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The Official Airdrieonians Thread - 2019/20 and beyond


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Not seen the podcast yet but interesting when you mention Falkirk's wages/operating costs etc. I think as much as the worries about our squad depth have been lamented, I think operating within tight restraints is going to be one of the things at the front of McCabe's mind as manager. Now he is in change of all affairs, being able to be successful within a budget is going to put him in a very favourable light as a new manager. That probably comes hand in hand with his "quality not quantity" mantra, and has possibly been a factor in our relatively quiet transfer business. 

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Now that I’ve had a few days to mull over Saturday’s performance and result I’d say I’m probably not as pessimistic as I was on Saturday evening, although that may change tonight after what will be a very tough game. There’s obviously quality in our squad. I think my major concern (other than the obvious concerns over squad size) is the fact that only one sub was made in that second half when Kelty were very much on top. It’s a concern I think we all had when McCabe was appointed. With our manager and assistant on the pitch, how do we go about making changes when things aren’t going our way? The positive is that we’re still very much within touching distance of Dunfermline, and I hope we still are by January and then we can add the necessary quality.

For me the midfield needs the right balance. Last year we used a sitter (usually Agnew, but often McCabe), an engine/box-to-box player (Frizzell) and an attacking playmaker (Easton). On occasion we played a midfield diamond and a second engine came in (McInroy before January, McGill on occasion afterwards). We sometimes used McCabe as that extra midfielder and I don’t think it ever worked very well as I don’t think he’s suited to playing that role.

Looking at this season, Frizzell is now being used as that primary playmaker in the more advanced role, and he can’t be expected to be that and a box-to-box player, so we need to replace that midfield engine. For me, McCabe and Telfer cannot play that role, but Devenny can. That means playing one of Telfer or McCabe as the sitter, and I think it would be worth playing Telfer there with McCabe returning to defence. That would see us return to our most used centre back pairing from last season (Fordyce and McCabe) with Ballantyne replacing Watson as our first choice right back and Taylor-Sinclair replacing Patterson as our first choice left back. In theory, that team (particularly given that the option is there to field the most used front 3 from last season as well) should be as good as last season’s, albeit without perhaps the same level of talent on the bench (or Dylan Easton on the pitch).

The alternative for me would be for Frizzell to return to that midfield engine role. Let me make it clear that I’m not advocating for this, as I think Frizzell has played very well in his new role and it might not be the best idea limit his attacking potential by playing him a bit deeper, but it’s a role he’s obviously capable of. If we did that we could potentially use Telfer as the more attacking playmaker, but I’m not sure how well-suited he would be to that role. That might allow McCabe and Telfer to play in the same midfield as Frizzell would act as an energetic link between the two, rather than the two trying to play the same game as they did on Saturday. While they haven’t yet shown the level of ability of the others my early impression is that McMaster might work as a box-to-box player linking a holding mid and a playmaker, and Wylie might work as the attacking playmaker, but both need to show a bit more than what they have so far (especially Wylie as McMaster has the excuse of getting injured early on in the season).

Tonight I’d go for

Henderson

Ballantyne McCabe Fordyce ATS

Frizzell Telfer Devenny

McGill Gal Smith

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7 minutes ago, Right in the Stanchion said:

Not seen the podcast yet but interesting when you mention Falkirk's wages/operating costs etc. I think as much as the worries about our squad depth have been lamented, I think operating within tight restraints is going to be one of the things at the front of McCabe's mind as manager. Now he is in change of all affairs, being able to be successful within a budget is going to put him in a very favourable light as a new manager. That probably comes hand in hand with his "quality not quantity" mantra, and has possibly been a factor in our relatively quiet transfer business. 

Jury is out about McCabe as a manager, up till now has made a few sreange decisions, next 2or three games will give a better idea, for me any way, 

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1 hour ago, Kenny_m said:

Judging by the team suggestions for tonight, it seems everyone has already lost faith in Deveney & Jamieson. 

I wouldn’t go that far. I think we have better players than Deveney but he puts in a shift and has had good games, I just don’t think he’d make our strongest 11. He’s good when we’re on the front foot, but I’d trust the likes of ATS, Ballantyne, Watson to defend at full back over him.

Jamieson I think has the opposite issue if anything. Talented, but doesn’t really put in the shift the other forwards do. He also seems to easily become frustrated when things aren’t going his way and last game against Kelty he was far too predictable and easily defended against. He had a fantastic game against Alloa earlier in the season though. I’ve no doubt he’ll start a lot of games this season and contribute well, but I’d not start him tonight.

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18 minutes ago, ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds said:

I wouldn’t go that far. I think we have better players than Deveney but he puts in a shift and has had good games, I just don’t think he’d make our strongest 11. He’s good when we’re on the front foot, but I’d trust the likes of ATS, Ballantyne, Watson to defend at full back over him.

Jamieson I think has the opposite issue if anything. Talented, but doesn’t really put in the shift the other forwards do. He also seems to easily become frustrated when things aren’t going his way and last game against Kelty he was far too predictable and easily defended against. He had a fantastic game against Alloa earlier in the season though. I’ve no doubt he’ll start a lot of games this season and contribute well, but I’d not start him tonight.

Yeh, but the Rhys philosophy was to bring in better quality players. 

Only Ballantyne & Devenny have convinced to date. The jury is still out on all the rest of the new signings albeit injuries and game time have to be considered.

I don't disagree with your starting 11 for tonight though.

 

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Does anyone know what’s up with Ben Wylie? He hasn’t been mentioned as injured in the previews but that’s two games he’s not been on the bench. I can’t say I’m desperate for him to play, he hasn’t done much yet other than seemingly searching his own name on twitter, but we need all the options we can get at the moment.

