Leaderboard

Should've used Adidas...they pay £75m a year for clubs to wear their kit... ...and that would've bought us Suarez..who likes to 'eat fresh'...a marketing dream! See what a bit of joined up thinking can achieve!

I agree that it has been a good tournament. For me Messi was a huge disappointment and whilst he had the odd touch of something special, for large parts of most games - including the final - he seemed pretty disinterested and contributed little to the team. It is illuminating to look at the FIFA stats in this regard. In terms of distances covered most players ran over 1K every 10 minutes - even the much maligned Fred managed that. Schweinsteiger managed 1.26K but Messi only 0.90. Apart from his goals he didn't contribute much. 5 of his Argentinian team mates made more passes than him and all had a better pass completion rate. 9 of the German team exceeded him in both respects. Messi's pass completion rate was 68%. Even Pirlo made more passes than Messi (and with a 90% completion rate) and he only played 3 games compared to Messi's 7. Of course, Messi is renowned for his running with the ball and his shooting but he only had 8 runs into the box in his 7 games and had 22 shots on goal with only 10 on target. The awful Fred had 9 on target in his 6 games. Ronaldo only had 3 games but managed 23 shots on goal with 14 on target whilst chewy Louis managed 9 on target in his 2 games. Messi's contribution has been average at best and to have him named as player of the tournament is a real kick in the teeth for the many players who are far more deserving. Far from getting player of the tournament, Messi wouldn't even be close to my team of the tournament. In fact, he would struggle to get into my Argentinian team of the tournament. Well done to the Germans though. They thoroughly deserved their victory. Their work rate, team work and style of play was all excellent. The only downside is their tendency to appear to be injured more than they actually are or pretending to be injured when they are the ones who committed the foul. The otherwise excellent Thomas Mueller was chief culprit and having got Pepe sent off in the first game he was up to his old tricks again in the final. If they could eliminate that from their game, I could get to quite like them! Of other teams, the Dutch again thrilled but fell just short, Mexico, Costa Rica, Columbia, the USA and Algeria all provided some superb entertainment and excitement. Most of the other teams had their moments and came with the intention to play attractive attacking football. The competition will perhaps be remembered most for the astonishing 7-1 thrashing of the hosts Brazil but in many ways the most significant result was the thrashing the boring World and European champions Spain suffered at the hands of the Dutch and their subsequent elimination at the first stage. The world cup is over and the beautiful game is alive and kicking.

It's funny you should mention that actually. From my research, a merged Inverness of some description wasn't just an idea that popped into someone's head in the early 90s. I remember seeing an "On this Day" thing in the Courier I think it was from the early 30s where a merger of Thistle, Caley and Clach (and possibly Citadel) fell through at the 11th hour. Mergers are nothing new and we're far from the only one. Aberdeen are a three way merger - Orion, Victoria United and another team named Aberdeen who played in white and blue shorts, merged in 1903. Ross County are the result of merger between Dingwall Thistle and Dingwall Victoria United. Motherwell are the merger of Glencairn and Alpha. Inverness Thistle were a merger in some ways as well with the incorporation of Inverness Union and Crown. I was told once that one of things the merger did was clear the deadwood. You know, the people who probably had a big team anyway and went to the matches not so much for the football, rather as a vehicle for drinking and having a scrap. They won't all be like that, but I'd guess that a good chunk were and good riddance to them. But how many refuseniks are there? I don't know, but I'd guess not that many, certainly not anymore. But here's the thing - if there's so many of them, why wasn't the merger voted down? If there's so many of them, why didn't they make more of an effort to fight back? Why didn't they attempt to resurrect a Caley and a Thistle in the Junior leagues as FC United fans did years later? The simple reason is, a lot of them probably never have existed and nowadays, they're a very small group, getting smaller and receive far more attention than is justified.

I was there! I was very impressed with Tansey. He seems a much better player than when he was with us the first time round and as others have stated, Ferguson looked very lively when he came on. His pace and work rate remind me of Craig Dargo in some ways and I think he's a player who could have a good future with us. Also, I don't want to see Mckay taking a penalty again ever. How many times will he miss before somebody realises that he's just not good at them? The stats don't lie. On final thing I must say and it was the same last year, is that as long as that management team stay in charge of Forres, we really should consider whether it is worth playing them again. Three players taken off injured and why? Because of the brutality of the Mechanic's team. Hard tackling, elbows flying in all over the place, taking out the man, all totally unnecessary in a friendly match. I wonder if it's worth the hassle playing them again next season.

If you look anything like your avatar, there'll no be a shirt to fit you! Eat Fresh? Eat something!!!

I think its a great idea, play a set way, tell everyone you will only play a certain way, then when our back four are being over run by an attacking 2,4,4 as you now expect,meekings kicks a beauty up to Aaron on the left wing combined with Marley on the right opens up the centre backs and Billy scores down the middle.

DD - You got that right about Messi! Heck even Maradona is blasting it as a "marketing ploy" by FIFA due to Messi's status as an "Adidas Ambassador" and of course Adidas are major 'partners' of FIFA at the World Cup along with Emirates Airlines which also explains the flight attendants with the medals! He looked uninterested - or perhaps blasé? - for much of the tournament and didnt even score in the knockout stages and the expression yesterday when he got the award after losing seemed to be one of embarrassment. Thomas Mueller had more goals/assists and was perhaps a candidate, but for me, I keep coming back to James Rodriguez of Colombia. 6 goals in 5 games plus 2 assists ...... but no guy called Jimmy is ever going to win the World Cup Golden Ball !!!

Last season we looked far more dangerous to the opposition when we were more direct. When we tried to play possession football, we looked more dangerous to ourselves. I am not saying that we need to lump the ball forward a la Wimbledon in the late 80s/early 90s, but when we try to pass the ball to death, we either look like we are about to give the ball away in a dangerous place, give our goalkeeper a hospital back pass, or allow the opposition to reorganise behind the ball.

That is exactly the analogy - just imagine Bury merging with Bowton and then you have that feeling that many Caley and Thistle fans actually experienced. And would you like the yoof of Bury to be aware of the history of the club before they started eating black pudding pasties ?

These matches are arranged to give players game time so I don't think people should read too much into the results aspect. Having watched endless world cup games, you can see where Yogi is coming from regarding ball retention but we are presently lacking the quality final ball into scoring areas. We will no doubt have to wait and see if we are capable of making this happen but the longer we go without creating scoring chances the more difficult it is going to get.

I very much doubt these ladies would be the type that enjoyed tea and cakes more like pints of lager and kebabs but you are right it's another way that new fans could be encouraged through the gates even if was only a few games per season Dougal No dougal. Strictly G&T or spritzers. They were formed about three years ago and chose a name that didn't clash with Accies. Since there inception they have been doing really well and could become a top league team soon. You should go and watch a girls game sometime dougal. Might teach you something about the game and how not to be a sexist arse. In what way was his post sexist ?

Overall, I thought it was a good tournament. I'm as guilty as anyone for 'fawning' over Messi when he's putting in his weekly superhuman efforts for Barcelona in La Liga and the Champions League - but i really don't think he should have won the Golden Ball for the best player in the competition! The Germans will likely be a force for some time given the ages of the current crop. It's back to the bread-and-butter for them now with the Euro '16 qualifying campaign and a visit from Scotland! We often draw the current World Cup winners in our group. We had 2010 winners Spain last time, with 2006 champions, Italy, the time before that!

Where has the Hughes out thread gone to ? Fer fecks sake it is pre pre season !!

Cheers very helpful haha