Renegade

The latter part on the whole I would agree with, but there were times we seemed rather content for the draw, the Saints' game in particular. I remember we moved Mckay back into the Andrew Shinnie role, sending (IIRC) Roberts up front and saw out the game with perhaps the most boring spell of football in one of the most boring games I have ever witnessed. A similar thing happened in the later 1-0 defeat, where we took off Mckay (when it was still 0-0 [i don't remember if he was injured or not]) and went with Nick Ross up top. We were never going to score doing that and really weren't aiming to, trying to see out the game with only ten men.

It's not necessarily the graphics, it's the fact that it tells us there's been a goal (who knew?!) with lots of exclamation marks as if it was doing a live commentary! It's a bit like Partick's old highlights (I don't know if they still do it) which had this weird 80s music video style replays which were really difficult to watch!

Good goal - rubbish graphics.

Something that overall played a large part in killing our European hopes, was this 'playing for a draw' mentality we'd see from time to time. I've just finished reading Butcher's autobiography, in which he claims that as a manager he counts draws and wins as essentially one and the same. Well, they aren't. There were a few times where we settled for the draw, which in the end killed our hopes. The Hibs 2-2 game, where we'd gotten back from two down and the momentum of the game had swung massively in our direction. Ten minutes to go, we decided enough was enough and just gave up. The Aberdeen game (the one where OTJ tried to batter someone), drawing 1-1 at home with ten minutes to go and both teams down to ten men - we just stop trying. The St Johnstone 0-0 draw, Philip Roberts comes on and watches the game go on around him (no surprises there...) and we plod to a halt ten minutes from time. And perhaps most worrying of all, we did the same thing despite being 1-0 down to Saints towards the end of the season, in the game in which Raven was sent off. After the game, Butcher heralds a "great" performance. How momentous those latter two results in particular turned out to be. Of course it could be argued that had we not done it, we could've have gotten beat, but that's a chance you take and had going for it failed once and worked once (and in some occasions the latter seemed far more likely), then it wouldn't have made a difference but at last we'd have tried. We should be trying to win matches over ninety minutes not eighty. In hindsight, this mentality was a bad one and cost us big time. We shouldn't be repeating it this season.

In light of Ross County charging £20 to watch the Man United kids team and more prominently Bournemouth charging £60 (though a very reasonable £55 for season ticket holders!) to watch Real Madrid, if ICT were to announce a "glamour friendly" against say Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Inter Milan etc. and it was to feature their star players, how much would be willing to pay and where would you draw the line? Would you be willing to pay £55 on top of your season ticket, to watch ICT getting pummelled by Ronaldo and co a la Bournemouth? I don't think I would be and charging anything over £20 for a meaningless friendly (no matter what the standard of opposition is) is a scandal IMO.

One more striker would be excellente!

Thought Evans, Doran and Williams all impressed, while Tremarco reminds me of Kenny Gillet - stocky, but mobile. Also, how fast was that number 17!

I was going to go, but there's no trains or buses back after the match.

Presumably with Hooman offski already, Tremarco will take the number 18 jersey.

Here's his photo - Don't know which one he is mind!

Macclesfield Town fans are reporting that ICT have signed their former left-back Carl Tremarco. This could perhaps suggest that Charlie Taylor isn't returning then.

Surely though, that depends on what players you have at your disposal and also how good you are at short ones (in our case not very!)?

I would hazard a guess that you're more likely to score from a crossed corner than a short one. While one or two are good to throw into the mix when needed and to do something different, I would say that crosses are far more likely to get you goals (you're getting the ball into the box for a start!). When you look at the team we have now, crosses seem like the far more logical tactic. Draper's over six foot, Warren's dangerous in the box (who scored against Keith from a crossed corner), as is McKay (as we all know) and we now have someone who can (at least it has been said in the press anyway) in Greenhalgh, whip a good cross in, though Polworth seemed pretty capable on Saturday, as has Shinnie in the past. Short corners allow for the opposition to push up and press the ball, making a goalscoring opportunity more difficult. If anything, I'd like to see more moves like we had in the 3-2 win away to Hearts. For those who weren't there, Warren and Draper would wait at the edge of the D, and as the corner was whipped in, would both make a looping run round the back of the box and meet the ball around six yards out. McKay would also make a run through the centre. It worked very effectively, and while doing it too much can be cottoned onto by other teams, we've never seemed to have used it again. I'd like to see more of that this season. Overall, the odd short corner is fine, but crosses into the box seem like a far more effective and logical tactic for what we have.

