I am struggling to work out if all these drawn games are a good thing or not. One the one hand we are still unbeaten and are conceding very few goals (only 2 in the last 5 games) but on the other there are games we really should have won and teams we should be beating without to much trouble. A point is better than no points but if we had only converted 2 of those draws to wins, we would be 3rd and a potential a win away from top. We are clearly struggling to score so I seriously think we throw in a few youngsters for the next game.

15 minutes ago, Doofer said:

I am struggling to work out if all these drawn games are a good thing or not.

Look at it this way - drawing all your games gets you 36 points and puts you in relegation play off territory.

27 minutes ago, Yngwie said:

Look at it this way - drawing all your games gets you 36 points and puts you in relegation play off territory.

But we're not drawing all our games.  We are winning some too, which is why we are in promotion play off territory and not relegation play off territory.  

Of course, we should be winning more and scoring more than we have been, but that is because we don't have a striker on a good run or midfielders chipping in with a few.  We all know that strikers tend to blow hot and cold and it is often something quite intangible that sparks a good run.  But with a solid defence, even a modest improvement in front of goal would turn draws into wins and see us comfortably in the promotion play off places.  

It has often been said that strikers win matches but defenders win championships.  Defensively we have been pretty sound having conceded only 6 goals in the league in 10 games.  It is good that we have not lost games where we are having difficulty finding the net.  There are games where we have come away with a point more than we might have, and our opponents have been restricted to one point rather than 3.  That is something to be positive  about.  Of course, it would be much more positive if we could turn some of those draws into wins.

Caley D summed it up in another thread - If there were a couple of one goal wins included we would be four pints better off and things would look a lot better.

16 hours ago, Yngwie said:

Look at it this way - drawing all your games gets you 36 points and puts you in relegation play off territory.

Losing them all gets you relegated and we ain’t losing any

21 minutes ago, IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER said:

Caley D summed it up in another thread - If there were a couple of one goal wins included we would be four pints better off and things would look a lot better.

Well there could be another win tomorrow which would give us four wins so far and no defeats.

everybody seems to think we could replace the draws with wins but it could easily be a defeat

57 minutes ago, IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER said:

Caley D summed it up in another thread - If there were a couple of one goal wins included we would be four pints better off and things would look a lot better.

Did I?

While the amount of draws we've had is extremely frustrating, I'm inclined to be a glass half full kind of guy and would much rather be sitting in this position than having lost a heap of those games we've drawn.

I agree with what most people are saying but at least we have a foundation for which we can build on. I'd rather the team went into training and matches with a belief that they are solid at the back and can work on the midfield and attacking element of the game, yes it might not show just now but I do have a belief that it will come.

Maybe a change in playing style when going forward is needed.

Failing to win for 5 consecutive games including home to Morton and away to Alloa is concerning. 

We showed at Dunfermline that we can score goals on the break if the space is there, but since then nobody has given us that space.

I'm worried that teams have sussed us out. We're solid at the back but if you sit off us, we've got nobody with the craft to create anything. Most teams are happy to take a point from Inverness so they have no motivation to open up. Home fans should get used to low scoring draws, more are coming.

It's a little frustrating not to be a bit further up the table, but we're still very much in the game.  Heck, if we were in Falkirk's position then I'd be wetting my knickers along with everyone else...but we're a long way from that and not even a third of the way into the season.

The points on the board are fixed, they're done with, in the past....there's nothing we can do about them.  However, there are still plenty of points to be won and we CAN do something about them.

Believe ?

At this stage last season we were worried about relegation. An easy 3 points.

Now, nobody can beat us!

How can that be a bad thing?

 

It's not helpful to our promotion hopes, and it stresses the fans as to whether we even have hope of winning games. Hell, we failed to beat both Alloa and Ayr, which in a majority of people's books, fairly easy opposition to dispose of and pick up an easy 3 points. Though, I enjoy the unbeaten streak which is at 20/21 games now, we definitely need wins to keep the crowd happy.

4 hours ago, buckett said:

Now, nobody can beat us!

 

Now you've gone and said it! ?

 

3 hours ago, Jack Waddington said:

It's not helpful to our promotion hopes, and it stresses the fans as to whether we even have hope of winning games. Hell, we failed to beat both Alloa and Ayr, which in a majority of people's books, fairly easy opposition to dispose of and pick up an easy 3 points. Though, I enjoy the unbeaten streak which is at 20/21 games now, we definitely need wins to keep the crowd happy.

