Ballboy Posted July 31, 2021 Share Posted July 31, 2021 Can't add mutch to what's been posted already. Decent crowd for 1st league game. Main points from today. 1 josh kerr can't be relied on as center of a back 3. 2 still need a ball winning midfielder to actually tackle rather than drop deeper as the game goes on. 3. Both strikers making the same runs and challenging for the same headers. 4 18 quid for the worst game I've seen in years. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diamondman Posted July 31, 2021 Share Posted July 31, 2021 Poor doesn't cover it. Are McCabe and Agnew too similar to play in the same midfield perhaps? Montrose sadly better all over the park today. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dextermorgan Posted July 31, 2021 Share Posted July 31, 2021 Typical Aiirdrie, just when you think it can't get any worse it usually does. Montrose was probably the worst team to play in the first game as they looked like a side that knew each other and we certainly didn't. Don't want to single out players but the midfield has a lot to answer for in both lack of creativity and stopping the opponents running at our back four. I'm sure Murray will have spotted this, but as usual he doesn't seem to apply the fixes during the games for some reason. If Aissa is out for a few games then I'm afraid that we will struggle badly, the lack of hold up play up front is embarassing to say the least. Kyle Turner din't just provide the side with talent and energy in my opinion, he coaxed and bullied the side to match his performances. Leadership on the park today was noticibly missing. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chapelhall chap Posted July 31, 2021 Share Posted July 31, 2021 Certainly not amused by that performance and tactical masterstrokes by Murray. Our front two seemed to be playing in the same area and why he thought young McGill had this super No 10 role is bemusing me. It was really annoying that we lost that opening goal from one of many duff free kicks, and Kerr was out of place as they counter attacked from his poor pass. That was largely it and Montrose cruised the rest of the match-I don't think we had a shot on goals in that first half. No first touch/no fight for the 2nd ball/ unable to string together any while passing move/lump ball . We move from 3-4-1-2 to 4-3-3 and poor Gabby stuck somewhere out on the right wing, while no one seemed willing to just kick their guy before he scored the 2nd. Montrose know how to play and back each other up but we looked completely bereft of any control. Blair Lyons just dribbles into the box and that penalty was embarassing. Are Agnew and McCabe too similar -probably yes but the problems lie deeper than any one player-sending Dycey up front again when 3 down seems a joke to me. What looked like a good crowd were not treated to a" please come back" display. When there was the pre match announcement about fans not going on the field of play, I have to wonder if some of the players took that a bit too much to heart. How Murray and the players react to this will be crucial already. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airdrie_3 Posted July 31, 2021 Share Posted July 31, 2021 That has to be one of the most spineless airdrie performances i’ve saw in ages. I get that it’s the first game of the season but the full defence we’re laughing today, Watson turned his back on everything, Kerr mistiming headers and tackles, Fordyce was non existent. The fact it took Murray so long to bring on Easton is a joke, only player we have that has the ability to beat a player and take a shot. Even Frizzell was told to warm up to come on then was never seen again when we had an extra 2 subs to make? With Dumbarton beating Clyde 3-0 today i’m not feeling hopeful for next Sat 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
broomiesniper Posted July 31, 2021 Share Posted July 31, 2021 Got to admit I was surprised at how poor Airdrie were today. We travelled from Montrose today thinking getting away with a point would be a decent result, but that was a walk in the park for The Mo 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Thornhill Posted July 31, 2021 Share Posted July 31, 2021 Words failed me when Easton wasn't subbed on at half time - and then early in the 2nd half with Kouider-Aissa's injury. Wildly wrong decision by Ian Murray. Easton is the kind of player that can potentially change a game - and at 1-0 he should have been on the pitch to try and change it. To wait until 2-0 was criminal. 1-0 we were still in it - and if we get an early goal the players (who were all round keech) might have picked themselves up and it could have been a completely different game (comebacks - see Raith v Hamilton today.). So yes, Ian Murray can collectively blame himself, the staff and the players tonight but he holds the biggest percentage of blame - he sets them up and he makes the changes. Am away to have a beer and to try and forget. