Ton v Ayr 18/10/25

[Deego]

1 minute ago, TRVMP said:

That too but he thought he was fouled, picked up the ball, and of course conceded a penalty because the whistle hadn't gone because he wasn't fouled. Storer saved it because obviously that's what he does but we conceded right away after that. 

Mistakes in play are just part of the game but failing to play to the whistle in such dramatic fashion is really just a basic failure to do your job and you don't deserve to get paid for it. 

I’d drop him in any case as he’s been an obvious weak link since he arrived. Seems to be the only position without competition (since Longridge seems to be first choice CH).

[TRVMP]

Is anyone able in about 50 words to pick the strongest 11 from our bloated Squad and explain how they are supposed to play? Previous Imrie squads have had an identity about them and a simple remit to press and play aggressively and use a mobile but strong forward to buy time in the final third. Now we have a shipping container full of crap wingers, two guys towing caravans, defenders being asked to play it out from the back when they can barely trap a football, and most tragically of all Wilson, whose legs have totally gone. I'm not sure what the best way forward is but I'm more worried that Dougie doesn't either. 

And I'll also say that while we definitely have been screwed by the officials this season, if it wasn't for Storer our league position would look quite different. And when the keeper is a nailed-on POTY that is always a bad sign. 

[GiGi]

Money from Dalrada, massive squad and we've won 1 game from 11. Survived on draws so it's not a disaster but this is still seriously disappointing.

We're murder to watch most of the time this season as well. 

[vikingTON]

Just now, TRVMP said:

Is anyone able in about 50 words to pick the strongest 11 from our bloated Squad and explain how they are supposed to play? Previous Imrie squads have had an identity about them and a simple remit to press and play aggressively and use a mobile but strong forward to buy time in the final third. Now we have a shipping container full of crap wingers, two guys towing caravans, defenders being asked to play it out from the back when they can barely trap a football, and most tragically of all Wilson, whose legs have totally gone. I'm not sure what the best way forward is but I'm more worried that Dougie doesn't either. 

The key performance indicator now, as judged by Imrie a few weeks ago in the Tele, is that "we're playing the ball through the thirds". The facts that we do so at a glacial pace, with no reliable precision around the defence and create nothing if the ball reaches the final third are all irrelevant. 

I strongly suspect that Imrie is once again taking being overlooked for a bigger job as a sign to try and overhaul our playing style. Once again, it is a failure. And once again, this obsession with playing any two completely garbage sand-dancers out wide is a failure. 

We scored with our only shot and serious attempt on target today, and there are poorer results incoming before we get all the dross at Cappielow in December. 

[Stevie Aitken's Love Child]

Delaney needs dropped for that. What an embarrassing mistake.

[dunning1874]

Delaney's closer to a gross misconduct sacking than a fine for that. Just absolutely disgraceful defending with no justification.

There's no massive upturn like previous seasons coming from this team because there's nothing to click. This is just exactly how mediocre this team is and they're going to deliver about 40 points, which luckily with Airdrie and Queen's Park should be enough for 8th but will certainly see us looking down the way all season.

[Jamie_M]

8 minutes ago, GiGi said:

Money from Dalrada, massive squad

Extra budget has bought a whole single extra point compared to the same point from last season.

It was the 12th game we got destroyed by Falkirk before it all turned around so St Johnstone getting back to winning ways in emphatic style next week could be painful but useful.

[vikingTON]

But let's not stop with the first team: the entire club is hopelessly adrift at the moment. We used to be punching slightly above our weight, which made the occasional stinking display somewhat tolerable. We are now just a standard, bloated mess of a Championship club, chucking money at mercenaries without any strategy or long-term vision. 

Why should fans pay over and above their season ticket for this?

[vikingTON]

52 minutes ago, TRVMP said:

That too but he thought he was fouled, picked up the ball, and of course conceded a penalty because the whistle hadn't gone because he wasn't fouled. Storer saved it because obviously that's what he does but we conceded right away after that. 

Mistakes in play are just part of the game but failing to play to the whistle in such dramatic fashion is really just a basic failure to do your job and you don't deserve to get paid for it. 

We didn't concede right away though - there were about 5 or 6 different opportunities to either intercept, tackle or fucking leather the ball out of play between Storer's save and the ball into the box for the winner. Our failure to do that is an additional error on top of Delaney's. 

Edited October 18, 2025 by vikingTON

[RossMcC1874]

Its just lucky that Airdrie are so mince or we might be in bother. Storer has been outstanding and probably our player of the season already but that says it all.

We have absolutely no style and no idea how to score goals, the playing with two strikers needs binned it just doesn't work and we seem to really struggle with legs in midfield, not sure whats happened to Wilson this season and so far MacPherson has not impressed. 

Something needs to change if we want to have any hope of doing anything productive this season. Not saying Imrie is under pressure or anything but he has now got the budget he wanted it's up to him to now produce the goods and find out how to get this squad actually winning games. 

[Drew Busby's Moustache]

3 minutes ago, vikingTON said:

But let's not stop with the first team: the entire club is hopelessly adrift at the moment. We used to be punching slightly above our weight, which made the occasional stinking display somewhat tolerable. We are now just a standard, bloated mess of a Championship club, chucking money at mercenaries without any strategy or long-term vision. 

Why should fans pay over and above their season ticket for this?

I suspect that come January.....this squad will be ....shall we say trimmed?...... I'd also sell my sole (see what I did there) to get Liam Grimshaw back.

