Arbroath vs Albion Rovers

[1320Lichtie]

Heard that Wallace isn't actually officially registered with us and Moore isn't wanting him..

[superlichtie87]

He said on twitter that he is injured and will be back training in a few weeks so I guess the rumours of moore not wanting him are probably rubbish.

[SimonLichtie]

I've always respected John Gemmell and thought him to be an excellent player (one you ultimately dislike if not on your team though), but he should be very embarrassed of that dive on Saturday. Having seen him a dozen plus times now, I've never seen him dive and it's pretty poor stuff that he seems to have added this to his game. Very surprised he didn't receive a booking, as the rules dictate should have been the case.

I thought we did all that was required of us on Saturday, with everyone doing their job. Mark Whatley looks a superb footballer for this level, and I can't remember seeing him making a mistake/ having a poor performance in the games I've seen him in so far. I have high hopes for him in the middle of the park for us this season. The boy from Baghdad made a good debut and looked solid alongside Kevin Nicoll. It's interesting to note that we haven't conceded a goal in the last 3 halfs we've played, and these are the first 3 halfs Kevin Nicoll has played at centre back this season. I think the 'out of position' comments regarding him playing at centre back are hilarious. A lot of players have the ability to play in multiple positions, and throughout his career Nicoll has played at both centre back and central midfield, just because he has played there rarely for us doesn't mean it isn't a position he's perfectly comfortable in! I would also say Trav has done well at right back against Hamilton, Berwick and Albion, and as things stand I'm more than happy for him to continue at right back. I think there have been a few simple changes, with Trav distributing the ball far less and being taken off the majority of defensive free kicks which means far less focus is on his distribution and he can concentrate on defending which he has done well with in the last three games.

In midfield, I think Adam Hunter has definitely settled into the team recently and looks to have a good shot and pass on him, as well as tackling well to break things up and having the pace to get up and down the pitch. Kieran Stewart has also shown a big improvement from his initial showing in pre season, and looks like he could do a good job for us. Bobby Linn, despite having poor games by his standard against both Hamilton and Berwick, as well as a below par first half against Albion showed why he is so good to have in the team in the second half on Saturday, and hopefully he continues next week the way he finished this week. Scott McBride hasn't shown much above what's required so far, but we're two games into a long league season, and I think some of the abuse he is already receiving from the Gayfield terraces is a complete embarrassment. I'm certainly not sold on McBride, but I'll at least give him the first quarter of the season to see how things go. There is quite obviously a football player in him, as he has an excellent left foot and his positioning off the ball is very good also in my opinion. As someone else has mentioned, he gave very good cover to an out of position Mark Whatley throughout the game on Saturday, something which our wide players didn't seem to do much of last season.

Upfront I thought Shagger was, as always, fantastic. His workrate is incredible, and the chasing down he does really helps us defend from the front. Kevin Buchan obviously knows where the goal is, and probably just did enough to keep his place over Simon Murray, but I do wish he'd do a bit more of the work McManus does. At one point in the second half, Shagger got right on the keeper as he was going to kick it out from a passback and this resulted in us winning an attacking throw in, and a few minutes later Buchan had the same chance to close the keeper down, but instead pulled back, allowing the keeper time to pick a pass and start an Albion attack, which highlights my point. This may be the instructions from the management (Shagger does a lot of the legwork, Buchan just concentrates on being in the right place in the box when we're attacking) but if this isn't the case I would like to see him help Shags out a bit more.

Overall a good, solid 90 minute performance. I won't be getting excited yet, but it's an excellent start and with games coming up against two of the surposid weaker teams in the division, could we end up with maximum points at the end of August?!

[ecto]

I've always respected John Gemmell and thought him to be an excellent player (one you ultimately dislike if not on your team though), but he should be very embarrassed of that dive on Saturday. Having seen him a dozen plus times now, I've never seen him dive and it's pretty poor stuff that he seems to have added this to his game. Very surprised he didn't receive a booking, as the rules dictate should have been the case.

