ictchris

Unless someone drives me through and buys me a ticket then no.

Some absolutely awful teams picked in here :D

Foran wasn't that bad - targetmen strikers depend to a large degree on players around them. Foran recieved a lot of long balls up to him because the midfield was so poor and when he won these balls (and he won a lot of headers) it came to nothign because he was isolated. If the midfield was stronger then we could get higher up the park before trying to hit Foran, allowing him to attack the ball more and provide knock downs for his partner. I still don't know if Sanchez and Foran is the best partnership. Barrowman is a poacher, pure and simple, and if he was up front with Foran perhaps he'd take advantage more. However, if Barrowman had been playing yesterday he'd be getting all the stick because he wouldn't have been able to do anything with the service provided either.

---------------------Esson---------------------- --Tokely---Bulvitis----Murno---Golly----- ---Hayes---Duncan---Cox-----McBain---- ------------Sanchez-----Foran------------ Foran wasn't that bad yesterday, he just got too isolated. He won plenty of headers but there isn't much he can do without anyone around him. If he's played correctly then he's absolutley key to us this season.

Er, we are fifth, Dundee at sixth - Link I think what we should have learned from the first six games are that, perhaps with the exception of Morton who could be whipping boys, there aren't any easy games or 'gimmes' in this league. County have had the best start but yesterday could only beat newly promoted Ayr by a single goal. I think we'll see a very close league with only around six points seperating the sides in the top half until well into 2010 when the contenders will pull away. What I do think we need it to put either Russell or Roy back into midfield and drop Stratford. I also can't wait for Imrie to get back and put Eagle on the bench. A midfield of Russell hodling with Cox going box-to-box with Imrie on the left and Hayes on the right sounds tasty to me. We need to improve our home form also - we've only had two home games from six yet these have both been disappointing results. Three of our next four league games are at home - I'd say we have to win at least two of those to give us some momentum in terms of home performances.

I am just writing the report for the site now. I will just say that Stratford is just abysmal, absolutely honkingly awful. To have Russell Duncan on the bench and Stratford on the pitch is beyond me.

I am going.

I am on a course with work and am going on holiday a few days later. I'll try and get there.

Lets be honest - if Andy Barrowman scores the clincher against County in the Alba Cup tie at the North end of the ground then ran 90 yards to slide in front of teh County fans and get it right up them, who on here will be complaining? I'd be absolutely loving it.

Niall Calder was a young midfielder around the 2001/2002 season. I can't remember him ever coming on but he was definately on the bench against Partick in early 2002. We had a few injuries and played with only three on the bench IIRC - Jim Calder, Neil MacDonald and Niall Calder. Calder was 15 at the time, I think MacDonald was 18 or so. We lost 4-1. Calder may have gone on to play for Clach, I could be wrong though.

David Buchanan - Don't know anything about this guy. David Craig - Played for Elgin City, perhaps still does. Dougie Green - Played a few games in 94/95, I think he went back to Elgin as well. David Hind - Another Elgin City player! Gregg Hood - I don't remember him but I'm reliably informed he ws abysmal and teh slowest player in history. Danny MacDonald - Yes, he's in charge of Caley's youth development and would have been a far bigger player in our history were it not for a bad knee injury. John McDonald - Vaguely remember him in teh first season, can't recall anything about him. Steven McDonald - Went on to play for Clach. Neil McDonald - Also went to Clach, now a copper. Dave McGinley - Ended up at Elgin? John McGinley's brother. Paul McKenzie - I have no idea where this guy ended up. Don MacMillan - NOpe. Craig MacMillan - Buckie Thistle as mentioned above. Norman MacMillan - No idea. Chris Miller - Looked like Paul Scholes, sadly didn't play like him. Went to East Fife, I think? Colin Mitchell - Mitchie played loads of games and scored a few goals. Last seen at Clach. Gary Nicol - Did we not have him on trial only for County to buy him? Ex Celtic, thankfully he was crap. Mike Sanderson - Was Clach's captain, I think he might have retired now. Neil MacCuish is mentioned earlier in teh thread, he is the current Clach captain. I think he's in his testimonial year at Grant Street.

