Airdrieonians 23/24 Championship Thread♦️

[Mr November]

Seems like Badley-Morgan and Wilson are back fit this week. Do they come back into the team with Bruce and McGregor dropping out? Seems like Bruce did quite well last week but that would allow Hancock to move out wide and give us two strikers up front, with McGregor’s pace as an option off the bench.

[AJ77]

Just now, Mr November said:

Seems like Badley-Morgan and Wilson are back fit this week. Do they come back into the team with Bruce and McGregor dropping out? Seems like Bruce did quite well last week but that would allow Hancock to move out wide and give us two strikers up front, with McGregor’s pace as an option off the bench.

Would have Badley-Morgan back in for Bruce yes, but Wilson for me has done nothing to merit a start in recent weeks. Would stick with Reid and Mcgregor for now.

[Kenny_m]

4 minutes ago, AJ77 said:

Would have Badley-Morgan back in for Bruce yes, but Wilson for me has done nothing to merit a start in recent weeks. Would stick with Reid and Mcgregor for now.

Having Hancock in the left wing back role is a must therefore Badley-Morgan is a must.

It's McGregor & Wilson for me. I'm still convinced that if Wilson gets a partner with him then he'll score loads and whilst Reid scored a decent goal last week I'm of the opinion that he's simply not ready for this level.

[AJ77]

48 minutes ago, Kenny_m said:

Having Hancock in the left wing back role is a must therefore Badley-Morgan is a must.

It's McGregor & Wilson for me. I'm still convinced that if Wilson gets a partner with him then he'll score loads and whilst Reid scored a decent goal last week I'm of the opinion that he's simply not ready for this level.

Get what your saying but watching Wilson of the ball is so frustrating, guy doesn't look interested at all.

[++Ammo - Airdrie++]

3 minutes ago, AJ77 said:

Get what your saying but watching Wilson of the ball is so frustrating, guy doesn't look interested at all.

See you be fair, I'd look pissed off and disinterested if I was standing in the opposition half on my own for the majority of the game. Wilson's a chance taker, not a creator (imo of course).

[David Fernández]

Only change I would make tomorrow would back Badley-Morgan coming in for Bruce which seems a bit harsh on Bruce as he did have his best game for us last week but it allows Hancock to play further up.

I liked the look of having Aiken, Gallagher and Frizzell in midfield last week as I felt that it had brought more of a balance to the team.

Agree with @AJ77 I'd start Reid and McGregor up front together.

Although the jury is out on Aaron Reid like a few of our other signings on whether they are Championship quality or not, ultimately he has double the amount of goals as Ben Wilson has in the league and receives double the amount of criticism.

Ben Wilson looked excellent in the League Cup but his contribution in the League for me doesn't merit him getting a start, think he has to earn it.

The other reason I'd start Reid and McGregor up top in a back 3 would be that if we have both Hancock and MacDonald playing as wing backs, that's where I see us being most threatening up front and if we took Reid out of the team, we'd be back to passing the ball around or 18 yard line again which would lead to us gifting goals to the opposition. 

[Kenny_m]

Just as well the P&B junkies are the not the management team as we have shouts for every combination of the front 2!!!!!

Maybe we'll all be wrong and Rhys will revert to 1 up top and Armstrong or Mochrie come in!

[ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds]

Meaning no disrespect to Dunermline but if there was any team we wanted to come up against tomorrow it’s them, especially at home. Like us, they’ve only won one game against a really poor Raith Rovers side and managed one other draw. However, we must keep in mind they’ll be saying the same about us. They’ve got some quality in their squad despite their poor start, and I particularly worry about how our inexperienced midfield will deal with Wotherspoon.

Despite our poor start, I’m actually feeling fine about tomorrow. For the last few games I’ve felt we’ve had no chance of getting a result, but the switch to a back 5 and a better performance, coupled with the return of Badley-Morgan especially, but also Wilson and Armstrong gives me a bit of hope. I think it was to be Watson, Graham, Badley-Morgan in the back three with MacDonald and Hancock as wing backs. I’d keep the midfield the same as last weekend, and I’d bring Wilson back in for McGregor and go with him and Reid up top.

Clearly relegation is a very real possibility and a loss tomorrow would leave us in a really bad position but I wouldn’t get too carried away; there’s still a long way to go and at the bottom end of the table where teams are picking up less points a short run of good results can mean a lot whether that happens in October, January or April. I also think we’ve got the makings of a good defence at this level. Badley-Morgan looks a real find, Graham looks fairly solid, we know what Hancock and Watson can deliver and when Wilson returns I expect he’ll be one of the first names on the teamsheet. MacDonald’s had a good start despite how poor we’ve been and I hope that continues but even if he dropped off a bit we can play Watson at right back and still have plenty of centre back cover. The midfield, even when players return, still lacks something and there’s hardly any depth up top, but I think over the course of the season that defence can do well.

[sr1867]

Hows Cammy Bruce been for you lot?

[AJ77]

42 minutes ago, sr1867 said:

Hows Cammy Bruce been for you lot?

[++Ammo - Airdrie++]

9 minutes ago, AJ77 said:

I laughed far more than is acceptable, at this.

[Diamonds on the Windshield]

I keep thinking back to the Dumbarton game where we were pretty poor and losing 3-1 with their 51st minute penalty. The changes that Rhys made were McGrattan, Mochrie, Bruce and Reid off on 54 minutes ( all 4 played in the game against Livi at the weekend). Ben Wilson, McGregor, Frizzell and Armstrong came on and transformed the performance scoring in 68 , 84 and 88 mins to win 4-3.

My thinking at the time was the boys who came on had played together a few times and it showed with some nice passing and moving. The problem we have just now with so many new players  is not playing a settled team where they get used to each other. That will come and the team will improve as it settles down with hopefully a core of injury free regular starters at it's core.

[Midlothian Diamond]

The Breakdown of the SPFL prize money distribution for season 2023/24 has just been announced. Distribution for this season's Championship clubs was as follows

1st - Dundee United £758k

2nd - Raith Rovers £640k

3rd - Partick Thistle £539k

4th - Airdrieonians £438k

5th - Morton £337k

6th - Dunfermline £303k

7th - Ayr United £286k

8th - Queen’s Park £269k

9th - Falkirk £168k

10th Hamilton A £145k

Airdrie also received £50,000 for reaching the last 16 of the Viaplay Cup, £47,520 for reaching the 5th round of the Scottish Cup plus £24,000 TV money and £50,000 for winning the Challenge Cup giving a total of £609, 520.