itzdrk Posted August 10 Share Posted August 10 25 minutes ago, Iain said: Apart from when he was shooting, obviously. Choosing to overlook that as they were fully heads gone by that point! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D'Jaffo Posted August 10 Share Posted August 10 1 minute ago, itzdrk said: Choosing to overlook that as they were fully heads gone by that point! Hancocks head was due exploding at one point and couldn’t deal with Henderson taking the piss out him. You could tell he was waiting for Airdrie to score in the first half so he could give a bit back to the NT but it never came. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny_m Posted August 10 Share Posted August 10 46 minutes ago, D'Jaffo said: Hancocks head was due exploding at one point and couldn’t deal with Henderson taking the piss out him. You could tell he was waiting for Airdrie to score in the first half so he could give a bit back to the NT but it never came. Indeed, Mason does like to have some interaction with opposing fans and players (finished Ross Millen's career at Raith) but his frustration got the better of him last night because he couldn't get forward as much as normal which led to him losing his discipline defensively. A big lesson learned for him but he's not had many off days and I wouldn't swap him for any other left back in the League and I'm a big Harry Milne fan as well. He'll be a massive loss if he goes before the end of transfer window. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shibuya Posted August 10 Share Posted August 10 Musonda and Henderson had the freedom of Airdrie's left wing for the entire first half, Hancock was hung out to dry by his manager. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chapelhall chap Posted August 10 Share Posted August 10 Posting before reading previous ones. The first goal is so important in most games and it was a poor defensive header from Dylan but the fault was overwhelmingly with Mochrie. Like many others last night he was caught dawdling on the ball. So much of our play it out from the back relies on first touch and strength, and it was missing last night. It set Ayr up for just pressing us and when we lost possession, especially up the pitch, they could and did score easily. We also looked yards of the pace compared to them, and Somerset will be a tough call for most sides. Hard to tell how it will effect us but the clear need for some experienced squad additions is obvious. The joy of watching the Diamonds. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Passionate Posted August 10 Share Posted August 10 We ridiculed Mick Kennedy of EK for having the audacity to come to Airdrie and play his idealistic football philosophy and got handed his arse big time, a few short weeks later our fearless Manager who apparently doesn't fancy going up against Oakley gets handed his arse on national TV playing exactly the same way.... For us to continually play suicidal balls around our own box against a marauding Ayr midfield was unforgivable, the performance of many was cowardly. Namely Aiken and McMaster, 2 centre mids that watched that game totally pass them by,, Mochrie was poor, McGrattan didn't get the ball but at least he played his position and Ben up top who was as poor as the rest also.... Don't know why a lot are comparing this defeat to Arbroath, this was 10 times worse than that, has Rhys taken us as far as he can..... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airdrie76 Posted August 10 Share Posted August 10 (edited) 15 minutes ago, Passionate said: We ridiculed Mick Kennedy of EK for having the audacity to come to Airdrie and play his idealistic football philosophy and got handed his arse big time, a few short weeks later our fearless Manager who apparently doesn't fancy going up against Oakley gets handed his arse on national TV playing exactly the same way.... For us to continually play suicidal balls around our own box against a marauding Ayr midfield was unforgivable, the performance of many was cowardly. Namely Aiken and McMaster, 2 centre mids that watched that game totally pass them by,, Mochrie was poor, McGrattan didn't get the ball but at least he played his position and Ben up top who was as poor as the rest also.... Don't know why a lot are comparing this defeat to Arbroath, this was 10 times worse than that, has Rhys taken us as far as he can..... We got the runaround in Aberdeen for 30 minutes second half. High press - we couldn’t keep or get the ball. We managed to get more of a foothold towards the end and I’d hoped that it was because they were a league above (as I’m sure Mick Kennedy felt with us being leagues above). Last night was worrying as it’s a team we’d have aspirations of challenging with this season and it was naive beyond belief. Re your last sentence - how far CAN we go? We were all happy aiming for 8th last season and survival. This is a new team much less experience. What should our expectations be? Edited August 10 by Airdrie76 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Passionate Posted August 10 Share Posted August 10 13 minutes ago, Airdrie76 said: We got the runaround in Aberdeen for 30 minutes second half. High press - we couldn’t keep or get the ball. We managed to get more of a foothold towards the end and I’d hoped that it was because they were a league above (as I’m sure Mick Kennedy felt with us being leagues above). Last night was worrying as it’s a team we’d have aspirations of challenging with this season and it was naive beyond belief. Re your last sentence - how far CAN we go? We were all happy aiming for 8th last season and survival. This is a new team much less experience. What should our expectations be? That's my point exactly, we got to the promotion playoffs (4th). My point is has Rhys (not a criticism) taken us as far as he can, these will be the questions going through his head, and I think as a club our ceiling is probably Top 4 championship, so my point is when does a talented manager move on, what I am basically saying is if Raith come calling this week, Rhys is gone... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airdrie76 Posted August 10 Share Posted August 10 45 minutes ago, Passionate said: That's my point exactly, we got to the promotion playoffs (4th). My point is has Rhys (not a criticism) taken us as far as he can, these will be the questions going through his head, and I think as a club our ceiling is probably Top 4 championship, so my point is when does a talented manager move on, what I am basically saying is if Raith come calling this week, Rhys is gone... I’m not sure there’s anyone that can take us further. But aye, agree, he’ll be off soon enough. Still not convinced it’ll be Raith but it’ll be someone in the not too distant future if not. The questions going through his head this morning though should all be related to how we can do better v Ayr and what does a plan B look like. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny_m Posted August 10 Share Posted August 10 1 hour ago, Passionate said: We ridiculed Mick Kennedy of EK for having the audacity to come to Airdrie and play his idealistic football philosophy and got handed his arse big time, a few short weeks later our fearless Manager who apparently doesn't fancy going up against Oakley gets handed his arse on national TV playing exactly the same way.... For us to continually play suicidal balls around our own box against a marauding Ayr midfield was unforgivable, the performance of many was cowardly. Namely Aiken and McMaster, 2 centre mids that watched that game totally pass them by,, Mochrie was poor, McGrattan didn't get the ball but at least he played his position and Ben up top who was as poor as the rest also.... Don't know why a lot are comparing this defeat to Arbroath, this was 10 times worse than that, has Rhys taken us as far as he can..... Agree with most of this but I thought Aiken was the only one who was putting a tackle in but picked up a yellow and the way the game was going he could have easily been sent off. McGrattan was mentioned by the commentator on the half hour mark and I swear that was his first involvement. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jester Posted August 10 Share Posted August 10 14 hours ago, Diamonds are Forever said: Spot on. Some players looked hopeless and I'm not removing all blame on them, but the chances of everyone having an off-night on the same night by coincidence are next to nil, a poor set-up and gameplan will make most players look rubbish. Ayr knew we weren't going to go direct over the top so were able to push their back line up to halfway and keep us in our own half. For me in games like that early on you need to play for territory a bit more, work your way into the game and then try and play when the game settles down a bit. Everyone can see we need another centre-back, but my big worry from tonight is how soft we are in midfield. McMaster, Aiken, Armstrong, Mochrie and McGrattan through the middle of that team isn't going to cut it physically in tough away games. This was obvious early on. Much as I love Rhys standard tactic of building up from the back, Ayr were simply closing down every attempt to start that build up. As such we were losing the ball dangerously close to our own box, and virtually inviting attack after attack. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirJimmyofNic Posted August 10 Share Posted August 10 (edited) 1 minute ago, jester said: This was obvious early on. Much as I love Rhys standard tactic of building up from the back, Ayr were simply closing down every attempt to start that build up. As such we were losing the ball dangerously close to our own box, and virtually inviting attack after attack. That sounds earily familiar to Murray Edited August 10 by SirJimmyofNic 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airdrie76 Posted August 10 Share Posted August 10 (edited) 31 minutes ago, jester said: This was obvious early on. Much as I love Rhys standard tactic of building up from the back, Ayr were simply closing down every attempt to start that build up. As such we were losing the ball dangerously close to our own box, and virtually inviting attack after attack. I don’t think this is new though - but we came against a superior team on the day yesterday that punished it. And we’ve lost before, badly sometimes. . I think we miss Todorov and the option to go a bit more direct. When he nailed his place down last season I felt like we properly kicked on. Definitely not Wilson’s game so we’ll miss it as an out ball Edited August 10 by Airdrie76 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thediamonddude Posted August 10 Share Posted August 10 2 hours ago, Passionate said: That's my point exactly, we got to the promotion playoffs (4th). My point is has Rhys (not a criticism) taken us as far as he can, these will be the questions going through his head, and I think as a club our ceiling is probably Top 4 championship, so my point is when does a talented manager move on, what I am basically saying is if Raith come calling this week, Rhys is gone... Man alive, yesterday, you were talking about enjoying Rhys’s tenure, crossing the bridge of him leaving when we get to it, etc. Fast forward 24 hours and one defeat later, and you’re now suggesting he’s taken us as far as he can and he’ll definitely be off to Raith if they come calling? Come on! The answer to your question is no, he hasn’t taken us as far as he can. Will he take us further? Who knows but there’s definitely potential there. Last night changes nothing in terms of the Raith stuff and I still don’t see him going there. End of. As per usual, there’s a few folk that have gotten ahead of themselves and have whipped out the book of doom the second we’ve had a bad performance/defeat - the fact of the matter is, as Rhys said post-match, that’s all it was, a poor performance and defeat. Yes, there’ll be lessons to be learned and we need to heed those, but he’s shown in the past that he can and will again. Yes, last night was v poor indeed, but anyone that has watched us, particularly in the past 20 years (and in fact, under Rhys) will have seen us play much worse, against much poorer opposition. Ayr were excellent, take nothing away from them and, while I understand some of the points about nativity in our style of play, I don’t think that was the issue - yes, it was incredibly risky with the way Ayr were pressing but that wasn’t the issue, the issue was we weren’t moving the ball quick enough. If we had, we’d have beaten that press and been through. For me, it’s less about our setup/style and more about the execution last night. That brings me to my main point… 7 of the starting 11 last night weren’t here last year, didn’t feature in the 4 defeats to Ayr, and weren’t part of the side that developed into one that could change to a more direct style. Most are 22/23 or younger and it will take them a while to gel - last night was our toughest test yet and we will learn from it. A defeat away to Ayr doesn’t mean we’ll be relegated, just like a win over Raith doesn’t mean we’ll win the league - let’s just chill, eh? 