Accies .V. Falkirk - Friday, Oct 18th

[Admin]

Your comments please...

[smc4761]

Falkirk look to be the team to beat in Championship this year and we are not going to do it.

They have a manager who not only talks a good game, unlike the muppet we have but have a team that plays a good game as well, .

I fully expect that we will lose this game and be played off the park 0-3

[glasgow accie]

Aye … can’t see anything other than a comfortable win for Falkirk …..

[Beckford]

Rankin needs to get players fired up and "at it" for the full 90 mins+. Otherwise this could be long painful night. The players that were involved in the games against Falkirk last season shouldn't need motivating considering how poorly we performed against them. However, for me there has been a real lack of hunger and aggression this season and that needs to change to take points off teams like this. Confidence looks low so hopefully a decent performance/result will lift things.

[Theaccie1]

Hoping to see a performance without fear tonight.
Would love to see more risk being taken in the final 3rd rather than focussing on ball retention.
We have the fire power, we just need to pull the trigger more often without restriction when we get up the park.

Cmon Accies.

[manxaccie]

Not sure what to say after that. Absolute woeful first half performance and although better in the second, the game was long gone. Couldn’t really have argued if we were four or five down at half time.

Don’t know what’s happened to longridge but he was awful and should have been sent off. McGuire at right back - why? Lyness not good enough.

Nothing creative going forward and Falkirk are miles ahead of us. Still.

Without major changes we are going down.

[porcupine]

On this first half performance we will be in a relegation fight by early in the New Year. OK, the weather was shocking at the start, but it was the same conditions for both teams, and Falkirk looked up for a result where we were not.
Very little positives tonight. With most players on yellows also tonight, we will loose many very soon, on the toting up process.

[Stevie Clarke]

If Albinson is ok to be on the bench, why the hell is he not playing? Lyness had a poor night, albeit the second took a deflection. Woeful performance, woeful turnout, woeful tactics, woeful manager. O'Hara just gets worse every time I see him but you know he's first name on next week's teamsheet.

[manxaccie]

Although we could mention any number of players, what is O’Hara adding to the team? He works hard and I’m assuming has a great attitude, but anyone remember a positive influence on a recent game? He’s a striker and should play upfront or be replaced by someone more suited to that role. He continues to play 90 minutes though. Not his fault but another puzzling Decision from the manager.

[Beckford]

As abject performance as that was, the players have no chance! We have an utterly incompetent "manager" assistant manager and coaching staff . This can not continue and we must make a change before we are dragged back to league one. The total lack of leadership could not have been more obvious tonight and I defy anyone to argue there is any reason to sick with the current set up. Utterly dreadfull, gutless performance yet again and we all knew the game was over as soon as Falkirk scored.

The team are obviously low in confidence and in desperate need of an inspirational leader to drag them out of the current mindset. Is there anyone on this forum who believe that Rankin can do this????

Just look at what is happening at Caley Thistle at the moment. If Rankin and his staff are allowed to continue we are gone! Given the utter shambles that the club are from board level down, we could be in a similar predicament as Caley very, very soon.

[Bertiejoejoe]

Scott Martin interview with Ben, said back in and fix it on Monday, so with that performance they get the weekend off. They should be in Saturday and Sunday, a suppose it won’t really matter, they could be in 7 days a week and Rankin still wouldn’t make the team any better. It really beggars belief that the dof and the owner sanctioned a 3 year contract to an under achiever.

[Red and white hoops]

First half was possibly the worst 45 minutes of football I’ve seen. We were lucky to only be 3 down at that point. Absolutely dreadful. Game done after thirty four minutes.

In my opinion, we have the basis of a decent squad there. A squad that should be performing much better in the championship. Our problem is in the dugout. A manager and assistant we have given a three year contract in May and therefore cannot afford to sack and replace with a competent manager, assistant and some coaches (we don’t even have a goalkeeper coach at the moment)

Crowds are already plummeting and it’s only going to get worse through the winter months when it’s hard enough to get out and sit in the cold for two hours but especially when the football is terrible.

