DoofersDad

Interesting little table there Sneckboy. It would be good to set the record straight against one or two of the sides we have only ever lost against in the cup. Perhaps start off with Rangers, Falkirk, Hibs or Queen of the South from the Championship and sort out Aberdeen or Dundee later in the competition.

Good effort from Nairn as well. Narrowly lost 2-1 away to Arbroath who are well clear at the top in division 2.

Only the Scottish football authorities could manage to make the League Cup draw a few minutes after 3rd round of the Scottish Cup has finished. Meanwhile we need to wait till Monday for the draw for the competition which was played today.

On the face of it a one nil loss at Parkhead is not bad but it seems clear from the commentary that a bit more belief in the attacking ability of the team and this was a game we could have won. Celtic are no great shakes at the back and ealier pressure might have produced a different outcome.

Not much of a gamble if you've got your ticket for free!

It's strange how our perception of others is different from our perception of how others will percieve us. We are inhibited about singing because we think people will think we are strange or something, yet when someone just like ourself starts singing we look at them and think "good on yer". It works the other way as well. If everybody around you is singing then you feel self conscious about not singing. The difficulty is to get enough singing first so that others feel more comfortable about joining in.

SP, you ask, "are you still not happy with the progress recently made since the change of management?" I ask, what progress are you referring to? As I said in my post, I am very encouraged by the improved performance at the start of this season compared with the end of last season - but since the change of management? Since Yogi took over we have played 42 competitive games, winning 15, drawing 13 and losing 14. In the year and a bit before Butcher left we played 58 competitive games winning 25, drawing 19 and losing 14. Can you please explain how a significantly inferior record over a prolonged period represents progress? These are the facts. There is no point accusing me of being negative just because I base my comments on the facts. If you read my posts you will see I am actually being very positive about the team. I state "I am absolutely delighted that we are where we are". I refer to our "wonderful squad" which I believe can "do something really special". And in talking about whether we can finish in the top 3 this season, I state "I firmly believe this squad is capable of doing so." Just how much more positive can one get! You also ask "when will you ever just come out and just say that J.H is doing a great job?" The answer is simple. When the results and performances on the park demonstrate that he is! Yes, I know we are second in the league and that is great, but we are only just over a quarter through the season. We have a great squad who should be able to stay close to the top throughout the season. If we can achieve that then I will be absolutely delighted to say that Yogi has done a great job. In truth, there is still some way to go before we can say the team has progressed under Yogi's management but he certainly has my full support and best wishes for the task ahead.

Were you at the County match? The first half was one of the worst displays I have seen from an ICT side for many a long year. The 2nd half was much better and we had a had a thoroughly professional 90 minutes this last Saturday. Reality is that the side is not playing the most attractive football ever. It is pretty variable but has the potential to be the best ever. I'm not sure how you come to the conclusion that Yogi has already surpassed our expectations because he has some way to go before he surpasses mine. Last season he took over after 13 league games with the team in 2nd place. In the remaining games our performance slumped and had the earlier form not been so good we would have been firmly in the bottom six. This season has shown a significant improvement and the side appears to have got back to around the level Yogi inherited it. I don't think anyone on here is saying that as a club we are not punching above our weight and are not delighted that this is the case! But the thing is that with the wonderful squad we have and with the way so many of the bigger clubs in Scotland are floundering at the moment, we have the opportunity do something really special. We will probably never have a better chance of finishing in the top 3 than we will this season. It really is important that we seize this opportunity and I firmly believe this squad is capable of doing so. My long term expectation of this club is that we might fluctuate between bottom six and Championship level and therefore I am absolutely delighted that we are where we are. However, reality is also about basing our expectations for this season on the quality of the squad we currently have and not on the level of resources the club has which might dictate the quality of the squad in future years. Given the talent we have here, the latter part of last season was desperately disappointing. This season has been much better, but progress needs to continue if Yogi is to be judged a success. Let's face facts, if the first third of this season had continued in the same vein as the last 2 thirds of last season, people would be clamouring for Yogi's head by now. He has only sporadically got the best out of this squad and whilst things are undoubtedly improving on the whole (and that's very encouraging), it is far too early to label Yogi as a success.

