The Official Airdrieonians Thread - 2019/20 and beyond

[She who dares gins]

Shame the league cup is seen as a kick about. It’s a good chance to earn some money if nothing else. And the start of the season has been known about for a long time. I get the leagues the most important thing though.

They’re competitive games as far as I’m concerned with the opportunity of a better draw/money spinner if you get through, if some people want to write that off then that’s fine.

Two weeks to go until season kicks off proper and the excuses of it’s just pre-season are wearing a little bit thin with me. Get a squad sorted. Some players looked knackered and we couldn’t make a single sub. Counted four for Edinburgh.

[Jack Reed]

10 hours ago, ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds said:

It’s not like Smith or McGill were missing sitters. Most of those missed shots were long range efforts or blocked quickly by defenders and a lot were from Frizzell and Devenny as well. If anything our conversion rate would improve with better decision making by all players in the last third (midfielders and wing backs included) or by having an extra man up top as we did last season to actually overload the opposition defence.

Decision making  or that strikers instinct,

[Diamond1924]

Was quite impressed by yesterdays team. We were very composed on the ball and knocked it around well. 
 

It’s by no means the finished article but it’s certainly promising. 
 

I do agree that we are lacking up front. 28 shots and 6 on target with only 1 goal is very poor. I also don’t buy the argument “but we have 4 strikes already bla bla bla”. I think McGill and Smith are great at doing the graft but they’re not finishers nor are they the most physical strikers. Hoping Salim comes in and offers something new or we will be relying on a very young midfield to score our goals.

[Glenmavis Diamond]

8 hours ago, Passionate said:

The way McCabe sets his team up 3 5 2 was the system .Murray wanted to play for 2  seasons but couldn't get the personnel, Cammy B and Euan Dev I like but can they defend, they play  very high,  we need experienced midfielders in this system,  promising against an experamental Edinburgh all there main men were on the bench apparently,  Edinburgh are tipped to be cannon fodder in this league,  Fontaine and Keiran McD strolled that tonight, shame we never had the vision to be in for them,    looking around the stand I only noticed Leon Jones with the non playing staff,nobody else,  pressure will increase on Rhys now just over a fortnight to Peter head league kickoff,  signings must come in now and get them bedded in,  are we convinced he can get his signings over the line......   Jury's out

I'm convinced, yes. He's already brought in a couple of decent players, definite upgrades, in Rae and Ballantyne. He's said in a couple interviews now that he won't be rushed into signings just to make up the numbers. We've a tight, lower league budget. Every player needs to be able to add something, and not just sit on the bench all season, so he's quite right to be cautious and take his time. I think we will see some more good additions before the league kicks off. 

[Chapelhall chap]

11 hours ago, Jack Reed said:

28shots to 7 not hard to see where the problem is, we just don't have a decent striker, 

Definitely poor shooting skills tonight despite some unlucky posts, after some very good attacking moves. It was quite stylish in places and much as Cole Gibson did a sound job we really need an experienced guy in that role. The spine still needs strengthening and I remain a wee bit concerned. 

Better decision making when the chances appeared and we might have won comfortably. 

No shouters in the family friendly Section D and we knew all the starting 11. But the bench? 

[Glenmavis Diamond]

Some moron sitting behind me kept giving young Cole pelters for absolutely no reason. Had to bite my lip to stop me from turning and telling them to shut the fu(k up. Not even critical stuff, but just abuse. I kid you not, they actually called him a 'knob jockey' at one point due to a misplaced pass. Like, what the actual fu(k is that all about? Just ludicrous stuff. It'd be laughable if it wasn't so pathetic. 

Edit to add: I actually think he played quite well, once he settled a bit. To regain your composure after an early booking on your first ever senior start takes nerve. And he displayed some excellent passing after that. Literally flung in at the deep end and looked a decent prospect. Well done to the lad. 

Edited July 13, 2022 by Glenmavis Diamond

[She who dares gins]

Some moron sitting behind me kept giving young Cole pelters for absolutely no reason. Had to bite my lip to stop me from turning and telling them to shut the fu(k up. Not even critical stuff, but just abuse. I kid you not, they actually called him a 'knob jockey' at one point due to a misplaced pass. Like, what the actual fu(k is that all about? Just ludicrous stuff. It'd be laughable if it wasn't so pathetic. 

