ALSY

I think the squad is about as strong as it has ever been in terms of decent cover for positions, but I agree we could do with another centre half. Tokely can also cover there in addition to the three players you mentioned, but iirc, McCann's only on loan until January and either Tokely or Proctor will probably be required to play right back.

Mine too, with Hearts at Tynecastle a close second - somewhere I can get to midweek, in other words. Mind you, Rangers at Ibrox would be easiest of all for me, and it's about time we did them in a cup.

Either is fine, Naelifts: I'm in touch with my feminine side... I still managed to enjoy the game fine, but I couldn't join in with the singing as much as I normally would, and I probably would have been less conscientious about note-taking if I'd had the customary three or four pints before the match. It'll be a nice thing to do a few times during the season, given the opportunity, but equally I'll enjoy the games where I don't have to worry about throwing my pencil five rows forward when we score. Re your original point: I can see it, but I suppose the flip side is that Eric's unselfishness enabled our main striker to open his account for the season and start building up his confidence. If we continue to play the way we did on Saturday, both should get plenty of opportunities and hopefully Eric will convert some of those. Johnboy makes the point that Eric might have taken criticism if he had elected to shoot and had missed, and I think that's fair comment: imho, Sanchez was a little too harshly criticised last season for some of his misses, and some posters forgot how adept he was at creating chances.

Yes, but it helps enormously if we are playing well and winning. For example, I don't recall any aspect of the 4-0 drubbing at Falkirk being superb, on or off the pitch. On days like that everyone just sits quietly and thinks "why the **** did I bother coming to see this p1sh?" But I agree that the away days in recent times (ie under Butcher) have generally been excellent. May there be many more days like Sunday at Tannadice. What I remember about that trip is being in the beer garden of Behind the Wall beforehand and some dubious ex-Navy mate of Top Six Next Year's trying to fence some some stolen fish. It's the little details that make away days so special.

From what I'm hearing of the attitude Hartley has brought into the Aberdeen dressing room, recalling him is a good idea - a great professional. I'm very disappointed to see that Garry Kenneth is not being given the chance to build upon his promising start for Scotland...

Cheers for the nice words re the report, guys. Have to confess to two or three inaccuracies having just watched the highlights, though, for example the throw-in for Russell's goal: I thought it been delivered by Gillet when of course it was from McCann. Anyway, just amazing to see everything again: it really did happen! Incidentally, Adam Rooney was interviewed on Sportsound this evening and it was great to hear him sound so relaxed, so confident and so obviously enjoying life in Inverness and being part of a happy dressing room. Hopefully this will show in more dsiplays like the one we saw yesterday. You are truly an inspiration...

Just back. It was every bit as good as it must have sounded on the radio: one of those days when you feel on top of the world being an ICT supporter. Have been working on the match report on the train back but it'll probably be tomorrow night before I can get it typed and up on the homepage. Suffice to say, there wasn't a player less than excellent in the ICT team today, but I have to agree with Alex - Odhiambo man of the match. Well done lads.

I suspect they - or Coleman at least - knew the answer, but sniggering at Scottish league football is the English form of revenge for the unfettered joy most Scots express when England make utter clowns of themselves in international tournaments after claiming they're going to conquer the world: witness Aidy Boothroyd recently claiming that Celtic bid '?3.50 and a bag of haggis' for Keiren Westwood. It's quid pro quo. We should rise above it and simply nod with quiet satisfaction when the EPL collapses in on its own midden when all the foreign investors pull out.

First game at Dens last season I ended up in some wee Dundee supporters pub with Simon by accident - we bumped into Heilandee there - then we met up with Mantis, Yngwie and a few others at the Centenary. I thought you were there, GJ, but I might be wrong. Second game I was definitely in the Snug but I was with someone who very rarely goes to games and I don't remember speaking to anyone else in there that time. The Snug is on Main Street, off the Hilltown, on the city side of Tannadice - the Centenary is on Clepington Road, which is beyond Tannadice as you approach it from the city. The link below marks the Snug for you, but you can also see Clepington Road on the map: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?rlz=1T4HPNN_enGB310GB310&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=snug+bar+dundee&fb=1&gl=uk&hq=snug+bar&hnear=Dundee,+Angus&cid=0,0,12512479299761758311&ei=9p9pTL3iHouOjAfG4fDUBA&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CBYQnwIwAA I can keep in touch with both Red Card and Top Six by text on the day, so I'll just see you guys wherever you end up.

I'm getting the train two hours before that one as I'm going for lunch at my brother's house pre-match. Will hopefully catch up with everyone in the pub just after 2 - the Centenary? Or the Snug?

I'll be there.

As I mentioned on the matchday thread, I was pleasantly surprised by the defence yesterday. McCourt and Maloney are capable of making life difficult for every defence in the country, but with the obvious exception of the goal I think we contained them reasonably well, and Granty won his fair share in the air against Samaras. Maybe I'm being generous because I generally have reservations about Tokely as a CB and would prefer to see Innes, who is more of a Dods-type player, in there alongside Granty, but I felt Tokely was fairly solid too. I agree absolutely about the need for McCann and Gillet to tuck in and support the centre backs - Caley Stan made the same point yesterday, I think. Even with Innes in there in place of Tokely, the central defence will still lack pace. The workrate of both full backs really impressed me though, although McCann had one or two shaky moments, unsurprising against a pretty decent team. Once Innes is fit, we do have proper cover at right back, with either Tokely or Proctor able to fill in, so again, I'm feeling reasonably happy about this area, provided the full backs are properly instructed. Yesterday was a pretty tough start for a new defensive line-up, and it didn't help them that Cox and Duncan lost control of the midfield after half time, so on the whole I'd say they came through it pretty well.

