DoofersDad

What goal drought?

Probably your family trying to get out

I think Hughes will last a lot longer here than Butcher will at Hibs. Hibs have only won 1 of their last 11 and that includes being bundled out of the cup by Raith. If the Hibs Board are not considering getting rid of Butcher with that record then there is no way our Board will be getting rid of Hughes. If we are struggling after the first round of fixtures next season then it might be worth talking about. But before that, discussion should be about what the manager should do rather than whether he should be here at all.

Not going to happen and yes, I can sense a win :). It is getting into a busy part of Tennis season so watching a lot of that on Sky and BBC hence not posting on here plus CaleyD and ilPadrino want me gone, shameful posts by someone who is a former mod!! Trying not to sound to harsh as I don't want banned. Mahonio, the whole point of a forum is to exchange different views and it is reasonable to expect folk to respond quite robustly to views that they disagree strongly with. That's what helps give the richness of debate and makes it worth reading. Criticism of a poster's views isn't a criticism of them personally. It is also reasonable for folk to point out inconsistencies in the posts of others and this is often done in the form of a bit of gentle banter. You really shouldn't get annoyed by it and if you took it in the spirit intended, you might find you quite enjoyed it! If everybody who was on the receiving end of a bit of banter stopped posting there would be hardly anyone left to post anything - Dougal would have left 100 times over! Nobody wants you gone - far from it. Your contributions are a valuable part of the richness and variety of this forum, so please keep them coming. Be assured that if anyone was being genuinely offensive the mods would quickly crack down on it

That's a bit harsh. I'd like to think of him as a young Steven Gerrard.

Let's just say that Polworth has had a reasonable run in the side and now it is Christie's turn.

OK. I'll bite! I wonder what you mean by negative response? Do you mean folk not backing the manager or people not agreeing with you? Your original post is the single most negative thing on this thread. If you wanted to simply gauge opinion why did you not simply ask "what do folk think of John Hughes' perfomance as manager so far?" And please don't get huffy and take every comment disagreeing with you so personally. We all respect your right to express an opinion. But please, if you don't wan't an argument, don't make a provocative statement to start a thread! And for the benefit of C_H2, I don't think anyone on here is actually saying Hughes is doing a wonderful job, folk are simply saying it is far to early to judge him one way or another.

A terrible thought has just struck me. Have we given up scoring goals for Lent? It doesn't end till April 17th!

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'm someone who has been a bit critical of Nick Ross in the past. He flatters to deceive. He often seems to play some neat enough football but there is rarely an end result. But to some extent this is not entirely his fault. Too often there isn't the movement in front of him which either invites the smart ball into space or which takes a defender and opens space for Nick to take the ball into. I think Nick is an intelligent football and has better control of a football than most in the side. But what strikes me from the little I have seen of Ryan Christie is that he is exactly the type of player that will work well with Nick. He strikes me as the sort of player who sees the gaps and can pull defenders out of position whilst Nick is the sort of player who will be alive to that and can exploit it. With Billy up front I can see the potential for some neat, on the deck exhanges cutting through the centre of opposition defences. It is certainly a combination I would like to see tried out. One of the problems for Yogi at the moment is that there are just so many talented midfielders in the squad. The difficulty will be finding the best combination(s). Ryan is certainly a great prospect but with the midfield strength in depth there is no reason to put undue pressure on the lad at this stage of his career, Let him know that he will get significant game time in the next several games and he will be able to be more relaxed about his contribution and can play his natural game without feeling that he is playing for his place every game..

Any relation to Charlie Christine? No, but Charline Christine is his mother,

Will a win demonstrate just how far we have come on since Yogi took over?

