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The Official Airdrieonians Thread - 2019/20 and beyond


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22 minutes ago, Eric the half a b said:

Very disappointing not one plus point today outclassed in every area by a long way.

Still the only way is up ♦️

Just like the Morton game, there is one or two good players out there but most need replaced  and soon, that is no improvement on last  season, 

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People got too carried away after the Motherwell result. Not surprised by today’s result in the slightest albeit an extremely disappointing performance.  The league cup is irrelevant imo and All focus should be on next Saturday getting the players that are injured back and getting off to a winning start. 

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Not too bothered about today's result as it was all but on the cards. QOS are a decent side who have a fair bit of quality about them. We were coming to them a few days after a monumental win over Motherwell and it looked like a bridge too far for many of them, just as in the Morton playoffs. At the start of the game we pressed them really well but it was obvious that this was not sustainable for the 90 minutes as we were constantly failing to hold the ball up front. This in my opinion is our major weakness, the lack of a strong physical presence in the forward line who can shrug off the defenders and allow others to come in to play. Gallagher and Aissa are better in the box and not really suited to hold up play, unlike the QOS number 9. It was inevitable that Ally Roy would score of course and you could see that this game meant a lot to him. Time will tell of course as to whether Partick and ourselves were mistaken in letting him go. As already stated, next week will be a better indication of how our season will shape up.

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I’ve steered clear of posting for a couple of weeks, simply as the negativity was getting ridiculous.

I hate seeing folk throwing tags like ‘happy clapper’ or whatever the opposite of that is these days around - to me, that’s what people do when someone won’t agree with their point of view and can’t accept it, so they insult them instead. There was a fair bit of that creeping in to the thread and it’s pretty cringeworthy.

For me, while this is a football forum and I know the point is for us all to share our views, which is quite right, the levels of negativity from some people at times is majorly off putting. We all want our club to do well, but I think we need to remember at all times how difficult it can be to run a football club, build a team, manage the guys, etc. I think when you look at our owners, board, the manager and players - especially in comparison to some other clubs at our level and above - we’re incredibly lucky to have what we do and for that reason, I think they deserve our backing.

In terms of my views of the past couple of weeks…

The squad - for me, it’s coming together quite nicely. Forgetting about Kyle Turner for a moment (as he was a special player at this level that we picked up completely by chance) anyone that thinks the quality in the squad is lesser than last season needs a reality check. With the exception of McCann (and I should point out that I really like Rico and have been impressed by him so far) we’re stronger in every area of the pitch when you compare with this time last year. We have been a bit short in terms of depth, but as others have said, why bring players in for the sake of it to pad the squad out? The McGills have come in this past week and each added a wee something, proving to me that we’ve been right to bide our time. We need to remember how unlucky we’ve been with injuries too. Still assuming Robert goes - I reckon we’re 2 or 3 players away from a really strong squad that will definitely be there or there abouts come next May.

Premier Sports Cup - When you consider that up until today, we hadn’t lost in 90 mins or conceded from open play in 3 games, I think it’s hard to deny this has been a decent cup campaign for us. Today is a massive blow and disappointment, of course it is, but that was a huge effort put in by everyone on Wednesday, and without 2 of what I’d say is our starting midfield 3 today as well, it was always going to be a tough ask to get the win. On top of that, aside from a cracking night at Tynecastle around 13 years ago, that Motherwell game was the biggest result I feel we’ve had since the heady days of the late 90s. It shows what we can do on our day and should give great encouragement. Of course a cup run would be nice, but I just feel this competition comes too early in pre-season and the deck is stacked against teams at our level. So I’m content with how we did and excited about the real stuff starting next week.

Strips - I’m obviously biased, but I really don’t think anyone in Scotland, or world football for that matter, comes close to our kits. As others have said, I hope we stay with Umbro forever, as their designs and material have been spot on these past two seasons. I will admit that this year’s designs aren’t quite on a par with last season, but I still think they’re cracking and will be ‘growers’ - especially the home. To throw my tuppence worth in with the shorts/socks thing, it should always be red/red for me but I do like the black/black combo! Finally, I think the club and FN deserve great credit for the service and timing with the kits the past few years - while the Umbro stuff is well superior, I thought they did so well with the Joma stuff too and they have the club shop looking amazing.

