hislopsoffsideagain
-
Posts
922 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
35
Content Type
Profiles
Articles
Forums
Blogs
Store
Events
Everything posted by hislopsoffsideagain
-
I thought people might find this article amusing - Scottish football website The Terrace is running a series on every SPL club's 'worst XI' from the SPL era. I was asked to do ICT's, and set 2004, our promotion to the SPL as the cut off point. I'm sure there will be disagreements with some of the picks, but I think most of them will be hard to argue with...particularly the dreaded Andy Barrowman! http://terracepodcast.com/1/post/2013/02/worst-xi-inverness-caledonian-thistle.html
-
January was a disappointing month for the club, with a penalty shootout defeat to Hearts and a league loss at St. Mirren. But it did see a first Player of the month award for young defender Josh Meekings. Meekings was voted as the star man in the games against Aberdeen and Hearts, and was second to Owain Tudur Jones for the St. Mirren game. His 80 votes put him 9 clear of Andy Shinnie. Shinnie does however have the consolation of taking the overall lead in the standings for Player of the Year, moving 4 points clear of Billy McKay. Overall quantity of votes cast for each player in January: (Used to decide Player of the Month) Player 19/01 26/01 30/01 TOTAL Josh Meekings 43 30 7 80 Andrew Shinnie 40 29 2 71 Billy McKay 39 1 40 Aaron Doran 15 11 6 32 Graeme Shinnie 5 23 3 31 Gary Warren 8 20 3 31 David Raven 24 4 28 Owain Tudur-Jones 2 12 9 23 Ross Draper 11 2 1 14 Danny Devine 4 4 Richie Foran 2 1 3 Antonio Reguero 3 3 Shane Sutherland 2 2 Philip Roberts 1 1 Player of the Year Points ~ Current Standings : 2012/13 (Player of Month also highlighted in monthly column) Player AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY TOTAL Andrew Shinnie 11 10 5 6 6 38 Billy McKay 1 8 8 16 1 34 Richie Foran 21 10 31 Owain Tudur-Jones 3 3 2 12 5 25 Ross Draper 11 6 3 1 21 Gary Warren 5 3 1 4 7 20 Aaron Doran 3 1 6 9 1 20 David Raven 9 10 19 Josh Meekings 1 1 13 16 Antonio Ruguero 1 8 3 12 Ryan Esson 8 3 11 Graeme Shinnie 3 3 1 7 Andre Blackman 5 5 Conor Pepper 3 3 Philip Roberts 3 3 -
What a sickener. Feels like a defeat to be honest. The fact is that we only have ourselves to blame for not winning. We created more than enough chances, even without playing particularly well. In front of goal we lacked composure. For the first time since September, our forwards look short of confidence in the box. For the umpteenth time, I was left perplexed by our subs. Devine looked completely at sea in midfield. He didn't look like he had ever played there before, and Killie just waltzed through the middle of the pitch after he came on. Their goal came because Sutherland failed to track their left back when he raced forward, and in the process left Raven hopelessly exposed against Dayton. All we needed at that point was a bit of extra energy on the park - bring on Pepper for crying out loud! The referee was hopeless as usual - how he failed to give a pen for a blatant foul on McKay by Sissoko is beyond me. Sending Shiels to the stand right at the end just seemed petty as well.
