Inverness CT

• Lineup: Fon Williams, Meekings, Warren, Devine, Tremarco, Draper, Tansey, Roberts, Polworth, Mbuyi-Mutombo , Storey
• Subs : Esson, Horner, Raven, Hughes, Foran, R Williams, D Williams.

Dundee Utd

• Lineup:  Eiji Kawashima, Durnan, Morris, Dillan, Knoyle, Fraser, Rankin, Dixon, Murray, Ofere, Mckay
• Subs : Johnson, Smith, Zwick, Donaldson, Coote, Robson,

 

 

Offere, McKay and Rankin - and Ofere has the first strike

....on a more positive note, nearly 3600 there tonight, given all the reasons not to turn up is a great effort!

I think Roberts had taken a knock.  He was certainly struggling a few minutes before he was taken off.  I was more surprised at Polworth coming off as he was getting stuck in more than most and had just demonstrated the value of his perseverance with the 2nd goal.  In terms of quality, Roberts was head and shoulders above anybody else tonight although I think there must be question marks about his work rate. It seemed everybody else had a bit of a bad day at the office.  Yogi was bemoaning the players' lack of effort after the game but he wasn't exactly doing much in the technical area to chivvy them along.  An end of season damp squib and, as PerfICT rightly points out, probably a very costly one.

After improved form in recent games and particularly last week against Partick, hopes have been high that we could finish in 7th place.  On this performance that now seems unlikely and we need to be careful we don't finish in 9th or even 10th place.  

7 minutes ago, PerfICT said:

....on a more positive note, nearly 3600 there tonight, given all the reasons not to turn up is a great effort!

Absolutely no chance there were 3,600 there. Everyone in the ground could have fitted in the North Stand. Lucky if there was 2,200 there which I think is the capacity of the North / South stands?

Edited May 6, 201610 yr by RiG

Crowd announced as 2500 and that was being generous

 

70% possession in first half but mostly in our own half. I can't believe we didn't get the break through in that time. Then when we did get back into the game our momentum was affected by the red card and change of shape with the substitutions.

If ever there was a time to play Dave the Rave it was tonight with Josh being moved to centre back. Devine was found wanting with all three of their goals. I hear he has been offered £3k a week plus a car to sign a new contract. I didn't think we could afford any more than 3 bags of sweets and a toy car, which is about all he deserved after tonight's performance.

 

29 minutes ago, Row S said:

70% possession in first half but mostly in our own half. I can't believe we didn't get the break through in that time. Then when we did get back into the game our momentum was affected by the red card and change of shape with the substitutions.

If ever there was a time to play Dave the Rave it was tonight with Josh being moved to centre back. Devine was found wanting with all three of their goals. I hear he has been offered £3k a week plus a car to sign a new contract. I didn't think we could afford any more than 3 bags of sweets and a toy car, which is about all he deserved after tonight's performance.

 

Absolutely no way we have offered him that sort on money sorry!

4 hours ago, us2 said:

Useless same crap different day sorry but no atmosphere by fans at the game and shocking scoreline

Disagree.... The atmosphere was great when dave rave appeared in front of the north stand for his warm up! 

Tonight has totally reaffirmed my belief that josh is not a right back. Get him back alongside warren, get raven back in his rightful place and with Tremarco at left back, who's been improving week on week, we have one of the best back fours in the country and a solid foundation to build from for next season.

I was in my Western  cave eating my Pacific salmon soup with the Maple spirtle that I had just  whittled from the nearby forest when I read the alleged offer to Devine.

The spirtle dropped frae mah lips in horror and disbelief and shattered on the pre-Cambrian rocks far below. But, when Caley Girl appeared on the scene to lighten mah load,  I bounded doonhill in mah grass skirt and,  retrieving it,  I finished off the salmon-colored soup and feel much better now, thank you.

Thonder Moose is still looking at me kinda askance, like, but I mouthed at him across the divide, "Go Back tae yer patch, Moosey." and he duly obliged., confirming that I am still the top dog around them thar pairts.....

