The Arbroath Thread

[afc_36_0]

Catching up with MOTD. Good to see Manchester City have started playing in the maroon.

Watching david silva was like watching ryan mccord......apart from the hair obviously

[stan3600]

Watching david silva was like watching ryan mccord......apart from the hair obviously

Yes, McCord definitely has better hair

[Big lichtie]

speaking to stevie d dad at the forfar game he said that steven hopes to be fit for the raith rovers game

[RedLichtie86]

Just seen the after game interview with Kane Hester.
Great attitude he has regarding to not starting considering the other strikers are out injured.

Nice to see the boy is level headed enough not to throw his toys out the pram.

[Big lichtie]

hearing gomes saying still having problems regarding the concussion injury he got at alloa.

[stan3600]

hearing gomes saying still having problems regarding the concussion injury he got at alloa.

I seriously hope he’s seeing a specialist.

[Leicesterlichtie]

Have to say I think the Campbell twins deserve a bit of praise here. Following on from the disastrous display after the injury to Doris against Albion, although his options for change were a tad limited, they made some bold decisions that have so far paid off.

Who'd have thought Ricky Little would be dropped to the bench with Henry coming in to play at RB & starting a match with no recognized striker on the pitch, playing Denholm as the main attacking option.

So I just thought, considering that a lot of decisions that have been made in the past like substitutions that to us fans seem questionable at times, this time they've got it pretty damn right & deserve a little credit.

DC may not be everyone's cup of tea but he certainly knows how to attract quality players at this level & getting them to play as a team & in whatever position is required of them.

[lichtie23]

Let's also remember that the Forfar side we played were just plain awful. I can't comment on yesterday because I wasn't there.
We have started the season well and we deservedly sit 2nd in the table. DC needs to figure out how to turn our home form around.

[afc_36_0]

At the moment theres no way he can change that team which leaves for a very strong bench. As said we need to sort out our home form but credit to management for the start of the season and 20 games unbeaten away. [emoji122]

[Mexico]

In my opinion, Doris being missing has been a blessing in disguise as we are playing football now instead of lumping it up to him, it's nice to see we have options in the final third, Denholm's direct running and ability in the air make him a very useful alternative upfront and has allowed us to accommodate McCord further forward who just has a fantastic brain in the final third. It gives us great options once Doris is back. 

[SimonLichtie]

1 hour ago, Leicesterlichtie said:

Have to say I think the Campbell twins deserve a bit of praise here. Following on from the disastrous display after the injury to Doris against Albion, although his options for change were a tad limited, they made some bold decisions that have so far paid off.

Who'd have thought Ricky Little would be dropped to the bench with Henry coming in to play at RB & starting a match with no recognized striker on the pitch, playing Denholm as the main attacking option.

So I just thought, considering that a lot of decisions that have been made in the past like substitutions that to us fans seem questionable at times, this time they've got it pretty damn right & deserve a little credit.

DC may not be everyone's cup of tea but he certainly knows how to attract quality players at this level & getting them to play as a team & in whatever position is required of them.

Tend to agree with this. Dick does some very weird stuff at times which is utterly bemusing for a manager as experienced as him, however the last few weeks he has got things correct. I was very apprehensive about dropping Ricky Little and putting Davie Gold to left back as on paper it seems ridiculous, but it has worked in the last two games. Davie Gold can play, and do, whatever and wherever he wants to be honest, he was superb yesterday both defensively and attacking wise. Hammy is more suited to playing in the centre, and I know he prefers playing there than at left back, so while longer term we clearly need to sign a left back (this should have been done at any point in July/ August IMO and is a failing on the management teams behalf regardless of our last few results) Davie Gold can definitely play there for now. Also wasn't a fan of playing Danny Denholm up top by himself but it has worked so far, he caused a lot of problems v Forfar and scored a couple of excellent goals yesterday.

Over the course of the season I don't believe we could keep Davie Gold at left back, or play Denholm up top by himself but over the last few weeks two decisions which seemed odd have worked out superbly, and credit is due to Dick/ Pink etc. Also in terms of the starting 11s he has picked so far this year I mostly agree with what he has done, with players being rewarded for playing well and winning teams being kept together and not chopped/ changed just because our more experienced/ proven players are back fully fit/ available.

