absent friend

[quote name="PerfICT" post="404671" timestamp="

Next will come the factionalisation of the once united dressing room with some favourites and some outsiders which too has been a feature of every club he's managed.

 

I see this sort of statement as a wish from the poster and unfortunately reduces the strength of his posts

 

In no circumstance do I blame the players.

None so blind etc!!

Meekings pass back, Brills kick outs,, Billy's one on one misses, Shinnies clearance into the ruck of players instead of out for a corner, a crap pass on the half way line leading to an easy goal loss, etc

I accept your point ..... not the players fault, all the managers!! AYE RIGHT!!

From a Happy Clapper who is less happy at the moment.

This sounds a wee bit off topic but I remember an analysis of Wright- Philips after he had moved clubs and was performing at a higher level and they did a before and after look at his game and the main difference was ....... He had been taught to be aware of his fellow players by looking up when he was receiving or potentially receiving the ball and this allow him to make a more telling contribution.

Now, Brills goal ... if Meekings had been aware that Shinnie was standing, in the clear, immediately behind him his pass back would never have been attempted but he was not aware of his fellow players and this lost us a goal but also stopped an attacking move that would have at least reduced the pressure and allowed us to regroup at the back.

Now Brill, ... I feel he is unhappy with the ball at his feet and therefore a period at training where he is played as a outfield player in tight situations, could help.

As a keeper I feel he is very good but with the ball at his feet ... just a bomb scare!

For older folk on here I offer the two top keepers in Scotland in the early 80s .... Hamish MacAlpine - a goalkeeper who also provided Dundee United with an extra sweeper as he strode around his box and contrast that with Jim Leighton playing in goal for Aberdeen at the same time, who was a Brill, dodgy with the ball at his feet and showed this (row B in the South Stand was a dangerous place to sit!) Both excellent keepers but had different strengths in a pass back situation. Incidentally Leightons understudy Bobby something (senior moment) played centre half for Aberdeen when not required in goals so he was in the McAlpine mould.

From the foregoing maybe it is not easy to teach a goalkeeper to be happy with the ball at his feet and if this is the case maybe pass backs should be kept to a minimum when Brill in goals or Brill should be encouraged to do a Jim Leighton and hit it out of the park.

Well Folks, a happy clappy here and hey ho, what absolute rubbish!

Watched it on the telly and it did not make good viewing or should I say it made excellent viewing of the bad football played by us!

Shinnie, I thought, was not up for this game. He appeared to be hesitant in most of his play and yet he was our best.

FORAN I thought was a good captain, yes Brill good a good talking to from him but we saw shortly after the reason why.

The defence were tip tapping the ball when a) clear the ball away from your danger area and b) you can only score at the far end from their position should have been the order of the day. In fact this lack of urgency in defence resulted in the second goal and bad passing created the first aided by, I think, Shinnies poor clearance back into the ruck of players when it should have been sent out for a corner.

So sad tonight as I felt all day that we could have beat them and I still think that that was an easy chance missed for three points!

Now it may surprise you that I agree with a lot of the content in your post but I take issue with the area above.

I feel that the areas your touch on can be viewed differently by us happy clappers,

Calling for a managers head, days after we lost a major trophy by penalty taking by, in one instance, a player that was hardly able to walk up to the ball never mind kick it. But this fatigue was the managers fault - of course he had played 130 minutes of football and this following a hard 90 minutes just days before - this midweek game was also no doubt his managers fault. Had the ball entered the net with the resultant confidence flowing onto the following kick takers, this topic would be laughable . However as you say, it is all big Johns fault.

Now the final point for me is ... I think we started the season with the same team we finish with the previous season - not the current managers fault - and we enjoyed the success that this offered, as other teams were trying to knit together their new signings.

As the teams became better and challenged us our manager moved away - not our managers fault.

The Board did not appoint your blue eyed boy Mr Hartley, not the managers fault. However they did appoint him ... now this is his fault and maybe an ok fault at that, we will see.

It seems strange to me that a team like Dundee United, not very good at the start of the season is now doing well, Aberdeen not doing very good at the start, now on a roll and you tell us happy clappers that this is all Yogi's fault!!

