Queens v Ayr

[Hursty]

1 hour ago, ayrunitedfw said:

Who should Higgins replace on the bench? Presuming Adams starts? 

Was just thinking that - no place for him that I can see if everyone fit.  I like the balance of the bench the now - you have a striker in Moore and 2 wingers in McDaid and McGuffie, a centre half / defensive mid bruiser in Bell, and a possession keeper in Docherty.  Very well balanced for however a game is panning out. 

[UpInTheAyr]

Who should Higgins replace on the bench? Presuming Adams starts? 

Ferguson, if Higgins makes a full recovery I expect he'll be away in January. Maybe that's why he's only on a 6 month contract

[shinglis]

2 hours ago, UpInTheAyr said:

6 hours ago, ayrunitedfw said:

Who should Higgins replace on the bench? Presuming Adams starts? 

Ferguson, if Higgins makes a full recovery I expect he'll be away in January. Maybe that's why he's only on a 6 month contract

Was Higgins not given 6 month deal just to prove fitness, so assuming he could if willing extend his contract in January.

[Skyline Drifter]

4 minutes ago, shinglis said:

Was Higgins not given 6 month deal just to prove fitness, so assuming he could if willing extend his contract in January.

Higgins signed a one year extension just before he picked up his injury.

[ayrmad]

6 minutes ago, shinglis said:

Was Higgins not given 6 month deal just to prove fitness, so assuming he could if willing extend his contract in January.

Doc was given a 6 monther to prove his fitness.

[ayrmad]

"If everyone is fit" is a gigantic if as far as I'm concerned, would still like another no nonsense centre half to beef out our squad, apart from that I like the strength of our options outwith the starting 11, I certainly wouldn't be desperate to see anyone leave IIBH.

[itzdrk]

2 hours ago, UpInTheAyr said:

6 hours ago, ayrunitedfw said:

Who should Higgins replace on the bench? Presuming Adams starts? 

Ferguson, if Higgins makes a full recovery I expect he'll be away in January. Maybe that's why he's only on a 6 month contract

Ferguson's place will be taken by one of Smith or Geggan you would expect. 

 

[Stan Quinn]

Higgins has only played 45 mins in a reserve game so he is not likely to be on the bench tomorrow. Only two quedtions about team selection.

1. Does Smith replace Geggan at RB? 

and 

2. Do we play Adams who has been outstanding on the plastic?

I'm inclined to play both Smith and Adams.

[pandarilla]

Geggan is a hero but Smith is by far the one of the best if not the best right back in the league.

There’s no room for sentiment this season. We’ve got to be putting out our strongest 11 every week and unless Geggan starts performing better than Smith or Harvie then he should be on the bench.

Geggan has done nothing to warrant bring dropped.

Smith has to bide his time imo.

[munro7]

You could argue Moore doesn’t deserve to be on the bench but the fact is there’s a better player in his position. Geggan’s been fine, although he gives the ball away a fair bit, and if Smith’s a better player in that position, which I think is pretty much accepted, then Smith plays in my opinion.

[D'Jaffo]

So should we just hang around and wait for Geggan to have an off day or make a mistake before putting Smith in?

Smith wouldn’t have signed without being guaranteed a starting spot.

[ayrmad]

13 minutes ago, D'Jaffo said:

So should we just hang around and wait for Geggan to have an off day or make a mistake before putting Smith in?

Smith wouldn’t have signed without being guaranteed a starting spot.

YES, that's exactly what you do, we've just been sweating over a wee bit of loyalty from folk at Ayr over the last few weeks now we'll just boot one of our senior players in the stanes because we think someone is better, competition for places means you fight for it not be guaranteed it.

I've no doubt Smith will be our regular right back fairly soon but there's a right way and a wrong way to go about it.

[Guest]

19 minutes ago, D'Jaffo said:

So should we just hang around and wait for Geggan to have an off day or make a mistake before putting Smith in?

Smith wouldn’t have signed without being guaranteed a starting spot.

This is a very difficult one, Geggan gives you that bit more steel in the team and he was wound right up against Dunfermline on Saturday, it could also be argued that his hard tackling and will to win set the tempo for our whole team early on last week.

On paper, Smith is certainly a more natural RB than Geggan and is of course very highly rated, also he did have a decent game playing on the wrong side of the park.

Who knows, that's what McCall gets paid for though as he sees them in training and also knows their mental state much better than any of us.

I'm happy eiher way, and it's not often that we've had these "problems" in recent years !!

[UpInTheAyr]

15 minutes ago, ayrmad said:

YES, that's exactly what you do, we've just been sweating over a wee bit of loyalty from folk at Ayr over the last few weeks now we'll just boot one of our senior players in the stanes because we think someone is better, competition for places means you fight for it not be guaranteed it.

I've no doubt Smith will be our regular right back fairly soon but there's a right way and a wrong way to go about it.

McCall said the only starters would be Rose, Crawford & Shankland. Moving away from knowing you're guaranteed a spot to fighting week in week out for it can only be a good step forward for the club, like every other proper club. Ditching Geggan now when his form hasn't dipped and the defence is solid sends the wrong message.

[pandarilla]

You could argue Moore doesn’t deserve to be on the bench but the fact is there’s a better player in his position. Geggan’s been fine, although he gives the ball away a fair bit, and if Smith’s a better player in that position, which I think is pretty much accepted, then Smith plays in my opinion.

Moore hasn't started all season, and even in league 1 was often on the bench when shankland and Moffat were both fit and on form.

That's a completely different comparison.

[pandarilla]

So should we just hang around and wait for Geggan to have an off day or make a mistake before putting Smith in?

Smith wouldn’t have signed without being guaranteed a starting spot.

The defence has been outstanding so far this season, and geggan has had more to do with that than the new lad (obviously).

In time, no doubt it will change, but right now dropping geggan would be a mistake imo.

But as mentioned above, I trust McCall to handle it properly.

[Trogdor]

We should play our strongest 11, enough of this patter about deserving to be dropped they are professionals! They'll do as McCall tells them!

For me - I'd start Smith. Team of the year in this league last season is difficult to argue with.

 

[diegomarahenry]

[Superhursty7]

Offft,I thought I had hard paper round.

[rb123!]

Doohan

Geggan Bell Rose Harvie

Crawford Murdoch Kerr Forrest

Moffat Shankland

Subs: Hare-Reid, Adams, Smith, Docherty, McGuffie, McDaid, Moore

Reckon we'll line up like this with McCall not wanting to take the risk on Adams, disastrous if he was to play and God forbid got injured. Can see why Jamie will want to play though because he could lose his place in the team easily with so much competition.

Geggan should play because he's done no wrong to get dropped.

3-0 Ayr, Crawford, Moffat and Shankland.