Ayr vs Raith Rovers

[BukyOHare]

1 hour ago, Jilted John said:

Calm down pal. We’ve still got Davo to come back.....

Striking fear into the hearts of every Championship opponent.

[BukyOHare]

7 hours ago, eez-eh said:

I must have higher standards than most on here - I thought that was utter pish.

Our front line has plenty of ability and so is liable to create chances but the midfield was really disappointing. Murdoch probably needs more time after a year out, but I don’t think that middle 3 are complimenting each other much at all.

For me that's very harsh mate but you're entitled to your opinion of course.

We've still not got our first choice eleven out so there will be elements that aren't yet up to speed and fully firing. Defensively looking a lot better than we have been and while I agree there is still better to come as a collective group, as games go I thought last nights was pretty entertaining for a goal less draw.

Edited December 12, 2020 by BukyOHare

[edinburghhonestman]

I thought Muirhead was pretty good there tonight, had a few charging runs into the box and probably should have scored one instead of looking for the pass. Didn't look weak at all.

I don't think Muirhead was bad either, and I think he's earned his return to the team. He can go charging forward at times, but my point is that he doesn't naturally get beyond McCowan to provide another option and added width. Houston can't do it as well on his wrong foot from left back. That leaves us too narrow, made worse by McCowan looking to go inside too often.

If we can fix that Anderson and Moffat will get more space to operate in.

[Dunning1874]

10 hours ago, D'Jaffo said:

The same Zanatta who was probably our best player when he came off the bench besides one lapse in concentration on the halfway line.

He did enough to get a starting spot against Arbroath.

He was also moving like he was towing a caravan and his legs had gone at that point, despite only having been on for 35 minutes. Is he fit enough to start games?

[Beastie Russell]

To go away from home and control the majority of the game was pleasing.

We restricted Ayr to break always and set pieces, so we’ve got to be happy with that.

[Ro Sham Bo]

8 hours ago, rb123! said:

Tbf it was two good saves from MacDonald, especially the first one. Have to remember at the stage of his career it should be link up play and assists he should be probably having more than goals. Dissapointing in a way though that likes of Cameron and Anderson aren't getting on the scoresheet, Anderson has been the most disappointing for me so far, needs to start adding goals and chances to his game.

But Moffat is a goal machine according to the commentators. How can the above be true!? 

[baillieinleeds]

I thought as a collective we were brilliant, going down to Somerset and getting a good hard fought draw was great. The short passes were sublime. Since Ayr came back up they’ve been excellent. Although we hardly had any clear cut chances,  we are hard to beat too. Just need to get the shooting boots back on. Musonda totally controlled that defence. As a unit we are getting stronger. 

Edited December 12, 2020 by baillieinleeds

[Thereisalight..]

I couldn’t watch the game live but just caught up with it. For a 0-0 I thought it was decent enough. Felt within the first 20 mins that the game had 0-0 written all over it. Attackingly we’ve been poor this season. The days of Moff being on fire are long gone and it’s  all about his link up play. Anderson cuts a frustrated figure every game I’ve seen. McCowan seems to have regressed this season. Cameron we’ve not seen enough of to properly judge. Zanatta, Miller, Chalmers all disappointments so far. On paper we have a good side but it’s just not clicked so far. As for Raith I think it’s safe to say they also won’t be in the top 2 by the season end

[D'Jaffo]

He was also moving like he was towing a caravan and his legs had gone at that point, despite only having been on for 35 minutes. Is he fit enough to start games?

I thought that as well. Kinda reminded me of Gary Harkins in that he had no pace whatsoever but still glided past players like they weren’t there.

It’s possible he hasn’t been fit and that’s why we haven’t seen much of him.

[UpInTheAyr]

I think the pitch had a lot to do with that. Made everything look like slow motion.

[itzdrk]

3 hours ago, Dunning1874 said:

He was also moving like he was towing a caravan and his legs had gone at that point, despite only having been on for 35 minutes. Is he fit enough to start games?

IMO he was pretending to have tweaked something so he didn't have to track back until he realised he was the furthest back on that side.  He's (IMO) a bit of an excuse maker rather than someone who just goes and does it. 

He was quite good when he came on, bar is low on his appearances to date so that's his second best showing. 

[CALDERON]

Aye the pitch was awful. I'd take an artifical surface every day of the week. 

