David Fernández
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Posts posted by David Fernández
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1 hour ago, Diamonds are Forever said:
I find this really interesting. Basically in 3 summers McCabe has signed 3 players I'd class as experienced - Telfer, ATS and Todorov, I've discounted Wyness as he was geniunely a bargain bin signing to fill a position in an emergency and was binned asap. Even then Telfer and Todorov were 27/28, hardly old men. Which raises the question of why we sign so few experienced players. The obvious answer is money, they cost more and the good ones are taken by other clubs in our leagues, which is undoubtedly true. And we know the club are big on signing young players to sell-on. But I just can't believe the club and McCabe are that naive to think you can get away with running a first team with an average age of 22, as it was yesterday. Is there also an element of it being a way for McCabe to ensure his authority, despite only being 32 he's 10 years older than the average player. Is he wanting to sign guys he can mould into his style of play, and/or wanting players who might not challenge him too much?
The lack of signing experience didn't matter too much in the last 2 seasons because McCabe inherited Gal, Fordyce, Watson, Ballantyne, Frizz and of course himself who had all played 100s of senior games. And then signed Telfer, ATS and Todorov. But with 5 of them leaving, ATS basically retiring (seemingly) and McCabe being injured all the time we're left with nothing in the way of experience and have replaced them with youngsters. Surely he and the club can see that for young players to thrive they need a solid core of players to hold things together and guide them? In terms of this season even if they do recognise it now it's hard to see who can really be brought in at this stage, which is my worry.
Probably unrealistic but I find it strange that Kerr McInroy still doesn't have a club yet. He's experienced enough at Championship level and I thought he would've signed for the likes of Raith or Thistle permanently.
With McCabe and McMaster put long term we are badly missing a defensive midfielder, McInroy has also played in the diamond formation with us previously so would be perfect.
Another one is Stevie Warnock, we don't actually have any wingers and I'm surprised he doesn't have a club yet either, not someone with a lot of experience but he could offer us something different to what we already have.
Other than that we'd probably need to have a look at the loan market and I genuinely don't know who we could realistically bring in.
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Judging by some of the reactions on social media, one extreme is 'sack the manager' and the other extreme is 'we will come good after we get players back from injury' I think both of these opinions are pretty wild.
I wasn't at the game yesterday so can't comment directly on the performance but most of the posts have already hit the nail on the head regarding the recruitment issues, having multiple midfielders who are similar players, a lack of pace, physicality and we look pretty powderpuff up front. (Attributes that both Todorov and McGill have).
It's also interesting to compare both Murray and McCabe as managers too. I think Ian Murray's recruitment/signings have been better as it was the majority of his signings who played a massive role in gaining us promotion and also helping us achieve a 4th place finish last season.
But I do think McCabe is a better coach and is better tactically than Murray, it really highlights the strengths and weaknesses of both managers.
When we've been on bad runs previously I've always seen signs that we aren't too far away or that it'll turn round as we were always competitive in games but this time I'm a bit more concerned, how does the manager fix it other than to bring in a couple of experienced signings, which seems unlikely.
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37 minutes ago, Mr November said:
We still haven’t replaced Todorov but I wonder if that money went towards signing Graham and Badley-Morgan.
I wouldn’t expect any potential new signing to be very experienced at this point, and I’m not really expecting us to sign anyone, but I’d like to think there’s a young forward player at a Premiership team with some strength/speed to even act as an another option for us.
Bobby Wales is the only one I can think of at the top of my head, he looked really good for Alloa and I think teams in Italy were having a look at him.
Had a quick look at who's still a free agent on transfermarkt, the likes of McInroy, Adeloye, Grimshaw etc and although they'd need to drop whatever their wage demands were in the summer to get a club, I still can't see us go for any of them.
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I think this is the biggest test of McCabe's managerial career so far.
McCabe inherited the vast majority of Ian Murray's team who really should've got promoted that season whilst making a few tactical tweeks and minimal signings.
Last season we managed to keep the core of that successful squad together whilst again only making minimal signings and a few tactical weeks which made us punch above our weight and achieve an excellent 4th place finish.
This season feels like there's been far too many changes that have happened at the one time, guys like Fordyce, McGill, Telfer and Ballantyne were not only the spine of the team but the heart of it too.
I'm all for trying to produce young players in the hope of selling them on to make us more sustainable as a club, but if you want to succeed at this level you need the same blend of youth and experience like we did last season.
This is starting to feel a bit like Queens Park under Veldman for me and I think we badly need some experience in the midfield and attack.
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Fair play to Falkirk, completely bossed us, 2nd to every ball and it was 2-0 going on 10/11.
2nd half was completely one sided, probably the best I've seen an opposition play against us since Hearts in the Scottish Cup last season, very impressed with the way you pressed us all game.
