Diamonds_Are_Forever Posted April 20 Share Posted April 20 38 minutes ago, Passionate said: Airdrie have qualified for the Premier League playoffs with 2 games to spare, let that sink in for a moment, I will be honest I never expected it, we are a team with plenty of weaknesses..... Now for the half assed autopsy, i will throw a couple of names out there, Graham, Dowds, Oakley, Muirhead, Diack they are the name's of big physical strikers who have had plenty of joy against our defence, every one of those players have used their physicality to bully our defence, The only ones who count now are Graham and Diack,, 37 year old Graham first to react to a spill by the keeper and could easily have had a hatrick, Diack who scored on his debut at Firhill last time put the fear on our eyes when he ran at us, Basic isn't it, not great at all, are we better in the playoffs bringing ATS back into the team, Our faults can be cruelly exposed at at times, Megwa who is a good player,.not as.good as people make out, he was got at second half by Fitzpatrick and Milne, where was his cover McGregor didn't do the hard yards, McMaster who should be able to see issues develop was knowhere and they ran through us at will, 2 young players who were schooled today..... Credit to Partick a side who man for man are a better side all over the park than us, which I can accept, that doesn't mean you cannot beat them if you excel on the day yourself...... Onto the playoffs we need McCabe, Frizzell and Ballantyne back, especially McCabe who is still one of the best players in this league, if we manage to progress further it will be on the back of Rhys, who will stand up to the challenge with him, after today not many.... Love to be proved wrong.... Taylor Sinclair is past now lost all his pace completely 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moses1924 Posted April 20 Share Posted April 20 47 minutes ago, Passionate said: i will throw a couple of names out there, Graham, Dowds, Oakley, Muirhead, Diack they Was thinking this earlier, half decent strikers with a bit of stregnth do well against us generally, the teams we win against regularly tend not to have players like this with Raith being the prime example. Something to work on for next season. As for the playoffs a lot will depend on who is back from injury, agree with @Diamonds_Are_Foreverthat ATS is not the answer, withour Ballantyne and arguably McCabe we wont make it, injuries now hitting us quite hard but rather have that now than earlier in the season. Great to secure 4th. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moses1924 Posted April 20 Share Posted April 20 Few folk mentioning '95 as a missed opportunity, very much agree, could have won it but wasn't to be. I would add the playoff against Hibs in to the missed opportunity category, had them on the ropes at Broadwood and if the penalty had gone in think we would have gone up. The Queens Park playoff defeat would have been a missed opportnity if we hadnt up the following season. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny_m Posted April 21 Share Posted April 21 It's one game, there's nothing broken and whilst I have never considered us winning the play offs I do see us beating Thistle. I'm confident of winning our home game but we must have to adapt at Firhill where the surface is terrible (pitch didn't look watered to me, probably deliberate but that's ok) and go more direct like we did at Dunfermline several weeks ago. Of course personnel is key although our keeper is by far my biggest concern but looks like we have no option. Hopefully McCabe can get some game time prior to the Thistle games so that he can be involved on the park and whilst McMaster is having his best spell at the club, yesterday highlighted his limitations when we are not dominating and he is on the turn. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamond1924 Posted April 21 Share Posted April 21 2 hours ago, Kenny_m said: It's one game, there's nothing broken and whilst I have never considered us winning the play offs I do see us beating Thistle. I'm confident of winning our home game but we must have to adapt at Firhill where the surface is terrible (pitch didn't look watered to me, probably deliberate but that's ok) and go more direct like we did at Dunfermline several weeks ago. Of course personnel is key although our keeper is by far my biggest concern but looks like we have no option. Hopefully McCabe can get some game time prior to the Thistle games so that he can be involved on the park and whilst McMaster is having his best spell at the club, yesterday highlighted his limitations when we are not dominating and he is on the turn. The goaly situation is really concerning. Teams will just know to put crosses in as Humphrey will just watch them float across his box. Such a disappointing bit of business 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cb_diamond Posted April 21 Share Posted April 21 (edited) 1 hour ago, Diamond1924 said: The goaly situation is really concerning. Teams will just know to put crosses in as Humphrey will