The Queen of the South thread

[Mybitchunderprotest]

52 minutes ago, FFC 1876 said:

Good shot stopper, doesn't comand his area very well is the review I believe Airdrie fans have given.

Exactly this. Causes confusion with centre halfs due to his will he/won't he attitude to dealing with crosses. Excellent stopper though and doesn't generally cause any worry with ball at his feet, sometimes dilly dallies a bit.

[dextermorgan]

You will find that Max Currie will be a good signing for you if you have real competition for the jersey. I personally thought that Max did not have the mental toughness required for 'big' games and did not show any signs of improving on this. The defence, like ours were this season, will be frustrated at times by his reluctance to leave the six yard box to claim simple balls. He is a great shot stopper and will be an excellent addition to the squad but I for one am not too unhappy to see him move on.

[Rjc-1988]

I think when you look at the strength of opposition in League 1 for the coming season I had hoped to see a real statement of intent from us. Early days in terms of signings but I am not getting the feeling that “we are really going for it”. The Quitongo signing looks particularly uninspiring   - a player who “does the rounds” but never seems to really deliver. At the moment squad has the look of a mid table League 1 side. There is no doubt that we need to find some real star quality especially in the forward areas if we are to mount any sort of challenge at the top. Have to hope that Willie himself still intends to play as we will desperately need his ability and experience.

 

[Gall09]

I really hope Morrison does well for yous, but as has been said his injury record is dreadful. And of course it isn’t his fault, but when you see him make yet another “comeback” only to watch him limp off 5 minutes later, it is very frustrating. Must be even worse for him of course.

 

He is a decent defender, but you always feel he has a mistake in him as he has a tendency to switch off. 

[19QOS19]

I think when you look at the strength of opposition in League 1 for the coming season I had hoped to see a real statement of intent from us. Early days in terms of signings but I am not getting the feeling that “we are really going for it”. The Quitongo signing looks particularly uninspiring   - a player who “does the rounds” but never seems to really deliver. At the moment squad has the look of a mid table League 1 side. There is no doubt that we need to find some real star quality especially in the forward areas if we are to mount any sort of challenge at the top. Have to hope that Willie himself still intends to play as we will desperately need his ability and experience.
 

I'm quite happy with the way things are going so far. For one, it's great to see so many players signed up so early. We could literally field a team right now. Have we been in this position in the last 5 or so years? We've seen how leaving it to the last minute isn't ideal so it can only be a positive that these guys have longer to gel this time.

As for the quality of the squad I don't think it's too bad just now. In all honesty I would be thinking we are shaping up ok for survival if we were in the Championship so I'm still confident we can give it a go in League 1. There's only one player that I'd be thinking "that's a League 1 signing IMO" so I can't really grumble we've signed him. I don't think we'll do any better than Reilly up front and the midfield has a lot of experience at Championship level so hopefully they can find their feet quickly down here.

The loan market may well be where we get the biggest additions to our squad. But one of Fitzpatrick or Connolly and I'll be pretty happy with our attacking options.

[Diamonds are Forever]

Currie is an adequate League 1 goalie, but I wouldn't say any more than that. I never rated him quite as highly as most Airdrie fans did and I think a more solid goalie would have been the difference in us winning the league this year.

He's not as good a shot stopper as is often made out, I thought he let in goals that a good shot stopper should be saving (see the goals in the play-off final for example). One of those keepers who loves the safety of his goal line and rarely comes for anything so you'll need 2 commanding centre backs. I was pleased he moved on, albeit I've no idea who we've got to replace him.

In the games Quitongo played before the incident he was pretty poor. He's probably got the worst positional sense I"ve seen in a full-back, constantly on the wrong side of people and has to rely on his speed to get back. He gets forward a lot due to his pace and energy but doesn't have the ability to do a lot when there. Maybe he would have come good if not for the incident at Firhill but I doubt it.

Both just my opinion of course and I'm interested to see how both get on at Queens.

[David W]

1 minute ago, Diamonds are Forever said:

Currie is an adequate League 1 goalie, but I wouldn't say any more than that. I never rated him quite as highly as most Airdrie fans did and I think a more solid goalie would have been the difference in us winning the league this year.

He's not as good a shot stopper as is often made out, I thought he let in goals that a good shot stopper should be saving (see the goals in the play-off final for example). One of those keepers who loves the safety of his goal line and rarely comes for anything so you'll need 2 commanding centre backs. I was pleased he moved on, albeit I've no idea who we've got to replace him.

