The Mantis

Been incredibly busy and internet poor the last few days. I’ll have to download it to pass a 2.5 hour Minch crossing tomorrow after having to miss the Pars. I’m sure Moff’s soothing tones will help keep my CalMac Lasagne down.

Have to say I agree. Still haven't seen the game as I was over in Eigg till last night. Was at the Russia game though, and although McGinn started reasonably well, Ryan made a great impact when he came on. He was a revelation in the Israel game at home too. It was exciting watching ICT when he broke through. It's easy to be biased about one of our own (e.g. Tam Cowan says Turnbull is better) but when you look at the likes of Ryan Fraser making a job of it, I can see him playing in the Premiership in a year or two.

Maybe we’re all too thick to see this “issue”.

The vast, vast majority of footballers pay to play, as I did. I congratulate any man or woman who manages to gain a professional contract to play football. As wynthank says, there is not the participation there used to be, and not on a par with places like the Faroe Islands, but it is still high. No point in people showing their lack of self-awareness by coming on a football forum if they don’t actually like football very much ?

Just in the door after sitting through that. Christie has to start on Monday but that leaves another 8 or 9 positions to fill. Even the captain was poor - I’ve seen him playing twice for Liverpool this season but for Scotland he’s been a shadow of the club player.

Glad we can agree on something at last ?

If you had any scientific training you would use goals/game, not the other way round. No of games is the controlled variable. Using your way, high score = poor. So White is 0.30 goals per game. You might think that's OK for a striker. Where your argument falls apart is that White is a main striker, not a supporting striker. Also, he's just about a Championship level striker, but his best seasons have been in the lower leagues. I asked you before, how long you had been watching the team, and you didn't answer. I don't think you've ever seen any good ICT strikers so you've got nothing to compare White against. Some of the players you mention played in the Premier so your figures are skewed. Rooney - only played one season in the Championship, 0.59 goals/game. The league's top scorer. Mckay played all his games for us in the Premier. So did Storey. Even at that, Mckay got 0.38 and Storey 0.35 the last season they were here. Season 2009/10 Richie Foran 0.40 second to Rooney. Season 2003-4. Hislop 0.42, Bingham 0.40, Ritchie 0.52, Wilson 0.41 Season 2002-3 Wyness 0.61, Ritchie 0.47 and yet we were only 4th. Haven't got figures for previous years but Wyness/Ritchie/Wilson/Robson/Shearer/Christie/Sheerin will all be up there. I appreciate the effort big Jordan puts in and always encourage him at matches but get real.

Just tell them you’ve driven all the way from Chorley. I’m sure somebody will find a key ?

Both episodes are now on iTunes.

Shudder to think what your total outlay would be if you got them all, or even half.

Anybody applied for tickets? Allocation just been emailed out today. I got 2 Hampden games in group D but lost out on a last 16 at Hampden and a group C in Amsterdam. Lucky I live down here, otherwise I wouldn't be tempted especially as you don't know who's playing ?

I thought Utd looked a far better, slicker, more clinical, side than Dundee the week before and yet we did ask their defence a few questions. That’s about all the positives though. With the midfield we have I can’t see us achieving much. Probably quite a bold step by Robbo to drop Vincent and start Carson, but having been impressed by Carson against Hearts in a friendly I have to hold my hands up and say I was wrong. He was like a rabbit in the headlights, and You could see him thinking about what to do when it had already happened. Although he’s young and should improve. Vincent actually did ok when he came on but that just shifted the problem to right back where Brad had at least been competent. Don’t get me started on Trafford though. Just to mention he got his weekly booking before half time and one foul in the second half could easily have been a second yellow. Walsh got to the byeline a few times and was probably our best player. Doran has the skill but not the legs and he really needs grafters around him. It’s probably best if White moves on for a fee. I feel there’s a future there for Todorov and Keatings with a different playing style, along with one or two of the young lads used from the bench. If either of them were asking their agent to line up a move before the window shuts I couldn’t blame them. Defensively the problems are stacking up with Brad and Rooney injured and Carlo struggling for pace. Jamie continues to be our best defender though constructively he’s poor and tends to boot it the way he’s facing. With Coll I think we just have to accept what we’ve got. He can be brilliant but always seems to have one clanger in him every week. I wouldn’t have risked any of the youngsters in that game but maybe we have to in “easier” fixtures. Early days but I’m pretty sure that was the eventual champions we were watching. And we would kill for a 7000 crowd in Inverness.

