The Arbroath Thread

[SimonLichtie]

If you take away the players who've been with us for several years, at this time last season we had the following signed up who have since left:

Cammy Gill
Jason Thomson
James Craigen
Nicky Low
Dylan Paterson
Bobby Linn
Kieran Shanks
Dale Hilson

They have, at this point, been replaced by:

Ali Adams
Aaron Steele
Scott Allan
Joao Balde
Ryan Dow
Leighton McIntosh
Craig Slater
Mark Stowe

I'd say we're in a better position squad wise than this time last year, and we've got far more options on the go currently. Last year Nick Dembele and Ikechi Eze were our two trialists against Brechin and I'd say both of them were at least a level below the majority of trialists we saw today. Realistically I'd think/ hope we can add one or two of the trialists, three absolute max. I expect the plan is to narrow it down to 5/6 max after today who get a few more weeks and further games etc. and we go from there.

[SimonLichtie]

1 minute ago, Tattie36 said:

What other players will become available? Other teams have been snapping everyone up and I’m not sure how many more, if any, players of the required standard will become available.

What do you think about the current squad size of the other teams in the division, and the other bigger part time clubs who we compete for players? We have a squad of 16 at the moment - if there aren't many more players of the required standard then by your own logic you might actually be arguing we're in a really good position and the majority are all struggling more than us?  

[1320Lichtie]

5 minutes ago, Tattie36 said:

The loan thing has been discussed and there’s just not the same quality put out on loan now days. Dick said himself that they don’t want to rely on loans due to the potential lack of quality. Yes, we’ll probably get a couple but let’s not expect them to be that good.

What other players will become available? Other teams have been snapping everyone up and I’m not sure how many more, if any, players of the required standard will become available.

I genuinely worry that the management have put all their eggs in one basket and are banking on our remaining signings coming from this bunch. Why invest so much time and effort (and money) in bringing these guys up for a few weeks to then get rid of them all?

This has a very real danger of turning into last season mkII.

Just my opinion of course.

Yeah but good players will still be getting loaned out… also none of the trialists have been signed yet. I’d be happy with one maybe two maximum (guys I mentioned) 

 

We have a squad of 16 and it’s decent and reasonably solid - still a long way to go 

[1320Lichtie]

Also never got to see Slater who on paper seems like the best of the 5 - or Stowe who seems like the most exciting of the 5 

 

 

[ExiledLichtie]

7 minutes ago, Tattie36 said:

 

What other players will become available? Other teams have been snapping everyone up and I’m not sure how many more, if any, players of the required standard will become available.

 

If we need signings we may just have to pay transfer fees to get the players we need.

[Smokerson]

Thought 2 or 3 of them showed enough to at least get a another look in the next game. Suppose training will tell a bit also. 
 

Today reminded me why I don’t really go to friendlies. Nothing games

Was impressed with Steele and also Adams had a couple of good saves and kicks it an absolute mile. 

[SmokeyJoe]

19 minutes ago, Tattie36 said:

The loan thing has been discussed and there’s just not the same quality put out on loan now days. Dick said himself that they don’t want to rely on loans due to the potential lack of quality. Yes, we’ll probably get a couple but let’s not expect them to be that good.

What other players will become available? Other teams have been snapping everyone up and I’m not sure how many more, if any, players of the required standard will become available.

I genuinely worry that the management have put all their eggs in one basket and are banking on our remaining signings coming from this bunch. Why invest so much time and effort (and money) in bringing these guys up for a few weeks to then get rid of them all?

This has a very real danger of turning into last season mkII.

Just my opinion of course.

Good loan players will still be available it’s just a matter of when. 
 

more players will become available as they might want to leave current club so transfer / buying market, players might want to stay full time currently but will opt for part time if no FT club is interested (see that happening) loads more players might fall under our radar through agents getting in touch or word of mouth through contacts. Management won’t just gamble on this group of 9 players that’s very naive surely learnt their lesson. 
 

squad isn’t in terrible shape just need few areas on the park covered.

 

folk need to chill and stop panicking, start to panic if it’s the same current squad when first league game comes around 

[ecto]

Mulled over the game, while cutting the grass, it’s when I do my best mulling, left winger first half, CM number 39 and didn’t mind the big no5, had a bit about him, the rest for me, will have to show much improvement 

 

[Tattie36]

Forgive me for being overly negative, last season destroyed my positivity.

Just depressing watching a new batch of English non league players hoping they’ll be better than the last batch of English non league players. Lessons were learned remember.

[RedLichtie86]

How many players have we signed over the years that a lot on here would have thought were not good enough for us, on first game or 2, but have gone on to grow and defy expectations?

