Match Preview/Thread - Arbroath vs Morton (18th December)

[TRVMP]

Judging from the highlights we had the better of the chances. Trying to lip-read Derek Anderson as he looked away from the camera (since obviously hearing him is out of the question) he's sorely disappointed that we don't take opportunities in front of goal and then we get punished for two sloppy errors.

That's basically the size of it. Credit to him for at least not going on about how unlucky we are and instead saying the obvious - getting on the end of chances and cutting out individual mistakes are how games are won.

[capitanus]

Congratulations to Arbroath for being 'top of the league' for Christmas.

If there is another club in this league i'd like to do well, although not at Morton's expense, its them.  

I would love it for them to win the league this year.

[Jamie_M]

10 hours ago, capitanus said:

Congratulations to Arbroath for being 'top of the league' for Christmas.

If there is another club in this league i'd like to do well, although not at Morton's expense, its them.  

I would love it for them to win the league this year.

Doubt many are looking at that and not saying fair fucks to them and hoping they continue to show up many of the other teams in this league.

Closer to home, every single person involved with our current position should be looking at that and be thoroughly ashamed of themselves, while penning their resignation letters.

[SpoonTon]

I wasn't sure what exactly happened at Arbroath's first goal, but my initial thought was that no-one and everyone was at fault - and that was pretty much right. It looks like man-marking, but with no-one picking up Colin Hamilton. Organisationally that's just so basic - not well drilled enough, and no-one in charge on the pitch. There was no need for us to concede a goal on Saturday, we are our own worst enemy at the back. 

At the heart of the second goal, and our defence, is a player who needs to find a new club in January - I wonder if we could ship him to Ayr to join Baird, Fjortoft, and McGinty? 

[Alibi]

Who was responsible for that dreadful clearance attempt at the second goal?  I couldn't make it out on the stream?  I'm guessing Lithgow...

[SpoonTon]

7 minutes ago, Alibi said:

Who was responsible for that dreadful clearance attempt at the second goal?  I couldn't make it out on the stream?  I'm guessing Lithgow...

It's Lithgow on the first attempted clearance, and Ledger on the second. 

[DreamOakTree]

On 12/18/2021 at 10:01 PM, vikingTON said:

Arbroath are currently achieving exactly what MCT should be aiming to replicate. A squad of likeable players - not useless, Herbalife salesmen jobbers - being funded by a sustainable base of community support. 

This shitshow of a squad is doomed to relegation and rightly so. We should have broken the entire first team operation apart last season, regardless of the play-off. Instead we rewarded failure and here we are in a far worse off position now.

Looks like you may have had a valid point with your idea to go part-time (or PT/FT mixture?) with how things are panning out. Could’ve cleared out some of the poor wee souls who think they’re exempt from criticism!

[Lt Frank Drebin]

On 12/18/2021 at 6:59 PM, HeidTheBaw said:

Dick Campbell wouldn’t have got this long at Morton, fans would be screaming for him to be sacked after 6 months. 

This is appalling patter

[Lt Frank Drebin]

On 12/18/2021 at 7:52 PM, standman said:

Why was Muirhead hounded at full time? Looks like he was only on park six minutes? 

It may be linked to his ridiculous, mewling meltdown after his goal against Inverness 

[TRVMP]

On 12/18/2021 at 2:46 PM, HeidTheBaw said:

I’m questioning the sacking because we were 8th and in with a pack of another 4 teams forming the bottom 5, 2 of them on a similarly hopeless budget. 

Will you admit you got this wrong? With only one new player in - Wilson, who played 25 minutes - that's Imrie gotten a tune out of a team you thought was hopeless.

[Jamie_M]

1 minute ago, TRVMP said:

Will you admit you got this wrong? With only one new player in - Wilson, who played 25 minutes - that's Imrie gotten a tune out of a team you thought was hopeless.

Cough * Brandon * Cough.

Point remains valid though that his was a rancid take.

[TRVMP]

Just now, Jamie_M said:

Cough * Brandon * Cough.

Point remains valid though that his was a rancid take.

Oh aye. Forgot about Brandon.

Right, well, hopeless budget, hopeless squad, hopeless wee Morton... and Imrie's got eleven points from fifteen out of them, and that includes three games against top-half teams.

What would Gus have got? Two points if we're lucky.

[TaunTon]

31 minutes ago, TRVMP said:

Oh aye. Forgot about Brandon.

Right, well, hopeless budget, hopeless squad, hopeless wee Morton... and Imrie's got eleven points from fifteen out of them, and that includes three games against top-half teams.

What would Gus have got? Two points if we're lucky.

and let's not forget about 5 weeks of 'can't fault the effort' interviews. Gus set the bar as low as he could and his lack of belief was reflected on the park. 

[Jamie_M]

52 minutes ago, TRVMP said:

Oh aye. Forgot about Brandon.

Right, well, hopeless budget, hopeless squad, hopeless wee Morton... and Imrie's got eleven points from fifteen out of them, and that includes three games against top-half teams.

What would Gus have got? Two points if we're lucky.

