DoofersDad

As an Englishman, the prospect of some of England's so called "supporters" mixing it with some of Russia's so called "supporters almost makes me hope the Scotland and their proper supporters make it to the World Cup finals ahead of England. Almost. On the footballing side, I'll make a prediction that Scotland will get the better of England in the qualifiers but that England will go on to win the group narrowly. This will be followed by a brief and embarrassing participation in the finals. All in all, the 2018 World Cup is not exactly firing my enthusiasm at the moment.

He's been selected by Chris Sutton in his team of the week, which is deserving of congratulations in its own right but I don't think it merits a call up to the French national squad.

One of those games where I would have taken a draw beforehand but felt disappointed with the draw at the end. We gave away two shockers but in general it was a pretty solid performance all round in what was an exciting end to end game. Having lost OFW in the warm up and then Tremarco soon after the start we did brilliantly to establish a 2 goal lead. On reflection, a draw is a good result but what will be more important is the seriousness of the various injuries. Special mention from me has to go to Lonsana Doumbouya. I thought he put in a fantastic shift and worked the Hearts defence very hard. He held the ball up and distributed the ball well under a lot of (usually illegal) pressure. He thoroughly deserved his goal and I hope the performances like that will give him that little extra confidence and sharpness that translates into scoring for fun. A real blow to lose Tremarco who has been the season's stand out player, but what a great performance off the bench from Dave the Rave.

I think the three poorest players were the three that Foran subbed. Of the OP's choice I put Vigurs and Doumbouya in with Carl Tremendous in my top 3. I think Vigurs comes in for a lot of unfair criticism on this forum and this thread seems particularly harsh. I thought he applied himself very well on Saturday, he got through a lot of work and often retain the ball well when none of his team mates were making themselves available. The manager said he felt Vigurs was "magnificent". Whilst I think that is overstating it, the manager clearly saw much in his performance which others did not. He is one of those midfielders whose role is not spectacular and whose value to the side often goes unnoticed - a bit like Roy McBaian a few years ago. What does frustrate me about Vigurs is that I would like to see him play further forward and be looking to score more. In my view, whilst he is not a striker, he is the most composed finisher in the side. Too often in recent games Doumbouya has been left with no support and we play long balls up to him but have none of the midfield available for a simply lay off. Doumbouya then has to look to either keep possession until someone is available or try and turn the defender. As a result he is more likely to lose possession and then he gets criticised. I think if Vigurs was playing further forward and looking to find space behind the striker he would score a few more. Not only that, but he has the quality to retain the ball and play the weighted passes that create goal scoring opportunities for others.

The manager singled Vigurs out for praise in his post match interview and said he was "magnificent". I think that is stretching it a bit but I certainly thought he played better than for a while and was the pick of the midfield. No way will he be left out for the next game!

I think Doran needs to come in from the start, so it is a question of who to leave out. And it's not an easy choice. It seems you are leaving Vigurs out even though he was probably our most effective starting midfielder on Saturday and Draper was shocking! I'm not sure that Tansey and Draper really work well together in front of the back four and therefore you need to play Draper higher up. That means a choice between Draper and Polworth. Personally I think Polworth has done a little more this season to justify edging Draper out of the team but it's a very close call. It would certainly do no harm leaving Draper out if only to make him realise he needs to be on the top of his game all the time if he is going to retain his place.

OFW Mackay Warren, Meekings, Tremarco Tansey Vigurs Doran, Polworth, King Doumbouya

Good post from Huisdean. I agree with others that it was a poor performance today and that yet again Carl Tremarco was the MOTM. What I don't agree with many on here is on the performances of Vigurs and Doumbouya. I thought Vigurs had a pretty good game and put in a good shift. Doumbouya worked hard all afternoon and whilst he does seem weak in the air, to be fair, he was being continually fouled every time he went for the ball. When it came to him lower, his first touch was very good but the problem for both him and Vigurs was that there was precious little happening in the space between them. Foran was spot on with the three substitutes although I think Mulraney should have been replaced at half time. It was just one of those days when it wasn't working for him and his decision making was poor, twice taking players on and losing the ball when Mckay had gone on the overlap. It was a brave decision to take Draper off but it was the correct one. Draper is usually one of the most dependable players in the side but I can't remember seeing such an anonymous performance from him. Mckay also had a bad day at the office. Doran looked good when he came on and was making himself available for the ball far more effectively than Draper and doing a lot more with it when he got it. He must be close to getting a start, but if he does it is not an easy call to say who drops out and where he would play. Key for me is having players making themselves available for Doumbouya and not leaving him so isolated. It may not have been the greatest game we've ever seen but at least we had 11 attempts on goal which is more than in most matches last season. The big downside for me was the crowd. After getting a big crowd against The Rangers and playing attractive football this season I was expecting the crowd to be close to 3000. We weren't even close to that and there was zero atmosphere.

