CaleyD

Terry seems to have picked up 11 new players on his way in the A82 this morning and Motherwell still to register a shot on target.

I read it more as a lifestyle article than a sports article and think it's best taken in that context. It's a great advert for the area...and who knows, maybe some player might catch a glimpse of it and just think that living/playing up here might not be as bad as they first thought. I just hope that they don't then visit this forum and base their opinion on the football and it's fans from some of the stuff that's been posted lately!!!

Kick-Off times for 2 of our upcoming matches have been changed. 24/12/11 - Aberdeen - Kick-Off changed to 12:30 02/01/12 - St Johnstone - Kick Off changed to 14:00 Full details available on the link below. http://ictfc.com/newsflash/242-more-football-friday

You do the Hokey Cokey and you turn around.....

OK gents, let's keep it on topic and cut out the personal remarks. If you disagree with someone, then better to say that and give reason, than drag things into a mindless slagging match.

With such radical changes being introduced, the aim from the outset should have been one of survival and building. Had the season been sold to the fans on that basis then I don't think we'd be seeing so much frustration from within the fanbase. As it is, I think the club have been a little naive in (publicly) stating an intention to shoot for top 6. All this has done has increased expectation and the pressure that comes with that. I still think we'll be fine. I've seen enough of the team/players this season to know they are capable, we just need to find the missing "whatever" that will bring it all together and make it click on a more regular basis. I'm as frustrated as the next person, but the situation calls for cool heads and rational thinking.

Meekings is a Central Defender, so put him there and push proctor out on the right. Push A.Shinnie forward and play him as a striker alongside Tade...this roaming thing he's got going on just has him running about aimlessly. Give him a job and tell him to stick to it. Tade is a workhorse, utilise that by having him do the grunt work (as Bayne used to) and A. Shinnie has an eye for the target so get him in to position to utilise that more. We've also got McKay and Sutherland as options up front, but this is one area where you need to try and keep some familiarity in the squad. Cox and Morrison in the middle of the park....take your pick for the wings, but let's have guys with a bit of pace who can utilise the width at TCS.

Butcher had two choices on Saturday....play the same team and hope they were suitably embarrassed by their own performance at St Johnstone that they would go out there and put on a performance more akin to that which they gave against St Mirren...or fire a shot across the bows by making a handful of changes in the hope that those coming in could slot quickly into the team and get us a result. Personally I had expected the later. Butcher seemed to have gone beyond angry after the St Johnstone game and I really thought that he'd lost patience with some of the players...especially as it wasn't lake of ability that let them down...we all know the players/team are capable of better, they just didn't turn up. With hindsight it's easy to say Butcher made the wrong choice...had he gone the other way and the result was the same then people would be on here criticising him making changes and that being the reason for defeat. Such is the life of a manager when things aren't going to plan. As the idiom goes....Fool me once, shame on you; Fool me twice, shame on me. The question now is does Butcher give some of the players the chance to fool him twice? I think there's other issues, such as Foran. He's clearly not fit, but he's playing the martyr and doesn't want to let the team down by not playing. All very commendable, but he is letting the team down. Partly because he's not fit and partly because he's taking his frustrations at not being up to pace out on those around him. I'm sure there's others within the team capable of calling heads or tails at the start of the game...and beyond that, every man on the park should be there to help out everyone else, to gee them up and help each other out...you don't don't need a designated captain to achieve that. If that's the reason he's holding his place and keeping a fit/keen player on the bench then it's an act of folly. Better to lose Foran for a couple of weeks and allow him to get back to full fitness than risk him getting worse and not being available for a longer spell. What's more, if he continues they way he's going then there's always the chance he will lose all respect from his team mates become a totally ineffective captain, or worse, it gets to the point where he's doing more harm than good.

Pele....without a shadow of a doubt. Reading his book it's clear he had his problems whilst with us, but when he moved on it was more than his managerial carrier that fell apart. Whether his implosion was inevitable and would have happened regardless we will never know...but the loss of a network of friends/colleagues who know about his demons and supported in various ways (for better or worse) doubtless played a huge factor in his sudden and dramatic fall.

