Stenhousemuir -vs- Arbroath (Saturday 3 August 2024)

[Hayshead2]

1 hour ago, Housecaptain said:

Slater should have never been at Arbroath, another of Sellar's poor signing recommendations. 

I don't think for a minute that he is a bad player, but he needs someone in there holding for him (not Goldie)

[Hayshead2]

1 hour ago, RedLichtie86 said:

Craig Slater

Player 42

Won 10

Drawn 7

Lost 25

 

Won 10. Thats Better than I thought.

[Francesc Fabregas]

I thought Stenhousemuir played well today and deserved the three points against a very ordinary Arbroath side. They saw more of the ball, created some very presentable chances and, outside of a sticky five minutes after Quinn Coulson pulled a goal back, were the better team. This was our best performance in months (maybe since beating the Spartans at Ainslie Park in January?) and a terrific way to start the season. There's been a bit of a malaise around the club in recent weeks but I think the victory will have gone some way to lifting the gloom.

When I started this thread, I expected Gary Naysmith to go with his tried-and-tested 4-2-3-1 formation. It was, then, a surprise to see him line up in a 4-3-3 system with Matty Yates deployed as a false 9 and Nat Wedderburn and Matty Aitken dropped to the bench. But it worked! Arbroath couldn't really deal with Yates dropping deep, nor could they handle Ross Taylor's tricky running down the flank; it was a particularly trying afternoon for Leyton Bisland at right-back. Kyle Jacobs was impressive in the middle of the park and worked well alongside a rejuvenated James Berry to keep control. We were the better side in the first 45 minutes without ever really testing Aidan McAdams in the Abroath goal.

The visitors should have scored at the start of the second half when Gavin Reilly inexplicably sent a free header over the bar from a corner, and they were made to pay when Taylor stormed in from the left flank to fire home at the second time of asking. The imperious Kyle Banner added the second shortly afterwards when he bulleted Matty Yates' corner into the net. From that point on, I thought Stenhousemuir played some very nice football. The team moved the ball around the park confidently, with every player seeming to enjoy themselves (and it says a lot that Mikey Anderson had a quiet afternoon). Had Adam Brown scored after what must have been a 15-pass move, it could have been the goal of the season already; fair play to McAdams for making a fine save.

Coulson was one of the few Arbroath players who looked lively and his stunning free-kick going into injury time added a degree of jeopardy I could have done without, but the Lihcties ran out of time to make more of their advantage. There are some good players in their side - Tam O'Brien had a decent game, Reilly, despite his miss, led the line well, and Coulson was a handful - but they're a bit one-paced in the middle of the park and struggled in transition, Taylor's goal being the perfect example. I would still expect them to have a strong season, especially when a number of players are out injured or returning to full fitness, but about 20 minutes into the match, I thought: this mob are here for the taking.

Credit to Naysmith for changing things up. Despite the lack of new faces, today's line up felt fresh and it paid dividends. The defence was mostly fine, Jacobs and Berry were good in the middle of the park and Yates has a sterling game. The substitutions worked well too, with both Wedderburn and Aitken playing an important role after their introductions. Even Corey O'Donnell, a player I've been critical off elsewhere, made a solid contribution when he came on, winning a corner and clearing inside his own penalty box.

This gives us something good to build on going into Kelty Hearts next weekend. I can't wait. I'll see you there!

Edited August 4 by Francesc Fabregas

[1320Lichtie]

4 minutes ago, Francesc Fabregas said:

I thought Stenhousemuir played well today and deserved the three points against a very ordinary Arbroath side. They saw more of the ball, created some very presentable chances and, outside of a sticky five minutes after Quinn Coulson pulled a goal back, were the better team. This was our best performance in months (maybe since beating the Spartans at Ainslie Park in January?) and a terrific way to start the season. There's been a bit of a malaise around the club in recent weeks but I think the victory will have gone some way to lifting the gloom.

When I started this thread, I expected Gary Naysmith to go with his tried-and-tested 4-2-3-1 formation. It was, then, a surprise to see him line up in a 4-3-3 system with Matty Yates deployed as a false 9 and Nat Wedderburn and Matty Aitken dropped to the bench. But it worked! Arbroath couldn't really deal with Yates dropping deep, nor could they handle Ross Taylor's tricky running down the flank; it was a particularly trying afternoon for Leyton Bisland at right-back. Kyle Jacobs was impressive in the middle of the park and worked well alongside a rejuvenated James Berry to keep control. We were the better side in the first 45 minutes without ever really testing Aidan McAdams in the Abroath goal.