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Saw that coming even at 2-2, we are a shambles just now. Terrible at the back wasteful up front.  
 

Wouldn’t be bothered if McMaster, Wylie and Jamieson went back to their clubs tomorrow.

 

Euan Deveney and the young keeper Henderson are simply not good enough. Murray Johnson conceded 3 goals in 5 games compared with Henderson conceding 12 in 5. 
 

 

Everyone else performing well below par. 
 

Can’t fill the bench, don’t have a kit, can we just call the season now ?

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What a shite drive home this is. 
 

Felt at 2-1 we would actually get something from the game and until Montrose made the changes we were by far on top second half. Number 16 changed that though with 2 goals and over 90 mins Montrose fully deserved it. That spell in the second half doesn’t make up for the poor play the rest of the game and the fall from grace the last few weeks is terrifying. 
 

Not going to bother singling out individual players for criticism it simply isn’t good enough all round and this squad is so lightweight from now till January could well be damage limitation. 

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The second half tonight gave me some hope but it was short lived unfortunately. The game again showed up our glaring weaknesses in tems of a lack of a cutting edge with forwards who are not match winners. It also showed up in terms of a bare squad and a lack of quality in depth. Surely we would have given young Henderson a break by now, is Hutton really that bad?

I can only suggest that a lack of signings may be down to a possible payout to Quitongo and not because there is no one better out there....who knows?

Tonight was Ballantyne's worst game by far and forgive me for mentioning that his fitness/sharpness looks decidedly below par.

Hard to take too many positives from tonight as it was apparent that Montrose stepped up the gears when they had to and we had no answer.

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I wasn’t there tonight so can’t comment on the performance but a defeat, conceding four goals and losing Fordyce and Frizzell, the latter in particular, is really concerning. I can’t say I expected to win but we’re just far too soft at the back at the moment. 

We’ve seen already that there’s no easy games in this league but we’ve got a tricky run of games coming up this month. Queen of the South, Alloa, Edinburgh and Montrose will all fancy their chances at making the top four and rightly so. They don’t play for a couple of weeks but we’d drop out of the top four based on whatever happens in the Falkirk v Alloa game as it stands. It’s really important we get a good result on Saturday and make sure those teams don’t start pulling ahead of us. We were never going to go on another run like last season but losing three league games in four, plus the Alloa cup game which I’m not too bothered about, is a concern.

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I said this in the match thread but recruitment has been abysmal. No depth so the same players are expected to go out every game and play 90 minutes and we can’t change it. No chance we are doing anything this season. If the poor form continues then do you sack the manager? This will then result in us losing him and fordyce.

Something definitely not right at the moment.

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24 minutes ago, Aufc said:

I said this in the match thread but recruitment has been abysmal. No depth so the same players are expected to go out every game and play 90 minutes and we can’t change it. No chance we are doing anything this season. If the poor form continues then do you sack the manager? This will then result in us losing him and fordyce.

Something definitely not right at the moment.

I did see this coming in July and was shot down for it. Recruitment is a huge part in football and squad depth if the 3/4 get injured is worrying.

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26 minutes ago, Aufc said:

I said this in the match thread but recruitment has been abysmal. No depth so the same players are expected to go out every game and play 90 minutes and we can’t change it. No chance we are doing anything this season. If the poor form continues then do you sack the manager? This will then result in us losing him and fordyce.

Something definitely not right at the moment.

Price you pay for doing things on the cheap, 

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On 02/10/2022 at 11:18, Kenny_m said:

One point that has crossed my mind is the financial side of the club. The squad size has been well documented but effectively it would be down to 16 if we subtract our Manager and assistant, albeit finance is our chairman's area of expertise

I hinted earlier about this but nobody picked up on it. 

Is our squad size because of the lack of quality players available or was the dough not available for them?

 

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11 hours ago, diamond_for_life said:

What a shite drive home this is. 
 

Felt at 2-1 we would actually get something from the game and until Montrose made the changes we were by far on top second half. Number 16 changed that though with 2 goals and over 90 mins Montrose fully deserved it. That spell in the second half doesn’t make up for the poor play the rest of the game and the fall from grace the last few weeks is terrifying. 
 

Not going to bother singling out individual players for criticism it simply isn’t good enough all round and this squad is so lightweight from now till January could well be damage limitation. 

Quite honestly we had 3 great chances the first half as well despite the fact that Montrose were by far the better side. Devenny & Gallagher had clear shots on goal from inside the box and never hit the target and Ballantyne tried to round the keeper when clean through just before half time which was perhaps the wrong option.

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7 minutes ago, Kenny_m said:

I hinted earlier about this but nobody picked up on it. 

Is our squad size because of the lack of quality players available or was the dough not available for them?

 

 

I'd assume both. The reality is we are expecting to compete with clubs like Falkirk and Dunfermline with far bigger budgets than us, plus Queen of the South who you'd think would be roughly similar to us financially but their squad size suggests otherwise. You've also got clubs like Kelty and Edinburgh who can probably offer more.

The reality is for us to compete with those teams and get the quality of player necessary we have to run a smaller squad and focus our resources. The alternative would be to sign a bigger squad with less quality which is never going to win you the league.

In terms of recruitment no-one surely thinks McCabe is deliberately running a small squad which gives him no options off the bench, so it's clearly a case that for what we are offering we cannot get the players in. You could sign a few Dean Ritchie types but what is the point? I want us promoted as much as anyone and I do think we have the core of a good team, but the reality is given our resources we should probably be finishing anywhere from 3rd to 6th. We need to remember last season was the exception for us in this league, not the rule, and anything above scrapping for the play-offs is us punching above our weight a bit.

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