RiG

It is absolutely imperative that we stay up. I think what people would also like to see is a decent Cup run in addition to that if possible simpley because of the history we have with Scottish Cup competitions despite our short existence. If we go out then most will accept that provided it's not 1) to a lower league team or 2) an absolute roasting at the hands of any opponent. Realistically we were never going to get anything from Celtic Park last night. A 6 - 0 defeat, when you think about it, is what Celtic should be doing to teams like ours. Our guys were signed up for, and earn, absolute peanuts compared to Celtics players. There is a vast gulf in class between the two teams. That said, it still hurts when your team takes a pounding

*cringe*

I'M SO ANGRY ABOUT TONIGHTS RESULT I'M GOING TO POST THREE ANGRY SMILIES! :irritated: :irritated: :irritated:

Would anyone object if I or one of the other Admin just delete this thread so we can pretend this game never happened?!

That beggars belief!

Yeah I couldn't believe that penalty for Hearts wasn't given! I don't suppose anyone noted what kind of rating Brines got in the papers? I would honestly haven given him about a 4.

Not 100% convinced. The whistle had already gone so I assume it was for offside rather than any potential handball. Could maybe argue we should have had a penalty as Sutherlands shirt was being tugged.

Having seen the highlights are we a bit unlucky with the third goal as it could be argued that Sultana handballed it or am I grasping at straws? Looked to be nothing wrong with Sutherlands goal as I couldn't see anyone offside.

Poster on P & B says he has left.

Spot on starchief. In a system like a 4-2-3-1 there is absolutely no need for the lone forward to track back. There should be adequate personnel to cover any attacks from the opposition.

I'm going to return my season ticket first thing on Monday morning then. I think you are being extremely harsh on ICT here Renegade.

I didn't think there was that much long ball today actually. I thought we passed it a fair bit more than we have done previously.

Maybe Butcher wants one of the midfeld two to offer something going forward and sees Duff as a better option going forward than Duncan? That's the only thing I can think of. One thing that frustrated me was the lack of support offered to the wide men. Any time Hayes or Ross had the ball the support from the midfield and forwards was non existent. The wide men were left totally isolated on the touchline meaning they had to beat, quite often, two players to get the ball in or stop and turn back to the full backs on the half way line. There was quite often a lot of space on the edge of the area that one of the midfielders could go in to if a pass was slipped in but no one seemed to offer this.

I thought that was an all right game at times to be honest. Disappointed to have lost it obviously but you can't defend the way we did and pass up on some of the chances we created and still expect to get the three points. I felt we were the better side in the first half and created the better opportunities to score. Rooney and Innes had good chances to score with headers and Rooney again had a great chance to add to his tally this season when he turned his man but seemed to poke the ball at goal with minimal force. Easy save. Didn't have the best view of the goal but it looked like Odihambo almost bundled the ball into the ground at the second attempt but glad to have at least opened our account at home. Hearts had some half chances but didn't look like they would get an equaliser until the own goal from Innes. It was a stupid free kick to give away by Hayes who, fair enough, raced back to help Proctor out in snuffing out Templeton but he only succeed in bundling into him and giving away a cheap free kick. It was a great delivery and under pressure from Kyle Innes diverted the ball into the net. Poor defending from us but if Innes hadn't sent it in then Kyle would have. Level at half time but I feel we were the better side and Hearts weren't looking too hot. In the second half we paid for our missed chances in the first 45 minutes and showed some real naivety in defending as Hearts took the lead. From the North stand it looked like the ball was heading wide from a shot or header and Tokely seemed to assume that it would run for a goal kick and forgot he had a Hearts player behind him who stole in and fired in. A ridiculous goal for ICT to concede and I could see Munro telling Tokely exactly what he thought of his defending. It got worse when Santana blitzed down the right and fed Elliot who rattled the ball in. Again it was a sloppy goal to concede as it was just to easy for Hearts. We had some chances in the second half with Rooney foiled by a last ditch tackle in the box and Hayes passing up a chance to shoot when he chose to pass instead. Also there was a disallowed goal from a Sutherland shot but I don't really know if he, or someone else, was offside. All in all a frustrating day as I don't feel we deserved to lose 3 - 1 but if we need to start sharpening up in front of goal and at the back otherwise all of last years hard work will be for nothing. Both Templeton and Santana were excellent for Hearts, despite the latters pathetic play acting. They were too nippy for our full backs to deal with and a lot of the Hearts attacks came from the wide areas. Brines was utterly abysmal. Appeared to miss a stonewall penalty for Hearts and seemed to confuse both sets of fans with some weird and wonderful decisions as well as a seeming inability to display any kind of consistency when it came to booking players. Hayes was booked for bundling into Templeton IIRC yet Hayes himself was chopped down time and time again by Hearts players who weren't warned or booked until much later in the game. Agree with the positive comments on Nick Ross and Stuart Duff. I thought Ross was excellent and thoroughly deserving of his MotM award. He looked like he had a lot of belief about him today and he put in some good crosses and supported the forwards well. Duff didn't always complete his passes but I was encouraged that he seemed to try and get the ball down and look to get it forward. He tried a number of passes between defenders for Rooney to try and split the Hearts backline. Another that can only get better with more games. Disagree entirely on Tokely. I thought he was well below par. It was his lack of concentration that led to Hearts second goal as he thought it was going out not aware there was a Hearts player behind him. Eric was good but I wouldn't say he was up there with Ross and Duff. Maybe our third best player. Needs to change his footwear though - I lost count of how often he fell over! He's fabulous entertainment. He clearly knows NOTHING about football and just spouts drivel for 90 minutes. It's a win win situation really because even if ICT are losing you can listen out for his shouts and have a good laugh at him.