The visitors should have scored at the start of the second half when Gavin Reilly inexplicably sent a free header over the bar from a corner, and they were made to pay when Taylor stormed in from the left flank to fire home at the second time of asking. The imperious Kyle Banner added the second shortly afterwards when he bulleted Matty Yates' corner into the net. From that point on, I thought Stenhousemuir played some very nice football. The team moved the ball around the park confidently, with every player seeming to enjoy themselves (and it says a lot that Mikey Anderson had a quiet afternoon). Had Adam Brown scored after what must have been a 15-pass move, it could have been the goal of the season already; fair play to McAdams for making a fine save.

Coulson was one of the few Arbroath players who looked lively and his stunning free-kick going into injury time added a degree of jeopardy I could have done without, but the Lihcties ran out of time to make more of their advantage. There are some good players in their side - Tam O'Brien had a decent game, Reilly, despite his miss, led the line well, and Coulson was a handful - but they're a bit one-paced in the middle of the park and struggled in transition, Taylor's goal being the perfect example. I would still expect them to have a strong season, especially when a number of players are out injured or returning to full fitness, but about 20 minutes into the match, I thought: this mob are hear for the taking.

Credit to Naysmith for changing things up. Despite the lack of new faces, today's line up felt fresh and it paid dividends. The defence was mostly fine, Jacobs and Berry were good in the middle of the park and Yates has a sterling game. The substitutions worked well too, with both Wedderburn and Aitken playing an important role after their introductions. Even Corey O'Donnell, a player I've beeb critical off elsewhere, made a solid contribution when he came on, winning a corner and clearing inside his own penalty box.

This gives us something good to build on going into Kelty Hearts next weekend. I can't wait. I'll see you there!

ToB (and Watson had a solid game too) strolled it today - it’s just unfortunate they 2 had nothing at all infront of them in the middle of the park or at either side of them in the back line.

[ExiledLichtie]

On a total other note, I thought Stenny's maroon and blue kit was pretty tidy.  Is that the home kit, or a third kit?

[StewartyMac]

1 hour ago, Francesc Fabregas said:

The imperious Kyle Banner

Not a line that would ever have described his time at the Beanos. 

[Am Featha Taigh Nan Clach]

53 minutes ago, ExiledLichtie said:

On a total other note, I thought Stenny's maroon and blue kit was pretty tidy.  Is that the home kit, or a third kit?

Home kit. It's a homage to the 1995 Challenge Cup winning kit.

[ExiledLichtie]

Its a good season to switch away from maroon too, what with two other maroon teams in the league.

[Vimto90]

5 hours ago, ExiledLichtie said:

Positives and negatives to take from that.  For a start, I don't think anything we saw today would be a surprise to Lichties.  Certainly there was nothing unexpected there.

Man for man we looked bigger, stronger, and quicker than Stenny, and you could see their fitness ebb away towards the end of each half.  It was also telling that they resorted to hacking us down towards the end of the match.  I really think they underestimated the difference in fitness between league 1 and league 2, and that will have consequences later in the season for them.

As for us, we looked exactly like I expected, solid, without troubling Stenny until right at the end.  We had a 10 minute spell where we lost our minds and conceded 2 goals, but aside from that, I don't think I was worried about conceding a goal at any point.  Conversely, we also never looked like scoring a goal until right at the end.  We were solid, and had Stenny generally well handled.   I thought some of our players looked really promising, Stewart was good on the wing and also further back, Gallagher looks like a good striker, our centre backs looked solid, Murray looked promising out wide, and Coulson looked excellent when he came on.  There were good individual performances, but as a team, we were solid, and nothing more.

However, the negatives would be the complete mismanagement of only having two strikers for two positions.  Murray was much happier out on the wing rather than supporting Reilly.  I'm sure people will be on here bleating about how actually, having two strikers for two positions is perfect, and we'll soon be loaning in a 20 goal striker as backup, but these people are morons. Gallagher looked really good when he came on, he looks like a proper striker, but two strikers for two positions isn't enough.  I think some of our fans might need to learn a wee bit about modern football.

The other major issue for me was the gaping hole in centre midfield.  We were totally outnumbered there, and I felt Stenny controlled the midfield.  On the ball, we were pressed and kept losing it, and off the ball, they just strolled through our midfield like it wasn't there.  There were good individual performances, but as a team, it just didn't work.  Its not a case of just signing a defensive midfielder, as we had absolutely no creativity there either.  I suspect our next manager will solve these problems by playing 1 up front and having an extra midfielder.  Which would be sensible.

