Airdrieonians vs Alloa

[Tory Boy]

Huge couple of games coming up for the Diamonds starting with Alloa. Montrose aside our performances have been decent in the league, however our points total makes for painful viewing.

Alloa will be buzzing after their result and performance against Falkirk and I guess will be hoping kickstarts a title push.

Apparently a few Airdrie players are struggling with the after effects/fatigue of Covid and with Sam Wardrop taking a break from football it’s anyones guess what our defence will look like.

Watson looked decent at full back at the weekend and McCabe has done really well filling in at centre half. However I feel we lose something in midfield when McCabe is playing at the back. I know after a good defensive performance at the weekend it’s a risk messing about with them but I’d like to see McCabe back in midfield, Watson at centre half and then take your pick from McDonald, S McGill, Ritchie or Walker at full back.

I think up front Gallagher needs benched. He’s had a really poor start to the season. He's missed a lot of big chances in tight games and with margins so fine those misses have really cost us.

 

[laughing gravie]

Good post covering the Diamond's current team situation.

As for Alloa, hard to say if we were as good as it looked or Falkirk were that bad. At the end of the day, it was 11 v 11, and we strolled it this time instead of being dragged to the opposition's level.

Troutten and Boyd were substituted early doors on Saturday, time will tell if they're up for tonight, but can't see much difference from Saturday's starting 11.

Onwards and upwards

[Redwedge77]

Another hard game for Alloa, but looking forward to tonight's game after Saturdays win over  Falkirk the team should have built some confidence along with 2 clean sheets in a row . Hopefully no changes to back four as they looked solid on Saturday with Senna in middle of park. The main selection headache for the manager is  if Trouten and Boyd are not fit after coming off early on Saturday with injuries also Hutton limping for last 20 minutes on Saturday down to bare bones of a squad. 

I think Airdrie are in a bit of false position at present and will be looking to build as well from Saturdays game.  

 

 

[laughing gravie]

A win by 2 clear goals tonight ( not a big ask) would see Falkirk looking up our @rse

[++Ammo - Airdrie++]

I'll stick by what I've been saying since 6 months after he joined...... Callum Gallagher is the man to bring on 15 mins from time to grab a poachers goal, IMO that's where he's most effective.  I really really like him and hes scored some important goals (Falkirk away for example) and some absolute crackers(Clyde & Bohemians at home). I think when everyone is fit and if we go 2 up front it may well be Salim and McGill who lead, but IMO CGal still has a big part to play, hopefully!

The game tonight, no idea how it will pan out, could be a 2-0 either way and anything in between! Our lack of scoring and Alloas defence tightening up could point to a single goal either way.  Hopefully its a decent game and our recent performances can continue and may be rewarded with 3 points!

[Kevchenko]

Where’s the best place for parking near the ground?

[++Ammo - Airdrie++]

6 minutes ago, Kevchenko said:

Where’s the best place for parking near the ground?

Across the road from the main stand in Craigneuk Avenue, there's been a "car park" (gravel) there for a while,  Scottish water are doing a lot of work at the parks, and its free to park there. Or I think theres the standard £2 to park in the away end.

[Vegetableman]

No idea how this will end 

aught to be a tight game 

like BFTD said Airdrie are clearly in a false position 

and 3 league games ago i would have them for the win easily but ! 

things are looking up 

Get behind the team if you consider yourself a real fan otherwise please shoosh !

[GroundHoppingBear]

Going to this game tonight. Looking forward to it as Airdrie really need to kickstart their season.

Is the car park outside the stadium open for all fans or is it just pass holders?

[WeAllDreamOfATeamOfAndyRyans]

Going to this game tonight. Looking forward to it as Airdrie really need to kickstart their season.

Is the car park outside the stadium open for all fans or is it just pass holders?

All fans[emoji1360]

[GroundhopScot]

Going to head along to this tonight.

My last 3 games (2 in Ayrshire & 1 in Dundee) have served up 7 red cards so get your money on that!

My admittedly limited knowledge of League One tells me that both teams are better than their league position shows (I know it's still early days) so I'm looking forward to a battle. 




 

[Dink]

45 minutes of passing the ball in front of Airdrie, who have looked very comfortable so far. Their goal comes from an unchallenged header.

Hopefully will improve a bit on the second half, but we've been contained very easily so far.

[Waspie]

That was pretty poor stuff from us tonight. Loads of the ball in the first half but did very little with it. Didn't feel Airdrie offered any significant threat either but Mendy makes basic defensive errors in every game and he was poorly positioned for the cross which led to the goal. Two significantly better centre backs sitting on the bench.

Airdrie then scored a fine goal early second half, but we did improve after the changes and had good chances to equalise after getting back into it. While I was happy to then see Andy Graham coming on, it did seem rather strange to change the shape when we were enjoying our best spell of the match. We didn't really offer the same threat thereafter and Airdrie saw out the final few minutes pretty comfortably. 

Overall based on possession and chances we probably should have got something, but it was all a bit disjointed and as such I've no complaints. Once again left feeling there is a really good team in there if they were deployed properly, but currently a good bit less than the sum of their parts. 

Edited September 14, 2021 by Waspie

[Tory Boy]

11 hours ago, Tory Boy said:

 

I think up front Gallagher needs benched. He’s had a really poor start to the season. He's missed a lot of big chances in tight games and with margins so fine those misses have really cost us.

 

Happy to eat my words.

