Caley Stan

Yup, Bayne and Brewster with a 100% record! Wyness is doubtful with a hamstring injury so i'd got for those two tomorrow if Brew's up to it.

Here's the 20-man squad from the BBC website: Fraser, Hastings, McCaffrey, Munro, McGuire, Black, Duncan, Rankin, McBain, Cowie, Vigurs, Wilson, Wyness, Niculae, McDonald, Malkowski, Proctor, Hart, Kerr, McAllister.

Sportsound just confirmed that McLeish is top of Birmingham's list. Other names being chucked around as a possible replacement are Jim Jeffries and Joe Jordan.

Where did the Joh Rankin fan club appear from? He's always the first man to go missing on the field when the chips are down and before we start laying into Brewster for this, remember that CC dropped at times last season and just before he left this season. We need fighters in the team this year and Rankin has never shown himself to be one.

Aston Villa finished 6th, 10th and 16th in the three seasons that O'Leary and Aitken spent there. They had a good start but it can hardly be described as a success story. Aitken hasn't been a manager since he was sacked by Aberdeen 10 years ago. This is not the sort of pedigree we should be looking for if and when McLeish leaves. David Moyes should be the number one choice. How much further can he realistically take Everton? We should break the bank to try and get him and if he doesn't fancy it then turn to another manager who has a proven take record of getting the best out of his players. Craig Levein is such a manager. Souness doesn't even warrant comment.

NICULAE SET TO START AGAINST BUDDIES 08:50 - 21 November 2007 Player-manager Craig Brewster is set to bring Marius Niculae back into the Caley Thistle starting line-up against St Mirren on Saturday. The Romanian forward is expected to replace the suspended Graham Bayne for the important SPL match at home to the Buddies. The reinstatement of the former Sporting Lisbon attacker comes after he was dropped to the bench for the last three Inverness games. Niculae is still without a league goal, but Brewster says the player has shown in training he deserves to be back in the Caley Jags line-up. "Marius has been given a real lift by the 'Marius Can Carrius' campaign", said Brewster. "Maybe this U-turn from Johndo was just what he was needing to kick-start things. He is eager to get back into the side and show what he can do".

Banished to the reserves today. Wonder for how long?

He definitely said "Tokely is a disgrace". He might not have meant to though. Brewster always sounds really uncomfortable in post-match interviews and sometimes i think the words don't come out quite as they're meant to.

The resources and crowds we had under Pele were far superior to those of most of our rivals in the 2nd and 3rd divisions. We didn't have the kind of backing that Livingston, Gretna, and even County at times have had but we were still operating on the budget of and pulling in the crowds of a mid-table 1st division club. I'd still go for Pele though. For the style of play, the wonderful cup runs and of course for the legacy he left behind. How many of Pele's signings in the lower division turned out to be SPL class? I won't try and list them, but the answer is loads of them.

The 10 points we've got suggest that Brewster is getting more out of the players than Charlie was.

I wasn't there on Saturday either, but i watched these players give their all (though not always playing well) in the four league games that preceded it. The likes of Rosscoe, Caff, Munro, Hastings, McBain, Duncan, Wilson, Bayne and Wyness have been playing out of their skins for this club for years and internal strife or not, i can't believe that they've stopped trying now. Anyway, to get back on topic, the atmosphere at TCS has always been sh1te, regardless of how much effort the team appeared to be putting in.

That's really harsh considering what we've seen from these players over the years. They've been widely applauded for their work ethic by fans, media and our managers and i don't think they've trying any less this season.

Paatelainen looked quite useful towards the end of last season and offers something different as a winger rather than a midfielder. I'd keep him and everyone else on the list apart from Hart and Morgan who have had long enough to prove themselves and haven't managed to hold down a place in the squad. Clacher, TinCanFan - Is it something personal with Duncan? He's been player of the season so far and was pretty good in the second half of last season as well.

...if they don't get promoted according to McGregor on BBC. Would be a bit of a shame, it's really handy having a full-time feeder club just over the bridge.

You got there first IHE. In fairness, he was trying to bring Niculae on for 5 minutes before the ball went out of play.

This subs question only seems to come up when we lose. Brewster's subs were timed perfectly against Gretna. He changed the game by bringing on Wilson and Bayne at the right time.

I imagine Brewster's going to take a bit of a slagging for this one. I couldn't believe it when i heard the team news but the as the game wore on it started to make more sense. Tokely's Cafu-esque surges forward (wonderful though the are) have left our fragile defence exposed repeatedly this season. Today, Proctor dropped back to cover the right-back position every time Tokely went forward and the defence were on the whole more solid as a result. Having said that, it must be very difficult for Cowie to take after the start he's made to his Caley career. It's one thing to make a tactical switch for a trip to Ibrox, but surely Brewster will bring Don back for the home games coming up.

Just back from game. First of all, this was a much better performance than the one on the opening day of season. Our passing was good at times and after a terrible start, the defence did quite well. Every time Tokley went forward, Proctor tucked in and covered him and regardless of what we think about Cowie being dropped, Rossco has been leaving the defence stranded all season and something needed to be done. After a disastrous start, we began to play some nice football (one move involved 20-odd passes culminating in a chance for Denzil who's shot was blocked) and in the period before half time had quite a lot of pressure without creating any real chances. When they switched their front two after an hour they really started to come at us, throwing loads of high balls into the box and when they scored it was no surprise. We had a couple of chances after that, one where Roy reached the bye line and crossed to find Bayne who's header was cleared off the line. Without doubt the second goal killed us off, but before that we always looked in the game.

The money does matter. Regardless of where the cash comes from, we endangered the team spirit by paying him significantly more than the rest of the squad, and are therefore perfectly entitled to expect him to show that he's worth it. Surely we all expected something a bit special from the guy? We've had players at the club over the years who were worth breaking the wage structure to keep - Dods and Dargo being the most recent examples - but we didn't. I for one can't help but think about the money when i'm watching him.

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."