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Arbroath vs Partick Thistle


jagfox
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MacKinnon jumping out the way of the ball for the first goal doesn't help.

Second came through a ruck of players. 

His goal kicks were laughable but I don't blame him directly for the goals. The collective sieve gets the blame from me.

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2 minutes ago, jagfox said:

MacKinnon jumping out the way of the ball for the first goal doesn't help.

Second came through a ruck of players. 

His goal kicks were laughable but I don't blame him directly for the goals. The collective sieve gets the blame from me.

Agree it was a collective effort. Probably in time I'll just remember the balls out the park from Fox (tho' others chipped in) and I'll end up thinking Fox was the guilty party re the defeat. Truth as you say blame can be spread amongst too many to mention.

Fox's kicking of course didn't help as that just led to increased pressure from Arbroath. 

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The team are playing bad as a collective for sure, but I would expect IMC to be giving a player who is showing reasonable form in the reserves a chance to play? I think Sneddon should be considered our probable senior GK [in the long term], and if that is true he should be promoted to play in place of Fox, simply on the basis of 'carrot and stick'

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Based on the video's I don't see how Fox is to blame for either goal

For the first both Saunders and Graham are on the line to deal with the large Arbroath strikerstanding on Fox. Both run away form that situation.

At the same time McGinty get dragged near post by the goal scorers run and doesn't get close enough to his man, O'Ware gets dragged to the back post by a clever Arbroath run. There is no opprotunity for Fox to come and claim it. Once McGinty gets beaten to the ball it requires bodies on the line to block it. MacKinnon should have but didn't, Graham and Saunders should have been in position but moved out the way

Second goal is similar but more worrying. This time there is no clever exchange of runs between the Arbroath forwards. The ball goes to the front post and Penrice and Mackinnon are slow to react. Saunders moves out to block but we are slow (looks like Bannigan?) to close down the Arbroath forward on the edge of the box who has a free shot at goal. With that amount of bodies in front of him I'm amazed if Fox could see it before it was past him.

Incidentally if the guys on the near post get off the line as soon as the front post touch is made then the Arbroath striker standing next to Fox is offside

Neither of the goals were there for the keeper to come and grab as both were low to the front post. In both cases there are 3 or 4 defenders who have more of a chance to stop the goal than Fox. If Fox had saved either if would have required a very very good reaction save.

Both look like goals that smack of a defensive unit getting to know each other. Credit to Arbroath in that they recognised a low cross in the wind would be a good option and that our back 3 would struggle with some quick movement.

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19 hours ago, jaggy said:

Why does he end up stuck behind no.15 at both goals? He ends up at a disadvantage both times. Surely our centre backs should stop that happening?

This. The goalkeeper should be protected from attacking players by his defenders. (I would still prefer Sneddon to Fox, but the latter was let down by his defenders, especially for the first goal.) It's not encouraging that O'Ware, who should be organising this, is being given a contract extension.

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5 hours ago, ARu-Strathbungo said:

I would guess that Dick Campbell would have had Arbroath practicing that sort of set piece in the days prior to the game. He appears to have understood our weaknesses and has exploited them to the full

Like nearly every other manager in the league, including the one we're up against n Friday.

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Scott Fox wasn't directly at fault for either goal on Saturday.

He was, however, to blame for kicking the ball directly out of play from a bye kick four times in a row. His insistence of continuing to take the kicks from the right hand side instead of moving it over to the left, therefore giving himself a better chance of keeping the ball in play, was inept to say the least.  

Flapping his arms about as if to blame someone else after doing so only added to his idiotic display. 

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My final words on what was a dreadful performance.

I was at the match and at the end felt very disappointed, angry and let down by the team performance. It was clear I wasn't alone in this respect as a number of fans booed the team off the park. 

I think though the comments about Fox are very harsh. Didn't think he was at fault for the goals and yes his kicking strategy was very poor (but was he following instructions). 

I do recall Fox coming off his line  on a number of occasions for some dangerous crosses and holding them thereby taking pressure off his defence. Something he is often criticised for not doing!

Apart from the crosses I don't recall Fox having to make  save after save as comments on this thread would imply by the level of Arbroath's dominance.

I think our frustration with the performance comes from rarely getting out of our own half (first half) and our adject attempts to play any football in the game. 

One of the poorest performances from a team that these days rarely looks like a football team! 

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The higlights make it look like a dreaful game with only one half getting used due the wind and the only by either team being throw crosses into the box and hope for a mistake. Even when the ball is on the ground in the highlights it looks like its getting effected by the wind.

The second goal looks more like Cole's fault as he's ball watching and not went with the Arbroath scorer.

Our goal looks like the Arbroath Goalie made a mistake. If Fox had made that mistake I could more understand the desire to replace him but instead the highlights show him coming for a number of crosses and taking them. The highlights don't show his kickouts which by all accounts were dreadful.

Our corner kick routines didn't look great on the highlights. We look to be either lumping it in for Graham or going very short. Arbroath showed that some quick movement creates a better opportunity but perhaps this is another instance were a group of new players haven't had the chance to work on set routines.

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That's the problem in a way with highlights. Naturally they're centred round the goals being scored prompting comments about individual errors. Whereas the game was really lost at the other end of the park, or more correctly our abject inability to get the ball up the other end of the park for sustained periods. Given the conditions if we had troubled Arbroath's goalmouth as much as they did ours we most likely have come away with a result.

I want to see us rid of the serial defensive bombscares asap. Half the problem being their poor clearances just heap more pressure on their defending by volume. I know it annoys more than a few fans but I don't care if the ball is played sideways and/or backwards. As long as it's retained, played with a bit of pace and most importantly has a positive end product. We won this division playing that way and perhaps worth noting with not the greatest of back fours defensively.

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I completely agree. What we have lost as a team more than anything else is the ability to pass and retain the ball in all areas of the pitch - from the keeper passing or throwing it out to the defenders through the midfield to the forwards. Maybe managers are only willing to play a short passing game when their team is nearer the top end of the division...

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