[No_Problemo]

42 minutes ago, Thereisalight.. said:

I couldn’t watch the game live but just caught up with it. For a 0-0 I thought it was decent enough. Felt within the first 20 mins that the game had 0-0 written all over it. Attackingly we’ve been poor this season. The days of Moff being on fire are long gone and it’s  all about his link up play. Anderson cuts a frustrated figure every game I’ve seen. McCowan seems to have regressed this season. Cameron we’ve not seen enough of to properly judge. Zanatta, Miller, Chalmers all disappointments so far. On paper we have a good side but it’s just not clicked so far. As for Raith I think it’s safe to say they also won’t be in the top 2 by the season end

What? Other than last night McCowan has been largely excellent. 

[Specky Ginger]

15 minutes ago, CALDERON said:

Aye the pitch was awful. I'd take an artifical surface every day of the week. 

It didn't look great, yet I always remember Somerset having one of the better playing surfaces over the years. 

[D'Jaffo]

What? Other than last night McCowan has been largely excellent. 

Also think for the most part Chalmers has been pretty good although I think he’d benefit from playing in a deeper role. He seems to be the most forward thinking midfielder we have when Smith doesn’t play but he doesn’t have enough pace for that role.

[UpInTheAyr]

It didn't look great, yet I always remember Somerset having one of the better playing surfaces over the years. 

Yip, it always used to drain pretty well. Think it's just done tbh.

[Trogdor]

33 minutes ago, No_Problemo said:

What? Other than last night McCowan has been largely excellent. 

Yeah most goals and assists in the team and he's regressed. 

[McGuigan1978]

At full time last night, I kind of felt like I did after the first half of our match up at Inverness.

We’d done a lot of things right, a few things a lot better than Ayr, but by the same token, we could have ended up three down, which is odd.

I’m starting to wonder if our system is a little one dimensional against the better teams in this league.

Ethan Ross, Daniel Armstrong and Dylan Tait are all very good to watch on their day, technically astute players who can all trouble an opponent, but I’m not sure any of them are necessarily goal scorers, or even entirely sure how best to support Manny Duku.

He can end up looking a wee bit isolated at times if those players aren’t getting in around him, and they weren’t doing it enough last night.

Not a disaster if we’ve a good plan B, but when Lokotsch came on, I just presumed the best case scenario was going to be 0-0.

I’ve not seen enough of him to know if he’s definitely a dumpling, it might be that we’re just not using him correctly, but we’ve generally become worse every time he’s come off the bench so far.

Haven’t been downhearted too much with the last couple of draws, but considering what the fixture list looks like in January, we probably need to be taking six points from the next two fixtures if we’re going to be genuine challengers for a playoff place.

[Paco]

Our overall play was mostly very good last night but - and it’s ridiculous to say given we’re the top scorers in the league for now - I’m beginning to get a little worried about our goal threat. It might just be because we’ve played three good teams (ICT away, Pars home, Ayr away) but we didn’t really create any proper chances from open play across the three matches. The system still works but I really do think it’d be optimal to have someone there to bring in for Armstrong/Ross/Tait, give them a bit of a kick. Easy to pick on Armstrong as his delivery was absolutely dreadful last night, and that free kick in the final minute was criminal, but to defend him he put in a power of work and his movement and involvement was excellent. Tait was a bit anonymous and Ross drifted in and out. If we had someone able to come on and replace one or two of them in the second half I reckon we’d have won in the end.

Ayr weren’t entirely impressive but defended very well and still created chances which can only be good traits. Slightly surprised to see us away to a top-half club and watching them ultimately sit in and try to hit us on the counter, but that’s a huge testament to how well we’ve done so far. The pitch was poor - as it was at Inverness - and I don’t think it helped either side. Was pretty gutted when we put down an artificial surface but I think I’m a convert now. Good grass pitches still seem uncommon in the Championship.

I think if we’re in the mix for the top 4, Hearts/Pars/ICT will just be too far ahead. At this stage it looks to me like it might be a fight between us, Ayr and Dundee for 4th. We’ve drawn away to both so far, which can only be encouraging. Still too early to know for sure with us and anything above 9th is ultimately fine, but that’d be my aim at this stage.

[AYRSHIRE_ANGUS]

I think your artificial pitch is the best I've seen by far in Scotland and would be quite happy for that surface to be laid at Somerset. Admittedly I'm basing that only on TV highlights of your games so far but you wouldn't know the surface was artificial without being told.