The Ultimate Super Ayr Thread

[Iain]

31 minutes ago, eez-eh said:

More important for me than victory tomorrow is that we stop using the away kit for every player photoshoot going. It’s hideous.

You've mis-spelled 'glorious' there.

[railwayend]

Changing the subject to raising funds for Andy Geggan  how about the club knocking up a few hundred off “that” goal celebration picture , framed ? You know the one , Andy in full colour and the mutants in the background in drab grey ! Should be one in every living room in south Ayrshire ! 

[Trogdor]

1 hour ago, Roxanne's man said:

Happy Birthday @Richey Edwards Have a good one! Enjoy yourself

You share your birthday with the Ayr Captain!

He looks very displeased about it being his birthday.

[ryanayr1987]

1 hour ago, Roxanne's man said:

Happy Birthday @Richey Edwards Have a good one! Enjoy yourself

You share your birthday with the Ayr Captain!

You outing richey as Sean mcginty

[Nelson]

Seemed a reasonable question to me.  We know Dempsey and Murdoch are too similar as a midfield 2 and I really thought  that Pendlebury would start last Saturday to match up to Morton’s midfield 3.  We didn’t and Crawford had the freedom of the park.  That’s a tactical screw up from the manager, and its hardly the first from Bullen.  I like the look of Murphy, but not sure he can really be expected to play on the left of a midfield 4 at his age.  I thought he was signed to play as a no 10 or part of a front 3.  Again, that was a poor tactical choice for me.  

Poor Callum can’t  win.  If he asks some inane “Can we win tomorrow, Lee” type question he gets criticised, but folk still aren’t happy if he asks a question with a little more bite (and validity).

[No_Problemo]

7 minutes ago, Nelson said:

Seemed a reasonable question to me.  We know Dempsey and Murdoch are too similar as a midfield 2 and I really thought  that Pendlebury would start last Saturday to match up to Morton’s midfield 3.  We didn’t and Crawford had the freedom of the park.  That’s a tactical screw up from the manager, and its hardly the first from Bullen.  I like the look of Murphy, but not sure he can really be expected to play on the left of a midfield 4 at his age.  I thought he was signed to play as a no 10 or part of a front 3.  Again, that was a poor tactical choice for me.  

Poor Callum can’t  win.  If he asks some inane “Can we win tomorrow, Lee” type question he gets criticised, but folk still aren’t happy if he asks a question with a little more bite (and validity).

We didn’t have anyone available capable of playing in a lone nine role though…

It was a valid question several times last season, not on Saturday though. 

[Roxanne's man]

34 minutes ago, ryanayr1987 said:

You outing richey as Sean mcginty

Goodness no! That would be awkward if it were just Bangala and McGinty had been left in the changing room those few times......mind you, would explain a bit

[Nelson]

5 minutes ago, No_Problemo said:

We didn’t have anyone available capable of playing in a lone nine role though…

It was a valid question several times last season, not on Saturday though. 

That’s not really true.  We could have gone with a midfield 3 of Murdoch, Dempsey and Pendlebury, with a forward 3 of McKenzie through the middle and Amartey and Murphy either side of him.  A forward 2 of McKenzie and Bryden proved to be every bit as ineffective as we might have feared, which is particularly worrying when you consider they were up against a very makeshift Morton defence.  I like the look of Murphy and Amartey, but they struggled to get in the game because once again, a partnership of Murdoch and Dempsey couldn’t get any control of the ball in the middle of the park.  That was a recurring issue last season.
 

A change in tactics might have yielded no better a result, but I can’t agree that we had no other options as we clearly did.  The fact that we didn’t change our shape to counter the influence of Crawford was a tactical failure from Bullen and reminded me of the Falkirk game when they changed the shape of their midfield after 30 minutes while Bullen stood and watched.  
 

Perfectly reasonable for Callum to ask the question - quite shocked actually given the banal happy clapper stuff we’re used to.  

[D'Jaffo]

The one time where people have actually be quite satisfied with how we’ve approached games and that’s when Callum decides to pick out a question that calls it into question. 
 

The issue last week wasn’t our approach, it was how quickly we abandoned it and panicked once Morton equalised. It was pathetic and we showed a lot more character last season in games to grind results out. If we’d been able to settle down after it went to 1-1 and play our own game then I think it might’ve been a different result. 
 

Just because a team plays three in midfield doesn’t mean that it’s a “poor tactical choice” to only play two. You can absolutely get away with that and we did for large parts of the game. I’m not so sure why someone would think Murphy isn’t suited to playing on the left of a four WHEN THAT IS THE ONLY POSITION HE HAS PLAYED THIS SEASON WITH ZERO ISSUES. Playing in the position he does actually gets him more involved as he takes up a position that’s quite narrow and allows Reading to get beyond him whilst allowing him to get on the ball in a deeper position. He’s getting a fair bit of freedom and I quite like that. 

