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Hellooooo... Wake up call... Our last 5 matches Celtic Celtic Dunfirmline Rangers Dundee United And you're calling for Butcher to go? May I add to that we had a 7-game un-beaten run prior to those 5-games, including wins over third placed Motherwell and a good Hearts side and our SPL bogie team, Aberdeen. And you're calling for Butcher to go? No midfield... Hayes and Doran are both injured. We lost Davies back to Wolves in January. OTJ isn't fully fit and was probably lucky to make the bench yesterday, not to mention the long-term lay off of Andrew Shinnie. Our only fit midfielders are Tansey, Ross and Foran. And you're calling for Butcher to go? I'm not going to dispute the fact performances and 'entertainment value' this season are anything to shout about. And yes, this is now Butchers team. But stop f***** crying over Grant Munro and Russell Duncan. They're gone. Get Over It. Anyway, who are you going to replace Butcher with? Pele? Robbo now he's free? Or maybe you fancy ABV instead....

Unfortunately I do believe there is some credibility in the opening post. A lot of people need to take off the tinted specs. His team tactics and substitutions are sometimes baffling. If he thought that playing long balls up to a small striker was a good idea then he should think again, god knows he has had enough goes at it to see it won't work. Yes the players must shoulder a lot of the blame, but the lack of quality is embarrassing. We had passengers all over the park tonight. Tansey was terrible first half, Foran should have been hooked, Ross was well, just Ross, totally ineffective, Shane struggled to get the ball out from under his feet all night, McKay got no service and Tade was woeful and not for the first time. Thats more than half the team not playing and that put's too much pressure on the defence. Golobart was just back from a serious injury and tried his best, Rossco was just Rossco and Meekings and Gillet stuck manfully to their task. Esson never covered himself in glory either. So, who will Terry blame this time. He picks the players, he got rid of better players and he decides how we play. Let's blame United for being better than us. We matched them until they went ahead, then we went backwards.. No I'm sorry, but sonam is just saying out loudly what a lot more folk are feeling. Terry, take a look at yourself and ask if you could have done more to prevent another humiliating defeat. We have never had such a weak back line as this ever. This is statistically our worst defensive combo yet. I know there are reasons for it, but we are unattractive to watch and your style is turning people away from the gates in their droves.

Sorry for going off-topic here, but herein lies the issue. Alex also mentioned the financial situation which doesn't help - he is completely correct on that. I think we should be focusing heavily on youth development, having a structure in place which sees the club work with other football clubs in the area to foster and develop an excellent youth strategy. To what extent does the club harness the Highland Youth Academy? While admirable, building up a fan base may be more about putting back in to the community and having involvement than special ticket deals. Any money the club can afford should, IMHO, be put toward youth development. Links with local secondary schools needs also be be encouraged and harnessed to work with talented youngsters. I think the management could do more to this end to assist. I find people having a pop at Nick Ross a wee bit baffling. The lad is still a teenager - yet playing in the top flight?! There is far too much emphasis in Scotland on having big, physically strong footballers - lacking in technique and a decent first touch. Nick Ross isn't a lumbering behemoth but has lots of potential. I think Terry Butcher cares immensely about the game and the club. For those of you calling for him to go - I'll agree to disagree with you. I would like to see more links across schools, clubs and the wider community though. The players help out in French classes - how about them taking after-school training sessions too?

Lee Cox came from a championship club. Josh Meekings came from a championship club. Doran, Winnall and OTJ all came from Premiership clubs. A. Shinnie came from an SPL club. The English leagues are of a far higher standard to ours and teams from league 2 could easily hold there own against most of the SPL teams. That said everyone is missing the one point that is holding this club back from building success. Income. We cant give players longer term deals. We cant give players security. We cant give players the sort of wage they'd get at many other clubs so how do we attract all those championship players we should be looking at?

I don't think anybody is saying it is all wonderful or anything like. We could and should be doing better than we are and there are genuine concerns about some of the selections and tactics, but this season has been about rebuilding and it has been desparately difficult to do that with the amount of lengthy injuries we've had. So, we've had a couple of disappointing results in the last 2 games against teams who are 2nd and 4th. But before that we conceded just 2 goals in 5 games and we have not been beaten by a bottom 6 side since August 20th. It's far too early to call for a change of manager. If we only get another couple of points before the split I'll maybe agree you've got a point. If we get relegated I'll maybe agree with you. It ain't going to happen, though. More chance of us being safe before the split than going down. This is a season to write off and hope, indeed, expect better next season.

