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The Official Airdrieonians Thread - 2019/20 and beyond


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2 hours ago, Passionate said:

Exactly why the f**k do we need a Director of Football,   Stranraer are struggling without one aren't they.........  Print is another what does he do,   Wages that could have been spent on Experienced players to get out of this league.....

 

 

Shameful incident in the first half with a players family being abused,  Sad day for the club...

 

 

1 hour ago, Chapelhall chap said:

I think one guy losing the plot is not a reflection on the club, but a damning comment on the unseemly fracas is well merited on whoever it was. I did see it developing and getting out of hand despite the stewards best efforts but I certainly could not say that I knew who anyone was at that time. I assume you know who the player was?

I didn't hear the particulars of what was said by either party but, while I'm not condoning what happened, Wedderburn was utter gubbins in the first half and would have been deserving of any stick coming towards him (assuming it wasn't racist, homophobic or otherwise offensive). If his family (they were English so I assume they were Wedderburn's family) can't take that - knowing full well that it's part and parcel of football - then they shouldn't come to games. It's worth mentioning too that someone from the Wedderburn party did throw a punch (that missed) and tried to hit them with a crutch as well as making other offers of violence. 

I didn't hear what was said by the fan though and whether or not it merited such a strong reaction (if it did then fair enough).

Edited by airdrieman
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I thought the performance against Raith was dire, but that first half surpassed that. We were shocking.  Putting the piss poor goals conceded, manager got it wrong in midfield where.........we had no midfield -  Wedderburn not at the races, the boy Reilly who looked out his depth against Raith, gets to start today and looked ...out his depth . I would like the manager to explain the rationale of having the boy playing today. Anyhow, the midfield was totally lacking resulting in hopeful punts up front resulting in no shots on target first half at home - disgrace.  Better second half (and I repeat I am not Kurtis Roberts maw, da, uncle cousin) but what a difference in midfield - he joined up with forwards, nice balls into space, simple passes around him and he has a shot on him -  should have been playing from the start.  He's not brilliant - buts he's the best we have got and should be playing. Manager got it wrong - winnable 3 points gone . 

Finally - best to Craig Thomson - quick recovery.

Edited by Roger Thornhill
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28 minutes ago, airdrieman said:

Who would have thought playing players with a bit of creativity and urgency would would result in goals? Probably won't catch on. 

I've been more patient with Murray than others have been but that first half was utterly dreadful and it was largely down to the system he played and the personnel he picked. The same mistakes - inability to defend set pieces - and bizarre team selections are made every week and he never seems to learn from them. Gallagher is not a winger. He's not going to beat his man. get to the byline and send in a cross but he will get you goals. Everyone knows this from the first 3 or 4 times we tried to play Gallagher on the wing - except from Murray. But if he hasn't realised he's not a winger by now maybe he never will. I was willing to give Roy the benefit of the doubt that he might be better playing upfront rather than out wide but he still contributes absolutely nothing. Made Gallagher being shoved out on the wing all the more galling. Reilly is an empty shirt and I've no idea what he's done to merit playing over Roberts or Hawkshaw. Wedderburn plays the odd nice pass but he cannot play in a midfield two at all and he was badly exposed and way off the pace today, particularly in the first half. We were carved open so easily for Stranraer's second goal and as much as the defence were at fault Wedderburn has his share of the blame too. Wedderburn and Reilly were also sitting way too deep for most of the first half. It's all well and good for Murray to tell them to push up but he's setting them up that way. Thomson is a threat but is wasted out on the left rather than in his natural position wide right. Hope he's okay after his sore landing today. 

Second half we were better (I was going to say much better but that might be stretching it a little) and that was purely due to the introduction of Roberts (and to a lesser extent Hawkshaw). it made a difference actually having players who could pick a pass, drive forward with the ball and who actually have a bit of pace and creativity. Not to mention who are also a goal threat. Roberts shot would have been a magnificent though scantly deserved winning goal. 

If Murray takes anything from this game it should be - play your best players in their best positions and play players who actually have a bit of creativity about them. As I said during the week we're making things needlessly difficult for ourselves by setting up so defensively when there's absolutely no need to. 

Excellent post.

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The goals we lost were a joke ,shocking defending,in the end we were unlucky not to win  though ,it's not a surprise that the teams above us have the best striking power .manager talks every week obout  our quality ,the first half yesterday was as bad as we have been in a few years ,If that was the managers idea of setting us up  to attack ,I fail to see it .Got to think hard  about going to Peterhead ,they do need our support but it's a hard watch .

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17 hours ago, Passionate said:

Exactly why the f**k do we need a Director of Football,   Stranraer are struggling without one aren't they.........  Print is another what does he do,   Wages that could have been spent on Experienced players to get out of this league.....

 

I don't think that's fair on Miller. I think he's done a good job. Things have been much more professional since he has came in. 

Directors have their own businesses to run. Miller may only be part-time but it means there is someone who's focus is specifically there to manage things off the park. 

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34 minutes ago, Tory Boy said:

I don't think that's fair on Miller. I think he's done a good job. Things have been much more professional since he has came in. 

