The Arbroath Thread

[stan3600]

Apparently Messi is flying in and insists on playing. I hope he does better than Joe Hart.

[ecto]

5 hours ago, AFC360PUNK1320 said:

Agree what i remember in the late 60's and early 70's that was the home end but i remember in the Scottish Cup Q/F in 1977 against Dundee FC with 10,000 in Stade La' Gayf that changed and the Harbour End then became the home end and ever since it has been the home end for segregated games, i think a big reason for this was to stop both sets of fans passing each other after the game to cut out any trouble (i.e. the away busses was always parked beside the old outside Bathing Pool (now the Cinema/Nightclub).

Not complaining but is there a specific reason for changing it again? 

C'Mon the Red Lichties 36-0.

It was always strange to me that as the harbour end appeared to become the home end, they never switched the dugout or the side we warned up at, what I remember about the 77 AT was, there may have been official segregation, but there was Dundee fans everywhere

[SimonLichtie]

For all the talk of needing a striker, winger, other attacking options etc. if we don't utilise the players we've got properly, then I really don't think it makes a huge difference.

I don't know if it's because we've been away for 18 odd months, but I found yesterday unbelievably painful second half as we absolutely gave the game away with really poor tactical changes and subs. Dick is of course a tremendous manager for us and the positives outweigh the negatives, but as I've been saying since his first season in charge, he struggles at times during the 90 when it comes to changing things tactically and substitutions and it is unbelievably frustrating.

Quite clearly Dick is trying to get Nouble as fit as possible as quick as he can, and is leaving him on for the full 90 in order to do so. However, yesterday when needing to hold on to the game it was an absolute disaster. Noubs was absolutely done after an hour, which everyone could see, and for the last 30 could barely move. No fualt of Noubs, who I thought was excellent for the first hour, the he absolutely had to be subbed for LD, a clear straight swap to give us more legs up top. Instead, we dropped back 30 yards and basically let Ayr have the ball with no pressure in their own half the majority of the time.

We also decided, yet again, to move Mikey McKenna from the number 10 role where he is excellent and our best player in that role, to playing out wide on the right and left hand sides where we all know he is weaker and struggles with the discipline of marking a man/ sticking to position. By doing this, it gives more space for Ayr down the side Mikey is playing, and gives the more time in the centre of the park without Mikey's constant pressing. At this point we drop back 20 yards, open up down the flanks a wee bit and allow Ayr to play balls into our box/ final third at will and under no pressure whatsoever. Sometimes tactical changes don't quite work out, but in this case it made us weaker in pretty much every area ahead of the defence!

Talk about inviting pressure onto yourself - a half dead Noubs moving around up top with only James Craigen in the number 10 role (!!!!) for the final 10 minutes pushing up on their defence with him. Subs wise, obviously ToB sub was enforced, but the Hilson for McKenna and Gav for Harrison Clark subs were crazy for me, and along with the tactical changes we also made we cost ourselves 2 points yesterday with multiple game management errors in the final 30 minutes.

 

[SimonLichtie]

I would also say player wise, from what I've seen yesterday and last week league wise, we definitely have a good enough starting 11/ squad to stay up, I firmly believe that. However, at this point I do have some concerns about utilising them properly. The players are good enough, players assembled by Dick, and all credit to him for that, but for the love of God it is frustrating seeing players wildly out of position etc. and it costing us points.

[timlichtie]

I thought Dick’s line up worked incredibly well until ToB went off injured. Once Henderson dropped back into defence we had a lack of cover from midfield. There was no obvious defensive player on the bench. Taking Clark off for Gav baffled me unless Harrison was injured.
Nicky Low was immense, again. He totally outshone Ayr’s “Irish Messi” in midfield. Referees really should protect ball players like Nicky. Fjortoft should have seen red for his tackle in the second half. A cynic might suggest that it was calculated to injure our most creative asset.

[Lichtie78]

We should go down the route of Aston Villa and appoint a set piece coach. Feels like a complete waste us even taking corners & free kicks, be as well passing it back to the opposition.

[AFC360PUNK1320]

I found the subs/tactics in the 2nd half baffling as well yesterday, do not get me wrong 1st half we were superb and well in control so well done to DC for getting that correct.

Turning point was probably TOB going off where imo a straight swap of Hendo going back into central defence and Craigen coming on and going into centre mid alongside Low was the simple switch.

McKenna is a superb no 10 through the centre up top and that is where he should stay, when Noubs was tiring i would have just done a straight swap with Hilson playing up top with McKenna and it baffled me why when they were coming back into the game we never put on Bobby for at least the last 20 mins to give us and outlay and more of a threat and stretch their defence.

BUT at the end of the day a decent away point against full-time Ayr Utd but when you are 2-0 up with a pen to make it 3-0 (game over) it does feel like a defeat, i think it also shows what a big player TOB is for us and also apart from his pen Low is a top top player for us as well.

