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You can’t really say you failed to take full advantage when you still leave with the 3 points. Ultimately we did what we needed to do. Frustrating we couldn’t score more but I’d be more worried if weren’t creating anything or getting into dangerous areas. We’ve scored 2 goals in each league game so far so if we carried that across the season, i won’t be too worried You may well be correct about us not challenging for playoffs and tbh it’s not a dire need for the club to do so (although much preferred) but that is an incredibly bold comment from someone who seems to constantly try reinforce this Arbroath side being one or two additions away from being a team that will win matches in this league. You won 6 out of 36 games last season and have won one game out of 6 in all comps so far. There is zero indicator as of yet that there’s any marked improvement Ready for the humble pie when we inevitably make a backside of it on Saturday at Gayfield

I’m sorry but if there’s actually people denying it was an incredibly one sided game then that’s just people with their Arbroath tinted glasses on tbh. Fair enough there was a 20 minute period where we didn’t have the freedom of Glasgow to move the ball about but other than the goal, a point would of been sheer robbery Will still be a different game at Gayfield. Would imagine Arbroath will get much more in our faces to see what we’re made of Also I was thinking, for a guy that doesn’t score an obscene amount of goals, I’m convinced Leighton Mcintosh scores against us all the time. He always pops up out of nowhere. I was saying that as he came on Saturday and typically scored 5 minutes later

Yeah on the face of it, I’d be incredibly satisfied to have Ure and Paton as our strikers especially if we could get Ure on a multi year contract like Paton. Hopefully the development fee isn’t too high but given he’s training with us, i’m assuming the club are already aware of the potential figure, therefore hopefully willing to pay it

Thinking about the lineup for Saturday, think the only change that’ll be made would be McPherson in for Longridge. Again, Longridge has done absolutely nothing wrong but if McPherson is going to be right back across the season, we need him starting in these types of games to see how he copes. I really liked what I seen of him on Saturday. Given that Robbie Ure is training with us, hopefully he’ll be signed up before Saturday. Desperately need another option up top to relieve some pressure off Paton as the season progresses

Including the amateur era, we’ve had some excellent loan players. Eamonn Brophy stood out like a sore thumb in a horrendous side that finished bottom of league 2. Dario zanatta was also terrific when we stayed up comfortably in league 1 back in 2016/17. Genuinely thought Zanatta would have became a Hearts regular after watching him then but how wrong was I. Malachi Boateng was obviously outstanding last season and in terms of consistent performances, he’s probably the best loan we’ve had. We’ve also had some woeful loans, most notably from the last 2 seasons. You could have your pick between Luis Longstaff, Connor Mcbride, Euan Henderson or Johnny Kenny. Longstaff and Kenny particularly stand out as my least favourite loans ever

You’d assume if we’ve brought him in for training, we’re already aware and possibly prepared to pay whatever is due if the management team ultimately decide to sign him Scored 17 in the lowland league with Rangers B last season from what I’ve seen so at least he’s got a taster of men’s football

I like Tizzard a lot. He’s quite clearly not the finished article which is expected but immediately after a couple games, he’s got the raw attributes to be a very very good defender at this level. I think the booking early doors affected his game a bit and taking him off after Arbroath’s equaliser was probably the right decision. It was key to not have players on the pitch with their head gone in that moment Thought Fox was exceptional yesterday and looks back to the player we all know he is. Knowing he’s now tied down for 2 years is superb

But but but we’re a squad of kids… Surely we couldn’t compete with such physical specimens in Arbroath ? I’m not joking but that’s probably one of the most one sided games I’ve seen QP involved in for a long time. Would of been a travesty had Arbroath took anything from that All round we were superb and a goal was nothing less than Paton deserved. He was outstanding today, as was Dom Thomas who was up against a right back that played like he was dragged from the stand to fill in Also Jack Spong might be the best footballer in the world. Absolutely faultless in the middle of the park This QP side are no mugs again this season I had my doubts when I seen some Arbroath fans say they have a squad that would be incredibly competitive in this league. Today reinforced my doubts by x100. They looked awful everywhere. Bird looked hopeless up top. I worry the bubble might have burst now for Dick

I still have flashbacks of that rotten 1-0 defeat at home last season when we were flying high so not taking anything for granted today (plus no Stephen Eze to an absolute backside of things) Would carry on with the same team. Of course McPherson has been signed but you simply can’t drop Longridge after his performance last week. Maybe it’s coming with regular matches but similar to Kilday last season, Longridge looks fitter, more mobile and generally looks a championship level player again. Think I heard he was hit covid pretty badly around 18 months ago which may have undoubtedly affected his performances as his legs looked gone at one stage but fair play to him, he’s been excellent so far

Scott Williamson now loaned out to Cove. Surely that must mean we’ve got a striker coming in today ?