There's also a couple of ways to look at it.  From my perspective, we lost a close away game against a team that were no mugs and ultimately deserved the win on a special day for them.  Given that I'm expecting us to be competing for the play off positions, I don't see it as the end of the world.  However, from the perspective of our board, we claim that we want to be going for the title, and we just lost to a promoted team in the first game of the season, continuing a grim run of form.  

Finally, I think Stenny should get some praise.  I don't think they looked like a goal threat at any point except that few minutes when we lost our minds, but they had plenty of corners, plenty of the ball, controlled the midfield, and played well.  They deserved the win.

 

 

A country mile ahead of Arbroath in the fitness & quality stakes. What a wild take. 

Roon ye 

[ExiledLichtie]

Just now, Vimto90 said:

A country mile ahead of Arbroath in the fitness & quality stakes. What a wild take. 

Roon ye 

How come all our best play came at the end of each half, when you were clearly worn out?  How come we spent the whole match pushing your players around like they were youth players, until they snapped and won us free kicks?

Stenny were the better team and absolutely deserved their win, but man for man, our players were bigger, stronger and fitter.

[Am Featha Taigh Nan Clach]

7 minutes ago, ExiledLichtie said:

How come all our best play came at the end of each half, when you were clearly worn out?  How come we spent the whole match pushing your players around like they were youth players, until they snapped and won us free kicks?

Stenny were the better team and absolutely deserved their win, but man for man, our players were bigger, stronger and fitter.

Because we went with a high pressing system which tires players out far more. It is a risk/reward which we managed well last season. It's not just running about daft, it's a combo of direct pressing and without getting all Michael Cox, closing off passing lanes which forces long balls.

Many times last season we used this to good effect, got 2 up and then conceded late on when we tired. I'd rather that then be 2 down and hail marying at the end.

 

 

[Ataboy]

13 hours ago, ExiledLichtie said:

Positives and negatives to take from that.  For a start, I don't think anything we saw today would be a surprise to Lichties.  Certainly there was nothing unexpected there.

Man for man we looked bigger, stronger, and quicker than Stenny, and you could see their fitness ebb away towards the end of each half.  It was also telling that they resorted to hacking us down towards the end of the match.  I really think they underestimated the difference in fitness between league 1 and league 2, and that will have consequences later in the season for them.

As for us, we looked exactly like I expected, solid, without troubling Stenny until right at the end.  We had a 10 minute spell where we lost our minds and conceded 2 goals, but aside from that, I don't think I was worried about conceding a goal at any point.  Conversely, we also never looked like scoring a goal until right at the end.  We were solid, and had Stenny generally well handled.   I thought some of our players looked really promising, Stewart was good on the wing and also further back, Gallagher looks like a good striker, our centre backs looked solid, Murray looked promising out wide, and Coulson looked excellent when he came on.  There were good individual performances, but as a team, we were solid, and nothing more.

However, the negatives would be the complete mismanagement of only having two strikers for two positions.  Murray was much happier out on the wing rather than supporting Reilly.  I'm sure people will be on here bleating about how actually, having two strikers for two positions is perfect, and we'll soon be loaning in a 20 goal striker as backup, but these people are morons. Gallagher looked really good when he came on, he looks like a proper striker, but two strikers for two positions isn't enough.  I think some of our fans might need to learn a wee bit about modern football.

The other major issue for me was the gaping hole in centre midfield.  We were totally outnumbered there, and I felt Stenny controlled the midfield.  On the ball, we were pressed and kept losing it, and off the ball, they just strolled through our midfield like it wasn't there.  There were good individual performances, but as a team, it just didn't work.  Its not a case of just signing a defensive midfielder, as we had absolutely no creativity there either.  I suspect our next manager will solve these problems by playing 1 up front and having an extra midfielder.  Which would be sensible.

There's also a couple of ways to look at it.  From my perspective, we lost a close away game against a team that were no mugs and ultimately deserved the win on a special day for them.  Given that I'm expecting us to be competing for the play off positions, I don't see it as the end of the world.  However, from the perspective of our board, we claim that we want to be going for the title, and we just lost to a promoted team in the first game of the season, continuing a grim run of form.  

 

Finally, I think Stenny should get some praise.  I don't think they looked like a goal threat at any point except that few minutes when we lost our minds, but they had plenty of corners, plenty of the ball, controlled the midfield, and played well.  They deserved the win.

