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The Arbroath Thread


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1 hour ago, Tattie36 said:

And physicality.

We completely lost the midfield battle yesterday and Motherwell pretty much had a free reign there. How many times did they have time and space to win it, take it down and pass it on completely unchallenged?

Unlike some others here, I actually thought Balde was very poor yesterday as was Gold. We’re desperately needing physicality in the centre of midfield and players who stay there and don’t get sucked back into defence as soon as the opposition have the ball.

Yesterday also exposed how threadbare we are at the back.

It was obvious yesterday, the midfield sat deeper to protect the defence, only problem with that was we didn't get forward quickly enough when we had the chance 

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3 hours ago, lichtie23 said:

Balde was fine. Gold was uncharacteristically poor. 

Funny how people see things differently, I thought Balde really struggled and gave ball away a lot,

Though the game completely passed Dow by too, 

Bitsindou looks better at the back buy for such a big lad he isn't dominant enough, Can't see him making the cut at Livi,

 

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Just now, lichtiekev said:

Funny how people see things differently, I thought Balde really struggled and gave ball away a lot,

Though the game completely passed Dow by too, 

Bitsindou looks better at the back buy for such a big lad he isn't dominant enough, Can't see him making the cut at Livi,

 

Bitsindou is definitely a better CB than CM but isn’t near as good as TOB or Ricky 

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1 hour ago, lichtie23 said:

Bitsindou is definitely a better CB than CM but isn’t near as good as TOB or Ricky 

I don't agree there at all, I thought he looked like an absolute liability at cb, but solid at the base of midfield.  As said earlier, funny how people see things differently!

Regarding defence, I said a while back I thought we needed to put Hamilton in the middle, and I stick to that.  Neither ToB or Little have looked right all season.  I mind some of us suspecting Little was carrying an injury at the start of the season, and I wonder if his lack of a pre season has been costing him.  

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Need at least two more signings to complete the jig saw for the 2nd half of the season.

We are getting to close to rebuilding the squad to where we should be - but still need another striker and either a battling midfielder or a defender who can play at the back in different positions.

Scott Allan will return in a few weeks - but he won't be match fit - we might only get the final 6-7 weeks of the season from him.

Nicky Low will either need to get sold or return to Kelty on loan - looking like we have been unable to resolve matters with Nicky, which is unfortunate as he is a quality player and what we need for midfield.

Would expect two new signings to be announced within the next 10 days.

 

 

 

 

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Thought Saturday was fine and a decent performance against a Premier League team. Gaston back in goals and Gold or Hetherington in over Bitsindou and that’s what I’d try stick to for the rest of the season.
 

There was nothing in that on Saturday and the difference was they had a few moments of quality in and around our box that won them the game. 

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42 minutes ago, clashcityrocker said:

Need at least two more signings to complete the jig saw for the 2nd half of the season.

We are getting to close to rebuilding the squad to where we should be - but still need another striker and either a battling midfielder or a defender who can play at the back in different positions.

Scott Allan will return in a few weeks - but he won't be match fit - we might only get the final 6-7 weeks of the season from him.

Nicky Low will either need to get sold or return to Kelty on loan - looking like we have been unable to resolve matters with Nicky, which is unfortunate as he is a quality player and what we need for midfield.

Would expect two new signings to be announced within the next 10 days.

 

 

 

 

Again, I massively respect and admire your optimism.

A few of my thoughts:

We are way beyond half way in the season, only 2 more games until 2/3 of the season gone.

Even though we keep hearing it, I’m yet to be convinced that we’ve improved enough to keep us up. Aside from the Dundee win, have we really seen a big improvement? Yes, I like the look of Adwarka and he certainly looks a step up from what we had, however, if we continue to play as we are with an isolated striker having to chase long punts with little support, then is that really going to chance much?

Our defence still looks shaky, is threadbare and definitely weaker than it was a fortnight ago with Oakley leaving. We’re an injury or suspension away from a defensive crisis.

Midfield is crying out for a big, physical holding player who stays put, can win ball and put himself about a bit. We’re far far too lightweight there at the moment and are losing the battle there pretty much every game.

So for me, 3 or 4 players needed - a dedicated right back, a physical midfielder and at least one more striker.

I’m still not convinced we can turn this round as Cove and Accies are strengthening too.

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6 minutes ago, Tattie36 said:

Again, I massively respect and admire your optimism.

A few of my thoughts:

We are way beyond half way in the season, only 2 more games until 2/3 of the season gone.

Even though we keep hearing it, I’m yet to be convinced that we’ve improved enough to keep us up. Aside from the Dundee win, have we really seen a big improvement? Yes, I like the look of Adwarka and he certainly looks a step up from what we had, however, if we continue to play as we are with an isolated striker having to chase long punts with little support, then is that really going to chance much?

Our defence still looks shaky, is threadbare and definitely weaker than it was a fortnight ago with Oakley leaving. We’re an injury or suspension away from a defensive crisis.

Midfield is crying out for a big, physical holding player who stays put, can win ball and put himself about a bit. We’re far far too lightweight there at the moment and are losing the battle there pretty much every game.

So for me, 3 or 4 players needed - a dedicated right back, a physical midfielder and at least one more striker.

I’m still not convinced we can turn this round as Cove and Accies are strengthening too.

Played 3 since the changes and got 4 points and scored 7 goals. In the previous 19 games there was 14 points and 13 goals. That’s an improvement on paper but for me it’s pretty clear to see an improvement on the park too. 
 

I don’t particularly think he’s being overly optimistic I think you are perhaps extremely pessimistic so it just seems that way. We were so very unlucky to lose that goal down at Ayr, you’d be looking at things a lot differently if we’d won that and won 2 from 3. 
 

It’s a long road ahead and a hard task for a group who must be extremely low on confidence but with a few more things going our way I see no reason why we can’t pull ourselves back. 
 

Also personally still really hope Scott Stewart becomes a right back permanently. Good there on Saturday again 

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39 minutes ago, 1320Lichtie said:

I don’t particularly think he’s being overly optimistic I think you are perhaps extremely pessimistic so it just seems that way. We were so very unlucky to lose that goal down at Ayr, you’d be looking at things a lot differently if we’d won that and won 2 from 3. 
 

 

If my auntie had baws she would be my uncle. But we cant look at ifs/buts can we?

I'd agree clearly the team lack confidence, but you can sign who you like, IMO unless tactics change, hoofing the ball up to one striker, against 4 defenders, statistically isnt going to work in your favour no matter who that striker is.

I think the new bodies in have done well, hopefully a few more come in to give us some more depth.  Fingers crossed Hamilton and Cove dont sign too many players, it will be a slog, its achievable but we got to stop that hoofing the ball stuff. Its not ever really worked in reality, we done ok last season as it suited Nouble's strengths.

 

 

 

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