CaleyD

ICT LEGENDS -v- THE CURRY HOOSE Fri 2nd September - 7.00pm More Info

10th in the league and you're no!!!

We might just have a chance then!!!

Tuffey or Esson...doesn't bother me which.

I'd like to see Foran back in the middle of the park (he can take Tansey's place) and put Sutherland up front. Ross in place of Hayes and Golobart sitting in front of the back 4. Piermayr Tokely Hogg G.Shinnie Golobart Ross - - - - - - - - - - - - Doran Foran - Morrison Sutherland Think that makes the best use of what we've got just now. With our back four being overrun at the moment then Golobart can offer support and perhaps help take some of the pressure off and when we're going forward then he (Golobart) can slot in to fill in for Foran and/or Morrison and they can support Sutherland up front.

So why did we finish 7th then? I am with you on most of what you say, but this whole "We had a team capable of top 6" thing is a load of pish. We've been close to top 6 on a couple of occasions and done the "just a few changes" thing and it's made no difference. Butcher felt it needed more radical action, and all respect to him for having the gonads to take the chance in doing what he did. Munro and Duncan were club heroes, I get that, but they weren't single handedly bringing success to the club. People need to get over it and move on. As I've said before, I'm not expecting top 6 this season. You have to be VERY fortunate to make such a big change and see immediate success from it. For me, this season is building season and as frustrating as that might be for the fans, we have to look at what the change in style and attitude might bring long term. I remember being at a seminar about change...or more specifically, knowing when not to change. If you really believe everything you're doing is right and the results are bad then is it really you, or is it external forces? If it's external forces, can you change to counter them and if/when they change again can you quickly adapt back or is it better to ride the storm and see your plan through. It's easy to witness failure and believe change is the answer....but it's not always. Granted, I would have hoped for a bit more than what we're witnessing at present, but when you look beyond the results at the games then there's really not a lot that needs to change for these results to be going the other way. A wee rub of the green and some of the shots that hit the woodwork find the back of the net, a few players back from injury and the chance to play a formation that is selected and not forced upon us and everything changes. IMO this is the first time in a long time a manager at ICT has the "luxury" of succeeding or failing by his own hand. He's got his team out there playing things his way and only time will tell whether he got it right or wrong. Being just a handful of games into the season is not the time to be judging, it's the time to be getting right behind the manager and team to give them every opportunity of making the plan succeed. I've lost count of the number of times over they years that ICT have won games and the opposition fans were saying "we should never have lost to them". The show is on the other week. It's not nice, but sometimes chit happens and you just have to get up, brush yourself down and get on with it.

The AJG Parcels North Cup Final will be played at Mosset Park, Forres between Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Forres Mechanics on Sunday 11 September 2011 with a 3.00pm kick off. The change of venue was made because Grant Street Park, Inverness was not available on the allocated date to host this game.

You really don't know me that well do you!!!

I think players are just getting soft. In days gone by when players had to live on a normal wage and fend for themselves in the real world they were made of tougher stuff. Now with inflated wages it's all salons instead of barbers, training seems to include nonsense like massages, jacuzzi's, steam rooms etc and they get signed off for breaking a nail. A little less pampering would go a long way to improving things.

What do you do differently in training to prevent someone dislocating a shoulder in a fall? Also your Wilkinson example...not the best...despite his success he is/was one of the most injury prone players in the game.

It's not just about which players would come in to the current squad, it's about having players available and creating competition for places to keep them focused.

As I said elsewhere, I gave Morrison my MotM. Whilst Tansey was running around everywhere like a bit of a headless chicken Morrison was playing the holding roll and playing it well. He was also instrumental in stopping most things down the middle...it was just unfortunate that in pushing Aberdeen wide we failed to cope with them there. Then, with about 20 minutes or so to go in the game he got some instructions from the bench and starting push forward more and immediately caused problems and was perhaps a little unlucky not to have scored. G Shinnie got the 3 points, for exactly the reasons RiG has given....to be honest, I wouldn't be in any hurry to have Gillet back in there as Shinnie is making the position his own. Golobart got the single point. He made one mistake the whole game...and unfortunately it cost us the goal...but aside from that I'm struggling to recall any other point where he put a foot wrong or missed his man with a pass. In fact, he was the only one on the park that seemed willing/able to (constantly) play a ball in front of our wide guys for them to run on to...the rest seemed intent on passing it to where the man had just been. Perhaps a bit harsh not including Foran, but he was playing the striker roll and he needs to be judged on that...as a striker, the misses he had were not acceptable and his goal was gifted to him.

I was called Tank at school for the way I played football (through everything instead of around it)....wonder where I put my boots!!!

All this moaning about people calling for Terry's head and I've not seen a single post saying he should be shown the door!!! Let's not blow something that's not happening/not a problem out of proportion.

