Diamonds are Forever

In fairness to Poch the fact Chelsea have spend that money on complete and utter dross isn't his fault. Neville alluded to it, Chelsea had 'bigger names' but when you actually look at the ability of the players it's not quite the chasm in ability that it should be.

I'm not sure, there's no way to definitely tell but if you look across to Taylor-Sinclair when the ball is played they look around level. It's certainly very close so wouldn't blame the linesman. As I said in our thread our back-line needs to be a better unit, ATS is behind everyone else. I disagree with Mullen's challenge though, he makes contact with the ball but only after barging into McGregor, I think it's a foul. However it would have been a yellow and a free-kick so it's irrelevant to the outcome.

Every game of football is won or last by 'individual errors' and 'individual quality', individual moments within the system and structure provided by the management. They are also all his signings/re-signings are they not? So best case scenario is he's just a terrible judge of player. It's a totally meaningless statement designed purely to abdicate responsibility from management. Managers never want to discount individual brilliance, but are always quick to discount individual errors as not their fault. Can't have it both ways. There could maybe be some merit in the comment if the errors were the exception to the norm, say if Falkirk lose next week to a couple of howlers. But when you're doing as badly as Queens there is quite clearly a deeper underlying cause i.e. the manager. The fact he's still trying to pass off these results with that excuse is incredible.

Honestly I think that's the wrong way around. Part of the reason the midfield is so ineffective going forward is because absolutely nothing is sticking up front. Todorov absolutely has to do better than what he is doing. I'm not asking for Prime Zlatan up there on his own, but win a few fouls, take the ball in properly, lay it off to forward moving midfielders. The service he is getting is absolutely typical of lower league service to a lone striker and if he can't utilise it to some extent then he shouldn't be playing. Someone like Dowds last week showed what an extremely limited striker can still do. Oakley is a better player but he also is hardly getting great service and is smaller physically than Toddy. At the very least get your body between ball and man and go down and get fouls, but he just gets brushed out the way. I agree the midfield has issues by the way and that they don't offer enough going forward, but Todorov is part of that. You need some kind of focal point to play off otherwise you get stuck playing sidewards passes all game, which we do.

McMaster is a good player when we are dominant in possession because his defensive weaknesses aren't exposed and he's neat and tidy on the ball. However in an evenly fought game he doesn't have the ability to play as a solid defensive midfielder, as you say he's weak physically (mainly due to his age in fairness) and doesn't get close enough to players. There's no way that Quitongo should have been able to keep the ball for that long and then get a cross in yesterday. Get closer and/or foul him earlier in the move if necessary. Like you say ideally he should be playing home games against weaker sides to begin with until he learns the game a bit more and gets stronger. Morton away is the last game you want to be starting him in this league.

Ballantyne still looks rusty to me so I wouldn't worry about having to leave one (at the moment, him) out and phase him back in. We also have loads of games so rotating between some of them will be needed. I think we're already doing that and would fully expect McCabe and Watson to play on Tuesday. The focus should just be on getting a system that gets the best out of the 11 playing and if that means that a good player misses out then so be it. If any of them could play as a striker I'd be up all for a bit of experimenting! But sadly I doubt it...

For all the complaining, the 2nd goal is comfortably onside. ATS plays him on in the middle. Us losing goals from failed offside traps has been a theme of ours in recent weeks. Need to be better drilled in that area.

Yeah that's how I presumed we'd use the reserve team, but seemingly not. ATS has hardly played for months so not sure how ready he'd be to play when needed (like today!), but he doesn't play for the reserves, Ballantyne, McGill and Gallagher all coming back from injuries but not featured. Even early on in the season when Todorov was only getting 10 mins as a substitute he wasn't playing for them (from what I remember). I've said before I couldn't care less about the reserve results, but if it's just a team full of fringe players who never play for the first team then I'm not sure what the point is. It seems more like a youth team than a reserve team. McCabe is probably worried about these guys picking up more injuries playing reserves so would rather get them back to fitness by gradually getting them back into the first team where the risk is at least worth something in terms of maybe getting us results, but that's really not an optimal solution. I know first team games will obviously be much quicker and higher intensity, but they shouldn't really be used to get players up to a basic level of fitness which seems to be the case with a few of them.

I thought we played quite well in parts but have the old problem of being really short of quality up front. I'm not expecting a Shankland standard player but you have to have someone who will hold the ball up, win headers and get free-kicks, Todorov did none of that today, I thought he was really poor even considering the standard of opposition. McGregor can run channels and tried hard, as did Todorov, but neither can offer enough in a game like that to pose a real threat. I know Todorov is on a wee goal run just now but it is still my concern for the rest of the reason that we lack ruthlessness up front. I was sat watching the Morton game the other night thinking we'd be a real force if we had a player like Oakley leading the line for us. We're a nice side defence through to midfield but are a bit blunt up front. On the positives I thought Watson and Hancock were excellent - with the exception of the 2nd goal where Hancock was doing the hokey cokey with the defensive line, he either had to play offside or drop deep but ended up doing neither. More than made up for that though with his cross for the goal and all round performance though. Watson was our best player 2nd half and it'll be interesting see where Ballantyne fits in as neither deserve to be dropped. I obviously wanted to win but part of me is glad it's out the way and we can start focusing on the league again. Ayr is a huge game on Saturday, a win there and I'd have huge confidence we can start looking up the table, a defeat and things are looking a bit hairy again with the 2 toughest fixtures in the league to come.