What the f**k? The kid did really well in what can be a particularly exposed position, he was also managing an early yellow card. Had some really nice vision at times and excellent passing. Certainly didn’t do a whole lot wrong.

[diamond_for_life]

I thought Airdrie did most things well last night and the score line obviously doesn’t reflect how the game went. We passed the ball about really well and created some great opportunities with good play. 
 

I thought the keeper wasn’t great for the Edinburgh goal and they didn’t really create much else so I had no major issues with the defending. Gave the ball away in the middle of the park sometimes but that will happen especially with the style Airdrie look to play. 
 

Didn’t know much about the young number 20 before last night but thought he grew into the game and showed good potential. He looks like he wants to be composed passer of the ball in the midfield who can deal with pressure and his reading of the game will grow as he develops. 
 

The obvious issue was poor finishing and some poor decision making in the final third but we we don’t have a natural goal scorer. We have some decent attacking options for this level who work hard and will chip in with goals but at this level it’s hard to get a natural finisher who scores goals week in week out. 

Edited July 13, 2022 by diamond_for_life

[G_H]

Didn't manage to make the game due to work commitments, however good to see one of the academy players getting a start already, despite the fact that we really shouldn't be in this position.

I note the absence of Gallagher from the team sheet (is he injured?) and cant help but wonder if his finishing would have made the difference given the match stats being discussed.

[Rossm25]

2 hours ago, Glenmavis Diamond said:

Some moron sitting behind me kept giving young Cole pelters for absolutely no reason. Had to bite my lip to stop me from turning and telling them to shut the fu(k up. Not even critical stuff, but just abuse. I kid you not, they actually called him a 'knob jockey' at one point due to a misplaced pass. Like, what the actual fu(k is that all about? Just ludicrous stuff. It'd be laughable if it wasn't so pathetic. 

Edit to add: I actually think he played quite well, once he settled a bit. To regain your composure after an early booking on your first ever senior start takes nerve. And he displayed some excellent passing after that. Literally flung in at the deep end and looked a decent prospect. Well done to the lad. 

Was this the idiot that kept calling him mcmaster? Absolute muppet. 

We were poor in spells last night but lots of ifs and buts in regards to missed penalty and a few stone wallers not given. 

Think the 352 formation was more down to players available rather than preferred choice going forward. 

Justin Deveney  looks promising,  hopefully he really kicks on this season.

Edited July 13, 2022 by Rossm25

[Rossm25]

1 minute ago, G_H said:

Didn't manage to make the game due to work commitments, however good to see one of the academy players getting a start already, despite the fact that we really shouldn't be in this position.

I note the absence of Gallagher from the team sheet (is he injured?) and cant help but wonder if his finishing would have made the difference given the match stats being discussed.

Gal could have had a hattrick last night,  all off his shins.

[Tory Boy]

5 minutes ago, G_H said:

Didn't manage to make the game due to work commitments, however good to see one of the academy players getting a start already, despite the fact that we really shouldn't be in this position.

I note the absence of Gallagher from the team sheet (is he injured?) and cant help but wonder if his finishing would have made the difference given the match stats being discussed.

 

A mate of mine heard Gallagher was out with Covid.

 

[Mr November]

3 minutes ago, Rossm25 said:

Gal could have had a hattrick last night,  all off his shins.

Yeah as the game went on last night it was clear we just needed the ball to bounce in off someone, Gal’s your man for that. 

I thought the squad numbers the academy players got were interesting. Obviously these things don’t matter too much these days but they all seem to have been given numbers that are part of the first team squad. We still have a few classic ones to fill (3, 5, 8, 12) but I’d like to think we have more than four signings left. A creative midfielder, a winger who can play on the right and either a centre back or holding midfielder (depending on where McCabe wants to play) would be my priorities now, with a left back to challenge/improve on Deveney as well ideally.

[Jack Reed]

1 hour ago, Glenmavis Diamond said:

Some moron sitting behind me kept giving young Cole pelters for absolutely no reason. Had to bite my lip to stop me from turning and telling them to shut the fu(k up. Not even critical stuff, but just abuse. I kid you not, they actually called him a 'knob jockey' at one point due to a misplaced pass. Like, what the actual fu(k is that all about? Just ludicrous stuff. It'd be laughable if it wasn't so pathetic. 

