dead_ball_specialist

He's got an amazing engine, and he's looked impressive going forward, but his defensive game is still a little rough around the edges. Driver took the p*ss out of him last week.

Charlie Christie may be an ICT legend and an admirable bloke in all kinds of ways, but he wasn't a very good manager. Just 3 weeks of Brewster and it's night and day. Fitness, spirit, tactics, technical quality of football etc have all improved exponentially. Same players, different manager. Also, the fact that Brewster was able to bring in a decent center half and goalkeeper within days of being appointed (something Charlie failed to achieve in over a year) speaks volumes. Heard a rumour today that Brewster has taken all of the players out of Bannatynes and moved them to Fitness First - apparently because they were spending too much time lazing in the Bannatynes luxury saunas and swimming pool. :029: Seems like they were just left to get on with it under the previous regime. No wonder our standards dropped! Charlie was thrown into the job without the credentials. He (in my opinion) was equivalent to a good Highland League manager. It's still early days but Brewster seems to have raised the bar pretty high. What odds would we get for a top 6 finish?

Not sure how anyone can say that Morgan had a poor game, I thought he was one of our oustanding players. He always looked sturdy on the ball, and caused them problems when he carried it up the line, he also put in some quality crosses, and almost scored a classic goal at the end - a dipping volley that just went over the bar. Malkowski also impressed me, his distribution was top class - he started at least a dozen moves with inch perfect long throws. He has a good football brain. There was one shot he took 2 attempts to catch - but he was always in control. We were so superiour to Gretna it could easily have been 5-0 at half time, although we did have a poor spell at the start of the second half when we let them back into it, perhaps this was inevitable - you can't play with the intesity we did early on for 90 minutes. From tonights display we should have nothing to fear this season. Arbroath gave us a sterner test in the last round than Gretna managed tonight.

Burleys side were dull and one dimensional. They left TCS with a very lucky 1-0 win. I don't remember them really causing us any problems at the back - Skacels goal came from a lucky break. In contrast, there were spells yesterday when they were playing us off the park. And you should also take into account that ICT are a stronger side now than we were back then.

I disagree. You need to be working the ref for 90 minutes - just look at Man Utd. If you make a meal out of every decision that goes against you, eventually he'll feel pressure to even things out. If someones going to have to take a booking or a suspention every now and then, it might as well be Russel.

He had a decent game yesterday, but don't go overboard. Johnboy, how was it 'pathetic' to call for the reserve keeper to be given a chance when the first team keeper was playing poorly? Sorry to be pedantic, but isn't shouting "leave it" a foul?

Surely banning a youngster for life will cost the club thousands of pounds that he'd pay in gate money over his lifetime. :33:

Don't agree with those who say we made Hearts look average. That was the strongest Hearts team I've ever seen up here, even better than when Burley was in charge IMHO. They played some excellent stuff. We were fortunate that their manager (whoever that actually is!) decided to take their best player off at half time (Driver) who'd been running Tokely ragged. As soon as he went off for the over-rated Stewart, Tokely was able to run up and down the wing as he pleased. For the first time in ages we actually looked like the stronger / fitter team! If the game had lasted another 20 minutes we could have won 4 or 5-1. Brewster has obviously kicked some *** behind the scenes.

Don't agree with that at all. I've seen him skin more than his fair share of SPL defenders, he's had some of his best games against the bigger clubs. He's only just come back from a long term injury, give him a chance! It's always paid dividends when we've been patient with him in the past.