Can't say I agree with that. Stewart has certainly had a good recent spell on the Challenge tour and has risen to 320 on the world rankings but he remains well behind Laird,Ramsay and Warren who are all surely far more deserving. Stewart's current position is a result of a good few weeks only and is way better than he has ever reached before. There really is no way he should be considered for this. showing friendship is fine but this is an event in which players are representing their country. Knox really has a responsibility both to his fellow professionals and to Scottish golf to pick players who have earned the right to represent their country. Knox's pick may be a reaction to his omission from the Ryder Cup and a snub to the establishment, but whatever the reason it really isn't on. Handing a mate a very large pay check at someone else's expense will not make him or Stewart popular with fellow professionals. A far better gesture of friendship would have been to pick someone more deserving and then pay for his mate to come and watch. With the money he has won this year the cost of that would be small change for him.

Overall the league's newcomers were worthy winners and looked to be a pretty decent side. They kept possession well and were always looking to break forward quickly. But we played well too, Defensively we were pretty solid and if truth be told, we created the better chances and created enough to have won the game. Mulraney and Doran both provided a real threat when they came on and will surely get more game time soon. We will certainly play worse this season and win. The difference was in the finishing. Gilt edged chances were missed by our two strikers at either end of the game that you would expect a street league striker to bury. We had other chances but Foderingham was never seriously troubled. At the other end, Fon Williams was called into action a few times from less good chances and Miller's goal was a finish of real quality. It is always disappointing to lose but I hope those "occasional" supporters who helped to get the crowd over 7000 will have enjoyed the game and will come back again. Despite the disappointment of losing it was a thoroughly enjoyable game and a world away from the sterile negative football of last season. It was good to see a sizeable number of fans standing to applaud the team off the field at the end.despite having lost. That didn't happen last season.

We could all hold up the wrappers of our Wherthers Originals. The sunlight reflecting off those golden wrappers should fair put the fear of God into the Hun.

Over the years the subject of what size crowds Caledonian and Thistle used to attract has come up several times. What seems strange to me is that nobody seems to have any actual figures! Presumably there are records somewhere and attendance figures were published in newspapers and perhaps the programmes of the times. I had a quick look on google and could find nothing. I came to Inverness in 1975 and whilst I had no particular allegiance to any of the 3 Inverness clubs, I did attend occasional games of all 3 clubs. My recollection is of of crowds of 3-400 if playing the likes of Keith but at least double that for County and Elgin or for a derby. A big cup game would draw considerably more in the same way that a cup semi-final or final in Glasgow attracts thousands more to watch ICT. Getting a crowd of 1000 plus in the compact stadium at Telford St would provide a good atmosphere which no doubt made it feel that there was a bigger crowd relative to the TCS (which seems to have been designed to suck any atmosphere away from the ground as quickly as possible). But the truth of the matter is that despite any concerns we may have regarding crowd numbers at TCS now, average crowds are way above the levels in the old Highland League days. That doesn't mean we shouldn't look back nostalgically to those days, but it does mean that we should embrace where we are and make the most of the significantly higher level of football we now have the opportunity of watching in Inverness.

What a complete and utter idiot the man is. He had it made with being a popular choice with fans in securing a very lucrative role in a dream job. He was at the pinnacle of his career and yet throws it all away for some shabby "consultancy". His career is down the tubes along with the respect and affection of a nation's football fans. I too have no sympathy for the man but will be intrigued to see what emerges from all this. Big Sam's ego being what it is, he will no doubt no be touting his services on the back of a 100% record as England manager.

I don't think simply expressing a view that it would be good to know what the numbers going through the away turnstiles are is obsessing. Knowing what the numbers are would simply allow for rather more informed comments on crowd numbers which surely must be better than people making comments when they have the facts wrong. I just fail to see what the club has to lose by making the figures public.

Excellent post, Kingsmills. Couldn't agree more. It really is pathetic how various bodies do nothing about the conduct of this odious club and their equally obnoxious followers. As well as the SFA and SPFL, the police take no meaningful action either despite the law being openly flouted. However, it wouldn't surprise me if the BBC's contract did not have the kind of clauses in it which it ought to have. Rather than requiring teams to provide access, interviews etc, it maybe details payments for such access which The Rangers would simply forgo. I can well imagine the SPFL agreeing to such an unsatisfactory contract under pressure from Ibrox. If The Rangers are contractually obliged to provide access to the BBC then the BBC is probably unwilling to take action for breach of contract on the basis that they probably wouldn't then have the contract renewed next time round. The other clubs pussyfoot around the issues because they are worried that meaningful action against the big two would seriously affect revenues. If action is to be taken it will have to be from outside and it would be good to see MSPs do some serious campaigning on this issue. If I am suitably offended when we offer a warm Highland welcome to The Rangers on their first visit here, I just might write to local MSPs to ask them to take up the issue with suitable bodies.