As for ourselves that was absolutely dreadful, probably the worst game I've seen from us since McCabe has been manager, teams have sussed us out far too easy and we have no plan b whatsoever.
First time I've had concerns about how McCabe will be able to turn this around.
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Happy enough with a point to stop the bad run of defeats, I'd have been particularly unhappy if we hadn't taken anything from that game at all.
I thought it was a very poor game of football, the two goals that we conceded were extremely soft again and it's obvious that the 4231 formation without any wingers isn't working.
My comment about Aaron Reid got slaughtered by some on here but he has to start games up beside Wilson, he should've really been subbed on after we went 1-0 down.
I haven't seen enough of him to determine whether he's the answer to our problems but surely given the circumstances he deserves a chance? He changed the game and took his goal very well.
Accies were there for the taking today and although we have numerous players who are injured, I think with the team that we have, we are much better than what we showed today.
Although we are a brand new team and it'll take a bit of time to gel, if we lost today I'd have been concerned where the next points were going to come from.
Overall I'm relieved that we didn't lose but I am slightly disappointed as I believed it was our best opportunity to grab 3 points.
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1 hour ago, The MAC said:
Airdrie fans will there a stream available on DTV tomorrow ? I’m out of the country at the moment so hoping i would get it as I’m overseas
DTV are showing a stream for the game tomorrow for viewers abroad/outside of the UK, here's the link for the stream.
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Does Serif Zengin have an Oasis performance at half time lined up with those prices?
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5 minutes ago, A Diamond For Me said:
Has McCabe played a full 90 since getting injured in the Challenge Cup final?
I'm pretty sure that he played the full 90 during the Aberdeen game at centre back, can't remember him subbing himself off that game.
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I actually think most of our defensive issues are from having a lack of an outball/target man upfront to play along side Wilson.
Letting go both Todorov and McGill is starting to look like a very poor decision with no replacement lined up for them, I know McGill has his injury problems but he would walk into this team just now.
With no outball it means if we play the ball long there's no one to hold up the ball and it'll easily get won in the air by every centre back in this league.
From 2-0 onwards it was just pathetic with a lack of urgency, I know there's injuries in the squad but I expected a bit more of a reaction from the last two performances.
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I really liked LJ for us, was a very good player (albeit in league 1).
He's very quick and I'd say his best position is through the middle if he's playing in a front two.
His best game for us was a 4-0 win against Montrose where he got a hat trick, he was genuinely unplayable that day and his first goal was absolute quality.
Here's a link to the highlights from that game; https://www.airdriefc.com/dtv22-23/221029
I think he'll do well for Raith if he's played through the middle and not out wide, I'd have 100% taken him at Airdrie again especially considering we need another forward ourselves.
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19 minutes ago, Passionate said:
It seems to me Rhys has already made up his mind on Reid, now he needs to source a better option, because it is obvious their was no back up plan for Todorov, Forward areas are woefully short and a fit McGregor is not the answer either....
How do you know if McCabe has made his mind up on Reid?
He's been injured for the last few weeks and came on as a sub on Saturday, if he made up his mind about him he wouldn't be playing at all?
The manager has also said in his interview that he's actively trying to sign players, how do you know that isn't a striker?
The transfer window isn't closed yet so there's still plenty of time, hopefully hear some news this week.
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This might be a very unpopular opinion but the only thing I can think of as a suggestion is trying Aaron Reid and Ben Wilson as a front two?
From what I've seen from Reid I'm not really convinced at all but him but unless we sign a striker who either has pace to run in behind or someone who can hold the ball up, we don't have any alternatives and we'll have to rely badly on Lewis McGregor.
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7 minutes ago, Balde Bairn said:
It’s just very quiet from Airdrie fans recently. You were all over our page for a good few years every week. We’re not even getting the crowdwanking jibes anymore. Bit hard to take Falkirk having a good team?
That was a brilliant result from Falkirk today and I actually posted on your page how impressed I was last year with you guys winning league 1 (which is a more difficult league than others make out) undefeated.
The fact even after an amazing result beating a team who were 3rd in the SPL last season and your first thought is posting on the Airdrie p&b page speaks volumes about you as a poster.
You're probably the worst Falkirk poster on p&b which actually says something considering there's a lot of bad posters on your thread.
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When I looked at the team line up before the game kicked off I got the absolute fear looking at the defensive line up.
I didn't expect to get anything out of today but it's really really bad losing 4 goals from corner kicks, felt Wright could've done better with the first goal but he made some good saves to keep the score down.
Ben Wilson is very isolated up front and we have no out ball whatsoever.
The big reason we picked up points away from home was having an out ball like McGill and Todorov up top which allowed us to mix our game up, I'm not convinced that Reid and Cooper will offer much of an alternative from the bench.
