The Ultimate Super Ayr Thread

[Trogdor]

40 minutes ago, No_Problemo said:

Also - if I hear at the weekend that Rose isn’t fit to play after f**k knows how much weeks with us, half an hour at the weekend and a reserve game under his belt I might lose the plot. 

Not entirely unreasonable tbh.

[Trogdor]

McGinty is on a par with Aero now. An average Championship defender. He's solid if unspectacular most weeks. He will always have the odd week like Morton but that used to be his norm every week when he joined.

[D'Jaffo]

You can get away with playing McGinty in a team that wants to have more possession. He hoofs it quite a bit but he’s also capable of keeping it simple. I think his issue on Saturday was that neither Smith or Dempsey were showing for the ball. For me, McAllister is the biggest weakness in trying to play a passing game. He has zero composure and I thought he was largely awful defensively on Saturday. I really hope either Ahui or Watret can become capable of playing every week as McAllister worries me at times. 
 

Fwiw I’d be interested to see Stanger and Musonda play together but I wouldn’t drop McGinty yet. He was imperious at the back on Saturday. 

[D'Jaffo]

1 minute ago, Trogdor said:

McGinty is on a par with Aero now. An average Championship defender. He's solid if unspectacular most weeks. He will always have the odd week like Morton but that used to be his norm every week when he joined.

He’s far more likeable imo. Doesn’t really have any bearing on his ability but I found Muirhead to be insufferable in his last season. 

[Trogdor]

Just now, D'Jaffo said:

He’s far more likeable imo. Doesn’t really have any bearing on his ability but I found Muirhead to be insufferable in his last season. 

Aero's penchant for losing the heid didn't help for sure. His last season wasn't as much his fault as consecutive managers playing him in the middle of the park to shitfest a result. It was brutal watching him kick the ball out of play repeatedly or resort to an aimless punt.

At centre back he's absolutely fine at this level though.

[No_Problemo]

4 minutes ago, Trogdor said:

McGinty is on a par with Aero now. An average Championship defender. He's solid if unspectacular most weeks. He will always have the odd week like Morton but that used to be his norm every week when he joined.

Yeah, pretty much. 

3 minutes ago, D'Jaffo said:

You can get away with playing McGinty in a team that wants to have more possession. He hoofs it quite a bit but he’s also capable of keeping it simple. I think his issue on Saturday was that neither Smith or Dempsey were showing for the ball. For me, McAllister is the biggest weakness in trying to play a passing game. He has zero composure and I thought he was largely awful defensively on Saturday. I really hope either Ahui or Watret can become capable of playing every week as McAllister worries me at times. 
 

Fwiw I’d be interested to see Stanger and Musonda play together but I wouldn’t drop McGinty yet. He was imperious at the back on Saturday. 

He is capable of that under no pressure at times, but even then he chooses to hoof it if nothing shows immediately. Under any kind of pressure he has no composure whatsoever IMO. He probably isn’t too different from McAllister, ideally either don’t play! At the moment it unfortunately looks like McAllister is going to be our right back for the foreseeable, unfortunately. If Ahui doesn’t get near it over the next few weeks, then there is absolutely no point in him being here as we need a first choice RB. 

I did think McGinty was generally very good on Saturday, I just want to see players on the park that suit the style that Bullen says he wants to play. On top of that I think it’s our best partnership, but McGinty will still have a big role to play regardless. 

[ayrunitedfw]

34 minutes ago, D'Jaffo said:

McKenzie in for Ashford and Pendlebury in for Musonda and that’s probably our strongest fit team right now. 

McKenzie even being in the discussion for being a part of our strongest team shows there is still work to be done in the transfer market attacking wise. 

[Nelson]

10 hours ago, No_Problemo said:

Umm he was terrible a week ago. 

Generally, it also depends how you look at it - Bullen has told us he wants to play more of a possession style and McGinty can’t do it. Musonda has also shown over last season that he is the better defender, and is obviously better on the ball. 

Not convinced Musonda has shown he is the better defender.  He certainly isn’t as strong a defender as McGinty in the air.  I think McGinty offers a bit more leadership on the park as well - he was one of the few who kept going in the play off shambles while Musonda was one who chucked it a wee bit.  Musonda certainly has more pace and is good with the ball at his feet, but like last season, I think he is competing with the right sided centre back for a starting place.  I’ve been impressed so far with Stanger and would give him a run.  I suppose the question is whether Musonda could do a better job at right back than our other 2 options - yes is surely the answer.  Talk of him playing centre midfield seems pretty wild to me.

[Shibuya]

We looked best in possession with Kirk and Musonda in the team last year, no doubt about it. The trouble with Frankie is that he's never bloody fit. 

[eez-eh]

No doubting Musonda is better with the ball but McGinty could start playing like Maldini every week and there’d still be folk on here saying he should be on the bench.

