Airdrieonians v Raith

[Diamond1924]

Anything other than an Airdrie win would have totally flattered Raith. We were well in control of that game and competed very well. A good win  

[TxRover]

Brown seemed a little off today, compared to usual. Hamilton is a stick on starter for me now, his holdup play and ball control add a dimension we’ve lacked for a while. Masson for Watson is probably part of why we conceded that goal, because Masson already had a yellow (and thus was a bit more tentative) and Murray is, well, deliberate…they were described as “watching”. Easton lacked any magic in the final third and Millen’s crosses today lacked their normal precision. Dick was tireless on the left, Byrne always around the play and Stanton was ever involved. Kev had a good game.

Losing Watson left Murray to guide Masson, which I think is a downgrade from Watson guiding him or McGill. I think Masson was the correct sub rather than McGill to LB and Dick to CB because Dick was part of most of our threats on the wing. I guess we wait and see how Watson and Hamilton feel Monday.

[CALDERON]

Just now, renton said:

There is no way weve played worse than that this season.

I thought we were easily worse than that last week, to be honest.  

[grumswall]

It was one of those games that could have went either way. We didn't play particularly well but still had a couple of good chances. Hamilton really should score, if he'd kept it low its a goal but it was a good save from rae. The movement from the Airdrie players created the space for the goal and dabrowski had no chance with the finish. 

[Wardy]

Just now, Diamond1924 said:

Anything other than an Airdrie win would have totally flattered Raith. We were well in control of that game and competed very well. A good win  

Rovers better in the second half. Other than the goal Airdrie didn’t really test Dabrowski at all. But no complaints. We were poor. But Airdrie controlling most the game is pure tinted specs stuff. 

[Aufc]

What a fucking result

[Kenny_m]

Great goal to win the game for Airdrie and continue our great home form but not much  in the game at all. 

[Broken Algorithms]

2 minutes ago, Diamond1924 said:

Anything other than an Airdrie win would have totally flattered Raith. We were well in control of that game and competed very well. A good win  

I wouldn't agree with that. Airdrie were worth their win but Stanton can't have been far away in the first half with the lob off the post, and we had a couple of decent chances.

Can't really have any complaints given we lacked any fluidity. Too many players had off days and we left our substitutions quite late. 

[renton]

3 minutes ago, CALDERON said:

I thought we were easily worse than that last week, to be honest.  

Nah, thought we were more agressive in the press last week, smarter in attack and even then last week wasnt great. We had nothing really this week.

Agree with others that Brown was well off it. Our midfield was incredibly passive for the most part and we offered nothing in wide positions. Second best everywhere.

[Raith Against The Machine]

I don't know if being top of the league for one week went to people's heads, but this is the Championship, this is how it works. We've been here long enough to know that everyone can beat every me else, and that when you go away from home in particular, you have to play well to win. 

We didn't play well today, but I don't think we played particularly badly either. I know some people struggle to separate the result from the performance, but I'm not particularly downhearted after watching that. 

I don't think the Airdrie fans are going to come on and start waxing lyrical about their performance either. For the first 70 minutes that was just a case of shaking 22 footballers in a can until a goal fell out. Once it did Airdrie managed the game very well and we didn't, but it could've just as easily been us taking the lead. 

There's still a lot of room for improvement with this Rovers side, and I take that as a positive. I don't think Murray particularly got his starting eleven wrong. Or, at least, I don't think swapping in the likes of Gullan, Vaughan and Smith would've helped. The game was too frenetic, too kick and rush, and we never settled into a rhythm. Watson going off certainly didn't help that, but stronger performances from Byrne and Brown would've been a bigger influence. Really the first off day that either of those two have had this season, which is forgivable. 

I could pick faults, obviously. I still don't like Murray's "baws oot" strategy when we go behind, I think what we gain in attackers doesn't compensate for what we lose in cohesion. Hamilton should probably do better when he's played through, although I thought he was offside and you've got to credit the keeper. Easton and Mullin will know they should be doing better with the freekick they chipped into Rae's arms. 

But I've seen plenty of bad Rovers teams play badly. That's not one of them. That's a good Rovers side who had a bad day at the office, and in this division you get punished for it. And that's fine? It's why this division is so entertaining. 

[embow]

Raith Against The Machine.

Thats far too rational and sensible for some

Edited September 23, 2023 by embow

[CALDERON]

9 minutes ago, renton said:

Nah, thought we were more agressive in the press last week, smarter in attack and even then last week wasnt great. We had nothing really this week.

Agree with others that Brown was well off it. Our midfield was incredibly passive for the most part and we offered nothing in wide positions. Second best everywhere.

Inverness should have been out of sight last week - and I don't think that's something that could be said about Airdrie today.  Certainly don't grudge them the win, but it was an even game. There were perhaps nuances within how we played that were difference, but as an overall performance,  today was significantly better than last week.