 

[1320Lichtie]

22 minutes ago, RedLichtie86 said:

How many players have we signed over the years that a lot on here would have thought were not good enough for us, on first game or 2, but have gone on to grow and defy expectations?

 

This is the crux of it. It is also very hard to tell unless it’s a proper league game.

 

52 minutes ago, ecto said:

Mulled over the game, while cutting the grass, it’s when I do my best mulling, left winger first half, CM number 39 and didn’t mind the big no5, had a bit about him, the rest for me, will have to show much improvement 

 

The left winger second half was involved in so much going forward, took his man on time after time and had some clever passes and also got back very well too considering he was a wing back with Scotty Stewart left centre half (shows just how hard it is to judge when he was playing there) behind him. Also looked rapid. Not think much of him? 
 

 

I’ve heard that 4 of them should have been good before the game got played today so imagine 4 of them have played at a decent level or have shown up well through the week

[ecto]

8 minutes ago, 1320Lichtie said:

This is the crux of it. It is also very hard to tell unless it’s a proper league game.

 

The left winger second half was involved in so much going forward, took his man on time after time and had some clever passes and also got back very well too considering he was a wing back with Scotty Stewart left centre half (shows just how hard it is to judge when he was playing there) behind him. Also looked rapid. Not think much of him? 
 

 

I’ve heard that 4 of them should have been good before the game got played today so imagine 4 of them have played at a decent level or have shown up well through the week

2nd half LW, also had the benefit, that the 2nd half had a bit more energy about it

[DUAFC]

2 hours ago, 1320Lichtie said:

 

It’s obviously hard to judge, my mate mentioned to me today how average Nouble looked in his first game here

Nouble looked like a rabbit in the headlights first few games. Totally felt for him.  Thought he might not hang around too long.......the rest is history  

[1320Lichtie]

7 minutes ago, ecto said:

2nd half LW, also had the benefit, that the 2nd half had a bit more energy about it

Very true. Thought we were much better second half. Tbh I thought it was mainly because of the introduction of him and Gold though, brought so much more energy and to be honest we should’ve cruised that. Some of the final decisions and touches from man bun and number 5 were absolutely awful 

[RedLichtie86]

Last season we were caught with our knickers down when it came to signings. Waited too long hoping for better players to come along and let players leave without having replacements.

Started the season without a recognised striker and paniced and brought in a few to fill holes in the squad expecting to snap up a few loan players in September.

Got a couple of weeks before the League Cup starts so will expect no more than 2/3 of these trialists to be signed until January at least. Give the players time to adapt and grow and the club players for Cup games and options in the League whilst neother party not fully commiting to a full season as of yet.

If they show promise then the club and seek to extend the contract but player may also not want to stay. Thats the risk.

But for me its better to have too many players than not having enough. If they are not good enough thats down to poor recruitment from the club. Unless we open the purse strings and go buy players or offer better contracts we are left with whats left.

Will be an interesting transfer window thats for sure.

[ecto]

2 hours ago, 1320Lichtie said:

Very true. Thought we were much better second half. Tbh I thought it was mainly because of the introduction of him and Gold though, brought so much more energy and to be honest we should’ve cruised that. Some of the final decisions and touches from man bun and number 5 were absolutely awful 

Thought the number 5 improved as the half went on, but they’re is no doubt he’s a bit ungainly 

[lichtiekev]

It's harsh but you can normally tell how a player will be after one game, everyone could see last season Fosu and Co weren't good enough and to everyone's surprise they were signed up,

Seems like we could be in the same boat this season, 

All the money used to bring these guys up from all over place could have been used to try and tempt the likes of a Hamilton and Dowds instead, 

 

[1320Lichtie]

46 minutes ago, lichtiekev said:

It's harsh but you can normally tell how a player will be after one game, everyone could see last season Fosu and Co weren't good enough and to everyone's surprise they were signed up,

Seems like we could be in the same boat this season, 

All the money used to bring these guys up from all over place could have been used to try and tempt the likes of a Hamilton and Dowds instead, 

 

Let’s be honest we had absolutely zero chance of Jack Hamilton… also I don’t know why everyone thinks we have just stopped looking at guys in Scotland. Heard promising news about players we may be interested in….
 

It’s not a trialist or nothing situation 

[SimonLichtie]

We have not gone down the trialist route out of choice but out of necessity..... It's certainly not the case that we've only signed five players before we only went for five...... we've signed five but will have been after many more players over the past six months, and they're the ones that have chosen us so far.

[ecto]

1 hour ago, SimonLichtie said:

We have not gone down the trialist route out of choice but out of necessity..... It's certainly not the case that we've only signed five players before we only went for five...... we've signed five but will have been after many more players over the past six months, and they're the ones that have chosen us so far.

Would suggest this is probably correct