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.....in the car park?!

3-1 ICT MacRae

Disagree with those who are unconcerned about the League Cup. That might have been the case in the 1st round, but if we'd won last night we'd be only 1 game away from another major final. I know technically the League Cup is the 'wee' cup, but seeing as we've already got the 'big' cup in the trophy cabinet, I'd rather we won something we haven't had before to complete the set (1 Challenge Cup, 1 Scottish Cup, 1 League Cup).

Disappointing result and performance last night. I confess, I didn't go to the game - am full of the cold - but watched it on TV. It may be a cliché, but It was a 'good advert' for the Highland derby. It also sounded like a vibrant atmosphere, at times, despite a low crowd of 3,004...which, although not the smallest ever, was still fewer than any league game there's been between the sides at the TCS. (but I'm in no position to criticise that!) Look forward to the next match-up, which is the New Year game (actually, 2nd January) in Inverness. That will be the 50th Highland derby! Such are the vagaries of football that Hughes has won on all 4 of his ICT trips to Dingwall, but has yet to record a victory against County in 4 attempts in Inverness. Caledonian Stadium record v County (all competitions) (W-D-L): Butcher (5-0-1) 83% Paterson (4-2-1) 71% Robbo (2-1-1) 63% Hughes (0-2-2) 25%

Highlights can be seen on the Motherwell youtube page

I don't think Yogi has lost the dressing room but do wonder if the board have lost Yogi

Scotty - what I am alluding to is - "Why have a Development squad if we are not going to feckin develop them ?" The team against St Mirren in the Development League last week was - Mackay, Stark, Howarth, Horner, Gilchrist, MacLennan, Vigurs, Wedderburn, Trialist, Sutherland, McRae plus Hoban, Wilson, McArthur, Rennie - potentially 10 but probably 6 that could have simply warmed the bench last night. That would have been experience and confidence boosting in itself. And what was the squad for the game against Well tonight - a team that is leading 3-1. What feckin harm could it possibly do ? And I suppose my other concern is actually the number of injuries that we do have - the manner in which Draper was "injured" is concerning in itself. Most of the injuries appear to have been suffered or aggravated in training which raises questions about the training facilities and methods. I suppose that we have been unlucky but it has to be more than that. Perhaps we are saving money on sickness benefit and win bonuses.

I collected my ticket from the ticket office last night and Jason Brown was the one who served me. I know we are multi-tasking club but there's something not right about that. Other teams like Dundee United, Motherwell and Hamilton etc always use their U20. If the reason we refuse to use them because of bonuses then we should look at the bigger picture, the experience could easily aid their development.

Time to reflect. Yogi's hands are tied with respect to the number of fit players he has - for that, he has my sympathy. He has no option but to play guys out of position and make do. In addition, he has virtually no options to change things when it's not working out during a game. HOWEVER, it is his job to adopt a system that best suits the players he has and to recognise and rectify when things aren't working. For example, Vincent up front didn't work on Saturday, but he persisted with this tactic last night and.......it didn't work again! Contrast that display from Vincent with the one away at County where he played in midfield and was fantastic. We do not have 2 fit senior strikers at the club, so he cannot play 2 up front unless he's willing to go with Sutherland, who I thought looked decent last night. Vigurs in for Williams just eliminated the only player with any pace in the team - Williams made a difference when he came on. The diamond in midfield didn't really work either. The passing game when you're 2-0 down in a cup with players playing out of position is (a) suicidal and (b) ineffectual. I understand that the club bought into the philosophy when Yogi came, but he needs to mix it up with the longer ball occasionally, otherwise we are too predictable. Everybody now knows to press us high up the pitch and eventuually we'll cough it up in a dangerous position. Much as I hate us losing to County, I'm not concerned about being out of this cup. League points are, however, vital and we have another opportunity on Saturday to take something from the game. If the group that played last night are all we've got, then so be it. But Yogi needs to play them in a formation that they are all comfortable with and be prepared to go long if needs be to cut out the leakiness at the back. The strikers did well off balls into the channels for the last 20 min, so keep doing it! Equally, there is no point to passing the ball amongst the back 5, only for Fon Williams to eventually hack it away under pressure anyway - may as well do that off the bat and reduce the risk! Learn from the mistakes, Yogi, or we're in really deep trouble.

