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Makeshift defender gives away a penalty and we remain bottom of SPL. Munro scores for County who keep another clean sheet and extend their lead at the top of the SFL. Hmm.

I am really disappointed after today's game. I don't understand why Butcher played te same team who were so pisspoor last week. Chippendale did well when he came on last week - did he get a chance this week? No. Why not? What does a player have to do to get picked? Not much obviously from the line up today. Foran is obviously not fit - he needs a couple of weeks rest. And I say that as a big Richie Foran fan. At his best he is a great captain and gives 110% but he just hasn't managed that for quite a few games now. Good to see Cox back and Meekings played well. so some positives. All Butcher needs to do is get the players to put in the same amount of effort as Tade. Sorted. Haven't given up hope yet of us staying in SPL. But it ain't easy staying positive sometimes. CMON INVERNESS!!!!!

Cant really sat much more that hasnt been said already. Dunfermline should have been gone by the time Tade hit the back of the net. Defensively we look more lost than the dark days of Djebi-Zadi and Phil McGuire, we're feckin useless there right now. Esson deserves credit, he did what he could to organise and made some terrific saves to keep us in the game, at half time he look very discontent with our display...get a feeling any new offer he is given will be rebuffed. Also plaudits to Tade and Davis who both gave tireless displays. 2nd half started with an improved display, Tade, Ross and Davis all coming fairly close but at the same time there were moments where Dunfermline looked threatening, paticuarly on the left hand side with Piermayr carrying a booking. Thought young Meekings looked solid when he came on, settled into the game very quickly and made a terrific challenge on Cardle towards the end who was looking to shoot. No qualms about the penalty, more dire defending, G. Shinnie not getting back quick enough and Proctor being far too rash in the challenge, didnt have to be made and was executed poorly. I symapthise with Richie Foran, he had a poor game today i agree, despite setting up the goal but the booing directed at him at full time for acknowledging our support i felt was out of order, imo he shouldve gone instead of Tade, Foran was done after about an hour. I get the feeling that many showed up today just waiting to jump on the backs of players...i know folks get frustrated but it dosent help, especially against such a young team which we are now.

You feel we're not missing a solid, reliable and committed centre half? GM not good enough for the SPL, but how many seasons has he played there? Shame Proctors tackle was in the box - PMSL thats a bit like shooting someone in the head with a gun and then in court claiming I never did anything wrong it's just a shame his head was in the way! . Foran played a poor game (not for the first time this season) although to be fair he set up the goal. But he's not the only one under performing, not by a long shot and that includes the management teams as they have brought these players in. I felt Foran was only clapping at the end and thanking the fans for sticking with the team, at least that's what I saw. People would be moaning if he just walked straight off saying that 'he isn't showing the loyals fans any gratitude' so he's damned either way. Never mind all will be well when- We start to gell, get injured players back, find the system that works for us, play a passing game etc etc. Not to mention the stability brought from giving TB & MM the contract extensions so early, that will hopefully kick in soon too.

Those who didn't go to the game should not be deceived by the scoreline. This was a game that Dunfermline should have won at a canter, and would have done had it not been for some shoddy finishing, another epic Ryan Esson effort (it's depressing how often we say that) and for some good luck when Burns hit the post. Apart from Esson, compliments should go out to the tireless Tade, and to David Davis, who put in a wonderful effort in central midfield. As for the rest...well, they can all get stuffed, frankly. Huge, huge question marks hang over the management's decision to stick with the same XI who were an utter embarrassment at McDiarmid Park last week. Yet again, McKay, Sutherland, Cox, Chippendale and Gillet sat on the bench, and Golobart was put out to pasture. We ended the game today with a centre-back at right back (Meekings), two right backs in central defence (Proctor and Tokely) and a central midfielder (Tansey) floundering like a fish out of water on the right flank. No wonder we were a mess. Meanwhile, our esteemed captain did take a brief break from standing around looking fed up and blaming his teammates for all his mistakes in order to set up a goal, but otherwise Foran was a complete waste-of-space again. And hopefully Butcher and Malpas crucified Proctor after the game - for god's sake, if you know you're going to have to hack the guy to save a potential goal, at least do it outside the box. He's got enough experience to know that. Proc was a complete liability all day - he kept following Dunfermline's lone striker whenever he dropped deep, leaving a great big hole for midfield players to run into. But is it Proctor's fault that a deluded manager keeps playing him in a position that doesn't suit him? Admittedly, the only position that suits Proctor is left-back-in-the-dressing-room. There is a huge staleness to the team right now. They need new ideas desperately - this current tactical set up, with these players, absolutely does not work. I still have confidence that Butcher and Malpas can bring these new ideas to the table, but my faith in them is really starting to be tested. Our next four fixtures are a sobering prospect - Motherwell (H), Kilmarnock (A), Celtic (H), Hearts (A). There is every chance we will lose all four and be cut adrift at the bottom by November.