Agree absolutely, we go on about following the team no matter what, but it really does make all the difference when you're sat in the winter sitting on your hands for 90 minutes for a nil nil draw. If the fans have nothing to cheer for, dribs and drabs of people will choose not to go.

I'd hate to think we have these boys up front who call themselves strikers that struggle to get a goal and we may have someone sitting on the bench with talent that don't get a fair whack a la Alex Fisher.

Although the unbeaten run is a good thing in one way; it shows we have a good keeper and defence, and they should get the plaudits,  but if they were letting in 2 or 3 goals a game it would be a different story and I'm sure Robbo would look at changing the lineup or tactics, so why, when the front line is misfiring match after match does he seem reluctant to drop White? It has echoes of last season when Baird seemed to be his blue eyed boy, even though he couldn't hit a barn door with a banjo. I think we have become too predictable now, other teams know how we will play and near enough our starting 11 every game. I think it's time to throw in a few surprises, different tactics and personnel. If I'm not mistaken, when Dunfermline beat us in the Irn Bru cup did they not have several youth players in their lineup, so what's stopping us from giving ours a go.

We appear to have become rather too cautious recently.  It is as though subconsciously the manager and team feel the need to keep the unbeaten run going as the priority.  Perhaps also, the caution is because they know that with our difficulty in scoring, conceding at the other end will make it that much harder to get anything out of the game.

But let's keep a bit of perspective here.  Whilst we have played better as a team under Robbo than we are just now, we are still getting forward and creating chances.  According to the BBC stats, we had more  attempts on goal on Saturday than County did in their thumping of Morton.  Less of ours were on target, of course, and perhaps we are having attempts on goal when better options aren't on, or the quality of the strike is poorer.  Either way, we are getting in the right area and with a bit more quality or confidence in the box I feel the goals are not far away.

Unfortunately, the current results and style of play are not going to bring extra fans to games.  Instead, they will lead to a slow trend the other way.  We need to get fans through the gate to increase the revenue  for the club. We need to be bolder and to attack with a bit more pace and more directness.  We need players taking defenders on and taking a few more risks.  Even if it doesn't result in a better points per game ratio, at least we will be better entertained.

Is it better to go on the attack and risk a defeat and get some wins, or hope we can sneak a narrow victory with a cautious approach,

Maybe the manager feels if he orders an attacking approach we will lose too many matches. He knows his players attributes better than me, So I have to trust him

Draws against the top teams , known as 6 pointers can be justified, but the lower teams must be defeated, one feels

Caley D made the hammer-nail interface.

Someone asked on another thread whether 5 draws in a row was some kind of record.  Now we have 6 in a row so I did a quick Google search.  It appears that the record for consecutive draws in the history of the Scottish league  is 7.  A record held by St Johnstone.  A draw against County would see us equal that and, of course, break our own record for games unbeaten.  On a less positive note, 6 draws means we are also 6 games without a win.  Our record winless streak is just 12 games so that is one record we don't want to get any closer to.

In the English league, the record is 8 consecutive draws.  Several teams share that record, most recently Swansea in the Championship in 2008/9.  I don't know about anyone else, but I thought the record might be a bit more than that.

Another record drawing sequence was in the 4th qualifying round of the FA cup in 1971 when Alvechurch, an amateur side local to where I lived, played Oxford City.  In those days there were no penalty shoot outs so if the tie was undecided after extra time in the replay, they had a further replay at a neutral venue - and so on.  After the initial game was drawn, they then played out 4 further draws (including extra time) before the tie was finally decided at Villa Park on the 6th time of asking.  Alvechurch scraped through 1-0.  I  was at the 2nd replay at St Andrews - a hard fought goalless draw.  That's one record which (fortunately) can never be broken.

Doofer's Dads expedience was similar to mine , in non floodlit days, Bury drew Stoke City in the FA cup, 3rd round -   home match Gigg Lane draw   ( -Tommy  Daniel missed a penalty) , I was there, 2nd match at Stoke, draw abandoned during Snow fall in Extra Time  score stands if a match is abandoned during extra time,  Two more matches , one at Liverpool one at Everton, Eventually decided at Maine Road ( I think )  Stoke won and went in the fourth road 3 days later, and lost to Swansea Stoke team absolutely shattered , All the games played over a two week period plus normal Saturday league match,

All from memory may not be 100% accurate . I wonder now if a match is abandoned in extra time will there be a further game at a neutral venue ? I was only 11 at the time

Since writing the above I found some more information on-line

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954–55_Bury_F.C._season

Edited November 1, 20187 yr by Laurence
added web link