ICTRoughi

People that are against Ryan Christie starting vs Ross County - Ryan Gauld. He has the potential and will do really well in the first team.

That's a good shout! Can't see him being satisfied sitting on the bench, which is where he would be unless McKay is dropped (!) or a complete change in the formation that got us to 2nd (which is a risk that might be immediatley rescinded leaving one or other on the bench). What about playing 2 up front instead of the "Shinnie Role" behind Mckay. Mckay and El Alagui would be a fantastic partnership.

That's a good shout!

Brill Raven Meekings Warren Shinnie Draper Williams Doran Christie Ross Mckay

I see ex falkirk striker Lyle Taylor has gone to Partick Thistle on loan. That's the type of player we need! As for Tony Watt coming here, would've better signing him if Terry Butcher was still manager but in saying that Richie would be just as good to sort him out. I made a suggestion the other day, Bahruddin Atajic, every time I watched him against our U20 and also Ross County's u20 he was always a stand out for them.

That's the worrying thing, although we have a good strikeforce that comes down to Billy Mckay. Say Billy gets injured or suspended (touch wood), then where will the goals come from. We really do need more help upfront, a tall goalscorer would be nice!

Well put it this way. From what we have seen, there is very little evidence that he is capable of doing well for us upfront, and add to that the fact that he is a 22 year old striker who hasn't scored even a single goal since he was 18. We need a 2nd choice striker who is at least remotely capable of challenging for a 1st team place, and sadly he isn't the answer. He was a panic signing when it became apparent that Curtis was a total dud. To be fair to Toby, how he nor Shane Sutherland from previous seasons could make an impact in a game within 10/20 mins is beyond me. I have watched Toby at U20 games, at the start of the season he was scoring goals granted he only scored like 2 maybe 3 but I agree we need a solid 2nd choice goalscorer that can influence the game at anytime and I don't think Toby can do that.

Just after watching Yogi's post match interview on the official YouTube channel, I wholeheartedly agree with what he said regards the January transfer window: "If we can keep everyone at this football club, then I make that good business" I think that the depth in the squad is actually not too bad when you compare this squad to last seasons. Do we need to strengthen? - I don't think so. What we need to do is Yogi to get in about the squad and be the motivator that Terry Butcher was. However, with Curtis Allen leaving and Toby Agdestein's contract running out next month, I think Yogi needs to address the strikers situation as we are very light. Will we be renewing Toby's contract? Is Calum Ferguson ready to be a back up striker? What about the Arsenal link up, is it still there after Philip Roberts, we could utilise that. Other than strikers, I think our current squad is the best we could ask for and we desperately need to keep hold of that. I agree about an assistant manager coming in though.

Well I certainly was not impressed by Celtic today which makes it hard to take that we didn't get anything out of the game. When the goal went in at 4 mins, I thought to myself that this is going to be reminiscent of the first half against Aberdeen. We done well to keep Celtic at bay for most of the game and luckily Celtic didn't have much end product, so we should have brought the game to them. The fear factor of playing Celtic is gone and they were there for the taking. I really don't understand why we are reverting to a long ball play to Mckay - it won't work. Credit to Dean Brill today who made very important saves aswell. Why David Raven is still absent from the starting eleven beats me. Celtic's goal came from the right hand side, so who knows what would have happened if he was right back. As a post above says the link up between Raven and Doran is something we are missing. Unfortunately Nick Ross didn't have the greatest of games but I just don't think he is suited to the role behind Mckay. I was pleased to see Ryan Christie get included today and get some game time. I would go further and play him ahead of Nick Ross. Danny Williams at centre mid is not for us. Williams is more of a winger than a centre mid, don't get me wrong he tried his best in a bad situation without Foran but Liam Polworth might be a better option or Carl Tremarco. I feel like we need a bigger presence in the centre mid alongside Ross Draper. The honeymoon period for John Hughes is now over and we need more influence from him in the dugout and a good game to start that vs Ross County.

Celtic Park and Easter Road are both free the weekend of 15-16th of March. Ibrox and Tynecastle both used on the 15th.

Brill Raven Meekings Warren Shinnie Draper Tremarco Doran Ross Watkins Mckay The battle in the midfield would interest me greatly. Scott Brown and Kris Commons are the ones that create the attacks for Celtic and I personally think Draper and Tremarco's strength would stop Celtic creating anything.

Brill Raven Meekings Warren Shinnie Williams Tremarco Doran Ross Watkins/Greenhalgh Mckay

Club have confirmed aswell that Cameron MacKay has gone on loan to Clachnacuddin for 28 days.

I'm gutted for Curtis that things didn't work out here. Watching YouTube videos and seeing his track record in Northern Ireland it seemed like we picked up another Billy Mckay however watching him in U20 games I wasn't overly impressed and his fitness didn't seem to be too sharp. I think tying up Toby Agdestein on a longer deal would be a more worthwhile move.

Tyrone Smith of STV saying it's a two and a half year deal with Coaching included. Also stated that Curtis Allen has left the building.

MFR reporting that Ryan Esson has signed a new deal which includes coaching - Good move!

1-2 now, Celtic get a goal back from Denny Johnstone.

Once the January transfer window is over and they have bought themselves up the table.

I'm not entirely sure Yogi would want that. I still think he will bring his own man in.