 

 

Where to begin with this mess . 
You are pretty much saying that everything that happened in the game was due to Arbroath being poor and finish with Stenny deserved to win .

 

Stenny were better in every area of the park hence your only shot on goal was in the last minute . 
Stenny defended everything from you were much better in midfield and your defence just could not handled the running and trickery from our wide men and the work rate and movement of our striker . 
You could have been 4 down 
As for for fitter and stronger give your head a wobble 

[ExiledLichtie]

11 hours ago, Francesc Fabregas said:

We were the better side in the first 45 minutes without ever really testing Aidan McAdams in the Abroath goal.

 

12 minutes ago, Ataboy said:

You could have been 4 down 
As for for fitter and stronger give your head a wobble 

Aha.  Sounds like your disagreement is with your fellow Stenny fan, who saw things much the same as I did.

[Francesc Fabregas]

9 minutes ago, ExiledLichtie said:

Aha.  Sounds like your disagreement is with your fellow Stenny fan, who saw things much the same as I did.

While I disagree with the assessment over the scoreline, Stenhousemuir were certainly the better of the two sides and thoroughly merited the win. Let's have it.

[ExiledLichtie]

8 hours ago, ExiledLichtie said:

 

Stenny were the better team and absolutely deserved their win, 

 

2 minutes ago, Francesc Fabregas said:

Stenhousemuir were certainly the better of the two sides and thoroughly merited the win. Let's have it.

No disagreement there.

[Francesc Fabregas]

8 hours ago, ExiledLichtie said:

How come all our best play came at the end of each half, when you were clearly worn out? 

I'm surprised this needs to be pointed out but the fact that you had more of the ball at the end had nothing to do with superior fitness - we were spooked after Quinn Coulson unexpectedly pulled a goal back and lost our nerve a little, leading to us sitting back and packing the box and ceding control to Arbroath. The state of the game had suddenly changed. It happens all the time.

And if your "best play" is "blindly chucking the ball into a crowded penalty box" then it augurs badly for the season ahead!

[Neilly]

9 hours ago, ExiledLichtie said:

How come all our best play came at the end of each half, when you were clearly worn out?  How come we spent the whole match pushing your players around like they were youth players, until they snapped and won us free kicks?

Stenny were the better team and absolutely deserved their win, but man for man, our players were bigger, stronger and fitter.

[Ataboy]

38 minutes ago, ExiledLichtie said:

Aha.  Sounds like your disagreement is with your fellow Stenny fan, who saw things much the same as I did.

I think that is a stretch to say I’m disagreeing.

Both are true that we never really tested your keeper in the 1st half but could have been 4 up by the time you scored in the last minute . 
 

Suck it up pal 

[ExiledLichtie]

2 minutes ago, Francesc Fabregas said:

I'm surprised this needs to be pointed out but the fact that you had more of the ball at the end had nothing to do with superior fitness - we were spooked after Quinn Coulson unexpectedly pulled a goal back and lost our nerve a little, leading to us sitting back and packing the box and ceding control to Arbroath. The state of the game had suddenly changed. It happens all the time.

And if your "best play" is "blindly chucking the ball into a crowded penalty box" then it augurs badly for the season ahead!

 

It was the same at the end of the first half too.  Your team clearly tired.  Furthermore, your fans spent the entire match howling in outrage that you weren't being given free kicks after being muscled around by our much more physical players.  You were the better team, you deserved the win and got it, but that doesnt mean you were perfect.  Maybe you need to be a little less sensitive and just enjoy the win?

As for the season ahead, I don't disagree.  There's reasons why (as far as I can see) no Arbroath fans are tipping us for the title in the predictions thread.  Our manager has won 3 games in 30(ish), and we don't even have a substitute striker.  Did you expect Brazil 1970 performances from us?

 

[Ataboy]

Just now, ExiledLichtie said:

It was the same at the end of the first half too.  Your team clearly tired.  Furthermore, your fans spent the entire match howling in outrage that you weren't being given free kicks after being muscled around by our much more physical players.  You were the better team, you deserved the win and got it, but that doesnt mean you were perfect.  Maybe you need to be a little less sensitive and just enjoy the win?

As for the season ahead, I don't disagree.  There's reasons why (as far as I can see) no Arbroath fans are tipping us for the title in the predictions thread.  Our manager has won 3 games in 30(ish), and we don't even have a substitute striker.  Did you expect Brazil 1970 performances from us?

 

You call it muscled around I would prefer to say fouled and ignored by an incompetent officials team