Stirling V Alloa. No controversy here.

[Binos]

Disgraceful 

[Vegetableman]

Excellent

[LoganAAFC]

Play-offs again

[WattersIsGod]

Awful.

Blair Currie put us in a hole early and then the rest of the defence conspire to dig deeper. To call it schoolboy defending would be insulting to the under 18s.

We seemed to be oblivious to the fact it was windy in the first half. So many bad balls.

Game over by half time.

Offord worked hard and managed a couple on target. Mcpake was a mixed bag but at least kept showing for the ball second half.

Struggling to find much credit elsewhere.

Edited April 6 by WattersIsGod

[SA45]

Poor all round but chasing the game after 2 GK errors. No composure and even after getting a goal back Alloa picked us off easily with McLean & McGregor playing in Alloa's half and Leitch the last man back for their 4th (?) goal. Offord possibly the only player with pass marks and the subs made no difference. No sign of Moore on the bench either. Fair play to Alloa and well deserved.

The only good point was seeing our resident away team manager abuser fan leaving the ground at half-time vowing never to return again followed by CC & stewards - not sure if he was asked to leave or not but won't be missed.

Any consolation with Pie of the Week? Any tasters?

[Sixtyten]

Stirling were a shambles today and we took full advantage.

Wales and Steven were back to their best, although they were given such a boost by the Albion's farcical defending.

I know most Alloa fans want Hetherington back in, but for me Virtanen should keep that centre midfield role.

 

Edited April 6 by Sixtyten

[Beepee67]

Last week i tried to defend some of the performances but after today that was a disgrace,, toothless,, spineless,, no dig,, no pride,, just went through the motion's,, couldn't be bothered to tackle,, track back,, showed absolutely no spirit,, there's something not right in that dressing room,, doesn't seem to be any pride in playing football,, it's a privilege but some just take it for granted,, absolute shambolic.

Blair Currie had a stinker last week but he topped that this week...the 1st goal was pathetic...the 2nd powderfuff wrists just pushed it into the 6 yd box...needs to be stronger there & push it away,, also Geach not following it & at least challenging instead of a tap in... the games gone, heads down & no belief.. so Milne refuses again to track back,,let's him run past him & Geach running in flip flops WTF how slow....could have subbed anyone after 30 mins..but they are all comfortable in the wee bubble knowing DY won't change anything & they will still play next week....

Absolute disgrace,, they should be ashamed of that performance...fasted they moved was getting off the park at the whistle half time/full time 

I hope DY comes out & says it as it is because that's unacceptable 

2nd half with the changes is easy with Alloa in training mode....the games gone at HALF TIME 

marginally better 2nd half but still not good enough 

You can't defend the undefendable.... infact we can't DEFEND at all,, we giftwrap goals...

Can't excuse that today... we are so so poor.... things need to be addressed quickly 

[Vegetableman]

Just now, SA45 said:

Poor all round but chasing the game after 2 GK errors. No composure and even after getting a goal back Alloa picked us off easily with McLean & McGregor playing in Alloa's half and Leitch the last man back for their 4th (?) goal. Offord possibly the only player with pass marks and the subs made no difference. No sign of Moore on the bench either. Fair play to Alloa and well deserved.

The only good point was seeing our resident away team manager abuser fan leaving the ground at half-time vowing never to return again followed by CC & stewards - not sure if he was asked to leave or not but won't be missed.

Any consolation with Pie of the Week? Any tasters?

Pie was good . 

[WattersIsGod]

Just now, Vegetableman said:

Pie was good . 

It was the only good thing today

[Vegetableman]

Just now, WattersIsGod said:

It was the only good thing today

Nonsense ,  there were 5 other good things 

[WC Boggs]

I left at half time, because.......(A)  I couldn't get out for a ciggie due to the behaviour of the young dickwad squad and felt that was too big a sacrifice to watch more of that. (B) Some Morrison's jammy doughnuts were calling me for comfort eating.  

I did get the more enjoyable experience of watching the police herding the said dickwads down the road towards the town.

[miketheheadlesschicken]

That contract extension is starting to look like another Rutkiewicz.

