DoofersDad

It's a shame those in the European competitions aren't to be in at the group stages. It reduces the opportunities of the wee clubs to play a relatively lucrative game against a big club and it increases the chances of the usual suspects getting to the more lucrative stages of the competition. In addition, it denies poor Celtic the opportunity of actually progressing from a group stage!

If only I had a pound for every time a player said he was happy at a club and wanted to stay but who then left at the first available opportunity for a bigger pay packet elsewhere. No point alienating the fans and in any case, the happier you apparently are, the more money another team will need to offer in order to prize you away. I'm sure all the players are happy here.

Can't believe too many fans are going to be enthused by this. Presumably the club will have to take all games seriously if they aspire to reach the more lucrative later stages and therefore will still need a program of friendlies Perhaps to encourage some sort of atmosphere at the games and to encourage season ticket sales, the club could include entry to these games within the season ticket price?

It is really quite scary. Mind you, Goldie has scored a lot more own goals in her career than Josh.

Whilst it is frustrating to lose a goal at the death again, we shouldn't loose sight of the fact that the real problem this season is our failure to score. 16 goals in 15 games is not top 6 form. There is no doubt that there is some truth in what Bughtmaster says but for me, I think the greatest loss to the team through injury has been Aaron Doran. In the previous 2 seasons he has been involved in so much of our best creative football and he gives a sense of urgency to our attack. Does anyone know how close to a return he is?

If you define "success" or "best" as a percentage of games won, then Patterson, Robertson and Butcher are all ahead of Hughes.

In the same way that the All Blacks do the Hakka before a game could the Scottish team maybe do a Gay Gordons? That, in conjunction with the kits should make sure that the opposition don't get too close.

Its all gone very quiet again. This needs sorted out so that players can consider what they want to do in the knowledge of whether or not Yogi will be the manager next year.

Looks pretty certain we won't be seeing Ryan in an ICT shirt again. The Times is quoting Delia saying "We've taken him in now." Referring to his injury he says "He'll be out for about six to eight weeks, so he'll start training with us and working with the medical department now." He goes on to say "I think he will have played his last game for Inverness". If he has played his last game for us, it would be fitting if he was given the opportunity of coming on to the pitch before the game next week. It would be a goodbye from us and an introduction to the travelling Celtic support. Not only that, but it was his superb and very brave performance against Celtic at Hampden last year that was such a key contribution to us winning the Scottish Cup. Goodbye, thank you and good luck, Ryan.

Agreed. It doesn't quite compare with Spain's Casillas who, by keeping a clean sheet against England, has now kept a clean sheet in 100 internationals. Quite an astonishing record! Incidentally, I think it was awfully decent of the English lads to refrain from scoring in order that Casillas could reach that milestone.

Aberdeen's rapid and dramatic loss of form means that the title is a good as won for Celtic. Celtic's focus will be to use the rest of the domestic season to experiment a bit with a view to finding a mix and style of play which will be more suited to Europe. Their failures in Europe this season will have been costly and they will be looking to improve on that next year. There seems little point in them buying Christie if he is not going to be part of the forward plans. Personally I would be surprised if he plays for us again this season unless he is fit before the end of December.

If Brora are going to win the title again this year, they just might want to improve on their penalty taking. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34765355

In which case Yogi should be telling his agent to get in touch with the Chairman and have that talk. The whole situation is farcical. If the Board want the manager to stay and if the manager wants to stay then both should be keen to talk ASAP. The fact that they are not talking and that it is being dragged into the media would suggest that there are some significant tensions behind the scenes. There is a need to sort this out soon before the club becomes a laughing stock.

...and getting paid a hell of a lot more for it!

I thought that was a generally better performance and felt that there was a bit more positivity in the game plan. Without ever creating much in the first 45, we at least looked as if we were trying to with a lot of possession in the opposition half. Once Loy had tucked the penalty away early in the 2nd half I feared the worst as heads seemed to go down a bit and the crowd was beginning to get frustrated at the back passing and lack of urgency. Then Tansey's equaliser from the spot seemed to lift both the team and the crowd and the 10 men played with a belief that they could go on and win the game. Dundee also looked to exploit the numerical advantage. Garry Warren making a welcome and unexpected return off the bench, was given a stern test which he passed with flying colours. We ended up with quite an enjoyable game of football. Part of the more positive approach was Tremarco taking on defenders down the left. He was by no means particularly successful but it did draw defenders wide and created openings when he did get down the line. Polworth was again effective when he pressed forward and I really would like to see him and Tansey get forward more. Christie works his socks off but rarely gets a shot away or makes a telling pass. He undoubtedly has talent but he needs more movement and support around him to realise his potential. But despite an improved display, we still had too few attempts on goal. We need to get forward quicker and we need to offer a bit more variety. With only 3 league fixtures in November we may well be able to get 3 or 4 more players back before a busy December. That would be a real boost and would provide a few more attacking options to support a more positive approach.