We got to the dizzy heights of 2nd place because we got off to a flyer with 16 points from our first 6 games. We got off to a flyer because we had a team which was basically what we left off with at the end of the previous season. Other teams then began to gel and play better and our way of playing began to get sussed out. Not counting the game at Hibs when Butcher, whilst still our manager watched from the stands, we lost 3 of the 5 games before he left. That included a home defeat to Partick and a 4 - 0 drubbing in Perth. A significant drop in form happened before Hughes arrived and that may well have more to do with what has happened at other clubs than what has happened here. If Butcher was still here, I'm not convinced we would be doing any better than we are now. All teams go through good and bad patches and I don't see any reason to hit the panic button yet. There is maybe a lack of confidence which is not helped by some of the rubbish posted on this forum. Without doubt we have a talented and settled squad and it is just a matter of time till the results turn our way again. With talent like Ryan Christine just beginning to blossom as well, I am very optimistic about the future.

That's what happens when you pool your resources.

Devine and Meekings played so well at the back on Sunday that it would almost be worth sticking Garry Warren up front. He's certainly found the net well on a few occasions when he's come up for set pieces.

Shouldn't have bothered - they've already got it.

Great news! But here's a thing. We have a new management team who, whether they like it or not, are going to be working with a team most of whom were signed by or kept on by Butcher. We may see 2 or 3 come in during the summer but that will be it. The management team are going to be judged on what they do with someone else's signings and I wonder if that is fair. On the other hand, Butcher will clearly be making wholesale changes over the summer and it will be illuminating to see the respective positions of the two teams at the end of next season. I suspect Yogi likes the squad he has here and there is no reason why the team won't continue to improve. This season has been a success, and with both Hearts and The Rangers out of the equation, next year we will never have a better opportunity to finish high up in the league. I think next season could be very good indeed.

What we need is for our midfielders to look up a bit more.

Hugh Keevins? Puke Heavings? Never heard of him. With a name which sounds like someone vomitting you really can't expect objective journalism.

Glutton for punnishment that I am, I have just watched the highlights and the first minute is interesting when Hayes launches himself at Josh Meekings. I'm not entirely sure what he was doing, but if he hadn't been quite so late his studs might well have ended in Josh's head 4 foot off the ground. I think it was adrenaline pure and simple and there was no intention to harm Josh, but it was incredibly reckless. Aberdeen may say they are unlucky to have lost Hayes quite so early in the game but they are actually quite lucky that they were able to bring someone on to replace him. The amusing thing about this is that in response to the summariser saying that he hoped the injury wasn't too bad, the commentator gives the opinion that "the challenge from Meekings was a sore one!" I must admit that I was half expecting to see Hayes land in a heap on the ground from a great height fairly early in the game but I was expecting it would be because Richie had taken his legs from under him rather than it being self inflicted. The left Richie free to concentrate on others.

Interesting that when Foran was being fouled, Draper was being manhandled as well to prevent him challenging for the ball. Draper also had a go at the referee for not awarding a penalty. Ref let both of them go. But had a spot kick been awarded then, does anyone know who would have taken it?

There weren't anything like 5-6k newcomers there. Its more a question of lots of folk who only go to a few games a year all going to the same one. No matter, whether new or occasonal supporters, let's hope they enjoyed the day and come along to support the team more often for the bread and butter games. That is where the foundations of the glory days are laid and where the club really needs the support.