I thought we did all that was required of us on Saturday, with everyone doing their job. Mark Whatley looks a superb footballer for this level, and I can't remember seeing him making a mistake/ having a poor performance in the games I've seen him in so far. I have high hopes for him in the middle of the park for us this season. The boy from Baghdad made a good debut and looked solid alongside Kevin Nicoll. It's interesting to note that we haven't conceded a goal in the last 3 halfs we've played, and these are the first 3 halfs Kevin Nicoll has played at centre back this season. I think the 'out of position' comments regarding him playing at centre back are hilarious. A lot of players have the ability to play in multiple positions, and throughout his career Nicoll has played at both centre back and central midfield, just because he has played there rarely for us doesn't mean it isn't a position he's perfectly comfortable in! I would also say Trav has done well at right back against Hamilton, Berwick and Albion, and as things stand I'm more than happy for him to continue at right back. I think there have been a few simple changes, with Trav distributing the ball far less and being taken off the majority of defensive free kicks which means far less focus is on his distribution and he can concentrate on defending which he has done well with in the last three games.

In midfield, I think Adam Hunter has definitely settled into the team recently and looks to have a good shot and pass on him, as well as tackling well to break things up and having the pace to get up and down the pitch. Kieran Stewart has also shown a big improvement from his initial showing in pre season, and looks like he could do a good job for us. Bobby Linn, despite having poor games by his standard against both Hamilton and Berwick, as well as a below par first half against Albion showed why he is so good to have in the team in the second half on Saturday, and hopefully he continues next week the way he finished this week. Scott McBride hasn't shown much above what's required so far, but we're two games into a long league season, and I think some of the abuse he is already receiving from the Gayfield terraces is a complete embarrassment. I'm certainly not sold on McBride, but I'll at least give him the first quarter of the season to see how things go. There is quite obviously a football player in him, as he has an excellent left foot and his positioning off the ball is very good also in my opinion. As someone else has mentioned, he gave very good cover to an out of position Mark Whatley throughout the game on Saturday, something which our wide players didn't seem to do much of last season.

Upfront I thought Shagger was, as always, fantastic. His workrate is incredible, and the chasing down he does really helps us defend from the front. Kevin Buchan obviously knows where the goal is, and probably just did enough to keep his place over Simon Murray, but I do wish he'd do a bit more of the work McManus does. At one point in the second half, Shagger got right on the keeper as he was going to kick it out from a passback and this resulted in us winning an attacking throw in, and a few minutes later Buchan had the same chance to close the keeper down, but instead pulled back, allowing the keeper time to pick a pass and start an Albion attack, which highlights my point. This may be the instructions from the management (Shagger does a lot of the legwork, Buchan just concentrates on being in the right place in the box when we're attacking) but if this isn't the case I would like to see him help Shags out a bit more.

Overall a good, solid 90 minute performance. I won't be getting excited yet, but it's an excellent start and with games coming up against two of the surposid weaker teams in the division, could we end up with maximum points at the end of August?!

are you on something John Gemmell is in the Chris Templeman mould big guys and serial offenders for falling down, the size of Gemmell he should be running through defenders, instead he goes down, pathetic

[lichtie23]

are you on something John Gemmell is in the Chris Templeman mould big guys and serial offenders for falling down, the size of Gemmell he should be running through defenders, instead he goes down, pathetic

Would still love him to be a Lichtie tho

[SimonLichtie]

are you on something John Gemmell is in the Chris Templeman mould big guys and serial offenders for falling down, the size of Gemmell he should be running through defenders, instead he goes down, pathetic

I think Templeman is definitely worse than Gemmell for it, but I agree both go down fairly easily at times. Our own Paul McManus can also do this though (definitely to a lesser extent), as the free kick which lead to our second goal down at Berwick proved. I think part of being a striker is taking advantage of the wee niggles defenders dish out and if it gains your team a few attacking free kicks over the course of a game you're doing your job right (even if it is very frustrating to watch people like Templeman doing it every 5 bloody minutes).

I think there's a definite difference between this and diving though. I consider a 'dive' to be where there is no contact with the defender (see Gemmell on Saturday) or where the attacker see's the defender, knocks the ball past them and then flails into them like a big jessie instead of just going for the ball (see Parejo's embarrassing attempt to win a penalty in the Livi home friendly). I've never seen Gemmell as this type of player, although I've certainly seen him take advantage of there being contact (wee nudges etc) where he could easily have stayed on his feet but has gone to ground. Unfortunately if you've got two defenders up your arse and little chance of getting past them, it's a lot more profitable to milk the nudge/ kick of the defender and win a free kick in that situation.

In short - I agree with you, I just define diving and taking advantage of contact made by the defender as different things. This is definitely the first time I've seen John Gemmell fall down and plead for a free kick/ penalty when there has been no contact with the defender whatsoever.