Caley Stan

The way he celebrated Graham Bayne's last minute winner at Tynecastle just before Christmas '07. Russell had played a huge role in getting the win by opening the scoring with a long range strike and by employing some 'dark arts' (something that he excelled at throughout his ICT career) to get the Hearts' keeper sent off. When the winner went in and the players came to celebrate in front of the ICT fans, Russell was first to arrive and last leave, all the time pumping fists and screaming.

Here are some pictures of today's overwhelmingly peaceful protest against the violent cuts being imposed by this government. It's worth looking at them because the front pages of the reactionary right-wing press will focus entirely on a few scuffles between the police a small minority of the protesters.

We're 1 point away from 6th with 3 games left. We haven't blown it yet.

Izaguirre's getting too much space on the left and that's how they got their goal. Otherwise, we've contained them well with a defensive 4-4-1-1 formation - Ross playing in behind Rooney with Foran and Sutherland largely pinned back by their full-backs. If it stays tight going into the last 15-20 minutes then hopefully Hayes can come on and exploit the space that will inevitably open up as Celtic push for a winner.

If that was the reasoning behind this then it would be a lot easier to swallow. Unfortunately, the balance of power has swayed so heavily towards Europe's biggest clubs that TV audiences for their games are prioritised above gate numbers and promotion of the domestic game. I wonder what UEFA gives the SFA in return for their acquiescence.

From the Scotsman: Seems like a feckin stupid "agreement" on the face of it. How do we benefit from giving the Champions League a free run at tv audiences?

Can anyone confirm that UEFA do not allow domestic matches to be televised on Champions League nights?

That's as poor as we've been all season. It's pointless playing with two up front and two attacking wide players if the rest of the team is incapable of keeping possession. It's difficult to criticise Doran or Odhiambo when they weren't given the opportunity to play their natural game - the system we're playing requires more defensive minded wide players than we have at our disposal, and just like in Paisley, those two found themselves stuck in their own half for most the game, rarely finding space to penetrate in attacking areas. The most frustrating thing was that Hibs looked very ordinary, yet ran out comfortable winners. Contrary to what tm4tj has posted above, i actually think that Nick Ross could be the solution to some of our problems. He's a very tidy midfielder who retains possession. I'd like to see him back in a deep lying midfield role alongside Russell in place of Lee Cox who gave the ball away constantly yesterday. That way, we might actually get some service to allow our attacking players to show what they can do.

I really like the look of that team.

Not many. People who stop going to watch Scottish football simply because two teams move from the top tier to the second tier are probably looking for a reason to stop going anyway. It will make very little difference to the standard of football or the competitiveness of the league. The fact that the proposal flies in the face of public demand does stick in the craw, but it's not radical enough to have a serious effect on attendances, and certainly doesn't represent the "demise of Scottish football". This is Chic Young talk.

Excellent move for our second goal on Saturday started from ........ a throw-in! Rosscoe looks to throw down the line before seeing that Rooney had spun inside and found space. Rooney then plays a one-two with Foran (who uses his strength brilliantly to make the return pass) before cutting back for Russell to tap in. The whole thing was so well executed that i can only assume that it was planned on the training ground in response to this thread. caleycaddy gets a green dot for an assist.

Well, your call for 4-4-2 was certainly timely. 8 goals in 2 games since Foran started playing through the middle and both he and Rooney look better players playing closer together, linking brilliantly for the 3rd goal. As entertaining as the game was yesterday, i really don't think we can get away with playing such an open midfield against better teams. Odhiambo and Doran were frequently pinned back, and while they worked hard in defensive areas, it's clearly not what they're best at. Esson rescued us again with an unbelievable save from a header late on. Surely he's an early favourite for ICT player of the year. With only 5 players on the bench yesterday it appears that a couple of players have vanished without explanation. Golly? Was last on the bench against Hamilton last month. I haven't heard any mention of an injury. Blumenshtein? On the bench at Ibrox last month and hasn't been seen since. The Courier reported that he was called up for the Israeli Under-21 squad last week so he must be fit.

According to other forums, this is the confirmed team for tonight: -------------------McGregor-------------- Hutton----S. Caldwell----Berra----Bardsley ---------------Brown-----Adam------------- Morrison----------Commons---------Naismith -------------------Miller------------------ The only slight eyebrow raiser in that line-up is Steven Caldwell, and i don't think Levein had much choice given the dearth of talent and experience at our disposal in that position. Otherwise it looks to be a decent side. Always a stupid thing to say where Scotland are involved but i expect a win tonight.

I agree with Johnboy.

That's how i read it. St. Mirren Park will be deathly silent without Rosscoe.

As is now usual, the squad contains a strong selection of midfielders but very little up front or in the centre of defence. I hadn't heard of Grant Hanley before this morning. While it's certainly good to hear we've got another central defender coming through, an international call-up for a 19 year-old with just 6 first team starts to his name highlights just how desperate we are in that position. I assume Caldwell and Berra will be the first choice pairing in defence, with Wilson and Hanley being reared to replace them. I can't think of many notable absentees. Whittaker, i suspect, has been playing with an injury for some time now and Weir only plays in qualifiers. Stephen Fletcher, though he isn't playing regularly for Wolves, is someone i would expect to be in most squads - certainly ahead of Maguire. It Seems that Levein isn't willing to forgive him for moaning to the press after he wasn't played in the last qualifiers.

