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The Official Airdrieonians Thread - 2019/20 and beyond


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44 minutes ago, Diamonds are Forever said:

 

Bizarrely, if you watch the second goal that is exactly where he runs to. The position that Watt scores from is exactly where one of our two defensive midfielders should have been screening across and blocking a shot. Instead Wedderburn runs straight back towards goal even though there is no-one to mark, and Watt has a free shot at goal. We play with 2 defensive midfielders yet neither of them are to be seen when a guy cuts inside and has a shot from the edge of the box in the middle of the goal

Ok, but where is Kyle MacDonald right wing back he was getting pelters from Murray and Crighton for not going with the runner,  we were outplayed again by a supposed play off rival, just like For far at home,  our side seems to struggle against a high tempo passing side which is worrying,  Falkirk this week is massive a real pivotal game, we win , we could end up near the top,  a defeat and we are in a dogfight with pish like stranraer and Dumbarton.

Question is the hybrid system working or do we have to wait 3 years to see.

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Have we played the same team two games running yet this season? I doubt it. 

49 minutes ago, AFC1878 said:

"Take up a position with the Airdrie first team". A coaching position? Player-manager? 👀 Probably just a full-time playing contract.

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1 hour ago, Passionate said:

Ok, but where is Kyle MacDonald right wing back he was getting pelters from Murray and Crighton for not going with the runner,  we were outplayed again by a supposed play off rival, just like For far at home,  our side seems to struggle against a high tempo passing side which is worrying,  Falkirk this week is massive a real pivotal game, we win , we could end up near the top,  a defeat and we are in a dogfight with pish like stranraer and Dumbarton.

Question is the hybrid system working or do we have to wait 3 years to see.

Highlights are always edited and I agree he gets pelters from the management team but I think he was caught up the park in one of our rare attacks and he was at least 20 yards away from Watt when the attack broke down ; this suggests to me that Fordyce should have been covering that space. As for those two giving any one pelters they should start with whoever decided to play that formation. Even Murray admits we lost it in first 25 minutes-his choices. I suspect we will float around 4/5th like last season unless we become more energetic as you say

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Have we played the same team two games running yet this season? I doubt it. 

"Take up a position with the Airdrie first team". A coaching position? Player-manager? [emoji102] Probably just a full-time playing contract.

 

I’m sure he was full-time already and coached the Morton youngsters in the evening.

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We should never play a midfield duo of both Wedderburn and Millar, makes the team way too defensive and just invites the opposition to run at us. Also don’t understand why Hawkshaw doesn’t get a game as from what I’ve seen he’s one of the most talented players we have and find it hard to understand why Gallagher hasn’t earned himself a start after last weeks 2nd half performance. Ps Ally Roy is utter pish

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13 hours ago, Diamonds are Forever said:

 

Bizarrely, if you watch the second goal that is exactly where he runs to. The position that Watt scores from is exactly where one of our two defensive midfielders should have been screening across and blocking a shot. Instead Wedderburn runs straight back towards goal even though there is no-one to mark, and Watt has a free shot at goal. We play with 2 defensive midfielders yet neither of them are to be seen when a guy cuts inside and has a shot from the edge of the box in the middle of the goal. 

The mistake from a defensive point of view was not picking up Liam Watt in time to show him away from goal on his left foot...

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The mistake from a defensive point of view was not picking up Liam Watt in time to show him away from goal on his left foot...

Liam watt is far better than any of our Center mids and that says something,Big Nat runs at walking pace,Kieran Millar is never a box to box man and Kurtis has got energy but is still learning his trade
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It was a poor performance ,nothing went right for us ,every thing went for east fife ,bit of luck airdrie could have scored another three with someone that could hit the target with a bit of power in the shots ,have to speak to Doddy to see how to mark their men ,keeper not blameless for at least 2 goals ,he has been doing well but sat his positioning could have been better ,Wedderburn  passes a poor ball and keeper must have been on ice ,and seemed to move out the road of watts cut inside and shot ,but it's a team game and a good bit more wrong than Wedderburn,

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East Fife were well organised but we were so poor (to a man) that we made them look decent. Way too early to shout for the manager's head but he really has to get the team playing consistently  (well) to get up the table and get the fans back on his side  - hopefully starting on Saturday. Performances like Saturday will just keep heaping pressure on him.

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East Fife were well organised but we were so poor (to a man) that we made them look decent. Way too early to shout for the manager's head but he really has to get the team playing consistently  (well) to get up the table and get the fans back on his side  - hopefully starting on Saturday. Performances like Saturday will just keep heaping pressure on him.

It’s the constant changing of the starting line-up and mucking about with daft formations that really annoy me.
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53 minutes ago, AFC1878 said:


It’s the constant changing of the starting line-up and mucking about with daft formations that really annoy me.