Edit to add: I actually think he played quite well, once he settled a bit. To regain your composure after an early booking on your first ever senior start takes nerve. And he displayed some excellent passing after that. Literally flung in at the deep end and looked a decent prospect. Well done to the lad. 

Pity you didn't tell him to shut up, shouting is one thing but  shouting abuse is another, Airdrie can do without, 

[She who dares gins]

Pity you didn't tell him to shut up, shouting is one thing but  shouting abuse is another, Airdrie can do without, 

Sometimes easier said than done. Not everyone takes being told to shut up that well [emoji1787]

[ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds]

Yeah as the game went on last night it was clear we just needed the ball to bounce in off someone, Gal’s your man for that. 
I thought the squad numbers the academy players got were interesting. Obviously these things don’t matter too much these days but they all seem to have been given numbers that are part of the first team squad. We still have a few classic ones to fill (3, 5, 8, 12) but I’d like to think we have more than four signings left. A creative midfielder, a winger who can play on the right and either a centre back or holding midfielder (depending on where McCabe wants to play) would be my priorities now, with a left back to challenge/improve on Deveney as well ideally.

Might not be permanent squad numbers but who knows, at least there’s still some more classic numbers to fill as you said so you’d think there will still be first team players coming in. Will be interesting to see more academy announcements as those five were all described as midfielders so there should still be a lot more in order to have a team. I think the announcement of those five might have been rushed due to McMasters and Gallagher being unavailable.

Recruitment so far (as slow as it’s been) has generally been good so hopefully more of the same. Rae and Ballantyne look like big improvements on what we had last season, McMasters like a good player and Devenny so far has been a class act. Deveney I’m still undecided on and like you say another left back would be good to have. Think he was a bit lucky to stay on the park last night after that crunching challenge.

[Jack Reed]

19 minutes ago, She who dares gins said:

Sometimes easier said than done. Not everyone takes being told to shut up that well

No you are right, you would have to be prepared to have a wee wrestle and maybe a early exit to hospital

[airdrieman]

12 hours ago, Mr November said:

I did think we were unfortunate a few times tonight, Smith's shot coming off the post, McGill's penalty (I never felt confident about him scoring that) and I think two cleared off the line. We dominated the game and Rae didn't have too much to do but definitely still a few issues to iron out before the league starts. We probably need two wins, or maybe a win and a penalty win, to go through now which I don't see us doing against St. Mirren and Arbroath but we'll see what happens next week.

I'm still a bit unsure on the back three. Ballantyne and Deveney are pretty attacking which helps, it's certainly an improvement on Wardrop and Quitongo, but we often had Fordyce pushing forward as an extra men which didn't really work. Cole Gibson looked pretty nervous early on but grew into the game a bit. He's not ready for this level yet though and while Devenny and Frizzell did well driving forward, we lacked  dominant holding midfielder in there. Smith and McGill worked hard and constantly got in between or behind their defence but a mixture of poor finishing and poor decision making cost us. Smith in particular seemed desperate to get the ball out wide and cut inside but every time he did he was blocked by a sea of defenders. Someone like Gallagher, who often scores with various body parts through his excellent positioning, might have been lucky and scored one tonight.

I'd be concerned if we're still using that team against Peterhead in a couple of weeks but given we were missing a couple of players, I'm happy enough with the performance. Definitely some positives but plenty to work on too. I do worry since we're waiting on a few players coming in that they might be a bit rusty when the league games start. Slow starts have been a real issue at the club for a number of years now and given how tough our opening games are, we need to be on it from the start.

Not sure about the 3-5-2 yet either but can maybe only make a fair judgement once we have our ‘proper’ starting XI in place. Ballantyne is an outstanding addition. Not fully sold on Deveney yet but thought he put a couple of decent balls into the box without having much of an impact on the game (he seemed to be in space quite a lot but his team mates never passed to him). Not a fan at all of Fordyce playing so high up the park. He got in the way of attacks a number of times or took the wrong option. Or if he took the right option he didn’t have the ability on the ball to play it right. If a centre-half is going to be playing in attacking positions it should be McCabe. Would have thought that’d be obvious! Edinburgh didn’t create much but when they did get forward I thought it was pretty easy for them. We’ll need to tighten up ahead of the St Mirren game and league campaign. I would maybe ditch the 3-5-2 for the St Mirren game even if that’s going to be our preferred formation TBH. 