That's an interesting stat. What about last season?

If he was wanting away, best way of getting money for him is to play him and let everyone see how good he is. So many of the chances we create involve him in the build up and he's not frightened of going for goal himself. 2nd highest scorer both this season and last. He should be on the park playing and not warming the bench - and we shouldn't be looking to sell him unless he wants away.

I'm a lot more encouraged now than I was at the end of last season although I am still some way from being convinced the Yogi is going to take the team forward. When he took over we had secured 28 points from 13 games last season and so to match that this season we need to win our next two games, one of which is away at Celtic Park. What that would mean is that after a slump in the latter part of last season, Yogi will have brought the team back up to where it was when he took over. I accept that to achieve that is no mean feat but equally it doesn't necessarily represent progress. Before we get too excited I think we need to bear in mind that we have had a lot going for us this season. We started the season with a settled side, strengthened with the return of Tansey and the emergence of Christie. We have been generally injury free - Foran is a long term injury but frankly I can't see him getting in the starting XI if everyone else is fully fit. Both Motherwell and St Johnstone seem to be shadows of the teams they were last year whilst Aberdeen and Dundee Utd have both been less impressive than we might have expected. I do worry that our position may flatter to deceive a little. I think Renegade has it spot on when he talks about the need to grab hold of the game every game. That is what we do best and it is what entertains. Even in games where we play well (like this Saturday) there are periods when we seem unwilling to move the ball forward and we pass it sideways and backward and finally to Brill. Yogi has said in the past that the opposition can't score if they can't get the ball. But equally, we can't score if we don't get the ball in the final quarter and the opposition is less likely to score if it wins possession of the ball in their half of the pitch than in ours. We need to be putting the sting into the game, not taking it out. If we do that, this team can be very, very good indeed. I've always said that the time to judge the new manager is at the end of the season and I stick by that. Looking at the the state of the opposition this year and particularly the slump in the performances of Motherwell and St Johnstone, I think finishing lower than fourth would be disappointing and finishing 7th or below would represent failure. The team has the ability to finish in the top 3 but that will be dependent on consistently playing to our strengths.

I'd be inclined to keep the same side as played today. Vincent played well and he may give us a bit more solidity in the midfield. Today's line up certainly snuffed out United's undoubted attacking flair and we need the same against Celtic. Perhaps look to bring Christie on as an impact sub. Certainly we need to press Celtic and not revert to the tactic of playing keep ball in our own half. Tactics more important than personnel in my view.

No idea. I don't know the names of the Chorley players.

That was a really good team performance. After a bit of a tentative start we got the goal when Utd looked the more likely. After that we played far more confidently and dominated the game. What was most pleasing was the work rate and the way we won the ball in all areas of the park. Utd have good attacking players but they were not allowed time on the ball and time and time again their attacks were snuffed out before they had really begun. The only downside is that our superiority in midfield really should have resulted in a bigger margin of victory. The lesson to take from this (and other games) is that we need to take the game to the opposition early and press them hard - play the game in the opposition half. Sitting back, focusing on keeping possession and being patient only puts pressure on us, particularly when we are not scoring freely. Difficult to pick out standout players as it was a good all round team performance. Watkins and the midfield all good, but for me Graeme Shinnie edged it. He was solid at the back but was also very effective going forward. He led the team by example today. Whilst on the subject of Shinnie, I wonder what his brother must be thinking? Sitting on the bench at St Andrew's watching his team slip into the Championship by getting thrashed 8 - 0 whilst the team he left go joint top of the Scottish Premiership.