[D'Jaffo]

Just now, Nelson said:

That’s not really true.  We could have gone with a midfield 3 of Murdoch, Dempsey and Pendlebury, with a forward 3 of McKenzie through the middle and Amartey and Murphy either side of him.  A forward 2 of McKenzie and Bryden proved to be every bit as ineffective as we might have feared, which is particularly worrying when you consider they were up against a very makeshift Morton defence.  I like the look of Murphy and Amartey, but they struggled to get in the game because once again, a partnership of Murdoch and Dempsey couldn’t get any control of the ball in the middle of the park.  That was a recurring issue last season.
 

A change in tactics might have yielded no better a result, but I can’t agree that we had no other options as we clearly did.  The fact that we didn’t change our shape to counter the influence of Crawford was a tactical failure from Bullen and reminded me of the Falkirk game when they changed the shape of their midfield after 30 minutes while Bullen stood and watched.  
 

Perfectly reasonable for Callum to ask the question - quite shocked actually given the banal happy clapper stuff we’re used to.  

Callum’s a fucking moron and the fact that he’s taking posts off of Facebook to base his questions around backs that up. 

[Buckfast]

Noticed a player today coming out of Somerset with a pile of merchandise. New player?

[Nelson]

1 minute ago, D'Jaffo said:

The one time where people have actually be quite satisfied with how we’ve approached games and that’s when Callum decides to pick out a question that calls it into question. 
 

The issue last week wasn’t our approach, it was how quickly we abandoned it and panicked once Morton equalised. It was pathetic and we showed a lot more character last season in games to grind results out. If we’d been able to settle down after it went to 1-1 and play our own game then I think it might’ve been a different result. 
 

Just because a team plays three in midfield doesn’t mean that it’s a “poor tactical choice” to only play two. You can absolutely get away with that and we did for large parts of the game. I’m not so sure why someone would think Murphy isn’t suited to playing on the left of a four WHEN THAT IS THE ONLY POSITION HE HAS PLAYED THIS SEASON WITH ZERO ISSUES. Playing in the position he does actually gets him more involved as he takes up a position that’s quite narrow and allows Reading to get beyond him whilst allowing him to get on the ball in a deeper position. He’s getting a fair bit of freedom and I quite like that. 

Depends how good the midfield 2 are I suppose.  The problem for me is that ours are just too similar.  They both work hard but neither seems able to hold onto possession for any period at all. It was a massive Achilles heel last season and  was part of the reason why we ended up going early and direct to Dipo all the time - we simply couldn’t build any play through the midfield.  

I’m honestly staggered that anyone who went up to Cappielow last week wouldn’t have issues with the way we set up.  For all I rate Robbie Crawford, I don’t think he’s as good a player as we managed to make him look.  That was a tactical failure as much as anything.

As for Murphy, I do think it’s wholly unrealistic to expect him at his age to cover the ground necessary to play as part of a midfield 4.  Seems like a bit of a waste generally as he clearly has the ability to be more effective further forward. 

Bullen’s p***kly response to the question suggests to me he is not unaware of the ongoing doubts about his ability to set up a football team.

[No_Problemo]

13 minutes ago, Nelson said:

That’s not really true.  We could have gone with a midfield 3 of Murdoch, Dempsey and Pendlebury, with a forward 3 of McKenzie through the middle and Amartey and Murphy either side of him.  A forward 2 of McKenzie and Bryden proved to be every bit as ineffective as we might have feared, which is particularly worrying when you consider they were up against a very makeshift Morton defence.  I like the look of Murphy and Amartey, but they struggled to get in the game because once again, a partnership of Murdoch and Dempsey couldn’t get any control of the ball in the middle of the park.  That was a recurring issue last season.
 

A change in tactics might have yielded no better a result, but I can’t agree that we had no other options as we clearly did.  The fact that we didn’t change our shape to counter the influence of Crawford was a tactical failure from Bullen and reminded me of the Falkirk game when they changed the shape of their midfield after 30 minutes while Bullen stood and watched.  
 

Perfectly reasonable for Callum to ask the question - quite shocked actually given the banal happy clapper stuff we’re used to.  

Dempsey and Murdoch not controlling games last season was a recurring issue but not because of them, it was our style of play - they weren’t asked to try and control games. 

McKenzie doesn’t have the ability to play in the middle of a front three and for everything to link off him IMO. 

Saying all that, I’ve said elsewhere I would be dropping both McKenzie and Bryden and going with an extra player in midfield until we can recruit an attacking central midfielder. 

[Nelson]

14 minutes ago, D'Jaffo said:

Callum’s a fucking moron and the fact that he’s taking posts off of Facebook to base his questions around backs that up. 

