The Ultimate Super Ayr Thread

[D'Jaffo]

We definitely have it in us to finish 3rd or 4th but beyond that I’m not sure. There’s glaring deficiencies in the squad as a whole and that’s hurting us more than whatever formation or style of play Bullen is utilising. In fact the standard of player is a factor in the way we are playing as we are missing Musonda and Murdoch and have suffered since Chalmers left. Playoffs and hopefully a semi final at Hampden would rightfully be considered a good season and puts us in a solid position to improve the squad. 
 

The January window was poor on the face of it but it’s been explained why we only signed McAlear and there isn’t a great deal that can be done about that. Bullen and Mathie need to he ruthless in the summer though. It’ll be hard to work it out with Reading given he has another year to go but you’d think we could find someone willing to take on his contract. He’s the one player from last season who has regressed dramatically. He’s always had a poor game in him but he’s never had a run of games where he looks so far out his depth until this season. Not sure what’s up with him but at this level you need to have full backs that are better at stopping crosses coming into the box. He switches off and gets dragged about far too much. Mitchell-Lawson is in the same boat but given he’s at risk of becoming a bit of a journeyman it might be harder to offload him. Thought he’d turned a corner but he’s so limited when he can’t utilise his pace. McAllister and Houston are both out of contract and it’s perfectly justifiable to move both on as well. 

[Trogdor]

When is Murdoch due back?

[Mod1967]

Ashford starting is completely laughable, off the bench is bad enough ,can't finish, can't create, can't beat a man, woeful control.....oh that's right he's a nice guy and runs about a lot, perhaps Ayr Seaforth will come in for him, he's certainly not a football player. 

[No_Problemo]

20 minutes ago, D'Jaffo said:

We definitely have it in us to finish 3rd or 4th but beyond that I’m not sure. There’s glaring deficiencies in the squad as a whole and that’s hurting us more than whatever formation or style of play Bullen is utilising. In fact the standard of player is a factor in the way we are playing as we are missing Musonda and Murdoch and have suffered since Chalmers left. Playoffs and hopefully a semi final at Hampden would rightfully be considered a good season and puts us in a solid position to improve the squad. 
 

The January window was poor on the face of it but it’s been explained why we only signed McAlear and there isn’t a great deal that can be done about that. Bullen and Mathie need to he ruthless in the summer though. It’ll be hard to work it out with Reading given he has another year to go but you’d think we could find someone willing to take on his contract. He’s the one player from last season who has regressed dramatically. He’s always had a poor game in him but he’s never had a run of games where he looks so far out his depth until this season. Not sure what’s up with him but at this level you need to have full backs that are better at stopping crosses coming into the box. He switches off and gets dragged about far too much. Mitchell-Lawson is in the same boat but given he’s at risk of becoming a bit of a journeyman it might be harder to offload him. Thought he’d turned a corner but he’s so limited when he can’t utilise his pace. McAllister and Houston are both out of contract and it’s perfectly justifiable to move both on as well. 

I would keep McAllister, a good squad player in that he can play right back or centre half. Only 22, has shown he is now our best full back (not that it is overly difficult) and has improved hugely compared to last season - unlike his full back competitors who have shown no ability to improve over a period of several years. 

[D'Jaffo]

2 minutes ago, No_Problemo said:

I would keep McAllister, a good squad player in that he can play right back or centre half. Only 22, has shown he is now our best full back (not that it is overly difficult) and has improved hugely compared to last season - unlike his full back competitors who have shown no ability to improve over a period of several years. 

Aye he’s gotten better but I’m still not sure he’s what we need. Offers very little going forward which I suppose would be fine if the full back on the other side offered more and there was a bit of a balance. Maybe keep him for depth but if that’s the case then Houston has to go as we need someone to improve us in that area. 

[No_Problemo]

Just now, D'Jaffo said:

Aye he’s gotten better but I’m still not sure he’s what we need. Offers very little going forward which I suppose would be fine if the full back on the other side offered more and there was a bit of a balance. Maybe keep him for depth but if that’s the case then Houston has to go as we need someone to improve us in that area. 

I completely agree we need better as a starting player, and Houston would need to go but happy to have him as an option as back up or even if we need to add some aggression/intensity to the team. Again, in the first half yesterday he was the only player playing with any intensity - he actually dealt with Tiffoney very well, which I wasn’t expecting. 

