Tattie36

Were Dundee United not top when we beat them at Tannadice 2 seasons ago?

Waiter… I’ll have massive slice of humble pie, topped with a dollop of special Dick sauce please.

Dick Campbell - tactical genius!!!!!!

Weird post. I didn’t wish anyone was out but I don’t think it’s the worst thing in the world for Thomson to be missing tonight as we’re playing the top of the league team, away from home and if he’s not fully fit then no I don’t think he should be starting in such a potentially tough game. There are other ways of getting players fit - hard training and managed game time. All I (and others) am/are saying is why change a formation and style of play that was pumping teams a few short weeks ago simply because one player is out injured. Slightly different from your rants. Also to answer your question - Henderson has been one of our absolute standouts this season, to drop him for Clark or Donnelly is incredible. You don’t have to be Edgar Davids to see that. Also Craigen, Gold and Paterson IMO have been better this season. This is not a direct criticism of Clark or Donnelly as they both have their merits and I’ll support any player that plays for us, and I actually thought Clark did well enough on Saturday.

How can one single player being out injured cause such a complete change in lineup/tactics/style of play? Just do a straight swap - gold, Paterson, Craigen, Swankie could all do at least part as good a job as Low. Keep everything else the same.

Happy-ish that Thomson is out as I don’t think he’s fully up to speed yet, but Donnelly and Clark ahead of the options we have on the bench is mental.

Oh well, another strange lineup.

He’d f*cking better be.

Our line-up on Saturday looked very much like Dick Campbell is trying to use all our resources and get us “safely” through the 3 games in a week. I would much rather we had played our strongest team on Saturday past and next Saturday v Dunfermline and a more experimental one tomorrow. A win v Ayr would have meant this game was almost a free hit. As it is, even a draw tomorrow would be a slightly disappointing return for the two games. Win tomorrow and Saturday and I’ll gladly eat my words and hail Campbell as a tactical genius.

Aye he’s still with them. Played a few games this season but hasn’t scored. I was surprised to learn the other day that he’s still only 33.

Yeah, boring draw, was hoping for something like Banks o' Dee or Elgin away but we *should win with something to spare. Hope Doris plays and gets a great reception (and doesn't score). * i.e. approach the game with the correct attitude and don't think we just need to turn up to win, as per the game v Aberdeen B.

Yep, agree with all of this. The only player we are missing from who was available for the wins v Partick, QoTS, Hamilton and Dunfermline is Low. Instead of putting e.g. Paterson or Gold in as a straight swap in the middle and stick with the successful formation and style, Dick has decided to change it all, this has coincided with our dip in form - if it ain't broke... I think some of this is to accommodate getting JT back in the team. I like him but I thought we looked better with, dare I say it, a bit more pace and dynamism at the back. Also, utterly baffled that Linn isn't getting any game time at the moment. Surely in blustery conditions, a player who can take the ball down, has great close control, creativity and loves driving at a defence is a no-brainer, for at least part of the game.

Yeah, he would have done incredibly well to have scored from there.

Must say I thought 1415 was a great turnout on a blustery day with what, 150 Ayr fans?

I only watched the stream but that was the worst I've seen us this season (Aberdeen kids aside), really poor once we scored and the equiliser was coming. Draw a fair result although we really should have scored with one of the chances we had late on - that one looked over the line to me. 4 games without a win, 3 points out of 12, the exciting, attacking football from a few weeks ago is fast becoming a distant memory. Not playing with anything like the confidence we had, and why the constant high ball (particularly in the wind)? when we kept it on the ground earlier in the season we were almost unstoppable. Nouble looked a little off the pace, Dowds doesn't look to offer any more of a scoring threat than Donnelly. Surely that was a game for Bobby Linn to get the ball down and run at them. Luckily other results today mean we've not lost any ground on teams below.

Very, very strange starting lineup. Not sure if Thomson is fully fit; Clark starting when he’s barely played; Henderson on the bench; Donnelly and Nouble on at the same time; not much physicality in midfield.

The hard segregation for all games is a real pity. Understand when there’s a large travelling support but for games where there’s 300-400 or under I can’t see a problem. I’ve been going to Gayfield since the late 70s and, aside from a game v Aberdeen in the early 90s, I can’t ever recall any trouble in the ground. The only other time I remember anything was v Cowdenbeath in the early 80s when their fans were fighting amongst themselves.

Just as well Campbell wasn’t in charge for the game at home, also v Ayr in March 2013. We lost 1-4 mostly due to Dallas giving Ayr two of the softest penalties you could ever imagine. The second one, if I remember correctly, was for the Ayr player jumping to unsuccessfully attempt to reach a high cross which went over his head. No appeals from Ayr and no contact from an Arbroath player. I was convinced Dallas had a bet on that day as there were just too many weird decisions. Had Campbell been in charge then he might have been getting out of gaol about now.

We’ve been a bit flat since the Killie game and haven’t won in 3 so really need a return to the form we showed a few weeks ago. Hopefully a full squad to choose from (aside from Nicky Low obviously), drop Hilson and JT to the bench and hope for a big performance from Nouble.

Andy Webster Josh Falkingham Bobby Linn (from 5 years ago)

Poor result today and only 2 points from our last 3 games isn’t great, but we’ve had a fantastic first 1/4. Nothing to fear for the rest of the season.

A quick look and count on your ticket page looks like we’ve sold between 250-300 so far. Probably a good few more than that will go assuming you can buy up to kick off. I’m still not sure if I can make it.

Nah.

The Pleasureland end was always the traditional home end up until maybe 20 years ago. It’s been Changed back this season, partially to enable Arbroath to have more stand seats but also I think it’s something to do with most fans preferring that end. I certainly do.

Hamilton's no Nouble but I'd take him back in a heartbeat. His 8 goals played a big part in keeping us up last season.