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamonds Are Red Posted August 10 Share Posted August 10 Maybe I'm making excuses for Ben Wilson but when I saw he was up there on his own...for me he didn't get enough of the ball and not enough support when he did either. I really thought Rhys would have played himself or at least come on in the second half to settle things down. Don't think Rhys is in panic mode given his post match interview, looks like he's thinking over the whole season rather than an isolated game. Surely we haven't suddenly become a relegation candidate? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamonds02 Posted August 10 Share Posted August 10 3 hours ago, Passionate said: That's my point exactly, we got to the promotion playoffs (4th). My point is has Rhys (not a criticism) taken us as far as he can, these will be the questions going through his head, and I think as a club our ceiling is probably Top 4 championship, so my point is when does a talented manager move on, what I am basically saying is if Raith come calling this week, Rhys is gone... You must be at it 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Passionate Posted August 10 Share Posted August 10 Just now, Diamonds02 said: You must be at it What do you not agree on 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamonds02 Posted August 10 Share Posted August 10 3 minutes ago, Passionate said: What do you not agree on Firstly, most of raith’s team are 28+ which seems like McCabe’s nightmare, not to mention the supposed fall out with fordyce. Secondly, this is the first time he’s been able to assemble his own squad over the summer and it has shown a lot of promise considering we were one of only 3 championship teams to get through to the second round of the league cup. Notably something raith, Partick and Ayr all failed to do. So yeah I think the notion that Rhys would throw all that away after 1 (one) loss is genuinely mental. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airdrieman Posted August 10 Share Posted August 10 Beaten by the much better team on the night. I’m excited by the squad we’ve put together. But they’re young, inexperienced and lightweight and all of that was shown up last night by a good side. I think with the nature of our squad we will be up and down this season. It’s important we realise that and are patient. Not having a go at folk for being optimistic, but seeing some predictions on social media that we’d win the league made me cringe. IMO finishing mid-table, or at least being comfortable in the division, would still be a successful season for us and hopefully people are now wise to that. Equally, some of the doom-mongering after last night - the second league game of the season - has also made me cringe. So, we need to be patient and accepting of the fact that we’ll have our good days and bad, while equally knowing that performances like last night are not acceptable. The encouraging thing is that we’ve had a hiding at least once every season under McCabe and we’ve always learned from it. Need to do the same again. One thing I think we could learn from Ayr is how quick and effective they were in transitions. We could stand to be a little more direct at times. Especially when we’re behind. In terms of the squad, I’m disappointed we still don’t have a second proper centre-half. We’re going into our 4th season with only one proper centre-half. And while we’ve largely gotten away with it, that’s a bit farcical isn’t it? No idea what McCabe was going for with that defence in the 2nd-half. They both tried their best but Bruce should never have been at right-back and MacDonald, in his second Championship start, should not have been playing centre-half against Dowds and Oakley. Neither of them were blameless but they shouldn’t carry the can for what happened. We badly need another forward too. One who’ll be a proper out-ball upfront alongside Wilson and who can hold the ball and/or run with it. Wasn’t his fault but Wilson might as well have not been playing last night. It wouldn’t have made a difference to the outcome, but someone who could have held the ball in Ayr’s half, just to relieve some pressure if nothing else, could have made something of a difference. I’m not saying either of them are the answer, but I’m still confused about letting go Gabby McGill and Todorov and not replacing them with better. Again, they wouldn’t have changed the outcome. But they’re the sorts of forwards who would/could have played last night. And who would have at least put themselves about and might have done a job holding up the ball. Mochrie isn’t working as a second striker, if that’s even where he’s meant to be playing. Cooper clearly isn’t seen as ready yet. And early days but I’m not convinced at all that Reid has it. We missed McGregor, even just his pace. But we cannot be in a position where we’re relying on McGregor, an inconsistent winger, to win us games upfront. So a centre-half and a forward in this week please. Along with some lessons learned. And for the love of f**k stop conceding goals at the back-post please. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Reed Posted August 10 Share Posted August 10 2 hours ago, Airdrie76 said: I don’t think this is new though - but we came against a superior team on the day yesterday that punished it. And we’ve lost before, badly sometimes. . I think we miss Todorov and the option to go a bit more direct. When he nailed his place down last season I felt like we properly kicked on. Definitely not Wilson’s game so we’ll miss it as an out ball Todorov would not have been so easy to ease of the ball , 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.