Our league record is now 9 points from a possible thirty. Two wins from ten games. Ten goals scored. We’ve had three defeats in a row. Our board said they wanted promotion this season! We need answers from them as to is this form acceptable? Is John Rankin performing to standards acceptable to them? Is he meeting KPIs set? Last season we were told he’d been set the aim of twenty points per quarter. He failed in that. This season we have been told the board want the promotion play offs. He will fail in that. He is leading us to our second relegation in three years unless something is done quickly.

[Beckford]

First half was possibly the worst 45 minutes of football I’ve seen. We were lucky to only be 3 down at that point. Absolutely dreadful. Game done after thirty four minutes.

In my opinion, we have the basis of a decent squad there. A squad that should be performing much better in the championship. Our problem is in the dugout. A manager and assistant we have given a three year contract in May and therefore cannot afford to sack and replace with a competent manager, assistant and some coaches (we don’t even have a goalkeeper coach at the moment)

Crowds are already plummeting and it’s only going to get worse through the winter months when it’s hard enough to get out and sit in the cold for two hours but especially when the football is terrible.

Our league record is now 9 points from a possible thirty. Two wins from ten games. Ten goals scored. We’ve had three defeats in a row. Our board said they wanted promotion this season! We need answers from them as to is this form acceptable? Is John Rankin performing to standards acceptable to them? Is he meeting KPIs set? Last season we were told he’d been set the aim of twenty points per quarter. He failed in that. This season we have been told the board want the promotion play offs. He will fail in that. He is leading us to our second relegation in three years unless something is done quickly.

This 100% The fact that the board saw anything in Rankin that warranted an extended contract is utterly bewildering!!!

[AccieDownUnder]

Brad Spencer and Dylan Tait ran the show tonight. It’s wild to think Rankin couldn’t get a tune out of Tait. It’s unrecognisable watching him play in a proper system vs. The version we got. It speaks volumes of Rankins qualities as a first team coach imo.

Falkirk are obviously a top side and our league position won’t be decided on games against them but my god we were so passive and didn’t even put up a fight. I’m still convinced we will be fine with a mid table finish. A big few games coming up though. I couldn’t believe that Falkirk side tonight were missing the injured Lang, Morrison, MacIver and Donaldson! They’re looking a reasonable bet for the title.

[Nike01]

Gave Rankin benefit of doubt last year. But, he’s been living on borrowed time. In any other working environment, he’d have been replaced. I don’t dislike him. But, nothing changes. And the tram is going backwards. He should have been going absolutely apeshit at 3-0, but nop. Nothing. I can’t fit the life of me see any football IQ. That was an initial 4-1-3-1 tonight. Every time longridge was taken to the cleaners. We don’t press as a team. Every time we made it easy for Falkirk. Once they passed our 3, Falkirk out numbered us. And the 1-3 play so bloody far apart, the don’t stand a chance. Shaw could be a good player, but gets no support. We just pump it up to him after continually passing back. O Hara need to go on bench for his own good. Not sure our midfield is good enough no matter how you shake it. I fear the drop. Must act now. Pls pls give us back a team we can be proud of. Pls pls give us back a club we can be proud of. It’s depressing. We need hope in our hearts ❤️ honestly don’t care if we get pumped, but get the young ones in.

[Theaccie1]