Anyway, sorry for sharing my version of War and Peace here, been working on that for weeks! However, to me, things look very good for us at the moment - I’ve no idea how our season will go (no one does), but I have confidence and belief in the club, players and staff.

Let’s dae this!!! ♦️

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10 hours ago, Passionate said:

We trivia question for you , seeing as that mix of top , shorts and socks has never been used as a 1 st choice strip selection before (traditionalist) when was the last game that mix was used and who against......

Not sure if this has been replied to, but was it Rangers in the 2013/14 season?

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Dependent on injured/unfit midfield players coming back next week and  (hopefully) additional signings , I would have McDonald as right wing back - dependant on formation.  It's the boy's natural position and would give a lot more to what we are getting just now.

Today was poor  and exposes  the need for additional signings to come in as at least decent cover.

 

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14 minutes ago, thediamonddude said:

Not sure if this has been replied to, but was it Rangers in the 2013/14 season?

Correct, the new year 1 nil defeat to Rangers, the night Willie McLaren was having a square go with BilelMosni after the game.....   We were unluckqy that night......

 

Do not recall that shorts \ socks combo being used at all sinc or prior.......

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First I have to praise the QOTS stream and clearly their commentator knew his stuff , and his summing up of how we fell away after 10 mnutes was about right. The only fault with the stream was that I had to watch those 4 goals again so quickly, and winced at our tired reactions. Mind you at least I stayed with it till the other McGill scored-probably the first time Matty McDonald had gone up the park-it was a good move and goal.  There is no need to be too downhearted as I think we overperformed on Wednesday and Motherwell were anonymous in the middle. QOTS were more alert and maybe needed to make amends for letting a 2 goal lead go last week. Their NO 10 was the kind of pesty pesk and a footballer and we never got to grips with him. Many also forgot how good a season Gibson had last year and he was a real handful for Wardrop-maybe he was carrying an injury?  The big Junior guy just never gave any time to our back three and he was abve to link all their possession. The first goal usually wins a game and we were slow to react to that 2nd ball-give Roy credit for being more alert and he did play well for them. Gallagher ought to have made it 2-1 and who knows how the 2nd half might have gone.  It was funny to see Roy dawdle in front of Murray as he was subbed but getting a full time gig was surely better than sitting on the bench with us. It could have been more and the switch to 4-3-3 just left so much space.  Unlike some Well fans I stuck it out till the end , but wonder if I would have done had we been allowed in. The strip looks really classy but shame it's first outing was in this eventual thumping.

Where this sees is for the L1 season is still unclear especially with all these injuries . Some of the other results of L1 sides also show the problems many sides have, but I remain supportive and looking forward to the opening game.

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9 minutes ago, Roger Thornhill said:

Dependent on injured/unfit midfield players coming back next week and  (hopefully) additional signings , I would have McDonald as right wing back - dependant on formation.  It's the boy's natural position and would give a lot more to what we are getting just now.

Today was poor  and exposes  the need for additional signings to come in as at least decent cover.

 

Agreed on McDonald, he was excellent there against Motherwell when he moved across and offered a bit more of an attacking threat than Wardrop does. I like Wardrop and think he’s done alright so far but I’d be keen to bring McCabe back in (if fit) ahead of him. 

 

2 minutes ago, Passionate said:

Correct, the new year 1 nil defeat to Rangers, the night Willie McLaren was having a square go with BilelMosni after the game.....   We were unluckqy that night......

 

Do not recall that shorts \ socks combo being used at all sinc or prior.......

I’d pay good money to see Mohsni fight a Bollan/McLaren tag team.ACA3BA4C-4275-4B26-AA49-2D1985B3D5F3.thumb.jpeg.6d5fcce03ef828ebfd1ff739a6620db1.jpeg

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Disappointing result today but I’m not too upset or bothered by it for reasons already discussed. I think a sense of perspective is badly needed at times - especially on that Facebook group where every defeat or bad performance is never given any sort of perspective or context (and c***s are still moaning about that Clyde friendly FFS). Today was always going to be tough. Ultimately, they’re a better team than us playing in a higher division and were rightly expected to win, although I do think we let ourselves down in terms of the performance and score line. We’ve played three tough games in the space of week. That’s hard enough to do. But we’ve also done it without at least one of our first choice midfielders in every game and without a full bench in any of the three either. Also worth bearing in mind the physical and mental toll Wednesday night’s game would have taken. These things are important. It’s also the League Cup which throws up humpings, upsets and anomalies all the time. 
 

