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Went into that game fearing an absolute bumming but came away slightly disappointed we didn't nick something from it. Not saying we deserved a draw but Aberdeen were very flat for most of the match and we grew into it and had some decent chances to get a goal. That said overall Aberdeen definitely seemed to be playing within themselves after their destruction of Dundee on Friday. Very defensive line up to start with from Foran. Warren, Laing and McNaughton all starting at CB with Tremarco and Raven on the left and right. Tansey, Draper and Polworth in the middle and Mckay and Anier up front. The lack of width in the side was evident throughout the opening period of the game. Any time the likes of Tansey got the ball in the midfield we looked to the wide areas for support and Raven / Tremarco were often too far up the pitch or too far back to offer us the chance to stretch the Aberdeen rearguard. When Aberdeen attacked they went down the flanks doubling up on our full backs which often meant that one of the midfield three were having to come across to help defend which opened up space in the middle of the pitch for Shinnie, McLean etc to drive into. Aberdeen goal was pretty untidy from an ICT point of view. Defence struggled to clear a corner and the ball seemed to ricochet in off Warren under pressure from Considine and Taylor. Best chance of the first half for ICT was created by Polworth who surged through the middle and played a nice ball to Mckay inside the box but Lewis was able to save. It was a rare moment of football from ICT in the first half with our main tactic normally consisting of leathering the ball in the vague direction of Mckay or Anier which was easily defended by Taylor and O'Connor. Second half Aberdeen clearly eased off and we started to grow into the game a bit more as time went on coupled with a change in shape. A couple of long range strikes, including a decent effort from Polworth, and some scrambles in the Aberdeen box gave some hope that we might nick a point but our play in the final third lacked a real cutting edge. During a rare period of play where we actually got the ball down and passed it around we had some success getting in behind the Aberdeen defence particularly down their left and once Fisher came on the long ball started to become a bit more effective with Taylor and O'Connor suddenly finding themselves under pressure in the air. However the best chance of the second half fell Aberdeens way in the shape of the inexplicable miss from Storey. Absolutely no idea how he managed to miss it and then he contrived to take the ball away from goal as he tried to get it under control. ICT players were on the floor at the end. There was certainly no lack of effort from the guys last night but we just don't have the quality to break down teams like Aberdeen and probably most teams in the league just now. Even just having someone like Christie could open up a few goal scoring chances for us which could make all the difference. I thought Polworth did well in his more natural central midfield position. He was burst by the end of the game though. McNaughton was also excellent at the back for us and I felt Laing had a good game. Draper was poor. Distribution well off and again he was used to try and win some of the long balls with varying degrees of success. Tansey was off the boil too. His short passing was mostly good although he often gave the ball away needlessly. Some of his long passes were off the mark too and he showed a real reluctance to try and attack when in possession even when faced with yards of open space. Aberdeen, as I said, were playing in first or second gear. They were competent all over the pitch without any real standout performances I felt. Everyone just did their job well. Nothing flashy. A pretty routine win for them. Whole crowd was very muted. It felt like a post split match with nothing to play for therefore there was zero atmosphere save for one really angry Aberdeen fan in the DD who spent about 20 minutes of the first half calling a bunch of 16 year old ICT fans paedos which was slightly strange.

MOM v Ross county but not selected in the next game. I guess Aniers number didn't come out of the tombola at the weekend. i actually think we've looked slightly better playing 5-3-2, that's not saying much. We look a bit more solid and less like conceding goals. But it's all too little too late. Richie saying we'll not be judged on games v Aberdeen. Aberdeen aren't Celtic but he is right. We'll be judged on results against the teams around us. We've won 2 games against the bottom 7 all season. Absolutely terrible.

Can't really see us making top 6 now!

We need to try to re-sign Miles Storey ... I really feel he's been what we've been missing in defence ... What a goal-line clearance that was ... Sensational!

Now is not the time to try and turn Tremarco and Raven into marauding wing backs, Both are good solid full backs and to ask them to get up and down the wings and create mayhem for the full 90 minutes, it aint gonna happen. So basically we end up playing 5 defenders and 2 holding midfield players in Tansey and Draper whose natural game is to sit front of the defence. No wonder we struggle to create and more often than not go for the big hoof for Mckay to try and chase down. Good formation to play away at Celtic when trying to keep the score respectable but at home against St Johnstone please not...................4-4-2 with either Fisher/Ebbe or Boden supporting Billy Mckay please.

I've been away and missed the last 5 or 6 wks of games but looking at team selections and results plus comments on here, it could honestly be any formation and line up. Other than OFW & Billy, its almost like there are 2 pots - one with names and one with positions and RF just does the team selection lottery. Its so unpredictable as we clearly have a manager out of ideas and just looking for something to click - pre-Jan we almost had a settled 11, now with the additional signings its just increased options which in this case for consistency and building confidence may be worse.

Should probably worry about the game against Saint Johnstone first.

FFS Ritchie! Another defeat, not a surprise as we don't do clean sheets, the only positive is it was 1-0. We needed changes from Sat as Brad and King were terrible, but Anier in the starting 11! Two up front against Aberdeen yet One up front v Kilmarnock! Before the game Ritchie was talking up Anier "he saw a glint in his eye", "he had a great game for Estonia" and to round it all off he was "MOM against County" (really). Anier has been hopeless, he is good at fouling and getting caught offside end off.... He brings on Fisher and Ebbe - yet on Sat Ebbe can't get on and Fisher is not even on the bench. He drops McCart who has performed better than Warren, he hasn't the bottle to drop Warren who scores the winner for the DONS! Against Killie, Laing was wasted in front of the defence, Draper played out of position - is Ritchie pulling the names out of a hat these days. Against St Johnstone I suggest: Fon Williams McNaughton, Laing, McCart, Tremarco Polworth, Tansey, Draper, Mulraney Mckay, Fisher 3 point on Sat or we are doomed!