-
ICT v Celtic Match thread
hislopsoffsideagain replied to IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER's topic in Caley Thistle
It's always going to be hard to play against 12 men. I thought Craig Thomson's performance was flabbergasting; it was like different rules for each team. Their defenders were all over McKay and Shinnie without punishment, yet Celtic players were awarded fouls whenever one of our guys so much as breathed on them. From the moment Doran got blatantly tugged back on a counter-attack and he wouldn't even give a free-kick, let alone a yellow card, I knew there was no hope for us today. He was five yards away from Fraser's blatant handball and refused to give the penalty, and 90 seconds later Celtic scored. His decision to stop play for a Kayal 'injury' when we had an attack on was nothing short of scandalous - he signalled to everyone that there was a head knock, yet Kayal got up instantly when play stopped and had a knock to his thigh. In most countries, people like Thomson aren't even trusted to hold a pair of scissors - in Scotland we make them referees. I didn't think it was a poor performance from us today at all. Draper and Doran particularly stood out for me with excellent shifts, and our full backs both played very well. I don't know why Esson got the nod over Reguero; he looked a bit uncertain at times though I don't think he was at blame for any of the goals. The only big disappointment was Celtic's second, where we switched off after a corner was initially cleared and Gershon was virtually unchallenged as he headed home. I don't think it's unreasonable to claim that we have played well enough in the last four games to take something from each, and I just hope the players keep their heads held high because we will win plenty of games when we are playing as well as that. -
This summed up our week nicely - we had plenty of the ball but failed to take the opportunities we had, and all the breaks went to the opposition. Considering that we lost Foran and Andy Shinnie early on and our gameplan was out of the window, I thought we did pretty well. Without Andy Shinnie we lacked a killer pass which was our big problem today. We were well on top in the first half without threatening Cammy Bell - Kilmarnock spent most of it defending yet created the best chances. The first goal was just dreadful bad luck, and the second game when we were chasing it. Sometimes that's the way the cookie crumbles. Contrary to IHE, I thought Nick Ross was excellent. He, OTJ and for the most part the back four played well today. Sadly, our forwards were quiet, though that might have been due to a lack of service. Roberts looks dreadfully short on confidence, nothing was coming off for him at all. Oh well, at least we have a nice easy home game next week to get us back on track...oh, wait...
-
This smells of an SFA **** up - they seem to have mistakenly told Hearts that Wilson is not suspended. The subsequent explanation - or the lack of - mean that this now increasingly stinks of an SFA cover up. Either he has served his suspension or he hasn't. So far no-one has managed to define when he could have served the suspension - which implies that he hasn't done so. It sounds like the club were contacted this morning and told there was no issue - they have decided to ask the SFA to explain what happened and have not received a satisfactory answer. It doesn't sound to me like Hearts have done anything wrong, but it's increasingly likely that someone at Hampden has made an enormous error and the powers that be are hoping that, if they ignore questions about it for long enough, the problem will go away. And what do we do if it turns out the SFA made an @rse of it? Buggered if I know.
-
December was a hugely busy month for ICT, with seven matches - and an undefeated month too which saw plenty of drama as the side crushed Hibs and Dundee at home, produced a Lazarus-like comeback at Dundee United (from 3-0 down in 9 minutes) and decent draws with St. Mirren and St. Johnstone. It also saw two clashes with our local rivals, with a last-gasp equalizer in Dingwall earning us a replay where, ten days later, Caley Thistle eeked out another victory. And it's no surprise that, after an incredible spell of goalscoring form, that Billy McKay was CTO's Player of the month. The first 5 games of the month saw the diminutive Northern Irishman bag an incredible 9 goals, including a prized hat-trick at Tannadice. McKay was voted man of the match twice (against Ross County at home, and against Dundee Utd), as were Richie Foran (against Hibs and against Ross County away) and Owain Tudur Jones (against Dundee and St. Johnstone). Andy Shinnie was deemed the best player against St. Mirren. McKay's 143 votes, however put him 27 clear of Jones, with David Raven, player of the month for November, coming in third. McKay also takes over the lead in the overall standings...by a whisker from Andy Shinnie