[unitedbino]

On 05/04/2024 at 10:38, unitedbino said:

Last week's fourth goal at Cove was a clanger, but there's no way we should be dropping Blair. He's one of the best keepers in the league. I saw Terrace had him as the best L1 keeper this week). He's probably our best player, all things considered (keepers never get the credit that attacking players get). 

This aged well...

[BB_Bino]

Absolute disaster today, embarrassingly so, but full credit to Alloa for picking us off and for coasting for much of the match. Although PJ Morrison pulled off 2 or 3 top saves, we got what we deserve as we were simply abject for long periods.

If we do end up in the Play Off position, or relegated, then Darren Young really only has himself to blame. I absolutely love the gaffer and have admired him at other clubs and supported him since his appointment (and still do) but all season, we’ve watched the same players under perform week after week after week and continually be selected. Clark, Milne, Leitch and Hilson have been woeful this season, yet start most weeks. When at least 4 of your starting 11 regularly aren’t up to it, it only takes another 1 or 2 to be off it and the side crumbles and today was that day.

League tables don’t lie, Alloa are a good side with quality throughout, so to get anything off them we need everyone hitting the same levels as they did at the start of the season, and we’re not seeing that. The physicality and grit is seriously missing from this team now, the aggression is coming from Cane but he can’t do it all, and had an off day today.

The big hole in the middle of the field is exploited time and time again, fans can moan all they want about fouls we didn’t get but ultimately if we can’t plug that gap then the likes of Sutherland and Roberts are going to drive into that space and do what they did. He might not be as technical as others but when you’re at the bottom scrapping like we are then you have to have that solid unit in Midfield and Banner has to be alongside Crane, not a sand dancer like Leitch.

The abuse Currie received from a section of our support was out of line imho. Yip, he’s made mistakes and over the years we’ve seen him have a few, but he put his hands up and admitted it, time to support him not berate the lad. He’s come up with big saves and big moments time and time again, of course he’s going to make errors, that’s why he is playing at the level he is playing at. If it was a weekly occurrence then castrate the lad if you so desire, but he’s been one of our best players this season and he f-d up, give him a break.

I could go on and on and on about it, but I’ll not. Today was the realisation that there’s probably too many League 2 standard players in the squad that need to be gone in the summer….I think we’ll be fine, I’ve said that previously on here….but to move forward, we do need to empty about 10 of the squad. I get the comment made above about McPake slowing the attacks down for us, but he’s someone we really need to keep and I hope we can build our attacking play around him and Carrick for next season.

Alloa have a really good chance of success this season. They might not have a squad of superstars but under Graham, going by the 2 games I’ve seen, they are playing as a unit and have everything you need to be promoted. You look at the way they have been run over the past 10-15 years in comparison to ourselves and I can’t help being envious, although I didn’t think there was much between the teams before the season kicked off but how wrong was I. For purely selfish reasons, I hope we stay up and you stay down 

[unitedbino]

Some assorted thoughts after a dreadful afternoon...

- Defensively a shambles again. However, so many of our problems come from midfield. Runners get through so easily. Leitch simply doesn't offer enough on the defensive side at this level. How he stayed on for so long today, I don't know.

- We actually created a decent number of chances (granted, a lot in the second half when Alloa might have eased off). But so often we make the wrong decision when it matters. McPake, for all his dribbling brilliance, also guilty of this.

- We're stupid as a team. Alloa figured out the wind in the first half and kept looking for the far corner knowing it would hold up and they could get a foothold high up. We, on the other hand, kept overhitting long balls and set pieces without any recognition of the conditions. Other teams play the percentages much better than us.

- If (big if at this point) we stay up, we must prioritise the signing of a 'big man' up front. A focal point. Thomson was that figure last season, but not good enough for the step up. But without a midfield capable of creating around the edge of the box, we need someone who can hold it up, get on the end of crosses etc at least as an option!

- Young's presence on the touchline when we're losing doesn't exactly help. Very whiny. Bad body language. That's obviously not why we lost today, but would like him to be a bit more proactive. 

[Dumb yatt]

A difficult watch in the home stand. Were  Stirling not told to keep it on the deck? 
 A masterclass from Alloa. Easily play-off material.

[SA45]

17 minutes ago, unitedbino said:

Some assorted thoughts after a dreadful afternoon...