I'm off to the attic to look for my boots.

It sounds from the interview that he has definitely been offered a new contract. If so then I assume the Board will be requiring him to make a decision by a defined date.It is good business to try to clarify the managerial position before negotiating deals with the players and with the January window fast approaching, it would be good to get key players signed up before then. An early decision around Hughes' contract will either confirm his role here or will allow both Hughes and the Board to put feelers out about what happens at the end of the season. It is in everyone's interest to clarify his contract position ASAP but I for one expect him to leave at the end of the season, if not before.

I completely fail to understand why the youngsters are not given the experience of being on the bench and soaking up the match day atmosphere. Apart from becoming familiar with the match day atmosphere from the perspective of being involved as part of the squad, they would learn from what is said in the dugout. I too have heard the financial argument used (appearance bonus rather than win bonus) but if that is given as a reason, then why not also stick to just 5 subs when there are more than 5 first team squad available? But whatever the reason, what message does this give to the youngsters we are supposed to be developing and encouraging? It tells them that the club thinks they are no way good enough to be considered for any game time regardless of how dire our injury situation becomes. Our injury situation is unusual but should be seen as an opportunity for the club to demonstrate some positive encouragement to the youngsters. If the lads' contracts specify that being on the bench means an appearance bonus is payable and the club is too mean to pay them, then I'll pay to see a full bench on Saturday. Send me the bill, but for goodness sake give these youngsters a seat on the bench rather than a kick in the teeth!

Not many positives to take out of the game but it was good to see Greg Tansey getting a goal - and a good one at that. For me, Tansey is at his best when he comes forward in support of the attack playing a sort of Frank Lampard / Stevie Gerrard role. Not only is he capable of scoring from outside the box, the presence of players making those sort of runs pulls defenders out to block and creates that little bit more space for the front men. I don't understand why Tansey is played so deep and is only allowed the freedom to come up the park when we are chasing the game. Liam Polworth is another player with a good shot on him and who should be encouraged to shoot. Polworth was another of the positives on Tuesday. Certainly he misplaced a few passes but he saw an awful lot of the ball and some errors were inevitable. In general he looked as solid as I have seen him and played some pretty good balls, in particular a beautifully weighted ball that put Storey through and which should have resulted in a goal.

Perhaps they are used to watching Strathspey Thistle. Hopefully they'll come again and see some proper football.

Injuries are an issue but yesterday was much more about tactics and the style of play. As usual it was all about keeping possession. We keep possession at the back and try to work the ball forward by playing balls to the feet. We rarely create anything because the slowness of our build up allows the opposition to get men between the ball and the goal. We also keep it narrow and try to play through the middle. Even when they had a player sent off we kept it narrow rather than trying to stretch them. Tremarco was often wide in acres of space but far too often if the ball ever did get to him it was played to feet so that defenders had plenty of time to get wide and cover. Tremarco would then often cut inside and simply give the ball to someone else rather than take on the defender. What should be happening in these situations is that the ball should be played well in front for Tremarco to run onto and to take the ball into the final third. Getting into the final third gives players good options particularly if players like Tansey, with good shots on them, are providing support - but with Yogi, keeping possession is far more important than taking risks in the final third and therefore we create few chances and even less excitement for the fans. I can't blame the players for the lack of ambition because this is obviously the way they are told to play. St Johnstone did what most teams do against us - because we lack a cutting edge they kept it tight defensively and looked to exploit defensive frailties. The sending off made them even more negative still and they were clearly settling for the draw. However, the inevitable defensive error gifted them a win which the didn't really deserve. Despite our dominance of possession and their going down to 10 men, their keeper must have had the easiest pay day of his career. The net result of this is that we were subjected to a particularly boring game of football. We didn't even have the half time pitch watering to entertain us. I would have had more fun had I stayed at home and done the ironing.

Yes, you are absolutely right. I was confusing Miles with Dani Lopez in my earlier post.

Very impressed with him. He's provided the spark to get our season up and running. We would love him to stay but what with the way he is playing and the form Swindon are showing at the moment I would imagine you would want him back. We can but hope that there are reasons behind the scenes which lead to him staying.

Just looked up D D's profile.............. doesn't give his age but I think he is catching up with us Scarlet. No, I'm not catching up with you two - I'm staying the same respectful distance behind you. We all get one year older every year but perhaps you are losing count?

We need to get a significant number of players signed up on extended contracts but it is more difficult to do that if there is a lack of clarity on who the manager will be next season. Personally, I think the Dundee Utd saga has indicated that Yogi wants to move on to a higher profile club. I am actually disappointed that the club did not give Utd permission to talk to Yogi, after all, if he would rather be here than there, then why would he talk to them in any case? If the club want to retain Hughes he needs to be made an offer soon and with a deadline for signing. If he signs, then players will know what they would be signing up for in a contract extension. If he doesn't sign then the club can take steps to make an early appointment to minimise the period of uncertainty.