RiG

And as expected it seems we have another signing in the shape of Austin Samuels, a forward from Wolves, coming in on loan. He was at Aberdeen earlier this season and didn't really make much of an impression.

Almost like rumours from a Caley Thistle Instagram page are a load of pish.

Good luck to all these guys(obviously) but I think supporters were hoping for a bit of a lift and maybe get a "name" through the door. There's still time of course...

Some of you may have seen some alarming messages from Kevin McNaughton with caused a lot of concern for his well being. Fortunately, it seems that Kevin has been located by the police and is in safe hands again. If you are struggling with your mental health please consider picking up the phone to your pals, your family or your partner if you can. If you don't feel like you can do so there are a number of organisations with fantastic support services who want to help you. Samaritans - Call 116 123 - https://www.samaritans.org/ Breathing Space - Call 0800 83 85 87 - https://breathingspace.scot/ Back Onside - Call 0752 824 3100 - https://backonside.co.uk/ Mikey's Line - Call 07786 20 77 55 - https://www.mikeysline.co.uk/

Nah Clyde have always been w**kers.

Lewis Jamieson returns to Saint Mirren. Not too happy with that.

That seems like something the manager should be doing not the Sporting Director.

MacGregor and Mckay are meant to have knee / thigh injuries but the club, for some reason, has declined to offer any injury updates as per usual. Jamieson is rumoured to have had his loan deal cancelled and is back at St. Mirren.

Duffy is a CB so he was playing in his natural position. I would surmise that Dodds likes the solidity of Deas at LB so even though that's not his natural position he offers more serenity there than the likes of Harper or Nicholson.

ICT with another rotten performance after taking the lead is it? Nice finish from Shane for the goal after good work from McAlear (probably our MotM). Clear penalty for Dunfermline and Carson looked like he handled again just before the final whistle. I felt we had a decent claim for a penalty as well but it wasn't to be. Four points from the last 15 available is grim but probably about as much as we deserve. The brilliant performance against Morton is but a distant memory and if the injuries to Mckay and MacGregor are as folk claim then we are going to be struggling significantly against Kilmarnock next weekend. Carson was getting a bollocking from Dodds as the two trudged off the pitch and Jamieson was off the pitch so quickly at full time he was probably half way back to Paisley before the rest of the guys returned to the dressing room. Hard to be bothered to write more after another desperately poor performance. We're just not very good despite our impressive position in the league.

We've signed someone!

Summer 2023. https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/sport/football/inverness-caledonian-thistle/2858836/scott-allardice-caley-thistle-contract/

"Better than last week" is a pretty low bar to be honest given how the game against Raith went.

FWIW, I wouldn't have taken Duku on and instead I would have tried Jamieson as he seems to play well with Mckay and has looked better than Duku in the games he has played. I also wouldn't have taken off MacGregor so unless this was a change that had to be made through injury or fitness I would have gone with: Ridgers Devine Broadfoot Deas Carson Welsh McAlear Walsh MacGregor Mckay Jamieson I might not have started with this formation, probably going with the same 4411 that Dodds did go with, but as the game went on and we needed to get more goals I would have tried the above approach given that we ended the game against Raith with 3 CBs.

You're so close to figuring out why some of the fans aren't 100% happy...

