RiG

Up to an including the Hamilton game we had conceded 43 goals in 23 games in the league (1.9 goals/game). Since then we've conceded 11 goals in 7 games (1.6 goals/game). Not really much tightening up at all TBH. We have kept one clean sheet since the end of October.

Again, I've completely forgotten about McNaughton He's been really impressive since coming back from injury so he deserves a starting spot but I'm not sure who would drop out. Laing, McCart and Warren have all looked good recently.

After IHEs double vodka induced team thread for Motherwell it probably makes sense to get something for this weeks game up and running The latest in our series of must win games. Hopefully we go with a bit more of an attacking line up. Whilst I can see why Foran has wanted to play with a more defensive mindset draws are no good to us. Even a win against Saint Johnstone and a loss v Motherwell might be better than another two draws. Barring injuries or suspensions hopefully we can line up along the following lines: OFW Raven Laing Warren Tremarco Draper Tansey Mulraney Polworth King Mckay Wouldn't mind seeing Fisher especially if we are going to thump long balls up to Billy. Obviously this would require a shuffle in terms of player positions but this was the setup that saw us record a win over Saint Johnstone earlier this season during our slightly impressive run of form during which time Polworth was played in the middle and he performed well much like he did for most of Tuesday night. If Mulraney is fit I feel he should play. His crossing is a bit ropey but he is pretty much the only player with pace in the side. Give King 45 minutes before bringing on Cole (or vice versa). Neither have impressed for a full game for me. Saints I'd imagine will be without Swanson and Foster which in theory benefits us but they had a good result against Hearts last night and are something like 20 plus points ahead of us so this is going to be a tough game to get anything from. Some encouraging stats to get you in the mood... ICT have conceded at least one goal in each of their last 9 matches. ICT have conceded at least one goal in 94% of their home matches. 68% of our points have been earned at home. ICT have conceded the opening goal in 71% of their matches. ICT have conceded at least one goal in each of their last 5 home matches. Referee is Stephen Finnie.

Time for a lie down bud after a few doubles!

Poll still behaves oddly. After casting votes it returns me to the topic but without the poll results or options. I then need to return to the (sub) forum and go back into this topic to see the results.

Went into that game fearing an absolute bumming but came away slightly disappointed we didn't nick something from it. Not saying we deserved a draw but Aberdeen were very flat for most of the match and we grew into it and had some decent chances to get a goal. That said overall Aberdeen definitely seemed to be playing within themselves after their destruction of Dundee on Friday. Very defensive line up to start with from Foran. Warren, Laing and McNaughton all starting at CB with Tremarco and Raven on the left and right. Tansey, Draper and Polworth in the middle and Mckay and Anier up front. The lack of width in the side was evident throughout the opening period of the game. Any time the likes of Tansey got the ball in the midfield we looked to the wide areas for support and Raven / Tremarco were often too far up the pitch or too far back to offer us the chance to stretch the Aberdeen rearguard. When Aberdeen attacked they went down the flanks doubling up on our full backs which often meant that one of the midfield three were having to come across to help defend which opened up space in the middle of the pitch for Shinnie, McLean etc to drive into. Aberdeen goal was pretty untidy from an ICT point of view. Defence struggled to clear a corner and the ball seemed to ricochet in off Warren under pressure from Considine and Taylor. Best chance of the first half for ICT was created by Polworth who surged through the middle and played a nice ball to Mckay inside the box but Lewis was able to save. It was a rare moment of football from ICT in the first half with our main tactic normally consisting of leathering the ball in the vague direction of Mckay or Anier which was easily defended by Taylor and O'Connor. Second half Aberdeen clearly eased off and we started to grow into the game a bit more as time went on coupled with a change in shape. A couple of long range strikes, including a decent effort from Polworth, and some scrambles in the Aberdeen box gave some hope that we might nick a point but our play in the final third lacked a real cutting edge. During a rare period of play where we actually got the ball down and passed it around we had some success getting in behind the Aberdeen defence particularly down their left and once Fisher came on the long ball started to become a bit more effective with Taylor and O'Connor suddenly finding themselves under pressure in the air. However the best chance of the second half fell Aberdeens way in the shape of the inexplicable miss from Storey. Absolutely no idea how he managed to miss it and then he contrived to take the ball away from goal as he tried to get it under control. ICT players were on the floor at the end. There was certainly no lack of effort from the guys last night but we just don't have the quality to break down teams like Aberdeen and probably most teams in the league just now. Even just having someone like Christie could open up a few goal scoring chances for us which could make all the difference. I thought Polworth did well in his more natural central midfield position. He was burst by the end of the game though. McNaughton was also excellent at the back for us and I felt Laing had a good game. Draper was poor. Distribution well off and again he was used to try and win some of the long balls with varying degrees of success. Tansey was off the boil too. His short passing was mostly good although he often gave the ball away needlessly. Some of his long passes were off the mark too and he showed a real reluctance to try and attack when in possession even when faced with yards of open space. Aberdeen, as I said, were playing in first or second gear. They were competent all over the pitch without any real standout performances I felt. Everyone just did their job well. Nothing flashy. A pretty routine win for them. Whole crowd was very muted. It felt like a post split match with nothing to play for therefore there was zero atmosphere save for one really angry Aberdeen fan in the DD who spent about 20 minutes of the first half calling a bunch of 16 year old ICT fans paedos which was slightly strange.