just watch them float across his box. Such a disappointing bit of business I'm not sure how much of a choice we had to be fair. The availability of keepers was pretty non existent ¾ of the way through the season. I do absolutely agree though that he's a massive weak link. I get that he hadn't played much football for a while but he's come in during our hottest run of the season and kept 0 clean sheets in his 7 games and is conceding goals at a rate of almost 2 per game (1.71). Josh Rae was playing when the teams results were far less positive and he kept a clean sheet in over a third of his games with a goals condeded rate of much closer to 1 per game (1.07). He can't deal with crosses, he's a poor shot stopper and he's a bomb scare under pressure. Realistically he's lowland league level. We need to sort the keeper situ next season, with a proper sub keeper that isn't him or Hutts. Edited April 21 by cb_diamond 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhys McCabe Hype Train Posted April 21 Share Posted April 21 10 hours ago, Passionate said: i will throw a couple of names out there, Graham, Dowds, Oakley, Muirhead, Diack And still the only one I’d have in our team would be Brian Graham at 36 years old. I think the rest of your comments are probably pent out of frustration but honestly can’t look past how much of a success this season has been. Right up until the Raith game I was always of the “8th place is the goal” camp but on top of that we’ve won a trophy, beaten Premiership opposition and qualified for a chance at the top league next season. For what its worth, I do think the play-offs are probably a stretch too far for us (plus I totally can’t be arsed playing with VAR) but definitely worth pocketing the cash and building for next season in what is sure to be a much more open league. I’ve even spent a while on transfermarkt looking through the players in the Championship who are out of contract and getting myself excited: improvements wise I think we probably need a good four or five quality additions across the park to augment the squad. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Reed Posted April 21 Share Posted April 21 20 minutes ago, Rhys McCabe Hype Train said: And still the only one I’d have in our team would be Brian Graham at 36 years old. I think the rest of your comments are probably pent out of frustration but honestly can’t look past how much of a success this season has been. Right up until the Raith game I was always of the “8th place is the goal” camp but on top of that we’ve won a trophy, beaten Premiership opposition and qualified for a chance at the top league next season. For what its worth, I do think the play-offs are probably a stretch too far for us (plus I totally can’t be arsed playing with VAR) but definitely worth pocketing the cash and building for next season in what is sure to be a much more open league. I’ve even spent a while on transfermarkt looking through the players in the Championship who are out of contract and getting myself excited: improvements wise I think we probably need a good four or five quality additions across the park to augment the squad. Aye,prepare for next season,why leave this league it's been a great season,best season I can remember for a long time definitely excelled,think we all know there are some better quality players out there facing us,playing as a team is the quality we have and proved to be a winner in a good few games ,so all credit to team and manager ,same again next season would do nicely, 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamonds are Forever Posted April 21 Share Posted April 21 31 minutes ago, cb_diamond said: I'm not sure how much of a choice we had to be fair. The availability of keepers was pretty non existent ¾ of the way through the season. I do absolutely agree though that he's a massive weak link. I get that he hadn't played much football for a while but he's come in during our hottest run of the season and kept 0 clean sheets in his 7 games and is conceding goals at a rate of almost 2 per game (1.71). Josh Rae was playing when the teams results were far less positive and he kept a clean sheet in over a third of his games with a goals condeded rate of much closer to 1 per game (1.07). He can't deal with crosses, he's a poor shot stopper and he's a bomb scare under pressure. Realistically he's lowland league level. We need to sort the keeper situ next season, with a proper sub keeper that isn't him or Hutts. Don't really disagree with the general point, particularly the first part which is spot on. However I would say that while his goals against is much higher than Rae's, as a team our goals for has also been much higher when he has played. When Rae was playing we averaged 1.03 goals a game in the league, with Hemfrey playing we average 2.28 goals. Obviously my point isn't that Hemfrey is Kevin de Bruyne setting up goals, but rather our style of play has changed a bit since he has come in which has resulted in more end to end games. Was trying to think why and initially thought it was because we've had to due to losing more goals, but in most games we've still scored first so that doesn't really explain it. I think it's largely because with Rae being decent with his feet we play a much more controlled game when he plays, with Hemfrey it's been more direct which has resulted in us scoring more but also conceding more. I have no issue with the odd blunder like yesterday, Rae has made numerous ones this season. And the more end to end, direct style has worked for us (until yesterday). But by far the biggest issue is cross balls, he does not command his area enough. I was sympathetic early on when he was new in but he's at the point now where he needs to be more commanding or we are going to keep being vulnerable to crosses and set-pieces into our box. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhys McCabe Hype Train Posted April 21 Share Posted April 21 9 minutes ago, Diamonds are Forever said: But by far the biggest issue is cross balls, he does not command his area enough. I was sympathetic early on when he was new in but he's at the point now where he needs to be more commanding or we are going to keep being vulnerable to crosses and set-pieces into our box. He’s like a Dabrowski but without the wondersaves that anyone watching Friday night’s Inverness vs Raith match would’ve seen. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
North West Posted April 21 Share Posted April 21 Pumped by Partick. Terrible stuff *whistles 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Reed Posted April 21 Share Posted April 21 21 minutes ago, Diamonds are Forever said: Don't really disagree with the general point, particularly the first part which is spot on. However I would say that while his goals against is much higher than Rae's, as a team our goals for has also been much higher when he has played. When Rae was playing we averaged 1.03 goals a game in the league, with Hemfrey playing we average 2.28 goals. Obviously my point isn't that Hemfrey is Kevin de Bruyne setting up goals, but rather our style of play has changed a bit since he has come in which has resulted in more end to end games. Was trying to think why and initially thought it was because we've had to due to losing more goals, but in most games we've still scored first so that doesn't really explain it. I think it's largely because with Rae being decent with his feet we play a much more controlled game when he plays, with Hemfrey it's been more direct which has resulted in us scoring more but also conceding more. I have no issue with the odd blunder like yesterday, Rae has made numerous ones this season. And the more end to end, direct style has worked for us (until yesterday). But by far the biggest issue is cross balls, he does not command his area enough. I was sympathetic early on when he was new in but he's at the point now where he needs to be more commanding or we are going to keep being vulnerable to crosses and set-pieces into our box. If he reads comments on here it won't help him ,had a good pen save ,big lad as well, get off that line and pick out the cross balls , 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Passionate Posted April 21 Share Posted April 21 1 hour ago, Rhys McCabe Hype Train said: And still the only one I’d have in our team would be Brian Graham at 36 years old. I think the rest of your comments are probably pent out of frustration but honestly can’t look past how much of a success this season has been. Right up until the Raith game I was always of the “8th place is the goal” camp but on top of that we’ve won a trophy, beaten Premiership opposition and qualified for a chance at the top league next season. For what its worth, I do think the play-offs are probably a stretch too far for us (plus I totally can’t be arsed playing with VAR) but definitely worth pocketing the cash and building for next season in what is sure to be a much more open league. I’ve even spent a while on transfermarkt looking through the players in the Championship who are out of contract and getting myself excited: improvements wise I think we probably need a good four or five quality additions across the park to augment the squad. As I say target achieved, do we down tools and have half an eye on the beach, with the sun beating down yesterday, maybe a few did, Rhys is 100 %right in publicly calling out his players, he will no doubt get criticised for it, We are not a dirty side, but all season we have broke up play got organised, tackled and basically fought our corner, I will leave you with this damning statistic over the course of 90 minutes we committed 3 fouls and had no bookings...... Is it any wonder Partick Thistle rode us..... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airdrie76 Posted April 21 Share Posted April 21 40 minutes ago, Passionate said: As I say target achieved, do we down tools and have half an eye on the beach, with the sun beating down yesterday, maybe a few did, Rhys is 100 %right in publicly calling out his players, he will no doubt get criticised for it, We are not a dirty side, but all season we have broke up play got organised, tackled and basically fought our corner, I will leave you with this damning statistic over the course of 90 minutes we committed 3 fouls and had no bookings...... Is it any wonder Partick Thistle rode us..... There’s no way the players will be thinking summer holidays when we’ve a crack at the play off surely? And I completely agree we’ve overachieved but still. For me, we were on our knees at the end of the Dunfermline game. Knackered due to the effort put in to get to where we are - and suffering due to injuries. I’d give them a rest over the next two games and then ask them to have one big final push. Felt yesterday was a bit of a dead rubber, not sure players care if we finish 3rd of 4th knowing that we’d be playing Thistle in the play offs regardless. Easy to maybe take their eyes off it because of that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamonds on the Windshield Posted April 21 Share Posted April 21 Maybe the glue is Frizz and we missed his influence on the park more than we think. Second half was men against boys but is it all part of Rhys masterplan to suck Thistle into a sense of false security before the important games? Graham gave us a masterclass in finishing and composure in the box. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baba douche Posted April 21 Share Posted April 21 24 minutes ago, Diamonds on the Windshield said: Graham gave us a masterclass in finishing and composure in the box. Graham missed a sitter with his head in the second half, and I genuinely thought he'd put his first over from 2 yards out. If he finished as well as he should have, the score would have been worse. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jagsfan57 Posted April 21 Share Posted April 21 2 hours ago, Passionate said: As I say target achieved, do we down tools and have half an eye on the beach, with the sun beating down yesterday, maybe a few did, Rhys is 100 %right in publicly calling out his players, he will no doubt get criticised for it, We are not a dirty side, but all season we have broke up play got organised, tackled and basically fought our corner, I will leave you with this damning statistic over the course of 90 minutes we committed 3 fouls and had no bookings...... Is it any wonder Partick Thistle rode us..... There were no bookings for either team yesterday - just like the first game in August. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny_m Posted April 21 Share Posted April 21 Just now, jagsfan57 said: There were no bookings for either team yesterday - just like the first game in August. The games "gone"! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mybitchunderprotest Posted April 21 Share Posted April 21 7 hours ago, Kenny_m said: It's one game, there's nothing broken and whilst I have never considered us winning the play offs I do see us beating Thistle. I'm confident of winning our home game but we must have to adapt at Firhill where the surface is terrible (pitch didn't look watered to me, probably deliberate but that's ok) and go more direct like we did at Dunfermline several weeks ago. I thought the surface at Firhill looked pretty good especially at this stage of the season and the piss poor weather we've had over the past couple of months. I'm also fairly certain I was watching the players warm up pre match and half time with the sprinklers on. Watched the highlights back this morning and can only hope the loud mouth behind me who was giving the linesman pelters at the 1st goal and for about 10 minutes after, noticed that the goalscorer started his run from his own half. We've looked shaky at the back with the back 4 after our better performances with a 3/5. Megwa and Hancock at least yesterday were still trying to get down the wings but we were completely lacking cover for them when they did go forward. Ideally have Ballantyne back for play offs even if it means managing his minutes in the last 2 matches. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr November Posted April 21 Share Posted April 21 5 minutes ago, Mybitchunderprotest said: We've looked shaky at the back with the back 4 after our better performances with a 3/5. Megwa and Hancock at least yesterday were still trying to get down the wings but we were completely lacking cover for them when they did go forward. Ideally have Ballantyne back for play offs even if it means managing his minutes in the last 2 matches. Looked like a back five to me yesterday until the subs, albeit a much more attacking version with McGregor at wing back. It was odd, at goal kicks we set up in a diamond with McGregor at the tip then in possession changed to a 3-5-2 with him moving out wide, Megwa moving in and Hancock bombing forward. Milne and Fitzpatrick is possibly the best left side in the league so it's a tough shift for any wing back but especially so for someone like McGregor. As you say, Ballantyne back in there with Megwa out wide gives us better balance there and a much more solid base. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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