Fife vs Airdrie

[AMC13]

Airdrie

[Airdrie76]

4 minutes ago, waysider said:

Being 19 has nothing to do with it. If's he's good enough to play in the first team he's not exempt from criticism. When the first goal went in the guy sitting next to me(who I don't know) turned to me and said "that goalie's a f....... waste of space" so I'm not alone.

Criticise him if you want, I'll not lose sleep about it. I'm not saying he's blameless, I've just called out something I think he needs to do better. The point is he'll learn.

But btw he's such a f...... waste of space that Dundee U bid twice for him and Hearts had him in for training. That would suggest he has ability and at least something about him. 

 

 

[diamondman]

Time Wasting EF.

To an international standard. Barry, you must be so proud.

[The Chlamydia Kid]

Explain how a draw was undeserved, we dominated and were by far the best team in the first half. Second half was more even but again two defensive blunders cost us.

What chances did we create? Don't get points for possession.

[Diamond8]

Criticise him if you want, I'll not lose sleep about it. I'm not saying he's blameless, I've just called out something I think he needs to do better. The point is he'll learn.
But btw he's such a f...... waste of space that Dundee U bid twice for him and Hearts had him in for training. That would suggest he has ability and at least something about him. 
 
 

Should've took the money and ran.

[The clean living guy]

29 minutes ago, The Chlamydia Kid said:

What chances did we create? Don't get points for possession.

Very few clear cut. A few long distance efforts. 

Russell and McKay should have been on earlier. 

[DestroyedByMadness]

1 hour ago, carlukediamond said:

 

Explain how a draw was undeserved, we dominated and were by far the best team in the first half. Second half was more even but again two defensive blunders cost us.

 

When the seagulls follow the trawler it is because they think sardines will be thrown back into the sea.   Thank you.

[Diamonds are Forever]

1 hour ago, The Chlamydia Kid said:

What chances did we create? Don't get points for possession.

 

Was the same last week, created 1 chance in the whole game from what I can remember. The defence is undoubtedly the main issue, but it's taken the attention away from the issues going forward. Our average goals per game is 1.6 which, given that is meant to be area of the pitch where we are strongest, and that we have 2 strikers well into double figures, isn't enough. Particularly when you see how many goals we lose.

We are at our best when we quickly break on teams, which is probably why we have picked up more wins and points away from home. But for most of the games the possession we have is slow and ponderous with no purpose. This allows teams just to sit in and wait for us to give it away or until we give up and just punt the ball forward which they deal with easily.

I do have some sympathy for Wilson there, so much of his focus must be on fixing and prioritising the defence that the attack is almost an after thought and he's probably just been hoping that Brown, Russell and Ryan have enough quality to get goals out of nothing for us to get by.

[waysider]

I thought all the corners we got at the start of the second half were all well taken and led to several good chances which we lacked the heading ability to convert. Also Brown had a great shot brilliantly saved. Also there was a chance which Russell (?) should have converted. East Fife weren't in it in the second half until we gifted them their second goal.

 

[Diamonds are Forever]

5 minutes ago, waysider said:

I thought all the corners we got at the start of the second half were all well taken and led to several good chances which we lacked the heading ability to convert. Also Brown had a great shot brilliantly saved. Also there was a chance which Russell (?) should have converted. East Fife weren't in it in the second half until we gifted them their second goal.

 

 

But we don't have any heading ability, as we see every time when we try and defend, so we can't put that down to bad luck or misfortune, it's just lack of ability and poor recruitment. And we can't rely on Brown pinging one in from 20-25 yards every game. Like I said, our plan to score seems to be either Brown cutting in and sticking one in the top corner like against Stranraer and Rovers, or give the ball to Ryan. It's hard to see what our plan is to create chances as a team.

[King Kebab]

7 minutes ago, waysider said:

East Fife weren't in it in the second half until we gifted them their second goal.

 

And yet we were 2-1 up!!!

funny that!!!

[waysider]

DaF. Can't disagree with that. That's why I was disappointed that we only had 2 up front today. Although Russell has been disappointing in some respects in my view he should be in the starting 11 and playing up front together with Brown and Ryan. In a number of matches they have played very well together.

[waysider]

King K. It's not funny at all. You were 2-1 up because we can't defend for toffee.

[Diamonds are Forever]

15 minutes ago, waysider said:

Can't disagree with that. That's why I was disappointed that we only had 2 up front today. Although Russell has been disappointing in some respects in my view he should be in the starting 11 and playing up front together with Brown and Ryan. In a number of matches they have played very well together.

