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Showing content with the highest reputation on 08/10/2014 in all areas

  1. Today was the first chance that I've had to see ICT since the end of last season and i'm impressed by the progression being made to adapt to Yogi's philosophy and style. We started off as shown below with Vincent, Christie and Williams often moving into each other positions to give us a fluid formation. This worked a treat as the players looked comfortable moving with each other and Hamilton found it hard to pick up the players as they dragged the defenders out of their positions. The most pleasing aspect of this for me was that when we did lose the ball, we quickly regained our 4-2-3-1 shape which we know is hard to break down. Starting formation Brill Raven Meekings Warren Shinnie Draper Tansey Vincent Christie Williams Mckay Meekings and Warren both seem to have developed a better understanding of what Yogi is trying to do and they were both more than happy to have the ball and pass it across the back four and at the right times, playing it into Tansey and Draper who were always dropping deep to ask for the ball. Raven and Shinnie played noticeably higher up the pitch (which suits them both) almost as wing-backs which pinned the Hamilton wingers back and allowed the centre halves time on the ball. This was particularly noticeable from goal kicks when the below formations was adopted. The ball was very rarely punted long due to Meekings and Warren splitting to the side of the box and allowing Tansey/Draper to drop deep and receive the ball. Occasionally, Christie came deep to pick up the ball with Vincent and Williams dropping inside. This allowed space for Raven and Shinnie to get up the wing. From Goal Kicks Brill Meekings Tansey Warren Raven Shinnie Draper Christie Vincent Mckay Williams One of my worries with Yogi has been the lack of a 'Plan B' however, there was definitely a change of style once the subs (in particular Watkins and Doran) were brought on today. Although possession was still the main focus, the supporting three stuck to their positions, provided width and we saw the end of the inter changing positions. Although this isn't a change of formation I'd certainly class it as a 'Plan B' and it fills me with confidence that we seem to have more than one system. Introduction of Watkins, Doran & Ross Brill Raven Meekings Warren Shinnie Draper Tansey Watkins Ross Doran Mckay Overall, impressive performance today but there is a long way to go and still a lot of work to be done. Hamilton were very poor today and against a stronger team we may need to raise the speed of our forward play. The key to this style of play is patience and realising that when we choose to go back to the keeper, rather than go forward, we are choosing to place a higher emphasis on possession to stop the opposition having the ball. We killed the game today by keeping the ball which worked a treat. Today was great to watch and the players looked delighted at full time and long may it continue. Top 6 and cup final is still very much achievable. Bring on Dundee
    5 points
  2. Would also just like to point out that the blonde selling refreshments was FIT!!! Definately a 7/10
    4 points
  3. Celtic: weaker Motherwell: weaker Aberdeen: stronger Dundee United: weaker ICT: no change St Johnstone: weaker Ross County: unknown but probably weaker St Mirren: probably a little weaker but nothing too different Kilmarnock: weaker Partick: around the same Dundee have signed well but I'd rather face Hamilton than Hearts. It's definitely a weaker league.
