El Buckfastico 2017 V1

[thediamonddude]

As Kerr has said above, there have been some major overreactions on this thread.

Yes, defensively we were very poor and that was our undoing, but we had plenty of chances to win the game, which would have gone in on any other day.

There was virtually nothing in the first half at all - we should have gone in at least level at the break and I would argue that we created more chances than the Rovers. Andy Ryan missed a great headed opportunity while Russell forced a wonder save from Stewart and Boateng somehow failed to turn in the rebound. However, two utterly horrifying moments defensively have buried us.

It was obvious that the Rovers would sit in second half and we just weren't able to break that down. Stewart again saved brilliantly, this time from Brown, and Russell had one cleared off the line in a fairly unbelievable fashion.

My point is, while we weren't able to break the Rovers down, any other day that game could have swung the other way. To say we didn't deserve anything from it or weren't trying/good enough feels incorrect to me.

What is clear though, is that we need the defence sorted. It's true that we have to analyse things and try to improve, but it's obvious that some of the players in there just aren't good enough. I'm sure MW sees that too and will be looking to improve the squad there.

To start questioning the direction we're going in after 7 victories and only 3 defeats in the last 10 games is harsh though. We were missing 3 players yesterday and still badly need investment in the squad - patience is key at this stage in the season.

Huge game on Saturday - hopefully we can bounce back.

[Diamonds are Forever]

The defending from Gorman for the first goal was unbelievable. Firstly he's 10 yards behind everyone else for the initial long ball meaning Boyd can make an easy run in behind leaving Gorman exposed and the rest of our defence too high up to get back in time. Gorman then doesn't win the initial challenge despite the fact that he was goal side when the ball was played, and then to top it off he runs away from Boyd to allow him to stroke the ball home completely unchallenged! Frighteningly bad.

It's all very well criticising the managment team for not sorting these mistakes, but for full-time footballers there should be a certain base level of knowledge and ability that Wilson should be allowed to assume of the players, and that was nowhere near met on that first goal where Gorman was utterly clueless. Not exactly blameless for the second goal either. Boateng is the one who tends to get most of the stick on here but in terms of the two goals on Saturday he's really not the issue.

[Hugh Jarss]

We were poor yesterday. Unfortunately we have seen a few performances like that this season. Our home form in particular is a concern. Most of us have been saying the back 4 needed strengthening since the start of the season but here we are in January with the same players making the same mistakes. I've not seen much improvement with our defending since the new management team came in. 

We all know the squad is short of a couple of players and hopefully Wilson will be able to get players in quickly. We are still sitting 2nd in the league and that shows how bad the other teams are. This could be our best chance to get out of this league but unless we sort out our defending we will still be here next season. I am still hopeful Wilson can take us up to the championship but this is now looking likely to be through the play offs as I can't see Livi being caught. 

[DestroyedByMadness]

First goal was very poor organisation again.    Cairns making his first start in a new position was lost.  There is a crucial decision where Boateng and Gorman are 2v1 on Boyd.   But as play builds Cairns hesitated when he should have closed down the man on the left who played the killer pass.  Instead Boateng rushed out of position leaving Gorman 1v1.   Again, Gorman backs off as mentioned above and gets mugged.

At the second McIntosh slips when he should have headed clear.   Again Boateng gets drawn into no mans  land instead of covering but both McDonald and Gorman fail to deal with Boyf again.

Just as when I highlighted at the last home defeat v Stenny,  Gorman was culpable again by failing to use his right foot to make an easy clearance.  

I've seen this numerous times this season, I've no doubt that other teams are now targeting him.

Gorman is generally a decent player but our central defence is a rabble.

The team's general organisation is a mess.

And we don't learn from simple mistakes we make every week.

[waysider]

TBM. Having been at the game and having watched the highlights twice, I'm struggling to hand any blame to Boateng on either of the goals. Gorman and McIntosh were the main culprits.

That having been said I agree with your general view of him.

[DestroyedByMadness]

25 minutes ago, waysider said:

TBM. Having been at the game and having watched the highlights twice, I'm struggling to hand any blame to Boateng on either of the goals. Gorman and McIntosh were the main culprits.

That having been said I agree with your general view of him.

Not blaming him directly at either but Inhave highlighted 2,  of many,  probem that are leading to conceding goals.

There are a lot of things happening at all the goals we're losing.