Directors have their own businesses to run. Miller may only be part-time but it means there is someone who's focus is specifically there to manage things off the park. 

Have their own businesses to run ,I trust they run them better than they run us on the field .Its all very well being nice and cosy of the field with various activities,but to me anyway I would like them to concentrate on the first team's performance  or has it escaped the D O F that we are a very poor side and not looking to improve in the short term .

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15 hours ago, Roger Thornhill said:

Just watched the managers post match analysis - Offensive set up with  "Charlie Reilly supporting the two strikers" - would love to know the rationale behind his decision.

 

15 hours ago, AFC1878 said:


Murray wouldn’t know an offensive set up if it hit him in the face!

Would have helped if Reilly actually showed for the ball or made any sort of off-the-ball runs and didn't sit so deep the whole time he was on the park. I know he's only young lad but ultimately he's a waste of a jersey at this point. McCann looks a good prospect and I'm happy to have him in our squad but at the end of the day, I don't give a f**k about developing Accies' youth players. All I want us to do is win games and playing Reilly ahead of our own players make us less likely to do so. 

I actually think we're better than we've shown so far this season. Not a lot better but better. But we've been set up to play in a way that doesn't accentuate anyone's strengths and that often doesn't even include our best players. That's purely down to Murray. He's with them everyday of the week so the fact he doesn't know his best team yet and we're almost out of the first quarter is a joke. 

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Yet again, we have hamstrung ourselves by poor recruitment strategy. Anyone can mis-judge a player's ability, or it might not work out for a player, but that is not just what has happened here. If you look back over the last few years the things that all fans, and Murray, were wanting was pace out wide and a much more mobile, energetic/aggressive midfield.

With Thomson's injury, we now have no wide players, none. Even with Thomson, one wide player (who is pretty average) is nowhere near enough. The way the signings were sold to us before the season was like we would have a pacey forward line with attacking wide players, the reality has turned out to be the opposite. That's why Murray is resorting to Roy and Gallagher in the wide areas, he must see what we all see which is that they can't play there, but there is no alternative except not to play a system with wide players. Plus we can't play a 4-4-2 anyway due to the central midfield we have.

That leads him to play a 3-5-2, which highlights the second issue. The midfielders we have signed do not have the attributes we need. Roberts is definitely more that type of player and I think should be starting, but on his own is not good enough to make a huge difference. 3-5-2 also leads to the over-defensive football that has been mentioned a lot.

So Murray is now stuck between a rock and a hard place. Play 4-3-3/4-4-2 because they are more attacking set-ups for us, despite not having any wide players. Or play 3-5-2, which ends up being too defensive and isolates our strikers. Yes there are small things within that that make a difference, but there are fundamental issues with both.

For those saying Miller has done a good job, how responsible is he for recruitment? As the current situation is entirely a problem of recruitment. The reason Murray is still scrambling around after 14 competitive games trying to find a system is because we signed a completely unbalanced squad. We also seem to have frittered away lots of money on guys who have barely had a look in, I know they wont be on much but it all adds up. We had months to prepare for this season and everyone knew the type of players we needed, but we are going to have yet another season battling out mid-table. I don't think we'll finish any higher than last season unless we find a couple of cracking loanees from somewhere.

 

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

Yet again, we have hamstrung ourselves by poor recruitment strategy. Anyone can mis-judge a player's ability, or it might not work out for a player, but that is not just what has happened here. If you look back over the last few years the things that all fans, and Murray, were wanting was pace out wide and a much more mobile, energetic/aggressive midfield.

With Thomson's injury, we now have no wide players, none. Even with Thomson, one wide player (who is pretty average) is nowhere near enough. The way the signings were sold to us before the season was like we would have a pacey forward line with attacking wide players, the reality has turned out to be the opposite. That's why Murray is resorting to Roy and Gallagher in the wide areas, he must see what we all see which is that they can't play there, but there is no alternative except not to play a system with wide players. Plus we can't play a 4-4-2 anyway due to the central midfield we have.

That leads him to play a 3-5-2, which highlights the second issue. The midfielders we have signed do not have the attributes we need. Roberts is definitely more that type of player and I think should be starting, but on his own is not good enough to make a huge difference. 3-5-2 also leads to the over-defensive football that has been mentioned a lot.

So Murray is now stuck between a rock and a hard place. Play 4-3-3/4-4-2 because they are more attacking set-ups for us, despite not having any wide players. Or play 3-5-2, which ends up being too defensive and isolates our strikers. Yes there are small things within that that make a difference, but there are fundamental issues with both.

For those saying Miller has done a good job, how responsible is he for recruitment? As the current situation is entirely a problem of recruitment. The reason Murray is still scrambling around after 14 competitive games trying to find a system is because we signed a completely unbalanced squad. We also seem to have frittered away lots of money on guys who have barely had a look in, I know they wont be on much but it all adds up. We had months to prepare for this season and everyone knew the type of players we needed, but we are going to have yet another season battling out mid-table. I don't think we'll finish any higher than last season unless we find a couple of cracking loanees from somewhere.

 

Great post absolutely spot on...   Happy clapping has got us knowwhere in the past and will get us knowwhere in the future...

