ALSY

Yes. I think we've got more fight and a few more dangerous players than we had under Brewster, but I don't think the football we're playing is much better (the Falkirk game and first half hour of the St Mirren game were desperate) and the defence is starting to look a bit dodgy again after stabilising when Pav first arrived. One of the big differences under Butcher, though, is that he's managed to produce positive reactions from the team after poor results, so here's hoping that he can do the same again for the Hamilton game. I don't think there's much to choose between the bottom 5 teams and if we go into the split on the back of two consecutive defeats then I will really fear for us. It's going to be exciting, though...

OK, so which would you have have him as? Or would you have him in the team at all? (Forgive me if you've already made this clear in other posts - I haven't gone back to check.) Personally, I think he adds something a little more dangerous to the team, whether he is up front or in midfield.

I'm a 100% Ross-Shire sadly I think Dods would rather stay at Utd than come back to Caley. Pressley returning north :thumb04: When was he ever north??? Think he was born in Elgin, although he went to school in Inverkeithing or somewhere. David Preece was pish.

Bronson, one thing isn't clear from this post: do you think Imrie should be dropped altogether? I agree that he's not a natural striker, but I don't think he's ineffective. I was sitting near you at the St Mirrren game and I thought Imrie's pace, workrate and willingness to take players on made a big difference in turning the game in our favour. If Morais had been playing alongside a more static player I think it's unlikely he'd have been given the chances he converted. I didn't see today's game, admittedly, but based on the games I've been to, I I'd rather see Imrie put in a wide position with Foran supporting Morais up front than seeing Imrie and any pace we have drop out of the team completely.

Up north for a rare home game. Glad I came up now, but I wouldn't have said that if you'd asked me at half three. The first half hour was absolutely dreadful. We didn't keep the ball on the deck at all: it was more of the same aimless punting from Granty and Lionel that we saw at Falkirk, with the midfield being bypassed and nothing sticking up front. Admittedly the wind was pretty bad and it was quite wet at that point, but St Mirren still managed to knock it about quite well and deserved their lead. I didn't see exactly what happened in the build-up, but the ball across the box definitely came from Lionel's area, and the scorer (was it Dorman?) was in so much much space he'd have had time to pour a pint of Guinness before sticking it in the net. The defence looked pretty uncertain right through that first period, Fraser included. Think Mikey must have been wearing clownshoes: his kicking was atrocious. Toward the end of the first half, though we did start trying to play it on the ground and down the wings, and it made a huge difference. Morais took his goal really well - first time on the half-volley I think - and we had a couple more dangerous moves before half time. We started the second half in the same vein and looked completely different team from the one that had started the match. Morais' movement was really good and he had some great touches, although not all of them came off and he went down too easily a couple of times. Great second goal, though - made space for himself on the edge of the area and stcuk it in at the near post. Imrie worked his @rse off, chasing everything down and taking on and beating players - easily my MOTM. If we stay up, he deserves a lot of credit for it. Thought Kerr put in a very good shift in the second half too. The last 20-25 minutes were pretty poor again. Very strange sub by Butcher - replacing Morais with Barrowman. Fair enough, Morais might have been knackered, but I would have stuck on Odihambo, replacing like with like, because the St Mirren defenders really struggled to cope with the movement of Morais and Imrie together. As soon as Barrowman came on, all the pace went out of the attack. I can't fault Barrowman's effort today (for a change), but he wasn't even reaching the ball to hold it up or reaching the box in time to meet balls coming in from wide. After Imrie was replaced by Duff it was a bit backs-to-the-wall, because there wasn't enough pace left in the team to hold the ball up. There was one sublime moment, though, just around the time the additional time board went up, when Rosscoe absolutely sprinted after the ball to take it into the corner at the bridge end, and got flattened by a frustrated defender. He picked himself up and gave the home supporters this grin of total triumph. Legend. Great feeling to be up to 9th now, and hopefully the players and management will realise from this performance that we are at our most effective and dangerous when we try to play proper passing football and we play with two fast, skilful front men.

Fraser Tokely Mihadjuks Munro McBain Proctor Black Vigurs Imrie Morais Foran Don't normally like Black playing the holding role, but after yesterday, we need more creativity in the middle.

This is much more like the CTO forum... lots of outrage and bitching. It's been so dull since Butcher took over... Let's wait and see how they react next week. Yesterday was godawful, but that happens from time to time: we're not going to become a consistently good side overnight. Having sat through week after week of watching a team paralysed by fear or apathy or resentment of the manager earler in the season, and listening to aftermatch interviews with a manager who was in compete denial about the situation, I'll accept ?21 wasted yesterday if the players and new management approach next week determined to prove that they can play football and stay in the SPL. I don't think it's fair just yet to accuse the players of not caring.

Probably not a bad idea. Red card also for Caley Stan's mate Nicholas, who was at his 5th ICT game yesterday. He has now seen us lose 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 4-0 and 5-0. Someone should call Norris McWhirter.