The absence of The Rangers, Hibs and Hearts from the top flight will also have affected our average gates. Not just because they are clubs who always bring a good following, but because they attract more home support to the game than the likes of Hamilton and Kilmarnock do. With The Rangers having made it to the top division this will probably result in our average home gates being up.this season. I'm not sure that the state of folk's disposable incomes is too much of a factor though. Clearly for some individuals it will be, but in general spending has remained very buoyant, and if the continued growth in places to eat and drink in Inverness is anything to go by, a lot of people have enough cash to go and watch a game of footy once in a while. It's just that they choose not to. Even on a like for like basis I accept CaleyD's point that there is a drop in away support (most notably from OTB) to some extent. There are also other factors for individual games such as weather, significance of the game, any promotions etc. What is difficult is to know how the various different factors affect the gates and therefore to judge any specific trend. But I do think there is little doubt that the level of home support has been dropping over the years. It remains to be seen if the new regime will produce a noticeable increase in gates. On the back of losing our first 3 games, the game against St J attracted about 750 fewer fans than the corresponding game last season. The crowd for the Celtic game was 100 up on last year whilst Saturday's game was very slightly down on the corresponding game last year, although, in line with Don's comments, the Dundee away support seemed to be much less than I would have expected. Unfortunately, the club appears to be unwilling to release figures for numbers coming through the away turnstiles. But I genuinely do think that the way we are playing at the moment will bring people through the gates.There are large numbers of people who attend just a small number of games a year and to be honest, the way we played in the last 2 years will not have encouraged them to come back. Things are different now, We have had 4 home games and they have all been open, exciting games. I know we lost to County first up but despite that, I have to admit to actually quite enjoying the game! There has been lots of good football in all the games and it is like chalk and cheese compared to last year. We need to get the message across to others that there is entertaining football on offer at TCS. We may not win anything and we may not achieve top six but it's going to be fun and it's going to be exciting.

Decent game but we were not at our best today. After going 2-0 up we lost a bit of urgency and allowed Dundee to get back into the game. Sharper finishing from them could have made the game a lot tighter than it was in the end. It's funny how different folk see the game. Someone near to me was doing his nut about Polworth and what a useless sh*te he was. I thought he had a pretty good game and was the stand out in midfield. Took his goal well after great build up play. Good defensive performance all round but Tremarco was my MOTM. Doran may be short of a yard or two of pace but he looked a class act when he came on. I'd like to see him start with Mulraney held back as an impact sub if needed.

In such short clips from just one angle it can be difficult to get a proper appreciation of the incident. However, in Gordon's case what is clear is that he had both feet off the ground and he was leading with his foot 3ft off the ground with his studs showing. Intentional or not, it was reckless and a red card without any doubt. Unfortunately I don't think the compliance officer will be able to take any action here. Remember when Celtic vindictively tried to have Meekings punished for his alleged handball in the semi-final, the ruling was that the officials had seen the incident but had adjudged it not to be handball. Whether or not it was a correct decision was not relevant because the role of the Compliance Officer is to deal with incidents which the match officials did not see. Clearly. the ref saw the incident last night as he gave Gordon a yellow card. I absolutely agree that refs are under huge pressure and face abuse when they make incorrect decisions. That abuse will naturally be greatest when the error goes against the clubs with the biggest support and therefore they tend to give those clubs the benefit of the doubt. The concept of the Compliance Officer being empowered to take retrospective action when refs get things wrong is OK so far as it allows a player to be punished with an appropriate ban, but the danger there is that it would make refs even more inclined to chicken out of sending players off. They may think that if it really should have been a red card, the CO will deal with it later. That would not be right in the context of the match and it is important that decisive action is taken during the match so that teams suffer the consequence of the recklessness of their players. Last night, Celtic should have played the entire 2nd half with 10 men. Would it have made a difference to the final outcome? Maybe. Maybe not. What I do know is that Alloa were cheated out of the opportunity of finding out. All it needed was an official sitting in front of a TV monitor to take responsibility for the decision and give a clear steer to the referee through his earpiece. It's all very well criticising referees for some of the dreadful decisions they make, but things are unlikely to improve until referees get meaningful support from the football authorities. Sadly, I can't see that happening any time soon.