Arthur Fork Steak

Let's try channelling some positive energy....huuummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

...and Roman Too!!! Iain Auld of MFR talks to Terry Butcher and Roman Golobart ahead of tomorrow nights match away to Ayr. http://ictfc.com/matches/ict-radio

Manic day and only just had a chance to read it....great stuff, but why no guest appearance by "The Plank"? Naismith would have been an ideal candidate

Don't forget you can also get the post-match interviews on the new ictfc.com...these are usually uploaded on the evening of the game. Interviews with Butcher and Morrison from yesterday are on there. http://ictfc.com/matches/ict-radio

His confidence must have taken one hell of a knock if he's gone on trial for Strathspey Thistle!!! Seriously though, hope things work out for the lad and he can rediscover previous promise and work his way up via a different route.

In regards to the gentleman who took unwell at the game today, I believe he responded well to treatment (he appeared to be suffering some kind of anaphylactic reaction) and was being held overnight in hospital purely for observation reasons. Kudos to those within our own support who were quick to identify that the gentleman was in trouble, give assistance and accompany him to the hospital to ensure he was ok.

I think the only reason we're not seeing Shane get a start is because butcher knows we still have a bit of "bedding in" to do as a team and using guys like Foran, Hayes and Tade up front means has option on the park to drop a player back to bolster the midfield without the need for making substitutions. Once we get a settled midfield who look a bit more comfortable playing together then I think Shane will get his chance and be a regular starter.

Apart from that one error by Golobart I thought he gave a pretty solid performance, although I think the pace of the game had taken it's toll by the end as he looked on his last legs in the final 10 minutes. Was some signs of why he has also played as a centre forward because he likes to play football, and is comfortable with the ball at his feet. He may be young, but a couple of times today he showed he had a wise head when....one instance in particular in the first half when the situation was almost carbon copy of events last week that saw Tokely red carded. However, instead of fully executing the challenge he took it just far enough to have the Aberdeen player expecting it and forced an extra touch, but he stayed on his feet and was quickly able to recover and see the situation safe. I was also deliberately watching him and he never missed his target with a pass all day. Gavin Morrison was probably my ICT motm. He was obviously sent out there to play the holding midfielder roll today and he did exactly that and was soaking up a fair bit of pressure and got a few hard knocks as a result. New instructions then came from the bench for him to start pushing forward more and not long after he was unlucky with a great shot from distance...the lad can fair ping a ball. Tansey is the man who's not doing it for me in the centre of the park. He has a great engine on him and covers miles all over the place during a game, but it all seems like a lot of puff for not much product...looking forward to getting Cox back. As has already been said, we saw some periods of play today that showed the type of game Butcher is trying to bring to the team. Unfortunately with so many injuries and Butcher not having his first picks out there for executing that plan on the park we struggled to fully execute it. It looked to me like players were positioned to suit a game plan (some of them quite bizarrely) as opposed to us having a game plan to suit the players. Whether that's a sign of inability to adapt, blind determination to prove a system can work or whether it's being willing to take the short term pain for long term gain is open to debate and will be for a while yet until things clearly go one way or the other for us. Like most, I can see what we are trying to achieve, and we get to see a bit more of it each week (despite injuries etc), so no panic here yet. Not writing off a top 6 by any means, but anyone who thought we were going to change the team so drastically and waltz easily to a top 6 this season is a little deluded. I very much see it as 1 step back to (hopefully) take 2 steps forward. If we do that in a single season...great, if it takes two...I can live with that. As for comments about breaking up a team from last season that was capable of top 6....well, they clearly weren't capable as we failed to achieve it and some of those players had failed to achieve it on numerous occasions. We had persevered with "just about good enough" for long enough and change was needed in order to advance. As none of us have the ability to see the future, only time will tell whether or not the plan set in motion is right or wrong. Bring on Killie....

For me the how and when of the contact is not the main point for argument. Whilst I've seen it from several different angles and don't think it was even a foul, it all comes down to opinion and can be argued in circles forever. For me, the main point of contention is that I don't believe it was a "clear goal scoring opportunity" and the video evidence, IMO, clearly shows that...but the "experts" disagree. The angle for any shot that might have been taken was tight, the keeper was well placed and Shinnie was coming across and had it covered as well. PMF...I look at the images you posted and see something entirely different to you. The ball has either been touched and knocked out of the path of Naismith, or he has lost control of it. If you believe the first scenario, then it's not even a foul. If you believe the second scenario, then it's not a clear goal scoring opportunity and did not merit a red card. I see nothing in the images that confirms or denies contact between the players at that point in time.

People were worried last season when injury forced us into using young inexperienced players....players who then went on to keep more experienced guys out of the team and contributed a great deal in our best ever season.