In the games Quitongo played before the incident he was pretty poor. He's probably got the worst positional sense I"ve seen in a full-back, constantly on the wrong side of people and has to rely on his speed to get back. He gets forward a lot due to his pace and energy but doesn't have the ability to do a lot when there. Maybe he would have come good if not for the incident at Firhill but I doubt it.

Both just my opinion of course and I'm interested to see how both get on at Queens.

I'd say that's pretty much my opinion as well.

[David Fernández]

1 hour ago, Otis Blue said:

Yes could well be.  I don't know the lad Ballantyne but everyone on here has been raving about him so seems to have been a good catch for Airdrie.

Again, haven't much knowledge of Rico but generally Ballantyne appears to be higher rated.  You never know though, sometimes a player fits well with a particular management team.  We had Aidan Fitzpatrick (ex Partick/Norwich) last season and he looked lost/disinterested under Allan Johnston and then started to shine when Gibson took over.  Fingers crossed for Rico.

Definitely, I hope it works out for the guy, but this could also pototentially be an Ally Roy situation

[Monkey Tennis]

40 minutes ago, Rjc-1988 said:

I think when you look at the strength of opposition in League 1 for the coming season I had hoped to see a real statement of intent from us. Early days in terms of signings but I am not getting the feeling that “we are really going for it”. The Quitongo signing looks particularly uninspiring   - a player who “does the rounds” but never seems to really deliver. At the moment squad has the look of a mid table League 1 side. There is no doubt that we need to find some real star quality especially in the forward areas if we are to mount any sort of challenge at the top. Have to hope that Willie himself still intends to play as we will desperately need his ability and experience.

 

To be honest, given some of our company in the division next season, I'm not entirely sure that "really going for it" is all that realistic.

Obviously, we have to be looking to get promoted, and the club's rhetoric points that way.  However, I think we'd probably have to spend pretty recklessly to make us a genuine favourite to win the league. 

None of us want that, so a side that should be competitive enough, with a decent chance of making the top four, sounds reasonable.  That's hopefully the sort of team that's being assembled.

[Diamonds are Forever]

1 minute ago, Monkey Tennis said:

To be honest, given some of our company in the division next season, I'm not entirely sure that "really going for it" is all that realistic.

Obviously, we have to be looking to get promoted, and the club's rhetoric points that way.  However, I think we'd probably have to spend pretty recklessly to make us a genuine favourite to win the league. 

None of us want that, so a side that should be competitive enough, with a decent chance of making the top four, sounds reasonable.  That's hopefully the sort of team that's being assembled.

 

I think Queens and Airdrie are in a similar situation in that we aren't going to be able to compete financially with Falkirk or Dunfermline, so will need to be a bit more creative with signings. We came close last year with signings like Easton, Frizzell and McCabe who weren't really going anywhere in their careers at the time, but ultimately Cove still had too much with their resources. This season will be similar in that we'll need to have strong recruitment and hope Falkirk and Dunfermline make a mess of things again. At worst if you get a play-off spot you can always 'do a Queens Park'.

[Monkey Tennis]

24 minutes ago, Diamonds are Forever said:

 

I think Queens and Airdrie are in a similar situation in that we aren't going to be able to compete financially with Falkirk or Dunfermline, so will need to be a bit more creative with signings. We came close last year with signings like Easton, Frizzell and McCabe who weren't really going anywhere in their careers at the time, but ultimately Cove still had too much with their resources. This season will be similar in that we'll need to have strong recruitment and hope Falkirk and Dunfermline make a mess of things again. At worst if you get a play-off spot you can always 'do a Queens Park'.

Yes, I'd pretty much agree.

I really can't see the Falkirk farce continuing indefinitely.  Dunfermline are also big to be down here and anyone finishing above both of them will be doing very well.  That's before we consider what Kelty might be able to do.  

Other clubs like yourselves, us and Montrose will have a degree of hope.  Psychologically, as a club, we can't necessarily settle for being here for ages.  Neither can we really assume an early upward exit though.

[Passionate]

2 hours ago, Otis Blue said:

Max Currie - known to Gibson from Stranraer and has done well at Airdrie over two seasons.  Sounds like  a solid signing. 

Max Currie is a decent enough keeper at this level,   he never had much to do in all honesty last season as we were riding teams 90%of the time is prone to bad goals at bad times though....  Interesting Max is Part Time,  are you guys running the hybrid this season..

