Caley Stan

5 hours ago, hislopsoffsideagain said:

Some of it - Chalmers' idiotic shot from distance in the 90th minute when he had an easy pass on - is either players being panicky or just plain thick. This isn't a team of kids; they really should be capable of keeping their heads under pressure.

Harsh. The likes of Joe and Brad are limited players who are playing out of their skins. They wouldn't get near the County bench yet they've gone toe-to-toe with them over 4 matches now. Robbo deserves enormous credit for making this group of players so competitive.

I do agree that bringing on Trafford when we're defending a lead is totally senseless though.

45 minutes ago, CaleyD said:

Mackay....small "k"

Has anyone else been missing CaleyD's informative contributions recently?

1 hour ago, IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER said:

 Do we go height and pace or pace and pace.

We don't have enough pace for pace and pace. 

25 minutes ago, Yngwie said:

Our failing is our atrocious home form. The squad has the capability to win far more of these matches, but the fact that they can win away but not at home surely points largely to the manager - tactics, selection and motivation.

Our poor home form points to an inability to break teams down when they don't show the initiative. All of our creative players (all 3 of them) seem to need a bit of space to produce, and every team in the division is happy to leave Inverness with a point.

If everyone's fit, then there are decisions to be made in the midfield. Robbo started the season with a lopsided 4, and has returned to it over the past few games - with a wide-man on the left (preferably Walsh but Doran was good there last week) and Polly tucking inside from the right leaving space for Rooney's runs. My problem with this shape until now is that it stunts Polly - I've seen him drift out of games there although I hear he was good at Ayr in what I assume was that position. The other problem with it is that Chalmers and Welsh (who I think are both playing to the top of their capabilities) are not creative enough to start attacks from the centre. 

I prefer the 4-2-3-1 that we've been playing with for most of the season, just because it gives Polly more freedom. But I can see why it just isn't an option without Walsh's pace. The way injuries have kicked in recently, I think Robbo's had to tweak things according to the personnel at his disposal. Hence we ended up with Brad bombing forward on the right today and Joe out the left for a spell. Sounds awful but that's where we are. Well-positioned for a play-off spot in spite of it all. Well done Robbo!

If the goalie and back 4 are fit then the only choice to make is whether to play Rooney or McKay at right -back. I'd go for Rooney because he's more a threat going forward. It's clearly an area we need to strengthen in - teams have been targeting us down that side all season, though you'd like to think Donaldson moving to right centre-back would make us more solid there. With McCart looking decent, I don't see any reason to consider a back 3. 

So Polly stays for the rest of the season. That's about as good a result as we could've hoped for from this transfer window.

I'm fine with this if it means we're bringing in a different type of striker. It would be very strange if we were left with just 2 strikers at the very moment that we've started playing 2 up front. 

1 hour ago, standbydave said:

Not very fair from Starchief blaming our 3rd choice keeper for us not winning, as usual plenty chances to put the game to bed

Maybe even 4th choice when you consider that Hoban was above him in the pecking order before going out on loan - he was on the bench for Forfar again today. McKay was completely out of his depth so while it might be harsh to blame him personally, the fact that we had to field him cost us 2 points.  

33 minutes ago, IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER said:

1992 - Both home and away ties against St Johnstone featuring the best Inverness away support EVER. 

Feck. Always read the opening sentence before responding.

That time we won it was good.

I get rained on with reddies every time I mention Doran on here. At the end of last season someone posted that we should be trying to find the money to keep either Doran or Vigurs. It was such a mad comment - Vigurs was our POTY, the heart of our team, while Doran had managed 2 or 3 decent hour long performances having been injured for most of the season. 

Maybe I can look at this more coldly because I missed a lot of the glory years while my kids were wee - I wasn't there for most of those Doran screamers but I'm here now and he's contributing very little. 

We all know Mulraney's flaws, but the quality of the side has fallen so far this season that he would improve our team right now. 

I'd have Mulraney in our side ahead of Doran at the moment.

That was gut-wrenching, but there are lots of positives to take from the performance. On the evidence of the last 2 matches we are improving, and we're in with a good shout of a play-off spot.

I actually enjoyed that, particularly some of the attacking play in the first half. Walsh, Polworth and Oakley combined really well for the goal and continued to do so as we pushed hard for a second. The game should've been done by half-time but while Welsh sent the keeper the wrong way and struck the ball well, it hammered off the post. It was one of the better penalties we've seen over the past couple of years and I hope he continues to take them. Oakley caused havoc from the off but the ref didn't seem to like the fact that he gives as good as he gets and he was harshly booked. I'm finally convinced that Oakley is our best option up front (despite his glaring limitations) and I think Robbo is too. Unless he picked up a knock, he was hooked to avoid a red and if he's fit I expect he'll start next week.

