alternative maryhill

Ah, OK. Thanks for the info.

Enjoyed the game at Stark's Park yesterday. Our play looked a lot more fluent and we controlled long stretches of the game far better than in the equivalent fixture last year, and as Don mentioned above, the changes in line-up didn't disrupt the fluency; in fact, our dominance became greater as the game wore on. We did lack impact in the final third: some of the final balls were a bit disappointing, and the Raith defence marshalled Mckay well and didn't give him much freedom, despite some excellent first touches. Williams seemed to be playing in a more central role than towards the end of last season, almost in the hole behind Mckay, and he had a very good half. Christie again provided real creativity in attack when he came on, and I really hope that the manager is thinking of him as a first choice starter in the coming season. I also liked the look of the number 18 when he came on (I thought it was Calum Ferguson, but someone mentioned above that he was playing for the U20s yesterday, so presumably it wasn't) - he seemed to have a good turn of pace in wide areas, which is something we could really do with. The Fleetwood and Birmingham games will probably provide much tougher tests, but there was plenty to be happy with yesterday.

An Aberdeen supporter posted this on P&B 10 days ago but gave no source at all, and no other Dons supporters seemed to have heard it, which made me think it was just his own fevered imagination. Maybe not, though, if you've heard it more recently from elsewhere. Considine has played left back for Aberdeen in the past, but doesn't offer anything like the impact of Shinnie going forward, and we already have Warren, Meekings and Devine in his preferred centre back position. I think it would be a pretty miserable deal for us, although it's not inconceivable that the board would take him as the makeweight in a player + cash deal, especially if Shinnie was very keen to go.

I think Higdon might be a long shot. Even if we could match his wage demands, I suspect we'd face stiff competition from other Scottish premiership teams if it turned out he wanted to return to Scotland. Aberdeen may well get rid of Vernon and St Johnstone are likely to lose Stevie May: they would probably both be interested. If Hibs survive, could see them coming in for him too: Higdon has exactly the sort of presence and leadership that they have lacked recently. Would love to see him at TCS, though, especially if we signed a fast wide player to get service into him.

For some reason this always sticks in my mind too. Keogh was booked for taking his shirt off, but Hissy wasn't, presumably because he was still 'decent'. Most unfair. That vest should have been a straight red.

Really don't know what to make of that. After sitting through the Celtic game, which was a performance of quite unparalleled toothlessness, and the United game, where a promising first 20 minutes degenerated into aimless possession in our own half that invited pressure onto us, the first half tonight made it look like we were doomed to play like that forever. God knows who said what at half time, but the second half was a transformation. Consistent pressure in the Motherwell half, much more direct play (which is not necessarily a euphemism for long ball) and far more pace and effective off-the-ball movement about the side. Graeme Shinnie was at the heart of everything, and it looked like it just needed one player who was willing to take it on and the rest would follow. We were extremely unlucky not to take something out of the game. There's been a couple of false dawns in the past few months, but that second half was the most sustained period of dangerous attacking football we have played since Hughes took over, and if he can somehow keep the team playing like that from now on, and cut out the long periods of aimless possession in our own half that inevitably end up with the ball either going back to, or past, Brill, then I'll feel much more confident about next season. One thing tonight certainly suggested is that Shinnie must play in midfield from now on. Tremarco and Raven are very effective full backs, and we benefit far more from Shinnie's engine and drive in midfield. My last game of the season tonight, but hopefully the team can take it on from that second half and consolidate 5th place on Saturday; while Terry and Mo slither into the play-offs.

A familiar story from an ICT-in-recent-months point of view. Plenty of possession and 'patient' passing from the back until we got to about 30 yards out, then no-one able to change up the pace and take on the Celtic defenders directly. Consequently, we presented very little real threat, and Celtic just strolled through it. They passed up several opportunities that were far more clear-cut than anything we managed before they finally opened the scoring, and after Doran missed the penalty we were just taken apart. Last time we were heavily defeated at Celtic Park, our next game was against Dundee United at home and we were hammered; unfortunately I can see the same thing happening again, as we just can't seem to put opponents onto the back foot for any sustained period and we can't cope with faster and more creative teams once they click into gear. The only players we have who seem prepared to run directly at opponents are Marley Watkins and Ryan Christie, and I think both need to start next week if we are going to cause United any real problems.

I think I love Ryan Christie. I don't love Iain Vigurs.

Interview with the manager on Sportsound there. Jim Spence asked the question we've probably all wanted to hear asked: 'Are you trying to change too much too soon?' Hughes basically put his cards on the table: 'Terry liked to play with wingers; I like to play it through the middle.' He also said that the players would have to be patient in adapting to the system. Fair play for the clarity. But given that the bulk of the existing squad are signed up for the new season, and we're probably limited in how many more we can bring in, it does raise questions for the future. Will he be prepared to change his system if (as looks the case so far) the current players can't get consistent result playing it? Or will he decide he needs to overhaul the squad and, if next season starts badly, will he be given the opportunity to do so? Can't say I like the look of tonight's line-up, with Christie, potentially our most creative central midfielder, dropped to the bench, but maybe tonight will be the night it clicks...

