker team to give guys game time, was 4-1 at half time then a good few changes at half time finishing at 5-2, stokes and a Kerr pen
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19 minutes ago, Diamond72 said:
Just watched Ian Murray's interview and while I agreed with a lot of what he said I picked up on his closing statement concerning the season ahead which pretty much sums things up. "If we play like we did today we will be pretty hard to beat". I'm afraid that's not what I want to hear as a fan!
Why’s that bad? If it gets results who cares, look at Crystal Palace staying in the premier league every year being hard to beat and being good on the break!
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What’s the point in getting balls into good wide areas if the balls in are terrible, best cross of the day was from our centre half, says it all..
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I tell you what Kerr does some amount of work for the team, amount of times he could’ve been played in near the end of other players were on the same page! A win is the main thing!
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18 minutes ago, Jack Reed said:
4 4 2 for me with connell @Gallagher, upfront and Oreilly Kerr Sabatini Roberts in midfield
I think Connell is still under quarantine rules from Kilmarnock? Could be wrong though
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The thing is, teams don’t really cut us open, we probably had more opportunities that Alloa but it seems so rushed and desperate rather than a thought behind it. Someone able to explain how McKay merited a start last night... daddy influence starting already lol
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The Official Airdrieonians Thread - 2019/20 and beyond
in Scottish Championship General Chatter
Posted
But it’s not. It’s football, it has two half where you can turn around how you’ve played in the first half..