Thought the atmosphere last night was spot on considering the football we were offering on the pitch, wish it was like that every home game. We were rubbish again, I don't get why we persist with a game plan that was clearly not working for us and that the players were struggling to cope with. County were sitting quite high and knew exactly what we were going to do as we are that predictable yet still the back and forth crap between the keeper and our two cb's continued, they had the simple job of closing our defense down and we made the mistakes from there on. Can Yogi really be watching and thinking he is happy with how the game was progressing, that things were miraculously going to change on their own? County were better but we got ourselves into trouble most of the time and made it easy for them. Agree with the comments about Vigurs and Tansey playing together, Draper is by far the biggest miss for us at the moment. I think we had the players to win the game last night, the score did flatter us on the balance of play but our system of play flattered them as a team and made it easy. So so predictable yet again and painful to watch. Tremarco, Vincent, Fon Williams, Devine, Vigurs all had very poor games. In Devines case I don't think he is the type of player that copes well being constantly under pressure. Polworth, Christie and Storey I thought had decent games.

Renegade is as entitled to an opinion as anyone else and I also think he expressed it rather well, because somebody shouting "Hughes must go" after tonight's result was well in there alongside Death and Taxes. (Life's accepted certainties.) Maybe it's just that Shaun has Irish relatives who set the trend for him by equally vacuously calling for the departure of Ronny Deila last Thursday night. What Shaun seems to be doing is creating a specious cause and effect relationship, where the link is merely conjectural. Football - especially where a club has historically performed above the kind of level predicted by its budget - is a very up and down game and it does strike me that SOME fans (mainly the ones who seem to know how to run the boardroom better than the directors and the dressing room better than the manager) are really expecting too much. It's not long since a six game unbeaten run, culminating in victories against the league leaders and the local rivals, was being shouted from the rooftops. Time for a reality check and a more supportive and positive approach which might actually help to make things better.

And the 'Most Predictable Post of the Night Award' goes to....

Mackay, Brown, Howarth, Horner, Gilchrist, Wilson, MacArthur, Wedderburn, MacRae, Sutherland, Rennie Subs: Hoban, Hull, Stark, MacRitchie

Haha! Sorry, Person! I just don't want to see us become the type of club that jumps on the "Manager Out" bandwagon when things don't go our way. Personally I feel Hughes has us playing (trying to at present) a brand of football that I don't mind paying to watch, and for that he must be applauded, even with the poor results you can see he is trying to stick to the philosophy of playing good football, but with injuries, players out of position it makes this difficult and mistakes are going to happen and unfortunately we are going through a wee rough patch, but I have faith we will get through it and return to winning ways. We really missed Draper last night, he would have marshalled Irvine out the game. The only thing I would have changed however would have been Williams on from the start, he's a real dynamic player and gave us a real injection when he came on. I agree with this as calls for Yogi to be sacked or resign is a bit premature however if form continues into next month then serious questions needs to be answered. I really liked last season's style of play because it was slick, fast paced and exciting compared to last night it was rigid, slow, and unimaginative. I understand that we lost a good calibre of players but the players we have still at the club are very capable of reaching the same heights as last season. The thing that annoyed me last night was that we just sat and took Ross County's pressure and nothing was coming from the management to rectify that. The game sparked into life when Danny Williams and Ali Sutherland came on in the last 15 minutes, why didn't they start the game? I thought that missing Ross Draper was sticking out like a sore thumb but we had Nat Wedderburn on the bench with the same physical attributes as Draper, why wasn't he used? It's just a very frustrating time at the moment and hopefully the changes happen in time for Saturday. Completely agree questions need to be asked if it continues.... the only thing that concerns me about Hughes at present would be that he has lost the dressing room, there wasn't really too much fight and desire shown by the lads last night and that would be one area of concern, but again that can stem from a lack of confidence and belief in yourself rather than from Hughes. I've not seen a great deal of Wedderburn.... but when I have he's been an absolute bombscare on the ball, he would give that physical presence yes, but completely goes against the grain in terms of how Hughes wants the team to play, he would have been perfect in a Butcher side so I'm not slanting the guys for being a poor player, just I don't see how he fits in this squad as a get the ball down and play squad. I'm gonna get pelters for this..... but I think Lopez, given time and a bit of confidence, could be a player for us up top, we need someone that can hold the play up to allow others to get in and support and he has the physical presence to do that.... and in my opinion he has one of the best first touches in the team. I think him and Storey could be lethal together with Storey running in the holes and Lopez directing traffic per say.

