Airdrieonians 23/24 Championship Thread♦️

[cb_diamond]

29 minutes ago, Kenny_m said:

Biggest game of the season to date coming up and it appears most Airdrie fans are keeping counsel. I'm actually confident of a victory today, assuming there's no surprise injuries affecting our starting 11.

I think this has low scoring draw written all over it.

[Diamond1924]

That was as bad as it gets. We have absolutely no plan going forward and no decent forwards to carry it out. 
 

Gallagher and McGill offered zero and our “midfield” were non-existent. We may as well have brought on a couple of boys from the stand instead of Todorov and O’Connor. 
 

I can’t even recall a decent move or string of passes bar Hancock’s cross around 80 minutes (which went out for a shy). That’s how bad we are at the moment. 

 

Morton had us sussed right out and caused us all sorts of problems. Just as well they couldn’t score either.
 

Big opportunity in January to shed a few duds (Todorov, O’Connor, McGill, Cassidy, Dunlop) and bring in loan signings. This team is essentially full of league one players and it’s showing.
 

[Mr November]

I thought the midfield was our biggest issue today. Defensively we were largely fine, usual couple of dodgy moments but no real complaints. Telfer and Frizzell were a bit too slow to play wider roles in a diamond last season and that was the case again today, Frizzell in particular had plenty of opportunities to carry the ball forward in wide areas but always chose to turn back inside. McMaster had a fairly poor game and while McStravick had some nice moments, as a whole they never controlled even parts of the game. 

I thought Gallagher and McGill were alright in the first half. Definitely not great but both worked hard and McGill looked better as a nuisance forward who could win high balls and push their defence back a bit. He looked better there than as an outright winger which he’s had to be throughout this season. O’Connor did nothing when he came on and while Todorov won a couple of headers I never felt we were going to score.

[Mr November]

Does anyone know why we seem to refuse to have a tall player marking opposition strikers at set-pieces this month? It might have been going on longer but we had Megwa marking Diack in the Thistle game which cost a goal, McCabe (I think) marking Dowds last week and completely losing him which also cost a goal and then today we had McCabe marking Muirhead at long throws and corners. We do have a pretty small team so are often going to be outmatched in these situations but it feels quite an odd setup to me.

[Kenny_m]

25 minutes ago, Diamond1924 said:

Big opportunity in January to shed a few duds (Todorov, O’Connor, McGill, Cassidy, Dunlop) and bring in loan signings. This team is essentially full of league one players and it’s showing.

It's not a big opportunity at all, it's virtually impossible to move on under contract players in this window. The likes of Cassidy & Dunlop could go on loan and perhaps we can get a couple coming the other way.

[Diamond1924]

17 minutes ago, Kenny_m said:

It's not a big opportunity at all, it's virtually impossible to move on under contract players in this window. The likes of Cassidy & Dunlop could go on loan and perhaps we can get a couple coming the other way.

Do u just read my posts and try and disagree with at least one thing every time

[Jack Reed]

52 minutes ago, Diamond1924 said:

That was as bad as it gets. We have absolutely no plan going forward and no decent forwards to carry it out. 
 

Gallagher and McGill offered zero and our “midfield” were non-existent. We may as well have brought on a couple of boys from the stand instead of Todorov and O’Connor. 
 

I can’t even recall a decent move or string of passes bar Hancock’s cross around 80 minutes (which went out for a shy). That’s how bad we are at the moment. 

 

Morton had us sussed right out and caused us all sorts of problems. Just as well they couldn’t score either.
 

Big opportunity in January to shed a few duds (Todorov, O’Connor, McGill, Cassidy, Dunlop) and bring in loan signings. This team is essentially full of league one players and it’s showing.
 

We  seem to get worse every week ,a big chance lost today ,think we could do with a change of tactics,that's if we have any ,I know who we would be having serious doubts about in  days gone by ,

[Kenny_m]

2 minutes ago, Diamond1924 said:

Do u just read my posts and try and disagree with at least one thing every time

Not particularly, only when i think you’re talking pish. I don’t disagree that it would be great if we could move on those players, but realistically it will be when their contracts are up.