Chaps….what’s the latest on Jamie Vincent, I believe he was out ‘til Christmas, can we expect a return early in the NewYear? : In a recent interview on the club's official YouTube channel, Yogi confirmed that James Vincent had been told that he could step up his training and move closer to full fitness. I for one am looking forward to the return of James Vincent however it's going to give Yogi a selection headache because although I thought Vincent is better in the CAM role than Nick Ross, he has been playing well. If you take Nick out of there and put him back on the wing then have the headache of Nick Ross vs Marley Watkins and I personally want both players on the pitch I notice that David Raven has been sitting on the bench since his return from injury, is Tremarco playing that well, or was Raven playing poorly before his injury: I think the reason for Raven's absence from the squad is basically that Graeme Shinnie and Carl Tremarco have been very good defensively there's no reason to put Raven back in - as the saying goes "Why fix something that isn't broken" I have also been watching Raven play in the U20 squad and he is still playing his usual game but tends to get caught out at times but the main thing for Raven to do is to maintain his fitness as he could be drafted into the squad at anytime and I personally feel happy to have a good back up in David Raven. Marley Watkins… I thought Vincent was the ‘find of the season’, but he got injured too soon, however Watkins has come in, in a different role and looks like he is providing a constant threat, the BBC report from the Hearts match yesterday said ‘he supplied most of the forward momentum in their engine room.’ He certainly impressed me when I came up, and from comments on this site seems quite highly rated…could he be a potential POTY? : I attended the game and I thought that Marley Watkins was the stand out for the team. As mentioned above it's going to give Yogi a selection headache when James Vincent comes back into the team but I have been very impressed since Watkins has come into the team. Dean Brill has come in, and not given Esson a sniff of the goalkeeping jersey, in terms of goalies over the last few seasons how do you guys rate him?: I am going to go out on a limb here and say that Dean Brill so far is better than Antonio Reguero was last season. During pre season I was very dubious on Dean's performances but then friendlies are only games that focus on match fitness but Brill has been a very consistent goalkeeper since Reguero has left but what makes Brill stand out is that I feel he organises the defence better than Reguero did. With Brill in goals I feel like we are in safe hands. Regarding Ryan Esson, no offence intended but I would like to see him as a coach for the club and we develop Nick Draper and Cameron MacKay into the back up to Dean. Aaron Doran… I see his name mentioned a fair bit in match reports, for good strikes on goal, and he has weighed in with a couple recently, when I have watched him he kind of frustrates me, as I think he could be a really good player, is he having a good spell at the mo? : When I think of Aaron Doran, I don't really expect goals from him. The style of play that he has is that he creates the attacking moves and that is something he has done very well since Jonny Hayes left. I feel that Doran hasn't put a foot wrong in the last two seasons and he's done really well for the team. Of course it's nice when Doran scores goals but it's not the end of the world if he doesn't... (Unless he misses a game changing opportunity) Billy McKay….scored two yesterday and already has a decent tally for the season, does anyone think he might be a transfer target for someone come January (and not just Butcher), and would the board let him go if decent money were offered?: I have seen people saying that various clubs scouts (Including Celtic) attended the game yesterday to watch Billy. I think that it's inevitable that offers will be made for Billy but it's down to club at the end of the day and if the offer is best for the club then we trust the board. Hypothetically if Billy was to go then it would be Yogi's choice to get a replacement and that would be something I would watch with interest. Toby Adgestein, I am starting to think he might be a goner with his contract up next month and then we would be left with Curtis Allen - No thanks. I wonder if the Arsenal link is still there after Philip Roberts and maybe we might be able to get a replacement there if needed. Remember Yogi picked out a young Anthony Stokes from Arsenal youths for Falkirk and then look what happened!

I was one of those opposed to him getting the job here. In saying that, But I'm glad he's got a job back in Scottish football, just glad it's not with us! When I heard Kenny on Sportsound before Yogi got appointed, the only word I could say about him was - Bitter. He stated that managers of the SPL (Premiership) get jobs based on playing for Celtic or Rangers - what absolute tosh! I firmly believe Yogi got the job based on his vision and direction of the club that Yogi can take us. I think Kenny used the fact that Yogi played for Celtic as a crutch to his argument.

Kenny Shiels is the new manager of Morton.

Ryan Esson would be most realistic. What's Craig Gordon up to these days?

Just back from watching the U20 game today. Firstly I have to say how impressive the Aberdeen U20 team was. They played a very good passing game and just battered our U20 team. For me a stand out for their team was Cammy Smith, what a terrific player he is turning out to be for them. Second half the ICT U20 team started very brightly and there was a terrific fighting spirit in the team and the two goals came Ryan Christie. Every U20 game that I have attended, I have always left thinking what a terrific performance the lad has had. I seen that Yogi was at the game today so hopefully he will be as impressed as I was today with Ryan. A note to make about the second half is that Yogi actually spent the second half in the ICT dugout so part of me is wondering whether he took the half time team talk and then things improved greatly! Another fact to point out from what I can actually see is that in the second half from what I saw is that we changed from the usual 4-2-3-1 to a 4-4-2 which actually worked until the dying minutes of the game where we burnt out and Aberdeen managed to get a late fourth. Ryan Esson was back in goals again today and in my opinion I would have rather have Nick Draper or Cameron MacKay. No great disrespect to Ryan but Dean Brill is going to be number 1 for a long time so maybe he should go into a coaching role at the club.