    2 points
  4. Interesting piece from Billy Bragg here: Aug 08, 2014 09:50 By John Dingwall 0 Comments ENGLISHMAN Bragg is renowned for his activist edge and says he hopes a vote for Scottish independence would shake up the rest of the United Kingdom. 617 Shares Share Tweet +1 Email Billy Bragg is appearing at Belladrum this weekend BILLY Bragg is looking forward to a new England if Scots vote for independence in the upcoming referendum. The former soldier’s music career has been intertwined with political activism since he first enjoyed success in 1983. “I’ve always had an activist edge to what I do,” said Bragg, who heads to Scotland today for the Belladrum music festival in Beauly, Inverness-shire. “The Scottish independence debate is a manifestation of the failure of the Westminster system that only offers us two viable parties of government. People are getting a bit fed up with it. “You can see with the rise of Ukip and the failure of anyone to win the last election, that the offer that we are getting is no longer attractive. “Many of us live in constituencies that never change hands so our views are taken for granted and not expressed. I live in west Dorset, which has been Tory since 1886 and as a Labour supporter that doesn’t help me. “But I come from a town that has been Labour since 1931 and that doesn’t help the Tory voter who lives there, so I understand his point of view as well. “We need to change that and sadly Westminster is showing no signs of trying to address that issue. “My hope is that a Scottish Yes vote will act as a catalyst that would force the remainder of the UK to come to a new constitutional settlement that makes all of our votes count. “Not just the 10 per cent who live in the swing constituencies in middle England where the parties pitch all their votes.” Bragg isn't the only celebrity to back a Yes vote. Controversial comedian Frankie Boyle is one of many active supporters of independence on Twitter. He recently spoke about his pro-yes leanings with fellow comedian Kevin Bridges. VIEW GALLERY Bragg admits he changed his mind about Scottish independence after taking a more traditional stance against it, when referendum terms were originally being shaped. He said: “I originally had the more traditional leftist view that it would be a betrayal of the working class if Scotland left. “But politics has moved on a lot since then. “I see things now less in terms of class politics and more in terms of freedom resting in the individual being able to hold those in power to account. “If you can’t hold those in power to account, you are not really free. “There’s a number of areas in the British constitution where those ideas of accountability need to be enhanced. “Not least in how we hold the bankers and corporations to account and how we hold global capitalism to account. “This isn’t the traditional leftist narrative I learned during the miners’ strike. Conversely, in our country, socialism has always been about how to hold capitalism to account. “It is about refounding the ideas of a fair society and how we do that. “You have the chance in Scotland to change the landscape, to bring something new into being. If you are complaining about the status quo and you have a chance to change it and you don’t change it, then you have to ask yourself, what are you really complaining about?” Bragg will discuss his politics further when he arrives at the Belladrum music festival this weekend, alongside acts such as Tom Jones, Razorlight and Frightened Rabbit. He is performing on the Garden Stage tomorrow afternoon before taking part in a talk at the festival that night. “It should be good fun,” he said. “One of the reasons I chose a festival like this is that festivals tend to be in places you haven’t played for a while and I don’t think I’ve played up here since the 80s. At Belladrum, I’ll be playing solo in the afternoon, which is always a good time. Everybody is pretty chilled out. “In the evening, I’m doing a little chat. I’m being interviewed in a little tent somewhere. I’m here the whole day. “It’s not one of those ones when you appear and disappear before you get a chance to catch the vibe. “I’ll be checking out some of the other acts although I haven’t worked out who is on yet. I’ll be getting a sense of the place.” Bragg first enjoyed significant success when Kirsty MacColl covered his song A New England. He later fronted the Red Wedge collective of musicians, who tried to engage young people in left wing politics leading up to the 1987 general election. Before that, he was a vocal supporter of the 1984-85 miners’ strike. But after he recently tweeted “go for it” to Scots who are thinking of voting in the September 18 referendum, he found himself criticised by old Labour pals and Tories alike for speaking out in favour of independence. “The traditional left dabbled in a dozen types of socialism but they think there’s only one kind of patriotism or nationalism,” he said. “So I get people who have a knee-jerk reaction to nationalism. “I get people who mistake a referendum on independence for a referendum on the SNP. I have to argue with mostly Scottish Labour people who are very, very upset about the referendum. I also get people who think it’s only Scottish votes that have held the Conservative party at arm’s length in the last 60 years. “They don’t understand that Scottish Labour MPs don’t make a huge difference. “England is quite capable of electing a Labour government and we shouldn’t be scared of a Tory hegemony.” He’s also critical of the No campaign, which he sees as being steeped in hypocrisy. “I can only respond from an English perspective. But it has been very disappointing. “They have not recognised the urge for greater accountability at a more local level that’s behind this. “All these unionist Tory MPs who don’t believe that Scotland should have a say over the laws that it makes are the same people who don’t believe that Brussels should have a say over the laws that Britain makes. “They want us to leave the European Union for exactly the same reasons they’re telling Scots they should remain part of the UK.” He added: “You would imagine that people disappointed in Westminster will take the opportunity to change it. “It seems to me that those who want independence in Scotland are looking forward to a different future, whereas those who want to remain with the status quo are clinging to the past, to an imperial idea of the past and we need to wake up from that. “We in England are not going to do it on our own. “We need Scotland to kick us out of bed and we might get our act together on that. “There’s a post-British thing going on in Scotland and we in England would like to have a bit of that pie as well. “Your independence might wake us up from our old imperial dream.”