- Defensively a shambles again. However, so many of our problems come from midfield. Runners get through so easily. Leitch simply doesn't offer enough on the defensive side at this level. How he stayed on for so long today, I don't know.

- We actually created a decent number of chances (granted, a lot in the second half when Alloa might have eased off). But so often we make the wrong decision when it matters. McPake, for all his dribbling brilliance, also guilty of this.

- We're stupid as a team. Alloa figured out the wind in the first half and kept looking for the far corner knowing it would hold up and they could get a foothold high up. We, on the other hand, kept overhitting long balls and set pieces without any recognition of the conditions. Other teams play the percentages much better than us.

- If (big if at this point) we stay up, we must prioritise the signing of a 'big man' up front. A focal point. Thomson was that figure last season, but not good enough for the step up. But without a midfield capable of creating around the edge of the box, we need someone who can hold it up, get on the end of crosses etc at least as an option!

- Young's presence on the touchline when we're losing doesn't exactly help. Very whiny. Bad body language. That's obviously not why we lost today, but would like him to be a bit more proactive. 

Great post and sums up about everything I'm thinking. I like DY but watched Andy G today berating his defence at 0-3 without behaving like a screaming lunatic. Alloa are even better with him than Rice IMO. We have too many fancy dans and a complete lack of leaders on the pitch when the heads go down encapsulated by numerous heavy away defeats, but I think that's the first time we've been taken apart at home. Do we change GK next week or persevere and not shatter his confidence further?

[Waspie]

4 minutes ago, SA45 said:

Great post and sums up about everything I'm thinking. I like DY but watched Andy G today berating his defence at 0-3 without behaving like a screaming lunatic. Alloa are even better with him than Rice IMO. We have too many fancy dans and a complete lack of leaders on the pitch when the heads go down encapsulated by numerous heavy away defeats, but I think that's the first time we've been taken apart at home. Do we change GK next week or persevere and not shatter his confidence further?

There's absolutely no doubt about that. Rice generally signed well but struggled badly with setting up a team, not helped by his constant changing of personnel and formation. We were invariably disjointed and it was the quality of individual players that often pulled us through. Look at the two Stirling wins over us at the start of the season. Binos sat deep and asked us to break them down and we were clueless. Had Rice stayed I'm sure we'd have continued to underachieve and most probably currently be in the battle to avoid 9th. Andy Graham on the other hand immediately set the team up in a style that suits the players, the style fans had called for. That has seen players grow in confidence with Graham's man management skills also clearly key. I don't know where we'll end up this season and how Andy will do long term but he's already show he's much better than Rice regardless. 

I didn't think the Stirling squad at the start of the season was good, it was basically what wasn't a vintage League Two title winning squad, but they were well organised, good team spirit and still with momentum from promotion. Sitting deep against us in those games worked a treat, in part due to Rice's Alloa being clueless, but also a masterclass in sitting in, frustrating opposition, and ultimately shitfesting wins. I thought that the Binos would be fine over the season sticking to that model and with enough goalscorers at the other end to get you through, and that Young could try and add much needed quality as he went along. He has clearly tried to do that, but that also brings the risk of Stirling having to change style a bit and open up and go toe to toe. In that situation the rather slow defence, which was a strength when it was sitting deep, becomes a bit of a weakness. The momentum from promotion doesn't last forever either. Best hope is make it over the line then aim to really strengthen throughout the squad in the summer. 

[LeodhasXD]

59 minutes ago, Waspie said:

There's absolutely no doubt about that. Rice generally signed well but struggled badly with setting up a team, not helped by his constant changing of personnel and formation. We were invariably disjointed and it was the quality of individual players that often pulled us through.

in part due to Rice's Alloa being clueless,

I'm still of the opinion that this is a bit revisionist. Rice's Alloa team dismantled Stirling here last time aswell and if Wales had his shooting boots it would have been more than 2-0. I'm surprised Stirling were just as bad today.

 

[printer]

1 minute ago, LeodhasXD said:

I'm still of the opinion that this is a bit revisionist. Rice's Alloa team dismantled Stirling here last time aswell and if Wales had his shooting boots it would have been more than 2-0. I'm surprised Stirling were just as bad today.

 

It is a bit.