This. Last week's team against Clyde worked, in the end, and threw up 3 issues:

1. Eckersley got injured

2. McDonald came on and played well

3. Gallagher came on and played well (winning us the game in the process)

For me, given we'd just signed a left back, I'd have brought McCann straight in and played a left back at left back. This would have meant a straight choice between McDonald who came in and performed and McKay who'd played in 3 consecutive wins (where we conceded only 1 goal). I understand it's a tough call and he probably wants to only drop players if they're out of form, but it avoids playing guys in unnatural positions and frankly it's the decisions Murray is paid to make.

Gallagher should have been a nailed on starter in a straight switch for Roy after his excellent cameo in the previous match.

 

Instead of the above, he shuffled formations, shoehorned in Millar, and messed around with the defence.

I agree it's too early to call Murray's position into question, but it's unquestionably his team and it's got to be improved.

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I'm trying to remind myself that it's early days yet, we've only had 4 league games so far. We realistically shouldn't be judging anything on a loss in the Falkirk game this Saturday either.

 

But it does seem that we have similar problems (amongst others) to the ones we had in both of the last two seasons with a malfunctioning midfield and a lack of ruthlessness up front. This is particularly puzzling as the personnel has changed massively since then.

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4 hours ago, TheBuckfastTriangle said:

This. Last week's team against Clyde worked, in the end, and threw up 3 issues:

1. Eckersley got injured

2. McDonald came on and played well

3. Gallagher came on and played well (winning us the game in the process)

For me, given we'd just signed a left back, I'd have brought McCann straight in and played a left back at left back. This would have meant a straight choice between McDonald who came in and performed and McKay who'd played in 3 consecutive wins (where we conceded only 1 goal). I understand it's a tough call and he probably wants to only drop players if they're out of form, but it avoids playing guys in unnatural positions and frankly it's the decisions Murray is paid to make.

Gallagher should have been a nailed on starter in a straight switch for Roy after his excellent cameo in the previous match.

 

Instead of the above, he shuffled formations, shoehorned in Millar, and messed around with the defence.

I agree it's too early to call Murray's position into question, but it's unquestionably his team and it's got to be improved.

 

Agree with this. I assumed/hoped that when Murray was recruiting over the summer he had a clear idea of the type of football and system to play to get us out the league and would sign players accordingly.

It's obvious given that we change system and personnel every match that he still has no idea how we should be playing. I don't know why we are messing around with the defence particularly, until Saturday we looked fine from open play defensively, we then go 3 at the back and things fall apart. Kerr's mistakes cost us the goals in the Forfar game and since dropping him we kept a clean sheet at Montrose and only lost a goal from a corner against Clyde, the back 4 was fine. Crighton and Fordyce at centre back, with Eckersley/McCann and McKay/MacDonald as full-backs is decent, I wish we'd just go with that and let them settle rather than messing around with it.

I think with Smith and Gallagher we have strikers who can do well in the right set-up, it's the midfield I have real concerns about. I've said for years here that the key to success in this league is being aggressive, playing with energy and being direct. Not meaning hoofing it to a big man up front, but getting the ball forward quickly and turning the defence with pace on the wings and balls in behind. The slow, possession stuff just does not work, teams in this league will happily sit in all day and watch you pass it in front of them, give it away and then counter with direct play. Apart from Thomson I don't really see any of our midfielders fitting the mould of what we need in terms of energy and directness. Whatever we do, it's time that Murray was decisive with a system and team and go with that, at the moment we are just stumbling about hoping to find something that works.

Edited by Diamonds are Forever
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19 minutes ago, Diamonds are Forever said:

 

Agree with this. I assumed/hoped that when Murray was recruiting over the summer he had a clear idea of the type of football and system to play to get us out the league and would sign players accordingly.

It's obvious given that we change system and personnel every match that he still has no idea how we should be playing. I don't know why we are messing around with the defence particularly, until Saturday we looked fine from open play defensively, we then go 3 at the back and things fall apart. Kerr's mistakes cost us the goals in the Forfar game and since dropping him we kept a clean sheet at Montrose and only lost a goal from a corner against Clyde, the back 4 was fine. Crighton and Fordyce at centre back, with Eckersley/McCann and McKay/MacDonald as full-backs is decent, I wish we'd just go with that and let them settle rather than messing around with it.

I think with Smith and Gallagher we have strikers who can do well in the right set-up, it's the midfield I have real concerns about. I've said for years here that the key to success in this league is being aggressive, playing with energy and being direct. Not meaning hoofing it to a big man up front, but getting the ball forward quickly and turning the defence with pace on the wings and balls in behind. The slow, possession stuff just does not work, teams in this league will happily sit in all day and watch you pass it in front of them, give it away and then counter with direct play. Apart from Thomson I don't really see any of our midfielders fitting the mould of what we need in terms of energy and directness. Whatever we do, it's time that Murray was decisive with a system and team and go with that, at the moment we are just stumbling about hoping to find something that works.

The 2nd half of the Clyde game we changed to a back 3 so I think this is why he stuck with it for East Fife. The same happened with the Forfar game...we had a great 1st half playing 4-3-3 against Hamilton the previous week and then the same line up the following week were terrible so I do see why he has been chopping and changing to some extent.

I do agree though that we need to settle on a formation and get the players used to it, consistency is key! 

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