Renegade

Maybe not a tactical maestro but I don't believe we could be in the lofty position we are if he did not have a decent grasp on tactics. He's done well in the home games this year and that's by finding a set-up that works and it's working well. We haven't though really been tested at home yet this season. He needs to find a system that works away from home as the home system does, and know when it needs changing mid-match. Away performances suggest, carrying on with the way we've been playing, will see more poor results on the road.

As many of us realised long ago, Butcher is many things, but a tactical maestro is not one of them. The team are made to play a certain way from the start and when it's evident that it's not working, nothing is changed and we don't know what to do. There seems to be no Plan B at all. Substitutions are almost always far too late, very predictable and very unimaginative. And what was the sense in throwing Polworth in at the deep-end like that? He was like a fish out of water and was kept on the field for 72 minutes - it was 72 minutes too long. There's no rules against a half-time change, or even a first half change (the French are big on this apparently) and this was a prime example of when one was needed. And what does it say to Greenhalgh who was superb last week, when he doesn't get a single minute, while Nick Ross was poor away from home on the wing yet again? There's no good saying "it was a blip", "they were better than us" and other such cliches , when we've been poor away for four consecutive games now and the tactics have been identical essentially every time. It wasn't "a blip", it was another consecutive bad away performance. But what do we do away from home? With no real Andrew Shinnie character in the squad this year and particularly since Vincent's injury, would a switch to a 4-1-2-2-1/4-3-3 set-up make a difference? We could go back to soaking up the pressure and then hitting teams on the break with Foran sat in-front of the defence, Draper and someone else (possibly Ross who's always been better in the middle IMO) in the middle and then Doran on one wing and then Greenhalgh or Watkins on the other side, rotating throughout the game, attacking teams out wide? With the players we have available, it could be a better set-up than the all too predictable 4-2-3-1.

There's already been a Terry Butcher/ICT England flag! Look rather snazzy I thought as well!

The thing is as well, as time goes on, the Saltire is starting to pick-up some "political" connotations as well. In fact, I saw a small child in the St Johnstone end carrying one and I was massively offended! Not for myself of course, but for other people, whom I don't know, who might vote no in the referendum! I nearly informed a steward of this child's sickening antics! In all seriousness though, the only problem I have with taking the Union Flag (it's only called the Union Jack at sea don't you know!), is the Rangers-connotations. Any calls that it is racist, bigoted or anything else is just nonsense, but it's sadly some unsurprising classic behaviour from the chip-on-the-shoulder ultra-independence brigade.

Funnily enough, I've only seen him once, in a U20 match quite a while ago and I thought he looked a bit tubby!

That's a fair point, but IMO Greenhalgh should have started. I'd actually drop Nick Ross to be honest - he's been poor particularly away from for the last few weeks. And what has happened to Curtis Allen? Apparently he's now injury free and 100% fit, but he hasn't featured at all. He was fairly highly rated in Northern Ireland I believe and can also play that role behind Mckay. Is it time we chucked him in there with Vincent being out for a considerable amount of time?

That was an absolute disgrace. Absolutely outplayed by St Johnstone, who to be fair were very good, but were ultimately handed the win due to some horrid tactics and all-round bad performances. Could have been even more of an embarrassment had it not been for Dean Brill. He was a class act today. Last week, Greenhalgh came on and was excellent. Surely the logical thing to do was to start with the team we played best with last week, which was with him out wide and Nick Ross down the middle. Did we do it? Of course not. Polworth, who has barely had any game time at all at this level, was thrown in at the deep-end. Where's the logic in that? Unsurprisingly, apart from a couple of nice touches, he was nothing but a headless chicken and should've been hooked at half time. Devine at full-back against Hasselbaink and May was another strange decision (Raven got injured yesterday apparently), but did okay apart from some poor distribution. But lets get on to tactics here. A couple of seasons back and more recently, people were bemoaning the tactic of long hoofs forward towards Billy Mckay. Well today, we had a new tactic. Big long hoofs towards Nick Ross! Did it work? Ehm...no. Nick Ross for my money anyway, is not a winger and has been poor out wide for weeks, while Foran had a bad game by his standards. After the Aberdeen game, people were talking about a reaction in the next league match and heralded the result and performance against Hibs. Forget that attitude right now. Away games are a totally different animal and we've been going from bad to worse in them since the Kilmarnock game a few weeks ago. Home matches have not been a problem for us at all this season, but away from home is a different story, which is strange considering prior to this season we were such a good side on the road. Times need to be a-changing, and a reaction is needed. That test will not will be in the form of Partick Thistle in our next home match but our next test on the road - away to Ross County.