 

That's where I think we are compromising our attack to somehow find a way of stopping us shipping goals. Not sure what the solution is and Russell has been poor in a lot of games so not completely against leaving him out of there is a good alternative, not convinced we have one yet though.

From watching us play against Russell over the years the one thing I always associated him with was running in behind and stretching teams, even though he's getting on a bit he still has the pace to do that in this league, yet we've barely seen it due to the role he's been playing. The chance he missed last week at QP was exactly the chance I was expecting him to get lots of this season - playing on the shoulder and getting in behind - yet we've barely seen that as he's been playing off the left and coming really deep with his back to goal. I'd like to see him be allowed to make runs in behind as part of a 2 up front. At the moment that would probably have to be a 3-5-2, but if we got a centre back in ideally 4-4-2 with a diamond in midfield and Ryan and Russell up front.

[Tulloch Gorum]

We lost two very poor goals, as well as gifting East Fife more chances (MacDonald's throw in to their forward was dreadful, and should have been punished).  I know that our level we're not going to get defenders who don't make mistakes, but two free headers led to two goals - and it's the same kinds of mistakes getting made week after week.  How is this not getting sorted?

Even so, that's the best I've seen us play since Stenny hammered us (I wasn't at the Stranraer game), and I think we probably deserved to win it.  The fact that we kept fighting right to the end and managed to get a goal even after having gotten quite ragged in the spell leading up to it maybe suggests the team has a bit of dig about them.  Let's not get so tied up in looking at our own failings that we forget that we were playing a team on an excellent run of form.  We needed to stop losing, and we did that.

Now I just hope we can use the free week to take stock and really try and get the defence sorted. 

[Cosmic Joe]

Sour grapes from a few Airdrieonians fans re the supposed timewasting. More time was wasted by Boateng twice blootering the ball over the stand roof in the second half.

A draw was a fair result. Stewart and Ryan impressed me for the hosts while James Penrice is improving game by game. The introduction of Kevin Smith tipped the game in our favour. Brilliant to have him back again.

Disappointing to concede the late equaliser but not the end of the world...

 

[Cooper81]

Angusfifer if airdrie were 2-1 up we would have done the same.

Your goalkeeper had a couple of dodgy moments but also had 1 exceptional save from outside the box.

We were better going forward but east fife were the better team defensively.

[Pesadilla]

Could anyone tell who the full time team was in this match?

We had marginally more possession but did nothing with it. In the first half, we played ball to feet and looked fairly comfortable. At 1-0 we looked like we could dish out a bit of a thumping. The goal just before HT hurt us and we lost our way. At 1-2 we reverted to type, lumping long balls and doing nothing with it. Shit to watch and blatant panic.

I don't want to discuss how poor our defense was at each of the EF goals. I thought MW was a defender, no? Can he not see what's going on when two bob Johnny in the stands can? 

As for EF, a fairly solid unit. Compact, neat and a no-nonsense back line. Love a wee waste of time though, which bit them on the ass ultimately. Even as the equaliser went in, the 'keeper tried to snatch the ball to waste time, never mind the winner, a draw is enough!?!

If we'd a manager who could set out team out the way it should be, we'd cruise past teams like this. Instead, we panic, lose shape and lose confidence. We need to work this shit out or we'll be in the wrong play off.

I would say I'm livid, but this is what I've grown to expect. It's a bore and I'm glad we're not at home until Feb. 

[Hugh Jarss]

Another week another couple of goals conceded from crosses into the box. Poor defending for both. The only positives we can take from that game is we didn't lose and we actually kept going to the end to get the equaliser. Ferguson was getting blocked at corners but has to command his area more. 

I can see why the back 3 was tried today but as was mentioned, East Fife only had one central striker and we could have pushed someone into midfield. For me Russell or McKay should have started as we were at home. Both should have been brought on earlier than they were. Hopefully we can get a couple of new faces in before the next match. On the time wasting, some of it was blatant, especially the boy who limped off near the final whistle. The ball struck his arm / side and he went down like he'd been halfed in 2. He then received treatment for what seemed like an eternity before limping off. As someone said we would probably have done the same though.

[waysider]

I think it's too early to write Wilson off. Firstly, he inherited the team. Secondly, I'm sure efforts are being made to improve the defending in training but I've come to the conclusion that some of the players don't have the ability to carry out instructions, For example, Boateng constantly watches the ball rather than the man he is supposed to be covering. What amount of coaching could cover MacDonald stepping out the way to allow the goalscorer a free header?