Week 2 - Forfar

We were very fortunate with loans in the amateur era. Ralston, Brophy, Keena, Zanatta, Duggan and even Jack Iredale were all excellent for us My favourite personally was probably Chris Duggan. Was a lazy sod at times but he was totally unplayable when he was at it. The home game against Cowdenbeath in the year we got promoted through the playoffs, he could and should have scored about 5 that game. Pretty sure he tore his hamstring 2nd leg and that kind of summed his career afterwards

One is definitely Joseph Smith who’s listed in the first team squad on the official website I think the other one might be Kane Thompson? He played the very first game at lesser in the tester game and looked the best player out of the young guys imo. Certainly looked more physically developed than most

Seem very highly rated which is promising. Plays for the Scotland u21’s also which is nice to see Hopefully a lot better than our last Celtic loan..

That Dessers is absolutely atrocious

I think you only need to look at Regan Thompson as a prime example of moving down south too soon at Newcastle to play reserve football at 16. The guy looked like he had all the tools to make it as a full time footballer minimum but as of last season he was punted after playing 0 games for a dreadful Hamilton side and was then seen playing for our ochilview friends, Sygenta I’ve no doubts McKenna has a ridiculously high ceiling and the way Brighton play, that style of football is perfect for him. From a fans perspective, selfishly I’d love to just get a full season of him to see how good he can get at this level

Going by reports on Twitter, Brighton will be putting in a bid before the end of the window. Would be a gutter if he left so early but you’d hope the lure of 1st team at 16 years old may help our case in keeping him. Or worst case scenario, we get a fee for McKenna this month and he’s loaned back for the rest of the season

I think last season we went through an abundance of right backs but I really question how much due diligence was put into guys like Jason Naismith and David Boateng. Naismith was one of Coyle’s guys from the past (Like Eze) so I’m assuming Beuker took Coyle’s word thinking we were signing the same premiership version of him and not the 28 year old going on 48 when turning in any sort of direction. I certainly assumed he’d of walked into our side when he joined last summer As frustrating as it is to have not signed a right back as of yet, I’d rather wait until we’ve got the right guy. Hopefully if it is Ben McPherson, he’ll be the guy to do the job. He certainly seems highly rated which is a decent start

That was my concern also. Don’t think you could replace a player like Thomas at this level tbh(or at least find it incredibly difficult to replace). Still stand by when he’s on top of his game, he’s absolutely in the question for best player in league. Hopefully we just get the consistency even more this season as it seems to be the one thing that’s held him back from making a career in the premiership Like Murray, I think he’ll thrive with the captaincy. Talks brilliantly in interviews and on the tv when he’s done bits of punditry work

Dom Thomas signs a contract extension until 2025. Our best player and now captain signed up. Brilliant way to cap off the weekend Now get McKenna, Savoury and Bruce extended contracts please!

After having the time to reflect on the match, I think it’s fair to say that was a performance which brought an enormous amount of reassurance amongst myself and some of support to suggest in some way that we’ll be no mugs this season. It’s still incredibly early days of course but I was very pleasantly surprised how confident we looked on the ball for around 75 minutes. We passed the ball around the back but there seemed to be a bit more of a realisation to just whack the ball when necessary. We found a great a balance between possession and overall game management. Only criticism would be the Impact of the subs. Healy struggled to keep the ball and Williamson just unfortunately doesn’t look championship ready at this point. Think he needs to get that loan to cove sorted to get the regular game time. It’s clear there’s a fair drop off from the first 11 to the subs You could pick out almost anyone on their impressive performance but I’ll be giving Jack Spong MOTM. He was so comfortable in possession and got the ball moving all over the pitch. He was available for a pass in any scenario and dealt with the physical aspects of the match with minimal fuss. You can tell he’s been brought up in the Brighton academy, top player. A massive shout out for Louis Longridge btw. I’ve never been a massive fan of the guy at the best of times but he might of potentially reinvented himself into a very competent full back. Positional sense and energy levels were excellent and was fantastic in possession for the whole game. Even if a new right back is signed for next week, it would be ridiculously harsh to drop Longridge after today. I was surprised how poor Inverness were. Billy mckay seemed to just fall at almost anything whilst it’s still utterly wild that Luis Longstaff is signed on a 2 year deal at a legitimate championship football club. He was absolutely hopeless and no surprise he was the first one hooked second half. Davidson had his moments going forward but again looked ropey defensively. Seems to be a massive drop from last season and can’t see that team pushing top 4 without some serious reinforcements

Also Callan McKenna, absolute superstar. Unbelievable at 16 years old. Enjoy him whilst we have him

Inverness are absolute dug meat. Fully deserved 3 points

To go into the league campaign with no recognised right back is pretty ridiculous in all honesty. I’m fine with not having one signed over the cup games but surely we can’t be waiting until the end of august to get one in

That’s fair enough. I don’t doubt that anyone, including the QP support will have question marks on how this style will pan out. I’m incredibly confident it’ll be successful in the long run but I’ll admit that I think we might get off to a rocky start adapting to this style in the championship. You’re potentially going to be playing us at a good time in these double header matches I’ve no clue how Arbroath will do tbh. Reading on here, there seems to be a massive expectation on Bird being the real deal. His football CV doesn’t exactly scream goals but he might just need regular football, who knows I think the difference for you guys will still be whether Little, O’brien and Gaston can maintain their incredibly high standards. Little looked like he was slowing down last season whenever I seen him play and I’m curious to see if this will still be the case