THE MATCHDAY THREAD Discuss ICT & other games in this thread as they happen Inverness CT -V- Aberdeen PREVIEW 21st Dec 2013 @ 5:30PM Caledonian Stadium Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Facebook Go to the Chatroom Media Coverage AUDIO LIVE COMMENTARY (BBC) [uK/VPN Only]   TEXT ESPN BBC SKY Sporting Life   VIDEO SPFL YouTube Channel ICT Official YouTube Channel   TEAM LINEUPS TO FOLLOW

 

I agree David Raven has to start the next game. We lost some fluidity when Nick came off but credit to Hughes for having a go and everyone in the stadium believed we weren't buried even at 4-0 down. Great value for money and probably the 'best' loss ever!

Ultimately a great game, and fantastic management by Hughes for the second half!

Sadly the most memorable part of the day is the behaviour of a very small - I have to emphasise small - minority of the Aberdeen "fans" in caley club before the game. You are scumbags, utter w**nkers. However, karma is a bitch boys, enjoy :-)

Well my appraisal of the game wasthat we played really well up to the penalty and goal, to my thinking Meekings new little about the  offence till the ball hit his arm, it was I'm sure accidental. We were suddenly shell shocked, From potential winning play we slumped into rabbits in the headlights, not intentionally' just lost our way to a team that now new they had the upper hand and we had lost momentum. The other three goals flooded in leaving a very perplexed team to go in for their half time briefing, which obviously was a ruddy good one.

Second half I was delighted to see David Raven back in office, he had a great game. Equally delighted to see Graeme go into left half position ( which I have in the past said would be a good move )  It worked and worked well and we were treated to some really exciting football and well taken goals, Oor Billie excelling once again and Graeme getting his just reward for his perseverance, I think we all thought at one point that we were going in with areal chance of getting something out of the game as the tables had been completely turned, it was the Dons who had the shakes now................. How close we came!!

 

All I say now is that our second half performance gave us nothing to be ashamed of even though we lost. We have great team spirit and a bunch of fighters so Well Done ICT and better luck next game, for yes it was that bad luck penalty that  stopped us from giving the Dons a thrashing. Don't blame Meekings I am certain there was no intent there just bad luck which triggered off our breakdown.

 

Full marks to Yogi too He managed to smile through adversity and praised the lads for their brave effort despite the loss.

To be fair I thought we were unlucky for the first two goals. We were on top before the bizarre penalty which I think was Aberdeen's first shot on goal. Robson's header for the second was a complete fluke. Then our midfielders contrived to give the ball away and that put the pressure on our defence and can't blame Warren. He had to cover a lot for Shinnie as well.

 

Despite all that and the great perfomance in the second half I came away feeling we were robbed and should have won. We had at least two legitimate penalty claims and hit the woodwork. The ref did us no favours either and missed a lot of off the ball incidents as well as Aberdeen throw in takers stealing 10 yards up the touchline every time.

 

Hopefully we can now put that result behind us and take the good points of the game into the next few. That includes keeping Raven in the team but not Williams. Shinnie will give us a better shift in the middle of the midfield filling the Richie Foran role while he recovers from injury. 

A weird 30 mins where we completely collapsed lost the game for us. The rest of the time we were the better team. Had we ended up winning 5-4 it would've been a fair result. Usual shambolic refereeing performance it has to be said.....the sooner they go on strike, again, the better! Those foreign refs we had during the last strike were the best/most impartial i've seen at TCS !

Ultimately a great game, and fantastic management by Hughes for the second half!

Sadly the most memorable part of the day is the behaviour of a very small - I have to emphasise small - minority of the Aberdeen "fans" in caley club before the game. You are scumbags, utter w**nkers. However, karma is a bitch boys, enjoy :-)

what happened quizzer?

A few comments regarding Doran being a bit 'off-the-boil' again yesterday. I wasn't at the Aberdeen game so can't justifiably comment but he has maybe lost a bit of his early season spark.

I wouldn't like to level an accusation of a professional player being in a comfort-zone but maybe it would be beneficial to rest him for a few games as it would also demonstrate that nobody can be guaranteed an automatic pick.

 

Again, not wanting to cast aspersions but has this dip coincided with his signing of his 3 year contract? Maybe it's just taken away some urgency or hunger and as mentioned has resulted in hi slipping into a comfort-zone.  

Watkins was certainly missed!

Is he injured as he was not even on the bench?

 

Good fightback but not good enough.

 

neksor

First half was the worst I've witnessed in years. None of the players even looked interested. The second half was very good but I don't see why the team needed a potential embarrassment to get going.

Watkins had a dead leg. Think the criticism of Doran a bit harsh. True, he's not skinning defenders on the wing so much just now, but it was his passes from deep that launched a number of attacks in the second half. Maybe he's told to sit a bit deeper in tougher games?

Some incredibly distasteful "songs", one in particular managed to offend pretty much every single person in the bar regardless of their allegiance.  Put it this way, I'd love them to go to Glasgow and see how well it would go down there!