2 hours ago, Glenmavis Diamond said:

Some moron sitting behind me kept giving young Cole pelters for absolutely no reason. Had to bite my lip to stop me from turning and telling them to shut the fu(k up. Not even critical stuff, but just abuse. I kid you not, they actually called him a 'knob jockey' at one point due to a misplaced pass. Like, what the actual fu(k is that all about? Just ludicrous stuff. It'd be laughable if it wasn't so pathetic. 

Edit to add: I actually think he played quite well, once he settled a bit. To regain your composure after an early booking on your first ever senior start takes nerve. And he displayed some excellent passing after that. Literally flung in at the deep end and looked a decent prospect. Well done to the lad. 

You could see he was nervous in the first-half with his misplaced pass and booking but he did grow into the game well enough. Some nice turns, touches and passes and didn’t do much wrong in the second-half. We clearly missed an experienced and physical presence in his position but he can be proud of his effort. 
 

And he should be. Don’t know how much he’s even trained with the first team (if at all) but to start in holding midfield on the day you officially sign and do a reasonable job at only 16/17 is some going. Hope he continues to develop and we see him in and around the first team squad again in the future. He’s already no worse than some of the jobbers who’ve played for us over the years. 

[Diamond Oracle]

Really surprised to see some of the negative comments on here. I came away from last nights game entirely optimistic for the season ahead.

We may be behind where we were last season in terms of personnel, but in terms of our style of play I’d say we’re streets ahead. Some really impressive stuff I thought.

We dominated the game last night against a decent Edinburgh side. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say we could have easily scored 3, 4, 5 goals on another night. Rae, Ballantyne and Devenny are all excellent additions and are definitely improvements on last season. The way the team was set up and the speed of passing was excellent.

If we continue to play like that, once the squad are up to speed, I can see us battering a couple of teams this seasons.

I think with 3 or 4 solid additions we could really compete at the top again this season. I’d like to see the following:

- Starting LB. I think Deveney is decent but not good enough (based on what I’ve seen so far) and certainly nowhere near Ballantyne’s level on the other side.
- CB cover. I like Fordyce, McCabe and Watson but we’ll need cover to ensure we can still compete when we inevitably pick up injuries.
- CM. I’ve seen Telfer’s name mentioned, I think a player like him is needed.
- ST. Despite having 4 strikers I think we could do with another given Salim’s injury record so far. We saw last night that with Gal out and Gabby & Smith not firing we really struggled to get the ball in the back of the net.

I don’t think we need a big squad but would need at least 17/18 first team players, supported by the academy squad as we seen last night, to be competitive.

[Jack Reed]

48 minutes ago, airdrieman said:

Not sure about the 3-5-2 yet either but can maybe only make a fair judgement once we have our ‘proper’ starting XI in place. Ballantyne is an outstanding addition. Not fully sold on Deveney yet but thought he put a couple of decent balls into the box without having much of an impact on the game (he seemed to be in space quite a lot but his team mates never passed to him). Not a fan at all of Fordyce playing so high up the park. He got in the way of attacks a number of times or took the wrong option. Or if he took the right option he didn’t have the ability on the ball to play it right. If a centre-half is going to be playing in attacking positions it should be McCabe. Would have thought that’d be obvious! Edinburgh didn’t create much but when they did get forward I thought it was pretty easy for them. We’ll need to tighten up ahead of the St Mirren game and league campaign. I would maybe ditch the 3-5-2 for the St Mirren game even if that’s going to be our preferred formation TBH. 

You could see he was nervous in the first-half with his misplaced pass and booking but he did grow into the game well enough. Some nice turns, touches and passes and didn’t do much wrong in the second-half. We clearly missed an experienced and physical presence in his position but he can be proud of his effort. 
 

And he should be. Don’t know how much he’s even trained with the first team (if at all) but to start in holding midfield on the day you officially sign and do a reasonable job at only 16/17 is some going. Hope he continues to develop and we see him in and around the first team squad again in the future. He’s already no worse than some of the jobbers who’ve played for us over the years. 

Think you would have to blame manager for  using a young lad, would assume that there is players to come in but maybe on holiday or signing clearance  problems, let's hope so anyway,