Yeah, as someone who always used to try and apply pure logic to football I get where you are coming from and if decisions were made and opinions were formed based purely on league table and results then Butcher should be reaching to pull his coat from a shoogly peg. Fortunately football is a far more interesting game than that and analysis and discussion goes beyond the quantifiable aspects. In fact, ICT is a club that got where it is today through factors that nobody has ever been able to put a firm finger on and say "That's the reason". I've seen a lot more football this season than I have in the last couple (only missed 2 games) so I've been both fortunate and unfortunate enough to witness the best and worst as well as the down right unfortunate. Had that not been the case and I was basing opinion purely on results and reports then I may have been leaning more in the other direction. It's tough to argue a case against the facts when all you have is opinion and gut feeling. I don't think Butcher has got everything right, but I also don't think he is blind to the issues and will, when situation permits, move to rectify them. Another "immeasurable" I know...but hey...that's football.

Renegade, looking at it from a higher level you have a point, but when you drill down in to the injuries then it's not so straight forward. For a start, I think 3 of our injuries are shoulder related...not sure what can be done in training to prevent that. You then have injuries that have occurred on the pitch and have been a result of tackles/fouls...little you can do to avoid those. Under Brewster it seemed that injuries were resulting from pulled muscles/ligaments occurring from fatigue and the "injured in training" line seemed to be common place. What's more, there was a lot of reports emanating from within about players complaining about training procedures and being so tired from that they barely had the energy to compete on a matchday....I've not heard any of that whilst Butcher has been in charge.

For me, I think the difference is the kind of problems we're facing at present. Brewster was, IMO, dragging a good team down whereas Butcher is trying to build. Whilst there's fair argument that he perhaps stripped things back too far before beginning that process, I honestly believe that we are heading in the right direction. Not as fast as we all might have liked/hoped for, but the process has been more than a little hampered by injury and luck hasn't been on our side in 2 or 3 games. I can see Butcher bringing us through this....not a vision I had when Brewster was in charge.

I posted the image with tongue in cheek. Any decision driven by panic is never a good idea...regardless of the situation or outcome being sought.

Just incase anyone was having trouble finding it!!!

Highlights also available on ICTFC.com - You need to have registered and be signed in. Highlights are in the Matches Menu under ICT-TV

First time in a while I've seen heads go down so quickly in our squad...and that annoys me more than a poor performance. What's even more worrying is that it was the Captains head that went down first and instead of moving to motivate and encourage he just dragged everyone down with him and resorted to criticism and castigation...which coming from someone who's far from performing himself would have only served to get players backs up. I actually wondered at one point yesterday if the team realised they were in a competitive match, or if they'd mistaken this for another bounce game. Nobody was committing to the tackle, challenging in the air was practically non-existent, Foran and Tade spent the entire game tripping over each other, nobody was moving or running in an attempt to create anything and our final ball was nearly always an attempt to put something over the top instead of driving it through on the ground. The players couldn't even be bothered with hoof ball yesterday...that's how bad it was!!! Is it Butchers fault? Not so sure. These are the very same guys who put on a great performance in our previous two games and there's no way Butcher could have predicted them going out there and doing what they did (or didn't, in this case). Not much he could do to change it on the day as he was only allowed to make 3 subs in a match where 7 or 8 players could/should have been hooked.

Being in among the Press this season, I've seen a LOT of oddities!!!

Yeah, at the game. For the start of the first half there wasn't too much between the teams...although St Johnstone were doing more to create at the front. ICT have got progressively worst though...and the biggest problem is that we're not making St Johnstone work for anything and are surrendering possession far too easily. Too many balls over the top to the forwards...even from close in...and the forwards are in each others pocket and not able to work off each other. Hopefully it's all stuff that can be sorted for second half....teams just heading back out on to pitch.

Saw that goal coming a mile away....3 defenders and not one of them dealt with the threat.

Hard to fault the current players after the last couple of games, but will be good to have these guys able to come off the bench and make and impact and then, with any luck, start giving Butcher some nice problems when it comes to team selection and setup.

He's only just getting back to being fit. Would imagine he got some game time in the bounce match on Tuesday night, so hopefully he'll be a real option from the bench on Saturday as opposed to just making up the numbers.

I have a sneaky feeling that although Butchers is saying Cox and Hayes are not ready yet, we might just get to see one or both on the pitch this Saturday.

Iain Auld (MFR) interviews Butcher and Foran ahead of this weekends SPL fixture against St Johnstone.... http://ictfc.com/matches/ict-radio

Burley was at the St Mirren game and seems to think we've found a gem in Tade.... http://ictfc.com/news/team-news/229-terrific-tade

Unlikely to be back for this weekend, but aiming for game time against Dunfermline and Motherwell.... http://ictfc.com/news/team-news/228-double-fitness-boost