I'm not wanting to be too critical and know that their is obviously issues regarding expense more so this year than any before but i am concerned with the standard of opposition we are playing in pre season.

I know its mainly about match fitness/ sharpness but it must be hard for the management to make a judgement on performance of trialists when playing players from a fair lower standard. I haven't been to any games but presume Kelly and defenders on trial will not really be tested enough for them to make an impact or for the management to see them put through their paces. One game v Utd is not enough.

Dean Mcdonald is a prime example of scoring for fun in pre season friendlies then struggling to get a game in competitive action.

Thoughts?

It has to be a concern. We are playing against only one full-time team before the league season kicks off. Maybe Butcher sees the two cup games as good preparation though, given that they will be competitive.

Thoughts?

Thoughts?

Edited July 15, 200916 yr by Donaldinho_10

Thoughts?

Edited July 15, 200916 yr by ictrmd

Thoughts?

Edited July 15, 200916 yr by Bridge_Ender

I did briefly have the same thought as to why are we playing highland league sides.

My opinion is that playing local highland league sides it gives ICT a chance to showboat and impress potential new fans that then becoming instant ICT admirers and start supporting ICT, especially Clach, Forres and Elgin(well it kind of makes sense in my brain)r

It toughens up the players for the 1st div.+fitness improvement and saves cash.

After seeing the Elgin match its obvious that we have a lot of very good players and a couple of promising trialists.

There were also a couple of trialists who didn't quite shine or maybe were just trying too hard and unfortunately a couple of our existing players didn't make it look obvious that they are on a very good wage playing part time footballers from div3.

There are 4 maybe 5 games still to play before the DDU match so we should see the cream of our squad giving us fans a good game to watch.

It gives a certain few players a boost, scoring freely before the season starts. Just to remind them where the net is. :crazy06:

Bringing a winning mentality and winning momentum to the squad probably plays a big part in it.

Win all our pre season games, then when Dundee Utd comes and we take something from that game possibly that will be an even bigger boost just before the big kick off.

Also every member of the squad is getting a run out and getting their match fitness higher every minute on the pitch, but if we were playing big teams, chasing the ball about for 90minutes and getting thrashed would just be tiring and not very good for the mental side.

I think are pre-season friendlies are good fixtures.

Seem to recall a similar discussion about the poor quality of our pre season opposition the year we went on to win the first division.

Could it be an omen????

This season we cannot afford a training camp with better opposition. Most teams play lower league teams to help with gelling together and gaining match sharpness. these are no more than training stints. Aberdeen and United normally use the div3 teams around them. The edinburgh teams have been known to use east league juniors etc.

These game, not only give the training sessions but they, help boost the coffers of the clubs we travel to. ICT takes nothing of the gate reciepts from the Elgins, Huntly's etc. That cash goes to the home team and goes a bit towards their operations and player development.

I might be wrong but i think we beat a load of SPL sides that summer. We definitely beat Aberdeen, cos I remember it was my wedding day and I was trying to get someone to find the score.

Pre-season is all about raising fitness and moral. If the players get a decent run-out and win the match comfortably it boosts them mentally and physically ahead of competitive matches that actually matter. Besides who wants to watch Caley get humped all through pre-season on the back of such a cripplingly painful season in the SPL?!

We definitely beat Aberdeen, cos I remember it was my wedding day

Oh well that's you one up on your parents then. Want a seat in the car on Saturday?