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3 hours ago, Diamonds are Forever said:

Yet again, we have hamstrung ourselves by poor recruitment strategy. Anyone can mis-judge a player's ability, or it might not work out for a player, but that is not just what has happened here. If you look back over the last few years the things that all fans, and Murray, were wanting was pace out wide and a much more mobile, energetic/aggressive midfield.

With Thomson's injury, we now have no wide players, none. Even with Thomson, one wide player (who is pretty average) is nowhere near enough. The way the signings were sold to us before the season was like we would have a pacey forward line with attacking wide players, the reality has turned out to be the opposite. That's why Murray is resorting to Roy and Gallagher in the wide areas, he must see what we all see which is that they can't play there, but there is no alternative except not to play a system with wide players. Plus we can't play a 4-4-2 anyway due to the central midfield we have.

That leads him to play a 3-5-2, which highlights the second issue. The midfielders we have signed do not have the attributes we need. Roberts is definitely more that type of player and I think should be starting, but on his own is not good enough to make a huge difference. 3-5-2 also leads to the over-defensive football that has been mentioned a lot.

So Murray is now stuck between a rock and a hard place. Play 4-3-3/4-4-2 because they are more attacking set-ups for us, despite not having any wide players. Or play 3-5-2, which ends up being too defensive and isolates our strikers. Yes there are small things within that that make a difference, but there are fundamental issues with both.

For those saying Miller has done a good job, how responsible is he for recruitment? As the current situation is entirely a problem of recruitment. The reason Murray is still scrambling around after 14 competitive games trying to find a system is because we signed a completely unbalanced squad. We also seem to have frittered away lots of money on guys who have barely had a look in, I know they wont be on much but it all adds up. We had months to prepare for this season and everyone knew the type of players we needed, but we are going to have yet another season battling out mid-table. I don't think we'll finish any higher than last season unless we find a couple of cracking loanees from somewhere.

 

Aye, spot on ,when your goal difference is a minus , you can neither score or defend , going to be a long season ,

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I did wonder about his idea that Reilly should support the two strikers . That surely meant that Wedderburn was the only midfielder and he was performing his usual "in front of CBs" role in that first half so no one matched up to the resolute Ryan Thomson. If he wanted the wide guys to attack a la Gallagher and Thomson  then let them do it but I can't recollect Thomson doing that much in the first half.   Our goals came from initial good crosses into the box by Eckersley who was more up the park in the second half. He over thinks the football needed in L1-just pass the ball.

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The players we sign seem to have been playing well for their club but in the position they play well at ,Gallagher doesn't know where he is going next ,obvious to all apart from manager he will never perform to his best out wide ,what has McCann done to deserve being left on bench ,signings for the future what a load of crap ,like other prospects we had they are all away to pastures new .

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On 30/09/2019 at 16:13, Jack Reed said:

The players we sign seem to have been playing well for their club but in the position they play well at ,Gallagher doesn't know where he is going next ,obvious to all apart from manager he will never perform to his best out wide ,what has McCann done to deserve being left on bench ,signings for the future what a load of crap ,like other prospects we had they are all away to pastures new .

The Stranraer player sent of on Saturday has had his red card overturned by SFA after slow motion camera review showed it was not a red card. Where do these refs come from.

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1 hour ago, thomas 62 said:

The Stranraer player sent of on Saturday has had his red card overturned by SFA after slow motion camera review showed it was not a red card. Where do these refs come from.

Think most of us thought it was a bit harsh,went against us in the past ,decisions even out over season .

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The Stranraer player sent of on Saturday has had his red card overturned by SFA after slow motion camera review showed it was not a red card. Where do these refs come from.
Having not been at the game but seen the highlights, I think justice was done with that being overturned, absolutely no need for a red, a yellow MIGHT have sufficed however a foul to Airdrie and move on would probably have been the right call.
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On 02/10/2019 at 15:01, ++Ammo - Airdrie++ said:
On 02/10/2019 at 11:06, thomas 62 said:
The Stranraer player sent of on Saturday has had his red card overturned by SFA after slow motion camera review showed it was not a red card. Where do these refs come from.

Having not been at the game but seen the highlights, I think justice was done with that being overturned, absolutely no need for a red, a yellow MIGHT have sufficed however a foul to Airdrie and move on would probably have been the right call.

Was it reduced to a Yellow?  The rescinding of Red is correct . As to where these Refs come from we used to have their home town etc and I used to go mental over Dallas of Bonkle! They do appear to emerge from the usual suspects of former Referee elites so that explains how they get things wrong. Mind you they are often more right about the continuous changes in rules than the average fan

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Was it reduced to a Yellow?  The rescinding of Red is correct . As to where these Refs come from we used to have their home town etc and I used to go mental over Dallas of Bonkle! They do appear to emerge from the usual suspects of former Referee elites so that explains how they get things wrong. Mind you they are often more right about the continuous changes in rules than the average fan


There are better referees out there, but because they’re mechanics, refuse collectors and call centre employees and not lawyers, solicitors or teachers they’ve no chance of promotion as the SFA want ‘professionals’ who are unlikely to show bias or be swayed by their peers.
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