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Passionate Posted July 31, 2021 Share Posted July 31, 2021 2 hours ago, Chapelhall chap said: Certainly not amused by that performance and tactical masterstrokes by Murray. Our front two seemed to be playing in the same area and why he thought young McGill had this super No 10 role is bemusing me. It was really annoying that we lost that opening goal from one of many duff free kicks, and Kerr was out of place as they counter attacked from his poor pass. That was largely it and Montrose cruised the rest of the match-I don't think we had a shot on goals in that first half. No first touch/no fight for the 2nd ball/ unable to string together any while passing move/lump ball . We move from 3-4-1-2 to 4-3-3 and poor Gabby stuck somewhere out on the right wing, while no one seemed willing to just kick their guy before he scored the 2nd. Montrose know how to play and back each other up but we looked completely bereft of any control. Blair Lyons just dribbles into the box and that penalty was embarassing. Are Agnew and McCabe too similar -probably yes but the problems lie deeper than any one player-sending Dycey up front again when 3 down seems a joke to me. What looked like a good crowd were not treated to a" please come back" display. When there was the pre match announcement about fans not going on the field of play, I have to wonder if some of the players took that a bit too much to heart. How Murray and the players react to this will be crucial already. Right where do I start, firstly great to see old fitba friends on a saturday again.... Onto the game and really from the first whistle you could sense a poor performance was coming was wardrop i njured, why was s McGill playing when Dylan was fit... The main issue was the defence or lack of, a deep lying back 3 with the2 fullbacks playing as wingers, we missed Wardrop , MacDonald was poor as was Rico, is it a setupproblem or a player attitude issue, the back 3 were shambolic , Fordyce has struggled all season, he is a good defender but he is being asked to thread passes into strikers and down the channels constantly and is doing 2 jobs due to rico reluctance to defend the basics, that has never been his strength and never will be. A back 3 must be on the front foot at all times, Kerr especially lacked aggression and was stepping back,lack of fitness, confidence ?.. Agnew have his legs gone...... Possibly if so we are in trouble, McCabe isno world beater but he will give you the ball and recycle it all game,,,, One bright spot was Dylan Easton finally getting on the pitch. , he has quality, and quite possibly be might have to strap this team on his dodgy back and drag us into contention..... I am not really into the boom or bust stuff, I will leave that to the Facebook page, I still think it is fixable with setup changes and a bit of ticker..... Time to stop managing players through training whatever that means , we know these players can play, time to show it... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airdrieman Posted July 31, 2021 Share Posted July 31, 2021 56 minutes ago, Passionate said: Right where do I start, firstly great to see old fitba friends on a saturday again.... Onto the game and really from the first whistle you could sense a poor performance was coming was wardrop i njured, why was s McGill playing when Dylan was fit... The main issue was the defence or lack of, a deep lying back 3 with the2 fullbacks playing as wingers, we missed Wardrop , MacDonald was poor as was Rico, is it a setupproblem or a player attitude issue, the back 3 were shambolic , Fordyce has struggled all season, he is a good defender but he is being asked to thread passes into strikers and down the channels constantly and is doing 2 jobs due to rico reluctance to defend the basics, that has never been his strength and never will be. A back 3 must be on the front foot at all times, Kerr especially lacked aggression and was stepping back,lack of fitness, confidence ?.. Agnew have his legs gone...... Possibly if so we are in trouble, McCabe isno world beater but he will give you the ball and recycle it all game,,,, One bright spot was Dylan Easton finally getting on the pitch. , he has quality, and quite possibly be might have to strap this team on his dodgy back and drag us into contention..... I am not really into the boom or bust stuff, I will leave that to the Facebook page, I still think it is fixable with setup changes and a bit of ticker..... Time to stop managing players through training whatever that means , we know these players can play, time to show it... I agree I don’t think the 3-5-2 suits us at all. I don’t know what system we should play given that whatever we go for we’ll still have zero width. But on the evidence of today, unless things drastically improve that 3-5-2 is never going to work. Moving to a 4 at the back would certainly help out Rico and Wardrop big time. It might put less pressure on our centre-halves to be an attacking outlet also. I think Kerr, Watson and Fordyce can all have their moments on the ball but they shouldn’t be starting almost every attack. No wonder we’re shilling it long or playing it backwards or sideways all the time. I liked the look of the back three from what I saw in the League Cup (I missed the QOS game admittedly) but that was a rabble today. I don’t want to make excuses for him but if Kerr isn’t fully fit then he shouldn’t be playing and we shouldn’t be playing him just to accommodate the manager’s arbitrarily chosen favourite system. I don’t think the 3-5-2 is getting the best out of our midfield either. I still think one of the biggest problems is we still don’t have a proper defensive midfielder. Somebody like Paton who can actually win a second ball would make a huge difference. McCabe is a good all-rounder, and he’s very good at recycling and retaining possession especially when we’re on top. But he’s not an in your face, winning the first and second balls type midfielder. I assumed that’s what McDonald and McGill were brought in to do but neither of them have