The simple fact is that we havent improved since last year.
We have signed better players but play the exact same way.
There is no identity or patterns of play, and our forward play is just dreadful, it was the same last season.
When we do eventually get to the final third we have absolutley no idea what to do with the ball and go into safe mode and aim to retain possession rather than take some gambles in play.
If you compare that to Falkirk, they carried a real threat and intensity in their attack, they wanted to cause real damage.....I dont see that in our team, that real desire and hunger to burst the net (Oli aside....when he gets the ball!!).
Our team set up/formation is just not working for us home, or especially away.....today this was exposed as we were too narrow and our fullbacks were hung out to dry in the first half.
Theres also a big gap between the forward and the rest of the team meaning our striker becomes very isolated.
We cant persist with the same formation, its been completely sussed out by the opposition and doesnt serve us with any benefits ourselves.
I would favour a more standard 4-4-2 myself and play the players in their preffered positions.
We are starting to waste players again this season also......there is no way Todorov has suddenly become a bad player.....and what about Daire, a guy we apparantly tried to sign for over a year cant get a look in.....our new goalie benched....playing Maguire at right back when he is clearly not suited/comfortable in that position.....theres more examples but thats plenty.
We definetley have good players who should on paper at the very least keep us up this season, but there is massive improvement required on tactics, set up and desire for me.....i really hope it comes sooner rather than later, as I dont want to see the confidence being completely drained out the squad.
Ill continue to support the team as best I can in the stands and will just hope for the best, but we really need a positive result in the next one please.

[Beckford]

So as expected, not a single Accies fan is willing to put forward any sort of defence for Rankin to continue as our manager. Please, please can our board take note and act before it's too late! We all know that club representatives read this forum. The message is loud and clear. Act now if you actually care about the future of our club.

To reward failure is a complete dereliction of duty. We are not a club that can afford to waste money, but that is exactly what Rankins contract is and the board is responsible for this. As hopeless as Rankin is, the continued failure is the boards failing. We can't afford to sack him due to the ridiculous decision to extend his contract but things must change.

We are also not a club that can afford to take what little support we have for granted. As each week passes, the amount of fans willing to endure this garbage grows smaller. Empty seats in the stand is a clear message that what we are being presented with is far from good enough! I will always attend games and support the team no matter what, but each week the levels of frustration and anger grows. At the last forum, Serif had the audacity to state that its our fault that the fan base is so small, and that it's down to us to grow the support. You could not pay a potential fan to come and watch what is on offer each week. Why would any potential new fan consider supporting Accies when the football is so dire and everything we do as a club is an utter shambles?

Statements of ambition by the board are great but the bottom line is our club is being run into the ground. Stadium acquisition? no evidence this is likely to happen any time soon. Debts mounting up, late payments to players (why would players give their all if they might not get paid) a commercial department that is a laughing stock throughout scottish football and a total shambles that ensures our reputation is mud. Overpriced, shambolic PATG prices, a manager that repeats the same crap every week in interviews yet changes nothing on the field, the list goes on and on...

As a fan base we need to come together and demand massive changes before it's too late. BUT, how do we do this when there are so few of us left??

[Beckford]

Falkirk look to be the team to beat in Championship this year and we are not going to do it.

They have a manager who not only talks a good game, unlike the muppet we have but have a team that plays a good game as well, .

I fully expect that we will lose this game and be played off the park 0-3

Hope you stuck a wee bet on as you were not far off with your prediction! A wee win at the bookies would have softened the blow of watching that "performance " tonight!

[Nike01]

Rankin could still save the day…by offering his resignation. He can’t keep saying he’ll do his best because his best isn’t good enough. I can’t even go to bloody sleep because can’t get it out of my head. All that said however, I’ve just watched Longridge’s push in the back for the penalty! Sorry, but that deserves a custodial sentence, and subsequent tagging order so that he never gets near our team again. Awful!

[AccieDownUnder]

The problem with Rankin having no style of play or system is the knock on effect to the ever obvious scattergun recruitment strategy. Absolutely nothing is aligned which has left us with an unbalanced squad. In our current formation the wide players are so important yet we don’t really have any nailed on starters in those positions. It’s absurd that O’Hara gets one of them every week. Lovely guy but his level is L1 down the middle or at the most a back up striker at this level. Work rate should be the minimum expectancy which is really all he gets in the team for. Compare to Falkirk, Mcglynn knows his best 11 but has recruited competent back ups in his favoured style. You'd never have thought they were missing their best two centre backs and best two goalscorers last night.

If we get rid of Rankin - I fully believe Strain also has to take responsibility for the above. What experienced competent manager is going to work under him? Imagine, for example, McGlynns face being told who to sign or to see the DoF in his technical area during some random games. We’re a circus at the top and it shows on the field.