Airdrieonians 23/24 Championship Thread♦️

[++Ammo - Airdrie++]

1 hour ago, Kenny_m said:

Notice big Josh has already lost his place at St Johnstone after a few horror shows although his replacement hasn't been great either.

I heard a wee interview with Craig Levein before the game he dropped Josh (Motherwell?) where he was explaining that hes just come into this level and he wants him to catch his breath and he's played well etc...... then you see the keeper at Motherwells first

[Diamonds on the Windshield]

Interesting that Rae has been dropped as none of our departing players seem to have done very well. Telfer can't make the bench, Dycey was crocked by Frizz, Ballantyne is at least getting a game but his team still to win a game, McGill doesn't seem to have a team, Todorov is getting 15 mins as a sub. Even Cal Gal is not getting a game. Just shows the grass is not always greener even on a football pitch.

Edited Monday at 16:27 by Diamonds on the Windshield

[DiamomdsD]

3 hours ago, Diamonds02 said:

Interesting people saying that we only had one way of playing out from goal kicks. I swear in the first half especially 90% of them went long to Aaron Reid who did win a fair few of them tbf but barely anyone got on to the flick ons so it just resulted in Falkirk being back on the attack.
 

I think our biggest issue was the midfield not having enough confidence to show for the ball in these situations and the rotations that were so good last season not quite being there yet. Think these things will get better with time as I think it’s more a mental issue rather than a lack of quality.

Agreed, Reid won quite a few flick ons but Wilson wasn’t getting near him to benefit from them. This is ok for one or two but he should have got closer to him after to pick up on these.

[Mr November]

Right back isn’t our top priority just now but I see Megwa has just signed for Thistle.

[Kenny_m]

53 minutes ago, Mr November said:

Right back isn’t our top priority just now but I see Megwa has just signed for Thistle.

Disappointing as you can't have enough quality but agree that we are more needing another forward/winger.

I wonder if we are still actively seeking to bring someone in but at this stage options are very very limited.

[Mr November]

27 minutes ago, Kenny_m said:

Disappointing as you can't have enough quality but agree that we are more needing another forward/winger.

I wonder if we are still actively seeking to bring someone in but at this stage options are very very limited.

We still haven’t replaced Todorov but I wonder if that money went towards signing Graham and Badley-Morgan. 

I wouldn’t expect any potential new signing to be very experienced at this point, and I’m not really expecting us to sign anyone, but I’d like to think there’s a young forward player at a Premiership team with some strength/speed to even act as an another option for us.

[David Fernández]

37 minutes ago, Mr November said:

We still haven’t replaced Todorov but I wonder if that money went towards signing Graham and Badley-Morgan. 

I wouldn’t expect any potential new signing to be very experienced at this point, and I’m not really expecting us to sign anyone, but I’d like to think there’s a young forward player at a Premiership team with some strength/speed to even act as an another option for us.

Bobby Wales is the only one I can think of at the top of my head, he looked really good for Alloa and I think teams in Italy were having a look at him.

Had a quick look at who's still a free agent on transfermarkt, the likes of McInroy, Adeloye, Grimshaw etc and although they'd need to drop whatever their wage demands were in the summer to get a club, I still can't see us go for any of them.

[g martin]

Another question I don't think has been discussed here. How much of an impact (if any) has losing Fordyce had in terms of his role as assistant manager? Is it known what he was responsible specifically for in the set up? Would he have been helping guide recruitment before, or was he more just focused on coaching set pieces for example. Just wondering if any of the poorer form can be attributed to losing him as assistant manager, or it is not a factor compared to other issues (such as losing him and telfer as starting players). 

As a side note, from the outside I didn't necessarily believe there had to have been a falling out with Mccabe, to me the more likely explanation was Raith simply offered more money than Airdrie could, figuring he would be worth a high price both for the gain to them and damage to a league rival in taking their assistant. Plus Fordyce must have a good relationship with Murray, who could still likely help him on his future coaching journey as well, if that is what he wants when he stops playing. This was before he got sacked of course.