Perception is everything. Memories are short. In the 11 leagues games before Butcher left we were averaging 10 attempts on target per game and in the last 11 games Hughes has been in charge we are averaging 9.5. There really is not much difference in that respect. I would concede that we have lost a bit of zip and I'm not quite sure why but one thing that frustrates me now and which frustrated me before is how few players seem to look to take a shot. Obviously Billy does when he gets half a chance but of the rest, the only two who seem to be looking to shoot are Doran and on occasions when he is forward, Shinnie. Draper, Vincent, Foran, Ross and Tansey rarely take a pop at goal and time and time again the ball is moved across the width of the park and none of them ever seems to look to take the initiative to either drive forward themselves or create the space for a shot. The tactic seems to be to either manipulate the chance for an overlap down the wing and a cross or a more intricate exchange through the defence to walk the ball into the net. Doing this often leads to us getting pushed back when the long ball up to a small striker is resorted to. When he takes responsibility for a shot and it goes wrong Doran is accused by some here as being selfish, so it seems you just can't win. Tansey's strike in the semi at Easter Road will live long in the memory and I just don't know why he and the others seem so reluctant to have a go. In Billy Mckay we have a very sharp instinctive striker and I am sure that even if our midfilelders didn't score too often with shots there would be times when the keeper couldn't hold the shots and there would be scraps for Billy to feed off. It's all very well having possession of the ball but it's no use unless you do something with it. Players need to take responsibility upfront to make things happen. At the moment, it seems only Doran is doing that. I don't know whether this is a confidence thing but it needs to change. We have an absolutely crucial period coming up with 6 games in 18 days. Given the huge emotional drain of losing the final in the cruellest way it will not be easy to lift the players but lift them we must. Aberdeen must be favourites for 2nd and therefore this weeks game against Motherwell becomes a 6 pointer for third place. We need to build on the solid defencive work on Sunday and start to be more decisive in an attacking sense. We need to get back to scoring ways and we will not do that if players do not have the confidence to do anything but pass the ball (and the responsibility) to the team mate standing next to them. The fact is that we have got to the final of one cup, the quarter final of another and have secured a top 6 finish with 6 games still to play. This has been a very successful season for us and whilst that may not be good enough for some on this forum, it is something that the team should be proud of. They are a very good team with the potential to be ever better. They shouldn't be downhearted - rather, they should be proud of what they have acheived so far and have the confidence that having acheived this, they can now express themselves and develop further as a team. Hopefully a win at Motherwell will be the signal for a storming end to the season.

It is a serious weekness. We concede far more goals from free kicks than we score. Unless there is someone in the side who can get the up and over or round the wall efforts on target and work the keeper with most attempts then the direct route seems pointless. As PerfICT says, with players in the wall there should be players free to set up something else. If nothing else, a tap kick to either side to someone to drill the ball goalwards (Shinnie with his left foot or Tansey with his right) has a lot more chance of success. It changes the angle for the keeper and it means there is not a solid wall in front and gaps open up. Even if the route to goal is not clear, there are good chances of deflections sending the keeper the wrong way. And even with blocked shots there is a good chance of retaining possession or getting a corner.

I know it's on TV but not live .Yesterdays game was live on T V but it didnt stop thousands of fans coming out to support team. Sitting watching it on TV two hours after KO is hardly support. Just what does this team have to do ??????????? Sorry for rant but just saying it as I see it !!!!! Yesterday was a Sunday with lots of options to get there by public transport, most of them returning by 10 p.mish.. Motherwell is on a Wednesday night with no options of that. Most of us will have to work on Thursday morning which is not very nice when you come home around 2 p.m.. Most of us have to look how to pay mortgage, food, insurances etc., many for a whole family. This won't be made easier if they get sacked from their jobs for not meeting expectations because they run off to a footie match during the week. So I can fully understand that few will take the trip down from Inverness. But I'm sure that the central belters will be there and make the club proud with their support! Nobody is expecting a big turn out at Motherwell. You only have to think of the very small number of Hibs supporters last Wednesday night for what was a really important game for their top 6 ambitions to appreciate that you simply aren't going to get more than a handful of folk travelling to midweek evening kick offs. Hibs have a much bigger fan base than us, there are probably a lot more Hibs fans who live in easy tavelling distance of Inverness than there are Inverness fans living close to Motherwell and the journey between Edinburgh and Inverness is a bit easier than that between Inverness and Motherwell. So I wouldn't knock fans in general for not going but I do think the club should ensure there is transport for the few brilliant folk who do want to make the trip. The support of these few fans at away matches is a big boost to the team. Perhaps a mini bus or a coach provided by the club at no charge to the hardy few on a first come basis would be a reasonable gesture from the club on the back of the financial boost the final has provided.