[airdrieman]

It's too early to be criticising the manager. He's been badly hampered by the squad built by the previous regime and several players within the squad not being good enough. Whilst the management team should be coaching these mistakes out of players there's only so much they can do. At the end of the day, Boateng, at the age of 24, and Gorman should really be able to understand and carry out the basic necessities of defending.

This is a big month for Wilson and Dalziel. As I've said they should know exactly what, where and who our deficiencies are and should be doing what they can to rectify these and add to the squad. Another defender is essential. Firstly, so that Boateng can get tae and to guide McIntosh and Gorman through games. I think McIntosh is our best defender but he's still young whilst Gorman has potential but is prone to a mistake. He just needs a bit of guidance.

Another midfielder is needed to. There's no way a young centre half should be playing in central midfield and we really missed Stewart, Hutton and Leitch yesterday. Having said that, Leighton or even McLaughlin would have seemed a more natural choice so thought that was a strange selection from Wilson.

We all know what our weaknesses our and the management should to. Over to you Messrs Wilson and Dalziel.

[She who dares gins]

It's too early to be criticising the manager. He's been badly hampered by the squad built by the previous regime and several players within the squad not being good enough. Whilst the management team should be coaching these mistakes out of players there's only so much they can do.

It feels likes we've been saying this since Bollan left and quite frankly it's becoming a convenient excuse to fall back on - it's not the manager's fault, it's not his team. I've run out of patience with it now, but that's likely just me!

Let's see what January brings but we need to stop blaming the past for what's happening in the present. We were rotten on Saturday and looked slow. For a FT time that's at Wilson's/GD's door.

We can all see the defence is a shocker and they bring in another striker.

[Tulloch Gorum]

28 minutes ago, She who dares gins said:

 

It feels likes we've been saying this since Bollan left and quite frankly it's becoming a convenient excuse to fall back on - it's not the manager's fault, it's not his team. Quite frankly, I've run out of patient with it now.

 

 

People having said it about previous managers doesn't make it less valid now.  Wilson has only signed two players - one of whom didn't play yesterday.  Yes, he made some mistakes himself (bringing on Schmidt late on was never going to achieve anything) but let's at least give him a crack at failing with his own team before we get the pitchforks out. 

[Airdrie76]

1 hour ago, She who dares gins said:

It feels likes we've been saying this since Bollan left and quite frankly it's becoming a convenient excuse to fall back on - it's not the manager's fault, it's not his team. Quite frankly, I've run out of patience with it now, but that's likely just me!

Let's see what January brings but we need to stop blaming the past for what's happening in the present. We were rotten on Saturday and looked slow. For a FT time that's at Wilson's/GD's door.

We can all see the defence is a shocker and they bring in another striker.

Absolutely need a new defender (or defenders to be honest). We needed a striker too though I'd argue as Schmidt was the back up and is utter sh1te. Give them time (as you say yourself) and see who else comes in. The squad is an unbalanced mess and it'll take time to fix that. 

[She who dares gins]

 

People having said it about previous managers doesn't make it less valid now.  Wilson has only signed two players - one of whom didn't play yesterday.  Yes, he made some mistakes himself (bringing on Schmidt late on was never going to achieve anything) but let's at least give him a crack at failing with his own team before we get the pitchforks out. 

I didn't say anything about getting the pitchforks out - but they're in charge and on Saturday they look slow and out of ideas and I include Wilson in that. Too many folk making excuses for him.

[DestroyedByMadness]

1 hour ago, She who dares gins said:

I didn't say anything about getting the pitchforks out - but they're in charge and on Saturday they look slow and out of ideas and I include Wilson in that. Too many folk making excuses for him.

What's worse?  

Those outraged at the poor show or those outraged at the outragers?

I'm now outraged at those outraged at those who were initially outraged at our outrageous defence.

 

[Yoda8]

For me nothing's changed since last manager and nothing will change unless the Chairman is willing to back Wilson/Dalziel.

The last manager knew where the problems were but wasn't given funds to address it, tho imagine money saved from the great Hugo can be spent on team if it's not being taken up by Hutton & Dalziels wages.

Has Leitch been signed and I've missed it as think his deal was due to end in Jan.

It would be interesting to know what funds will be made available to MW and whether the ongoing claims for previous 2 managers will impact on the budget. 

Still think with a couple of decent signings that Livi can still be caught, think that's more realistic than winning over 4 legs in play offs if. 

