One up front…

[shedka]

Smith was poor yesterday and in last week's game also, but that was superb from him for the winner.

Yes, was thinking what's happened to him the last couple games but he stepped it up the last few mins

The subs all did well too

[TerryTheTerror]

Lets be objective here, lets play the devil's advocate.

The BBC stats can be misleading as the stats do show that United had much more possession - what the stats don't tell you is that Arbroath were very happy for United to have the ball in their own half or in midfield - Arbroath were happy to contain United in these positions, which is one of the reasons the stats show United had more of the ball.

Also, United did have more shots at goal, but besides the two goals, how many actually troubled their keeper ( maybe 2 shots at best ) - the rest of the shots never really troubled the keeper.

Both sides hit the woodwork - but neither of the keepers were put under much pressure ( Arbroath's keeper had to work a little harder, but was not really troubled by much until Shankland scored the 2 goals ).

I like reading stats, they are handy to have, but they don't tell the full story .

The stats also don't show that Arbroath are part - time, have a smaller squad and a much smaller budget - just being the devil's advocate here, but stats don't factor this into the match.

Did Arbroath deserve to get beat ? - being objective here I think they were more than worthy of a draw.

So, on balance, a very good 3 points for United considering they were 5 minutes from defeat and hopefully this will be the start of a winning run.

Arbroath will do well this season and look like they can take points off any team in this league - so, although United were given a "Get of of Jail" card yesterday, with hindsight it was a good 3 points as a lot of teams are going to struggle to get 3 points against Arbroath this season.

That's fair. 👍

[TerryTheTerror]

The subs all did well too

Indeed, so you have to credit the manager for that. He got stick when he made the Sporle sub but it made quite a difference...

[offshore_arab83]

Funny how no-one mentioned this 1 up front pish when we papped 6 past Le Fun.....

Cos we played 2 up front. f uck knows how hes changed it back to 1. its f ucking ****e and doesnt work

[jjaflup22]

Cos we played 2 up front. f uck knows how hes changed it back to 1. its f ucking ****e and doesnt work

Exactly, that result simply papered over the cracks.

[offshore_arab83]

Horsed ICT and the BNB with two up front then struggle like f uck when we go to 1 up top. Absolute f ucking madness

[bobafett]

The one question I would like to ask is that from the first four league games where Appere has played up alongside Shankland and acted as a perfect foil for him, who randomly decided that from now on in he is suddenly a left winger????

He hasn't, though. The system we use is a fairly fluid one but he has mainly been playing from the left. Shankland's 1st and 3rd goals against ICT came from Appere crosses from the left wing position. He played the bulk of the derby and the Partick and Dunfermline games out there too.

[TerryTheTerror]

He hasn't, though. The system we use is a fairly fluid one but he has mainly been playing from the left. Shankland's 1st and 3rd goals against ICT came from Appere crosses from the left wing position. He played the bulk of the derby and the Partick and Dunfermline games out there too.

That's how I've been seeing it too. There is a big hang up about one up front where, in reality, we play 4 up front with a lot of interchange.

[bobafett]

That's how I've been seeing it too. There is a big hang up about one up front where, in reality, we play 4 up front with a lot of interchange.

Yeah, a lot of Utd fans seem to have a bee in their bonnet about this. I've never understood it.
The fact is we just didn't play well on Saturday. And Arbroath worked their socks off, were very well organised and forced us to go long too often by pressing our midfield and full-backs whenever our centre-halves had possession. You have to give them credit for that.

[JamesMcClean]

He hasn't, though. The system we use is a fairly fluid one but he has mainly been playing from the left. Shankland's 1st and 3rd goals against ICT came from Appere crosses from the left wing position. He played the bulk of the derby and the Partick and Dunfermline games out there too.

Appere has been playing left side but had IMHO, been coming in more to an inside left channel and was playing much more closer to Shankland through games. Saturday it was almost like he was superglued to the left touchline. Result? Shankland is isolated with two central defenders and no 'big' player (i.e. Appere) to help with challenging these guys and stretching them, making their job harder, especially when the 'long balls' from the back were being bombed forward.