Very encouraged by the confidence shown by Odihambo and Hayes and the team's desire to play the ball on the deck in the first half. If we take that approach in future games against sides less strong than Celtic, I'm sure we'll do OK this season. Wouldn't be overly critical of the performance in the second half: given the amount of money Celtic have spent, it has to be expected that they will simply have more quality than us, and in the second half that superior ability told. Ledley and Brown took complete control of the midfield, whereas in the first half Cox and Duncan had matched them pretty well. Once we lost the goal, we reverted to the long ball - not necessarily the wrong approach at that point, as we weren't competing in midfield, but without Foran there to win the ball and hold it up, it was ineffective and resulted in Rooney getting dragged out of position onto the right wing. Lastly, I was worried that the defence would be our weakest area this season, but if yesterday is anything to go by, it should be fine - excellent workrate from all four players. Cheeky barsteward. I've got my back-to-school haircut pencilled in for Tuesday...

Good to see that home match ticket holders will be admitted as well as season ticket holders.

I browse Pie and Bovril quite a lot as it can be quite entertaining, although I don't post that often. For anyone interested in films, music and games, Metacritic is quite a good site (although very heavily weighted in favour of American publications) - it collates the reviews of new releases and provides an overall rating based on an average of the scores awarded by each review. It also provides links to some of the full reviews. Link below: http://www.metacritic.com/

Nothing new really, tbh, and nothing about specific players, but good to hear TB sounding as positive as ever. He pointed out that he is so far unbeaten against the old firm as ICT manager - only one game against each, mind, but not a bad wee record for the players to defend on Saturday. Nice to hear Roddy Forsyth praising our run in to the first division title too.

Been reading quite a lot in the last few weeks because of the school holidays: A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz American Tabloid by James Ellroy Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd (pretty OTT and not really worth reading but had to finish it) Carry Me Down by MJ Hyland Unreliable Sources - John Simpson's latest, about how newspapers reported the major events of the 20th century Strange Days Indeed: the Golden Age of Paranoia by Francis Wheen - about the 1970s - highly recommended I've also reread Hamlet and The Great Gatsby, and a few critical essays about each, as I'm probably going to teach them next year. If anyone is interested in good quality American crime fiction, get hold of Clockers or Lush Life by Richard Price, who was one of the writers on The Wire - both completely absorbing.

5 Live is just beginning its SPL preview - will be on from 9.30-10.30. Apparently Butcher is one of the guests.

The league cup final (or Skol Cup, as it was known then) in 1987 - Rangers 3, Aberdeen 3, with Rangers winning on penalties after Peter Nicholas missed for Aberdeen. This was the game in which Davie Cooper scored the famous thunderbolt freekick - and I was right behind it, in the Aberdeen end. I was 14 and Aberdeen were my 'big' team, so I was gutted at the time, but looking back, it was a remarkable game and both teams contained much more talent and flair then their current equivalents.

Steven Davis or Andy Webster (if he's over his injury problems) were the first two neames that sprung to mind. Lee Wallace at Hearts is also a very good player, although hopefully Gillet will solve our shortages at left back.

So why don't you "away" guys make an effort and come to a home game? Largely for the same reasons that we don't see any more than about 5% the 3,000 regular home supporters at most away games - financial cost, work commitments, family commitments, the sheer amount of time that has to be expended on travel. Very few people can give up every weekend to football. You must realise that the main reason there are 'away' supporters who don't attend many home games is that the away matches are much more accessible for most of these supporters, who tend to live in the central belt or (in IHE's case) in England. The sneering tone of your comment 'make an effort' is not justified.

Ideally I'd like Hayes to be fit enough to start, but assuming he isn't, I can't think of a better situation for Ross to make his SPL debut in. The players won't be under the same pressure that they might be under nine or ten games into the season if things aren't going well - ICT will be underdogs for this game and if they fail to win, it won't be (or at least, certainly shouldn't be) seen as a disaster or a portent of a bad season to come. Also, no-one will really exepct Ross to dominate in a game against Celtic, and if he fails to make much of an impact it won't necessarily be taken as evidence that he can't cut it at this level, whereas it might be if he failed to perform in a game against St Mirren or Killie. On the other hand, if he does do well against Celtic, it should give both him and the team more confidence for the season ahead.

Nah, this isn't the case. I've just bought mine over the phone - managed to get one towards the back of Section G, which suggests there are still a fair few available.

Emailed with that question this morning but haven't heard anything back yet. I think I might just do that...

Haven't seen any of the pre-season games so I don't feel equipped to suggest a full team. I do think we'll need Duncan's dig and experience in one of the central midfield slots, however, and I think Hayes should be played wide right rather than wide left, especially if that means he is going to be playing directly against Charlie Mulgrew, an absolute clownshoe of a player.