The difficulty with a back three is that it has traditionally been the 3-5-2 formation and that formation can result in either your defenders being exposed in wide areas if the wing-backs push on or your wing-backs being pushed back, leaving you hemmed in a 5-3-2, outnumbered in midfield with no width going forward. Also, I don't think the two players you have picked as right and left wing backs are particularly suited to the role, Gnakpa being more of an attacking player and Gillet being more defensive. As well as that, I don't think our midfield are particularly suited to the covering that would be required, although we showed (especially at the second goal) last night that covering runs isn't great no matter if it's four or three at the back. I'm not sure that radically altering formations etc is what's required to get us out of the funk that we have sunk into over the last few weeks. Last night we simply lacked quality going forward, every time we attacked we weren't dynamic enough and lacked pace. Nick Ross was in a pivotal role but simply didn't do anything, he was anonymous and had no snap to his play. We need to have players further up the park, willing to pick the ball up, move it quickly and make themselves available and we just don't seem to have that at the moment, every time we do anything it takes too long, we don't have proper options and things break down. Hopefully Hayes is back fit as he is clearly our best attacking player and main threat. Aside from that, I'd prefer to see Tade play through the middle and Jones getting a chance in midfield.

I'd like to see Ross rested for a few games.

I just won a pound cos of this, i just knew somebody would call for Butcher out after tonight.

Nine points and they fecked it up - it could be an even better song if they win their game in hand.

It wasn't noticed and, please......don't call me Shirley. (I so hope that isn't meaningless to the younger 'uns)

I certainly wouldn't want ICT to be playing them at the moment.

I could give several examples but lets just limit it to Tansey, Tade and Sutherland Tansey simply is not a defensive holding midfielder. He has been put in that role becos of the injury and subsequent departure of Cox and the decision to play Foran in central midfield. Tansey's apparent qualities is that he looks adept at oving in to space to receive passes, he has good first control, he does tend to look at options available to him but playing deep he is either under instruction to hoof rather than try summat fancy or he simply gets pressurised and goes in to a bit of panic mode. The holding role is summat that Duncan did to perfection when he had a ball player beside him. He stuck to that position, had the experience to cover and shadow front runners and always tended to seek the simple pass. He often fecked things up when he tried to do summat a little bit too fancy. Cox was of similar ilk. Tade is an enigma. His positives and negatives is that he is totally unpredictable. The opposition cant second guess him, his colleagues never know exactly what is going to happen next and Tade is a headless chicken who probably doesnt know exactly what he is going to do next. But allow him to play as a headless chicken, running manically around the final third of the pitch, hassling and harrying and using his pace on the last line of defence. Sure he will probably feck up 70-80 % of the time but he pays dividends with the other 20-30 %. Sticking him out wide and encouraging him to drop back and defend is a total waste of a player. He hasnt got the know how to play in a tactical role. Recently I have seen him tried as a switching role from wide, central and defence minded - it will never work. To me Sutherland could be the "foil" for Tade and McKay. To me he comes across as more of a traditional centre forward - a target man. Sure his ball control is dodgy and his distribution poor but he has real upper body strength and is adept at holding the ball up and holding off defenders. If he could learn that skill and the added skill of laying the ball off to attacking midfielders then he may progress. Playing him deep or wide or in a switch role simply will not work.

Am I the only one who thinks the majority of these "higher quality" Championship and Premiership players have either been rubbish or have a rubbish attitude in terms of what this club needs? Hayes, Rooney and Cox isn't a great return from the number of players we have taken from down that way. Yes Davis was good but he chose to leave at Christmas so his loyalties weren't at ICT. And quite rightly he chose to do what his club preferred him to do and what benefits his chances at his club. But it doesnt benefit us and it's a problem.

They do do walking away

GIFs can convey 1000 emotions.

Interesting....................who is the Inverness Caledonian Trust? Are they the same as Inverness Caledonian Thistle Trust Limited a dormant company registered at Companies House as a construction and civil engineering company and who's directors are Mr Allan George Sellar, Mr David John Stewart and Mr David Fraser Sutherland. Registered business address is in Stoneyfield Business Park.

Have never supported a campaign for any manager to be beheaded. Think it's as degrading now as it was in the past. What I will say is that the only people who **** me off more than those who constantly talk things down are the 'happy clappies' who (like the Rangers fans who think that shouting 'We Are The People' will somehow save their club) refuse or are unable to consider that all is not well and that TB and Co are beyond criticism. TM4TJ has got it right for me. Probably repeating myself but...............TB is spending a significant wage on a keeper who won't play and wasn't needed. His choice. Why? TB chose to let Grant Munro go despite the fact that left sided centre backs with his experience (and on his wages) are impossible to find. He has also failed to replace him. Why? (we still haven't had an answer!) TB has Gary MacKay Steven at our club and didn't see a player. This is astounding. Instead he has spent our money on poorer players from the lower reaches of the English (non) leagues. Why? Just some of the points I think are legitimate questions to be asked. The don't have to be answered but will always be legitimate. And Gringo, OTJ will never be fit. Period. That's why he is up here.