I’ve never met the guy, but most of the historic criticism of him has related to the banality of his questioning.  Was good to hear him ask something with a bit more substance.  I’ve never met him so don’t know what he’s like, but the personal abuse just seems like keyboard warrior stuff to me.

[Richey Edwards]

2 minutes ago, Buckfast said:

Noticed a player today coming out of Somerset with a pile of merchandise. New player?

Hopefully. Still awaiting a FriYay.

 

59 minutes ago, ryanayr1987 said:

You outing richey as Sean mcginty

I'm older than McGinty. In fact, of the current squad only Murphy and McGeady are older than I am.

[Nelson]

5 minutes ago, No_Problemo said:

Dempsey and Murdoch not controlling games last season was a recurring issue but not because of them, it was our style of play - they weren’t asked to try and control games. 

McKenzie doesn’t have the ability to play in the middle of a front three and for everything to link off him IMO. 

Saying all that, I’ve said elsewhere I would be dropping both McKenzie and Bryden and going with an extra player in midfield until we can recruit an attacking central midfielder. 

Honestly, I don’t think there’s any formation in which McKenzie really works.  But a front 2 of him and Bryden was like playing a man short.  As for the midfield 2, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a successful team that didn’t have the ability to exert some level of control over the midfield for some periods during a game.   

[No_Problemo]

Just now, Nelson said:

Honestly, I don’t think there’s any formation in which McKenzie really works.  But a front 2 of him and Bryden was like playing a man short.  As for the midfield 2, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a successful team that didn’t have the ability to exert some level of control over the midfield for some periods during a game.   

I think it has to be quite a specific set up for McKenzie to be effective, but I don’t think we will see much of that this season. 

I’ve been saying since early on last season that I would like us to control games a bit more, but ultimately for the first half of last season it was working. I remember saying earlier in the summer that I wanted us to sign Brad Spencer as I thought we needed a deep lying playmaker type. We clearly haven’t looked for that, so we need to hope the guys we have there can step up and control things now they are being asked to. When they are taking the ball in and playing it back to the defence they do need people capable of playing too and that isn’t happening with McAllister and McGinty particularly. 

Anyway - wait until both McKenzie and Bryden are starting tomorrow - I’ll happily criticise Bullen then!

[Iain]

31 minutes ago, D'Jaffo said:

Just because a team plays three in midfield doesn’t mean that it’s a “poor tactical choice” to only play two. You can absolutely get away with that and we did for large parts of the game. I’m not so sure why someone would think Murphy isn’t suited to playing on the left of a four WHEN THAT IS THE ONLY POSITION HE HAS PLAYED THIS SEASON WITH ZERO ISSUES. Playing in the position he does actually gets him more involved as he takes up a position that’s quite narrow and allows Reading to get beyond him whilst allowing him to get on the ball in a deeper position. He’s getting a fair bit of freedom and I quite like that. 

I sometimes think when McAllister is at RB and Reading at LB that when Murphy tucks in and Reading bombs on that, until Reading gets back upfield, McAllister could/should rotate round to make it a back 3, with the two central midfielders shifting to their right to effectively make it a 3-4-3. Might be because I love a 3-4-3 though.

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, Nelson said:

Honestly, I don’t think there’s any formation in which McKenzie really works.  But a front 2 of him and Bryden was like playing a man short.  As for the midfield 2, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a successful team that didn’t have the ability to exert some level of control over the midfield for some periods during a game.   

I agree that Bryden and McKenzie aren't yet capable of leading the line, however they were entitled to a shot as the previous week they were both excellent and Bryden in particular looked like he'd come on leaps and bounds since last season.

It didn't work but ultimately we didn't really have anyone else to play there (which is an indictment in itself) as Rose obviously wasn't ready and McGeady also looked well off it.

The bottom line is that we're still a few players short in some really important positions and until we get people in / people fully fit, then we're likely going to struggle.

[Nelson]

1 minute ago, No_Problemo said:

I think it has to be quite a specific set up for McKenzie to be effective, but I don’t think we will see much of that this season. 

I’ve been saying since early on last season that I would like us to control games a bit more, but ultimately for the first half of last season it was working. I remember saying earlier in the summer that I wanted us to sign Brad Spencer as I thought we needed a deep lying playmaker type. We clearly haven’t looked for that, so we need to hope the guys we have there can step up and control things now they are being asked to. When they are taking the ball in and playing it back to the defence they do need people capable of playing too and that isn’t happening with McAllister and McGinty particularly. 

Anyway - wait until both McKenzie and Bryden are starting tomorrow - I’ll happily criticise Bullen then!

 Goes back to the questionable recruitment I suppose.  As others have noted, we haven’t really addressed key issues from last season.  I’d be pretty shocked if McKenzie and Bryden started tomorrow, and Murdoch’s injury might torpedo any ideas of a change of shape.