Caley Stan

Another week, another frustrating Niculae performance. The boy has a bit of class, nobody disputes that - but we are entitled to expect more than a few tidy flicks and intelligent runs. He is very slow and doesn't seem to have enough aggression in his game for the SPL. Note the difference when Bayne came on - he looked much more up for the battle and in this league that can mean just as much as a neat lay off. I think the board have fecked up with signing. When you pay a player significantly more than the rest of the squad you expect something a bit special and we're just not getting that.

Mexican waves are crap and are generally practiced by crowds who don't have much interest in what they are watching on the park. If we want to make a point to the stewards then we should focus on the main issue: our desire to stand up and get behind the team.

It won't happen because Wyness is in good form. There are now three posts on this thread suggesting that we drop a player who has scored 4 goals in the last 4 games!

I saw Marius for the first time on Saturday and my first reaction was one of shock at how slow and immobile he looked. His touches were nice and he'll score a good few headers for us once his luck turns. But it looks like his problems amount to more than just bad luck. He really seems to lack sharpness and eight games into the season we can't afford to start him every week without getting a decent return. Maybe the psycholgy has to enter a new phase and Brew should leave him out for a couple of weeks.

If he's fit then Brewster must start the game. He's just the man to take advantage of Aberdeen's inexperienced defence. Niculae will get many more chances and will score goals as the season progresses - but i think it's time to leave on the bench and let the old master show him how it's done.

10CC in the Highland News: "It was quite interesting that Richard Hastings played every minute of Canada's Gold Cup campaign and he played at left centre half and had a terrific competition by all accounts, so it shows that we do have options."

There's far too much red on it. We shouldn't pander to the jaggie besterds.

http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=41392 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_McDonald This guy doesn't sound like a goalscorer.

He played centre-half a few times in our first SPL season and didn't look the part at all.

If the P & J can name him, why can't we?

Webb, McManus and Elliot. That'll do fine.

3 players from in no order: Mike Teasdale Denzil Ian Black

"Wish i had your optimism K'Mills, what with CC saying Denzil will fill Dargo's shoe ( after Denzil saying dont expect me to fill Dargo's shoes ) and Richie Hart saying Rory is going to be brilliant this season and fulfill his potential could it be that we are going to make do?" Edited to remove a comment which was deemed inappropriateL_G

On the question of whether Dargo strung as along all this time in the hope of getting better offers from other clubs, it's interesting to contrast the reaction of the club (nothing) to St. Mirren's reaction to the departure of John Sutton. Gus MacPherson said: "Really, all along John has just made excuses. I think John was quoted somewhere as saying he would be a mug not to look at all his options. But, the way things panned out, I don't really think over the last five or six months that St Mirren was really an option for him. I just don't think he wanted to be here."

Wilson is a Caley Thistle legend and deserves a testimonial for his ten years of service to the club. But looking back on his career, i feel that never really fulfilled the potential he had. 'Professionalism and dediction' are relatively new attributes for Barry, and i never could understand why he was playing in the third division when he was twenty-five. Anyway, it was us who benefited from this. and correct me if i'm wrong but i think Barry played in all of our promotion winning teams. Sometimes he was fat, sometimes he was lazy, but he has always been total class. I too forgive him for holidaying in West Lothian - mainly because it meant he was playing in the SPL where he should have spent his whole career. But i still can't forgive him for that t-shirt..............

We can look at the end of season standings and be happy with where we finished but i will still always remember it for its disappointments - 3 in particular. 1. Cup Quarter-Final. 2. Losing 3-2 away to Killie and missing out on top 6. 3. Lovell's last-minute equaliser on the Monday night in November - we could've gone equal second with a win. Some people might consider it boring to hover around mid-table for most of a season, but we were at least allowed to dream this year - of top 6 and of winning the cup, and if we keep this team together (and keep it fit), then we can do those things next year.

I would be very suspicious of gift-bearing Tories.

Scott Wilson is a good shout. Thug or not, we need to replace Dodds with a centre-half who dominates in the air. As for Ireland, that market has already been plundered by the arabs, pars and well without much success.

There's only one Paul Ritchie.

It's Great! Bring it on.

Yeah, it's a bit of a long shot really. How do we make teams care about the League Cup again? Maybe if Platini & Taylor manage to swing us a couple of extra UEFA Cup spots it would help.

This old chesnut. It seems to come up every season and watching them debate it on scotsport last night was tortuous. I've always favoured a 16 team set-up because playing the same teams 4 (or even 3) times is just boring for fans and players. Anyone excited about the Motherwell game? Have to agree with HC that a revamped League Cup, possibly with a group stage, would be the way to make up for the loss of income caused by a reduction in league fixtures. Of course this is all fantasy because regardless of what fans, players or even managers think, clubs will never vote to reduce their incomes.

Club. I've spent 12 years of my life following Caley Thistle, while Scotland games only come around every few months or so. The France game was one of the greatest football moments i've ever had, but it still didn't compare to the Clyde game and our subsequent promotion. I also consider my identity as an Invernesian or Highlander to be stronger than my identity as a Scotsman, but maybe that's another debate.

Thought that was Barry Ferguson.

Grant Munro - player of the year?