I've never been convinced Christie has what it takes to be a top player although he clearly has real talent. One of the problems for him here was that he emerged just as Hughes was taking over and therefore was restricted by a system which put possession before creative flair. Last season, despite alarm and even anger at his departure, we actually did better after he left, and whilst there may be other reasons for that, the fact remains that we didn't really miss him in the context of the type of football we were playing. It would be interesting to see how he played if you replaced him for Vigurs in the current team under Foran's much more positive approach. Had he stayed an extra year with us I firmly believe he would have developed more as a player due to regular match day experience and the confidence that being a key player in a side brings. Yes, he will no doubt get a chance or two to impress at Celtic but unless he immediately shines he will not be able to command a regular starting place. Had he stayed here an extra year and then moved to Celtic, a first team place might have been his to lose rather one to grasp for. At the moment, he is too far down the pecking order at Celtic and for his sake I hope that he is put out on loan to get regular first team football. If he doesn't, then I fear he will become yet another of football's promising youngsters who, for a few short years, get paid a lot of money for playing very little football. He could have been a legend had he stayed here. Instead, in a few years time, I fear he may be Ryan who? to Celtic fans. Here's hoping I'm proved wrong.

Last year we seemed to do better against the top six and struggled against the weaker teams. I think this was due to the fact that Hughes' stultifying football philosophy meant that the weaker teams would let us have the ball, make it difficult for us to pass the ball through them and the squeeze us and look to capitalise on mistakes when they came. The better teams would play a more open game which gave us opportunities for counter attacking and a bit more time on the ball. Rather than sit off the packed defences of the weaker teams, this year we will be constantly taking them on; pulling them wide, trying to slice through them and shooting on sight rather than patiently waiting for an opportunity to present itself. I agree with IHE that there is a much better balance in the squad, we have competition for places and options to vary the play according to the situation. I think we should do better against the poorer sides this season and we should be seeing some really exciting games.

Thought more might have given 3 or even 1 point to Billy King. MOTM in the first half by some margin I would say. Not just a terrific goal but working really hard and causing the Celtic defence a lot of problems. Faded in the 2nd half but Hearts fans must be looking at his performances for us and wondering whether their management have lost their marbles but agreeing to a season's loan.

2nd Celtic goal was well taken but was poor defending on our behalf. Someone (Draper?) lofted a longish pass back to Meekings who was immediately under pressure from Dembele. He tried to play a hurried ball to Warren which Sinclair nicked from him and left him for dead. Meekings was initially standing off Sinclair to cover the pass to an otherwise unmarked Dembele. He continued to cover Dembele in the hope that Polworth would get back to challenge Sinclair which he very nearly did. At the same time, I am sure Meekings was also aware of Rogic overlapping on the left and completely unmarked. Meekings was on a hiding to nothing. One can possibly fault OFW who could have been further off his line to narrow the angle and I'm not sure where Mckay was in all of this. However, the root cause of getting caught out like this was an unnecessary pass back which put our back line under real pressure. Hopefully Foran will instil into the players that it doesn't matter if you lose the ball in the opposition half but you can't afford to give it away in your own back line.

I don't think it would have made any difference which end Draper had been

Excellent draw and a very entertaining game. It is interesting to note that the four matches Celtic have played in the league this season before today had resulted in wins against the teams that are 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th in the league and they have won them by an increasing margin. 2-1 against Hearts, 4-2 against St J, 4-1 against the Dons and then 5-1 against The Rangers. I think that suggests Celtic are head and shoulders above the rest of this league and emphasises what an excellent point that was today. Personally I'm not sure that the substitutes were the best. Whilst great to see Mulraney, King and Doran on the pitch at the same time as a statement of attacking intent, they need to get the ball in the first place before they can show what they can do. We lost a bit of midfield bite when both Vigurs and Polworth went off and that, I think, contributed to Celtic being so dominant in the 2nd half. I think Foran should have kept Polworth on and taken King off. King had a fantastic first half but did seem to tire later on. Mulraney and Doran both showed good touches and are clearly going to be quite a handful to lesser teams this season. OFW was great and we rode our luck with the woodwork as well. Had Celtic got another 2 or 3 with all that pressure, I imagine folk would be questioning the substitutions. Again, Tremarco was terrific. His level of commitment is just fantastic. I hadn't realised that Mckay also has a long throw. With Tremarco and Meekings also able to launch long throws, an area of the game that has been abysmal in recent years should now be one of our strengths. There are still too many empty seats in the stadium but with games like we've seen this season hopefully the seats will begin to fill. Way more entertainment than last season.

Drapes should have stuck the ball in the back of the net before anyone could get anywhere near him. That would have stopped any argument.