Won't be much of a hurdle to navigate given Arbroath are already in the SPFL

That was grim. After a decent opening 15 - 20 minutes from Queens, during which they probably should have scored at least once, we started to get on top and looked like ending the first half the stronger side. Queens main attacking plan seemed to be trying to slide the ball in behind our CBs for Connelly to latch on to and we got a glimpse of this when Paton (I think) burst through and looked set to round Ridgers but fortunately a well timed challenge snuffed out this threat. Deas had a couple of decent chances which fell to him at the left edge of the box but your CB filling in at left back probably doesn't have the greatest shooting boots in the world and it showed as he snatched at both efforts. Walsh had a good chance to score as well but I think he tried to be too cute and attempted to shoot back across Rae in goal instead of sending a shot away from him. The opening goal looked miles offside but that was probably because there was one Queens player standing ahead of Connelly before he raced clear to round Ridgers and, eventually, put the ball into the net. At the time I thought he was offside but folk watching on the stream said he was played onside by Broadfoot. Still annoying given we had a taste of this minutes before with the aforementioned Paton chance. In the second half and Devine made a desperate challenge to stop a second Queens goal throwing himself in front of a goal bound shot from a few yards out. A bit of route one got us level with a long thump downfield by Ridgers and it looked like Gibson got in a right state trying to decide if he was going to clear the ball or not and Mckay took it off him to bundle in the equaliser. Sutherland had a good chance to get the second goal for us but seemed to take forever to actually get his shot away and a Queens defender did well to deflect the effort behind for a corner. The second for ICT did come eventually with Mckay flicking the ball on for Walsh who got in behind the defence and finished well across Rae. But only a few minutes later Queens were back level and no one seemed to know what exactly had happened with Roy turning hom a cross whilst in an offside position. At the game I could only think that the ball had come off an ICT player so Roy couldn't therefore be offside and from what I've read it seems the ball was actually played to him by Carson so the goal, sadly, stood. An absolutely gutting result with Arbroath winning and other sides around us faltering. Queens looked decent in spells but seemed a bit of a mess at the back and it's frustrating that we couldn't take advantage of this as I felt we had enough chances to put the game to bed. That said I still think we were very poor again and whilst the likes of Mckay and McAlear turned in good performances we need more from the likes of Walsh (although he did score today) and we also need some fresh faces in quickly to try and give the squad a lift.

Shane Sutherland has been served with a Notice of Complaint regarding historic gambling offences so I expect we might see him missing for a few games. Coupled with the Allardice injury and the other departures from the squad we are in need of some serious reinforcements this month.

This would be a massive blow if Deas does move on. Arguably our best CB and easily our best LB as well.

Get that referee to officiate an Old Firm game. Just for funsies.

Danny MacKay signs for Killie on loan until the end of the season.

Delighted but also disappointed that my Taylor Swift shopping habits don't throw up more adverts for her latest albums.

Where would Allardice fit in here?

That was an atrocious performance. I didn't even see the equaliser as I decided thawing out was more important than watching another five minutes of that dross. Turns out I missed the most exciting part of the game! Far too many players off form at the minute. Maybe Deas, McAlear, Allardice and Mckay get pass marks. The rest of the guys were well below where we need to be at if we are to sustain a title challenge or at least maintain our spot in the playoffs. Harper and Walsh created precious little of note although their roles did change when we move to 3 at the back at the start o the second half and both defended well but we desperately needed them to create more of note for the likes of Mckay who was living of little to no service. I cannot agree with some earlier comments that Duku and Sutherland did well. I thought they were both really poor and I am surprised that Jamieson continues to be overlooked for both of them. The move to 3-4-3 did seem to lead to a slightly more improved performance in the second half but I felt that Walsh and Harper became too preoccupied with having to defend and weren't able to create anything of note down the flanks. For the most part we seemed content launching long balls towards Mckay, Duku and Sutherland. The latter two almost never won a header and Mckay was absolutely dominated by the excellent Berra, Musonda and Benedictus. A big difference between the sides was the Raith back three were able to find their midfield and forwards with well struck passes along the ground whereas we seemed panicked by the fact we were losing and thumped aimless balls forward with little reward. With Gardyne and McDonald moved on in the last couple of days we desperately need reinforcements in the wide areas and after unimpressive showings again from Sutherland and Duku I wouldn't be against additional competition for the strikers and perhaps looking at moving one of them on. Duku just doesn't seem to offer anything in this side for me. That we appeared to have scored with our first shot on target a few minutes from the end is incredibly concerning.

Raith's 22 was Ethan Ross ex of Aberdeen. Do you mean number 20 Williamson?