The Official Airdrieonians Thread - 2019/20 and beyond

[Kelheart]

6 minutes ago, Aufc said:

Thats £40k potentially thrown away before you even consider the possibility of getting a decent draw if you beat forfar. Shambles

Sure someone said Stranraer were pish too , City not that far in front of them so
 

Infact just checked league n city below Stranraer

Edited January 10, 2021 by Kelheart

[Chapelhall chap]

No desire to add anything to all the posts, a bit like the desire absent today from the KO.  Even the commentary team packed it in right away on the final whistle and i don't blame them . Sky TV appears to report that McKay got a Red Card in FT/BBC say yellow so what kind of stramash happened? At least he was visible in the stats if this is true, which is more than he was during the game. like so many of the rest. 

[Aufc]

Sure someone said Stranraer were pish too , City not that far in front of them so [emoji848]
 
Infact just checked league n city below Stranraer [emoji23][emoji23]

Must have touched a nerve. Stick to the lowland league mate

[Glenmavis Diamond]

1 hour ago, Passionate said:

I am surprised you haven't realized this before,Murray is just a patsy,  he is working under a dictatorship with no control over signings, has no backroom team of his own and his hands are tied. That said we should still be beating Edinburgh although to be fair they have outplayed us twice away from home so it isn't a fluke.....

Then he's a bigger fucking idiot than I thought. If he's willing to work that way he clearly has no values or respect for himself. 

[Eric the half a b]

43 minutes ago, Glenmavis Diamond said:

Then he's a bigger fucking idiot than I thought. If he's willing to work that way he clearly has no values or respect for himself. 

Do you think the sit down and analyse games with the players.... or do the just watch re-runs of the Roadrunner tries to chase Bugs Bunnies carrots ... and fails as for the life of me I do not get how the Manager or Miller think after numerous home defeats these tactics.. what ever they are work

Edited January 10, 2021 by Eric the half a b

[She who dares gins]

Listening to his post-match interview he does comment a lot on the relative youth of the team contributing to the inconsistently of performances and I do have a little bit of sympathy for that position. However, I completely understand why people are so utterly fed-up. We knew what Edinburgh City would offer up and they did it very well today, but we had no answer and that to me is down the manager and the set-up. If this isn’t going to damage us longer term in the league, we need to get a couple of more experienced heads into the middle of the park to help them.    The football keeps me going through this lockdown, as bad as it is at times. 

[Jack Reed]

28 minutes ago, She who dares gins said:

Listening to his post-match interview he does comment a lot on the relative youth of the team contributing to the inconsistently of performances and I do have a little bit of sympathy for that position. However, I completely understand why people are so utterly fed-up. We knew what Edinburgh City would offer up and they did it very well today, but we had no answer and that to me is down the manager and the set-up. If this isn’t going to damage us longer term in the league, we need to get a couple of more experienced heads into the middle of the park to help them.    The football keeps me going through this lockdown, as bad as it is at times. 

Aye who puts the youth in the team, it's the youth Murray signed, not near good enough, maybe in a few years under a decent manger not Murray, 

[O'Kelly Isley III]

Aye, and that stuff was piss, just like Airdrie

It was still better than Burns Heavy by Drybroughs [emoji6]

[Diamond72]

just listened to Murray's post match comments about the fact we are a 'young side' and got even more angry about today. Edinburgh City looked the better side in both games this season and today were missing Henderson, their main striker. They pretty much strolled the game and did enough to get a result, not much more.

We on the other hand never threatened and I think we all know why. From Murray's first month with us it was evident that he sets his sides up to 'counter-punch', to not lose. We have rarely seen a peformance from us where were go and commit from the outset to attack the other side. We wait until we are behind to do that and in a lot of cases it is too late. We faced a League two side who are mid table today and never tested their keeper. Such is our expectations these days that a few years ago that performance would have seen considerable pressure on the manager.

Young Thomas Robert's agent and mentors must be wondering  seriously about the lack of opportunities for their boy to show his abilities. How any young player can flourish under that setup is beyond me.

 

[Eric the half a b]

30 minutes ago, Diamond72 said:

just listened to Murray's post match comments about the fact we are a 'young side' and got even more angry about today. Edinburgh City looked the better side in both games this season and today were missing Henderson, their main striker. They pretty much strolled the game and did enough to get a result, not much more.

