ICTRoughi

Brill Meekings Warren Devine Shinnie Tansey Draper Watkins Christie Williams Mckay

Looking at the OP post, that is 5 massive fixtures we have coming up. In an ideal world 13 points would be the target.

Right let's get the tin hat on and think this one through properly. Firstly the results have not been pretty on the eyes however multiple times I have watched ICT under John Hughes we have actually played good football. Dundee United at Home and Ross County at Home were the only ones I really had cause for concern with. I can't really comment on the 5-0 game vs Celtic as I wasn't there. Aberdeen at home, sure we fell down quicker than a house on fire but after half time we dusted ourselves off and got back into the game where we were close to a point. Last Sunday, sure bitterly disappointing to lose a major cup final but we took Aberdeen all the way to penalties despite having a game the Wednesday before and Aberdeen were fully rested. That game came down to penalties which is nothing more than a lottery. We are quick to pass the blame when things go tits up but let's cast our mind back a couple weeks. We passed Ross County off the pitch at their own stamping ground and won 3-0. The Semi final we were so close to leaving Easter Road with nothing with 9 men but we didn't and got through via penalties. Beat Hearts 2-0 at Tynecastle in very difficult weather conditions. Now, it's easy to say Terry Butcher had control of the team for the first half and got us Top 6 but what he didn't do was get us to a major cup final and credit has to go to John Hughes for that. Nobody knows what would have happen if Butcher was still manager but we have to move on such as life. I wasn't a massive John Hughes fan and I still think the club missed a trick with Paul Hartley and co coming to the club but John Hughes realistically should be given till next season to put his on 'stamp' on the team. The next two games are massive games for us if we want to finish as high up as the league we can.

My post was sarcastic.

I agree with the OP. Should just get it over and done with and appoint Derek Adams. Jesus wept.

Hughes should be given next season to make it properly his team as half of the season was Butchers.

I am happy for Danny Devine to retain his place in the squad but I think leaving out Garry Warren was a mistake. In the team suggestion thread I suggested: Meekings Warren Devine Shinnie It would have been a similar set up as the Hibs game last Wednesday. Dropping Dean Brill would be a bigger mistake IMO.

Apologises for the late report but anyways I attended the game yesterday in Dingwall. It was a very even game and a game I thought we were very unlucky to lose. As the post above says the final result was 2-1 to Rangers. Rangers first goal came from a silly foul from Nick Draper which lead to a penalty which was scored. The game started very high tempo which was majority of it came from Rangers. Game then started to settle down and we started to play some good football. Our goal came from Ali Sutherland, a throw in from wide left into the box which Ali Sutherland met with a volley to the back of the net - very nice goal. Ali Sutherland is someone I would definitely would like ICT to keep hold off. He plays like a very speedy Aaron Doran, definitely one for the future. Nothing really noteworthy happened after the goal. After half time Conor Pepper got injured and got replaced by a young boy that I didn't really recognise (maybe Hayden Hollinger in previous game??) then after that it was same story of just attacks from both teams with no final finish. One thing I was a bit disappointed in was Ben Greenhalgh's yellow card. I think he was trying to claim a corner and then he clear as day shouts at the referee "What f***ing game are you watching referee?" Fair enough I understand that frustrations can get the better of you but it was a very silly thing to do. Rangers finally found the breakthrough in the 70 something minute to which was a shot from outside the box and the Rangers player actually was surprised that he scored, he actually thought he was going to miss, so overall it was a bit of a disappointing performance from Nick Draper yesterday aswell as this and the penalty foul, he didn't catch the ball during a cross aswell. Personally I have always preferred Cammy MacKay and I would like to see him play. After the second Rangers goal we kept plodding away but didn't really get much success and unfortunately missed out on a great point but wasn't meant to be.

I wasn't really impressed with Doran much last Sunday but mostly I think due to him being not fully fit. Personally I would rather he had the week off and get him fully fit for Partick on Saturday. I also wouldn't risk leaving out Mckay, sure I understand he needs rested but we need him up front.

Brill Meekings Warren Devine Shinnie Draper Tansey Foran Vincent Watkins Mckay

Out of list above I would give new deals to Matthew Cooper, Conor Pepper, Ben Greenhalgh, Adam Evans and Callum Ferguson. As a regular viewer of U20s I would also give Jason Brown, Calum Howarth, Ali Sutherland and Cammy MacKay a new deal too along with your suggestions.

HT: 1-0 FT: 3-1 1st ICT: Warren 1st M'Well: Sutton First Goal: 29 mins

Bump

OrJohn Beaton! although I hear he's the 4th official.. Yeah you're correct: http://spfl.co.uk/news/article/officials-named-for-league-cup-final/ He'll be hiding in the dugout. (touch wood Steven McLean doesn't get injured cause John Beaton would replace him)

HT: 1-1 FT: 2-2 1st ICT: Foran 1st Aberdeen: Reynolds First Goal: 5 mins Shots: 27 Corners: 13 1st Yellow Card: Foran *JOKER*

I have no worries over the referee this weekend because his name isn't Willie Gollum.

