Mr November
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Everything posted by Mr November
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Definitely not. Weirdly it’s Ballantyne in the back three but miles off it in the opening 25 minutes or so and it’s cost us.
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Had a feeling McCabe would drop himself after a poor performance last week. I think this will be it too, the same setup we had in the 1-1 draw at Kirkcaldy with McMaster and Telfer a bit deeper and Frizzell and Lyall playing off Todorov.
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Partick Thistle 3-1 Dunfermline Arbroath 1-2 Inverness Ayr 1-2 Raith Rovers Dundee United 1-0 Queen’s Park Morton 1-0 Airdrie
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Delighted to have Megwa back. We certainly lack in other areas but I’m not sure there’s many teams in this league where I’d swap our full-back options. I’m not advocating for changing the shape from a diamond, which has worked so well recently, but we did start a defence of almost entirely full-backs in the first half hour at Kirkcaldy in the 1-1 draw. It looked oddly defensive on paper but we played something like this until Hancock went off injured and looked excellent for that short spell: Rae Watson - ATS - Hancock Megwa - McMaster - McCabe - Ballantyne Telfer - Frizzell Todorov Any word on Murray Aiken? That’s been almost four months now so fingers crossed he can play a part during the last quarter. It’s a shame his season has turned out like this as I think he’d be a great fit in one of the wider diamond positions that Telfer and McStravick have played recently.
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Hopefully Fordyce is back for this, if not I’d be tempted to bring ATS back in as I don’t fancy a combination of Watson and McCabe against Oakley. We have a good record of bouncing back from defensive disasters under McCabe, if another boring game here gives us a point then I’d be happy enough with that.
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I think that’s the closest performance to last season that we’ve seen. We looked dangerous going forward in the first half, using the width well and getting lots of balls across goal. Unfortunately we were also a shambles at the other end. Three really soft goals. As others have said, was impressed with Hancock, McMaster and McGregor today but McCabe, Donnell and Watson were miles off it. Badly missed Fordyce, particularly in the air as Dowds bullied McCabe all game. We even had Rae trying to catch the ball outside the box like last season and then not paying attention. I did worry that Ayr, Morton and Dundee United would be a tricky run but hopefully we can bounce back next week. The league table is very tight and I’m still aiming for survival rather than 4th, as much as that would be a nice bonus.
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Sad news. His playing and managerial career were both well before my time but my grandpa got me into supporting Airdrie and Iain McMillan was his hero. The greatest Airdrieonian and by all accounts a real gentleman too.
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Rearranged games confirmed for Dunfermline (5th March), Arbroath (2nd April) and Raith (9th April). Busy couple of months ahead!
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Raith 0-2 Dundee United Airdrie 1-1 Ayr Dunfermline 1-1 Arbroath Inverness 1-2 Partick Thistle Queen’s Park 1-1 Morton
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Not really sure what your point is. Both teams started pretty well going forward and had chances during that time. Airdrie hit the bar and Gordon had a good save from Todorov, Hearts scored three really good goals and were deservedly ahead as a result. That’s what can happen when you’re up against a much better team.
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We don't really have another way of playing. We have a fairly small team full of technically good players who work hard but can lack physicality and have very little quality out wide, so playing the way that's been successful recently was a better option than trying something completely new in such a big game. It was always going to be a tough ask though. As you say, Morton will be a very different proposition. They can play some decent stuff too but will be much more aggressive and direct than Airdrie.
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I thought we played fairly well there, just up against a much better team. We've played a lot of top flight teams recently, admittedly mostly earlier in the season in the League Cup, but that Hearts team are the best I've seen come to Airdrie in a long time. I didn't think there was too much between the teams in the opening 15-20 but the difference in quality at each end of the park was evident. Airdrie are a good technical side in the Championship but the speed Hearts moved the ball was ridiculous, it felt like they always had a man in space. Shankland will take the headlines but I thought Baningime and Nieuwenhof ran the game, so composed on the ball and we rarely got near them, the latter in particular was the best player on the park. A good learning experience for our younger players for what it takes to play at a higher level. It's been a decent cup run for us though and the club have hopefully made a fair bit of money from it, so can't complain.
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Can’t believe I forgot the most important thing - we don’t need to go to Cappielow for a fifth time.
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Bit of a reality check there. A shame to go out obviously but I thought we played quite well overall, even in the opening 20 minutes, just up against a much better team. You can see why Hearts are by far the third best team (second on form) in the country at the moment, they moved the ball so well and so quickly. We’ve got a lot of technically good young players and I think that was a great lesson for them in what they need to make it at a higher level. I thought we struggled out wide, Hearts full backs were always in loads of space, but that’s a natural drawback with playing a diamond. No real complaints from me, just outclassed by a better team and plenty to learn from. The main thing now is we keep our focus for some very important league games over the next few weeks.