We on the other hand never threatened and I think we all know why. From Murray's first month with us it was evident that he sets his sides up to 'counter-punch', to not lose. We have rarely seen a peformance from us where were go and commit from the outset to attack the other side. We wait until we are behind to do that and in a lot of cases it is too late. We faced a League two side who are mid table today and never tested their keeper. Such is our expectations these days that a few years ago that performance would have seen considerable pressure on the manager.

Young Thomas Robert's agent and mentors must be wondering  seriously about the lack of opportunities for their boy to show his abilities. How any young player can flourish under that setup is beyond me.

 

Couldn't agree more he is now 2 and a half years in and persists with these ridiculous tactics which not only dont work but have no entertainment value whatsoever.

We can talk about the quality but look at the teams who continually beat us at home they are not top teams full of superstars.

Made a joke about analysing games our set up encourages teams to play as we are so defensively set up we hand the midfield to the opposition and we are left with long punts up the park.

Perhaps I am missing something as I am struggling to see why the club would expect anyone to pay to watch this team at home.

 

[Jack Reed]

12 hours ago, Eric the half a b said:

Couldn't agree more he is now 2 and a half years in and persists with these ridiculous tactics which not only dont work but have no entertainment value whatsoever.

We can talk about the quality but look at the teams who continually beat us at home they are not top teams full of superstars.

Made a joke about analysing games our set up encourages teams to play as we are so defensively set up we hand the midfield to the opposition and we are left with long punts up the park.

Perhaps I am missing something as I am struggling to see why the club would expect anyone to pay to watch this team at home.

 

Start clear out, Murray, Millar, Crighton  first, 

[Diamond Oracle]

Another predictably disgraceful performance against lesser opposition. If Murray was going to be sacked he would have been weeks ago, so buckle up ladies and gentlemen for the rest of the season.

I understand the need to give some of the fringe players game time, but surely not at the expense of any semblance of formation? I couldn’t figure out who was playing CM (apart from Kerr) or indeed what formation we were playing at all.

I’m fully expecting another frustrating end to the season in 4th/ 5th place.

[AndyDD]

Well, seems I picked a no bad one to inadvertently miss. In saying that I did catch the last 20 mins or so. 

Despite the cries of 'tinkering!', only one change from the last starting XI, the team who scored 4 goals and should have scored a few more, which underlines just how below par that performance yesterday seems to have been. 

In the previous meeting, Airdrie had 17 shots at goal, 7 on target and missed several glorious chances. That sort of defeat I wasn't too bothered about as on another day Robert puts two or three of his bucket load of chances in, instead of several metres over the bar or wide. He went on to prove he can hit the back of the net, so I expected a similar showing today but with more cutting edge now that we have been up and running and players like him have found more of a solid footing. 

Looks like instead they were utterly abject. I know it will have been a disruption, not getting a game since Boxing day and losing the rhythm that had been established in the wins over Falkirk and Clyde, but still, from what little I did see and everything I've heard/read, this was a  drab, listless performance from the side that, bar one player (Stokes for Richie) was the same as that which slapped Clyde about last time out. 

Frustration, thy name is Airdrie. 

 

Edited January 11, 2021 by AndyDD

[AndyDD]

https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/news/scottish-fa-board-confirms-three-week-suspension-of-professional-football-beneath-spfl-championship/?rid=13929

Well. f**k. 

[Mr November]

I was halfway through typing out a big reply moaning about our midfield but at least having games on gives me something to moan about! I suspect this may go on well into February unfortunately, making finishing the season on time a bit of an issue. What a way to bow out for a weeks, a drab 1-0 Scottish Cup defeat to a side in the league below.

20 hours ago, Diamonds are Forever said:

Is it really that hard to just play players in their actual position? McKay was at right back, he can fill in there but that's not his natural position. McDonald at left back, same as McKay. Kerr in midfield, said it before but I'm not having him as a midfielder, he's a defender. Stokes and Carrick both appeared to be playing a central midfield role today, that clearly isn't Carrick's position and from what we were told that isn't Stokes position either. That's half the outfield, it's no wonder we have no structure. The midfield today was a joke, it was as if we didn't have one, but to be fair to the midfielders, none of them are actually midfielders. The teams we lose against may not be world beaters, but the thing they all have in common is a clear structure, players who clearly know their position and the jobs of the players around them. We hardly ever look like that.