There are still multiple things that they've got wrong, and they will get things wrong going forward with some of the things they do being very frustrating and downright ridiculous (Gavin Swankie deal an example of this) but at this level all management teams will f**k things up, same as the players, this is third tier Scottish football so it is to be expected. I still believe Dick is quite tactically naive, and that after 25+ years of management if that is the case now that simply will not change, regardless of a couple of outstanding results where decisions he's made have worked out, however his man management and ability to attract top quality part time players to our club is superb and it can be argued that this outweights his tactical issues.

[1320Lichtie]

DC is a great manager. Best thing the club done getting him on board.

For all the stick he can get, which I thinks ridiculous most of the time, he's won us the league, signed some cracking players (he brought in Yule, ToB, Denholm, Hammy, Doris, McCord, Hutton, Kader, Prunty, Swankie from the squad that was playing yesterday) taken us on this unbelievable away run (19 league games away from home unbeaten is just crazy) and we can be great to watch at times too.

Home form isn't great no but it's still only 7 home league defeats in the league in 14 months, which isn't bad.

[Big lichtie]

have to say feel for swankie through no fault of his own coudnt play against forfar after the teams last 2 performances might struggle to get back in

[Smokerson]

Couple of points for me

I don't feel sorry for anyone not in the team, swankie slightly unfortunate I may add. Led to believe little missed a whole weeks training due to a family issue so quite rightfully he was dropped. 

There's a tendency to say the opposition have been poor the past few weeks but I don't think anyone has beat to forfar and scored 5 and Stranraer and scored 6 in recent times. The decisions by DC and the performances by the players have been brilliant. 

We need to sort the home form out, thought we played well against QP, slightly unlucky against East Fife and poor v Albion, if we can get this right starting next week we can really look at staying in this top 4

[1320Lichtie]

have to say feel for swankie through no fault of his own coudnt play against forfar after the teams last 2 performances might struggle to get back in

I like Swankie but I don't feel sorry for him, it's a team game everyone will need to play their part.

When there's a squad and team spirit like the one we seem to have at the moment (DC deserves praise for this too) then I don't think anyone really minds sitting out as long as the groups doing well. Everyone knows they'll play their part at some point and get a chance when they deserve one.

Look at Jamie Henry and Ryan McCord the last 2 weeks.

[Big lichtie]

you can only play against whats been put in front of you. yes forfar were poor yes stranrare were poor but that doesnt take anything away from our performance.but if your a player who knows nothing about a deal thant wont allow you to play against our local rivals and you started the week before he must be pissed off

[Mexico]

13 minutes ago, Big lichtie said:

you can only play against whats been put in front of you. yes forfar were poor yes stranrare were poor but that doesnt take anything away from our performance.but if your a player who knows nothing about a deal thant wont allow you to play against our local rivals and you started the week before he must be pissed off

We made Stranraer poor yesterday, we strayed very strongly and they fell apart. It was very different to the Forfar game, we were firing and well at the races. 

[afc_36_0]

I said when we signed swankie it was a waste of money, didnt think what he could add to our team and where he would fit in. Nothing has changed imo.

[lichtiekev]

DC deserves huge credit, first season after the disaster of lumsden he wins us the league, gone on a superb away run, and signed some great players, I agree I wouldn't of took Swankie back as a guaranteed started as I feel McCord has to play in that role, but he is a good player to have in squad and would rather have that than play against him at Forfar, 

Its a shame we didn't get the 3 points we deserved at Airdrie and didn't drop points with the 2 home defeats or we could of been comfortable in 2nd place, all ifs and buts but hopefully keep going and push for the playoffs, 

Looking forward to Alloa next week but actually got more confidence in beating Raith away the game after now!!!

[SimonLichtie]

While I've made my feelings on the ridiculousness of the Swankie 'agreement' clear; but that's hardly his fault and I still feel he's a very good player. Regardless of money paid/ 'agreement' etc. solely in terms of Swankie as a player he definitely adds to our squad and he's a great option to have. He can play in several positions, has years of experience and is a quality technical player.  There are certainly negatives to his game and there will always be questions asked regarding his attitude/ lack of application at times but he will be an important player for us this year and he'll definitely be getting game time most weeks. What position that is in and if it's starting or coming off the bench remains to be seen...