The Official Airdrieonians Thread - 2019/20 and beyond

[dextermorgan]

18 minutes ago, 2lgm said:

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head . Its not necessarly the defence it’s the midfield leaves them woefully exposed. McMaster attempted 3-4 half hearted sliding tackles that he had no chance of success with - token efforts. We lost almost every 50/50 in the middle too. Gear too lightweight in the middle of the park. 

McMaster is obviously a talented player and can only get better with age. Just now however, he is not what we need in midfield i.e. maturity, aggression and physique. Our manager is undoubtedly aware of this and for what it is worth I would play Ballantyne in there and have Watson at right back, at least Cammy can put a tackle in.

[Jack Reed]

21 hours ago, dextermorgan said:

McMaster is obviously a talented player and can only get better with age. Just now however, he is not what we need in midfield i.e. maturity, aggression and physique. Our manager is undoubtedly aware of this and for what it is worth I would play Ballantyne in there and have Watson at right back, at least Cammy can put a tackle in.

Does the academy team exist or is it on a need to know only  question, a lot of hype about Gowsers lot then nothing, a bit like our signing's, Are we struggling that bad with money, if we are get the yough guys in, that's if they are still around, 

[ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds]

Do you think any other team in world football has a senior playing squad that’s 22.22% goalkeepers? I feel like that’s got to be some kind of record.

[Glenmavis Diamond]

When the window was still open, the excuse for lack of players was that every club was struggling. But now it's just us. Blame lies with McCabe and the club owners for not getting experienced support in for him. All good and well having high standards for players but to end up with such a small squad, now also being impacted by injury and suspension, is unforgivable. Its just poor and there's no excuse for it. It could well be the reason we don't win promotion this year. 

[Kenny_m]

16 minutes ago, Glenmavis Diamond said:

Blame lies with McCabe

Can blame him for new signings who haven't cut it but with Wylie & Salim departing it smacks of financial problems to me.

[Jack Reed]

22 minutes ago, Kenny_m said:

Can blame him for new signings who haven't cut it but with Wylie & Salim departing it smacks of financial problems to me.

Surely no, 

[ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds]

Has there been any hints of what Scott Agnew’s planning on doing since leaving Raith Rovers? I know a few expected him to maybe take the vacant position at East Fife but I’d have him back as a player-coach in a heartbeat.

Edited October 10, 2022 by ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds

[Kenny_m]

3 minutes ago, ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds said:

Has there been any hints of what Scott Agnew’s planning on doing since leaving Raith Rovers? I know a fee expected him to maybe take the vacant position at East Fife but I’d have him back as a player-coach in a heartbeat.

So painfully pedestrian last year, I shudder to think what he'd be like now not having played since.

Perhaps he may turn out to be a good coach in the future.

[ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds]

31 minutes ago, Kenny_m said:

So painfully pedestrian last year, I shudder to think what he'd be like now not having played since.

Perhaps he may turn out to be a good coach in the future.

I was also unsure about him last year but right now we’re extremely light in numbers and could do with his experience in the middle of the park.

[Mr November]

1 hour ago, Kenny_m said:

Can blame him for new signings who haven't cut it but with Wylie & Salim departing it smacks of financial problems to me.

I imagine Salim is on a decent full-time wage by our standards and I doubt Stranraer will be covering all of that so letting him go out on loan for financial reasons would seem odd to me. 

I would take Agnew back. As I posted at the weekend, we really miss having someone who just sits in front of the defence and covers the gaps there. Ideally we’d have better options to start but at worst he’d be a good player to bring on to see out games.

[Kenny_m]

11 minutes ago, Mr November said:

I imagine Salim is on a decent full-time wage by our standards and I doubt Stranraer will be covering all of that so letting him go out on loan for financial reasons would seem odd to me. 

Most probably not and I doubt we were covering all of Wylie's either but why have we ended up with so little players?

[Jack Reed]

19 minutes ago, Kenny_m said:

Most probably not and I doubt we were covering all of Wylie's either but why have we ended up with so little players?

Think the warning signs were away back in the pre season cup, trialist trialist trialist and another 8 or more and nothing really done to sign any, even Telfer was well into season, is it money, we will be the last to know, 

[airdrieman]

I can’t see it being a financial issue. Rae and Ballantyne would have their pick of clubs at this level so will command a high wage relative to the rest of the league. Frizzell might have stayed anyway but I would imagine got a wage increase to ensure he did. Likewise I would think Lyness, ATS, Telfer, Smith, Gal and Salim will all be on a decent enough wage which suggests that there is/was money there. Especially given ATS, Telfer and Lyness were all signed late. Of course you could argue that money could be better spent or could be better spread by lower wages across a bigger squad. But bear in mind too the rest of the squad will be on relatively nothing for a full-time football wage and we’ll also have made (presumably) significant savings on wages for a manger, assistant manager and goalkeeping coach given all of these positions are filled by players. I could be wrong but I think we’re just seeing the effects of having an inexperienced (and maybe naive) young manager who’s perhaps too wedded to his principles or ideals in terms of recruitment and style of play. 
 

RE Wylie and Salim - I’d have kept both of them around for sheer quantity. But I think Wylie is probably just rubbish ultimately and Salim really needs a extended run of games which he wasn’t going to get with us (at least not with every player available!). I think he’d still have been a useful player to have around though. 

[airdrieman]

1 hour ago, Mr November said:

I imagine Salim is on a decent full-time wage by our standards and I doubt Stranraer will be covering all of that so letting him go out on loan for financial reasons would seem odd to me. 