[2lgm]

I know it may be forced due to availability of players, injury, covid etc but playing 4-1-4-1 at home is murder. Gal can’t trap cement up front and nothing really sticks to him so it’s hard going. Pleased with the win tho and with bodies hopefully returning this could be the start of a wee run. 

[Vegetableman]

Well deserved win for Airdrie 

we were toothless tonight

boyd is so hot and cold but nice goal from connor as a positive 

Our away form is dross for some reason 

But Airdrie has us sussed all night 

not totally outplayed though which is something i suppose .

 

What a strange sub Scougall for andy G i guess i know what ferguson was thinking 

but still bizarre .

Andy looked rusty too .

 

 

Edited September 14, 2021 by Vegetableman

[Chapelhall chap]

Pleased to get three points and it looked quite comfortable at 2-0. It was a great cross for Gal to score by foot rather than the head-maybe give him a break in thinking that it was asking to be headed in first time. He was in the place to do it and it goes someway to forgetting the other weaknesses: mind you it was a hard shift having to battle against those 2 giants ( except at the cross). The 2nd goal was a cracker and i wondered when Frizzell was going to produce that wonder shot. Both goals did come from good play. It was a pity we were so clumsy dealing with Sammon in that early period when he came on. It was a good turn and shot from him and there was an element of hanging on but I thought overall we deserved to win. We were again just hard working out wide/really good back four, and while Easton looked so much better in the attacking third, he was less involved in the 2nd half--he also is a talented player if inclined to want to be the sole threat. Alloa were much nicer on the eye but passing and moving well did not produce much actual threat. Going to 3-4-3 got them more of the ball as we sat back , so it was a wee sweat.  On to East Fife who have a poor away form, so who knows what we will do. Out of the bottom 2! 

[KierenAAFC]

Too passive tonight. Plenty of the ball but no real penetration or intent. Just all a bit meh. 
 

Wasn’t really surprised, nor disappointed, with the starting 11 on paper but when Henderson started on the wing, that baffled me. Feel he’s wasted there. For me, it didn’t work up top. Boyd, Henderson, Cawley and Scougall all great players but far too similar. We looked so much better with something different in Sammon up top. Took his goal well too. Stick on to start on Saturday.

 

Thought Mark Durnan was again very commanding. His centre back partner on the other hand in Mendy, not quite. Think I said on Twitter to start Graham next game but is Howie is fit, I wouldn’t mind seeing that partnership. 
 

Really disappointing after Saturday. Midfield looked a shadow of what they were on Sat and Taggs wasn’t his usual self on the right. Another away game without a win is a worry. A tricky place to go on Saturday to rectify that too.

[Redwedge77]

56 minutes ago, Waspie said:

That was pretty poor stuff from us tonight. Loads of the ball in the first half but did very little with it. Didn't feel Airdrie offered any significant threat either but Mendy makes basic defensive errors in every game and he was poorly positioned for the cross which led to the goal. Two significantly better centre backs sitting on the bench.

Airdrie then scored a fine goal early second half, but we did improve after the changes and had good chances to equalise after getting back into it. While I was happy to then see Andy Graham coming on, it did seem rather strange to change the shape when we were enjoying our best spell of the match. We didn't really offer the same threat thereafter and Airdrie saw out the final few minutes pretty comfortably. 

Overall based on possession and chances we probably should have got something, but it was all a bit disjointed and as such I've no complaints. Once again left feeling there is a really good team in there if they were deployed properly, but currently a good bit less than the sum of their parts. 

Fairly good Analysis of the game , i think to be fair to Airdrie they were very well organised and worked hard pressing and stopping us playing the ball through the them. Felt once Alloa scored we would push on and get the equaliser but we again fizzled out  

[Kevchenko]

1 hour ago, Waspie said:

That was pretty poor stuff from us tonight. Loads of the ball in the first half but did very little with it. Didn't feel Airdrie offered any significant threat either but Mendy makes basic defensive errors in every game and he was poorly positioned for the cross which led to the goal. Two significantly better centre backs sitting on the bench.

Airdrie then scored a fine goal early second half, but we did improve after the changes and had good chances to equalise after getting back into it. While I was happy to then see Andy Graham coming on, it did seem rather strange to change the shape when we were enjoying our best spell of the match. We didn't really offer the same threat thereafter and Airdrie saw out the final few minutes pretty comfortably. 

Overall based on possession and chances we probably should have got something, but it was all a bit disjointed and as such I've no complaints. Once again left feeling there is a really good team in there if they were deployed properly, but currently a good bit less than the sum of their parts. 

No complaints with that result, other than that spell after Sammon came on we were far too passive. 
 

First half was a painful watch to be honest, don’t think Airdrie will have a more comfortable 45 mins defensively than that all season. Everything was far too laboured when we needed to be way more direct - we seemed to take an extra touch and make an extra pass all half and that allowed Airdrie to simply shift left and right and not really have to do anything else. 
 

Sammon looked more up for it tonight in the same we he did when he came on on Saturday so that’s at least one positive and he took his goal really well. King continues to be anonymous in midfield and Church is a waste of a jersey.
 

BF took credit (deservedly) for how he set us up on Saturday but he got things wrong tonight when he changed the shape - we needed Scougs playing off of Sammon to pick up the knock downs. That change in shape killed the momentum we had at that point. 
 

The point made about the starting front 4 all being too similar is spot on. I would be looking to give O’Donnell a run of starts to change it up a bit as he is capabie of taking the ball in under pressure and beating a man to open things up for others.