Making the top six - Fairly Confident Not being relegated - Very Confident Slightly confident overall from me.

I see the ICT Fans page has described yesterday's performance as "great". Well that's one thing it wasn't. Elgin were a far better team than Forres and seemed far more up for it and organised. Foran had a very poor game in the middle, though did improve when he was moved up-front. Greenhalgh and Pepper were pretty decent, but we once again saw that Ross Draper is not and never will be a winger. Warren and Meekings were very solid in the middle. One final point to make though; these short corners are a load of rubbish. The last three games we've seen these abominations and only once yesterday did one not result in giving away possession. No surprise that the two goals came when we abandoned them and went for the more traditional (and more effective) cross into the box.

The last two trips to Dingwall away, I've gone into the toilets (which seem to built in old crates) at half-time to find that there's no running water left. Revolting.

Here's the full squad numbers - 1. Ryan Esson 2. David Raven 3. Graeme Shinnie 4. James Vincent 5. Gary Warren 6. Josh Meekings 7. Billy Mckay 8. Ross Draper 9. Richie Foran 10. Aaron Doran 11. Nick Ross 12. Dean Brill 14. Daniel Devine 15. Marley Watkins 16. Curtis Allen 17. Ben Greenhalgh 18. Harry Hooman* 19. Danny Williams 20. Liam Polworth 21. Conor Pepper 22. Matthew Cooper 31. Nick Draper 32. Jay Cheyne 33. Calum Holwarth 34. Jason Brown 35. Joe Gorman 36. Ryan Christie 37. Alasdair Sutherland 39. Calum Ferguson 40. Adam Evans 42. Callum Mackay No 13, 18* or 23 onwards. Presumably they'll go to Charlie Taylor (should he come back in) and a loanee from Arsenal (or anyone else who may be signed). Not many surprises really from the first team squad, though Pepper changing from 22 to 21 seems a bit strange and likewise for Polworth (21 to 20). I'd have thought Gorman, Christie, Ferguson and Evans would've had lower numbers as well. * - I've stuck Harry Hooman in at 18 because it seems logical that that is his number, as he is missing from the list. I'm also sure I've seen a photo of him in training with the number 18 on his gear.

I saw an interview with him from one of his previous clubs, where he mentioned his own name. IIRC he pronounced it "Green-Hal", where the Hal rhymes with Mall (as in the road in-front of the Queen's house). Here it is (2.33 he says his own name) -

I wonder by the end of the season, how many different versions of his name we will have heard? I've already heard Green-Hal, Greenhall, Greenhalg, Greenhelg...even Green-Halgze"! I believe Green-Hal though is the correct one though.

Having now seen it in the flesh, I must that it does look better in real life than it does in the photo. It would still look better with a red collar though.

There's been a few seasons where we've had no home friendlies, and they seem to be coming more common as well. We had one last season (Coventry, as well as a behind closed doors game with Brora), but I don't think we had any the year before that. Sure we didn't have any one season as well because of the Elton John concert as well as something else (monster trucks or horses or something?).

Apparently Watkins is going to be out for a couple of weeks after rolling over on his ankle. Shame as he had been playing well.

Just in. Very impressed with Watkins before he got injured, while Greenhalgh also impressed at times with his skill and ability to beat a man (or at times more!), but needs to work a bit more on his final ball. Ryan Christie seems a decent ball player as well, while Evans can fairly move.

Half 7 I believe.