I do think we still need a couple of additional players as we’re clearly struggling for quantity and quality with McCabe and Easton (and Frizzell, Lyons, Walker and Robert) all missing. Hopefully these guys will be back next week. As said the next few weeks and months in the league will tell us a lot more about how our season is going to go. 

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It was inevitable that Ally Roy would score of course and you could see that this game meant a lot to him.


Tbf he was as good today as he has been so far for us, the difference being he took his chances today. I didn't think he particularly upped his game. His slow walk off was clearly a dig at Murray mind you. Did he get much game time last season?
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1 hour ago, 19QOS19 said:


 

 


Tbf he was as good today as he has been so far for us, the difference being he took his chances today. I didn't think he particularly upped his game. His slow walk off was clearly a dig at Murray mind you. Did he get much game time last season?

 

His start to his QOS career has a lot of parallels to the start of his time at Airdrie. He had a good League Cup campaign in 2019/20 (albeit he never scored a hat-trick) and looked a bit of a find. Then he blazed a penalty over the bar in the second league game of the season and never once looked the same player. It will be interesting to see if he continues to follow a similar trajectory at QOS  or if he'll capitalise on the kernel of ability he has to at least some degree. It will be interesting to see how he reacts to missing chances and/or the fans getting on his back as he strikes me as very much a confidence player.

Last season he had a great pre-season (which doesn't count for much admittedly) scoring in just about every friendly. Then he got injured in the first League Cup game and wasn't back until after the second re-start (bar possibly a couple of substitute appearances). He did score 3 goals in 3 games on his return but he never really got a proper run in the team and, in fairness, our other strikers Gallagher and Connell were better over the piece. I'm sure he probably feels aggrieved and like he never got a proper crack at it. But if he was to look at it objectively I'm not sure he has much of a leg to stand on. He never showed the consistency, ability, striker's intuition, confidence or even effort (he doesn't put himself aboot) to really justify getting a sustained run in the team. And all our other forwards during his time at the club - Gallagher, Carrick, Smith, Connell and Ryan - were all demonstrably better than him and that would be backed up by any scientific metric you could apply. All that being said I do think there is a player in there somewhere. He just needs a consistent run of games and to find a scoring run to illustrate that. Perhaps that's what he's doing now. I don't have anything against the guy so I hope it works out for him at QOS. 

There's some amount of Ally Roy truthers online btw. 

Edited by airdrieman
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His start to his QOS career has a lot of parallels to the start of his time at Airdrie. He had a good League Cup campaign in 2019/20 (albeit he never scored a hat-trick) and looked a bit of a find. Then he blazed a penalty over the bar in the second league game of the season and never once looked the same player. It will be interesting to see if he continues to follow a similar trajectory at QOS  or if he'll capitalise on the kernel of ability he has to at least some degree. It will be interesting to see how he reacts to missing chances and/or the fans getting on his back as he strikes me as very much a confidence player.
Last season he had a great pre-season (which doesn't count for much admittedly) scoring in just about every friendly. Then he got injured in the first League Cup game and wasn't back until after the second re-start (bar possibly a couple of substitute appearances). He did score 3 goals in 3 games on his return but he never really got a proper run in the team and, in fairness, our other strikers Gallagher and Connell were better over the piece. I'm sure he probably feels aggrieved and like he never got a proper crack at it. But if he was to look at it objectively I'm not sure he has much of a leg to stand on. He never showed the consistency, ability, striker's intuition, confidence or even effort (he doesn't put himself aboot) to really justify getting a sustained run in the team. And all our other forwards during his time at the club - Gallagher, Carrick, Smith, Connell and Ryan - were all demonstrably better than him and that would be backed up by any scientific metric you could apply. All that being said I do think there is a player in there somewhere. He just needs a consistent run of games and to find a scoring run to illustrate that. Perhaps that's what he's doing now. I don't have anything against the guy so I hope it works out for him at QOS. 
There's some amount of Ally Roy truthers online btw. 
In all seriousness there was always going to be such a reaction if Roy did well today. Similarly, if McCabe had played a blinder I fully expect Airdrie fans would have reacted the same way.
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The central midfield area is still my big worry with only really McCabe sort of proven.  

Agnew (who i was a big fan of) is shot unfortunately and although he might produce a great set piece or pass, that's a luxury we can't afford and he is destined for the full time assistant managers job.