Edited Monday at 21:41 by g martin

[Kenny_m]

13 hours ago, Diamonds on the Windshield said:

Interesting that Rae has been dropped as none of our departing players seem to have done very well. Telfer can't make the bench, Dycey was crocked by Frizz, Ballantyne is at least getting a game but his team still to win a game, McGill doesn't seem to have a team, Todorov is getting 15 mins as a sub. Even Cal Gal is not getting a game. Just shows the grass is not always greener even on a football pitch.

Remember that most footballers move on for more money therefore it most definitely is greener. I dare say Charlie Telfer would rather be playing but i'm sure the extra 1K a month (approx) more than compensates.

[Diamonds on the Windshield]

So if he gets an extra £12k this year where does he end up next year? There is no doubt he was playing well for us in a system that suited him but before that the Falkirk fans were not impressed. After holding out for more money/ better deal it took him a while to get going with us. He improved by playing every week and if his year is another backwards one has it been worth a bit of extra money?

[Jack Reed]

12 hours ago, David Fernández said:

Bobby Wales is the only one I can think of at the top of my head, he looked really good for Alloa and I think teams in Italy were having a look at him.

Had a quick look at who's still a free agent on transfermarkt, the likes of McInroy, Adeloye, Grimshaw etc and although they'd need to drop whatever their wage demands were in the summer to get a club, I still can't see us go for any of them.

Do they have to much experience  to sign for us ,or maybe no on same wavelength as Rhys,

[Jack Reed]

1 hour ago, Diamonds on the Windshield said:

So if he gets an extra £12k this year where does he end up next year? There is no doubt he was playing well for us in a system that suited him but before that the Falkirk fans were not impressed. After holding out for more money/ better deal it took him a while to get going with us. He improved by playing every week and if his year is another backwards one has it been worth a bit of extra money?

Just a thought,McDonald can be one of our success stories,

[Kenny_m]

4 hours ago, Diamonds on the Windshield said:

So if he gets an extra £12k this year where does he end up next year? There is no doubt he was playing well for us in a system that suited him but before that the Falkirk fans were not impressed. After holding out for more money/ better deal it took him a while to get going with us. He improved by playing every week and if his year is another backwards one has it been worth a bit of extra money?

I would imagine he'll be back in the championship and given that he's 29 he probably thought that this was his last shot in the premiership.

[Wacky]

More importantly, are you guys looking forward to your new catering PARtners? 
 

[Diamond1924]

I really don’t know where the team goes from here. I think it’s pretty clear that we are miles off of where we were last year. How much of that is down the fact that the squad is brand new, I’m unsure but the “replacements” are not nearly as effective as those who departed. 

Even thinking of Lyall last year. A young and inexperienced player who came in and done a job  and then some. Compare him to the likes of McGrattan and it’s night and day. There’s example of that all over the pitch. 

You wonder if the club have been too reserved in their approach to signing players. I get the sustainability of the club is the most important thing but the league was wide open this year (or thought to be so) so why not chuck a few extra £’s into the squad. Doing the opposite could be even more damaging to the club. Three strikers out the door and 2 in. It’s just so poor.

Big test for McCabe on Saturday. If it’s another poor perform coupled with a defeat then I think it’s time to worry. 

[Diamonds02]

5 minutes ago, Diamond1924 said:

I really don’t know where the team goes from here. I think it’s pretty clear that we are miles off of where we were last year. How much of that is down the fact that the squad is brand new, I’m unsure but the “replacements” are not nearly as effective as those who departed. 

Even thinking of Lyall last year. A young and inexperienced player who came in and done a job  and then some. Compare him to the likes of McGrattan and it’s night and day. There’s example of that all over the pitch. 

You wonder if the club have been too reserved in their approach to signing players. I get the sustainability of the club is the most important thing but the league was wide open this year (or thought to be so) so why not chuck a few extra £’s into the squad. Doing the opposite could be even more damaging to the club. Three strikers out the door and 2 in. It’s just so poor.

Big test for McCabe on Saturday. If it’s another poor perform coupled with a defeat then I think it’s time to worry. 