HT - Saints 1-0 ICT FT - Saints 1-3 ICT Saints 1st scorer - May ICT 1st scorer - Meekings Time of 1st goal - 12

Possibly, unless Watkins or Allen are ready now. Would've thought they might be higher up the pecking order when fully fit.

Be careful what you wish for, Butcher's a big Tory!

I've never been a big fan of this "If it ain't broke don't fix it" attitude. For one, it doesn't make sense. On Saturday, Vincent got injured and thus had to be replaced. Did that mean that the whole system was broken? Did we fall apart? No, in fact if anything we were better with Ross down the middle and Doran and Greenhalgh tearing up the wings. In fact, it could be argued as well, that (Hibs at home aside) the away system is not broken, but it's not really working that great. Beat Kilmarnock, yet it was a fairly mediocre performance, a poor performance against Aberdeen, and an utterly dreadful one against Dundee. James Vincent was also fairly poor in all those ties. Things away from home need to change, and I think taking Vincent out, moving Ross over and putting Greenhalgh in, and taking the game to teams as we do at home, would make a big difference.

I think his loyalty to Malpas plays a major part. *Allegedly* this was one of the key factors in the breaking down of the Barnsley talks. He wouldn't go there without Malpas, they didn't want him. Butcher's autobiography apparently didn't go down well with Rangers fans well at all. He talks in it towards the end about how much he resents the baggage that comes with them, and also referred to them as a new club prior to us playing a phoenix club last year.

Good idea IMO.

We were a better team when Greenhalgh was out wide and Ross was moved into the centre. We should start like that on Saturday IMO.

Brill Raven Warren Meekings Shinnie Draper Foran Doran Ross Greenhalgh Mckay Subs - Esson, Devine, Vincent*, Agdestein, Polworth, Williams, Watkins* * - If Vincent or Watkins is injured, bring Tremarco onto the bench. If both are out, bring Pepper on as well.

What we've got to do now is take the way we played yesterday and the other home games this season, and play like that away from home as well. It worked against Dundee United, but lately we've gone back to lumping it up the park in the away matches. We should be keeping the same mentality that we have at home for all games no-matter where they are IMO. They are sweet! Am I imagining it (quite possible) or did we have similar nets in the past at some point? Edit- Spellin' Correct. About a decade ago we had ICTFC woven into the white goal nets IIRC.

A good performance, though I have seen us better this season! While Vincent seemed to be putting in a better shift this week as opposed to the last three games, I did think that we seemed to play better without him, with Ross down the middle and two out and out wingers on the field. Mckay was good once again and on another day could've had four or five, while I thought Ben Greenhalgh (who didn't look up to much the last time I saw him play against Celtic in a reserve match) was outstanding. Pace, distribution, work rate were all very good. Overall, a good win and a hundred times better performance than Tuesday night in Dundee!

Cove Rangers had squad numbers but no names when I saw them (Roy McBain had number 14!). Think I heard somewhere that Lossiemouth do the same as well.

HT - ICT 1-1 Hibs FT - ICT 2-1 Hibs ICT 1st scorer - Draper Hibs 1st scorer - Heffernan Time of 1st scorer - 17

I was thinking Murrayfield, but that might be a bit too big. Tynecastle or Easter Road would be good though, as long as it's not an Edinburgh team we're playing!

I believe it was changed this year, and now Championship teams can have names and squad numbers, just squad numbers and no names (like Falkirk tonight), or can go 1-11. Strangely, the Highland League has the same rules! Names and numbers are compulsory from next season in the Championship though I think.

Vincent was poor against Kilmarnock and Aberdeen and was pretty useless last night. Time he was taken out with Ross moved into the centre IMO.

A couple of changes for me I think, and a switch to a straight 4-3-3 - Brill Raven Warren Meekings Shinnie Draper Ross Foran Doran Agdestein Mckay Subs - Esson, Devine, Vincent, Williams, Tremarco, Pepper, Polworth

That performance, beyond all doubt, proves that changes need to be made and need to made for the Hibs game. The first of which, is taking Vincent out - he hasn't played well for weeks. I'm also not convinced that Nick Ross is winger. If I were Butcher, I'd be trying out Ross in the "Shinnie Role" on Saturday and have Williams, or if he's fit, Watkins on the wing in the place of Vincent.

Dean Brill was outstanding, but the rest - what a load of garbage! Thank God that didn't go to extra time!