Are you joking??? I'm not - as some suggest - scapegoating Fraser for our recent turmoil. Our defending in general has been mince, and as Brewster says defending starts with the strikers. But a balance has to be struck between collective and individual responsibility. Donnati shouldn't have gotten the chance to shoot - Tokely sold himself completely - but he shouldn't have been able to pass the ball low into the net from an actute angle - the goalie has to do better - surely? He didn't even touch the ball. Venegoors second goal also should have been saved. A very predictable, completely undisguised downward header from an acute angle - Fraser ended up actually diving AWAY from the ball. If he'd just stayed on his feet it'd have been a simple catch. McGuired was obvioulsy to blame for the fifth, but Frasers positioning was all wrong. He was almost standing beyond his front post when the cross was played - how is he going to save ANY effort on goal from that position? He isn't. This isn't just a one off, Fraser has conceded other soft goals this season, Dundee Utd was another shocker. I'm not arguing that we should punt him - just that his performances have been very poor, certainly not good enough for the SPL, and nobody should be guaranteed a first team spot regardless of how they play. I don't know much about Malkowski - but you can't write him off just because of one error against us a couple of seasons ago, as some seem to have done. Brewster has obviously seen something in him otherwise he wouldn't have brought him here. Surely he deserves a chance to show what he can do. Plus a spell on the sidelines; having to work to earn his place back - might do Fraser some good. He basically had the jersey handed to him when Brown left and the only competition he's faced is from a guy who was playing for Clach a few months ago. He hasn't exactly grasped the chance with both hands (no pun intended) Brewster should lay down a mark with this one. If Fraser is as good as his fans on this forum think he is, he should be good enough to fight his way back into the team.

Saturdays performance was the last straw, Donnatis goal was an absolute joke. Some of the others were also pretty soft. The back four has been ropey since Dodds left, Frasers dodgey positioning, lack of command of his penalty box, and inability to save bread and butter efforts on goal has compounded the situation. He's even worse than Les Fridge. The Polish boy was brought in to provide competition for the jersey, he deserves a chance - even Ally Ridgers (a much better shot stopper) is worth a shout despite his inexperience.

Elgin only won because Zander Sutherland was playing.

If Christie hadn't walked he would have been pushed. The gutless, clueless 3-0 home defeat against Dundee Utd would have been the final straw. The fans would have chucked him into the Moray Firth and he'd have been eaten alive by the dolphins. :tic01:

If we play the same way we did against Hibs and Celtic (possibly defending a bit better - perhaps dropping Fraser) there's nothing to fear from any of those teams. Hearts beat an undestrength Rangers side with one eye on Europe - big deal, that result apart they've been nothing special. I'd expect us to pick up AT LEAST a point in this one. Prediction ICT 1 Hearts 0 Falkirk without Stoaks aren't exactly a force to be reckoned with, if we take the game to them - like we used to play under Brewster - I can see us putting 4 or 5 past them. ICT 4 Falkirk 2 Killie away is a tricky one. But we've shown in the past that we can hold our own against them down there. I'd like to see us have a go. It's usually quite an open game when we meet, so we have a decent chance. Killie 1 ICT 2 Aberdeen at home is probably the hardest fixture. We tend to find it difficult to score against them, but now they've lost Anderson it could be a different story. Brew will know their strengths and weaknesses so that'll give us an edge. And we're due a bit of luck against them! ICT 2 Aberdeen 1 Gretna away is the 6 pointer. I saw them at Victoria Park at the end of last season and they were awful. Technically we are a better team than them, but this one will be scrappy. Davie Irons is a bit of a tube so I expect they'll go into this one with a 'get stuck right intae them' head on. You can tell from his interviews that he thinks he and his team are much better than they actually are. They remind me of Tom Hendries St Mirren. They'll try to go toe to toe with us and probably play an attacking game - our classic counter attacking strategy should be just the ticket for this one. Gretna 0 ICT 5 15 points is a realistic possibility.

This thread is moronic. Charlie Christie was not up to the job, end of story. Brewster took us forwards just as Pele and Robbo had before him, Christie took us backwards - fitness, organization, work rate, tactics, fighting spirit, flair etc all rotted away the longer he was in charge. At the very least I expect Brewster to get us back up to the level we were at before he left - challenging for the top 6.

Rubbish, he was playing that role during the Christie era and he was absolutely coasting. Against Arbroath on Tuesday Brew was going mental at him from the sidelines trying to get him to push up. He had his best game in ages, the same goes for Blackie - it's been months since either of them covered so much ground over 90 minutes. Russeldinho CAN play when he has to. The bread and butter 'hole' role, sitting back and always playing a negative pass just won't cut it under the new gaffer. Pass and move, pass and move, thats the Brewster groove.

