PaderbornCaley

I don‘t think cup yellows count. Could be our lowest away crowd of the season tomorrow. Quite a few usuals not going. We‘ll just have to shout extra loud :)

Well before Yogi arrived. His first game back from injury and on to the bench was the 2-0 win at Hibs. Been on the bench ever since.

It's been a poor start in terms of results and performances under Yogi but no need to panic. RIG, making comparisons to other managers starts is all very well but there are different circumstances every time. Perhaps we should have re-signed Baltacha due to his 13 points from 6 games!? Many folk were unhappy with the appointment. Fair enough. Most folk that were unhappy decided to set aside their disagreement with the appointment to give him the benefit of the doubt. However some of the doubters seem to be taking great satisfaction in the poor start as if to say 'we told you so'. It's 6 games in FFS. Hard fought draws at Midden, and Partick as well as a very good performance at Hearts. Three defeats at home, one of them narrowly defeated by Celtic when I think we deserved something and a narrow defeat to Aberdeen. The only match I was entirely dissatisfied with was the County match. Of course, i'm looking at it from a happy clappy style perspective. The pessismist would point out the disastrous start against Aberdeen and say we should have beaten Midden and Partick. However, we have drawn many times at the Midden. Last January we lost 2-1 (or maybe 2-0) in a midweek game. One of the worst performances of the season. Partick beat us at home this season and should have got something from the Celtic game. Speaking of the Midden game, Yogi had been in the door only a few days. He did not take the team that day. He let Shearer pick the team and Yogi sat in the stand to observe. It wasn't a great performance but it can't be attributed to Yogi. Last January and February was a horrible period for ICT. The performances in most games were similar to the performance against County the other day. Our players seem to take these bizarre dips in confidence / form. I genuinly believe that it is not the fault of Yogi, however it is now his priority to sort it out - asap. I noticed that before Yogi was appointed, although we were still getting results, we were starting to play more sluggish football and not on top form. We were excellent against Hibs in Mo's last game in the dug out. However there were games where we were poor. The 4-0 defeat in Perth, the 2-1 defeat at home to Partick, the half of football against County that was abandoned - wasn't great to watch and was generally poor. First half against Morton was awful for example. The victory against St Johnstone in Inverness - great result but overall not a great performance. Can't complain at the time but you can compare it to recent performances. I don't think it was any worse than say the performance against Celtic or the second half against Aberdeen and Hearts. Also, despite the horrific conditions I thought in the 2nd half the lads showed great confidence and skill when defeating Hearts. Could have and should have been more. Yogi said he was hoping his appointment would be a smooth transition and he would hope that everyone would feel like it was business as usual. If you look at the team line ups, he has kept the same team, only changing the starting XI when injuries dictate. Raven was out injured for quite a while before coming back onto the bench against Hibs. He has continued to be on the bench. The back four has remained unchanged. This was the same back 4 that beat Hibs, St Johnstone, Morton, Killie etc and got us quite a few clean sheets. The team are set up in the same way as Butcher would have set them up. I'm told that training is very similar to the way it was under Mo and Terry. I'm also reliably informed that the players like him and look up to him so it's not like he has lost the dressing room. So what has gone wrong!? Training is similar, the line ups are similar, and he has the dressing room. I would have thought that business as usual would have then reflected on to the park. I do believe cracks were showing before he arrived. We have a small squad and some of the performances of late have looked like some of them are tired. He's kept faith with the same back 4 that had won us many clean sheets. Business as usual for sure, but I do believe this was a mistake. The coaching staff know the team better than he does. He's still learning their strengths and weakness. I really hope that the coaching staff have convinced him / can convince him that we need Raven back at right back. I did hope that after Ravens substitute performance against the Dons he would have seen this as well. Butcher made mistakes. Every manager does and I do believe that Yogi has made a mistake in not starting Raven. Plenty of attack comes from him at RB and Shinnie is better at LB. After the Aberdeen game I believe Raven should have found his place back into the team for the Partick / Celtic / County games. Perhaps with his drive and build up play from the right hand side we would have scored against Partick and Celtic. Perhaps we wouldn't have conceded against County. All speculation on my part of course and Raven is just one player. Some of the players look tired (yet i'm led to believe they are not being overtrained). Therefore, it's time for Yogi to make changes. Starting with Motherwell on Saturday. Raven MUST come in. I hope the coaching staff can see that as well, as they have seen Raven play that position more than Yogi has. Yogi is a big fan of the youth so hopefully we see Polwarth and Christie feature more regularly soon. I stand by my very positive comments at his appointment. I understand why certain folk have reservations, but I do believe it's too early to write him off. Motherwell is one of the toughest places to go to, and we have a poor record there. Not the best game for a manager that is getting flack from fans. However I think some of the flack and comments are far too harsh. Yogis priority now is to stop the rot. I don't believe he is at fault for the rot, but he will need to stop the rot as soon as possible. This is his short term mission. I'm sure we all hope he succeeds.