Oh, but wait, I see Tonto  coming on the horizon wi a mountain sheep slung across his shouthers and struggling and screaming blue murder at being constricted---er, sorry, constrained is it (?). He's been busy these last few weeks  trying to start up a herd, like. Good Lad, Tonto.   Dinna ken whit ah'd dae wi'oot him in thae wildernesses. Have to replace him wi IHE if it came to a head, like.

Right! Back to the flint stone, I guess.. Geez! Life gets tejious, don' it?

 

8 hours ago, forresjags said:

Crowd announced as 2500 and that was being generous

 

3587 according to BBC web. On TV it looked about 2500

1 hour ago, Alex MacLeod said:

3587 according to BBC web. On TV it looked about 2500

We gave 1087 tickets away to a global energy company.

Still feeling really fed up about last night's performance.

It's hard to find many redeeming features.  Draper was easily our best player, if only because he looked like he gave a damn.  I also thought Tremarco was decent enough.  The rest of them were really pretty dreadful.

Our problem all season has been giving away soft goals, mostly because of losing possession in our own half.  Lo and behold, Warren gave Polworth a hospital ball, he was immediately robbed of possession, and a few seconds later we're behind.  It was a great goal by Murray, but it was still a dreadful goal to give away.

It was no surprise that we dominated possession for the rest of the half...and no surprise that we barely created any chances.  Storey screwed up a one-on-one (on a rare occasion that he wasn't offside), and had an effort from distance that was well saved.  That was about it.  Ironically, United's second goal came from the sort of flowing attacking move that we're not capable of.  Fon Williams should have done far better with the first effort than pushing it straight into the centre of the six yard box; the defending afterward reminded me of Sensible Soccer when you desperately press the 'tackle' button and all your defenders go sliding and running past the ball instead of kicking it.

The booing at half-time was the worst I'd heard from our support since Brewster's end days.

The third goal was another defensive disaster.  Meekings was caught up field, and nobody bothered to cover him.  Devine really should cut out the square ball, but gets caught ball watching as Ofere peels to the backpost.  If Devine just stays tight to Ofere, then he gets to the ball first - but it's the sort of mental error that Devine has made in every game this season.

From that kickoff, there was a distinct feel about the players of "f*** this passing crap, lets just have a go", and we went and scored a couple.  Any hope of a comeback evaporated as soon as we brought on Foran to hobble around up front for the last 15 minutes.  With Storey moved wide, United could play a high line and deny us space.  On the rare occasions we did get the ball wide, the crossing was just the pits - not surprising when most of it was coming from Josh Meekings, a central defender playing out of position.  The only chance we created against 10 men came from the free-kick after Morris was sent off.  The substitutions were ridiculous.  Danny Williams didn't look like he'd been told where he should play.  Ryan Williams, meanwhile, looks no more fit than when he arrived 3 months ago.

It's hard to know how much to blame Yogi.  He picked the same team that demolished Partick, yet most of them let him down badly.  Polworth's head dropped after his involvement in the opening goal (though as soon as he scored and got a confidence boost he got subbed!).  Tansey was dreadful, particularly in terms of covering his defenders - he's not been the same player since the Deadline Day fiasco.  Roberts was barely involved till he scored; Mutombo was barely involved at all.  Storey's inability to stay onside suggests a lack of concentration on his part.

On the other hand, we keep making the same mistakes as we did at the start of the season.  We still persist with Meekings at right-back and Devine in central defence, even though Meekings is the best centre-back we have and Devine has less positional sense than a wheelie-bin.  The refusal to play Raven now stinks of Yogi being stubborn with the supporters.  And the substitutions are always dreadful (this may be because our substitutes are dreadful).  "We dominated the game", the manager says, as if passing the ball around your own half of the field constitutes 'domination'.

When the third United goal went in, I heard a lot of folk around me shouting at the dugout - people who I've not heard shout anything negative for years.  The last time that happened, Brewster was in the dugout.  We've been crap at home most of the season, and I think everybody is pretty fed up with it.

As seen plenty this season we lacked cutting edge to break down a team who were happy to sit deep. After the early DUTD goal they played with 10 behind the ball using ofere as the target to knock balls down to runners like mcjay and Murray - it's and tactic we should know though as we did that last year ourselves.

