Airdrieonians 23/24 Championship Thread♦️

[airdrieoldboy]

3 hours ago, Diamond1924 said:

McCabe has a serious inability to mix things up when the set up clearly isn’t working. The Ayr game and today’s game highlighted that further.  He’s stubborn. 

Playing Wilson up front on his own is criminal. You’d think McCabe would realise after 3 games of pure shite 

I fear we’re regressing and at a rapid rate. League one is a serious prospect even this early on. Get it together McCabe.

I note that you continue to post a lot  of shite mate- we are not regressing, we have an injury crisis.

Yes, we need to do better, but, please halt your amateur dramatics!

 

[ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds]

44 minutes ago, airdrieoldboy said:

I note that you continue to post a lot  of shite mate- we are not regressing, we have an injury crisis.

Yes, we need to do better, but, please halt your amateur dramatics!

 

Agree that an injury crisis is a big part of the issue and I’m happy to keep faith in McCabe to sort it out but I definitely think he could be showing a bit more pragmatism in the tactics given the injury crisis and brand new defence, especially off the back of two heavy defeats. And he should have recognised that this 4231 with Wilson isolated isn’t working. Have to reiterate that I trust him to turn it around, but I’m disappointed to see the same issues today we’ve already seen in previous weeks.

[Diamond1924]

10 hours ago, airdrieoldboy said:

I note that you continue to post a lot  of shite mate- we are not regressing, we have an injury crisis.

Yes, we need to do better, but, please halt your amateur dramatics!

 

Did we have injury crisis when Ayr beat us 5-0? Open yer eyes 

[Shibuya]

14 hours ago, WL Diamond said:

 

 

 

Next week at Hamilton is a must not lose, if not a must-win game. Another performance and result like the last 3 games and the pressure will really be on, and we’ll be facing a long hard season. 

Accies are a little stuffy but not a bad side. They have big boys at the back so I'd imagine Wilson will get little change out of them if he's up top on his own. 

[Diamonds are Forever]

Looking at that first goal, the reason McGrattan gives the ball away is because as the ball is approaching him he has literally no options in terms of a pass, not even back to the goalie, so he tries to turn with the ball into space to relieve the pressure and loses it. He obviously needs to do better and at least just shield it and win a foul so I'm not saying he shouldn't have done better, but I think just dismissing it as an individual error doesn't look at the real cause, we're just going to have the same thing happening again with different players in future games. The same thing happened countless time against Ayr too, they can't all be 'individual errors'.

1 minute into a game when the opposition are full of energy and pressing high surely you have to play percentages a bit more and not put players in those positions. And if you are going to insist on playing that way then you need to sign players who can handle the ball in those situations, which it seems we haven't.

[Passionate]

12 minutes ago, Diamonds are Forever said:

Looking at that first goal, the reason McGrattan gives the ball away is because as the ball is approaching him he has literally no options in terms of a pass, not even back to the goalie, so he tries to turn with the ball into space to relieve the pressure and loses it. He obviously needs to do better and at least just shield it and win a foul so I'm not saying he shouldn't have done better, but I think just dismissing it as an individual error doesn't look at the real cause, we're just going to have the same thing happening again with different players in future games. The same thing happened countless time against Ayr too, they can't all be 'individual errors'.

1 minute into a game when the opposition are full of energy and pressing high surely you have to play percentages a bit more and not put players in those positions. And if you are going to insist on playing that way then you need to sign players who can handle the ball in those situations, which it seems we haven't.

Good post,   a lot of square pegs and round holes,  I did take a bit of heart when Mochrie and Reid came on,  didn't turn the game but showed we can play on the front foot and give a couple of defenders something to do,   Gallagher who we tipped to go on loan is now the beating heart of the team and dictating play,  big issue I have a with the midfield is him quite rightly and Agyemang want to play deep,    Agyemang is decent enough ( I think) But not as good as he thinks he is,   we are playing one midfielder too many and it shows with lack of options and space,  cannot see Rhys changing system for anybody though. Which could and is becoming an issue...

 

Last week of the window and what do we still need, a wide player, a striker,   ??  

 

 

Next home game is Falkirk who will be wanting revenge big time,  hopefully we have our act together then,   1500 there yesterday. Already the loyal Airdrie support are slightly on the wane.

[Jack Reed]

11 hours ago, airdrieoldboy said:

I note that you continue to post a lot  of shite mate- we are not regressing, we have an injury crisis.