Admittedly I've only seen the away matches, but Grant has looked far more solid to me since Pavels came into the team. He was poor earlier in the season, but it didn't help that Brewster couldn't decide who to play alongside him. I'd stick with him: Duff's a talented player but has made mistakes of his own, and Pavels, who is arguably our most important player now, has had time to build up a playing relationship with Munro.

That was nice of them, wasn't it? Particularly the way they pointed out that we should sit at the front so we could be closer to our heroes. 4-0 maybe wasn't a fair reflection, but it was an awful performance, and hopefully just a one-off. My biggest worry is that we started the game in such a negative, anti-football fashion: long ball stuff, no attempt at building moves from the back. Falkirk play the ball nicely on the deck themselves, but clearly they are fragile and can be broken down, or they wouldn't be bottom of the league, When we did start trying to pass it, at the start of the second half, it was too late to get it going properly: the players hadn't played themselves into the game and were falling over each other and being dragged out of position. When the second goal went in it was all over. It's going to be interesting to see how Butcher reacts to this tactically. Does he stick to route one and hope for more solidity at the back next week, or does he encourage more football being played? I'd like to see Vigurs feature as he's the best passer we have and had some cracking matches earlier in the season (most notably against Falkirk in the 2-1 game), but I think I'm hoping in vain: don't think he's even had a minute as a sub since Butcher arrived, has he? More of the ball on the deck might allow Imrie to get more into the game too: he was as ineffective as I've ever seen him in the first half yesterday. One positive from yesterday was Foran: he was always looking for the ball, used it well when he had it and seemed to be encouraging / nagging the other players constantly. He could be very influential over the rest of the season. As lots of others have pointed out, though, he should be up front: the only times we looked remotely dangerous yesterday was when he was in and around the box. It would be interesting to see how Foran and Morais would do up front with Imrie playing wide and Black and Vigurs in the middle. As for the defence, I'd put yesterday down to a bad day at the office for Grant, who didn't have a great start to the season but has looked much better alongside Pav. No point in calling for his head at the moment. Lionel, however... the effort he puts in is tremendous, but he looks constantly bewildered to me, as if he's surprised to find a football bouncing around him. If Butcher doesn't have much confidence in Hastings, why doesn't he give Roy a shot at the back? Came on here thinking I would resist any knee-jerk reactions and calls for mass changes. Oh well...

I think there will be a decent number there. Certainly miles better than we had at the likes of Motherwell, Love St and Killie earlier in the season. Would be nice to see the same turn out that we got for Hamilton, but without the reduced ticket prices and free buses I guess it's unlikely. I'll be there plus 2 or 3 - counting down the days already. There have been too many home games recently.

That would be Billy Nelson. He still does the Clach PA and often plays tracks from his own CD, including the legendary "Westering Home To The Ferry." Charles, I thought for a moment there you were referring to Billy Neilson - lank-haired custodian of the Kingsmills goalmouth circa 1986-87, until Jimmy Calder went through his transformation... Can't believe I've just read a thread based around people's desire to lynch some poor sod that stepped in as announcer at the last minute. As someone said earlier, clearly there is not enough to complain about at TCS at the moment. Maybe we should get Brewster back in to improve the quality of ranting...

I wouldn't be surprised if we see Esson make this sort of mistake from time to time. He's far more "proactive" / adventurous / foolhardy (delete according to your preference) in the box than Fraser or Brown ever were. On the whole I think it's been a good thing. Against Utd a couple of weeks ago he was throwing himself at everything in the box and winning most. Dunno about Granty - saw the highlights but not the whole game. He was covering a hole in the left back position at the time, wasn't he? That's where he made a mistake or two against Hearts. Looked to me like he just took his eye off the ball and swiped wildly, (pressure?) but on the oither hand maybe he's not comfortable there. Saturday's result was depressing but the players had responded really well before that. Really hope we get a reaction tonight - just about to head over to Brechin's, more in hope than expectation.

Cheers Don.

Am I right in thinking this hasn't been updated for a couple of weeks? Still seems to be showing the placings for week 24. Not that I'm likely to make a late title challenge, of course...

Do people in Oz actually use this expression? I assumed it was an invention by the scriptwriters of "Neighbours" because they weren't allowed to say "pr*ck" at lunchtimes... Seriously, lovely to see how the ICT story has made its way across the globe, and you're right - there can't be many supporters anywhere that have had such an eventful and enjoyable last 15 years. Survival and a wee cup final appeance this season would just take that on a bit further...

Without tempting fate, I think Well are a pretty good team for us to be facing next. They looked mince against St Mirren on Thursday, and Butcher and Malpas probably still know a lot about their players. Wonder what will happen with the line-up? Thouht Black and Duncan both did well against Utd, but I didn't see the game today so I don't know how Kerr looked. Anyone got any opinions? Black and Kerr, perhaps?