If you look at our best form last season and under Murray as a whole, the team was set up in quite a simple way. A decent keeper in Hutton, two solid centre backs for this level in Crighton and Fordyce, two young full backs who'll get up and down the park in MacDonald and McCann, two solid ball-winners in McKay and Millar with McKay breaking forward sometimes, a hard-working three of Smith, Roberts and Carrick and then Gallagher leading the line. Nothing fancy or complicated, just playing players in their best positions and having an organised team who are solid, hard-working and quick going forward. Football at this level can be quite a simple game and playing five players out of position isn't required when we don't have anyone out injured. 

I think it's quite clear that midfield is still our biggest issue, as it has been for a few seasons now. To be honest, the last decent midfield I can remember us having was the fairly narrow midfield of Docherty, Fitzpatrick, Fraser and Gilfillan in Gary Bollan's last full season. I quite liked the look of Kerr and Sabatini as a midfield two in pre-season but it's fair to say that they haven't really worked out in competitive games. Kerr's had a few decent games but on the whole playing him in midfield hasn't really worked. Sabatini's had a very mixed season so far, a few excellent games where he's looked remarkably composed for a player at this level but he's been completely anonymous in plenty of other games. I think that's at least partly due to how we play, Sabatini often seems to drop deep to collect the ball and tries to play through teams which doesn't really fit in with the rest of our midfield. Carrick's done well as the central attacking midfielder but I don't think he works playing deeper as he seemed to on Saturday, while I'm not convinced about Stokes at all let alone in a deeper role he seems unsuited to. He's far from a fans favourite but for me Paul McKay is by far our best central midfielder and as you allude to, playing MacDonald and McKay in their best positions and bringing McCann back in at left back seems an obvious solution. 

[Mybitchunderprotest]

Thomas Robert. ......Time to cash out. [emoji355] [emoji383]

No more opportunity for him to be scouted. Any scout who was watching him for the first time yesterday will have wondered what the f**k the fuss is all about. Any other clubs who have had him watched previously will now be thinking twice and I imagine the biggest factor will be a fear of possibly losing out if he actually turns out to be decent.

[FLDiamond]

40 minutes ago, Mybitchunderprotest said:

23 hours ago, Passionate said:

Thomas Robert. ......Time to cash out.

No more opportunity for him to be scouted. Any scout who was watching him for the first time yesterday will have wondered what the f**k the fuss is all about. Any other clubs who have had him watched previously will now be thinking twice and I imagine the biggest factor will be a fear of possibly losing out if he actually turns out to be decent.

Yes, it will be interesting to see how this transpires over the next few weeks.   You have to think that there won’t be enough that scouts have seen to justify a bid. And yes, Saturdays performance wasn’t convincing from him so unlikely to help with a move.   But with the risk of several weeks without football and higher leagues operating, surely his agents will want to see him move along ASAP. This news will have come at the worst possible time for them.   

[Jack Reed]

3 hours ago, Mybitchunderprotest said:

On 10/01/2021 at 14:53, Passionate said:

Thomas Robert. ......Time to cash out.

No more opportunity for him to be scouted. Any scout who was watching him for the first time yesterday will have wondered what the f**k the fuss is all about. Any other clubs who have had him watched previously will now be thinking twice and I imagine the biggest factor will be a fear of possibly losing out if he actually turns out to be decent.

Would rather have. Millar and Roberts in our midfield , now we have a few weeks get a decent manager in, good few new players, and we are fixed, 

[Eric the half a b]

15 minutes ago, Jack Reed said:

Would rather have. Millar and Roberts in our midfield , now we have a few weeks get a decent manager in, good few new players, and we are fixed, 

On a slightly different note in my working life I fully support the shutdown as players and staff have to protect their families to what I find extremely irritating particularly with some team from Glasgow travelling abroad is the arrogance to keep the top two leagues to continue playing. 

Hopefully the shutdown will allow the management team to get the subutio cloth out and work on a system that will see us charge forward to the title.

 

[G_H]

Was just looking at the squad list and, without naming names, as the list would be too long, I would happily punt about 12-14 players + manager at the moment if I could, and try to get something better.