[No_Problemo]

51 minutes ago, eez-eh said:

No doubting Musonda is better with the ball but McGinty could start playing like Maldini every week and there’d still be folk on here saying he should be on the bench.

This just isn’t true anymore, I don’t think there is anyone on here who doesn’t see that McGinty is pretty good for us most of the time. I thought he would start alongside Musonda this season, but Stanger has came in and looked good. 

1 hour ago, Nelson said:

Not convinced Musonda has shown he is the better defender.  He certainly isn’t as strong a defender as McGinty in the air.  I think McGinty offers a bit more leadership on the park as well - he was one of the few who kept going in the play off shambles while Musonda was one who chucked it a wee bit.  Musonda certainly has more pace and is good with the ball at his feet, but like last season, I think he is competing with the right sided centre back for a starting place.  I’ve been impressed so far with Stanger and would give him a run.  I suppose the question is whether Musonda could do a better job at right back than our other 2 options - yes is surely the answer.  Talk of him playing centre midfield seems pretty wild to me.

He isn’t as good in the air, but is better on the ball, shows more composure and is better with people running at him which is McGinty’s main weakness IMO. I think he is better all round, but if we are playing a side that is strong aerially I would be happy with McGinty coming back in. It is Bullen’s continued insistence that we are playing a different style this season that seals it for me though. 

 

[Shibuya]

The new style seems to be for Albinson to knock it short to a defender and then for us to lose the ball under pressure from the forward, am i seeing it right? We started this at the tail end of last season and abandoned it every time. 

[No_Problemo]

4 minutes ago, Shibuya said:

The new style seems to be for Albinson to knock it short to a defender and then for us to lose the ball under pressure from the forward, am i seeing it right? We started this at the tail end of last season and abandoned it every time. 

Pretty much! Options are:

A) Bullen doesn’t have a clue how to implement it. 
B) Our recruitment strategy hasn’t thought about implementing this style in terms of our defensive/midfield signings. 
C) And the knock on of B is that we don’t have the players to do it. 

A mixture of all three IMO. 

 

[BukyOHare]

Livingston could possibly have six or seven players against us (eight if you include their keeper) over 6 foot. They play to that physicality, we will definitely need McGinty for his physical traits to try and combat what Livingston throw at us.

Edited August 15, 2023 by BukyOHare

[Iain]

11 minutes ago, No_Problemo said:

Pretty much! Options are:

A) Bullen doesn’t have a clue how to implement it. 
B) Our recruitment strategy hasn’t thought about implementing this style in terms of our defensive/midfield signings. 
C) And the knock on of B is that we don’t have the players to do it. 

A mixture of all three IMO. 

 

This is why Paul Smith should be in the team every week. Seems by far the most comfortable receiving the ball from the keeper or a defender and distributing it.

[No_Problemo]

Just now, Iain said:

This is why Paul Smith should be in the team every week. Seems by far the most comfortable receiving the ball from the keeper or a defender and distributing it.

I think he should be given the chance to do it over a run of games, but he is going to need to be brave and constantly demand the ball off the of the defence. It is hard for the guys in midfield too as they need defenders to play off at times and their options to do that are severely limited. 

[Iain]

Haha the club lotto numbers this week are 23, 24, 27, 28. Whatever system they've upgraded to, I'm not sure it's helping.

[Thumper]

2 hours ago, eez-eh said:

No doubting Musonda is better with the ball but McGinty could start playing like Maldini every week and there’d still be folk on here saying he should be on the bench.

A thing I like is when a player has literally years of history to judge them on, has a bad game and is criticised, and people say that this is because the fanbase has irrationally chosen to hate that player.

Irrational hatred is when @itzdrk watched Mark Roberts scoring every week and still said he was pish and should be dropped. Nobody suggesting that perhaps defenders should not occasionally concede stupid penalties or make schoolboy positional errors is doing so out of some twisted personal enmity.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, No_Problemo said:

I think he should be given the chance to do it over a run of games, but he is going to need to be brave and constantly demand the ball off the of the defence. It is hard for the guys in midfield too as they need defenders to play off at times and their options to do that are severely limited. 

It's a strange thing but early last season we came forward as a team and we defended as a team, there were always options and we looked like we always had a few players free to receive a pass, however the last quarter of last season in particular and the start of this season our Midfield seems pretty static as if they just hang around the middle of the pitch and we don't seem to have any options when we have the ball, I can't quite put my finger on what's caused this but it definitely needs to change.

Murphy coming in looked like he'd drag the whole team along and that we'd start to play some good fast link up stuff however him being out for 4 - 6 weeks has set us back massively and as such confirms that we need quality reinforcements ASAP.

[LIVIFOREVER]

1 hour ago, BukyOHare said:

Livingston could possible have six or seven players against us (eight if you include their keeper) over 6 foot.

We will definitely need McGinty for his physicality.

Yep, and we're still shite at scoring from set plays.