Going by the fact I have very very rarely seen him pat a team mate on the back or give a thumbs up, but have instead very regularly see him waving his arms about and pointing and shouting at players, I'm going to have a guess and say that he's not offering encouragement. I even recall an article in the paper a few weeks back, i think it was after the utd match(could be wrong), where he basically said the lads weren't playing well. No mention of his own poor performance at all, and it actually read very much as if he had no part in our poor performances. Now, in my opinion, if you're not willing to put your hands up and admit you yourself are playing poor, then how can you possibly be able to motivate others?

Let's think what's gone right, what's gone wrong. None of the "he's p!$h" and drop him, without being constructive. Plenty of threads for that. Basically, we've played probably more good games than bad. Yet, we're still struggling to win. Ok, we're missing Rooney. Finding a gem though is difficult. Especially for free on low wages. I don't think we should just be saying 'sign someone' without coming up with free, low paid answers. Maybe, let's stick to who we've got until we can find someone. With ammunition, I think Foran and Sutherland have proved themselves in the past, whilst Tade is our top scorer. But at the moment, they have to find their own ammunition. Where we've really been missing players is in the injury section: wingers, defensive midfield and centre back. I think both Tansey and A.Shinnie could be top midfielders. However, neither are wide players or defensive mids. Can't really blame Terry for playing Tansey there as, without Cox, Proctor and Jones, he's probably the closest we've got. Duncan isn't playing much for Ross County. Probably injured I suspect and, if he is, he would just as likely have been injured for us. It's been such an important position for us that I think either Proctor or Cox must play there when fit (Jones later on). It's been the crux of our style of play since Butcher found a winning formula. Without any wingers, getting balls in is always going to be difficult. Foran is normally a good enough finisher to take them, and Tade is big enough to cause trouble. At the moment, we are relying on them to basically hunt down a ball from the centre and create their own chances. So, with Doran and Hayes out, who's the substitute? We could switch Tade but I'd prefer to keep him up front. Sutherland is also a better striker, so I'd say it's time to give Chippendale or G.Shinnie a run-out there. Chippendale has looked half decent when he came on. Maybe he shouldn't start but definitely after half an hour or so. That gives desperately needed width. Letting Munro go was a mistake. There you go. But what can we do about it now? Obviously Hogg and Tokely (who has looked commanding in a number of matches) are first picks but Hogg has been out for a number of matches. Proctor might be playing defensive midfield. If he is, keep him there. If not, then it's between him, Meekings and Golobart, or possibly Gillett. No idea how good Gillett is in there, so I'll leave him aside for a second. Golobart has looked good but rash. Partly, I think due to having no defensive midfield. Therefore, I'd like to see Golobart and Tokely together, with Proctor/Cox just in front. So, with that, we have a system with central defenders being protected by a defensive midfielder. That should cut down the goals and give Golobart confidence. We have good creative passers in A.Shinnie, Tansey and Davis (Ross can play in front or with the defensive mid, depending on formation), plus a (normally) clinical finisher in Foran and a battering-ram in Tade. By introducing a winger, we can have an outlet for the passing, rather than a big heave-and-hope, plus someone to provide the ammunition for the strikers, so they don't have to do it all themselves from just inside the halfway line. It's the same system we have been using for a while but with injuries, we seem to have lost our way. It's simply going back to basics and replacing them with perhaps some inferior, but better suited, players until the injury crisis is over. Otherwise, we have a lot of similar players doing jobs they are not capable of doing. We made our name in the past couple of years on 4-1-3-2 or 4-2-3-1. Let's keep our heads and go back to those systems, using players that can play those positions. Protect a nervous back four with a defensive mid and have an outlet/provider with a winger. That's how we won promotion. That's how we got so high in the SPL. That's how we'll get out of bottom of the table.