Thomas Piermayr? Good God. I must have been at upwards of 20 games in season 11/12, and can remember absolutely nothing about this player. I can't have been drunk all the time, surely?

While watching the match last night, Alternative Maryhill turned to me and said we should be building a team around him. I agree completely. Why we have talented players like Christie and Ross on the bench each week and not in the starting XI is beyond me. I would qualify this slightly by saying that I wouldn't expect him to carry the team at such a young age - in fact it's possible one of the reasons he's made such an impact in his brief appearances is because he's playing without fear or the pressure of expectation - but certainly we should be looking to develop our playing style through the players who are our greatest sources of creativity, and on the little amount of evidence we've seen so far, Christie certainly looks like one of those players. Although his willingness to take players on and beat them is really encouraging, what impresses me most is the vision and weight of his passing - in just about every appearance he's made now, he's pulled off one of those slid-rule passes that his father did so well. There's no-one else in the team at the moment that looks capable of that - Andrew Shinnie was the last player we had who was, and if Christie continues to progress the way he is doing, then he looks like he will be the natural heir to Shinnie.

Not long in via a shoulder-shrugging pint or two in the Horseshoe. Some observations: Wyness101: 53 away fans, not 50. Tsk. Warren's presence would have made little or no difference - the goals we conceded were essentially down to slackness further up the park. Neither Meekings nor Devine was amongst our poorest players; for the most part both did fine. There seems to be a general lack of confidence in the team when we are in possession - both Draper and Foran were guilty of a number of rushed, directionless passes and seemed unable or unwilling to try to retain the ball and create time to find more effective out balls. James Vincent looked slow on Sunday and looked slow again tonight. If we're going to stick to a policy of allowing teams onto us and frustrating them by playing patient possession football around the back line before counter-attacking (as seems to be Yogi's policy) then I don't see how he can be effective in this team. Everyone (including me) has been talking up Ryan Christie as the great white hope; while it's probably not fair to heap so much pressure on him, his 45 minutes today convinced me that he's a truly talented player, potentially the best we've ever produced. He's willing to take on players, capable of beating them, and the weight and vision of his passing looks a clear cut above anything any of our other players have to offer. It was notable how much more positive and adventurous Tansey looked when Christie came in, when there was someone else on the park willing to take on players. Unfortunately, by that stage, Motherwell were able to soak it all up as they didn't have to push up in search of goals. Overall, a disappointing but not unexpected result and performance after the team's efforts on Saturday. However, the run of 5 games without a goal, and the lack of chances created, are a worry. Fair play to Yogi and the board for tying up the majority of contracts for players who have done a fantastic job for us, but somehow we need to get back to imposing ourselves on games and creating enough opportunities to give ourselves a realistic chance of winning them.

I'll be very happy with a support of 7-8k. Obviously there will be a few non-ICT supporters among them, but I think the large majority of that number will be genuine ICT supporters. County taking a support three times the population of Dingwall to the Scottish Cup Final just reflects the amazing curiosity value that game had and says nothing about the respective size or status of the clubs, Yoda, a decent County poster on P&B, gave a pretty good insight into what it was like to be a genuine County supporter at that final: Having the hardcore support there is probably much better. It was great seeing 16,000 or so people in the County end but when people don't have a clue as to which player is which ("Which one is the one that scored against Celtic?") it became unbearable, particularly when they started streaming out at 3-0 without having the respect to show an appreciation of what the team had achieved in making the final. I'd far rather be surrounded by supporters who really care about the game than being swamped by an additional 10,000 people who don't really know or care what is going on. Would be good if more of the 7-8k stay with us and swell the home attendances after the final though.

. Walking into Celtic Park at 2.25 next Saturday will almost certainly be my best experience as an ICT supporter to date; if Richie Foran lifts the cup at the end of it, it definitely will be the greatest. Touch enthusiastic, maybe wait till the Sunday to turn up? Oops...

Not living in Inverness any more, I've not seen the local press coverage, but assuming this is true, then I couldn't agree more. When Aberdeen were reaching finals regularly in the 80s, the P&J was a real fan sheet - my memories might be distorted through the prism of time, but the build-up seemed to go on for weeks. Given that there is a Highland edition of the paper, and that this is our first major final, surely they should be really pushing how big this day is for our club and encouraging everyone in the area to get behind us. Re Sneckboy's post above, I reckon that, for the fans at least, this is definitely the biggest day in our history. It's true that a high finish in the league, or a potential Scottish Cup final appearance, might mean more to the club in terms of finance, but we are one game away from having our name on one of the three major trophies in Scottish football; a trophy that has been competed for for 70-odd years (I think); something that even a well-established, regular top-flight club like St Johnstone has never won. Walking into Celtic Park at 2.25 next Saturday will almost certainly be my best experience as an ICT supporter to date; if Richie Foran lifts the cup at the end of it, it definitely will be the greatest.