He was good when he came on against Utd last week but for me at the pecking order would have to be... 1) Marius 2) Brew 3) Wyness 4) Bayne 5) Paatelinen 6) Deano 7) McAllister 8) Wood I think we're a bit top heavy when it comes to strikers! (Bazza and Hart can also play up there) We need a clear out. :024:

Brewster did the best he could with the time that he had. The prospect of imminent failure to bring in the required players before the transfer window closed was probably one of the factors behind Charlie walking. I'm quite pleased with McGuire, my Uncles an Aberdeen season ticket holder and he rated him very highly before he left. Apparently his departure from Pittodrie was due to off the field issues rather than a lack of quality. I think a move up here could bring out the best in him. :clapping03: Proctor was a gutsy player who never let us down, Bazza and Wyness both did alright when they returned I don't see why he can't carry on where he left off. :clapping03: Malkowsk :017: I'd personally prefer to see Ally Ridgers given a chance.

Ridgers looks sh*t hot in the shot stopping exercises they do before the game, he deserves a chance.

He was top class today in everything he did, when he's fully fit he could well turn out to be the best player in the SPL.

For the penalties he almost seemed to dive before Robson reached the ball. All he had to do was tap the ball the other way, and thats what he did... twice in a row! If he doesn't change his technique he'll probably never save a penalty for the rest of his career!

Today we witnessed one of the the worst 45 minutes in the history of the club. If Charlie hadn't walked before this game he'd certainly have been sacked tonight. Peles third division part timers would have provided more of a challenge to that poor Utd side than we did today. The only players to earn pass marks were Cowie, Niculae, Bayne and the subs. Everyone else was guff. What does Zander Sutherland have to do to get a game???????????????????????????????? He would've torn that dodgey Utd left back to shreds. But the only time he got on the pitch was the half time kick about. Rankin has gone backwards, he's as bad now as when he first arrived. He shouldn't have stayed on the park for 90 minutes, and he DEFINATELY deserves to be dropped next week. He was so positionally inept he had Niculae screaming instructions at him (a guy making his home debut!!!) If our defence can't handle a donkey like Lee Wilkie (he ran rings around them on the ground, never mind in the air!) then we're in trouble. Thats 10 goals conceded already, 7 of them against relegation rivals. Shocking. Munro is a shadow of the player he was last season, he's giving away more penalties than Hugh Dallas. Perhaps the captaincy is affecting him, it's probably time to pass the armband on to someone else. Fraser looked out of his depth today, the first goal was an absolute clanger, and he never looked confortable claiming the ball, or in command of his box at any time. His attempts to save the 2 penalites were laughable. He's one of these keepers who almost dives before the penalty taker even reaches the ball. Robson just passed the ball into exactly the same spot twice, he probably found it hard not to laugh! If he'd have taken 1,000 penalties today, Fraser wouldn't have saved a single one. Brewster almost punted Mark Brown when he first arrived, I can see MF having a struggle on his hands (no pun intended) to stay between the sticks. On a side note, whats the craic with all our quick free kicks??!! We just end up wasting them. I'd rather we actually had some 'set pieces', thats what training is for right? Anyway, I wouldn't even put money on that team out there today to beat Elgin, let alone Arbroath! Brewster has his work cut out for him. Our standards have dropped so far, we're probably worse now than we were in the SFL.

Fraser had a shocker today. He still hasn't proved himself IMHO. He won't get away with performances like that when Brewster arrives.

Remember an easy home win against Arbroath - they had a former County striker playing for them, he was giving Calder lip - he ended up running 30 yards out of his box to confront him and had to be restrained. Another time, in our first season we had a home friendly against Celtic, his ICT debut - Rudi Vata took a long range free kick. Calder didn't dive, he stood and cockily started doing exercises in contempt - but the ball ended up hitting the post! - the hostile Telford street crowd went mental at him.

"I wish I'd stayed at Caley!!!"