Morton v Arbroath

[Lichtielegend]

Missing Nouble and Low is obviously massive and while we can't fault those who came in for effort, it highlighted a real skill gap.

Hilson came on an did really well against Kilmarnock but he was disappointing today - he's hesitant to go on his left foot and he doesn't have a trick so he's easy to defend against. Didn't merit some of the abuse he was getting though and I think he was feeling it too, don't think he applauded the fans when substituted or at full-time. 

Donnelly just didn't get involved enough. The problem for him now is everything he does will be compared to Nouble and while Donnelly has a lot of very similar attributes, Nouble would not have been pushed about like that today.

 

With no Gold in the squad, Craigan was probably the best option for central midfield but he was a bit sloppy in possession. I think he has a good understanding of his role on the left (he'll drift inside when Nouble pulls out wide) so don't know if we'll see him back out there once Nouble returns.

 

 

The game itself was fairly tight and we did well to go in at half time in the lead. The first 15 mins of the 2nd half were so disjointed. It was like our defence were sitting back while the rest of the team were trying to press. It left huge gaps in between the defence and midfield and Morton totally exploited it.

As for the penalty, I was expecting it to be a free kick against us just because that's what usually happens in those situations. Big point to keep the unbeaten run going though.

 

Shouldn't be underestimated the impact Henderson has had in centre-midfield. I think his lanky physique belies a very technically sound player with great awareness. He's our Busquets....

 

 

[footyguy]

14 minutes ago, keptie said:

Ermm.....Queens Park?? Explanation please.

Typing error

[Seeker]

Morton pressed well and won most second balls. Our passing was rushed and lost possession that put us under pressure so had to go long from defenders which put us under more pressure. Nouble and Low give us an out. Hopefully a 2 week break gets Nouble fit. Expect Low to be  a few more weeks. Happy getting a point and keeping the momentum.

[keptie]

6 minutes ago, footyguy said:

Typing error

You asking or telling bud? Either way you're gonna have to change it pronto, Lichties on here gonna get suspicious. 

[DUAFC]

15 minutes ago, Lichtielegend said:

 He's our Busquets....

 

 

Brilliant 

[Paisley Ton]

Surprised to read all those negative comments from Arbroath fans.

While Arbroath didn't show 90 mins of silky skills they did show why their season is going well. OK prob only succeeded in pressing Morton for 15 mins in first and then 20 mins near the end. As expected a big physical team who played too their strengths and are a real danger from set plays. Maybe with your missing quality guys you would have had a different strategy.

As for the game, Morton's second goal was quality. It started with Stapp playing pass the ball back and forth. Then a space opening ball to Russell a few challenges later on to Oksanen who slip Blues in for a good finish.

We needed to resist the Arbroath bombardment and nearly did so until the penalty. Was disappointed in the award thought McEntee, who gets better each week, won the ball with a solid headed challenge and was surprised with the award giving the physical challenges Arbroath had made throughout the match. I dare say all will be clearer once they show the highlights.

Felt Blues was the correct selection for the game but that Russell should have been on from the start. The loss of big Gozie took away our physical presence going forward. While a draw was a decent result we really needed a win and pity we couldn't take either of those two late chances.

[Hayshead2]

16 hours ago, 1320Lichtie said:

No Nouble and no Low

 

Jesus f**k

 

Thats our team right there 

What a ridiculous comment.

Yes we missed both of them yesterday and probably will in any future games they miss BUT!!!!!!

TOB and Ricky are our best 2 players and have been for the last 3 years.

All the other lads are doing a pretty decent job as well.

 

[1320Lichtie]

16 minutes ago, Hayshead2 said:

What a ridiculous comment.

Yes we missed both of them yesterday and probably will in any future games they miss BUT!!!!!!

TOB and Ricky are our best 2 players and have been for the last 3 years.

All the other lads are doing a pretty decent job as well.

 

Apologies that maybe come across wrong. I love all of our players and we’ve got a solid squad it’s great but our flying start and success has been mainly down to they 2. Low runs the show for us and Nouble well what he’s done speaks for itself the guys been incredible.

[Lichtielegend]

8 hours ago, Paisley Ton said:

Surprised to read all those negative comments from Arbroath fans.

While Arbroath didn't show 90 mins of silky skills they did show why their season is going well. OK prob only succeeded in pressing Morton for 15 mins in first and then 20 mins near the end. As expected a big physical team who played too their strengths and are a real danger from set plays. Maybe with your missing quality guys you would have had a different strategy.

 

It's just a case of us being a bit spoiled over the last couple of months, to be honest. Every club has their fans that just love to be critical and ours haven't had much to say recently, they must have been choking for a moan.

That was probably the poorest 90 mins we've played in the league this season, yet we've still nicked a point.

[lichtie23]

Good point in the end and showed great fight until the end. Hilson struggled again which is a concern. Liam Henderson strolled it though, what a signing he has been. Bowling club was superb pre match as well. 

[Dunning1874]

I'll wait for highlights before making any further comment on that penalty decision.