Hearts with six players out! http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1923450

Rooney wants more goals and contract talks are not on his mind just now: http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1923916

Personally I'd go with McBain. Nothing against Golly as I don't think either of them have the pace to play LB effectively but I believe McBain is the fitter of the two. Maybe we'll see Tokely at LB again?

I seem to recall there being a bit of an odd setup with St. Mirren where you had to go to one window to buy your ticket then you present it at the turnstyle. Maybe that's what they are getting at?

Surprises me. I don't think he is good enough yet but I see no reason why, with another season or so of SPL football under his belt, he can't push on and become a big player for Scotland U21. He's learning and getting better all the time and playing in the SPL will be a huge experience that can only benefit him in the long run. I'm looking forward to seeing him develop

Completely disagree with you Mahonio. Yes we've lost our two games at Home this season but these were against Celtic and Hamilton where we were dire as a whole. The formation shouldn't change on the back of that. You say that we lost some home games last season as well. Whilst this is correct I think these games were right at the start of the season before we settled into the 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 style we have now and look where that got us? 20 odd games unbeaten and a massive 27 point swing to take the title from Dundee. The system works but we are coming up against much beter opposition this season and I see no point changing is because of that. Esson will surely stay in goals and I thought Innes did well when he came on and he could be a good option to use against the bustling Kevin Kyle. I don't think Proctor played overly well last Saturday but due to Gillets injury that might limit any tinkering at the back unless McCann is ready to come back from injury. I expect a back line of Esson Proctor Innes Munro Tokely I think we should freshen things up in the midfield. Sanchez came on and did okay last weekend but I am not sure if he should start. A good option to come off the bench though. Nick Ross didn't get much change out of Hibs last week and I would like to see Duncan back. Odihambo could go to the left (or right if we wanted to change Hayes over) leaving our midfield looking something like Duncan Cox Hayes / Odihambo Duff Hayes / Odihambo Up front will obviously be Rooney leaving the whole team looking like Esson Proctor Innes Munro Tokely Duncan Cox Hayes / Odihambo Duff Hayes / Odihambo Rooney Ross will be a good option off the bench for a tiring Hayes or Odihambo, the latter of which I think is better placed wide instead of behind the striker. I see no reason why the above team couldn't get a decent result against Hearts but it will be tough. They looked pretty nifty as they demolished Accies a few weeks back and JJ seems to have a beter handle on the squad than previous managers. Personlly I'd be happy with a draw in this game.

Rangers were excellent. They even had a couple of half chances on the break if Kenny "Slow it down lads" Miller and Kyle "Am I really a footballer?" Laugherty hadn't completely ballsed up the breaks. I can't think of a really good chance for Man Utd who were awful. Rangers fully deserved their point. Valencias injury didn't look good and it seems he will be out for the season with a broken and dislocated ankle. The Guardian has a piece on some Inverness Rangers fans making the trip down to the JJB then onto Old Trafford as part of the GMP set up for the game: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/sep/14/rangers-fan-wigan-manchester

That's because there hasn't been a problem with them before. We always seem to have a good relationship with the stewards there on previous visits. Odd one.

Plenty of mentions for ICT with some of our goals scored in there and also some of the ones we've conceded. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/scotland/8988185.stm Hard to argue with the top two but I would liked to have seen our first strike placed higher up.

One or two guys played a dangerous game goading the stewards but to be honest it was a harmless situation that could have been dealt with a lot better. The stewards just seemed to wade in all guns blazing and hell bent on antagonising everyone in that section. I really felt for the ginger lad a row or two in front of me who I don't even think stood up at all (apart from the odd moment when you think your team might score) and he was chucked at half time. That was utterly farcical. I saw IHE talk to the stewards and police and he was very calm and only seemed to be asking questions that we all wanted the answers to. He never once got bent out of shape so I was pretty shocked to hear he had been turfed out. Well as shocked as you can be with IHE! Stunned that Peter Paul (?) was thrown out. All in all it was maybe a wee bit daft on the part of some of our guys but the problem all came about from the way it was handled. The stewards were only too happy to wade in and get everyone riled up and cause problems later on. Their attitude was shocking and, as pointed out already, I was a bit bemused that they went on about health and safety when they spent large portions of the game standing in front of us in the rows of seats and also in the aisles as well. Good to read that the Hibs fans were a bit bemused by the whole situation as well. First time I can remember having this amount of "attention" from the stewards at Easter Road. That said, I wouldn't have minded some attention from the blonde policewoman who came over to us in the first half and later in the second half

The penalty was from a stupid challenge from Thicot. Bamba was awesome in the first half and pretty shoddy in the second. Rooney suddenly started getting a lot of change out of him.