Onwards to the next game, C'Mon the Red Lichties, 36-0

[lichtie23]

Groin injury for TOB Iv heard. Could be out a few weeks with that 

[lichtiekev]

Even though Clark was ok yesterday I don't belive he is ready for this level and he is the answer to play along side low,
I think if we have a lot of options there but none I'm fully convinced over, of we had a fully fit team then Henderson could do a job there perhaps, was amazed to see him play left midfield,
On the squad we have I think most would be in agreement of the majority of who starts and there positions, Both Hamiltons full backs with Little and ToB , Stewart on the right and Linn on left, Low and Henderson on the middle with Mckenna off Nouble,
That gives us Hilson, Gold Craigen and Donnelly as good options off the bench,
Unsure if or who we will bring in buy think we are ok defensively,

[timlichtie]

Unsure if or who we will bring in buy think we are ok defensively,

We actually ran out of defensive players yesterday. With ToB and Thompson out we have nothing to spare. I like Henderson in midfield but that looks off the table for the foreseeable.

[afc_36_0]

Seems to be a recurring theme that it takes us half a season to find our best team and players to play their correct positions, incredibly frustrating.

[RedLichtie86]

Seems to be a recurring theme that it takes us half a season to find our best team and players to play their correct positions, incredibly frustrating.

That would be understandable from a team that is chopping and changing its squad each summer with lots of bew faces in the squad.

But we have not had that many ins and outs over the past 3 seasons.

[afc_36_0]

The only question mark imo is who partners low in the centre, we have a lot of options with gold, clark, craigen and possibly henderson and c hamilton that can play there too. Gold would probably be my preferred option to get him in the team

[stan3600]

Even though Clark was ok yesterday I don't belive he is ready for this level and he is the answer to play along side low,
I think if we have a lot of options there but none I'm fully convinced over, of we had a fully fit team then Henderson could do a job there perhaps, was amazed to see him play left midfield,
On the squad we have I think most would be in agreement of the majority of who starts and there positions, Both Hamiltons full backs with Little and ToB , Stewart on the right and Linn on left, Low and Henderson on the middle with Mckenna off Nouble,
That gives us Hilson, Gold Craigen and Donnelly as good options off the bench,
Unsure if or who we will bring in buy think we are ok defensively,

Clark played very well yesterday. Fans have him under the microscope too much. Everyone makes mistakes. I’m impressed with how he’s improved. It seems Dick is too. I thought Chris Hamilton had a great first half but a poor second half.

[lichtiekev]

Has big boots to fill, last 2 I'm judging him on are miko and Williamson, his mistakes are the reason he is under the microscope, he had a decent gane yesterday but nothing more than that,
It's just my opinion but I feel its a position we could of had someone a little better

Clark played very well yesterday. Fans have him under the microscope too much. Everyone makes mistakes. I’m impressed with how he’s improved. It seems Dick is too. I thought Chris Hamilton had a great first half but a poor second half.

[1320Lichtie]

Just makes too many mistakes it’s on the highlights package for their goal. Yes the balls went all the way up the pitch and Hamilton put in a terrible tackle to give them the free kick they scored from but that was so loose, it wasn’t a hard touch to take and they get it back and break on us. Free kick and goal. When it goes 2-1 the whole thing changed it was backs against the wall. 
 

Obviously Low really should’ve scored the penalty and we could’ve done better in other areas it’s just infuriating because it was such a basic mistake to make. The other 19 outfield players don’t make that mistake. 
 

He put in an incredible tackle in the first half that could’ve very well denied a goal too so that’s magic. But there is just too many simple mistakes happening and we cannot allow that to happen. We won’t get away with it. 
 

Feel much more comfortable with Craigen in there.
 

I also really enjoyed seeing Scotty Stewart higher up the park yesterday by the way especially with Bobby Linn not playing. It would be good to see them both on the park though. Unsure over Hamilton at RB though. Extremely unsure over Liam Henderson left wing too it was absolutely bizarre to see, he actually done ok too. 
 

Just mental set up from DC until ToB went up it was like a 3-6-1 / 6-3-1 for a while. 
 

Gutted to not have 4 points. On plus side Nouble looks like he could after all be the main man we need upfront but we need more players who can create and score us goals. Heavily reliant on Low/Linn and Nouble by the look of it. 

[TASC_1878]

TASC SOCIAL MEDIA MAN OF THE MATCH - RESULT 

Congratulations to Joel Nouble on winning the TASC Social Media Man of the Match for his performance in the Lichties 2-2 draw with Ayr yesterday. The big striker opened the scoring with a sublime curling strike which opened his account for the club. It’s also back to back awards for Joel who is clearly making a big impression on the Lichties support. Thanks to all who voted 

[SimonLichtie]

2 hours ago, 1320Lichtie said:

Heavily reliant on Low/Linn and Nouble by the look of it. 

The problem there is that one of the main players we're heavily reliant on struggles to get minutes on the pitch for some reason!

[1320Lichtie]

9 minutes ago, SimonLichtie said:

The problem there is that one of the main players we're heavily reliant on struggles to get minutes on the pitch for some reason!

Mate he’s 36 years of age you can’t ask him to play more than 60 minutes every 3 weeks!!!!!!! 

[Lichtie78]

Bobby Linn should change his name by deed poll to Dale Hilson maybe get more minutes