Obviously it’s easier to win than the BIG CUP, because C(o)unty won it ? Interesting point you raise though. By ‘difficult to win’, you must mean for the smaller clubs such as us. One the one hand, apart from the group stages it is straight knockout, making it easier, and the group stages are very early in the season, which seems to make for more shocks, suggesting that the smaller clubs are taking it more seriously. On the other hand, it’s seeded in the knockout stages, making it harder. Also if it started a month later, I think shocks would be rarer than they are. Interesting that both cups have been won 6 times by non-erse-cheek clubs since the turn of the millennium. I look forward every year to the Scottish Cup draw and regard the League Cup as less important. The Scottish Cup (which actually gets under way this Saturday) has far more history. I think I’m in the majority. In turn this means more clubs covet it, and in theory it’s harder to win. Just my two Euro cents worth..

Not forgetting 2017: 0-1 at home to DUFC on the opening day followed by 1-5 at East End the following week. Vigurs and Polworth both played. Mind you, so did Elsdon, Calder and Seedorf.

I reckoned I needed Russeldinho in there in front of the defence ballwinning, not creating. Can't think of anybody better, certainly not Cherry who couldn't play at that level and cost us games by his indiscipline. I had 10cc in the middle for the creativity and Wilson/Robson either side, so sadly no room for Peanut.

Probably everybody’s seen it all on the telly already but I just need to vent a bit as that was pretty dreadful. As one of the 134 I made up for Johndo’s absence by getting huckled by the stewards. The first half was pretty dire so I started cutting my nails with the Swiss Army knife and the cctv identified me as a threat to Laura Norda in Dundee. Have to say Dundee were better than I expected and all the predictions of McPake getting sacked by Xmas look a bit silly now. He certainly did a number on Robbo. They only need 3 at the back since they’re all brick shithouses. That means he can commit 2 up front, Johnston and Nelson, with McGowan lying behind them. Meanwhile their 5 in midfield left us floundering for decent possession. Some of their movement and link up play was pretty good, but still our defence was coping well enough till the disaster of an opener. Interesting to see what might have happened if we had nicked a goal earlier. With a total lack of room in midfield we were treated to the all too familiar sight of the back 4 humping it long to poor Jordan, who had very little to work on, but on the odd occasion he got possession he reverted to the traffic cone mode of early last season and big Forster had him in his pocket. For a big fellow he’s really not very good in the air. I thought we might have come out fighting after half time, and to an extent we did, but it was the reverse of the first half with Dundee happy to sit in and hit on the counter. We might have nicked a draw but nobody really seemed to have any belief. The referee didn’t help and two or three decisions were bizarre. Todorov is very good in the air and caused more bother in the 15 minutes or so than big Jordan, but I suppose Robbo has his reasons. Vincent was pretty ineffective, Doran had too many unforced errors and Walsh had a frustrating afternoon when his final ball went awol. As forTrafford... well he started to show a bit towards the end of last season but today he was back to his usual headless chicken act and it seemed to me that Robbo took him off before he was sent off. His replacement Carson was very neat and tidy, a more energetic looking ginger version of Joe Chalmers and that’s the second time I’ve seen him in midfield and been impressed. Shame for Curry who was only on a few minutes and seemed to go over on his ankle. And how many times did our players slip? On to Tannadice and surely a better performance.

Excellent stuff ? Never actually seen that extended footage before. Or the aerial shot of the park.

I seem to remember it being half and half.

The good ol’ beeb still has East Fife on 7. Haven’t added their bonus point. P.S. Let’s do this.

Just been watching the Ian Black interview. When asked about the best players during his time here, Russeldinho was the first named followed by Barry. Just saying likes ?

Busy man Don so I rely on caley100 to give me the lowdown ?

I take it Carson was played at RB again. Shame as he seems to have been poor every time. Against Hearts I was impressed by him playing as a defensive midfielder.

Sad to hear. RIP John. Fat John, Skinny John’s Barmy Army.

Megginson sent off???

You must have been in the middle of quoting that post as I was deleting it after I realised it was wrong. Thought I'd got away with it ?