I thought for the first 10 minutes of the second half we looked more like ourselves and were unlucky not to score, so I'm not convinced after a few heavy defeats that we have suddenly turned into a terrible team overnight.
Priority now has to be trying to replace Todorov which a striker who will take the pressure off of Wilson who either has a decent bit of pace, or someone who can hold up the ball.
The last two performances haven't been great, but with 14/15 new players, it's going to take time for such a young team to gel, there's obviously areas in the squad we need to improve on, but I think once it clicks together we'll be fine.
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Thought I'd ask the most important question on the thread early on, where's the best place to park on Saturday? Cheers.
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That was a genuinely embarrassing performance from us tonight, 2nd best all over the park and 2nd to every single ball, big reality check tonight.
As much as it pains me to say this, Ayr were absolutely excellent, the way they pressed us, how physical they were, was like men vs boys, big statement and certainly look like they could be title contenders.
Ayr have completely sussed us out, know exactly how to play against us and if om honest, we were lucky it wasn't double figures.
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3 hours ago, Skyline Drifter said:
Gavin Duncan was absolutely fine today. Some of the decisions he got spot on that Airdrie fans were getting irate about were laughable. His only 'bad' decision all day was when he could and technically should have red carded Watson in the 90th minute for kicking out at Zander Craik when he'd got away. Game was dead though, we were already out and absolutely nobody wants the boy suspended for the next round at that stage. Common sense yellow given. Shake hands and head home.
Thought the first half was a good contest. We may even have edged it and if Wright doesnt make a miracle save from McKechnie who knows what happens. But we started with no forwards and then lost our best two midfielders before half time and then lost a goal to the first time we lost Ben Wilson. Game never a contest after that. Second half very comfortable for Airdrie who could maybe have scored more but would have been harsh on us.
Best of luck in the next round. Hope you get a good draw.
Probably just a personal preference but I prefer a referee just to let the game flow as opposed to blowing the whistle for every soft foul. I felt it did ruin the game a bit and I did think QOS looked like a good footballing side.
There was also a chance the ref could've played an advantage when QOS could've countered us but the ref blew the whistle and didn't let the play continue, I just thought he was a complete jobsworth.
Best of luck for the season ahead, enjoy visiting Palmerston for an away day and hope you guys come upto the Championship!
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I think the ref was pretty terrible for both teams, constantly blew his whistle at the slightest bit of contact which really slowed the game down as well as us not moving the back quick enough.
I'm not convinced by Cammy Bruce so far, not sure what he really offers the team, similar to Mochrie, not sure if he's just not fit yet but both failed to impact the game.
Aidan Wilson deserved man of the match he's looked very good at centre back so far.
Ben Wilson is as good a natural goalscorer I've seen since Allan Russell going back to 2007, give him one chance and he'd almost certain to score.
That being said brilliant to get through to the next round and hope to get a glamour tie.
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23 minutes ago, cb_diamond said:
Had a watch of the AB podcast that Rhys featured on. Sounds from most of the Aberdeen contributors that they view us as a bit of a diddy side and are expecting to run up a decent score.
Here's hoping their new management make the same assumption.
I thought it was very mixed tbh. I think the host was pretty good and he was very complimentary about Rhys and the way Airdrie play football. There's a few comments from Aberdeen fans who were like 'yeah we are going to win 5-0' etc but a good few of the contributors think it'll be a decent game to see where they are at. Aberdeen will be massive favourites so understand why they are confident and it's basically a free hit for us.
He's hoping for another 'Super Tuesday' from us tonight and we can cause an upset.
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Thanks for the memories big man, proud to be your shirt sponsor from last season and to have your cup final winning jersey framed. Scored some very important goals for us last season and was a really likeable guy, all the best!
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East Kilbride's tactics are like Robin Veldman's Queens Park on steroids
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Delighted with that signing, had a funny feeling Mochrie would sign with Dunlop going to Stranraer. Even although we have a lot of bodies already in midfield, I think a player like Mochrie offers something different to what we have.
14 new signings in total for us, massive rebuild and it's very exciting/scary. I think it'll take some time for the new players to adapt to the system and style of play but I'm confident that we'll have a good season.
Just a centre back to go and I think that'll be us done.
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Big fan of the new home strip, even with the sponsor going through the diamond I love the yellow badge.
It's very unlike Airdrie to be as organised as this in the close season, we are pretty much a centre half and an away kit away from being sorted and it's not even the League Cup yet
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Lions v Diamonds / Sat 28th September.
in Scottish Championship General Chatter
Posted
With our injuries and poor form at the moment, I can only see this resulting in a home win unfortunately.
Our two most experienced and important players 'McCabe (our manager) and Aidan Wilson look like they are injured long term which means we are relying on a very young squad with no leaders on the park and it's likely that Livi will bully us.
Are we calling this one the 'David Fernández' derby?