[teekasule]

quite amazing the boy misses this... 

[Yoda8]

It was coming at a fair pace and was a wayward shot not a cross so probably caught him off guard teekasule

[airdrieman]

3 hours ago, She who dares gins said:

I didn't say anything about getting the pitchforks out - but they're in charge and on Saturday they look slow and out of ideas and I include Wilson in that. Too many folk making excuses for him.

 

 

There have clearly been mistakes made by the management. We still have no tempo or urgency to our play. We still punt too many high balls up to Andy Ryan. Players don't run off the ball or when they do they're ineffective. And we're still making the same defensive mistakes in games. Those last two games cost us 6 points. If we got them we'd only be a point behind Livingston.

Either the management team are unable to coach these problems out of the players or these problems aren't being picked up during the game or during post - match analysis. I'm still not convinced that Wilson is getting enough support in that regard. 

But even so, he is still badly hampered by the squad that was signed by the previous regime - in terms of depth and quality. The likes of Boateng, Gorman and MacDonald should all be able to carry out basic tenants of defending by now. And the squad is far too shallow. it's all very well and good people calling for him to make a change during the game but what change could he realistically make that would help us win the game? There's nothing on the bench at all. However, that doesn't mean he shouldn't or couldn't try and change things with the XI on the pitch, whether that be style of play or formation, if 'Plan A' isn't working. 

But, we're still 2nd and better than we were under McBride. This is a huge month though and changes to the squad HAVE to be made. If we can make some improvements we could seriously push on. If not then it will be a bumpy ride to the play - offs where we will inevitably crash out again.

[kerrdavidson95]

Some laugh being an Airdrie fan. Wouldn't know we've won seven out of ten.

[Yoda8]

1 minute ago, kerrdavidson95 said:

Some laugh being an Airdrie fan. Wouldn't know we've won seven out of ten.

The King/EWB vision had Airdrie being Barcelonaesque so nobody is going to be happy until it's 10/10 and all games a minimum 5 nil

[Yoda8]

35 minutes ago, airdrieman said:

There have clearly been mistakes made by the management. We still have no tempo or urgency to our play. We still punt too many high balls up to Andy Ryan. Players don't run off the ball or when they do they're ineffective. And we're still making the same defensive mistakes in games. Those last two games cost us 6 points. If we got them we'd only be a point behind Livingston.

Either the management team are unable to coach these problems out of the players or these problems aren't being picked up during the game or during post - match analysis. I'm still not convinced that Wilson is getting enough support in that regard. 

But even so, he is still badly hampered by the squad that was signed by the previous regime - in terms of depth and quality. The likes of Boateng, Gorman and MacDonald should all be able to carry out basic tenants of defending by now. And the squad is far too shallow. it's all very well and good people calling for him to make a change during the game but what change could he realistically make that would help us win the game? There's nothing on the bench at all. However, that doesn't mean he shouldn't or couldn't try and change things with the XI on the pitch, whether that be style of play or formation, if 'Plan A' isn't working. 

But, we're still 2nd and better than we were under McBride. This is a huge month though and changes to the squad HAVE to be made. If we can make some improvements we could seriously push on. If not then it will be a bumpy ride to the play - offs where we will inevitably crash out again.

I don't see any notable difference, still soft as shite at the back and hot & cold middle to front.

Had McBride got Hutton in then I don't think there would have been too much of a difference in points amassed. 

The problems are Kings doing, MW & McBride before him are having to clean up the mess.

Lets be honest tho , the first year jumping to full time was always gonna be tough and at start of season you would have taken top 3.

next season if don't go up the boys will have a years expierence and be better for it.

[Tulloch Gorum]

1 hour ago, Yoda8 said:

For me nothing's changed since last manager and nothing will change unless the Chairman is willing to back Wilson/Dalziel.

The last manager knew where the problems were but wasn't given funds to address it, tho imagine money saved from the great Hugo can be spent on team if it's not being taken up by Hutton & Dalziels wages.

Has Leitch been signed and I've missed it as think his deal was due to end in Jan.

It would be interesting to know what funds will be made available to MW and whether the ongoing claims for previous 2 managers will impact on the budget. 

Still think with a couple of decent signings that Livi can still be caught, think that's more realistic than winning over 4 legs in play offs if. 

His original deal was indeed to expire in January, but as of last month he's now signed up until May.