Themidgetmaestro

Spent his life in the box aswell.

I hope everyone tries their best and that they all enjoy themselves. And a Macaroni Pie. I'd like one of them this season.

That's a bold statement given that ground capacity is only 8,500 and we took 15,000 to our last away game! They use the same system as Elgin for controlling capacity. Any truth in the rumour that Giurgiu looks like Elgin?

I'd agree with what's been said previous. Left back is a must, 2 strikers certainly and I'd say a competent goalie to challenge Esson until Brill gets back (a 6 month loan deal would suffice) Speaking of Loans, I hope this is a market Yogi will look into. Some cracking players over the years: Davis, Golobart, MacDonald, Winnall (remember what he went on to do when given the chance), Blackman (madhouse I know but not a bad player). Not sure about players down south but even looking at Celtic there's a few guys..Callum McGregor, Jackson Irvine (County's best player last season) Darnell Fisher, Tom Rogic...all young guys who would benefit from some first team action and I'd certainly give them a chance. Looking at the lists of players released in England and it's easy to get sucked into seeing these big name players without a club and think "well..you never know?" but the likelihood of a lot of these guys upping sticks and probably getting paid significantly less than they're used would rule a lot of them out but even still, we can dream right? Lot of ex-SPL players in there who could almost certainly still do a job: Kane Hemmings, Darren O'Dea, Mickael Antoine-Courier, Stephen Crainey, James Dayton, Marc Antoine Fortune, Paddy McCourt, Noel Hunt, Ricardo Fuller, Giles Coke, Kevin McNaughton.... I tell you what, being a football scout is a piece of ****.

and who would you want in Europe?

How can Raven miss the DU game last Tuesday through suspension, be on the bench at Dundee this Saturday but is suspended again for DU this weekend?

You can buy a medal??? How much? I'll get two.

Cup Final 11 have to play on Saturday. Hear me out... This Saturday Falkirk will be at week 2 of 4 weeks without playing a competitive fixture. Now I don't care what anyone says this will definitely have a massive effect on them. To go from a month of nothing to a Scottish Cup final in no way can be a positive. We, on the other hand now have the luxury of competitive fixtures with no real concern for the results, I fully agree about a completely weakened side for the Celtic game (who I'm sure will have a few scores to settle) but another game under their belts against a DU side who I don't see as overly aggressive will keep them at that higher level of match fitness going into the biggest game of our history. Maybe re-jig the front 3 with Doran/Ross being given a chance to prove a point but that back five needs to be Esson/Shinnie/Meekings/Devine/Raven as these guys will be our Cup Final defence and they haven't played alongside each other properly all season and this Saturday is realistically the only opportunity their going to have to do that. Of course on Saturday I don't want guys flying into 50/50 challenges but equally living in fear over their health between now and the 30th isn't going to do anyone any favors. We've been incredibly fortunate with managing to avoid too many long term injuries this season but if (touch wood hopefully not) someone does get injured on Saturday then you curse your luck, know you've got someone who can come in and replace said player but ultimately know that the risk was taken in order to guarantee that the team would be at peak condition come the Final. I think resting everyone now will be premature. Have some faith guys.

Yep, agree with most of what's been said here but very surprised no one seems to have brought up how much the pitch played such a detriment in how we didn't win today. I think its clear the players have absolutely no trust in it whatsoever. So many times today we would get round the back or down the flanks and when it was screaming for it to be played in first time constantly the boys were having to take a touch just to make sure they weren't going to swipe thin air. When teams like Dundee come and sit in and make no attempt to come out and play you've got to get it on the deck, 1-2's, down the flanks, try and open up the space for the forwards to exploit. On that pitch there's no chance of that. Even our usual faffing about at the back was never going to work on that surface. So many times the bobbles were killing us and seriously I wished after about 20 minutes we took Ross/Christie/Doran off (good players but on that pitch they're wasted) stuck Ofere up top with Watkins and just go route one. By-pass the pitch, get onto the knockdowns (Ofere so nearly scored late on after a long boot/flick on). Not pretty at all but I think you've got to accept sometimes when its just not happening for you and today the passing game was never going to transpire into anything effective. I've no doubts that on a proper surface today would of been a guaranteed 3 points. It's almost hilarious and depressing that the only team doing as bad in the league right now is Dundee United. 3rd place could of been wrapped up 2/3 games ago but even more annoyingly Aberdeen are only 8 points ahead and they've been rank rotten recently aswell. Even 1-2 wins from the last 5 would of put us in serious contention for second, never mind third.