I've booked on the Supporters Bus for this one since i'm up in Inverness at the moment. Hopefully get into the Fir Park Social club for a couple pre match. Will be there afterwards and into Glasgow as i'm not going back up to the Sneck.

Eat Sleep Raven Repeat

To be fair, Danny has broke into the starting XI just as the team in general has started to under perform, for reasons that I cannot explain. If the whole team were firing on all cylinders, then perhaps Danny would be as well. The team in general were poor today, and Danny was one of the better players. I thought for example he performed better than Draper and Doran today, and we all know they can play very well when at their best. As a matter of fact, on reflection i'd probably say he was our best player today, albeit on a day when most players had a bad day at the office! One thing I felt lacking from todays game was players were not getting wide enough. Everything was getting clogged up in the middle. Far too many times when attacking, there'd be an empty space on the right hand side. This is where Raven is good for darting up from defence (get him back in). However it can be the perfect opportunity for Danny to show us what he's made of. Get him on the right wing for Motherwell and give him a chance.

Danny Williams has a blue tick on his twitter account. So that's something I suppose.

Remember Mrs Shinnie going radge at RedCard at Tannadice when everyone was heckling him. Those were the days

Andrew Shinnie was terrible for the first couple of months at ICT. Took a while to adjust. Danny is being played out of position and i‘d like to see him play on the right wing. We signed him based on his performances on the right wing for Kendal.

Brill in Goals Back 4: Assuming Warren is suspended. If Warren is not suspended then naturally he should start. Raven needs to come back in at RB. He can drive forward from that position and we are missing him. Tremarco is fine at LB and it could be time to try Shinnie further forward. Devine has shown his competency at centre back before assuming Warren is out. Raven Meekings Devine Tremarco Midfield: Williams was a right winger at Kendal. Lets see what he can do in his natural position! Assuming Draper is suspended. If Watkins is out, then Polwarth starting. Graeme Shinnie on left wing to push forward. Williams Watkins Doran Shinnie Forwards: Nicky has impressed before when put up front. Well have a strong defence and Billy knocking the ball down for Nicky (and vice verca) could help get into them. Ross McKay

Feck it. I‘ll play.

What was that?! We were dire in the Partick game and just as bad if not worse today. There appeared to be no fighting spirit in the team. Lethargic, they could barely string a pass together. Sub number 2 should have been made far sooner as it was clear shortly into the second half that we were not improving. Who was actually meant to be on the right wing?! Nobody was getting wide. It‘s been said by many on here but Raven needs to start again. He brings plenty in his attack from defence that was missing today. He MUST start against Motherwell. If Hibs win tomorrow then suddenly we are looking over our shoulder at bottom 6. Christie impressed during his short spell on the pitch against Celtic. I would have put him on today, although Polwarth played well when he came on. I‘d like to see both of them feature more very soon.

I did not expect the SPFL to change the stand allocations. Delighted that they have. The prospect of getting < half of main stand split over two tiers was not enthralling at all. Really happy we have the Famous Five again. Good work :)

If it's ICT and St Johnstone in the final, we could play it at the public pitches in Carrbridge.

Yogi was in my top 3 preferred choices before he was appointed. So naturally I was delighted with the appointment and I am confident he will be a success long term.

Aye. Since i'm in Inverness over Christmas, i'm on the Supporters Bus instead of the usual Central Belt gathering.

Hows Marvins transfer coming along?

RYAN

History will repeat itself in that they will sign players to try and improve their position in January, however last season they got lucky in that this worked. Who's to say that they will sign players who will do the same job this season? I can't see it personally. Either way - it's not a long term option to operate like that. I think if it wasn't for Hearts position they'd be well fecked! They were 11th last January and after releasing a few players and signing 8 new players they managed to buy their way up to 5th. Excellent January business. All 8 of these players have left the club now, with the most recent one being Ivan Sproule. If they don't get the same quality of players in this January, I think they are doomed. The team that finishes 11th goes into the relegation / play off competition with top First Division teams.

Aye, Diggers pre match.

Taken just before they were planking on the luggage rack. ;-)

Pleasing. Already looked up train times last week in hope and anticipation that we'll get Stranraer :)

What I find very interesting about the Assistant Manager appointment is the approach Yogi is taking. It could be very easy for a football manager to take one of the guys they have worked with before as an Assistant. Yogi wants to see how the players and current coaching staff operate and choose someone that will be suited well to not only being his Assistant but suited to the club as well. That shows so much respect for the club and the players. This makes me trust in him that he really is the right fit for the club.