Next season I would like to see us with attacking full backs who can link up and interchange with our midfield/forwards. Still annoyed we didn’t attempt to sign Tumilty. 

[D'Jaffo]

1 minute ago, No_Problemo said:

I completely agree we need better as a starting player, and Houston would need to go but happy to have him as an option as back up or even if we need to add some aggression/intensity to the team. Again, in the first half yesterday he was the only player playing with any intensity - he actually dealt with Tiffoney very well, which I wasn’t expecting. 

Next season I would like to see us with attacking full backs who can link up and interchange with our midfield/forwards. Still annoyed we didn’t attempt to sign Tumilty. 

Had there been money left then Tumilty strikes me as someone we might’ve tried to get but it’s hard to justify at this stage of the season when we only have the budget for one loan player and it’s in a position where we already have two players. 
 

Talking of which, are we likely to add anyone before the end of February? 

[No_Problemo]

Just now, D'Jaffo said:

Had there been money left then Tumilty strikes me as someone we might’ve tried to get but it’s hard to justify at this stage of the season when we only have the budget for one loan player and it’s in a position where we already have two players. 
 

Talking of which, are we likely to add anyone before the end of February? 

I get that to some extent, but obviously would be looking towards next season too and fixing a very obvious weakness we have. 
 

I fucking hope so…

[North British 2]

7 minutes ago, D'Jaffo said:

Talking of which, are we likely to add anyone before the end of February? 

There is no reason why we can't throw say £40k at it and bring in two loans or free agents until the end of the season.  We will have minimum £200k earnings from the cup run thus far . Its a no brainer..

[D'Jaffo]

4 minutes ago, North British 2 said:

There is no reason why we can't throw say £40k at it and bring in two loans or free agents until the end of the season.  We will have minimum £200k earnings from the cup run thus far . Its a no brainer..

That’s not how football clubs operate though. The club have said they are going to work to a budget and that budget will be suitable for where the club are and what they want to achieve. The money from the cup run and league place will go towards next seasons budget. We did enough in terms of outgoings in January to be able to get another loan player in but there’s no way Smith will put more money in, in the hope that we can maybe get up. 

[Lochwood]

I agree with north British we surely can get at least a couple in from the cup money, after all that is never budgeted for in a season, that would get some fresh competition in to the squad. Has to be players that can go straight in the team , must be a few players who will know they are getting released from clubs and would come on loan to earn a contract.

Another thing that really annoyed me yesterday was a free kick with goal scoring chance and  Reading took it , neither Mullin or the boy Mclear  who has history as a bit of a specialist at free kicks went anywhere near it and shows how low there confidence is.

we have to try something new and go 3 5 2 going forward and see how it goes our system just now is clearly been sussed by all the coaches.

[rb123!]

5 minutes ago, Lochwood said:

we have to try something new and go 3 5 2 going forward and see how it goes our system just now is clearly been sussed by all the coaches.

I've put this on the Raith match thread

                          Albinson

               Kirk McGinty Musonda 

Houston McAleer McAllister Dempsey Mullin 

                    McKenzie Dipo

[UpInTheAyr]

McAllister has kicked on massively this season compared to last, although that wouldn't be particularly hard. Who's to say he can't do the same next season, to some extent again? 

Would definitely be signing him up. Houston and Reading I wouldn't be bothered if they left. 

[Guest]

Once we all come back down to Earth, it should be noted that there's no way on earth Bullen's position will be under threat, nor should it be, given that we're in 3rd position in the league with still a slight cushion over those behind and have been occupying the top 4 positions all season. We're also in the last 8 (with a very winnable tie) of the major national cup competition and who knows where that could end.

Over and above this we've now got a few very sellable assets and also a few of our own Academy players blooded and very much part of a top half Championship squad, I'd also say we've added 200 - 300 on to our average home gates, as such from our Boards perspective, Bullen is doing a fantastic job and the players would all seem very happy, so despite a few of us being annoyed about recent results and performances, things are actually looking great for the club when taking in the bigger picture and taking account of the fact that we're probably 2 years ahead of our "plan".

