Jump to content
  • Signup for more content

    Our main forums are visible to guests along with a few other features. Login to access more content.

  • Guest
    Guest

    Inverness CT v Dundee Utd Preview

      Teaser Paragraph:

    Inverness Caledonian Thistle v Dundee Utd Preview

    This weekend, weather permitting, sees the Tangerine Terrors come knocking on the TCS door looking to continue their decent start to the season. The club is under new leadership after chairman Eddie Thompson sadly succumbed to his long battle with cancer at the age of 67. Taking over at the helm is his son Stephen Thompson, and it was recently announced that manager Craig Levein has signed a three year extension to his Arabs contract.

    Dundee Utd FCInverness Caledonian ThistleINVERNESS CT v DUNDEE UTD

    Tulloch Caledonian Stadium

    Saturday 6th December, 3:00pm

    Former Cowdenbeath, Hearts and Leicester City boss Levein has signed on at Tannadice until May 2012. Oddly enough, Levein joined United when they were languishing perilously close to the relegation zone and took over from none other than our own much maligned Craig Brewster. Levein now has one of the top teams outside the Old Firm and United have high hopes of finishing the best of the rest in the SPL. Inverness meanwhile are still flirting with the reality of relegation and three points from the United game would be a much needed boost to the home points scorecard, where performances have been much criticized by the Tulloch faithful. The 2.5% VAT reductions are welcome; let’s just hope the entertainment is not reduced by the same amount as there would be no value for money left.

    PLAYERS TO WATCH

    Dundee United

    Big Jon Daly, no not the wayward American golfer, but the six foot two inch Republic of Ireland under 21 international footballer who is enjoying his return to the Terrors first team after six months out last year with a cruciate ligament injury. Daly started his career at Cherry Orchard in the Irish amateur leagues before signing for Stockport County in 1998 scoring 14 goals in 91 appearances. After a couple of loan spells at Bury and Grimsby Town, he joined Hartlepool in February 2005 and scored 12 goals in 61 appearances, including seven goals in one week! Another loan spell at Bury followed before he was signed by United in January 2007. Big Jon has already scored against the Caley Jags this season, scoring the first for United in the 2-1 defeat for us in October, one of six goals for him so far. Always a threat in the air he will pose problems for the Jags rearguard, especially as the height of Tokely will be missing this weekend as he starts a two match ban for accumulated bookings.

    Francisco José Sandaza Asensio, now there’s a mouthful. I'll settle for Sandaza. He is also a handful as Rangers found out earlier this year when he scored twice at Ibrox in a MoM performance to earn United a creditable 2-2 draw against the Gers. The six foot tall 24 year old Spaniard was signed from Valencia Mestalla, the Spanish giants Valencia's second eleven, where he was a regular scorer in the reserve games, hitting the net 23 times last season. In Spanish league set up, the second string can play in the lower leagues but cannot be promoted to the top tier. He also scored against Celtic for his first competitive goal for the club in August 2008. Sandaza has scored six league goals this term and is warming to the Scottish game. Maybe the frost in the Highland capital will slow him down a bit to enable our sometimes laboured defenders to keep the Spaniard under control. There’s a thought......Arabs and Sandaza, goes hand in hand really, anyway, definitely a couple of players to pose a threat to ICT.

    Inverness Caledonian Thistle

    Ryan Esson has come in to the starting eleven in recent weeks after a series of disappointing performances by young Mike Fraser who has maybe dented his confidence a little. Esson has taken over the keepers jersey since the 5-0 mauling at Ibrox and has performed admirably since then, making himself the number one choice at the moment. The former Aberdeen and Shrewsbury keeper excelled in games against ICT and is showing good form at the moment. His quick distribution has been praised by the home fans and he has done something not seen at ICT since the days of the legendary Jimmy Calder, a penalty save. In fact Killie also missed against him, with Taouil firing high over the bar. At six foot one, 28 year old Ryan is well equipped to deal with the threats from United giants Wilkie and Dods and has plenty of experience having played 89 times for Aberdeen in the SPL. Ryan may well be a key player for ICT this weekend with the aerial threat of Wilkie, Daly, Dods, Kenneth and Sandaza all very menacing at set pieces.

    Richard Cory Hastings is the only full International player left at ICT since the departure of Romanian Marius Niculae. The Canadian born player has grown with ICT, despite a spell away from Inverness at Grazer AK in Austria and a misguided adventure at Dingwall, the former Millburn Academy pupil has returned to make the left back position his own. Richard has a great engine and patrols the left wing back slot for the Jags. If his crossing were to match his energy then he would be a fans favourite, but all too often the attacks break down when aimless balls into the box get mopped up easily by the opposing defences. All the same, he could prove to be a match winner if he gets it right and offers plenty of back up to Dougie Imrie and Don Cowie who forever swap wings. At 31, he may be regarded as approaching the veteran stage, but the man who started out at Nairn County still has plenty to offer ICT before he would think of returning to Canada. Let’s all get behind him and the team for this crucial game. After all, it is his testimonial year.

    PAST MEETINGS

    The teams have met eighteen times since ICT joined the SPL, (league and cup), with United winning five times, ICT prevailing six times and seven draws. Highest scoring game was ICT triumphing 4-2 at Tannadice when Inverness twice came from behind to run out easy winners after Dods, Wyness, Dargo and Morgan replied to a double from Charlie Mulgrew. Starting line ups that day in front of 6419 fans were

    Inverness:-

    Mark Brown, Richard Hastings, Ross Tokely, Grant Munro, Darren Dods, Barry Wilson, Russell Duncan, Richie Hart, Ian Black, Dennis Wyness, Craig Dargo

    United:-

    Stillie, Duff, McCracken, Archibald, Mulgrew, Kerr, Brebner, McInnes, Fernandez, Samuel, Miller

    TM4TJ PREDICTION

    With the Arabs being much improved from the Brewster era it would be easy to go for a United victory, but if ICT can display the same commitment shown in the last three away games then you just never know. However, our home form leaves a lot to be desired, the lone striker not being a fans favourite. This game may well boil down to the managers tactics being the deciding factor. I am sitting on the fence for a scoring draw.

     




    User Feedback

    Recommended Comments

    There are no comments to display.



    Create an account or sign in to comment

    You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

    Create an account

    Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

    Register a new account

    Sign in

    Already have an account? Sign in here.

    Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. : Terms of Use : Guidelines : Privacy Policy