[Diamond1924]

14 minutes ago, Kenny_m said:

Not particularly, only when i think you’re talking pish. I don’t disagree that it would be great if we could move on those players, but realistically it will be when their contracts are up.

Pot kettle.
 

I think you’ve missed my point: There IS an opportunity to clear out the dross AND bring in loan players. 
 

Edited December 23, 2023 by Diamond1924

[WL Diamond]

Time for a reality check I think. If we manage by some miracle to scrape 8th place this season, the squad’s going to need major surgery or investment in the summer to avoid a return to League 1. Much as it would be nice to make changes in January I don’t see much happening bar maybe one more in on loan. I actually think this season’s squad could be the weakest we’ve had in the last three seasons without the genuine quality of a Smith or Easton, and if we were in League 1 now we would probably be mid table at best. Hopefully something changes soon but can’t see where the next win is coming from 

[Diamond8]

Things must be bad as even the twitter young team who were lauding the signings of Dunlop and the likes, 'excellent business, excellent player' are starting to turn.

Today was bloody awful, couldn't really give anyone put there pass marks today. 

[Kenny_m]

23 minutes ago, Diamond1924 said:

Pot kettle.
 

I think you’ve missed my point: There IS an opportunity to clear out the dross AND bring in loan players. 
 

So you think someone will pay money for Todorov or McGill? I know there is rumours about Raith for Gabby but i would be astonished if that was true.

[Passionate]

26 minutes ago, Kenny_m said:

So you think someone will pay money for Todorov or McGill? I know there is rumours about Raith for Gabby but i would be astonished if that was true.

The crazy thing is McGill would probably be effective on a dominant team, I E like Raith, he offers nothing to a poor patched up League 1 side playing in the championship and again today it showed...   

 

To be fair to Todorov what did he have to work with nothing, you took Gallagher and McGill off they had nothing to work with either,    McCabe must play midfield,  Telfer struggled all game is he fit. ?  Frizzell has been found out and the galling thing is he knows it as well,  Walking Football was his contribution todqy,  and please someone  defend McStravick  he is miles off it and is just a playing as a lost boy ,  but to be fair he is not ready for this league like the rest of them.

[Mr November]

3 minutes ago, Passionate said:

The crazy thing is McGill would probably be effective on a dominant team, I E like Raith, he offers nothing to a poor patched up League 1 side playing in the championship and again today it showed...   

 

To be fair to Todorov what did he have to work with nothing, you took Gallagher and McGill off they had nothing to work with either,    McCabe must play midfield,  Telfer struggled all game is he fit. ?  Frizzell has been found out and the galling thing is he knows it as well,  Walking Football was his contribution todqy,  and please someone  defend McStravick  he is miles off it and is just a playing as a lost boy ,  but to be fair he is not ready for this league like the rest of them.

I thought Telfer was fine last week, probably our best midfielder, but yeah he struggled today. I think that was largely down to his position rather than fitness though, he’s too immobile to cover out wide the way he had to today. 

[Kenny_m]

19 minutes ago, Passionate said:

The crazy thing is McGill would probably be effective on a dominant team, I E like Raith, he offers nothing to a poor patched up League 1 side playing in the championship and again today it showed...   

 

To be fair to Todorov what did he have to work with nothing, you took Gallagher and McGill off they had nothing to work with either,    McCabe must play midfield,  Telfer struggled all game is he fit. ?  Frizzell has been found out and the galling thing is he knows it as well,  Walking Football was his contribution todqy,  and please someone  defend McStravick  he is miles off it and is just a playing as a lost boy ,  but to be fair he is not ready for this league like the rest of them.

Murray Aiken’s mobility is missed more than i first thought but I’m not sure we can wait for him to come back. Midfield too one paced. I’ve been mentioning McStravick for weeks now. In the modern game you can’t keep giving the ball away. Skilful yes, but simply not ready for this level.

