Morning all,

I got shouted down in Brechins before Ibrox for offering my tuppenceworth re Mr Foran. In the 2nd 45 of that game he definately gave the impression of a man who had had a boot up the backside at half-time.. And quite rightly so. He went on to have a major contribution and was very unlucky not to secure the equaliser which may just have led to a famous win. My point in the pub beforehand was......is he giving his all? Is he back to full fitness? Is he being played out of position? Where is the Richie ;Mr 110%......oh how I hate that phrase!; Mr lead-by-example...that we came to take for granted last year? I'm not so sure he is back and I am not so sure why. Does he require more booting up the derriere......or am I just being impatient? We need to push on. The first part of the season has yielded a healthy points tally and a lofty league position. We must keep it up however. Clubs below us keep earning points and we never seem to get any further away from the bottom. With our home form being so poor, a couple of bad weeks could see us in the mire again and all the good work being undone. The opposite is also true of course. So, come on Richie, step up to the plate.....and show us what you are made of.

Is it fair to single out a player when he is part of a team? TBH I'm more than happy with the way the team are playing and don't think talking about how comitted individual players are is productive.

The odd thing about saturday was that I felt we played some of the best football since the Pele era. If we had taken our chances it could of been all over by half time.

A bit concerned about Hayes seems to be only able to manage 45mins of magic then disappears.

Having said that I don,t grudge Motherwell their win good team run by a good manager

I agree with you Naelifts, he's not looked his best at all this season. It was the same at the beginning of last season, then something clicked.

Butcher's obviously seen it as well after hooking him in the second half, hopefully that might be enough of a boot up the arse for him to turn in a performance on Tuesday. We certainly need him at his best if we are to keep up our good run.

I blame the cptn band, I think granty is back now he doesn't have the ARM band, and also agree that something seems missing from our first div Foran.....

Richie has been struggling with a stomach muscle injury for the last few weeks which became more obvious during saturday's game, he is really needing to miss 2/3 games but at the current moment it aint possible so he is having to take injections and hope for the best

Interesting

It is interesting.... Although he did take a knock and was holding his stomach for a while, I couldn't help notice that TB completely ignored him when he came off.

That doesn't usually happen....

Are people factoring in the fact that we are playing at a higher level this season? Regardless of how people rate the competiveness of the SFL 1, its a step up going into the premier league. So its a LOT harder to be a standout!

No pre-season training as well. Both Foran and Hayes might be back from their injuries but I still expect another three or four matches to make up for this.

I get that SMEE but the season before in the spl he stood out a country mile, I think he just needs time to recover, n let's be honest, we are far higher than expected n this is just knit picking.

Edited November 8, 201015 yr by Georgeios

Foran is on the way back and I feel he has been improving with every game. I dont think that it has helped that he has had to play in central midfield and - as at Castle Greyskull I always feel that he plays much better and is more of an influence when he starts drifting wide left - but IMHO wide left is not the best position to captain a side from.

Richie has been struggling with a stomach muscle injury for the last few weeks which became more obvious during saturday's game, he is really needing to miss 2/3 games but at the current moment it aint possible so he is having to take injections and hope for the best

Is the injury Lee McCulloch studs shaped?

I get that SMEE but the season before in the spl he stood out a country mile, I think he just needs time to recover, n let's be honest, we are far higher than expected n this is just knit picking.

Agreed.

He seemed to be suffering from a rib/stomach injury for most of the game last night but kept pushing himself on. If you watch his reaction after the cross for the winning goal he is doubled up in pain.

There was also another point of the match where he got clattered and was holding his stomach. Got to change your mind...hes actually playing very well considering.

We've only had a few fleeting glimpses of the player who did no much to help ICT win promotion in the second half of last season - there are clearly major doubts surrounding his fitness.

I think he should be rested until he his fully fit - playing two games in the space of a few days while carrying an injury could cause serious long term problems.

Yep...........I think that he needs to rest until overcoming this injury which, in the long run, will inevitably force him out.

Was he wearing the Arm Band for the Dons game I seem to remember the Radio saying that Granty was the Captain that match.....

Was he wearing the Arm Band for the Dons game I seem to remember the Radio saying that Granty was the Captain that match.....

You're right about that, Grant was captain, although he wasn't wearing an armband. The gaelic commentators on the Alba Channel mentioned the word "skipper" when he scored the winning goal.

That word was just about the only word I understood during the commentary - presumably there isn't a gaelic word for skipper.

It's time that language was euthanised and consigned to the history books.

Agis cannabis Agis ecstasy it does make me chuckle, anyway back on topic, it was the radio commentator that said it too, I wonder if there has been a shift.

The Gaelic commentators kept saying a word which sounded like 'fannie'. What does this one mean? I'm guessing Mark McGhee. Anyone have any info on whether Foran will start tomorrow?