If they had given him the gig in the summer, Arbroath's win last night would have just been to keep them a million points behind us.

[dunning1874]

10 hours ago, TRVMP said:

Oh aye. Forgot about Brandon.

Right, well, hopeless budget, hopeless squad, hopeless wee Morton... and Imrie's got eleven points from fifteen out of them, and that includes three games against top-half teams.

What would Gus have got? Two points if we're lucky.

11 points and 11 goals from 5 games for Imrie; it took MacPherson 13 games to hit both those totals.

It's almost as if blindly persisting with a manager who is clearly incompetent because it would bring stability, or we just need to get behind the team, or no other manager could possibly do a better job, is always an incorrect stance.

[Jamie_M]

7 hours ago, dunning1874 said:

11 points and 11 goals from 5 games for Imrie; it took MacPherson 13 games to hit both those totals.

It's almost as if blindly persisting with a manager who is clearly incompetent because it would bring stability, or we just need to get behind the team, or no other manager could possibly do a better job, is always an incorrect stance.

I know the Imrie Dynasty is going to be glorious and last for 30 years, but regardless, it's pleasing to know that those shit takes will be even more effortlessly batted away in future.

 

[HamCam]

7 hours ago, dunning1874 said:

11 points and 11 goals from 5 games for Imrie; it took MacPherson 13 games to hit both those totals.

It's almost as if blindly persisting with a manager who is clearly incompetent because it would bring stability, or we just need to get behind the team, or no other manager could possibly do a better job, is always an incorrect stance.

It seems a bit like groundhog day - the same core of fans, blame the fans who demand we can do better, for not supporting a failing manager. Strangely when change finally occurs the same core of fans forget their unconditional fealty to the previous manager.

[HeidTheBaw]

On 2/5/2022 at 4:58 PM, TRVMP said:

Will you admit you got this wrong? With only one new player in - Wilson, who played 25 minutes - that's Imrie gotten a tune out of a team you thought was hopeless.

Sorry, first time I’ve been on in months as I really only check the forum when I’m looking for news.

Imrie looks an improvement over McPherson certainly.

In terms of the league the difference between the managers is going from 8th to 7th, not drastic, but I think poor refereeing decisions have cost us about 7-9 points in the past month, so we should be higher. 
Taking the last couple of games out the equation, the difference on the park is more obvious. Even if yesterday was rank rotten. 

Hopefully next season is more of an improvement when he brings his own players in. The signings of Wilson and Brandon are hopefully an indication that Imrie has a good eye for a player.

The last 2 games we’ve looked as bad as we were at the start of the season, creating very little. I hope it’s not a sign the initial bump from getting Dougie in is wearing off, I don’t think it is.
 

Generally I’m not a fan of hysterical and extreme opinions. It’s probably a social media/online thing. Fans argue with complete strangers and in order to be heard need to be more vocal and extreme in putting across their views, or maybe even post shit in the heat of the moment, which we’ve all done, that said in a face to face conversation on that day it would be forgotten about, but online it’s permanent. Then it becomes about standing by an argument and that argument defines the person who is making it and folk talk to one another in a way they never would in person, because they’d get gubbed. It’s a bit draining reading folk moaning every week and then getting wide when someone posts something they don’t like, again something they’d never do in the cowshed in person. There’s a lot folk I talk to don’t come on here for that reason.

I look at McPherson as a manager who has proven himself at other clubs. Predictably some fans were pretty vocal against Gus from the moment he was appointed, whether that’s down to him being ex st mirren or just because he’s older, I’m not sure. But he was up against it from day 1 and it’s hard for a team to perform when there’s no support from the stands. You could see it in the demeanour of a few of the players.

I cannae be bothered with the modern trait of wanting a manager bagged as soon as things stop going well, or a club goes through a bad patch. Hearing/reading St Johnstone fans looking for Callum Davidson to be sacked the season after winning two cups gives me the boak. Pure thick as fuck wee guy patter. 
It can take time for a manger to make a mark or turn things round.
I’d have given McPherson until the end of the season, whether that would have resulted in relegation I don’t know. It’s just how I prefer to see things done. 
He was told the target was to stay up and he was sacked while outside the relegation zone. 
 

I’ve enjoyed the football more since the change in manager though. I’ve also enjoyed the fans getting behind the team more. 

Long winded response, but I’m hungover. To answer your question directly, was I wrong? Probably.

But I still don’t like seeing a manager getting sacked less than a year into an appointment, after scraping a team together in 1 transfer window. 

[EanieMeany]

Gus finished 9th last season and we were joint bottom when he left. It’s just mental that there’s still people trying to spin this complete and utter about him tbh.

[HeidTheBaw]

11 minutes ago, EanieMeany said:

Gus finished 9th last season and we were joint bottom when he left. It’s just mental that there’s still people trying to spin this complete and utter about him tbh.

I’m not spinning anything, I’m stating a fact. 

I’ve not come on to stir further debate about the previous manager. I came on to see if there was any truth in the rumour that MCT have spat the dummy out with the Imrie and responded to a question that someone asked me in February.