CallumPar

I genuinely think McGlynn’s just an idiot. The shape worked for half an hour or so against us, because it came as a surprise and we hadn’t prepared for it. We adapted and coped with it from that point. Inverness highlighted the vulnerabilities on national tv. You’ve played that system for a while now and teams have had a chance to see how to stop it/how to get through it. Airdrie did their homework and managed to exploit these vulnerabilities. The gaps that Inverness and Airdrie found are to do with the formation and his lack of accountability for that is very poor. There’s a reason McPake changed our tactics/team every single week. We kept the opponents guessing. Even once the starting 11 was announced, nobody really knows exactly how we’d set up. McGlynn doesn’t seem adaptable enough for modern football. I’d also add, in the game where we came back from 3-0 down at Airdrie, we made a double sub after 32 minutes and changed the shape 3 times during the match. I just don’t think McGlynn has the understanding of football to be able to do that. That being said, he can’t take the blame for nobody closing down Airdrie players shooting from outside the box. He can’t be blamed for the players switching off after clearing the initial corner. He can’t be blamed for Burrell jumping away from the wall/ball. He can’t be blamed for McCann’s needless foul at the end. The players need to accept their roles in that. Donaldson seemed to enjoy doing his usual of switching off/doing nothing useful, then screaming at everyone to show the fans he’s really passionate…

Just watched the highlights. Falkirk’s defending is shocking. But on the main talking points. I expected a bit more controversy, given comments from Falkirk fans… What on earth was Burrell doing at the free kick? Jumping away from the ball/wall. That’s absolutely abysmal from him. Josh Rae stupid for the sending off. Nobody can have any complaints about that. Fordyce could have been more decisive, rather than forcing his keeper to come out so far, when it was never a ball he looked likely to win. Falkirk TV seemed to show the incident where Allan does pull the defender down, then get dragged down, as if it should have been a Falkirk free kick. But it actually shows the ref got it spot on. Allan red card. In the modern game, you can’t have any complaints. We recently had O’Hara sent off for the same kind of thing (also away to Airdrie) and had an appeal rejected. It’s dangerous to leave your foot in that high. Airdrie’s penalty is stonewall and there’s an argument it could have been another red. Striker had turned the man and was in on the keeper, who was glued to his line.

“We played the diamond against Dunfermline, played it against Alloa. We’ve actually been getting our best results in that” very cute that your manager says of your best results this season was a 2-2 draw at home to us, having been 2-0 up.

But will they do that? McGlynn seems to stick to pointless possession, passing it about the back even when they need a goal. Seen it a few times this season. Falkirk’s players are absolutely capable of pulling it back. Just as Airdrie are capable of imploding again. But I’m not sure I’d back McGlynn to go with the all out attack/direct tactics needed for this. Having said that, he did it for the first half hour in our last trip to TFS and it was very effective.

I’d have thought so, but 24 hours ago the majority on here were criticising those saying McGlynn should be sacked…

Typical diddy club, can’t even get the score right.

Peter Grant and John Hughes are available

Up against 10 men and Falkirk managed to get more red cards than shots on target in the final 20 mins. Still not worked out that you need to score goals? Actually Airdrie have just made it 6

I don’t ever remember this. Fairly sure we’ve always had patg/single match tickets for any open stands.

Josh Rae getting sent off? Can’t say I’m surprised. Should have been sent off in both games I’ve seen him. Only got the one ref though. Airdrie collapsing again now.

Not being funny. Just seen the lineups. Why did McGlynn start with 2 of his best players on the bench? Morrison and Kucheriavyi surely 2 of the first names on the team sheet? What a clown.

The Pars are having a party, the Bairns have shat the bed (again).

Should have sacked that bottlejob before the playoffs. Kinda glad you didn’t though. Banter years continue.

Yep. I think we just make every seat available for STs. Wonder if we might consider opening the NE for patg next season, if the NW is busy/full with STs. Don’t think we’ve opened Section L either.

McGlynn’s team bottling it in a big game? Some things will never change. The Bairns are falling apart again… Having said that, I’ve seen Airdrie throw away this sort of lead before!

I get that each position is voted on individually and Fordyce is a good player. Personally, I’m just surprised Airdrie have the same number of players as us and, as I say, I think I’d take out one of their defenders to balance that out. But that’s not how it works, I know. On their day, Airdrie have been a great team. But their defence has collapsed multiple times, as we’re all aware. Airdrie conceded 3 or more in 25% of their games. But, as you allude to, I think you got around 13 clean sheets? Consistency was clearly an issue with your defence and it was your defensive deficiencies that meant you didn’t challenge for the title in my opinion. So it surprises me that Airdrie players make up 50% of the back 4 in the team of the year.