You're correct, with the exception of Arbroath away this season we are well in every game we play but we do lack quality in attacking areas. The vast majority of our games are a single goal win or defeat as we don't lose many but don't score many either. I think it will be a good game overall but hard not to see Hearts winning with Shankland up front.

Yeah I've thought the same regarding Stanway. I liked him, he was a decent player and he seemed to have a great attitude and enthusiasm. He's also the best diver I've seen at Airdrie since Paul Lovering, I think he won 3 penalties in half a season from the bench. But quality wise I'd never have thought he was ready to go straight in and start in a promotion hunting/title challenging side. He couldn't get a start for a League 1 side last year. I guess he's the type of player that if he's surrounded by enough quality could do the job of the more destructive player, but it doesn't really seem like that at Thistle.

The thing about 'Championship quality' is that it largely depends on who the manager is and whether he can get the best out of them. Depending how you define our best 11, at least 9, arguably 10, of our best 11 made up the side that finished 21 points behind you last season, conceded 30 more goals and drew 2 and lost 2 against you. Plus 1 of the players that we signed who has added to the team was sitting on your bench for most of last season and was released having presumably been deemed not Championship quality. I'd have said the majority of our squad wasn't Championship standard during the summer but they've more than held their own, mainly due to good management. Despite recent form I still think there will be twists and turns and we're certainly not out of it either so I'm not saying that we're anything special. But if I was on the Dunfermline board I'd be asking how a side that finished that far behind you, who still have basically the same team, have made up such ground.

If we put McCabe back in midfield I think we'd have to change system a bit and go with 2 sitters. Neither McCabe or McMaster can really play the role that McStravick plays so one would need to drop out if we keep the same system. Would mean going back to 4231, which then reveals the problem of our lack of wide players again. Against a better side it might be worth it, however I think we'll struggle to score anyway so going even more defensive in midfield will just make it less likely. I've barely seen Lyall so it's hard to say with certainty it's what I'd do but on paper a straight swap with him for McStravick would be my pick.

Can I also add to the ridiculous complaints: Fans saying it's disgraceful that they have to sit about 15 seats to the side of where they normally sit due to the middle section being for hospitality. What a hardship indeed... Fans commenting about 'glory hunters' turning up for the big games. And my favourite, complaining that there will be 'No parking' cones on the surrounding streets meaning they'll either have to walk a bit further or get the bus/train. That's not to mention complaints about tickets prices, the venue for the Challenge Cup Final and numerous other bizarre things. We've been hopeless for years playing in front of tiny crowds, now we have a decent side, fans returning, playing big sides in the cup and have reached a cup final and yet 5 mins of looking online and you'd think there is a sizable portion of fans who'd prefer to go back to the days of playing in front of 700 fans and losing to Albion Rovers just so they could sit in their own seat and not be inconvenienced by any of the things that come with being a reasonably succesful football club.

I'm not really sure showing a screenshot of Sterling diving in, looking away with his eyes closed is really the best way to claim he was 'in control'... If he had control why is he sliding in with huge speed when the ball is already long gone? I'd say he's out of control and it was down to luck not judgement that there was no injury. There's more than enough there to justify a red card.

Not sure where that is from but we clearly haven't going by the tickets still on sale. The middle section is for hospitality and the end section isn't for sale, so if we'd sold 3000 we'd be virtually sold out given the stand holds 3700. Not going to count up the available seats but looks to me about 2000. I think we'll sell about 3000 by Sunday but we haven't yet.

It's almost as if, rather than criticising, they were speaking from experience of watching our ground being turned into a Lego stadium and pointing out how rubbish that would be...

I've said this on the Airdrie thread but I think our position is slightly misleading at the moment as we've played 3 more home games than away, and there has been a huge disparity between our home and away form - 2nd place in home form but 10th in away, in reality I'd say we are the equivalent of 2 or 3 points worse off if all things were equal. 9 of our remaining 15 games are away so unless we improve on that we could be in bother. That said, we've won our last 2 away games in all competitions against Raith and QP which suggests we may have turned a corner slightly. Plus with the exception of Arbroath away all the away defeats have been very close games, it's not as if we were miles away from getting results. We also have 1 or 2 games in hand and pretty reliable home form, so as long as we improve our away form to a half decent level we should be fine. I think it will be very close for 4 or 5 teams though and be a pretty high safety bar in terms of points total.