theres been games where we should of been 3-4 up this season and havnt scored any im just happy dunfermline now know what its like to be us. i think butcher wanted a reaction from the players that were poor against st johnstone and didnt get it the players with the exception of tade, esson, davis and andy shinnie (at times) didnt do that. the centre back pearing of tokely seem to have some sort of understanding but make to many mistakes piermayr-wasnt good enough we were more dangerous on the right flank when meekings came on tansey-has had to play out of position again what were we playing a 4-4-2 diamond ?? foran- at least he wasnt whining and moaning at everyone today he set up the goal but tade is showing him up at the minute G.shinnie- was suspect for the second game in a row i think hed be better off wide left of the midfeild and putting gillet in at left back. time for changes is now butchers had 3 games to asses this starting 11 and who its suiting and who it isnt on the plus side i look forward to seeing how meekings gets on against nicky law or jamie murphy next week

Foran could have had 2 or three goals himself today if he put in a least half the effort that we have seen him produce. He was a liability from the start (not for the first time this season). He was over critical on more than one occasion (not for the first time this season) and he himself was probably the worst player on the park (and not for the first time this season). For him to clap the fans at the end and try to get us all behind the team really p***** me off, because for a full 90 minutes he did nothing but stroll around the pitch and not once try and gee up the lads. There was no praise, no passion, no desire, no encouragement. Just lots of critisism to other players, even if it was he who played the initial bad pass in the first place. We all know how close Butcher and Foran are, and for that reason I will slag off Butcher. But Foran is the club captain and should show the desire and passion in every single game, not just at the end when the fans are on his back!!!

Dunfermline should have won easily but dont let that fool anyone that they're a good team. They were utter garbage as well, but far superior to us. Today was Brewster-esque football. To many players completely anonymous, Tansey, Nick Ross (going backwards as a player) and Proctor (will he ever learn to foul outside the box). Andrew Shinnie and Davis did well, but Davis is away in January so god help us!! To be fair I thought Rosscoe was really good too. If we don't improve in the next few weeks we are going down, absolutley no question. Totally disjointed, totally unorganised we look a total shambles!

I believe that today will be a turning point. We've said all along that it will click and we will score goals, so I really think it will be today.

I hear Martin Hardie's out so im feeling a bit better about it.

A full time PhD would cost as much as two players. As a fan why don't you approach the club and offer your services on a part time basis? There aren't many PhD's in the area I imagine.

For my Thesis I conducted a study on pre-match training methods for team sports and the physiological responses from it. There are plenty of studies published providing evidence of the best training methods / warm ups. Ten years ago, athletes of all sports were doing static stretches during warm ups. I'm sure you all had it in PE as a child. The teacher telling us to do our stretches. Within the last ten years or so, just about all the evidence points to static stretching as a warm up protocol increasing the chance of tears and strains and significantly reducing various performance factors such as repeated sprint ability and vertical jumping. Football however is sgnificantly behind the times. Take any other sport in the UK - cricket teams have exercise physiologists working for them. If you play squash at a high level you have exercise physiologist, sport psychologist, dietician etc etc. In football however, the people that take the training are ex players turned managers. They may have football badges but no real scientific understanding of what they are doing in terms of phsyiologically getting the best out of players. Some clubs have started to cotton on though and have employed full time Strength and Conditioning coaches or Physiologists. I have no idea what the players do in training or if they are being given the most up to date scientific training methods. I don't know if MM or TB sit at night researching studies on the most effective training techniques - if they don't, then I hope thet have employed someone who does! Peter Davidson was S+C coach part time during the Brewster era, although I do think he got some things wrong as they appeared over trained at times. Richard Hastings brother was a fitness coach after him I believe, working as a gym instructor at JJB. What professional football teams need (they do it in every other sport) is some one much more qualified. PhD level and an expert in Physiolgocial training. ICT used to have a sports psychologist named Donald McNaughton on the books part time. As a professional sports club they should aim to have an expert sport / exercise physiologist at the club as well. The job would be to work with and/or advise TB / MM on creating training routines that would best prep for performance AND strengthen the players in a way that decreases injury. i don't know if we have someone like that on our books. Maybe if we did, we wouldn't have as many injured players (certainly nothng could have been done abiut Doran and Hayes injury). But Gillet collapsing in agony at East End Park with a muscle injury? Maybe, just maybe with the right physiological training throughout the season, players would strenghten various phsyioloical factors and injuries like that would not occur. If Butcher is correct in using the injured players as an excuse, then the benefit of this is very simple. less injured players = higher up the table. Not being relegated would probably pay for the physiologists wage.