I’d be surprised if McGowan wasn’t at least invited back for pre-season to prove his fitness. He’s only just got himself fit. If he lets himself go over the break, he’d be a poor signing. If he keeps himself fit and can get a full pre-season, he’d be a good player to have around the squad.

Airdrie getting 2 defenders is a strange one - their defence hasn’t been that good. Can’t argue with the majority of it, but that’s a strange one. I’d definitely have put another CB in there ahead of Fordyce. Fontaine has been decent and Falkirk have the second best defence in the league.

It’s genuinely just been teams parking the bus and we’ve struggled to break them down. That’s why we’ve only conceded in 8/18 home games. Worth pointing out that Clyde and Peterhead between them scored 50% of the away goals at East End this season - the ‘stronger’ teams have generally played for 0-0 until we score, with the exception of Airdrie (who scored both games) and Falkirk, who played well in the first half of their first visit. Championship will be a different challenge. Our defence/keeper will be tested much more, but our attacking players should also get more space - albeit, up against better teams/players. Having said that, we’ll be signing some better players too. Also, why are you saying the home form hasn’t been good? We had a better home record than any other team in the league ffs.

All the best to O’Hara and Todorov. Both given 100% and contributed some good goals, in important games. Genuinely hope they both go on to have good careers. Just the nature of football though, we need to improve and they’re out of contract.

We topped the ‘home’ league table and the ‘away’ league table. Had the best defence in the league by 18 goals, best GD in the league by 11 goals. We won more games than anyone else. The gap from 1st to 2nd was bigger than the gap from 2nd to 5th. We also used the lowest number of players in the league (21). Airdrie were second lowest with 26. Peterhead apparently used 40 different players over the course of the league campaign! I think the club records we’ve set are: - most clean sheets in a league season (21) - fewest goals conceded in a league season (21) - fewest goals conceded at home (10) and away from home (11) in a league season - most points in a league season (81) - most consecutive league games unbeaten (24 and counting) Also our first season unbeaten at home in all comps in 90 years. Probably missed a few milestones/achievements. I don’t know about you guys, but I think McPake’s first season has been alright?

That’s in all comps, only 21 in the league. Still a ridiculous number for a 36 game season. Wighton getting 16 league goals is actually really decent, given he wasn’t fit at the start of the season. We haven’t blown teams away, but we have comfortably been the best team in the league.

O’Hara’s scored a few as a sub for us, but has been a relatively disappointing signing. Last season, he started our last 12/13 games and scored in one of them. This season, he’s started 12 games and failed to score in any of them. He’s scored from the bench 3 times in the last few months. But we were already ahead in those games and came on fresh against tired defences. He hasn’t looked capable of breaking down a stuffy defence at all. He’s not a terrible player. But I’d be very surprised if Falkirk signed him. Reckon he might end up back at Alloa.

Agree - versatility will be key with signings this summer. If we sign 2 CBs, I’d like a RB that can play on the wing or as wing back. But if we sign a CB that can play RB, I’d probably want a winger that can cover at RB/RWB as well. Be good to have attacking options that are comfortable out wide or through the middle too. But it will all depend what’s available and how McPake sees things. I agree on Josh Rae. Some of his saves against us have been outstanding. The fact he should have been sent off both times I saw him is a concern. But Airdrie fans seem to say that’s the only time he’s looked like getting sent off. In the 4-3 game, he’s the only reason we weren’t winning within 10 mins of the red card, made some fantastic saves. He’s young and has potential, the exact sort of player the club need to target on a 2/3 year deal. Mehmet has done well, but I think the defence in front of him are around 80% of the reason he’s had all the clean sheets. Not done much wrong at all, just not made many exceptional saves (seen more of them from Rae in 2 games than Mehmet in 35). Also think Mehmet will be tested more and on a few occasions he’s been very suspect at shots from the edge of the box. Either not getting near them or parrying them back into the danger area, rather than wide. A few mistakes and we could be back to the keeper we had last season, if his confidence goes again.

I think we need a few more signings than that. This is also assuming Comrie stays and is obviously just my opinion. We need 2 new CBs - Murray and Fisher (or any CBs of that quality) would do for me. We saw last week that the amount of cover we currently have at CB isn’t enough. So just replacing Otoo isn’t enough in my opinion. New RB to provide competition/cover for Comrie - probably 2 RBs, or a RB and a CB who can comfortably play at RB, if Comrie leaves. We need at least 2 wingers. Think McCann will mainly play wide in a front 3. But can’t depend on him every week and we definitely need competition/cover. At least one new striker needed, although I’d prefer 2, so we don’t need to put McCann there and he can focus on his new role. I’d probably say we need a CM as well. I’d like to see a big physical midfielder come in, to give us a slightly different option. If Mehmet stays, we won’t bring in a new keeper. But I think he’ll leave. Agree that I want a permanent signing for that position. Someone like Josh Rae would be ideal, in my opinion.