I think he's possibly moved up the pecking order since Butcher arrived. Barrowman started the first game but didn't do a great deal and I suspect the injury has arrived at an opportune time for Butcher. Odihmabo looked good against Celtic when he came on and while I didn't see him last week, he certainly justified his selection yesterday. As I said on the matchday thread, it's exciting having a forward line that has pace and a bit of creativity, and hopefully his goal yesterday will give Odihmabo confidence and he can really start to gel with Imrie. Meanwhile, Rooney has been a reasonably early sub in each of the last three games - there were (or seemed to be) plenty of times under Brewster that he didn't feature at all, or not until far too late. Was a little surprised to see Wood make an appearance yesterday - I thought he was the forward most likely to drop out of the picture under Butcher - but he did a decent job chasing down the long balls we had to revert to when Utd put the pressure on near the end.

Guess it's a sign of how much Butcher has improved our confidence that I came away yesterday feeling a bit disappointed about us only getting a point. Fair result, but after an hour or so I was daring to hope. Another really spirited performance, though. Duncan, as many have already mentioned, had an excellent first half in particular. Black stood out in the second and covered Duncan's absence really well when Duncan was sent off. I like the look of Imrie and Odihambo up front - load of pace and effort and a little skill too, although as someone said earlier, they still need to build a better understanding. The defence fought for everything and apart from the goal coped reasonably well with a fair bit of pressure. Actually felt Munro was more commanding than Midhadjuks today, but there's no doubt they're the best CB partnership we've had in a couple of seasons. Esson makes a big difference too - he may have fumbled for the goal but he got everything else. I suspect opponents feel far more intimidated playing against him than they do against Fraser. Zadi made a few more good interceptions and strong clearing headers, and although there was also a fair bit of wild slashing at the ball as the second half went on, I think that overall this back four clears its lines far more effectively than the previous line-up where was Hastings at LB and Rosscoe seemed to push forward more. As for the wider players, Foran won a lot in the air, used the ball well and tracked back well, without really imposing himself as a creative force, while Proctor was probably our quietest player without doing anything wrong. Although I'd like to see a little more creativity from the midfield, I think Butcher's strategy of retaining a successful line-up is the right one. Two changes will be enforced on him next week - I'm sure he'll take the opportunity to give Kerr his chance, and while I'd like to see Vigurs get the other place, I wouldn't be surprised if Butcher opted for the experience of McBain. A few winnable games coming up, and if we keep up yesterday's attitude and get a little more sharpness into the team going forward, we'll start picking up points.

You know something? That's never occurred to me! I guess it's because I've lived away from Inverness since the merger and have just gone to games under my own steam - never thought I'd have any need of the supporters club. Might do that, though - thanks.

Better feckin not be off - I'm planning on getting my train ticket tomorrow morning. I like Dundee - it's got a bit of a undeserved reputation - but I'm not sure I want to spend thirty-odd quid on a train ticket just to spend the day getting p1ssed there.

I love the Scottish Cup. The 3-1 against Hearts at Tynecastle is my favourite game ever, I think - better even than the Celtic game. The two semi-finals we reached were also tremendous days out despite the results. What worries me about the apparent apathy is that if we do reach a semi again, we might take as lot less than the 8,000 or so that we took to the Dundee and Dunfermline games. Don't quite know how the rules work, but if we only took 5,000 to a semi, is it possible our allocation for a final against, say, one of the old firm, would be limited to 7 or 8,000? Because no doubt thousands of people would come out of the woodwork if we actually reached a final and we'd sell that easily. I've got this terror of missing out on a final ticket because I don't have a season ticket, even though I've barely missed an away game this season. Sorry - jumping the gun a little here...

Sounds like a farce - ref has just given a free kick when it should have been a penalty because the lines are all obscured by snow. Pav must be breathing a sigh of relief, though - unless the free kick is scored. Obviously not - H-T 1-0. Wonder if there'll be a second half though.

Looks like he's going to be a real threat from set pieces. A goal and another near miss against Hearts, and a goal today. Pav for top scorer this season, anyone? Hope it doesn't get called off - weather sounds terrible.

McManus and Burchill are linked with us at least once a year. All this tells me is that they don't seem to really make a go of it anywhere. Both are former 'rising stars' who, for whatever reason, haven't found the consistency to go with their potential. As has been pointed out, McManus also has a poor off-field disciplinary record. I wouldn't touch him, especially now we have Foran who will hopefully do the required business up front and avoid the off-field stuff that he's also had a bit of a rep for in the past. Kerr's a slightly different matter - another player once tipped for great things, but at least he did seem to be fufilling his potential at Motherwell. Don't know what went wrong at Hibs, but he might be another of ICT's successes in turning a flagging career around , a la Dods & Dargo. Also, we will need another creative midfielder shortly, with both Black and Cowie moving on. Hopefully Butcher can the best out of him, as he seemed to do with Foran at Motherwell. Great to be even talking about signing players with decent SPL experience, though - have been offline for a few days and came back on to discover that all this had happened. Obviously the board is backing TB with money but it also looks like he will be able to sell the club to players who wouldn't have come to us under the previous management. Exciting times.