McDonald simply does not look good enough but as mentioned perhaps is better suited to the wing back role.

Mabawsa, again not good enough.

Scott McGill may well turn out fine but too early to say.

I don't really count Easton as a "midfielder" as he is more of "in the hole" type player. I only see us starting with 1 up front when Easton comes back into the side, which hopefully is next week.

Got too add that Willie Gibson's performance yesterday was a joy to watch for a near 37 year old, in fact outstanding regardless of age. A footballing lesson for Sam Wardrop!!

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3 hours ago, Kenny_m said:

The central midfield area is still my big worry with only really McCabe sort of proven.  

Agnew (who i was a big fan of) is shot unfortunately and although he might produce a great set piece or pass, that's a luxury we can't afford and he is destined for the full time assistant managers job.

McDonald simply does not look good enough but as mentioned perhaps is better suited to the wing back role.

Mabawsa, again not good enough.

Scott McGill may well turn out fine but too early to say.

I don't really count Easton as a "midfielder" as he is more of "in the hole" type player. I only see us starting with 1 up front when Easton comes back into the side, which hopefully is next week.

Got too add that Willie Gibson's performance yesterday was a joy to watch for a near 37 year old, in fact outstanding regardless of age. A footballing lesson for Sam Wardrop!!

Spot on midfield is a concern also the number of players out injured and season has not  got going properly. 

I hope yesterday was just a bad day at the office as the performance was concerning to say the least,  McCabe was sorely missed and while QoS a league above us they are no world beaters. 

Had put the diamonds on at 10/1 to win the league 🤣 still onwards and upwards will be a tight league ♦️

 

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3 hours ago, Kenny_m said:

The central midfield area is still my big worry with only really McCabe sort of proven.  

Agnew (who i was a big fan of) is shot unfortunately and although he might produce a great set piece or pass, that's a luxury we can't afford and he is destined for the full time assistant managers job.

McDonald simply does not look good enough but as mentioned perhaps is better suited to the wing back role.

Mabawsa, again not good enough.

Scott McGill may well turn out fine but too early to say.

I don't really count Easton as a "midfielder" as he is more of "in the hole" type player. I only see us starting with 1 up front when Easton comes back into the side, which hopefully is next week.

Got too add that Willie Gibson's performance yesterday was a joy to watch for a near 37 year old, in fact outstanding regardless of age. A footballing lesson for Sam Wardrop!!

I wouldn’t say no to another CM, but I do think it’s a bit unlikely as things stand.

I get what you’re saying re: not classing Easton as a midfielder, but with the system we’ve been playing and, as I’ve said before, see us playing all season given we seem to have recruited with that in mind, I think we have to class him as a midfielder.

There’s no doubt in my mind we’ll be 3-5-2 when he comes back - that’s how we lined up with him in the side against Annan after all.

I’d disagree on Agnew though - whilst he’s not the player of 2 or 3 years ago, I think he still looks really composed and has plenty to offer alongside someone like McCabe, who can do the leg work.

All in, we’ll be playing with a midfield 3 most weeks - 2 ‘sitting’ and 1 more advanced. Collectively, you’ve got 6 players to cover those 3 spots, so we’d be looking at 1 more (max).

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20 minutes ago, thediamonddude said:

I wouldn’t say no to another CM, but I do think it’s a bit unlikely as things stand.

I get what you’re saying re: not classing Easton as a midfielder, but with the system we’ve been playing and, as I’ve said before, see us playing all season given we seem to have recruited with that in mind, I think we have to class him as a midfielder.

There’s no doubt in my mind we’ll be 3-5-2 when he comes back - that’s how we lined up with him in the side against Annan after all.

I’d disagree on Agnew though - whilst he’s not the player of 2 or 3 years ago, I think he still looks really composed and has plenty to offer alongside someone like McCabe, who can do the leg work.

All in, we’ll be playing with a midfield 3 most weeks - 2 ‘sitting’ and 1 more advanced. Collectively, you’ve got 6 players to cover those 3 spots, so we’d be looking at 1 more (max).

Even ally Roy found it easy to score against us, we desperately need a striker that can take a chance  when he gets it, although service to forwards yesterday was poor, there was chances but as usual over the bar, past the post , strikes like against  Motherwell will be few and far between, Wallace  that has left East fife could help, 

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