[Distant Doonhamer]

Pleasing to get some signings made relatively early. Descriptions of an injury prone central defender, a keeper who doesn't catch crosses and a full back not rated at this level do leave me somewhat underwhelmed though. Hopefully they'll prove decent enough though. Time will tell.

Edited May 31, 2022 by Distant Doonhamer

[cb_diamond]

I'm in general agreement with a lot of what has been written about Max and Rico, albeit I'm probably more pro Currie than a few and would have been fairly happy if he had stayed. The thing with max is that if you can accept the fact that over the course of the season he will absolutely win/save you several points with his shot stopping ability and the knack of making big saves, but this will be tempered with a fair few absolute clangers (often from cross balls) from him that will throw away a few points, then you'll like him. As a keeper his pros and cons are for me, more glaringly obvious than with many others. But definitely one of the better options for L1. Also as mentioned he was definitely P/T with us.

Rico getting another full time gig is a surprise to me. I personally have no Ill will towards him but he was really, really poor for us and I dont think he would have played much past the first couple of games of the season if we had more LB options. Hopefully he kicks on but a strange signing nonetheless.

Edited May 31, 2022 by cb_diamond

[Greenacres]

WG has said he will sign  more  quality in the squad  right now I will just have  to trust him .

The loss of East Cooper and more so Connelly and Fizpartrick was always going to be hard to replace.

Hopefully many more real quality signing still to come.

Edited May 31, 2022 by Greenacres

[qos1990]

Pretty pleased with Max Currie, content with Stuart Morrison sounds like there’s a player there if we can keep him fit and disappointed in quitongo in all honesty, soon as it was announced I was. We still need a right back and a defender to cover left hand side, like east. I’ve not giving up hope on East and Fitzpatrick, I heard the thistle rumours but they are now chasing Kennedy and Maxwell so don’t see where he’d fit in, and it’ll cost thistle compensation for someone who will probably essentially be cover.

Overall content with our work so far, the thing I like about it is there is a bit of logic towards them, with Murray previously working with most or Gibson playing against. We could sign loads of names like Falkirk have attempted, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they are going to be a good side. Although would like to think we can get some real quality in attacking positions would love Fitzpatrick to sign up, think the way he was playing under WG he’d be massive for us, if not need someone with proper pace and someone experienced in middle of park.

Think we still need a right back, centre half to cover left hand side, winger, centre mid and a striker

[Guest Flash]

12 hours ago, Distant Doonhamer said:

Pleasing to get some signings made relatively early. Descriptions of an injury prone central defender, a keeper who doesn't catch crosses and a full back not rated at this level do leave me somewhat underwhelmed though. Hopefully they'll prove decent enough though. Time will tell.

Aye, probably best to reserve judgement. I remember last season a few folk getting excited early on about the “young, hungry” squad. Turned out all that meant was they couldn’t get enough Happy Meals.

[QoS99]

Not overly excited about the signings we made yesterday, but as last few seasons have showed, no point in judging them just now. Nobody was thrilled when we signed Connelly last year after like 2 goals for a relegated Alloa, the same can be said about Connor Shields the year before. Euan East and Calvin McGrory also stepping up a league from being a fringe player at Queens Park, and both players most would have been very happy to keep. Guess we will see how the new boys perform, but already more optimistic this season than at any point under AJ in the last 2/3 years.

[19QOS19]

Not overly excited about the signings we made yesterday, but as last few seasons have showed, no point in judging them just now. Nobody was thrilled when we signed Connelly last year after like 2 goals for a relegated Alloa, the same can be said about Connor Shields the year before. Euan East and Calvin McGrory also stepping up a league from being a fringe player at Queens Park, and both players most would have been very happy to keep. Guess we will see how the new boys perform, but already more optimistic this season than at any point under AJ in the last 2/3 years.

I get your point but I was buzzing about Connolly at the time. Knew he was a good player and him not featuring for Alloa more was always more to do with Grant being a bumbling idiot rather than Connolly's ability.

[FrankReynolds]

13 hours ago, Passionate said:

Max Currie is a decent enough keeper at this level,   he never had much to do in all honesty last season as we were riding teams 90%of the time is prone to bad goals at bad times though....  Interesting Max is Part Time,  are you guys running the hybrid this season..

No, we’re full time. Max will be full time, not sure where you’ve read or heard he’ll be part time with us but he’ll be full time like the rest of the squad.