    2 points
  5. That was enjoyable. We played some nice stuff at times today, with Christie, Williams and McKay linking up well in attack, Shinnie breaking forward dangerously and and Tansey dictating things from the base of midfield. It undoubtedly helped that we seemed to be gifted a goal so early on though - I didn't really see what happened beforehand, but all of a sudden McKay was on his own at the corner of the box and was able to lob McGovern neatly. Towards the end of the first half and for the first 15-20 minutes of the second the inventiveness went out of our play a bit and Hamilton had a bit more of the game, but Marley Watkins coming on swung the momentum back to us - he looked really up for it and threatened a few times, most notably when, after cutting in from the right, he almost scored with a wicked shot that McGovern did well to touch onto the bar. I'd like to see him start against Dundee, possibly instead of Vincent who was the least effective of our attacking midfielders, but if not, he's certainly a great impact player to have. Doran was much less effective when he came on and still looks like he's carrying a bit of excess summer weight. Encouraging stuff then, but Accies were probably the ideal opening team for us - they looked nervous, gave the ball away too easily and also didn't really take advantage by pressing the ball when we were playing all the languid possession stuff. A more experienced team, more familiar with our players, would probably have managed to capitalise on that period where our level dropped more effectively, and that way losing control of games lies. Presumably the players and management will be mindful of that in future games though. Someone I was with at the game mentioned that today was a bit reminiscent of our first ever SPL game, when we were easily beaten by a pretty efficient and experienced Livingston team, and I reckon it'll take a few games before we get a proper gauge of how we're going to match up in the league this year. Incidentally, the Hamilton Young Team trying to noise up some Canadian children's sports team at Hamilton West post-match was the most embarrassing thing I have ever seen. What a sorry bunch.
    2 points
  6. Just want to say a big thank-u to MFR for their match coverage yesterday. Excellent commentary, and not having to listen to OAM on Saturdays will do my blood pressure a world of good this season...
    1 point
  7. ^ Dished out some swirlies IMO.
    1 point
  8. That promotion flag at the start is from 2008!
    1 point
  9. Bowie made a one-line pronouncement, Bragg was initially a no and has now come round to a reasoned argument for Yes, which he sets out convincingly in the article. Not every Englishman wants to cling desperately to Britain's imperial past, and some like BB can even see that the referendum is the best chance to renew politics and society in both Scotland and England.
    1 point
  10. Guernsey etc are British Crown Territories whilst the Falklands etc are British Overseas Territories. That is quite different from sharing a currency with a foreign state which is what Scotland will become if there is a "yes" vote. Australia and New Zealand both had a currency called the pound which their own monetary policy sometimes aligned to the UK pound, but there was no formal currency union with them as independent countries.
    1 point
  11. It's not just the teams that have been swapped out though, there have been some quality players leave the top league already, potentially weakening several sides. Kris Boyd, Shaun Hutchison, Ryan Gauld, Andy Robertson, Fraser Forster, Georgios Samaras and Stevie May to name a few. So personally, I think in general it is a bit weaker. I reckon only Dundee over the course of the season will prove to be better than the two Edinburgh teams that went down.