I would take Agnew back. As I posted at the weekend, we really miss having someone who just sits in front of the defence and covers the gaps there. Ideally we’d have better options to start but at worst he’d be a good player to bring on to see out games.

He became a bit of scapegoat but I would take Agnew back too. Having a player just sitting in front of the back 4 and somebody who can slow the game down and make things a bit less frantic would be really helpful. Might not have conceded so quickly against both Montrose and QoS (at the start of both games and for both teams’ 3rd goal) if we did. 

[diamond_for_life]

Whether it be loan players, Full time players, youth players or even part time bit part players there should always be an option on the bench to change things. If we could say it’s a strong first 11 but there isn’t much quality on the bench we would probably be in the same boat as most other squads. The fact we don’t even have a bench is inexcusable. Not at this stage. 
 

The manager will have identified his chosen targets but there always has to be a back up plan and I refuse to believe there isn’t a host of part time players that would improve things for us whilst also being realistic targets. 
 

I know we are not the team of old and never will be but at the same time Airdrie is still one of the best prospects for any player in this league and one of the best hopes to get back out it. 
 

 

[David Fernández]

About the goalkeeping situation. As pointed out by another poster on here. I don't think you can blame McCabe too much for that. Josh Rae's injury has been very unlucky, Murray Johnson was an emergency loan, Hutton was signed purely to be a goalie coach/for emergencies, and Henderson to challenge Josh Rae/replacement for Jay Cantley. I think we can all say that Lyness was a sensible signing as an experienced keeper to take the heat off young Henderson.

Defence, Ballantyne is definitely an improvement for right back. However we really should of brought in a commanding centre back as a priority, a Morgyn Neill type player to do the bread and butter, and Dycey to be the ball playing centre half. The left side of defence we are definitely weaker, but it would of been difficult to get in a player with the caliber of Brody Paterson.

Midfield, was always going to be pretty much impossible to replace Easton. Frizzell is the closest player we can get to that and is a massive blow he's out, as he's been excellent already. Telfer I thought would compliment the midfield well, looked decent against Clyde but as an experienced player. I'd like to see him step up more, maybe lack of match fitness since he joined in September. We could really do with an Ian Wilson type player in centre defence to do the simple stuff, to allow guys like Telfer, Devenny and Frizz to join forward and link the attack and make us less open to counter attacks.

Strikers, I think we are fine in this department, Gallagher will always get you goals and it is an excellent achievement he's broken Prunts record. Smithy, LJ and Gabby will chip in too. Although our finishing can be poor at times, got to remind ourselves this is league 1. The amount of chances created the team will absolutely get goals.

I do believe we have a decent team and more than capable of turning the poor form around. The small squad is a massive concern, I think its time to promote some of the youngsters if we are unable to bring in a centre back or a defensive mid. Looking at the table. Alloa looks a massive game already, but a win and we will be right in amongst it again, albeit teams with a game in hand.

[Mr November]

This isn't great, is it?

[Jack Reed]

25 minutes ago, Mr November said:

This isn't great, is it?

Also on Facebook I notice we do have a academy team, Alan Gow manager is guest speaker at ladies day, the day we play Montrose, 

[Jack Reed]

12 hours ago, David Fernández said:

About the goalkeeping situation. As pointed out by another poster on here. I don't think you can blame McCabe too much for that. Josh Rae's injury has been very unlucky, Murray Johnson was an emergency loan, Hutton was signed purely to be a goalie coach/for emergencies, and Henderson to challenge Josh Rae/replacement for Jay Cantley. I think we can all say that Lyness was a sensible signing as an experienced keeper to take the heat off young Henderson.

Defence, Ballantyne is definitely an improvement for right back. However we really should of brought in a commanding centre back as a priority, a Morgyn Neill type player to do the bread and butter, and Dycey to be the ball playing centre half. The left side of defence we are definitely weaker, but it would of been difficult to get in a player with the caliber of Brody Paterson.

Midfield, was always going to be pretty much impossible to replace Easton. Frizzell is the closest player we can get to that and is a massive blow he's out, as he's been excellent already. Telfer I thought would compliment the midfield well, looked decent against Clyde but as an experienced player. I'd like to see him step up more, maybe lack of match fitness since he joined in September. We could really do with an Ian Wilson type player in centre defence to do the simple stuff, to allow guys like Telfer, Devenny and Frizz to join forward and link the attack and make us less open to counter attacks.

Strikers, I think we are fine in this department, Gallagher will always get you goals and it is an excellent achievement he's broken Prunts record. Smithy, LJ and Gabby will chip in too. Although our finishing can be poor at times, got to remind ourselves this is league 1. The amount of chances created the team will absolutely get goals.

I do believe we have a decent team and more than capable of turning the poor form around. The small squad is a massive concern, I think its time to promote some of the youngsters if we are unable to bring in a centre back or a defensive mid. Looking at the table. Alloa looks a massive game already, but a win and we will be right in amongst it again, albeit teams with a game in hand.

Pity we play our good r, back at left back, looked like his left foot was not as reliable as his right , 

[ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds]

1 hour ago, Mr November said:

This isn't great, is it?

Honestly, if we’re getting a share of the gate money I’m absolutely fine with us advertising it. My only issue is that we’ve heard so little about our own academy. Would be nice if we had a full squad list or match reports on their games so we know how they’re getting on. A designated twitter account for the academy would be good and could provide updates on players, matches etc.