[Mr November]

On 09/12/2023 at 19:01, Mr November said:

Small sample size but using league games, when Aiken has played at least 45 minutes our record is W4 D1 L3 (two of those defeats were Dundee United). When he’s played less than 45 minutes or not at all it’s W1 D1 L5.

Aiken playing for at least 45 minutes: W4 (Partick Thistle, Inverness, Raith, Morton) D1 (Queen’s Park) L3 (Dundee United x2, Ayr)

Aiken playing for less than 45 minutes or not at all: W1 (Arbroath) D2 (Raith, Morton) L6 (Dunfermline x2, Arbroath, Inverness, Partick Thistle, Ayr)

I think it’s more because of the lack of pace and mobility without him but we really shouldn’t be so reliant on one loanee for that.

[Diamonds are Forever]

1 hour ago, Kenny_m said:

Murray Aiken’s mobility is missed more than i first thought but I’m not sure we can wait for him to come back. Midfield too one paced. I’ve been mentioning McStravick for weeks now. In the modern game you can’t keep giving the ball away. Skilful yes, but simply not ready for this level.

 

I find/found the McStravick signing really strange. Not criticising him as he's young and gives his all. But in terms of the signing itself it just raises questions. Firstly from what I can tell he's a number 10 type player, but he's never played there or if we does Frizz is playing in that space too. I don't see him as a wide player, he doesn't have the pace or directness to be a threat out there. We apparently paid money for him, I know it won't have been a major amount but any fee at our level is pretty rare and any available funds should have been going into ensuring Championship survival and signing ready made players. Signing an 18 year old who may have potential to essentially replace a proven player like Callum Smith makes no sense.

I know the club would probably say they can't win in the sense that fans are always asking for young, talented signings. I have no issue with them as a supplement to a quality first 11, but they need time to get up to speed and earn a spot on the first time. McStravick has 'earned' his spot by virtue of having no viable options ahead of him, not because he's been particularly good.

[Diamonds02]

10 minutes ago, Diamonds are Forever said:

 

I find/found the McStravick signing really strange. Not criticising him as he's young and gives his all. But in terms of the signing itself it just raises questions. Firstly from what I can tell he's a number 10 type player, but he's never played there or if we does Frizz is playing in that space too. I don't see him as a wide player, he doesn't have the pace or directness to be a threat out there. We apparently paid money for him, I know it won't have been a major amount but any fee at our level is pretty rare and any available funds should have been going into ensuring Championship survival and signing ready made players. Signing an 18 year old who may have potential to essentially replace a proven player like Callum Smith makes no sense.

I know the club would probably say they can't win in the sense that fans are always asking for young, talented signings. I have no issue with them as a supplement to a quality first 11, but they need time to get up to speed and earn a spot on the first time. McStravick has 'earned' his spot by virtue of having no viable options ahead of him, not because he's been particularly good.

Tbf Callum smith turned into that player when he was with us. People forget he hardly set the world alight in his first season with us

[Diamonds are Forever]

43 minutes ago, Diamonds02 said:

Tbf Callum smith turned into that player when he was with us. People forget he hardly set the world alight in his first season with us

 

Smith was a couple of years older, had already played for 3 clubs in Scotland at the same or higher level, and was only on loan anyway. We were also bouncing around mid-table in League 1 so weren't under such pressure to get immediate results at the time. Smith struggled to score goals that season but overall was good and got a move to the Premiership on the back of it.

Anyway my point wasn't that McStravick can't become as good a player as Smith, it's that he isn't as good a player now. And our first trip to the Championship in 10 years is not the time to be pinning hopes on an 18 year old who'd never played in Scotland and barely played in NI. I think he'd be fine as a squad option to play if we have injuries and in the odd cup game. But to be relying on him as one of our main attacking options is poor recruitment.

Edited December 23, 2023 by Diamonds are Forever

[CHEMOMAN]

A League 1 squad out of form in a league that isn't much better quality-wise. 8th or better is a result this season, hopefully get some new faces in Jan to achieve this. If you want cheered up, hop on over to facebook to read the happy clapper memes!