Under pressure their defence looked suspect but too often our final ball was poor either crosses from Josh who sadly isn't a right back or balls inside with players picking the wrong pass. Why is storey caught offside so often, every game - I know he plays the line but with his pace it shouldn't be so common as we see it 5 or 6 times a game against us but seldom see our defence move with a decision against the opposition.

The substitution were odd, why mutumbo wasn't hooked I don't get as he contributed little and looks like a luxury player with his lack of tracking and ball winning. We kept raven on the bench when he could have been on to deliver crosses from the right as Josh was struggling and unless Roberts was injured he was our most creative player so why hook him for foran? We lacked fight and times and really need and few guys to follow the example from draper of how to fight for the ball.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11 hours ago, forresjags said:

addressed or their is no doubt the crowds will dip below 2000.

To go 3 down against a manager less team who had just been relegated less than 4 days ago is unacceptable by any standards . 

Think the humiliation of David Raven was complete tonight ....leave him on the bench and bring on Danny Williams(fecking off to Dundee) Foran (probably completed 90 mins in the last 2 years) and Ryan Williams(played less than 10 mins all season).

awful night 

 

This is from watching on BT Sport. 

We probably should have got a draw, particularly given the chance Roberts had that came off his shoulder. And had we equalised, I think we would have gone on to win it. But we didn't deserve anything from the game, pure and simple. 

While Utds first goal was a good strike, the ball should never have been allowed to travel that far, and Murray should have been closed down. The second goal was poor all round. To be honest, given it was stoppage time, Polworth should have just fouled Murray. Then Fon Williams should have dealt with the shot better. For the third goal, words fail me - I guess we were chasing the game and were far too open. 

And then the come back - the one encouraging thing about last night was that we didn't hide at 3-0 down. Unfortunately we didn't have the quality to take advantage in front of goal. For those questioning what Storey was doing out wide - that's what he has done all season. If he had someone to aim at in the middle, I think we could do some damage. 

I could see the red card coming as soon as Roberts got the ball - Morris had about 5 attempts at Roberts before he got him. 

So, a microcosm of our season in one game. Didn't defend well enough, didn't convert enough chances. Lots of pretty football, no cutting edge. But at least we pressed hard again, more of that please.

i thought the ref had a decent game (no, really). We could, maybe even should, have had a penalty, but I can see how it wasn't given. 

If there was any doubt - which there wasn't - that we need to get a proper striker in the summer, last night removed it once and for all. 

Edited May 7, 201610 yr by HawkeyeTheGnu
Darned predictive text

Watched the game on BT Sport, I overall really enjoyed it if not the result, felt we had been mugged by Dundee U, their first goal to tbh was very good, but we got done by a couple of breakaways. We were pretty much in change for much of the game, but breaking down a team that's pretty much 'parking the bus' is never easy. Two great goals from us, and Storey nearly scored with a great effort first half, and Roberts wasted his headed opportunity in the 2nd. For much of the first half we were passing around and through DU, reminded me a bit of St Mirren away last Spring (ICT's passing gets some stick, but compared to Palace they are pretty good at it) . Mutombo looked very tidy in the first half and Storey very busy (I see the comment on him being caught offside, but he correctly sits right on the shoulder of the defender, and not every time he gets pulled up is he actually offside. I don't get the Devine criticism, he seems to be the scapegoat when we don't get the win. Roberts was pretty good, but I feel we miss a true winger, also commentator made a very valid comment about Christie going to Celtic and not playing...probably would have made the differenc last night.

Still we are easily safe now, when at the start of the season it looked like we would be anything but

4 minutes ago, Eagle4Caley said:

Watched the game on BT Sport, I overall really enjoyed it if not the result, felt we had been mugged by Dundee U, their first goal to tbh was very good, but we got done by a couple of breakaways. We were pretty much in change for much of the game, but breaking down a team that's pretty much 'parking the bus' is never easy. Two great goals from us, and Storey nearly scored with a great effort first half, and Roberts wasted his headed opportunity in the 2nd. For much of the first half we were passing around and through DU, reminded me a bit of St Mirren away last Spring (ICT's passing gets some stick, but compared to Palace they are pretty good at it) . Mutombo looked very tidy in the first half and Storey very busy (I see the comment on him being caught offside, but he correctly sits right on the shoulder of the defender, and not every time he gets pulled up is he actually offside. I don't get the Devine criticism, he seems to be the scapegoat when we don't get the win. Roberts was pretty good, but I feel we miss a true winger, also commentator made a very valid comment about Christie going to Celtic and not playing...probably would have made the differenc last night.