We picked up where we left off after the break with pressure on the Morton goal and were quickly rewarded when Doran glanced home from a corner. It looked like we were going to coast home from there until Johansson made up double change on the hour mark. The boy Tiffoney was clearly told to run into the space between Rooney and McKay (how many goals have we conceded from down that channel this season?) and he had a couple of goes at it before the cracking run and finish for the goal. Ridgers might've been slow down to it but he redeemed himself later in the game with a trademark claw from a close range header. Robbo responded to the Morton goal by bringing on Trafford for Doran and and going to a 4-4-1-1 with Polly pushed up behind White. This did not go well - Trafford is a bombscare and our midfield 4 retreated, allowing for a spell of very uncomfortable Morton pressure. The next change saw MacGregor come on for Welsh to take Polly's position  behind White - that looked a really weird one at the time but the young boy's running helped see us over the line fairly comfortably as we sclaffed everything forward into space in the final minutes, preventing any sniff of a late Morton push. 

While it was a shame to see us reduced to that after such a composed first half performance, I suppose it was at least another demonstration of the great spirit that this side posseses. And it was a crucial 3 points that give us a wee cushion in 4th place - I'd be delighted with that come May. 

A word for Cappielow, a delicious relic full of really sound folk. Always a great welcome for the kids (who paid £1 each) and a wide range a well priced sweets. Not complaining about the leg-room, but I'd love to get my feet on that terracing someday. 

We've won 4 league games. 3 of them were with 1 up front.

Your stats show that we are more likely to win against part-time teams from the leagues below.

4-4-2 has generally meant Polly being shunted out to the right from where he struggles to impose himself. It's all very well having him in a central 2 when we're chasing a 3 goal deficit, but if we did that every week teams would play through us. Playing two holders behind him frees Polworth up to make the the forward runs from which most of our goals are created. The system already plays to his strengths, it's just that the players around him aren't good enough.

1 hour ago, davie said:

"I agree completely with that, but it sits at odds with your previous post. Irish Catholics are hated in Scotland, not because of their religious choices, but because they belong to or were descended from a large group of migrant 'others'. That's where the parallel with racism comes in”

 

Are Irish Catholics hated in Scotland? Not in my part of it. Your history is wrong. Scotland was a largely Catholic Country until the reformation in the 16^th Century. Only then did Protestantism become the dominant religion, got exported by Scots to Ulster and the rest is actual history.

I meant 'where there is hatred towards  Irish Catholics', not that Irish Catholics are widely hated. 

And I'm aware of the reformation, thanks davie, but it's not relevant to the point I was making.

54 minutes ago, buckett said:

And it would be a fallacy to suggest that the Rangers/Celtic thing is motivated by religion (which, lets face it, is what this is all about!). It is motivated by hatred, and religion is only an excuse.

I agree completely with that, but it sits at odds with your previous post. Irish Catholics are hated in Scotland, not because of their religious choices, but because they belong to or were  descended from a large group of migrant 'others'. That's where the parallel with racism comes in.

Jesus wept...

12 hours ago, Gregor said:

Cant believe you pick out White as the only one to complain about  after that disgrace of a midfield performance.

As I said before White is a decent player , who just happens to be our top goalscorer, but is the scapegoat for many fans.

Fair point. I just thought we might see something from White that he hasn't been able to show at Championship level but we got nothing. The argument for White playing is that he holds the ball up, lays off to midfielders, gets us up the park etc. but he was incapable of keeping the ball under control for long enough to do that. It's clear that Robbo feels he's better in that role than Oakley, and that Austin is a different type of player who can't really play up on his own. It's so depressing thar these are our options up front. 

As for the midfield, Chalmers and Welsh are steady but limited, I don't think their performances change from week to week - Welsh has been one of our better players recently. So all of the creativity has to come from Polly and Walsh and they're not consistent, but I don't think we can expect them to be when they don't have a half-decent forward to play off.

3 hours ago, RiG said:

Massively disappointing from us, particularly in the second half, where we completely took our foot off the pedal and paid the price. We're not good enough to get by on one goal and really should have gone for the jugular.

That was what I found most upsetting. We seemed sit off them in second half when it was clear in the first that they struggled when we pressed from the front. The squad is poor, and Robbo's been getting the best out if them, but I thought he fluffed it today. Can't believe White got 70mins - really concerning to see him look just as poor against a lower standard of opposition. Once Robbo had made the changes, I assume to get Polly further forward, we completely failed to get the ball into him. Almost every time we got into forward areas it was the result of a punt and we don't have anyone with the quality to make anything out of those balls. 

Really disappointed today. It was wet, cold and my kids were annoying me for the whole game. I'm definitely leaving them at home and getting hammered the next time I go to watch this shower.

Graeme - I've lived in Edinburgh for 15 years but have only seen City once - a comfortable win against Spartans at Meadowbank the season you won the EOS. A few other ICT fans were in attendance when you played Clach in the cup the following season.

I really enjoyed researching the history of the club for the preview, but I have couple of questions.

Where do you draw your support from? Are there any Meadowbank fans who just kept going along to same stadium even though the team changed? 

Also, I'm seeing six players with impressive full-time CV's and Jeffries as technical director. Who's paying for this?

1 hour ago, Robert said:

Have we ever played either Edinburgh City or East Kilbride before?

No.