Well I suppose the neggie folk on here have handed the BBC, on Saturday afternoon, the opinion that Mr Hughes is now under pressure re his position at ICT.

How on earth do so called 'fans' allow other team supporters such ammunition as this will manifest itself as " sacked in the morning" chants each time we come under pressure in a game.

I'm sure this will instill lots of confidence in the players with this chant ringing in their ears.

Sad indeed!

I wanted Hartley but was prepared to give Hughes a chance - and to give him credit where due, as in the semi against Jambos.  But tactically he seems to be clueless in most games.  Tonight he packed the central midfield, and then took the only winger off.  Motherwell won it without getting out of first gear.  We've gone from having the tightest defence in the SPL to the leakiest.  We've had two 5-0 slaughters, and lucky to get away with only 5-0 both times, and  an approach to our first ever final that was focused on playing for penalties. His record is very poor.

 

Don't get me wrong, I quite like the guy and respect him standing up for the players.  I'm getting a bit sick of his recycled interviews, and am going to smash my telly the next time he says 'we roll our sleeves up and get on with it'.  I certainly wasn't impressed with what he said on Alba tonight. He's not paid to be a nice guy but to win football matches.

 

But will we achieve anything with him as manager?  I really hope we do,  but can't see it.  Has he lost the dressing room?  Possibly.  What has happened to the confident, slick unit that our team was a few months ago, when we had a cup double and Europe in our sights?

 

I don't want him to try and put his stamp on the team.  I'd like him and Russell to study the games and tactics played under Butcher, and try and get back to playing that way.

Well Sir, I wonder if there is not a few contradictions in your above offering?

Has he lost the dressing room? Maybe you should ask the players that signed longer term contracts or maybe Mr Foran or maybe the players you state he stands up for - will they, I wonder, share your opinion.

Or we could just ask you .... and the answer is .... possibly!

And then you ask him to be like our last manager who is under a bit more flak on the HIBS site than Hughes is on here.

However I do understand the natural frustration you are experiencing at the moment. One wee question ... Had we won on penalties would you still be writing the above? I guess not, and yet we were a couple of kicks of the ball from winning or maybe a couple of saves.

I think you are being harsh but it is understandable.

A few months into Ebbe Skovdahl's reign, Willie Miller said he should go.  It wasn't working, so best get rid of him sooner rather than later.  Aberdeen regretted not listening to him.

 

I feel the same about Hughes.  It's not working and his record suggests it won't improve.  There are better managers within our budget.  Yogi was a ghastly mistake.  Best to cut our losses now.

Maybe if you want to use Aberdeen or ex Aberdeen you should maybe consider Fergies start at Man U.

If you lot were on MU's forum at the time, no doubt you would have had him ... 'Lost the dressing room' ... 'lost the fans' .... ' lost the plot' BUT the boy did good! Well sort of good anyway!

I however am concerned about our goal drought and our silly mistakes at the back but rather than sack the man, I would prefer to see less teeth at the dugout and more fist waving from him.

He does come over as a players pal and that is not always a good management platform.

Well we all know I am a happy clapper but ..

I thought our team did us proud, how many of us thought it would come to penalties?

We were beaten by the suits upstairs that made us play a game during the week and therefore stole some of our strength towards the end.

Anyway thanks to the team for giving me a wonderful three hours with the result going either way right up to the last few minutes.

HT - 0-1

FT - 1-3

ICT- FORAN

Dons - Rooney

Time 11 mins

Shots 11

Corners 5

Yellow Anderson

JOKER if possible

HT- 1-0

FT - 3-1

ICT - McKay

HIBS. - Haynes

Time - 11mins

.

 

As well as the lack of a strong central midfield, we can't underestimate the ground staff's contribution to the first two goals - more like playing on a beach than a football ground.

I find it funny that only CaleyThistle played on this bad pitch, if for instance it was our home ground we would know how to play on it but as we only play there errr... every two weeks, how were we to know how to handle it?

Sadly I think we were outnumbered by the Away support.