Special top marks to the young supporters who travelled to this game - they sang throughout the 90 minutes and did ICT proud. They never went quiet the whole time, which is more than can be said for lots of supporters of the "bigger" teams when losing. Well done boys - you know who you all are. At the final whistle, only Roman Golabart and Josh Meekings acknowledged the travelling support, so black marks to the rest of the team who left the field without a backward glance or acknowledgement of their fans (probably expecting a tongue-lashing for the next hour or so from TB and MM).

Let me sleep on it, but Chippendale has returned to wherever he popped out of, Huddersfield or somewhere like that/

Come on - Munro got the boot in the Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole mode. He became a spokesman and spoke the feelings of the dressing room - and took the hit. But Munro is gone and that does not detract from the fact that we have not found a replacement for him and continued to play the game in a tactically naieve fashion. I am afraid that there are shades of Brewster developing.

Spectator.

Just waiting on the happy clappers to tell us what positives we can take from this performance... More absolute pish. Tokely and Tansey should never have started. The rest of my post writes itself.

Agree with a lot of that Chris but I disagree on your assessment of Meekings. I thought he stapped his authority on M-S and stopped him doing what he's good at.

2 words Feck off

Listened to the radio commentary. Consensus was that the score flattered Utd and that ICT payed pretty well on the whole. The difference is the lack of cutting edge up front. We actually had more attempts on goal and a pretty even split of possession against a team that are on fire at the moment. OTJ obviously not fully match fit and without Doran and Hayes there is clearly a lack of quality in midfield but we created chances and should have scored against a side who have now had 4 consecutive clean sheets. With Shinnie out, the front men just don't seem to be able to find the net at the moment and that is where we are really lacking at the moment. It's all well and good promising players a run in the side so they are not under too much pressure to score in a particular game but I cannot for the life of me understand why Winnall is not given a chance. He surely can't do any worse in front of goals than the others. Any lingering hope of 6th is now gone. We now have to get a couple of wins under our belts and make sure that any lingering hopes Dunfermline may have of catching us are snuffed out as surely as our hopes of top 6 have been tonight. Then we can aim for 7th place. 7th would equal our best finish ever and given the injuries we have had this season would represent a really good season.

he has gone....face it munro aint coming back. grow up, stop bleating and try supporting the team and not just slating it jeeees fans these days

Sorry mate but I have to totally disagree with you. Butcher has brought enough players into the squad that can do the business. When they go out onto the field its them who have to shine. As for the constant reflection on letting Munro go. Dont you think its maybe wearing a bit thin. Munro was let go. End of. I recently found out the reason why he was released and whether or not I agree with it it happened and its time to move on. We have a team of very good players. We just aren't getting it right as a team. That can be put down to injury, constant changes or whatever but, I believe, the bottom line is we are a club struggling to hire that extra bit of quality that makes every other player try harder. I look at the history of Scottish football and I see teams now in the lower leagues who once upon a time were the elite of Scottish football. They couldn't hold out on the low gates and neither will we. We will try but so will everyone else and our 3000 or so diehards are just not enough to keep us as one of the top twelve.

Absolute garbage. No pace or dynamism going forward, we just look so slow and weak. Without Johnny Hayes we aren't a threat. Esson - Poor clearence for the first goal but had a couple of decent stops. Meekings - Given a torrid time by Mackay-Steven, resorted to stupid fouls on several occasions. Tokely - Beaten in the air for the second goal. Golobart - Second best several times, including at the third goal. Looked rusty and distribution was poor. Gillet - Very slow in his use of the ball, terrible passing. Tansey - Was OK but doesn't stamp his authority on games at all. Foran - Caught out for the first goal. Sutherland - For the first half he was very poor, lacking finesse but perked up during out 'up' spell at 2-0. Ross - Powder puff, slow on the ball, didn't do anything of note. Tade - Set up chance fro McKay but nothing else. McKay - Isolated up front, didn't take right decisions when in good areas at times. We just make stupid errors and play like we are running through wet sand when we attack. We should stay up but big changes are needed. I said to my mate tonight, I can see Butcher leaving by the end of the year. If this form continues into next season, him walking is a possibility. Maybe I am just being pessimistic though - our best defender was coming back from a lay off and our two most creative players (Andy Shinnie and Johnny Hayes) are injured. The latter two fit would make a difference to us.

This is a truely shocking performance. Nothing of quality in any position, passion, guile or general team work. Foran and McKay must be doing something right in training because they play week in week out but McKay has done nothing since his arrival except run at defenders never with the ball and always into the wrong channels. Has he scored in the SPL? Foran just forgets about football sometimes while mouthing off, and tonight was at fault for most of Uniteds better moves. Getting rid of a quality (albeit sometimes criticised) defender in Munro and never sorting that is ENTIRELY Butchers fault. And his tactics of late have been awful. Not calling for his head but the man has to do something and stop saying 'they played well and I wish the next game was tomorrow'.

Surprised to see Tokely back in. Also strange that Williams was dropped, I thought he was okay against Rangers. When's Jones going to get a game? Surely he's better in there than Tansey and Ross. When's Doran back by the way?