I was thinking this. Normally I'd hate the idea as it would feel a bit weird, the whole thing of a cup final is that it's a 'day out' and a neutral venue. But it will be a weird atmosphere for a cup final anyway given the number of TNS fans that will be there, it won't really be neutral given the location of the two clubs wherever it's played, and if the whole aim of picking this venue is to increase attendance of Airdrie fans and neutrals then the best venue is at Airdrie for both those. The semi-finals aren't neutral either so it's hardly some major leap to not have the final at a home ground given the circumstances.

If you really want a long career in management then there's also a lot to be said for actually taking a few years at a lower level to gain experience and learn how to deal with adversity, rather than jumping straight up the leagues at the first offer and then having no experience to fall back on when things go wrong. It's why the majority of these youth coaches who stand-in for a few games and then get the job - MacLean, Robson, Hammell - get sacked a few months later, they've no experience of how to turn results around or deal with players who aren't happy. Clubs will be more willing to give you time if you have a CV which shows you can come through a bad run of form. Of course in reality if you are offered a fortune to move on then hardly anyone can say no, plus you also know that football can turn quickly and if you don't move when you are flavour of the month you may miss the boat. It would take a lot of self-belief from the manager to stay at a club like Airdrie if a bigger one came along. At the moment I think the only 'threat' is a bigger Championship club. There would be no point moving to a club around us in the league at the moment, a lower Premiership club would mean retiring and isn't that inviting anyway, and I don't think a Hearts or Aberdeen size club would take him yet. I could definitely see a Partick or Raith wanting him and he could still play a bit, but thankfully those clubs don't look like sacking the manager any time soon. Provided we stay up this year and give him a competitive budget next year I think he'll be here for another year.

About 20 minutes into the game last night I was confident we'd win because Easton was already starting to drop deep into his own half to get the ball. Whenever he did that for Airdrie he was totally ineffective, he doesn't have the attributes to drop deep and dictate play and get around the park. He's brilliant within 30 yards of the opposition goal in tight spaces but anywhere else on the pitch he slows things down, doesn't have the range of passing and he removes himself from the area where he is actually a threat. Raith's lack of a proper midfield base meant he kept going back to get the ball when really he should be staying higher and the ball getting played through to him. I watched Murray's interview on Open Goal and he said that sometimes you just need to let players like him go where they want, that might be true within the attacking third but just letting him roam round the pitch isn't going to get the best from him.

Watching the goal again the defending, or lack of, from the number 5 is incredible. Retreats to stand in front of his goalie to block his view, then walks about flat footed completely oblivious that a 6 foot 5 striker is standing in 5 yards of space to his left. His body language would make you think the ball was at the other end of the pitch, not bouncing around the box.

No doubt they are gambling and desperate but some of those gambles will likely pay off. I'm not too concerned but our aim is still to avoid relegation for the time being. The proportion of our remaining games that are away is probably the thing that worries me a bit but last night's result goes some way to convincing me that we can turn our home form into away wins.

I thought the half-time piece on the TV was really interesting and backs up what we've observed with McCabe. He came into the job with your typical 'philosophy' chat that all young managers have, and I remember his interview after being hammered 6-0 by Edinburgh when he was stubborn and seemed to refuse to accept that there was another side of the game that was just as important as the attractive football part. We then went on that really poor run contuining to lose stupid goals and something obviously clicked eventually that we had to be more adaptable and solid at the back. All the big scorelines got the headlines after that but it was games like beating Alloa 1-0 away and beating Falkirk and Accies 1-0 in play-off ties that showed how much we'd improved defensively. It was that which got us into the play-offs and promoted. We currently have the 2nd best defence in the league and have just conceded 1 goal in 5 games to Raith twice, ICT, St Johnstone and Partick which was unimaginable a year ago. All that while still trying to play an attractive style of football where possible and with pretty limited options in attacking areas. Young managers with 'philosophies' appear all the time but virtually none of them last because they don't accept that you can't always play like that, and that you have to be able to be a strong defensive unit too. I think what gives McCabe a real chance in the game is that he clearly has come to realise this. Things could have turned out differently if he'd kept being stubborn after that Edinburgh game but he began to mix his idealism with realism and it's been great to see him evolve over the last season. I still think our league position isn't as comfortable as it suggests, we have a lot of away games and it seems virtually everyone below us is making changes/improvements apart from Arbroath. If we can keep this run going for a few more games we should be fine, in some respects a quiet 7th place finish may be better than making a late burst for the play-offs and finishing 4th because it means he'll be here next season!

As dreadful as that would be, it would be a shame if we get to a final and then it has the atmosphere of a League 1 game against Montrose. A final against Falkirk would be a big crowd (as I'm sure they'd tell us...) and another good payday.