I don't know how much money you'd have to pay me to hear me say the phrase "with the ocean in our arms, wipe your eyes and kiss your palms" out loud. It's pretty terrible BUT you had the courage to even attempt one which is more than could be said for some (I'm looking at you Mr C. Young) My song idea goes to the tune of Manic Street Preachers-Your love alone is not enough It's Caleeeeey Thistle Right enuff, Right enuff, Right ennuuuuffff When Caley scooore It's Right enuff, right enuff, righ ennnuffff The whole "Right enuff" thing had been in my head for ages after listening to the song and with a bit of effort I think it could turn into a good wee funny tune.

Eclair-ly isn't good enough for this level.

Well the last 2 seasons Billy's been far and away our top scorer which is good when he's in form but you saw what happened after last December, Billy got something like 5 goals(?) from then till the end of the season and as a team we paid the price for it. Surely as a squad when you see the guy whose scoring all the goals stop scoring some of them might be thinking "Oh ****, now what?" whereas now you've got the likes of Marley, Ryan and Greg and a few others going "Well if he doesn't score, I will". I don't care whose scoring them as long as we're winning, that's all that matters surely?

Training facilities were good though...

same old positivity Same old inability to recognise irony. ok, i missed that but only because the points about Doran and the crowd I have heard from people before, during and after the game had finished.

same old positivity

two words......James Vincent. Why are you worried about what will happen if we go behind? What's different about today than anything you saw all of last season? What I'm seeing already is a side who have been gelled together over 12-24 months with some very promising new players brought in plus the fact that our bench is the strongest it's ever been in any season Inverness have ever had.

just behind Vincent and Draper for me but I agree he was faultless today. This is the Foran that we need to see week in, week out and if he keeps his emotions in check then we'll see the best from him.

First visit to Starks Park (and Kirkcaldy for that matter) and overall quite an enjoyable day out. The game itself we just didn't get out of the blocks quick enough, sloppy passing and the link between midfield and attack was virtually non-existent. Both goals conceded were well taken but both could have been avoided if it weren't for errors on the edge of our box. Lucky goal back before the break before we managed to actually start playing a bit of football in the second period with Polworth scoring a cracker to give us in my opinion a deserved equaliser. Nothing to be overly concerned about considering Raith didn't completely dominate the game and even when they were in possession they very rarely looked like scoring, especially after half time. Polworth the stand out player of the game, came on and provided us with exactly what we needed, someone to get the ball forward quickly (and actually find a man with a pass). Notable performances from Williams who provided some pace and trickery down the left towards the end, Josh Meekings who I believe will be fantastic this season and also G.Shinnie who started slowly but grew as the game went on and joined in with the attacks late on to good effect. Three more games and two weeks before the start of the season and I can guarantee the boys will be a lot fitter and more importantly that match sharpness will have improved. Still unsure as to what our starting 11 will be this season but our strength in depth might be crucial for us this year.

Anyone genuinely see a future for Gav and Shane at the club though, much as they seem like decent lads I think the writing might be on the wall for the pair of them. Shane needs regular games in the right position to get the best out of him and Gav can't get ahead of Draper or OTJ. I'd be tempted to give Shane another 1 year deal just as back up or get him out on loan somewhere.

I can't see us getting anyone from the 1st Division unless their contracts are up in the Summer. Can imagine Steve Marsella has already brought a list of players to Terry's attention most likely from down south but apart from another GK and possibly a striker/attacking midfielder I don't think we need anyone.

Why shouldn't we talk about it? Whats the point of a ICT football forum if we can't talk about possible future events which are quite exciting to discuss. This forum has NO effect on the players and management, it doesn't add pressure or relieves any, it's just a place where people chat about ICT. If we don't qualify for Europe I'm sure Terry won't be saying "It was the fault of people on CTO for adding unnecessary pressure on the boys".

Butcher out

Kettlewell's challenge on Taylor in the second half, tell me how that wasn't a red?

thought Charlie Taylor was excellent today, helped by Sproule going off of course but thought he looked good throughout.

far too much talk and not enough action from people on this forum. The second people make the effort to do something positive for the club people will immediately look to knock it down. If people put more effort into trying to help the club rather than shooting down everything they do we might actually start moving forward.