Yes, we need to do better, but, please halt your amateur dramatics!

 

Saying it as he See's it , surely entitled to that ,when I hear that we replaced the players that left by quality or better  players is that a lot of shit aswell,

[Kenny_m]

26 minutes ago, Diamonds are Forever said:

Looking at that first goal, the reason McGrattan gives the ball away is because as the ball is approaching him he has literally no options in terms of a pass, not even back to the goalie, so he tries to turn with the ball into space to relieve the pressure and loses it. He obviously needs to do better and at least just shield it and win a foul so I'm not saying he shouldn't have done better, but I think just dismissing it as an individual error doesn't look at the real cause, we're just going to have the same thing happening again with different players in future games. The same thing happened countless time against Ayr too, they can't all be 'individual errors'.

1 minute into a game when the opposition are full of energy and pressing high surely you have to play percentages a bit more and not put players in those positions. And if you are going to insist on playing that way then you need to sign players who can handle the ball in those situations, which it seems we haven't.

The players all know how we play and its brought us success but the biggest issue is the high turnover of players during the summer which is now been amplified by our injury list. There have been goods signings, bad ones, and some who are in the meh bucket but this was always going to be the case no matter who is the manager given that we have one of the lowest budgets. The club as a whole need to look at this closely and avoid repeat as it will ultimately result in us being back in League 1.

With regards to the 1st goal, should we have punted it at that stage in the game, yeh probably but McGrattan (who is frustrating the life out of me) was a weak as water and always seems to have a problem with his back to goal. This was a carbon copy of the 1st goal we lost at Dumbarton  but in my mind it's a constant trait of his. He has ability and looks decent going forward then completely disappears and I'm seeing why he spent most of his Morton career on the bench as he's not someone you would want in the trenches with you. At best is a handy sub. (that's the kindest way i can put it)

However it might be time to tweak the system and ideally have the manager in a back 3 as his experience can heavily influence the side with organisational and passing ability. 

[Diamonds are Forever]

4 minutes ago, Kenny_m said:

The players all know how we play and its brought us success but the biggest issue is the high turnover of players during the summer which is now been amplified by our injury list. There have been goods signings, bad ones, and some who are in the meh bucket but this was always going to be the case no matter who is the manager given that we have one of the lowest budgets. The club as a whole need to look at this closely and avoid repeat as it will ultimately result in us being back in League 1.

With regards to the 1st goal, should we have punted it at that stage in the game, yeh probably but McGrattan (who is frustrating the life out of me) was a weak as water and always seems to have a problem with his back to goal. This was a carbon copy of the 1st goal we lost at Dumbarton  but in my mind it's a constant trait of his. He has ability and looks decent going forward then completely disappears and I'm seeing why he spent most of his Morton career on the bench as he's not someone you would want in the trenches with you. At best is a handy sub. (that's the kindest way i can put it)

However it might be time to tweak the system and ideally have the manager in a back 3 as his experience can heavily influence the side with organisational and passing ability. 

 

That's the thing though, there was that goal and the one yesterday, Mochrie got the same stick after the Ayr game for their 1st goal, Agyemang did similar against Dundee for one of theirs. And that's just the ones that have led to goals, McMaster and Aiken in the Ayr and Dundee games were caught numerous times but luckily didn't lead to goals. McGrattan in particular seems to struggle but when it's a theme involving multiple players in multiple games for me it's an error in the system and what is being expected of them. Again, I agree McGrattan was soft and needs to protect the ball, but I'd go back a stage and say if all McGrattan can do there is hold the ball and try and draw a foul, then why are we even playing it to him in that position to start with?

I think it comes down what has been discussed about lack of options out wide and up front. The only way we can get up the park is to take huge risks passing through the middle, but because we have no options over the top and no pace teams can press us high and aggressively safe in the knowledge that there is no threat in behind, and even if there was we wouldn't play it.

[Kenny_m]

8 minutes ago, Diamonds are Forever said:

That's the thing though, there was that goal and the one yesterday, Mochrie got the same stick after the Ayr game for their 1st goal, Agyemang did similar against Dundee for one of theirs. And that's just the ones that have led to goals, McMaster and Aiken in the Ayr and Dundee games were caught numerous times but luckily didn't lead to goals. McGrattan in particular seems to struggle but when it's a theme involving multiple players in multiple games for me it's an error in the system and what is being expected of them. Again, I agree McGrattan was soft and needs to protect the ball, but I'd go back a stage and say if all McGrattan can do there is hold the ball and try and draw a foul, then why are we even playing it to him in that position to start with?