The one that really annoys me is the teams that fail in the earlier rounds of the Champions League getting a place in the Europa league. What easier way is there to distrubute the pot a bit more widely than filling these slots with teams which currently just miss out? Presumably the rationalle here is that teams dropping out of the champions league will be "big fish" in the Europa league and attract bigger TV audiences. I can understand that - but it still stinks!

Saw this on the BBC website http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/29683379. Taarabt of QPR getting paid between £60k and £70k a week and can't be bothered to train properly and keep himself fit enough to play. His annual salary is not far off ICT's total annual turnover. Whilst not wanting to get into a debate about just how much the very top players are worth, there is clearly a huge amount of money in the game squandered on wages which are not justifiable. Put into perspective, if Taarabt's wages were instead given to ICT, the club could offer free admission to all games and double the players wages - if that didn't bring in the crowds, I don't know what would! We can tinker around at the edges to try and improve things but the root problem is the current pattern of distribution of money in the game. I know some will argue that what we have is what market forces dictate, but as with the economy of society in general, there is a need to redistribute some of the wealth for the wider common good. It may be that the big audience for football world wide is a TV audience who want to watch Barcelona, Bayern, Man Utd etc, but the fact remains that these clubs are dependent on the grass roots to develop the players who the big clubs buy. The distribution of money within the game gives absurd amounts of money to a very significant number of players in the big leagues (and not just the elite teams) and this seriously threatens the viability of the game at lower levels. This can't be good for the long term future of the game at any level, but the trouble is that the power is in the hands of those making mega bucks in the short term. Things need to change but sadly, I can't see it happening.

Apparently in Uganda they think Billy Mckay is a cool and exotic name.

A guy close to me was questioning why the pitch was being watered. He said they would be better painting arrows on the grass to show the team which way to kick the ball!

Of course! My point is to ask why we played the way we did in the first half.

We were very lucky to get a point today. County should have been out of sight at half time. Nobody seemed to pick up Quinn on the left and he alone had 3 glorious chances to score but fluffed the lot. Our goal then stemmed from County copying us and playing tippy tappy stuff in their own half. They got punnished and then it was game on. A much more direct approach gave us the level of superiority County had in the first half and it was only a combination of fine keeping from Brown and other players getting blocks in that kept the scores level. County are not a good side. Had we played in the first half the way we played in the second, we might have taken them apart. Hopefully the club will use the international break to analyse the reasons why the team were booed off the pitch at half time and do something about it.

There was no plan B. The plan was to kick the ball toward the North Stand.

It was less than that last year at New Year so if we get 4,500 it could be seen as a good crowd. But if we can't attract more than that to a derby game then you can kiss goodbye to any thought of regular attendances of more than 3,000 regardless of how successful the team are on the pitch. Anyhow, I'm looking forward to it even if the majority of the Inverness population couldn't care less.

On the face of this is a game we should win. Our home record this season against their away record; our settled side against a team still getting to know each other. But as Aberdeen discovered last night, there are no easy games in this league - and this is a derby. Anything could happen. Despite their lowly position, I have spoken to County fans who are quite relaxed about that and who say that County have been playing pretty well. Their view is that as the team gels together and with the new manager the results will come. The stats show they have created more chances that us this season so there can be no complacency here. I think it will be a pretty tight match. County will be in our faces, closing us down quickly and trying to disrupt our passing game. I think we need to make it a fast expansive game, stretching them from the start. That style suits us better than County but I'm not sure Yogi will see it that way. I wouldn't be surprised to see County edge it, but on the other hand it will maybe be the day the ball runs kindly for Billy and he gets a much needed hat-trick. My prediction? Lots of talking points.

Think if you check again DD you'll find we also had 16 points from first seven games last season. Oops. And the crowd stats also related to the previous season. I've therefore deleted the post!

Some people come on here to share opinions and engage in debate around the issues - we don't come on here just to ruffle feathers. You come on here and criticise others for expressing opinions and then fail to offer any opinion of your on the issues even when challenged to do so.