I was never impressed with Hogg during my past philanderings down Leith way. He was at his best next to Rob Jones, a dominant centre-half who would step out to meet the ball while Hogg would cover behind him. They had a good understanding, something that is often more important for defenders than individual attributes. Hopefully Hogg can form a similar partnership with Grant Munro. He's got 3 or 4 seasons of regular SPL football under his belt and captained Hibs to 4th place last season so he definitely offers good experience.

As Jonathan Wilson regularly highlights, formations are neutral in themselves, none are intrinsically attacking or defensive. For many years David Moyes successfully deployed a very defensive 4-4-2 with a narrow bank of 4 deep lying midfielders and 2 very hard working forwards who came deep to look for the ball. There are also countless examples of attacking teams playing with a single striker. Barcelona, perhaps the worlds most attacking football team often play with no strikers at all. When Messi is deployed as a "false 9", he starts from the traditional centre-forward position but constantly moves deep and wide as the creative midfielders and sometimes even the full-backs move beyond him I think 4-2-3-1 works for us for a number of reasons. Firstly, the trend throughout football is to have 5 midfielders or 4 plus a deep lying second striker. By playing a "traditional 4-4-2" as Renegade suggests, we immediately cede an advantage to the opposition's midfield. Secondly, we aren't blessed with many players who are comfortable with the ball at their feet. This is the unfortunate reality in most of Scottish football. It's very difficult to take the game to the opposition when your players are prone to losing possession and we must accept this as a weakness and ensure that we have plenty bodies behind the ball when the inevitable occurs. As well as covering for our weaknesses, 4-2-3-1 has allowed us to exploit our strengths, namely, Rooney and Hayes. Rooney moves well, dragging defenders out of position. When spaces do appear, he has a great knack of finding himself in them, while Hayes' direct running is most effective on the break. This is how we got promoted and this how we started the season so well, to ditch it now because we're having a difficult run is knee-jerkism. That's not to say it shouldn't be tweaked. By moving Nick Ross into a deeper position, Butcher has made that part of the midfield more creative. Similarly, playing Sanchez behind Rooney is an attacking move. Perhaps his next move will be to play one of the new signings on the left instead of Foran. Again, an attacking move. Changes will be and are being made to try and get us of our current poor run, but they needn't include the old-fashioned cry of 4-4-2.

Robbo suggesting an early sub - Duncan for Sanchez. It does make sense on the face of it.

12th man - are you arguing that a 12 team league produces better European results than a 10 team league? If so, you're going to have to do better than that. It would be very easy to list the superior European achievements of Scottish clubs in the 80's and relate that to a 10 team league but that wouldn't prove a causal link between the two. Why would 10 or 12 make a significant difference to European performance when there are so many other factors at play?

I thought Rangers played us well last night, allowing us a fair bit of possession but never the space to do much with it. Our line-up was pleasantly surprising and Sanchez and Odhiambo came out of the block like two players who don't have many chances left. Eric looked far more comfortable playing wide right and it would nice to see him get a run there until Hayes is fit but Sanchez faded, ran up too many blind alleys and really needs to track back more if he wants to play in this team. We look far more fluent with Nick Ross playing deep with Duff rather than two out and out holders, though once again, it's very harsh on Russell Duncan. He must be the most dropped player in our history. The back 4 was solid once again - Rosscoe is always heroic in these games. We're on a bad run but we've lost none of our spirit and organisation, we just need to find the right blend in attack.

I'm taking flak over on P'n'B for making that very point. I think he's there because he works so hard, but to play him ahead of the more talented footballers on the bench is pragmatism gone to far IMO. Shouldn't moan too much though - we looked solid throughout the team and were marginally better than Well. Innes makes a difference to the defence - he might be slow and cumbersome, but positionally he's much more of a centre-half than Rosscoe and this helps Granty. Full marks to Shinnie for dealing with Humphrey after his nightmare in Sneck. Ross was our best attacking player without being particularly good. We seriously lack creativity without Hayes and i think that might see us in the bottom 6 soon enough.

5 of his 11 SPL goals have been penalties, and he hasn't scored in his last 6 SPL games. Hibs fans who travelled up to Inverness earlier in the season saw him at his most clinical, but we all know that he can be wasteful as well. I think his main appeal is the way he leads the line on his own. He never stops moving, hassles defenders and uses his body well to shield the ball. As you've pointed out, he's poor in the air and, of course, he's slow. Hibs would be a good move for him.

-Doncaster has mentioned a figure of around £3million extra for SPL2. According to HibeeJibee over on P&B (who seems to be spending every waking hour immersed in this topic) this figure amounts to a transferral of the £1.5 million currently received by the 11th/12th teams in the SPL to 1st/2nd in SPL 2. The rest apparently comes from concentrating all SFL sponssorship money into the SPL 2. The proposal basically gives 8 SFL teams the chance to sail away and leave the rest of teams in the league to rot. -I don't think quality of football is on the agenda. The chairmen are primarily concerned with increasing income in the short term. Reconstruction wasn't being discussed seriously at that level until Setanta collapsed. -It was implied on Sportsound last night that Sky/ESPN are in favour of a 10 team league. If they have given guarantees of a significantly better deal then that would explain why some chairmen were so confident of winning the vote.

I'm in favour of this proposal, but it is essential that top of the bottom 8 is given meaning. This can be done by making its winners the bottom seeds in play-offs for the last Europa League spot.