Saaakes we just missed out on a cup final coup. He just signed for Milwall.

Did you even watch the game yesterday. Williams was superb. ??? Care to elaborate your point? I assume it is your statement that Williams was superb. He wasn't! He was better than most but he was far from superb. Had he been superb I think we would have had rather more that just 4 attempts on goal. Collectively our attacking midfied was very poor last night. Williams was simply the best of a bad bunch. On an individual performance I thought Danny Williams was ICT man of the match. He was bursting with so much energy and put in a decent shift. Fair enough, superb was probably over exaggerating it but certainly no way I would have him miss out the final. Sure Ryan Christie done well when he came on but I'd rather see Danny Williams on the bench or even starting - remember our last game vs Aberdeen. I don't disagree regarding Williams being more deserving (if this is the correct description) than Ryan of a place. Bursting with energy perhaps but in the middle of the park he tends to run around a lot and achieve very little. Definately not superb last night - adequate perhaps (just?). For what its worth I would start with him wide left. The unfortunate thing about League Cup is that you can only have 5 subs and one of them has to be a goalkeeper. In an ideal world we should have both Williams and Christie on the bench at least. Don't get me wrong, it would be a tremendous achievement for Ryan to be on the bench on Sunday but due to the lack of spaces it may come a bit short. I think the way the game panned out last night, the team as a whole failed to achieve anything - maybe cup final on the minds. Left wing is going to be between Watkins, Ross and Williams and I personally think Yogi will go with Nick Ross. Recalling last night, Nick put in a good shift too.

Did you even watch the game yesterday. Williams was superb. ??? Care to elaborate your point? I assume it is your statement that Williams was superb. He wasn't! He was better than most but he was far from superb. Had he been superb I think we would have had rather more that just 4 attempts on goal. Collectively our attacking midfied was very poor last night. Williams was simply the best of a bad bunch. On an individual performance I thought Danny Williams was ICT man of the match. He was bursting with so much energy and put in a decent shift. Fair enough, superb was probably over exaggerating it but certainly no way I would have him miss out the final. Sure Ryan Christie done well when he came on but I'd rather see Danny Williams on the bench or even starting - remember our last game vs Aberdeen.

Did you even watch the game yesterday. Williams was superb. ??? Care to elaborate your point?

Did you even watch the game yesterday. Williams was superb.

Next home U20 game vs Rangers Tuesday 18th at the Highland Football Academy in Dingwall 2pm KO.

http://www.afc.co.uk/articles/20140313/league-cup-final-ticket-update_2212158_3711128 Any updates on how we are doing with our allocation?

Brill Raven Meekings Devine Shinnie Foran Draper Watkins Tansey Williams Mckay Subs: Esson, Tremarco, Vincent, Christie, Ross If Aaron Doran is fit to play then instead of Watkins and drop Watkins to the bench. It may be easy to say start a fresh Marley Watkins but I feel if we bring him on as an impact sub like we did at Ross County it would be good!

Well that had much more positives and it was a nice warm up for Sunday. Last Sunday I was seething at the performance and tonight was a massive improvement (Least we didn't ship 5 goals ) I thought that both teams didn't really create much but for ICT I thought it wasn't for the lack of trying. I thought that despite what people say about Hibs, I thought they had a good defensive performance and luckily for us they lacked fire power up front. On the match thread last Sunday I made the point about the direction on touchline, well the lack of direction on the touchline and let me just say what a difference tonight. John Hughes got ripped into them and got the boys motivated and got them working harder. At no point tonight I thought individually a player was slacking and they gave it their best shot. I have to point out even wee Russell Latapy was getting involved with the instructions - it was pleasing. Another point I made on the United thread was about the 4-4-2 formation and I was really pleased that we went back to "business as usual" and reverted to 4-2-3-1 and again what a difference already. Last Sunday I thought that Richie Foran up front with Billy Mckay wasn't the answer and to see him back holding the midfield again was really good. I find Liam Polworth just a bit too lightweight for the top league and if we played Richie Foran upfront I think we would have exposed the midfield and they would have walked all over us. I take my hat off to you John for making a change and getting the confidence back. My man of the match tonight was Danny Williams. He gave it 110% tonight and I really hope is at least on the bench on Sunday - Superb performance. Carl Tremarco had a good game running down the left wing, getting in tackles and finding himself in space. Defensively I thought we were much better tonight and Gary Warren was superb just gutted he isn't playing on Sunday however I am not writing off Danny Devine who had a solid game. Ryan Christie and Adam Evans. They were really good when they came on and they brought a spark and freshness to the game really pleased for them. Gutted for Ben Greenhalgh and Conor Pepper not getting a game - doesn't look good for the lads with contracts up in June. The only negative I can take from tonight is Billy Mckay's lack of goals. I really hope he finds his shooting boots on Sunday. Now with Hibs out of the way, thus begins the run in to the cup final! C'Mon the Caley Jags!