Still we are easily safe now, when at the start of the season it looked like we would be anything but

Fair comment. The Devine thing is that he tends to have a mistake in him, and Meekings is the better centre back. Given we have a decent right back on the bench, you can see where people are coming from. 

Let's not try and dress this up as anything other than another lacklustre home performance .

Hughes can talk all he likes about possession and ball retention but we were 3 nil down to a team that just been relegated , before we decided to get our finger out.

Only positive maybe Roberts scored one set up the other ,but JH tactical genius that he is took him off before the end.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another game when you leave the stadium thinking why bother. This has been the case for the majority of the home games and there is nothing to suggest that next season will be any different.

It was bad enough when Yogi was clearly sulking following him being not allowed to speak to the Arabs. There are times now when it seems that we are simply an experiment in being stubborn.

The worrying thing is that many are going to stay away next season and not renew tickets. I know of about 10 people in this camp all of whom have had tickets since day one. I must admit to being minded not to renew with my 9 year old (who is ICT and football mad) not wanting to continue to go till there is more enjoyment in going to games.

32 minutes ago, Tree said:

Another game when you leave the stadium thinking why bother. This has been the case for the majority of the home games and there is nothing to suggest that next season will be any different.

It was bad enough when Yogi was clearly sulking following him being not allowed to speak to the Arabs. There are times now when it seems that we are simply an experiment in being stubborn.

The worrying thing is that many are going to stay away next season and not renew tickets. I know of about 10 people in this camp all of whom have had tickets since day one. I must admit to being minded not to renew with my 9 year old (who is ICT and football mad) not wanting to continue to go till there is more enjoyment in going to games.

...and that is the problem in a nutshell. Of course, supporting a football club is different from going to the cinema for 90 min of entertainment - but there comes a point when even the staunchest supporter questions whether what is on show qualifies as "entertainment". In fairness, 5 goals last night suggests an entertaining game, but too often this season the tactics have not proved entertaining, particularly at home. 70% possession yielding 2 chances in the first half doesn't sound great. Most worrying of all is that our manager pointed to this as a positive! There is a wonderful example from South of the border of how to play thrilling, winning football and it does not involve hogging possession. If Brian Rice really wants to emulate Leicester (as he suggested in the press) there needs to be a radical rethink of tactics. I suggest he and his boss watches a Leicester game to see how it is done.

1 hour ago, Tree said:

Another game when you leave the stadium thinking why bother.

The worrying thing is that many are going to stay away next season and not renew tickets. 

Sums it up. Didn't bother attending but I watched a bit of the first half on TV then turned over to the Masterchef final. The cooking was better than the football, tbh. 

Having been at home and away games, I think that the terrible atmosphere at home games has a major impact on the players. It's a bit of a vicious cycle, the tempo of the games is slow and there's little attacking intent at the moment, and so there's not much for the crowd to get excited about. Saying that, it's embarrassing the that the tiny away support on Friday actually made more noise than the home support, even when the game was 0-0. You hear players talking about the crowd as being a "12th man" a giving them energy and motivation, our atmosphere must do the exact opposite. Our away support has a reputation of being quite noisy, and traditionally we are a better team on the road in the SPL, which is probably no coincidence! 

 

And I would prefer to watch the game from the west side of the pitch !

Like I was used to.

1 hour ago, Ten4 said:

And I would prefer to watch the game from the west side of the pitch !

Like I was used to.

Me too. 

1 hour ago, Ten4 said:

And I would prefer to watch the game from the west side of the pitch !

Like I was used to.

 

14 minutes ago, TopSix said:

Me too. 

Standing.

On a terrace. 

With a beer.

15 hours ago, Alex MacLeod said:

3587 according to BBC web. On TV it looked about 2500

Official attendance was 2587.