I'm as annoyed and frustrated as anyone about our recent results and performances but ultimately we're still doing very well and I'd also fully expect us to bounce back sooner or later, whether it's enough to keep a title challenge going is open to debate but what isn't is that we've improved dramatically from last year and that's all that was expected of Bullen and the team.

In reality, history will show this as one of our best ever seasons and I think it's a measure of how far we've come that we're now all going berzerk about a few poor weeks when we look back and think about where we've been and the type of junior quality players and young scottish championship loanees that we had to rely on for our excitement in our recent past.

On the plus side, Musonda is just about back, McAlear is getting fitter, Daire is arguably looking as good as he ever has and hopefully Murdoch will also be back soon.

Anyway, each to their own but I've had enough doom and gloom and extreme negativity for this weekend.......

 

[GaryMc93]

6 minutes ago, Lochwood said:

Another thing that really annoyed me yesterday was a free kick with goal scoring chance and  Reading took it , neither Mullin or the boy Mclear  who has history as a bit of a specialist at free kicks went anywhere near it and shows how low there confidence is.

Mullin's confidence would have been sky high if he managed to score that free kick from the bench. Also McAlear was standing beside it but the angle probably suited a left footer and we don't have many.

[Iain]

It's only a couple of weeks since McAllister was terrible against QP. Not being as bad as some of the others seems a low bar to clear to receive praise.

[Iain]

2 minutes ago, GaryMc93 said:

Mullin's confidence would have been sky high if he managed to score that free kick from the bench. Also McAlear was standing beside it but the angle probably suited a left footer and we don't have many.

He wasn't subbed until after the free kick was awarded. No reason he couldn't have been left on another minute or two.

[Ayrutd1910]

10 minutes ago, WATTOO said:

Once we all come back down to Earth, it should be noted that there's no way on earth Bullen's position will be under threat, nor should it be, given that we're in 3rd position in the league with still a slight cushion over those behind and have been occupying the top 4 positions all season. We're also in the last 8 (with a very winnable tie) of the major national cup competition and who knows where that could end.

Over and above this we've now got a few very sellable assets and also a few of our own Academy players blooded and very much part of a top half Championship squad, I'd also say we've added 200 - 300 on to our average home gates, as such from our Boards perspective, Bullen is doing a fantastic job and the players would all seem very happy, so despite a few of us being annoyed about recent results and performances, things are actually looking great for the club when taking in the bigger picture and taking account of the fact that we're probably 2 years ahead of our "plan".

I'm as annoyed and frustrated as anyone about our recent results and performances but ultimately we're still doing very well and I'd also fully expect us to bounce back sooner or later, whether it's enough to keep a title challenge going is open to debate but what isn't is that we've improved dramatically from last year and that's all that was expected of Bullen and the team.

In reality, history will show this as one of our best ever seasons and I think it's a measure of how far we've come that we're now all going berzerk about a few poor weeks when we look back and think about where we've been and the type of junior quality players and young scottish championship loanees that we had to rely on for our excitement in our recent past.

On the plus side, Musonda is just about back, McAlear is getting fitter, Daire is arguably looking as good as he ever has and hopefully Murdoch will also be back soon.

Anyway, each to their own but I've had enough doom and gloom and extreme negativity for this weekend.......

 

 

[Richey Edwards]

17 minutes ago, UpInTheAyr said:

McAllister has kicked on massively this season compared to last, although that wouldn't be particularly hard. Who's to say he can't do the same next season, to some extent again? 

Would definitely be signing him up. Houston and Reading I wouldn't be bothered if they left. 

Compared to last season he has been much improved. I did not rate him at all last season because he looked like he had won a competition to be part of our squad - though to be fair he was not the only one.

Glad to be proven wrong about him though. The loan spell he had seems to have done him some good.

[Shibuya]

42 minutes ago, Lochwood said:

 

Another thing that really annoyed me yesterday was a free kick with goal scoring chance and  Reading took it , neither Mullin or the boy Mclear  who has history as a bit of a specialist at free kicks went anywhere near it and shows how low there confidence is.  

Aye, what was that all about? I can't think of any time where i want Reading to hit a free kick over McAlear and Mullin. McAlear was actually shouting for the ball with his hand up, I was disappointed he didn't hit it given his reputation for free kicks.