We’ve signed 15 players. Just because they are young doesn’t mean they are cheap. In fact some of them were very highly sought after and won’t have come for buttons. The club have honestly splashed out far more than I thought they would.

I still maintain that most of these signings will come good in time but yeah I will start to worry if there’s no improvement on Saturday.

[Kenny_m]

1 hour ago, Diamonds02 said:

We’ve signed 15 players. Just because they are young doesn’t mean they are cheap. In fact some of them were very highly sought after and won’t have come for buttons. The club have honestly splashed out far more than I thought they would.

I still maintain that most of these signings will come good in time but yeah I will start to worry if there’s no improvement on Saturday.

Now that we've missed out on Megwa, i'm sure we'll be looking to bring someone in but not easy at this stage.

When having the turnover of players we had, for whatever reason, the only guarantee was that some wouldn't be good enough no matter who was manager.  

 

[DiamomdsD]

I’m not sure individually there are many players who are particularly weak. Our defence is actually fairly solid, our midfield man for man is strong. I think Ben Wilson will be a player but isn’t getting many opportunities at the moment. We have a rigid way of playing and the majority of the team are new and learning the style which naturally takes time. But we seem to be missing key components of the team to be able to play this way.

Having a dcm who can pick a pass to vary the game, as well as link the midfield with defence is missing with Rhys and deano both out. No idea when either of them will be back. How many times on Saturday were we looking to Johnson to effectively do that role instead when it’s just not his strength.

I do think we play better with Reid on the pitch as he is the only player who we can play a long ball to and mix it up. When we take this away it’s so easy for teams to press us into mistakes or end up just passing the ball back to their centre backs. We seemed to improve against Hamilton with him on and were much closer with him on the pitch v Falkirk than without. I’m not saying he’s a superstar signing but he is effective and gives balance to the team.

[Mr November]

15 minutes ago, DiamomdsD said:

I’m not sure individually there are many players who are particularly weak. Our defence is actually fairly solid, our midfield man for man is strong. I think Ben Wilson will be a player but isn’t getting many opportunities at the moment. We have a rigid way of playing and the majority of the team are new and learning the style which naturally takes time. But we seem to be missing key components of the team to be able to play this way.

Having a dcm who can pick a pass to vary the game, as well as link the midfield with defence is missing with Rhys and deano both out. No idea when either of them will be back. How many times on Saturday were we looking to Johnson to effectively do that role instead when it’s just not his strength.

I do think we play better with Reid on the pitch as he is the only player who we can play a long ball to and mix it up. When we take this away it’s so easy for teams to press us into mistakes or end up just passing the ball back to their centre backs. We seemed to improve against Hamilton with him on and were much closer with him on the pitch v Falkirk than without. I’m not saying he’s a superstar signing but he is effective and gives balance to the team.

I think this is broadly where I’m at too. None of the new signings seem particularly disastrous so far, there’s a few I’m not fully convinced by but we’ve had far worse players. As you say, the issue is the balance of the squad. We’re very reliant on McGregor and Reid, two players who shouldn’t hold that level of importance to how we play.

One or two could transform this team, the problem is I’m not sure we’ll get them at this point. 

[Chapelhall chap]

1 hour ago, DiamomdsD said:

I’m not sure individually there are many players who are particularly weak. Our defence is actually fairly solid, our midfield man for man is strong. I think Ben Wilson will be a player but isn’t getting many opportunities at the moment. We have a rigid way of playing and the majority of the team are new and learning the style which naturally takes time. But we seem to be missing key components of the team to be able to play this way.

Having a dcm who can pick a pass to vary the game, as well as link the midfield with defence is missing with Rhys and deano both out. No idea when either of them will be back. How many times on Saturday were we looking to Johnson to effectively do that role instead when it’s just not his strength.

I do think we play better with Reid on the pitch as he is the only player who we can play a long ball to and mix it up. When we take this away it’s so easy for teams to press us into mistakes or end up just passing the ball back to their centre backs. We seemed to improve against Hamilton with him on and were much closer with him on the pitch v Falkirk than without. I’m not saying he’s a superstar signing but he is effective and gives balance to the team.

I get your general points but who is Johnson?