 

The opening two goals were farcical but more frustrating for me was that they were scored within a few seconds of us having the ball well in the United half and, in theory, away from any immediate danger. Before the first goal was scored we actually had the ball, albeit from a throw in, but we somehow contrived to turn it over almost immediately after taking the throw and a couple of quick passes later United were in and had scored. For the second goal we had a corner which was quickly cleared and United raced upfield to grab another goal within seconds of Doran taking the corner. It was incredible how quickly a situation, where there should have been little threat, turned into a goal for the opposition.

Is this not the way we always played? Absorb pressure, let the opposition hold a high line and then one ball out of defence could create a potential goal. This is why McKay was so successful where he found himself in a forward position with one defender and keeper to beat. Now the whole defence is around him when he receives the ball and scoring is a bit more difficult.

At the moment we are the ones holding a high line and we are the ones getting caught.

I feel it is rethink time for Sunday.

Kingsmills, on 26 Feb 2014 - 07:57 AM, said:

Wasn't going to go last night but so glad I did in the end. Can add little to what's been said already. I am a John Hughes sceptic but that must have been the best we've played under his management. The tactics could not be faulted and each and every player stood up to the plate and it's impossible to single out any individual. We were so dominant that Hughes was able to give Billy a 20 minute rest ahead of what's bound to be a hard shift for him up front on his own on Saturday. Smart thinking.END QUOTE

Now Sir, I accept that you even in the above compliment to our manager, expressed the fact you are a Hughes sceptic, but it is a big move, by you, in such a short time -tactics can not be faulted etc. to 'have not changed my mind he is 'rubbish'

Now, I am a happy clapper, I think it is after all my happy years up at Kingsmills Park.

It is even now difficult to lose that happiness even whilst mingling with the poor souls with a less cultured background from Telford Street.

It does however offer me a broader overview into management and accept that given our geographical and financial position, too high expectations are difficult to handle especially when we have enjoyed an excellent start to the season and now face reality.

I feel sure this thread will fill the team or should that be teams, management and footballers with superb confidence ahead of next Sunday's game.

The ongoing reaching for ' lost the dressing room' after every downturn in our form has been replaced now by ' lost the fans' !

Exactly what is required at this time ... I don't think!

Don't get me wrong I think we were lucky today - it could have been double figures - and next week is viewed with lots of concern by me, however, I think this sort of rubbish should be deferred until later in the season to offer a united backing to our team/s at this crucial time!

Well my observation is .... if we drop Dean we should also drop the others that performed below what we expect, so next week .... I feel Mr Shinnie will be very lonely!

Ht - 1-0

FT-3-1

ICT -FORAN

DU rankin

Time 11 mins

Ht - 0-1

FT - 1-3

Tics -stokes

ICT - Doran

Time 11 mins

Looking at the results last night ... St J beating Motherwell by three goals .... maybe our Saturday result was even better than we thought and maybe up alongside this one.

"Saints not playing well, ICT winning ugly", was maybe because Saints were a better side than we thought at the time... whereas the County were just crap ... I think I want to say that again..... County were just crap Mr Adams!

I think we have just witnessed six very big points for us! It helps our league position but it also gives the team a lift at the right time.

Just a wonderful result.

Perth is not a happy hunting ground for us so this was a BIG three points.

I don't know how the game was won but won it was, so just MAGIC!!

HT- 0-1

FT- 1-3

ICT -FORAN

St J- May

Time 11 mins

thank goodness I can get the BBC radio feed .... cant get it on work machine as we block streaming audio/video on our network but iPhone tethered to my tablet and a VPN connection works very well 

 

SKY SPORTS summary of the game ..... 

 

18-02-2014 3-35-49 PM.png

BBC not much better Scotty, frozen in time up in Inverness.

Either that or the pies were getting attacked and the typing finger was covered in grease!

Well I suppose it was a result but with my prediction being 7-0 I am a wee bit disappointed.

HT - 3-0

FT - 7-0(A goal fest no less!)

ICT - Doran

Stranraer - no chance!!

Goal -11mins

Ht - 1-0

FT -3-1

ICT - FORAN

Hearts - Stevenson

Time - 11mins

HT- 0-1

FT- 1-3

Doran -ICT

STEVENSON - Hearts

Time 11mins

HT: 0-1

FT: 1-3

1st ICT: Doran

1st Opp: Boyd

Time of 1st Goal: 11mins