    1 point
  12. NPL Review for Game 01 Off to a great start at Hamilton and we can’t say no to three points. The NPL also kicked off with some new recruits, notably a young lad from Toronto who has just turned one year old (he’s very clever!). There a few notable absentee’s too so hopefully they will realize soon what they are missing out on. To all those playing the NPL for the first time – welcome aboard and I hope you can bottle the tension throughout the season. No maximums in any section for this opening round. JockWatt and crownjaggie bagged the only correct HT score. caleydawson and Naelifts were just one minute away from a max’ in the Time of 1st Goal section Mithrandir takes a slim one point margin at the top of the Leaderboard Total Entries 42 Jokers Played Wanderer +4 Predicted Match results H: 3 D: 12 A: 27 The Results HT: 0-2 FT: 0-2 1st ICT: McKay 1st Opp: -- Time of 1st Goal: 10 Correct Predictions HT: 2 FT: 6 1st ICT: 24 1st Opp: -- 1st Goal 10 pts: 0 1st Goal 5 pts: 13 1st Goal 2 pts: 4 Bragging Rights 14 - Mithrandir Your Points Mithrandir 14 crownjaggie 13 JockWatt 13 Caley Braveheart 11 CaleyCanary 10 lilmissictbabe 10 Andrew Fraser 9 ICTPAISLEY 9 Agent N 8 Cal's Thistle 8 Dmacca 8 Gabby 8 old caley girl 8 Tichy Black's Back 8 Wanderer 8 caleydawson 7 Cdn Girl 7 DoofersDad 7 Naelifts 7 RedCard 7 Rival 6 Scotty 6 caleycalum 5 northstandfan 5 SOS 5 WYNESS101 5 bdu98196 4 bughtmaster 4 Caley Mad in Berks 4 Big G 3 Gavroche 3 jagster 3 luvgravy 3 MrCaleyjag 3 Mrs Gringo 3 ICTRoughi 2 Kingsmills 2 Eye Settee 1 Gringo 1 MuirtownJaggy 1 Renegade 0 tm4tj 0 TABLE - 01 01 - 14 - Mithrandir 02 - 13 - crownjaggie 02 - 13 - JockWatt 04 - 11 - Caley Braveheart 05 - 10 - CaleyCanary 05 - 10 - lilmissictbabe 07 - 9 - Andrew Fraser 07 - 9 - ICTPAISLEY 09 - 8 - Agent N 09 - 8 - Cal's Thistle 09 - 8 - Dmacca 09 - 8 - Gabby 09 - 8 - old caley girl 09 - 8 - Tichy Black's Back 09 - 8 - Wanderer 16 - 7 - caleydawson 16 - 7 - Cdn Girl 16 - 7 - DoofersDad 16 - 7 - Naelifts 16 - 7 - RedCard 21 - 6 - Rival 21 - 6 - Scotty 23 - 5 - caleycalum 23 - 5 - northstandfan 23 - 5 - SOS 23 - 5 - WYNESS101 27 - 4 - bdu98196 27 - 4 - bughtmaster 27 - 4 - Caley Mad in Berks 30 - 3 - Big G 30 - 3 - Gavroche 30 - 3 - jagster 30 - 3 - luvgravy 30 - 3 - MrCaleyjag 30 - 3 - Mrs Gringo 36 - 2 - ICTRoughi 36 - 2 - Kingsmills 38 - 1 - Eye Settee 38 - 1 - Gringo 38 - 1 - MuirtownJaggy 41 - 0 - Renegade 41 - 0 - tm4tj
    1 point
  13. On hols, couldnt get laptop to send the scores......frustrating. Mrs Bauhaus had correct score and goal time......just as well it didnt go through...she would have been hell to live with for a week
    1 point
  14. He was garbage for us. He played fifty odd games and had one, maybe two, acceptable performances.
    1 point
  15. 1 point
  16. Ryan Christie is undoubtadly one of the brightest prospects playing in the SPFL just now - his and Mckay's link up play today was superb. Hope we can hold on to him for a few more years. He certainly has the potential to do what Ryan Guald has done
    1 point
  17. 10th or better. I used to be 11th or better but the play offs threat has raised my expectations..
    1 point
  18. 1 point
  19. Despite being generally underwhelmed by JH's tenure so far (with the exception of keeping the squad together and signing new deals) if our next 75 halves of football are just like that one I'll start the fund to build a statue in his honour.