There are plenty of inexperienced managers who do pretty well in their first job, because they have an aptitude for it. The kindest I can be about Foran is to say that there is, after almost a full season, no evidence that has got what it takes to be a good manager. He inherited a decent mid table team with a solid core and quite a few players of top 6 calibre. His task was to form a new attacking spearhead, which he did by playing a lumbering forward upfront on his own. The board backed him fully and dug deep in January to bring in Mckay in particular, but to little avail. In a league of mostly mediocre sides, we have won only 4 games out of 31, whilst also being embarrassed in both cups. I just can't imagine that there is any manager in British professional football who could have done a worse job.

I'm pretty despondent right now with regards ICT, I think we are looking at the demise of our club as a top flight team, I really do. We can't buy a win, we don't look like getting a win and I think the manager has blown his lot on trying to figure out how to get the best formation and how to get the best from the players, according to some sources Foran is pretty thrawn and does not seem to be able to take advice from the coaching team around him. Some of the team set-ups have been questionable and tactics pretty naive, i'm sure the players can and surely want to perform better but the moral must be low as the pressure increases. As for the club, We have not moved on from our early days after promotion to the SPFL, Still the portacabin plonked outside, still dodging mud and puddles going to the shop/toilets and this to the sad stuff on the pitch and it's not much of an enjoyable matchday experience i'm afraid. Anyway, i'm off for a malt, and i'll be there on Saturday hoping and shouting the players on to maybe a win.

If you can't beat the teams around you, you'll go down. We've had a home win against Dundee and an away victory at Motherwell + a few draws against the bottom 6. Sure, we'll have one more pop at each of them, but I have zero faith in Richie to select the right team to win any games. The frustration is that there is a good team in there, but it has only been selected on one occasion on account of injuries and the Foran tombola selection policy. I'll be there to the bitter end, but more in hope than expectation.

My secret source from inside the club has just sent me an exclusive, never-before-seen secret photo of the contraption the club blew it's budget on over the summer. It's believed this is the machine Foran uses to pick the team every week...

I think that is harsh. After conceding so many goals earlier in the season he seems to have settled on two systems, 4-2-3-1 and 5-3-2. I think he picks depending on his players available and the opposition we are about to face. The 5-3-2 is a lot more direct and counter attacking, but is reliant on tremarco and raven being available as no-one else is really able to play the wing back positions. The substitutions in this formation are limited, the wingers are pretty useless, whilst your strikers on the bench are more likely for a run out. The 4-2-3-1 is a more patient style, attempting to control the game more. We are reliant on the 3 attacking midfielders supporting Billy. The wingers are required here and will get game time, billy is number 1 so the other strikers will rarely be involved.

with well and accies playing tomorrow things will get worse before the weekend. well win and we get cut further from climbing out of the relegation zone altogether. accies win and we are 3 behind well and then 5 behind accies. draw and we are 3 points off accies and 4 off well. Failing to see the sliver lining here sadly. Think the night we lost 3-0 to accies was the moment our season was lost. the home draws to county and killie didn't help, It will take an amazing run post split to see us stay up. hoping to get a post split game over before the season is out. when are the post split fixtures out by the way? Said to the pals on my last trip over i don't care if we are playing celtic at hampden or queen of the south at Palmerston i'll still be coming over as often as i can to follow the ICT. Can't get enough of such a fantastic club

Why oh why does Foran change things every week - Consistency is the key - Never mind St Jones Town - Well and Hamilton is a Must Draw.

..Why why why why does Foran persist with Anier he was terrible tonight again, everyone can see it who were there tonight!!!. Ebbe & Fisher on was an instant fix. So start them or at least give them realistic game time FFS

I realise Richie is new to this management thing but surely even he knows we'd have a better chance by having eleven players start .

Bored earlier so decided to look up where some of these trialists ended up. Phil Marsh is now 30 and playing for Runcorn Town in the North West Counties League (the ninth tier of English football). His third club since the post quoted above. Strange to think he was at Man United, came on trial with us and then signed for Blackpool who were then in the Championship down south. Conor Henderson left Grimsby after three games and then returned to Crawley Town, whom he was at when he came on trial with us. Liam Molesworth is now at another team in England's ninth tier, Walsall Wood in the Midland League Premier Division. John Cofie (a slow lumbering former Burnley and Man United centre-forward) eventually signed for Southport after leaving AFC Telford. He also spent time on loan at Chorley and Bradford Park Avenue. Toby Ajala is now at Gateshead. Prince Rajcomar has since left Romania and is now playing in the third tier of Belgian football with KFC Oosterzonen Oosterwijk. Oliver Norburn is now at Macclesfield Town.

I suggest that we should start changing the format to - What do you think is the most sensible selection and system to play and what do you think Foran will play. Well my X1 hasn't changed for weeks and similar to most posters. And if I guess Foran's psyche correctly he will consider a 1-0 defeat at Aberdire as being very positive and I fear that he will simply go "same again".

With the starting pistol having been fired today on a referendum which will almost certainly take place in early 2019 I believe it is entirely appropriate to open a new thread to facilitate discussion and debate. However, I personally believe that the thread title should be neutral and that the thoroughly partisan title of this current thread is inappropriate. On that basis, I am locking this thread and starting another.