[vikingTON]

3 hours ago, Chicken_Soup said:

If this season so far is an example of us carrying good luck, god help us when we get a dose of the bad kind. 

Ageing like milk in the Kalahari Desert, this take, as our results inevitably regress to the standard of performance actually demonstrated since August. 

Though a single shot on target today was an advance on our performance against Dunfermline on opening day. 

[HamCam]

All the expanded budget has got us is a bloated squad of average footballers with almost zero creativity. Imrie also has no idea of his best line up.

[vikingTON]

22 minutes ago, RossMcC1874 said:

Its just lucky that Airdrie are so mince or we might be in bother. Storer has been outstanding and probably our player of the season already but that says it all.

We have absolutely no style and no idea how to score goals, the playing with two strikers needs binned it just doesn't work and we seem to really struggle with legs in midfield, not sure whats happened to Wilson this season and so far MacPherson has not impressed. 

Something needs to change if we want to have any hope of doing anything productive this season. Not saying Imrie is under pressure or anything but he has now got the budget he wanted it's up to him to now produce the goods and find out how to get this squad actually winning games. 

I mean you did say just yesterday that there was no reason to change from last week's lineup. There was such a reason and today's insipid performance was entirely in line with the first half display last week. Imrie's fault is in not addressing these problems while using refereeing decisions as cover, though changing Shaw, Garrity and Lyall for today at least suggests some dissatisfaction with the players.  

I'm not convinced that playing with two forwards is the issue (as we usually don't) - it's the fucking garbage 4-3-3 that needs binned. When we played Brophy and Adeloye with Crawford behind them at Firhill, we actually created more chances than any other game I've watched this season, by having a narrow team that could overrun the middle of the park. 

Our current 4-3-3 is dung because there is no area of the park that we can ever dominate using that shape. The wingers aren't good enough, the midfield (especially with a poor Wilson) aren't good enough, and the back line will cough up just enough chances to stop us winning. Adeloye and/or Brophy will have no service regardless of their work effort as the central striker, which is why we end up obsessing over the outcome of 1 shot on target or 1 disallowed 'goal' during our cycle of pish draws. 

Edited October 18, 2025 by vikingTON

[DumfriesTon]

The management and players have been hiding behind terrible refereeing performances for weeks but it’s masked the absolute shite that’s been served on a weekly basis. One win in eleven is terrible. Of the draws we’ve had, I can only think of RC at home as one where we deserved to win. 
 

The squad is bloated - Imrie doesn’t know his best team, exemplified by the continuous personnel changes every week. Get Ballantyne back in, drop Delaney, ditch Broohy & Adeloye as a partnership, stop playing Owen Moffat and likely change the formation. But it’ll take a lot more than that to do anything of note this season. 

Edited October 18, 2025 by DumfriesTon

[HamCam]

What is really not helping this season is the drop off in the form of Wilson. He is a shadow of the player of the last couple of seasons. 

[DaftTon74]

That was abysmal, in a lot of ways. Started to build into the game a bit mid way through first half and then shoot ourselves in the foot by conceding a really soft goal right on half time. Get the equaliser and build into the game again, build a bit of momentum and then Delaney does the most Zak Delaney thing ever, which ultimately led to the winner. He should be disciplined for sheer stupidity. Most basic rule in football, play to the whistle. Absolute charlatan of a footballer.  

Narative needs to be changed too now. Can’t be saying we’ve only had defeats in 11, needs to be alarm bells that we’ve only managed 1 win in 11. We have been able to hide behind referee decisions for too long which have taken away from the fact we’ve been pretty poor all season. 
 

 

[SpoonTon]

I can see what Imrie is trying by bringing in MacPherson (he's a confident lad who wants the ball), but his level of performance has to be a million times better than it was today. He was directly responsible for at least 5 good Ayr attacking chances - twice in the first half through slack passes, and a combination of a slack pass, silly foul, and getting caught on the ball in the second (he also looked like a headless chicken at the first goal, but I could be unfair on him since depth perception is an issue from that far away).

Comrie has been underwhelming since he came in, but he had a disaster today. Ballantyne should be back in the team next week. 

I don't think the front two worked today. I don't think they've worked as a front two at all so far. 

I don't think losing 2-1 at Ayr is a disaster, but we were dreadful today and our bloated squad is drifting towards a relegation battle. We almost got away with a draw, but we were incredibly lucky to be anywhere near that position. 

[Chicken_Soup]

3 hours ago, vikingTON said:

Ageing like milk in the Kalahari Desert, this take, as our results inevitably regress to the standard of performance actually demonstrated since August. 

Though a single shot on target today was an advance on our performance against Dunfermline on opening day. 

Despite your apparent glee at our defeat today, your sample size of 1 match is not sufficient to constitute fact based analysis. 

[Mr.Blue]

Imrie saying he played two strikers today and wanted to get good delivery into the box yet our best winger was on the bench.

Piss poor today for large parts. Delaney wants hung for that error and needs dropped. Comrie had his poorest game too and looked very nervous. Can't believe Lyall was dropped from the midfield. Shug hasn't been himself for a few games and Bluesy had an off day. McPherson is a good player but today he wasn't up to a scratch either.

Adeloye is a waste of a jersey. I think he won a single aerial duel today. Granted its not his game but if that's the case then stop shelling balls up to him. Brophy not much better tbh.

Storer fantastic again and good to see Taylor back. If we are going to persist with going direct then McKay needs a chance. He can't be any worse than Brophy or adeloye.

Delighted for Ballantyne to get a goal and play well. He has to start next week.