I do take your point but we've just had the best two seasons for long and weary playing this way which is my reasoning for mentioning the high turnover of players. Yes, at the moment we do need to adapt.

 

10 minutes ago, Diamonds are Forever said:

I think it comes down what has been discussed about lack of options out wide and up front. The only way we can get up the park is to take huge risks passing through the middle, but because we have no options over the top and no pace teams can press us high and aggressively safe in the knowledge that there is no threat in behind, and even if there was we wouldn't play it.

Yip, hopefully we can get someone in this week.

[Diamond1924]

I think the reason we’re all so disappointed is because we know how good we can be. We were excellent last season and so naturally the fans expectations go up. Unfortunately the club and McCabe haven’t met those expectations so far with performances or signings. 
 

You would have thought that of all the seasons to have a proper go and try and get to the premiership this would have been the one. This would mean bringing in a mixture of experience and youth (look at Ayr for example). But no, we signed another bunch of unknown quantities who are just not good enough for this level whilst letting go of McGill, Todorov and Fordyce et al. 
 

I have a lot of respect for the young lads that come in but to be relying on Gavin Gallagher to make things happen is just a sorry state to be in. I understand that we have an injury ‘crisis’ and I also understand that the league has just started but there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel. 

The panic signings of Badley Morgan and Graham are symptomatic of a club who just want to chance it instead of getting proper backups in. I thought we would have learned our lesson with the Josh Rae/ Hemphrey situation last year? But no. 

 

This leads into another point. The club feels it’s forbidden to let us paying fans know what is going on with injuries. I’ve seen fans say that A. wilson was not playing as a precaution, then he was out for 2 weeks and now he needs an operation. Hard for fans to feel optimistic when we have no idea what’s happening with our players.

It was totally embarrassing yesterday. Watching a team who are usually so self assured look so weak and tired. 13 goals in 3 games, unforgivable 

 

[Airdrie76]

17 hours ago, David Fernández said:

I actually think most of our defensive issues are from having a lack of an outball/target man upfront to play along side Wilson.

Letting go both Todorov and McGill is starting to look like a very poor decision with no replacement lined up for them, I know McGill has his injury problems but he would walk into this team just now.

With no outball it means if we play the ball long there's no one to hold up the ball and it'll easily get won in the air by every centre back in this league. 

Being saying this for weeks. It’s so obvious.  I’d add it weakens us going forward too. 

[Diamonds are Forever]

5 minutes ago, Kenny_m said:

I do take your point but we've just had the best two seasons for long and weary playing this way which is my reasoning for mentioning the high turnover of players. Yes, at the moment we do need to adapt.

 

I think that's only partly true, it was changing to a more pragmatic and direct style with 2 big strikers that shot us up the league around March time, if we'd stuck to the football we'd been playing most of the season I think we'd have stayed well down in the bottom half where we were most of the season.

It's a theme under McCabe that we always start the season playing idealistic football and then gradually revert away from it when the reality hits. I'm sure the same will happen this season but my slight concern this time around is we don't really have the players to play any other way, whereas last season we did.

Despite my criticism I don't think we're that far away if we tweak or game plan a bit, and provided we get a signing in with a bit of pace, and/or McGregor back, and a better 2nd option up front. When we score first it will be a totally different game so priority has to be stop gifting stupid early goals by playing high risk football in the first 10 minutes of games. Play a bit more of a territory based game early on, stay in the game and then when things calm down a bit try and impose our style.

 

[Diamonds02]

I’m honestly not worried at all. We have went through worse runs than this in each of McCabe’s seasons as manager and we have came out the other side every time. Partick are below us and I don’t think anyone is seriously tipping them for relegation. Let’s just chill eh

[Kenny_m]

1 hour ago, Diamonds are Forever said:

 

I think that's only partly true, it was changing to a more pragmatic and direct style with 2 big strikers that shot us up the league around March time, if we'd stuck to the football we'd been playing most of the season I think we'd have stayed well down in the bottom half where we were most of the season.

It's a theme under McCabe that we always start the season playing idealistic football and then gradually revert away from it when the reality hits. I'm sure the same will happen this season but my slight concern this time around is we don't really have the players to play any other way, whereas last season we did.

