BukyOHare Posted April 30, 2023 Share Posted April 30, 2023 1 minute ago, D'Jaffo said: I think he’s had a good season tbh. Anytime he’s been used he hasn’t looked out his depth. A good season is stretching it a bit to be honest. The jury still has to be out on him as we've barely seen him to pass any meaningful judgement. I couldn't tell you what his strengths and weaknesses actually are or what type of midfielder he is. Jury also out on McAlear as well before anyone asks. Musonda scoring against his old team yesterday, maybe the same stars will align for McAlear in the Highlands......... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itzdrk Posted April 30, 2023 Share Posted April 30, 2023 15 minutes ago, BukyOHare said: I don't think anyone really knows how good this boy truly is but it's a big call to throw him in next week. I know he had the game against Partick last season but then has barely been seen to any consistency anywhere near the 1st team. Can't remember any bad games Smith has had and his use of the ball is consistently good. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ayrunitedfw Posted April 30, 2023 Share Posted April 30, 2023 9 hours ago, Thereisalight.. said: 23 is a bit old to be "young" player of the year imo. Heard a lot of back slapping talk was order of the night and one of our own P&Bers got an award. Well done Robbo Knew it, glad I avoided the love in. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D'Jaffo Posted April 30, 2023 Author Share Posted April 30, 2023 27 minutes ago, itzdrk said: Can't remember any bad games Smith has had and his use of the ball is consistently good. Aye this He’s a tidy wee midfielder and is very confident to take the ball under pressure which you don’t often get with young players. He’s not going to score goals really but that’s not his game. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
No_Problemo Posted April 30, 2023 Share Posted April 30, 2023 44 minutes ago, itzdrk said: Can't remember any bad games Smith has had and his use of the ball is consistently good. 16 minutes ago, D'Jaffo said: Aye this He’s a tidy wee midfielder and is very confident to take the ball under pressure which you don’t often get with young players. He’s not going to score goals really but that’s not his game. I thought he was poor against Elgin, as the more advanced midfielder. As soon as he was moved deeper in that game he was very good though. Which was strange - as I always thought he was more of an advanced midfielder. One of our better midfielders on the ball, and doesn’t mind getting fired in about it either. McAlear certainly isn’t better than him, which really sums up how counter productive that loan has been. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D'Jaffo Posted April 30, 2023 Author Share Posted April 30, 2023 6 minutes ago, No_Problemo said: I thought he was poor against Elgin, as the more advanced midfielder. As soon as he was moved deeper in that game he was very good though. Which was strange - as I always thought he was more of an advanced midfielder. One of our better midfielders on the ball, and doesn’t mind getting fired in about it either. McAlear certainly isn’t better than him, which really sums up how counter productive that loan has been. Aye for all the pretty good options in midfield with Dempsey, Murdoch and Smith we don’t have a single player capable of playing in an advanced role. Dempsey is probably best suited to it but even then I think his best attribute is making a run into the box and scoring rather than playing balls through to Dipo or other forwards. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shibuya Posted April 30, 2023 Share Posted April 30, 2023 If anything I would say Paul Smith has been a disappointment this season - I expected him to push on after the Thistle game and to be honest he's not played anything like that level this season. Elgin and Hamilton (a) he was asked to play a bit further forward and he was garbage both times, not a great look considering how poor both those sides are. Perhaps he can add some guile to the midfield on Friday but it is a big ask given he's hardly played all season. McAlear played well last week and we fell apart when he went off...yesterday he was back to his caravan-towing worst. I hardly think there will be a rush to sign McAlear in the summer from the Championship sides, I could see him going to Falkirk or somewhere like that. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aliayr76 Posted April 30, 2023 Share Posted April 30, 2023 If we get into play offs will we be able to use our season tickets or will we have to pay in. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ayrunitedfw Posted April 30, 2023 Share Posted April 30, 2023 5 minutes ago, Aliayr76 said: If we get into play offs will we be able to use our season tickets or will we have to pay in. Need to pay. Playoffs aren't covered by season tickets. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BukyOHare Posted April 30, 2023 Share Posted April 30, 2023 Players coming through the academy and making it as 1st team players has to be a huge part of what we're trying to do and how we try and progress. McKenzie, Smith, Bryden, Ecrepont, Watret, Tomlinson, Jenkins, Hewitt, Vivian, Guthrie, Bilham and Jeanes all been in and around the squad to varying degrees and none of them can be seen as regular starters at this stage. That's 12 players to have come through in recent times, to be applauded in itself, but is it also a sign that they aren't good enough or is it a reluctance by the management to give them regular minutes? Is the future looking bright for our production line? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richey Edwards Posted April 30, 2023 Share Posted April 30, 2023 4 hours ago, D'Jaffo said: He’s better than McAlear. I think he’s had a good season tbh. Anytime he’s been used he hasn’t looked out his depth. I'd rather take a chance on our own young players than pish loan players from other teams. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GaryMc93 Posted April 30, 2023 Share Posted April 30, 2023 32 minutes ago, BukyOHare said: Players coming through the academy and making it as 1st team players has to be a huge part of what we're trying to do and how we try and progress. McKenzie, Smith, Bryden, Ecrepont, Watret, Tomlinson, Jenkins, Hewitt, Vivian, Guthrie, Bilham and Jeanes all been in and around the squad to varying degrees and none of them can be seen as regular starters at this stage. That's 12 players to have come through in recent times, to be applauded in itself, but is it also a sign that they aren't good enough or is it a reluctance by the management to give them regular minutes? Is the future looking bright for our production line? Frustrating thing for me if we didn't make the play-offs is that a lack of player development in the last 3-4 months hasn't set us up any better for next season. Smith, Hewitt, Bryden and McKenzie (as a ST) haven't featured enough in that time while Ecrepont was loaned out and instead we've favoured players who are unlikely to either improve or be here next season. Bullen does seem reluctant to play them other than a token appearance when we're winning comfortably and seemingly no real faith our youngsters can be genuine game changers. He may be correct but historically a lot of our academy players breaking through appear to be fearless types, main issue is more a lack of consistency at that age. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BukyOHare Posted April 30, 2023 Share Posted April 30, 2023 (edited) 10 minutes ago, GaryMc93 said: Frustrating thing for me if we didn't make the play-offs is that a lack of player development in the last 3-4 months hasn't set us up any better for next season. I'd agree but playoffs or not, there is a definite lack of development from the academy players generally. Bryden's league minutes for example have dropped off from last season. Nobody can say we've given him much of a chance this season. Edited April 30, 2023 by BukyOHare 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyrExile Posted April 30, 2023 Share Posted April 30, 2023 1 hour ago, BukyOHare said: Players coming through the academy and making it as 1st team players has to be a huge part of what we're trying to do and how we try and progress. McKenzie, Smith, Bryden, Ecrepont, Watret, Tomlinson, Jenkins, Hewitt, Vivian, Guthrie, Bilham and Jeanes all been in and around the squad to varying degrees and none of them can be seen as regular starters at this stage. That's 12 players to have come through in recent times, to be applauded in itself, but is it also a sign that they aren't good enough or is it a reluctance by the management to give them regular minutes? Is the future looking bright for our production line? Probably competing near the top of the league has hit the number of appearances. We have also went through a few different managers in recent seasons and they are perhaps reluctant to give youth a try until they establish themselves. Perhaps they should be loaning a few out sooner to lower league teams and try to bridge the playing gap more 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thumper Posted April 30, 2023 Share Posted April 30, 2023 7 minutes ago, AyrExile said: Probably competing near the top of the league has hit the number of appearances. If the club were in the bottom three the excuse would be that this isn't the time to blood youngsters. The attitude towards the first team has been deeply short-termist on the pitch. Nobody is getting time to settle in, the team is chopped and changed every week. Even the cups, where a more experimental lineup was used, was more because nobody seemed to care about staying in them. Total opposite from the attitude being put across with respect to off-pitch activities. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D'Jaffo Posted April 30, 2023 Author Share Posted April 30, 2023 Tbf I think Bryden has been given ample chances this season and hasn’t looked ready for this level in any of them barring a good goal away at Cove. It’s vital that he gets a loan move next season where he can play week in week out and hopefully he bulks up a bit as well. Smith will be useful next season but I have doubts over Hewitt. He looked uncomfortable yesterday and I don’t see a route to regular football for him at Ayr when we’ll need to improve at right back next season. Maybe if McAllister and Houston both leave he’ll be here as a back up to full back and midfield but I don’t see it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BukyOHare Posted April 30, 2023 Share Posted April 30, 2023 14 minutes ago, D'Jaffo said: Tbf I think Bryden has been given ample chances this season and hasn’t looked ready for this level in any of them He's had less than 300 minutes in the league this season, that isn't ample. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyrExile Posted April 30, 2023 Share Posted April 30, 2023 12 minutes ago, Thumper said: If the club were in the bottom three the excuse would be that this isn't the time to blood youngsters. The attitude towards the first team has been deeply short-termist on the pitch. Nobody is getting time to settle in, the team is chopped and changed every week. Even the cups, where a more experimental lineup was used, was more because nobody seemed to care about staying in them. Total opposite from the attitude being put across with respect to off-pitch activities. A bottom three finish would probably have meant more injuries , suspensions and poor performances that would have been difficult to defend. You are correct with the short term thinking but it's better than it used to be. With the finances at this level i''m not sure how much long term thinking happens elsewhere and might not change much until our new stand opens 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ayrunitedfw Posted April 30, 2023 Share Posted April 30, 2023 From what I've seen so far the current crop of youngsters in and around the first team aren't up to the level of the likes of Forrest, McCowan and Crawford. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BukyOHare Posted April 30, 2023 Share Posted April 30, 2023 19 minutes ago, AyrExile said: With the finances at this level i''m not sure how much long term thinking happens elsewhere With a settled, ambitious owner nows the time to think longer term. Try and get even more talent into the academy and eventually from there into the 1st team. Dare I even suggest a dedicated training facility on the outskirts of the town for the 1st team, academy and girls teams. Keep doing the same as everybody else and you might make small gains here and there, alternating good and bad seasons perhaps. But ultimately if you keep doing the same thing over and over, nothing will ever change. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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