More than Watkins had dead legs in that first half. Shambolic first 45. After the penalty we fell apart. Nick Ross, well, he just fell. Doran got better in the second half, well everybody did. Billy McKay scored two goals through sheer persistence, he must be a nightmare to play against. Ross should have scored and once again showed he is no match winner. Always neat and tidy with the ball, but not a ball winner and he should have been first hooked, maybe along with Warren who had his worst game for us. Credit to Aberdeen, they looked dangerous every time they went forward in that first half while everything we touched went sideways and backwards, Brill dealing with numerous back passes all night. Too much respect shown for a mediocre Dons.

 

Second half had to be better and it was, however, the first won't be forgotten for a long time.

As a few others have mentioned, we were the better team up until their first goal which came from nowhere. Whether it was or wasn't a pen, it totally changed the game. Our heads went down and they started playing football. It was such a poor reaction to going a goal down, i don't remember them ever threatening or having any chances up until then whereas we had a couple good ones(think Ross hit the post before this happened). So a 22 minute spell of dominance later and i was feeling sick to the stomach. Also couldn't believe people were actually leaving by the time the 4th went in, it wasn't even half time...such a disgraceful attitude and they deserved to miss the second half. Would you not want to see how the players and manager react to such a situation? Second half was great to watch, made it a worthwhile trip out and my gf was just as pleased as she didn't have to put up with my sulking if it had got any worse or stayed the same. Few things for me, the whole team was terrible after we conceded the first but Shinnie and Warren especially. Wasn't that impressed with Toby either but really hoped he could come on and make his mark on the game. Few things for Yogi to think about from this game at least.

I saw Aberdeen's goals 2,3 and 4 on TV and couldn't quite believe I was watching Caley, we seemed to give up on defence for the last two. I didn't get the chance to see the 2nd half live on TV but have seen some highlights today and must say Billy's 2nd goal and Shinnie's were excellent. Perversely we can draw something positive out of that game for the response 2nd half, which we need to carry into the Partick game, as the Christmas programme is quite a tough one for the boys. I hope Watkins is back for PT, and that Foran only misses the next two games

 

Happy Christmas to you all.

Edited December 22, 201312 yr by Eagle4Caley

As quite a few people have pointed out, the team just seemed to freeze collectively after going a goal behind. I suppose, having gone so long without conceding, that it's sort of understandable, and the St Johnstone game earlier in the season showed that this sort of game comes along once in a while. Aberdeen, like St Johnstone, are a team capable of really fluent attacking football when they click, and they were pretty ruthless in the rest of the first half - Pawlett, McGinn and Vernon all played very well, and we shouldn't overlook that.

 

Hopefully our performance in the second half will reassure our players that they have no need to panic when they go behind as they are more than capable of getting back into it, and will prevent any other team being able to run up such a commanding lead against us in the future. It still wasn't the most consistent or elegant performance of the season, and there were one or two players who struggled slightly to impose themselves on the game (Williams and Doran), but the determination of the team to be first to every ball was really impressive. Raven made a big difference when he came on, and I actually thought Ross had a pretty good game and, like a few others on here, would have preferred to have seen him stay on when Agdestein was brought on.

 

Finally, I tweeted about this last night, but I think it's worth mentioning on here too. I was in hospitality for the game yesterday - a belated birthday present from my brother, an Aberdeen supporter, who accompanied me. It was the first time I had been in hospitality for a game, and it was superb: the food was excellent, the service was warm, generous and efficient, and the hosts achieved the difficult trick of making a room of 300 people seem like an intimate and friendly gathering. The last time my brother had hospitality at a game was at Old Trafford, and he told me yesterday that ICT's was far superior, in the quality of food and the quality of service, as well as being much better value. We're thinking of making this an annual thing from now on. So thank you to the club for that.                

Unless you have already acted on this, a  note of appreciation sent to the Chairman would be a very nice gesture and would be very encouraging.

People  and businesses like feedback from constructive customers... 

The BBC must have thought that they would shorten the highlights on Sportscene and their website as BT Sport had covered then game live. There was far more goal mouth action from both sides than they bothered to show. As I don't have BT Sport but was at the game I would have appreciated more.

I think the way we respond after this game against plastic whistle is going to be very important.

Very encouraging second half but still a hell of a lot to think about.

 

Also, I was unaware that Watkins was injured, what is his injury (dead leg?), how long is he out for do we know?

The BBC must have thought that they would shorten the highlights on Sportscene and their website as BT Sport had covered then game live. There was far more goal mouth action from both sides than they bothered to show. As I don't have BT Sport but was at the game I would have appreciated more.

Totall agree. Highlights were basically just the goals. Sportscene isbecoming a joke.

Yer right, read about it here instead.

 

http://caleythistleonline.com/page/index.html/_/reports-2013-14/inverness-ct-v-aberdeen-r1105

 

"Unbreached in the last five games, the Inverness defence dished out more presents than Santa Clause at his Eastgate Grotto in a festive handout. Forget your gold, frankincense and myrrh, Inverness CT were handing out gifts hand over fist and the eleven wise men from the East took full advantage."

The injury to mark Reynolds in the clash with david raven. Looks sore not for those who are squeamish

My highlight of the evening was seeing Scotty and his wee one in the pub pre match