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🔴🟡 Partick Thistle v Livingston 🟡⚫
Mr November replied to thistledo's topic in Domestic Cup Football
Yeah, when Diack came on and again when Ngwenya came on I just assumed it would be a change of shape to be a bit more compact and double up on Nouble and Brandon. Stanway was fine at Airdrie last season when he played but I have been surprised at him becoming a regular starter in a better team. I suppose a lot of it is not really having a proper Docherty replacement? No harm to him but I knew Thistle were done when Stanway was taking the set-pieces. -
🔴🟡 Partick Thistle v Livingston 🟡⚫
Mr November replied to thistledo's topic in Domestic Cup Football
Quite enjoyed that. I didn’t think there was too much between the teams until Livingston scored, Thistle probably edged it but not enough to be two goals ahead. Hard to argue with Livingston going through, after they scored they controlled the game but I did think the game was heading for penalties, didn’t see the late winner coming. Thistle have a really good starting 11 but there’s not much depth and when it’s McMillan, McInroy, Graham, Fitzpatrick and Lawless off, Williams, Alston, Adeloye, Diack and Ngwenya on, you can see why the game fell away from them. I was expecting Doolan to go with two up front near the end when Thistle couldn’t hold the ball up at all and was surprised it took until into extra-time for that to happen, not that it made too much difference anyway. -
Yeah I agree, that’s why I’d keep McMaster in there as someone who can recycle possession and use the ball well, with McCabe behind him for long range passing if needed. Certainly wouldn’t want to change the shape away from having four in the middle. Donnell or Lyall seem the more obvious choices.
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Definitely options yeah. Gavin Gallagher is another, different kind of player to McStravick but he’d work hard and get around the park. I’d be reluctant to change a settled defence too and while I’d like McCabe in midfield, having someone like McMaster to keep things calm and recycle the ball might be ideal in a game where we might not control possession as much as we’re used to.
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Looks like McStravick is out for Sunday. Presumably Donnell in from the start in his place? A bit of extra physicality might not be a bad thing. I suppose the alternative would be Ballantyne starting with Watson moving inside and McCabe moving into midfield.
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Really excited for Sunday. The less said about the game a few years ago the better but that penalty win at Tynecastle in 2008 was an all timer. I can’t say I’m confident we’ll win, it’s a real step up from St. Johnstone, but it should be a good occasion and there’s certainly a slight chance of an upset. It’s great having so many big games just now. I’ve said it before but at the end of 2019 I tried to think of the best Airdrie games/moments of that decade and it was grim. Depressing stuff when David Hutton saving a penalty at Parkhead was more fun than most games. The last few years have been so much more enjoyable. There’s still been a few disappointments in there but going back to around January 2021, it would be hard to argue many other SPFL teams have been more fun to support than Airdrie over that time.
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Quite happy with that. Not too far away and a stadium we have a very good record at (not that that counts for much here).
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I think I’d go with Telfer. It’s a strange one as you say, as some of our better performers (Megwa, Aiken, Hancock) have had spells out the team and even Telfer was in and out for the first couple of months. Fordyce has been immense over the last month or so and while not a POTY candidate, Watson deserves a mention for being a somewhat surprisingly consistently good performer at this level. Rae is a fair shout too. As you say, there are times when he doesn’t have much to do but even then, the defence seem so confident with him behind them. I think he’s improved his decision making in one on ones too. Earlier this season we conceded quite a few goals where a player was through on goal and the way Rae used to rush out without actually blocking the goal didn’t exactly prevent them scoring, he’s had a fair number of decent saves from similar positions over the last few months though. It’s easy to forget how young he is too, I think he’ll go on to have a very good career. Hopefully any scouts just watch him against Dunfermline. I suppose it’s a good sign that there isn’t really a consensus choice in what has so far been a very successful season.
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Hoping for a TNS win tomorrow purely on the basis that I do not want to read an Airdrie v Falkirk cup final thread.
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What a difference after years of being rubbish in the cups. The only team in the country to win all four League Cup games and then a good comeback against Ross County, only to fall short in extra time. Making it to the Challenge Cup final for the first time in 15 seasons, without playing a home game on the way and whatever happens next week, a great cup victory over St. Johnstone and a big game against Hearts on BBC One.
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The New Raith Rovers Thread
Mr November replied to Hank Scorpio's topic in Scottish Championship General Chatter
I’m not fully an xG/xPoints nerd but did find the difference between Raith’s actual points and expected points startling. I know a lot of that probably comes from all the late goals edging tight games but I, and I think most others, assumed that happened far too many times for it to just be luck.