    1 point
  20. Not going to judge Hughes till I've seen how things pan out this season but I have my own interpretation on the quoted statement. One that could just as easily have been misquoted for press sensationalism. "I'm a great believer in that you'll always finish where you deserve to finish and I think we'll win more games than we lose next season. "If we stay up then we'll be happy and anything else is a bonus. That's playing down our chances, we'll let everyone else tell everyone what they're going to do." The statement in bold is one I've heard our fans say on more than one occassion in the past so lets say that Hughes actually said ---- I've heard people say if we stay up then we'll be happy and anything else is a bonus but thats playing down our chances. Lets all give the guy a chance and judge him on results at Inverness and not on results at other clubs.
    1 point
  21. I heard Yogi had a sausage roll at lunch the other day. Surely the f*ck*r now owes Morrissey an apology. Does anyone know what colour shoes he'll be wearing on Saturday? I'd like to have a moan about this too. It's only right. We, the fans, deserve better.
    1 point
  22. He hasn't come across as badly as some make out. Obviously he's nowhere near as eloquent, charismatic or funny as Terry Butcher - but which Scottish manager is? Whilst some of Hughes remarks (water kills the plant, workmans tools, honest lads) are facepalm-worthy. His positive, cheerful demeanour is actually quite endearing.
    1 point
  23. Are you seriously suggesting that if he said the things you mention, it would encourage more people to attend matches. In my opinion, the people of Inverness just do not want to come out in numbers to support the team each week. Even when we were plating really attractive football, scoring goals and at the top of the league at the start of last season, the crowds did not pick up. Unless people start coming along on a more regualr basis, we will have more seasons outwiith the top 6 than within down to purely financial issues that could be helped if more supporters came through the gates.
    1 point
  24. Im sorry but this is turning into a witch hunt of Hughes. The majority have been against his appointment and then since then anything that he can be criticised about they have got there teeth stuck in. So what if he says that a lot of people said the same thing before last season who assumed our first finish in the top 6 was a one off. Im sure Hughes knows we are capable of better and I remember him saying he wants to take us back to the final after last years so i'm sure he does have greater ambitions.
    1 point
  25. We've been top 6 for 2 seasons in a row, have kept the squad intact with the younger players improving all the time, and the calibre of our opponents is weaker than ever. If we aren't top 6 again, we most definitely have the wrong manager in place.
    1 point
  26. 50% of takings for a potential match at Ibrox plus TV revenue, a nice early boost to the kitty.
    1 point
  27. You just described Ryan Christie. So John Hughes is doing his transfer business right then? He hasn't had to do any transfer business to get right or wrong. I take faith from the fact that a good number of players have signed extensions since he arrived (and I suspect more will) and if/when we have need to replace players then he can be judged on how that goes. Our squad is small, but it's fairly versatile. There's good argument for a second experienced striker, but can we afford to have that and either them or Billy passing time sitting on the bench? If we could, then I imagine we'd have brought someone in already.
    1 point
  28. As a few posters have said this is not a referendum on Alex Salmond; it is to ask you if you think Scotland should be an independent country. Our impressions of individual characters should not deflect from the very simple question we are being asked.
    1 point
  29. A yes vote though isn't a vote for Salmond to become an ayatollah, in fact I wouldn't be surprised post-independence for a rebranded, phoenix, centre-left Labour Party to be very dominant. I'll probably vote Yes, but have never voted for Salmond or the SNP and don't really have inclination to ever do so. What I don't understand, is why are Yes running Salmond every time? If Yes wants to win, one of it's key groups to persuade is the undecided/soft no Labour people and a common complaint is that the Yes Campaign is just an adjunct of the SNP. Why then do they not run Dennis Canavan next time against Darling? After all, he is the head of Yes (I think) and having him being ex-Labour up against someone who is current Labour, it could turn out to be very effective if he managed to win the debate.
    1 point
  30. What I don't get is with all this road malarkey that frankly I don't care about, why did they not put parking spaces in? Stewards enquiry. Also the marina is ridiculously placed, takes me ages to walk to a game from my yacht. Disgrace.
    1 point


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