Should probably worry about the game against Saint Johnstone first.

Good luck with that. It's Andrew Dallas

Agree with this but maybe swap Cole for King. I don't like Cole playing as some kind of inverted winger.

Most of those players have ended up at Aberdeen via some other team. It's frustrating to see so many of our players head along the road specifically Hayes, Shinnie and now Tansey but what irks the most is that we've gotten nothing for these guys when we've lost them. At least when Dundee United have lost some of their best players to Celtic they've got some money back for them.

Fair comments there.

Some interesting points being made on Twitter regarding this kind of comment. Does a good servant jump ship twice having failed to do so another time? I'm not so sure.

Whilst I agree mostly with that I always keep thinking back to when Wyness signed a PCA with Hearts. He never mentioned it until the end of the season and he, allegedly, didn't want Hearts to announce anything until the season was over. No doubts were cast over his commitment to the side. Tansey now finds himself in a difficult position were even the slightest hint of shitebaggery will likely led to criticism. That said, look at how Graeme Shinnie performed after his PCA was announced. He seemed to get better! The timing still stinks a wee bit announced just a few days before we play Aberdeen. I'd like to think that players might want to follow the example Wyness set especially if, like Tansey, they are in an almighty relegation scrap.

Big call now as to whether he plays against Aberdeen on Tuesday next week.

Signs for Aberdeen.

We've only lost once at home to Killie in the league in something like ten years however I don't have much confidence in us securing three points on Saturday. Suspect a 1 - 1 draw is a likely outcome but this doesn't do us any favours whatsoever. We need to start winning games now. We have looked a wee bit better at the back in recent weeks but I think that's more been down to Draper being returned to a deeper midfield position in place of Vigurs and it has also seen Tansey come onto a much better game as well. I don't feel like we've offered to much going forward with a lot of punts up to Mckay and Anier with their backs to goal rather than over the top of the defence for them to chase. Additionally, we seem to be relying on our full backs to provide all the width in the side which isn't ridiculous given our 3 - 5 - 2 approach in the last couple of games but the crossing from Raven and Tremarco hasn't been great and they struggle to beat a man to get a ball in to attack. Warren still hasn't looked great and I think he is probably below Laing and McCart in the pecking order now if we play two centre backs. I'd really like to see us go back to a more settled 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 set up along the following lines (dependin gon injuries and suspensions): Fon Williams Handsome Brad Laing McCart Raven Tansey Draper Mulraney Polworth King Mckay

Why on earth would you rather face Morton than Dundee United? Morton are cigaring their way up the table and are looking very strong to finish second. United meanwhile are falling apart and have only won once in their last ten games.

Meekings out for the rest of the season. http://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/Sport/Football/Josh-Meekings-set-to-miss-rest-of-season-with-knee-injury-15032017.htm

Will the badge revert to the old style rather than having "Pride of the Highlands" on it?

Retail launch planned for the same month and you can buy the new strip from the club shop. Sounds good. Would be nice to have somewhere in town selling it as well but hopefully that's in the pipeline. Looking forward to seeing the designs.

I see we're going back to Erra from next season. http://ictfc.com/news/club-news/1894-ictfc-forge-new-relationship-with-errea Four year deal, strips out in May.

I think we are in must territory simply because we are starting to run out of games, we have only one win in 17 matches and if the players and manager are to seriously convince fans that we can get out of this mess then this is the perfect time to show it.

This P & J article says Mulraney is likely to be be back in contention for a starting spot which is good news. https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/sport/football/inverness-caledonian-thistle/1194098/could-late-equaliser-reignite-caley-thistles-season/

Assuming the likes of Tremarco are back from injury and suspension and we have no other players drop out this week I'd like to see us go with the following: Fon Williams Raven Laing McCart Tremarco Draper Tansey King Polworth Cole Mckay Tough to leave out Warren but he's been so shaky this season it's hard to justify him staying in the side when Laing and McCart have been a bit stronger than he has. Probably just about prefer to have Raven over Brad Mckay at RB but not much in it. Draper and Tansey back in the middle please with Polworth just ahead. Tansey has really come onto a game recently and looks much more comfortable working with Draper and Polworth who will work significantly harder than Vigurs does to help protect the defence. Doran is out for six months and rumours are Mulraney is out as well. If that is the case I'd like to see King and Cole get a start and obviously it has to be Mckay up front. He might not have bagged as many goals as I would have hoped but his all round hold up play is a cut above anything else we have in the squad. Really have no idea how this will pan out. I think it definitely falls into the must win category for us but we've still only won once in 17 games. Hardly the form to give us confidence going into this massive match.

My issue with the offside is that again the linesman takes an eternity to raise his flag. You can see in the Sportcene highlights Anier strike the ball, score, start celebrating with his team mates and in the background the linesman appears and puts his flag up. Ultimately it was the correct decision but why did he take so long to flag for offside? It makes it look like he only did it on the back of the protests from Partick players.