Despite my criticism I don't think we're that far away if we tweak or game plan a bit, and provided we get a signing in with a bit of pace, and/or McGregor back, and a better 2nd option up front. When we score first it will be a totally different game so priority has to be stop gifting stupid early goals by playing high risk football in the first 10 minutes of games. Play a bit more of a territory based game early on, stay in the game and then when things calm down a bit try and impose our style.

 

Whatever we do we've got to find a way of keeping Ben Wilson up the park and through the middle as the signs are clear that he's a top striker at this level.

[Kenny_m]

1 hour ago, Diamonds02 said:

I’m honestly not worried at all. We have went through worse runs than this in each of McCabe’s seasons as manager and we have came out the other side every time. Partick are below us and I don’t think anyone is seriously tipping them for relegation. Let’s just chill eh

I'm not worried either as I've every confidence in the manager but I reserve the right to change my mind and it might be 5pm next Saturday 

[starshot131]

16 hours ago, airdrieoldboy said:

I note that you continue to post a lot  of shite mate- we are not regressing, we have an injury crisis.

Yes, we need to do better, but, please halt your amateur dramatics!

 

fwiw Queen's also have an injury crisis, so that shouldn't really have affected the game too much
Thomson, Kerr, Fox, Savoury (!), Mauchin, Tizzard, and Reid are all out for us and with the exception of Reid were all hanging about our starting 11 when they were fit

[Rocky Rooster AFC]

Two bad mistakes done us on Saturday otherwise we dominated possession without really looking threatening and that for me was the real problem. 

Take into account the rare times we did look like scoring or actually did that was scuppered by shocking officiating all adding to a frustrating day indeed. 

On the injury front I am led to believe Aidan Wilson and Dean McMaster are looking at at least 8 weeks out. Craig Watson hopefully back next weekend and McCabe unknown but it's that calf again so could be some time. McGregor who we really miss is looking to be back for the Queen of the south cup game in 2 weeks so that is positive as him and Wilson work really well upfront. 

On the additions front I am expecting 2 more in this week to bolster the squad in the areas we need. I will also be praying that we don't receive the bigger bid for Mason Hancock that would see him go as that would be a very huge blow.

I am still confident we will turn this run of defeats around we just need a few tweaks. This said a win at Hamilton is now very important or the pressure will start to mount. 

[Passionate]

26 minutes ago, Rocky Rooster AFC said:

Two bad mistakes done us on Saturday otherwise we dominated possession without really looking threatening and that for me was the real problem. 

Take into account the rare times we did look like scoring or actually did that was scuppered by shocking officiating all adding to a frustrating day indeed. 

On the injury front I am led to believe Aidan Wilson and Dean McMaster are looking at at least 8 weeks out. Craig Watson hopefully back next weekend and McCabe unknown but it's that calf again so could be some time. McGregor who we really miss is looking to be back for the Queen of the south cup game in 2 weeks so that is positive as him and Wilson work really well upfront. 

On the additions front I am expecting 2 more in this week to bolster the squad in the areas we need. I will also be praying that we don't receive the bigger bid for Mason Hancock that would see him go as that would be a very huge blow.

 

I am still confident we will turn this run of defeats around we just need a few tweaks. This said a win at Hamilton is now very important or the pressure will start to mount. 

Frustration and a lack of confidence is the main issue, success and failure in football is tiny margins,  unfortunately at the moment we are just dipping below the water line..

I am a stats man, and the glaring one from SPFL site is in 3 games we have had 28 shots on goal with only 5 on target making the keeper work,  frankly not good enough and you won't win many games with that stat...

 

What positions can you see the proposed 2 new additions to be for,  hopefully whoever it is will have a bit of experience..

 

Hopefully Mason stays although he has been well off it in recent games,  has his head been turned a little, no doubt he will have been told of interest..

[Jack Reed]

41 minutes ago, Passionate said:

Frustration and a lack of confidence is the main issue, success and failure in football is tiny margins,  unfortunately at the moment we are just dipping below the water line..

I am a stats man, and the glaring one from SPFL site is in 3 games we have had 28 shots on goal with only 5 on target making the keeper work,  frankly not good enough and you won't win many games with that stat...

 

 

What positions can you see the proposed 2 new additions to be for,  hopefully whoever it is will have a bit of experience..

 

Hopefully Mason stays although he has been well off it in recent games,  has his head been turned a little, no doubt he will have been told of interest..

Any idea where interest came from,Hearts maybe,???