In isolation that's not a bad result, there were some really good individual performances, from Oksanen & Russell in particular, and being reminded that we can actually score goals should give us some grounds for positivity. However the fact is that even with an improved performance we still can't see a game out and we're six games without a win, with a trip to Inverness to come next.

We're going to be entering that run of three games in a week at the end of the month seven without a win and that week could easily be the end of MacPherson. Assuming we don't take anything at Inverness, seven points will be the minimum acceptable from those three games to avoid the sack. That's what it'll take to even be in a relegation battle rather than meekly collapsing into tenth place without a fight, and if that's where we are there will be absolutely no reason to keep him around as we circle the drain.

There's a massive Alloa last season vibe about this team, being competitive pretty much every week but simply failing to grind out enough points to even come close to survival. It needs to stop and right now the only apparent way of stopping it is a new manager.

[1320Lichtie]

2 hours ago, Lichtielegend said:

It's just a case of us being a bit spoiled over the last couple of months, to be honest. Every club has their fans that just love to be critical and ours haven't had much to say recently, they must have been choking for a moan.

That was probably the poorest 90 mins we've played in the league this season, yet we've still nicked a point.

My intention wasn’t too moan either I just thought we were very poor compared to our recent standards and that is understandable for a few reasons, big players missing, hard place to go and you cannot play well every single week.

 

Encouraging we’ve no been beat looking back on it 

[lichtie23]

6 minutes ago, 1320Lichtie said:

My intention wasn’t too moan either I just thought we were very poor compared to our recent standards and that is understandable for a few reasons, big players missing, hard place to go and you cannot play well every single week.

 

Encouraging we’ve no been beat looking back on it 

I thought we showed great fight to get a point in the end. A lot more positives than negatives for me 

[Tattie36]

Shows how far the club has come in the past few years when some fans are slightly disappointed with a battling away draw to Morton with some influential players missing. 

Every point is precious and despite our incredible start, a bit of introspection is needed at times. I definitely think, with our strongest team, that we are capable of a comfortable top half finish, even a playoff place. However, as yesterday showed, it doesn’t take much to knock the balance of the team off.

To lose, arguably your two most influential players to injury at the same time is a big chunk of bad luck so to come away with a point is pretty good imo.

[1320Lichtie]

40 minutes ago, Tattie36 said:

Shows how far the club has come in the past few years when some fans are slightly disappointed with a battling away draw to Morton with some influential players missing. 

Every point is precious and despite our incredible start, a bit of introspection is needed at times. I definitely think, with our strongest team, that we are capable of a comfortable top half finish, even a playoff place. However, as yesterday showed, it doesn’t take much to knock the balance of the team off.

To lose, arguably your two most influential players to injury at the same time is a big chunk of bad luck so to come away with a point is pretty good imo.

Nicky Low angle ligaments so be back walking properly in a week or so. Then just depends how quickly he can build strength back up. I was about 4/5 weeks when I done mine. 
 

International break come at a good time. Nouble back for Raith away

[The Ghost of B A R P]

4 hours ago, Dunning1874 said:

Assuming we don't take anything at Inverness, seven points will be the minimum acceptable from those three games to avoid the sack. That's what it'll take to even be in a relegation battle rather than meekly collapsing into tenth place without a fight, and if that's where we are there will be absolutely no reason to keep him around as we circle the drain.

So we have six points from eight games, but the minimum acceptable over the next four is… seven?

I agree that MacPherson is now walking the line (his own squad in place, takeover complete), but let’s be real: stabilising to at least a point a game - so a win and a draw over the next four - will be enough to keep him in a job (whether or not that’s ‘right’).

I said before Ayr he needed to get at least two points from the next two; he has… and will no doubt feel aggrieved it wasn’t four.

If we’re going to pull away from the bottom, it’s more likely to be on the basis of gradual, steady improvement than a QoS-style sudden burst of wins that take us clear.

I’m not at all confident that will happen, but it’s currently as much as we can hope for. Demanding seven points from three games at this stage is bordering on Ayr/Falkirk levels of delusion, I’m afraid.

[lichtgilphead]

Do Morton put up highlights?

[1320Lichtie]

18 minutes ago, lichtgilphead said:

Do Morton put up highlights?

Yeah. ETA well on YouTube for last home games they’re there. TonTV

Edited October 3, 2021 by 1320Lichtie

[Dunning1874]

13 hours ago, The Ghost of B A R P said:

I’m not at all confident that will happen, but it’s currently as much as we can hope for. Demanding seven points from three games at this stage is bordering on Ayr/Falkirk levels of delusion, I’m afraid.

I'm not remotely confident it will happen either, in fact I'm almost certain it won't and that it isn't realistic, but it's the only thing that's going to stop us gradually slipping further from safety. One win every 10 games isn't going to keep us up, a QoS style burst of results is necessary at this point. If it isn't going to happen then there's no point in MacPherson being here - if we take say four points from the next four games, we're probably going to be cut adrift in the bottom two. Drawing our way to survival is already off the table, we need to start winning.

[Smokerson]

Good point on saturday and a decent battling away performance. Take the best two players out of any team and there will always be a drop so not sure why anyone thought otherwise.