THE MATCHDAY THREAD Discuss ICT & other games in this thread as they happen Inverness CT -V- Alloa Athletic PREVIEW 24th August 2018 @ 3PM, Caledonian Stadium Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Facebook Go to the Chatroom Media Coverage   AUDIO COVERAGE BBC Sportsound BBC Sportsound [UK Only]   LIVE TEXT (ONLINE) Sporting Life BBC    VIDEO SPFL YouTube Channel ICT Official YouTube Channel   TEAM LINEUPS TO FOLLOW   Tweets by @ICTFC Tweets by @ICTFC

On 8/26/2018 at 6:11 PM, CaleyD said:

Worrying that Robbo's post match comments talk about filling the team with Youth players....when it's blatantly obvious that what's needed are a few more players with a bit of experience and composure.

Leaving aside the fact that most of the players he's moved on since getting here have been those with experience and composure, we do have players like Calder and Doran who should be on from the start and who would be more likely to provide what's needed.

Just for clarity, I have nothing against playing youngsters, they just don't offer a solution to the problem that has been identified.

We've brought in young guys from other clubs who seem to be no better than the youth players yet will be getting paid 'X', when it might have been better to invest 3X for 1 experienced player and plan to use youth back up all along. This season is critical to the direction of the club being a 2nd year in the Championship - investing in a strong spine should have been the plan all along.

Watched the highlights the other night : should have hit double figures. I realise they are only highlights but so many chances to win 4 or 5 matches.

No point in dominating matches if you can't finish the job

3rd youngest average age of 1st team squads in the Championship at 24.2

But there isn't a lot of difference between the oldest at 26.5 which is Ross County and the youngest which is Falkirk at 23.6 so although we have one of two more younger players than most of the other clubs there is little significant difference between the Championship squads and most if not all clubs are turning towards younger players, probably more to do with finances than anything else.

 

 

And younger players can be less susceptible to, and more likely to recover from,  injuries faster 

I'd like to see us dominate every game, possession is domination because if you dominate your opponent and keep possession it restricts their ability to create their own chances. We only do this in periods during games, we give the ball away too often from midfield. Our shortfall this season hasn't just been about not putting away opportunities but also not being able to defend a one goal lead. And this isn't about our back four, if we press high up then we need to defend from the midfield do we have players who can do this? Polworth to a certain extent, Welsh possibly. I don't see anyone else in the current squad who can do this job with a consistency that would make a big difference. I don't know much about Angus Beith.

Almost every goal we have lost this season has been or come from a counter attack situation, we have been hit on the break. In our seemingly desperate haste to kill off teams we totally leave ourselves exposed at the back. What happened at the end of the game last Saturday was a good example of this situation occurring and when our tactics throw caution to the wind while leading a game and we don't have enough players with a calm head at the wrong moment then we are just asking to be punished, Jim Goodwin and Alloa were aware of this and they didn't give up because they knew some of our players can be rattled into costly errors. (That lad Jake Hastie looks a good prospect, only 19 and a Motherwell loanee I see, keep an eye on him.)

Are we only capable of playing one way? 4-4-2 and press high up at every opportunity? It might be less exciting but maybe instead of trying to overwhelm the opposition with goal attempts some of which were never on why not try to genuinely dominate by controlling the game's pace and being comfortable without being complacent as a confident team would. I would have been happy with a 2-1 win on Saturday it didn't need to be pretty, the result of course is the most important outcome.

 

It wasn't until after Christmas Livingston really got going, already in the top four they  brought in new players in January obviously knowing they had a good chance of getting a playoff spot and so went for it.  

Similarly, last season was a write off for us until mid-March and so just brought in one player in January transfer window.  If we are fourth (or above) by Christmas, there has to be some movement on players in, and out,  if the club are serious about Premiership football being in Inverness again.  

 

 

Edited August 31, 20187 yr by Glover