Obviously the cup final has made people far more optimistic about the season as a whole, but I think the way this result is apparently being shrugged off is as much to do with the fact that it has come on the back of two decent league wins. Given that John Hughes has had a patchy start in the league, I think a lot of people were quietly pessimistic about the County game, yet it sounds like the performance and tactics were excellent. Even for a game where getting anything was going to be a long shot, there's no question that yesterday's performance was very poor - from your paraphrase, your wife's analysis was spot on - but, imho, there's not much point in being heavily critical unless this turns out to be the start of a run of poor performances.

Probably best to write this off as one of those days. They are a better and better-resourced side which probably played with a certain amount of wounded pride, and we just didn't get started. Lazy c&p of what I posted over on Pie and Bovril: It was an absolute stroll for Celtic. It has been a few years since we offered so little threat at Celtic Park - even in the 5-0 game in Brewster's first game back in charge for his second spell, we created several clear chances early on. What struck me was that we seemed to be slower all over the park - going forward, Ross and Vincent were consistently outpaced or outmuscled, and when Celtic were attacking, we didn't seem able to track their movement properly. There was also some uncharacteristically bad defending - Shinnie lost Mulgrew for the second, Raven was shrugged off by Griffiths for the third, and the fourth was a complete howler from Brill, who otherwise had a better game than the scoreline suggests. There were a few nice moves - the one in the first half TheGreenMonster refers to above was lovely, and if Foran had been able to keep his first time shot down then it could have been one of the goals of the season - but really, we didn't present any threat. With their greater quality, and perhaps with a bit of renewed determination after Tuesday night, I expected Celtic to win fairly comfortably, but it was frustrating to see a performance that fell so short of what we're capable of producing. Had Doran been fit, then we might have presented a little more threat; I would like to have seen Watkins on earlier as he is direct and can force defenders onto the back foot; and Ryan Christie showed enough innovation when he came on to suggest that he should probably be given more game time; but overall, it was probably a game we were always going to lose, and if it has a motivating rather than a dispiriting effect on the players, then there's probably no harm done.

*Throws 5p in IHE's hat* Fantastic gesture by the OP, btw.

Bloody hell. 2-0 Aberdeen. And two ex-ICT players.

Exactly what we needed.

Robbo's comments on OAM have been very encouraging - sounds like we're inviting County onto us and then breaking with real invention. Would be nice if we could reinforce the superior play with another goal or two.

Powerful looking team, but not much obvious width in it.

^ This, absolutely. Aberdeen used to take 25,000 to Hampden for cup finals when they were in them every year. They're absolutely desperate to wun atrophy, and they'll believe they've never had a better chance. Not so sure about us. Having taken maybe 8,000 to the Dundee semi - think it was a bit less re Dunfermline iirc - and even 4,500 to Celtic park on a Tuesday night, you'd think we could manage 8,000-10,000, but I think the sort of curiosity element that attracted people to those games has waned. Hopefully the club, the hardcore local support and the local media can build up a bit of momentum. i imagine the back pages of the P&J will be full of little else for the next few weeks. For various reasons, primarily selfish, I hope it's at Ibrox. Barring Firhill, it's the most convenient for me to get to, but it's also a tighter ground than Celtic Park, with the crowd right on top of the pitch. As for the crowd numbers, even if the attendance is no more than 30,000, it will still be a far better atmosphere than there has been for a domestic game in either Glasgow ground for a few years - two sets of supporters for whom a win really, really matters, instead of the usually sense-of-entitlement arrogance you get from the old firm. Bring it on.

I was surprised just how toothless we looked yesterday, after what looked like an excellent performance against Aberdeen. Kilmarnock never seemed to be in control of the game, yet they scored twice, hit the post twice and Boyd missed an absolute sitter. For all our possession, we didn't create any chances as good as those: there was precious little creativity and no threat until Watkins came on, at which point Williams' game also picked up a bit. No complaints with Yogi starting with the same team that played against Aberdeen, but at lest yesterday gives him the excuse to make a few changes for next week. Polworth's inexperience showed yesterday, I thought - Draper retains possession better and buys himself time to make the right decision, and he needs to come back in. Watkins is stronger and more direct going forward than either Ross or Doran, and I'd bring him in for one of those - possibly Ross, with Doran moving into a more central role, although there is also an option to bring Tansey in too, in a more advanced position behind Mckay. Some poeple were saying yesterday that Foran has a chance of being fit - if so, does he come straight back in and does Shinnie return to one of the full back positions? Whatever happens, we need to show a lot more urgency and boldness than we did yesterday, or in the equivalent game last season, where a team that was in better form the current one just seemed to freeze on the big occasion.

Was that not Jamie Hamill? Ah. Yeah, come to think of it, you might be right about that. Obviously I must just think that Stevenson looks like the sort of person that would make sexually provocative gestures at an innocent, impressionable young supporter.