Bradshaw was a great player in the Highland League and probably could have done it in the SFL but was a complete nutcase. The rumour I heard was that he was asked to leave Caley after he battered a schoolboy who got into an argument with Bradshaw's wee brother. When Pele tells you you aren't professional enough, you probably want to re-examine yourself a bit (no offence Pele, legend etc). He did pretty well in the games I saw him in (friendly v Celtic, league game at Partick), a centre-half who could pass the ball well. I always thought he was a bit of a player but always seemed to be in the stands rather than in the squad. Tony Low is another. Tony Low has played for a few Highland League teams as well as in Australia and, in fact, played against iCT in yesterday's North Cup final. Guy Kerr played for Scotland Under 17s and is now at East Fife.

What we should really do is sign up some Fijian rugby league centres and teach them to play football.

Renegade, you are a legend mate. Great comedy, poster of the year material.

Nightmare for Duff. Hope he recovers fully.

England have a chance in South Efffriiicccaa. They have a good squad of players and a very good manager. However, despite fantastic results aginst Croatia and the rest of their group, it's worth remembering that Spain beat them comfortably in a friendly not long ago. If England are to go beyond being a quarter-final team they will need to start beating the likes of France and Spain.

Remember the Alloa kid from the 1999 game? What a wee d!ck.

A few more Alba games and we can make that long awaited bid for Kaka. :D Good draw, hopefully we don't make teh same mistakes as a few weeks back.

Juanjo scored in his second game and managed to brutally assault innocent victim Neil Lennon in his third - not a bad start.

Disappointed that either McBain or Duncan haven't been drafted into midfield. Fair enough that Lionel has been dropped but how badly does Eagle have to play to even drop onto the bench? I'd also have liked to see either Rooney or Barrowman get a shot up front with Foran.

I didn't see much of Hastings last season but according to my sources he was dire. Haven't seen Golly play in years.

Rooney is probably the best young English player for decades. Nick Ross isn't, I think it's fair to say. If we had a 16 year old striker as good as Wayne Rooney was at that age, I'd bet that he'd be in the side. Best line up yet.

-------------------Esson------------------ ---Tokely---Bulviitis---Granty---Shinnie-- ---Hayes----Duncan-----Cox----McBain-- ----------Barrowman----Foran------------ I think the way we are playing with Foran and Sanchez has the potential to make us less penetrating - Foran gets isolated and Sanchez gets bogged down in the midfield. If Barrowman is anything he is a goalscorer, a poacher, and if we play him up front with a worker like Foran he could get those chances.

Just abysmal on Saturday, absolutely terrible. It's the worst performance in a derby since the 5-1 game - at least in the 5-1 game we were playing a crocked centre-half. County completely dominated the middle of the park - Cox has shown he can play but in that game he was anonymous. Stratford was awful. Get Russell back in the engine room with Cox. Hayes was alright but Eagle - what's his story? He can't dribble, he can't cross, he has no pace, he doesn't get shots in, he isn't that hard working. Why is he there? Hurry back Imrie. Defensively, Granty did well but Bulvitis looked a bombscare - why did he never seem to wholeheartedly go through the ball, clear it, win the header or tackle? The ball was bobbling around on his toes, pish. Zadi was just awful, he looks so uncertain on the ball, so scared of doing anything. Up front, Foran didn't do anything with what he was given but Sanchez didn't look nearly as lively as he did at Dens - he wasn't rolling off his man, playign any little balls. There was no link up with the wide men. I think we need to stick Barrowman back in, or even (God forbid) Rooney. I was spekaing to CaleyStan after the game and he made the point that the atmosphere was strnage, like we just expected to win. We used to go into these games with a degree of arrogance but it was a healthy arrogance - 'we're good enough to win thsi game, lets go and do it'. I think on Saturday some of the players let the relatively good start to the season go to their heads and expected a good performance to just happen. Looking forward we need to be more forceful, to get some zip back into the side. I'd immediately bring Rosscoe back in, drop Zadi for Shinnie or Hastings, put Russell in the middle of the park and Roy on the left of midfield. A win aginst Partick would be great, even if it is in the diddy cup.