We got a bit fortunate last week, and didn't this week.

[renton]

Just now, CALDERON said:

Inverness should have been out of sight last week - and I don't think that's something that could be said about Airdrie today.  Certainly don't grudge them the win, but it was an even game. There were perhaps nuances within how we played that were difference, but as an overall performance,  today was significantly better than last week.

We got a bit fortunate last week, and didn't this week.

There is no way Inverness should have been out of sight. Two of the three Dabrowski saves were more or less at him. The one he scampered across to save low at the far post represented their best effort. Second half we domintated the play.

In terms of actual play, Airdrie passed and moved far better than ICT and more importantly, better than we did. We were passive all over the pitch today. I'm not saying we didnt make a few chances - but the best, like last season was a fairly low xG that nearly caught Airdrie out - and really, we could still be there not scoring.

Today was likely a tight game on chances, but in terms of overall play? We were miles off of it. Both in terms of individual effort where the likes of Brown were uncharacteristically passive and didnt come close to winning a second ball, and in terms of set up where again we became too narrow up top and offered little in the way of an outball when turning over possession.

[McGuigan1978]

26 minutes ago, CALDERON said:

I thought we were easily worse than that last week, to be honest.  

Aye, thought that was our worst performance of the season so far. To barely create a decent goal scoring opportunity against a side that consistently coughs up 4 or 5 every single week is a bit of a concern. 

That said, I’m not sure we deserved to lose, but certainly couldn’t begrudge Airdrie the win 

[Stardog_champion]

3 minutes ago, renton said:

There is no way Inverness should have been out of sight. Two of the three Dabrowski saves were more or less at him. The one he scampered across to save low at the far post represented their best effort. Second half we domintated the play.

In terms of actual play, Airdrie passed and moved far better than ICT and more importantly, better than we did. We were passive all over the pitch today. I'm not saying we didnt make a few chances - but the best, like last season was a fairly low xG that nearly caught Airdrie out - and really, we could still be there not scoring.

Today was likely a tight game on chances, but in terms of overall play? We were miles off of it. Both in terms of individual effort where the likes of Brown were uncharacteristically passive and didnt come close to winning a second ball, and in terms of set up where again we became too narrow up top and offered little in the way of an outball when turning over possession.

Keep telling yourself that, aside from the goal Inverness were a good team and could’ve won. They closed us down at every opportunity. Take the Rovers glesses aff! 

[Kenny_m]

7 minutes ago, McGuigan1978 said:

Aye, thought that was our worst performance of the season so far. To barely create a decent goal scoring opportunity against a side that consistently coughs up 4 or 5 every single week is a bit of a concern. 

Eh, that is factually incorrect unless you have only started counting from last week.

[HIT THE CHANNEL]

One of those that we didn’t deserve to lose (draw all over that game). But thought we were abject and should have been more assertive with subs (55/60 mins smith for mullin for a start) and went for it. A 50/50 game we lost, but have came out the other side a few time this season already. 
 

The bottom line is we have 13/18 in the league in a quarter where we have 5 away and 4 at home. Good return so far and a few more points this quarter sees it being excellent and we are well on our way to the play offs. YINITED unfortunately don’t look shite so second is the target. And it looks like it is there for the taking. 

[renton]

7 minutes ago, Stardog_champion said:

Keep telling yourself that, aside from the goal Inverness were a good team and could’ve won. They closed us down at every opportunity. Take the Rovers glesses aff! 

No, they wouldnt have. We kept them at arms length very well and managed to dictate play in the second half, we were no more lucky to win last week than we were unlucky to lose this week.

Last week we were able to keep the ball moving forward into dangerous spaces, to turn the ball over in possession and stretch Inverness all the way to the end.

Today we barely laid a glove on Airdrie all game. Were passive in the middle, and way too narrow in attack. Was it a bad day ar the office? Maybe, but at the same time it's unfair on Airdrie to suggest that was particularly close. Just in terms of winning and moving the ball, they were a step above us today - that's the lack of competion that killed us today.

Edited September 23, 2023 by renton

[McGuigan1978]

1 minute ago, Kenny_m said:

Eh, that is factually incorrect unless you have only started counting from last week.

Factually incorrect that you don’t concede chances? Queen’s Park aside, you’ve conceded the most amount of good chances this season in the league 

[P.C]

There was a real lack of aggression, passion and anticipation today. As mentioned Brown was very much off his game today and we struggled to even win the 2nd ball never mind the first.

 

Hamilton had probably his best for us at the expense of having to essentially play as a 10 just to get the play moving and having the ball stick.

 

Mullin kept drifting inside and giving Mullen no options down that side. 

 

Really dissapoinnting performance. Maybe a kick up the arse we needed. We have done well making use of our bench when we haven't played well the last few weeks but didn't work today (McGill should of been on for Brown)