really played that role either. Both of them have nice touches but they’re both very raw and clearly aren’t going to dominate the midfield every week. And it’s maddening that Dylan Easton wasn’t starting and didn’t come on at half-time (or even the first-half). The only time we had a hit of impetus or were able to retain possession was when he came on but it was far too late by that point. Clearly he needs to play every week. I don’t know if a 4-1-3-2 would work but I’d be playing Easton, McCabe and Agnew as close to the forwards as possible as our link-up with them today was dreadful. Gallagher and Kouider-Aîissa both struggled today but you can’t really blame them given how appalling their service was. Chasing hopeful long balls against a Montrose defence that lap that sort of stuff up and having to drop SO deep to get the ball because it was never going to get to them any other way. Their communication with each other has to be better though as there were several times they ran the same line, challenged for the same high ball etc. Just talk to each other! I know they never looked like scoring but we never even gave them a chance. And Gallagher and Salim weren’t the only ones. Like most Murray teams most of the players looked like they didn’t have any clue what position they were playing, whose role was who’s, who’s meant to be marking which opposition player and in general we looked completely organised. Exactly the opposite of Montrose. It’s only week 1 but we need a huge reaction to today already next week. Murray and Watson’s interviews were actually two of the better ones they’ve done (you know it’s bad when even Murray can’t just waffle some shite) but they’re only stating the obvious and we need a massive improvement next week. This is very much now Murray’s team and system in place. No excuses. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLDiamond Posted July 31, 2021 Share Posted July 31, 2021 If there’s any positives to take from this it’s going to be the honesty shared by the players in the aftermath of the game and them all having the chance to share and get their heads around this result. It’s obvious that the team didn’t play well enough. The fight was lacking. And Murray got his tactics wrong. But this team took down a premiership team a few days ago and they have the ability to do well here. I don’t know if the QOTS result is still giving them a hangover… there was a lot of expectation after beating Motherwell. Murray has a HUGE week coming up and needs to get the team pumped up for next week. As a supporter, I will never accept the players giving less than 100% for the Diamond and we saw hints of that last week and sadly the same can be said for today. The boys need to come out next week, take at least SOMETHING from the game but most importantly show that they are interested in achieving something for the team. This is going to be a long season and they have to have their heads in the game and show that they at least want to challenge for the league title. The team that was out there today won’t achieve any silverware or even make the playoffs. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squeezeboxson Posted July 31, 2021 Share Posted July 31, 2021 4 hours ago, airdrie_3 said: That has to be one of the most spineless airdrie performances i’ve saw in ages. I get that it’s the first game of the season but the full defence we’re laughing today, Watson turned his back on everything, Kerr mistiming headers and tackles, Fordyce was non existent. The fact it took Murray so long to bring on Easton is a joke, only player we have that has the ability to beat a player and take a shot. Even Frizzell was told to warm up to come on then was never seen again when we had an extra 2 subs to make? With Dumbarton beating Clyde 3-0 today i’m not feeling hopeful for next Sat How are the former sons settling in? By all means, you guys had a poor result today but surely there'll be a bit more fight about things next week with the number of players playing against their former team? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds Posted July 31, 2021 Share Posted July 31, 2021 I've already voiced my concern over the 352 on here. It's a system we're using because it worked with an almost entirely different squad at the end of last season and I'm not convinced that means it should be persisted with this season. That's two games in a row we've struggled in the first half and have switched to a back 4 at half time so I wouldn't be surprised if we start with a 4 on occasion in the coming weeks. I really think there's a decent squad there and I'd like to see us give an old fashioned 442 a go with Easton and Frizzell out wide if both are fully fit as I think we've got a squad that would suit that system. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G_H Posted August 1, 2021 Share Posted August 1, 2021 6 hours ago, squeezeboxson said: How are the former sons settling in? By all means, you guys had a poor result today but surely there'll be a bit more fight about things next week with the number of players playing against their former team? They're right at home sitting 9th in the table. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny_m Posted August 1, 2021 Share Posted August 1, 2021 16 hours ago, DiamondsForever1970 said: Said it since the 1st and 2nd games in the Cumbernauld tournament that Agnew is a liability. He brings absolutely nothing to the team, like a statue in the middle. Plays the odd set piece and even then delivery is so so. He should be nowhere near the starting 11 as his legs are gone. East Fife fans were saying this last season and they are so right he can not run the length of himself. Back 5 today were shocking and not good enough, front 2 don’t look like scoring. Murray needs to get it sorted pronto or he will be under pressure. Yes Agnew has ability, yes he still can strike a decent dead ball, yes he can play the odd killer pass but he can't move and and the game is passing him by. His playing contract needs ripped up! There is a serious lack of pace in our side and i'm already pining for Craig Thomson. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dextermorgan Posted August 1, 2021 Share Posted August 1, 2021 The DTV interview with Craig Watson pretty much summed up what I took from yesterday. A lack of physicality and aggression, a lack of desire to be first to the ball, a lack of pace up front and the fact that 'nothing stuck' with the forwards. Montrose are a big physical side who were never matched in that respect yesterday, the real question is. Do we have the players in our current squad who have the 'nastiness' or aggression to compete with these teams? We will see in the coming weeks, but what concerns me is the combination of the players in our side who are not the most physical, coupled with those who are prone to injury and maybe not as fully commited as they should be. As I said earlier, playing Montrose first should make the side realise that skill alone is not going to win you much in this or any division. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Reed Posted August 1, 2021 Share Posted August 1, 2021 36 minutes ago, dextermorgan said: The DTV interview with Craig Watson pretty much summed up what I took from yesterday. A lack of physicality and aggression, a lack of desire to be first to the ball, a lack of pace up front and the fact that 'nothing stuck' with the forwards. Montrose are a big physical side who were never matched in that respect yesterday, the real question is. Do we have the players in our current squad who have the 'nastiness' or aggression to compete with these teams? We will see in the coming weeks, but what concerns me is the combination of the players in our side who are not the most physical, coupled with those who are prone to injury and maybe not as fully commited as they should be. As I said earlier, playing Montrose first should make the side realise that skill alone is not going to win you much in this or any division. Really can't understand what happens to players that come to us, On paper the team looked ok on the park they have not a clue, anyone not connected with football could put a team out to play better, second to every ball, when we do have the ball we are easy disposes or our pass is no where, don't think we could have played any worse yesterday, so far off the pace it's not real, don't think you will need to worry about fans attending games if this is what is on show. The blame is down to one man, can't understand the jeckel and Hyde performance, where is he coming from. Nobody surely can defend that performance, its the same every game will we play this system or that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dextermorgan Posted August 1, 2021 Share Posted August 1, 2021 I don't believe the system we play matters too much, or even the tactics for this side. After the QOS game Murray stated that the game was simply about 11 v 11 and in that statement he was pretty much saying that the players have to win the battles with their conterpart. Look at yesterday, how many of our players won their 'personal' battles? I don't honestly know how you change this, other than getting in a tough ball winning midfielder who can inspire those around him. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric the half a b Posted August 1, 2021 Share Posted August 1, 2021 1 hour ago, dextermorgan said: I don't believe the system we play matters too much, or even the tactics for this side. After the QOS game Murray stated that the game was simply about 11 v 11 and in that statement he was pretty much saying that the players have to win the battles with their conterpart. Look at yesterday, how many of our players won their 'personal' battles? I don't honestly know how you change this, other than getting in a tough ball winning midfielder who can inspire those around him. As the manager said they were quicker, stronger, fitter and better than us ...that explains it cheers me up no end . 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Reed Posted August 1, 2021 Share Posted August 1, 2021 1 hour ago, dextermorgan said: I don't believe the system we play matters too much, or even the tactics for this side. After the QOS game Murray stated that the game was simply about 11 v 11 and in that statement he was pretty much saying that the players have to win the battles with their conterpart. Look at yesterday, how many of our players won their 'personal' battles? I don't honestly know how you change this, other than getting in a tough ball winning midfielder who can inspire those around him. Aye a player like Evan Balfour comes to mind. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Reed Posted August 1, 2021 Share Posted August 1, 2021 2 minutes ago, Eric the half a b said: As the manager said they were quicker, stronger, fitter and better than us ...that explains it cheers me up no end . We just had no chance then? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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