I think the frequent reference to journey-men in this thread and similar discussions is quite significant. What we have here is a Highland-based team largely manned by players with no real passion for the town they supposedly represent. And why should they - they weren't born here, they don't belong here and they have no intention of living here any longer than their loan spell/shop-window time. They must clearly be motivated as it's in their professional interests to perform well on the pitch, something which, as yet, doesn't seem to be happening. To my mind, that is the nature of our current problem and it's the manager's job to sort it out. I'm certainly not calling for Butcher's head - I am confident he's up to the job. Just wish he'd hurry up!

TOKELY COULD BE THE ANSWER. There is an old saying that 'you get more with honey than with vinegar". I don't wholly agree withn that because some horses are just lazy and need a wee push to get up there with the frontrunners in the pack. But if Foran is not throwing out some praise and/or encouragement then he is surely making a big mistake in by-passing the opportunity to show the players that he isnot only a fair Captain but a wise one. And he must motivate or die on the vine. That is leadership.

So if I am understanding you correctly Gringo, it is okay to slate the captain on this website but not the manager who picks him and gave him the captaincy? The captain is to blame for the team's poor results, not the management team who decimated the squad and replaced them with short contract jobbers and loanies who see ICT as nothing more than a shop window for their names to be seen by "bigger" clubs?

For years I have had the pleasure of winding up a pal who's a Dundee United fan about being better than them, his reply was its all about building for next season they were poor for a few years and they have done not too bad since. So perhaps we need to start looking ahead, we dont quite have the right ingredients to make a gourmet dish this season so lets look at what we do have, what we can keep and what ingredients we can add to make various tasty meals next season.Maybe the under 19s will be coming into season by then. A good chef will add to what he currently has to produce the best dish possible, we got rid of some cod last season in the belief we were getting some Sea Bass in and ended up with fish fingers.

Sorry sonam but if you honestly think sacking Butcher is the answer to this clubs problems then maybe you should go support some other team. First off we've just extended his contract so the pay-off to get him out would be pretty much beyond our means. The problems of this club are way above Terry Butcher. The club is struggling to operate within available budgets as it is so how can we be expected to attract better management and players than we already have. Besides, once the team has been picked for a match, its the players who are letting us all down. These are supposed to be SPL standard professional footballers. They should be going out onto any pitch and giving it their all. Playing for the club that pays their wages. Playing for the fans who shell out to support them. They should even be playing as if their future depended on it. These players are the ones who's heads you should call for. Not the management.

Great guy, grand person, full of charisma, personality and the likeability factor - but that article wholly smacks of egotistical self centred overoptimism to me - a wee bit of "I am alright Jack". It worries me that he 1)says he knows where the club is going and 2) that he appears that he is protected by the new contract. Please, please dot me but this is about the safety and security of Inverness Caledonian Thistle and not Mr Terry Butcher - you have to prove yerself on the pitch, through performances and results not by gushing emotionally in a rather narcissistic fashion. Perhaps someone should tell Terry that he is becoming Maradonna'ish.

Has the team improved this season? No, gone backwards. I say Butcher & Malpas for the sack. A relegation battle is hardly exciting. It will be between us & Dunfermline. Horrible feeling that we will go down. Now is the time to change management before too late. Sack Butcher and we may just survive.

Getting fed up of people with their love for Grant Munro and how he is what we are missing. He was a poor leader, below average overall defender and not good enough for the SPL. Today i thought Proctor played ok had to make the tackle, shame it wasn't made outside the box, but doesn't deserve the pelters he is getting today. Richie Foran was the worst player on the park today and has been like that all season, for him to come up to the fans after todays performance and tell us to keep our heads up is a joke! ill start to keep my head up when the team pulls their fingers out and start looking like they give a F**k!