Currently beating Motherwell 2-0 at Grant Street Park. Jaime Wilson and Stephen Rennie with the goals. EDIT: 2-1 now, Motherwell get one back.

Haha! Sorry, Person! I just don't want to see us become the type of club that jumps on the "Manager Out" bandwagon when things don't go our way. Personally I feel Hughes has us playing (trying to at present) a brand of football that I don't mind paying to watch, and for that he must be applauded, even with the poor results you can see he is trying to stick to the philosophy of playing good football, but with injuries, players out of position it makes this difficult and mistakes are going to happen and unfortunately we are going through a wee rough patch, but I have faith we will get through it and return to winning ways. We really missed Draper last night, he would have marshalled Irvine out the game. The only thing I would have changed however would have been Williams on from the start, he's a real dynamic player and gave us a real injection when he came on. I agree with this as calls for Yogi to be sacked or resign is a bit premature however if form continues into next month then serious questions needs to be answered. I really liked last season's style of play because it was slick, fast paced and exciting compared to last night it was rigid, slow, and unimaginative. I understand that we lost a good calibre of players but the players we have still at the club are very capable of reaching the same heights as last season. The thing that annoyed me last night was that we just sat and took Ross County's pressure and nothing was coming from the management to rectify that. The game sparked into life when Danny Williams and Ali Sutherland came on in the last 15 minutes, why didn't they start the game? I thought that missing Ross Draper was sticking out like a sore thumb but we had Nat Wedderburn on the bench with the same physical attributes as Draper, why wasn't he used? It's just a very frustrating time at the moment and hopefully the changes happen in time for Saturday.

I reckon that the Renegade squirrel is fecked on Halloween night

"People calling for Hughes out need to calm down" should probably read, "Person calling for Hughes out needs to calm down" !!

Other than the monetary aspect I am unconcerned that we have no more games to play in this pointless competition. Given our injury list i wouldn't mind some weather cancellations too. JH said in his interview last night there are no signs of anyone coming back at the moment. Vigurs strength is getting in behind the oppositions midfield where he can support the striker or have a shot, this is not where he is being played the result being he is either benched or subbed, I don't feel we are getting the best out of this player. There are also times when a longer ball is needed particularly when the opposition plays high up the pitch with a pressing game. All you need is a bad bounce or poor touch and you've lost it in your own half. I'm all for playing passing football in the right areas but sometimes you have to put your foot through the ball.

The game was poor last night, and we looked devoid of any real ideas in the final third. People calling for Hughes out need to calm down, this is the man that guided the club to unprecedented success last season, and is dealing with a huge injury crisis right now. We have to remember we aren't world beaters, we first and foremost have to stay in the league, anything more than that is always a welcome bonus. This squad under Hughes however, I feel is still capable of reaching the top 6 if they can get some confidence back..... and for me that's where the problem lies, you can see the players aren't confident after a run of poor results. I know myself obviously at a lower level what it's like when your team get in to a rut of form, it's very hard to get out of, but a couple good wins and it comes flowing back. We have to be patient, it will come and Hughes will be motivating the boys to that effect.

Mahonio you change your mind more times than i have hot dinners. As for the game, we made them look better than they actually are to be honest. I believe if we had a full first choice team to play with, it would have been a lot closer as a game. However we didn't and has been the story so many times this season, we capitulated and had too many stragglers. but anyhow, its only the diddy cup and they haven't won anything yet!

Blog from Paul Irving in Daily Record http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/opinion/sport/record-fc-inverness-were-still-6324097#ICID=sharebar_twitter Personally I think he's spot on. There is a lot of football still to be played this season and a lot of players still to get fit.

While using my computer machine earlier, I see the writer of the article in the original post has given an interview with Ladbrokes about ICT - http://ow.ly/TIAeO . As well as being a particularly handsome chap, he's bang on about County fans and the imperfections of Scottish football as well as being quite taken with Bobby Mann (who wouldn't be of course!).

So be it. We employed JH when his stock was very low and he was virtually unemployable. If he is now looking for more money than the club is able to pay then let him move on and, as we generally do, we will find a new manager who is enthusiastic about the task and willing to commit.

There is something wrong inside the club at the moment and it is clearly manifesting itself on the park. We are so very predictable with a continuous stream of sideways and back passing. Hugely disappointed with tonights efforts, County bullied us and we just rolled over. Saturday against Dundee is a must win or we will be in freefall all the way to League 1.