and Richie Foran. There's still a long way to go, but it seems likely the winner of this season's award will come from those three. Overall quantity of votes cast for each player in December: (Used to decide Player of the Month) Player 01/12 08/12 11/12 15/12 22/12 26/12 29/12 TOTAL Billy McKay 35 14 32 12 44 2 4 143 Owain Tudur-Jones 8 4 4 4 46 28 22 116 David Raven 8 20 7 8 12 30 12 97 Richie Foran 38 33 4 4 8 8 95 Andrew Shinnie 3 5 38 46 3 95 Gary Warren 2 4 18 6 10 5 21 66 Ross Draper 9 13 4 1 17 4 48 Antonio Reguero 2 6 25 1 2 11 47 Aaron Doran 6 15 4 1 3 6 36 Josh Meekings 10 4 9 3 26 Graeme Shinnie 5 5 4 1 1 4 20 Matthew Cooper 1 1 Player of the Year Points ~ Current Standings : 2012/13 (Player of Month also highlighted in monthly column) Player AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY TOTAL Billy McKay 1 8 8 16 33 Andrew Shinnie 11 10 5 6 32 Richie Foran 21 10 31 Ross Draper 11 6 3 1 21 Gary Warren 5 3 1 4 7 20 Owain Tudur-Jones 3 3 2 12 20 Aaron Doran 3 1 6 9 19 David Raven 9 10 19 Antonio Ruguero 1 8 3 12 Ryan Esson 8 3 11 Graeme Shinnie 3 3 6 Andre Blackman 5 5 Conor Pepper 3 3 Philip Roberts 3 3 Josh Meekings 1 1 3 -
Editorial note: First of all, we must apologise for the lateness of this article. Our resident vote collator Hislopsoffsideagain did submit it in plenty of time, but we dropped the ball editorially. So without further ado, here is the article for our Player of the Month award for November (which will be followed closely by the December article). Aside from a 5-1 shellacking at home to Motherwell, November was a successful month indeed for ICT, producing wins at Kilmarnock, Celtic and Aberdeen as well as a draw with Hearts in Inverness. In fact, the team did so well that they managed a clean sweep of SPL awards - manager of the month for Terry Butcher, Player of the month for on-form striker Billy McKay, and young player of the month for Aaron Doran. So it may come as a surprise that CaleyThistleOnline's Player of the month for November was not McKay (who was only sixth), or Doran (who came third) but... DAVID RAVEN!!!! After a somewhat shaky start to the campaign, the English right back has been the epitome of consistency in recent weeks - and clearly supporters have been noticing. Raven picked up 44 votes in November, and was man of the match in the Hearts game. He comfortably beat fellow defender Gary Warren (30 votes) into second. No player won more than one man of the match vote this month - Andrew Shinnie (vs Kilmarnock), Antonio Reguero (vs Motherwell), Aaron Doran (vs Celtic) and Billy McKay (vs Aberdeen), so the overall standings remain close. The elder Shinnie is now the outright leader, five points ahead of Richie Foran, with Ross Draper third. It is very, very close though... Overall quantity of votes cast for each player in November: (Used to decide Player of the Month) Player 03/11 10/11 18/11 24/11 27/11 TOTAL David Raven 2 21 12 2 7 44 Gary Warren 3 16 1 7 3 30 Aaron Doran 1 14 7 4 26 Antonio Reguero 4 13 7 2 26 Owain Tudur-Jones 5 14 3 1 1 24 Billy McKay 8 1 1 3 10 23 Josh Meekings 15 1 3 2 21 Richie Foran 5 6 5 3 19 Andrew Shinnie 11 1 3 1 2 18 Conor Pepper 4 4 Graeme Shinnie 1 1 2 4 Ross Draper 3 3 Shane Sutherland 1 1 Player of the Year Points ~ Current Standings : 2012/13 (Player of Month also highlighted in monthly column) Player AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY TOTAL Andrew Shinnie 11 10 5 26 Richie Foran 21 21 Ross Draper 11 6 3 20 Aaron Doran 3 1 6 9 19 Billy McKay 1 8 8 17 Gary Warren 5 3 1 4 13 Ryan Esson 8 3 11 David Raven 9 9 Antonio Ruguero 1 8 9 Owain Tudur-Jones 3 3 2 8 Graeme Shinnie 3 3 6 Andre Blackman 5 5 Conor Pepper 3 3 Philip Roberts 3 3 Josh Meekings 1 1 2 -
After every game, I think "it can't get any better than this", and the team keep proving me wrong. Long may it continue! I felt we were just about the better team in the first half, though Langfield only really had to make one save, a terrific stop from a Foran header. Aberdeen looked dangerous until Hayes spurned their best chance of the game early in the second period, denied by a great Reguero stop. After that, there was only one team in it. All three goals were superb. Did Andy Shinnie catch out Langfield at his near post for the first? He seemed to have the ball pretty much on the by-line, yet he found the opposite top corner. However he did it, it was just sublime. The second might be the best team goal we'll score all year. I think it was Doran who drove from midfield, then Draper back-heeled it into McKay's path, and the wee man shimmied round a defender and stuck it in the bottom corner. I can't wait to see it again. For the third, Raven crossed, Andy Shinnie got in front of one centre-back to flick it on, and McKay was quicker off the mark than the other centre-back to pounce and smash it in. I can't think of any particular criticisms at all today. It was a great team performance. Most of the praise will go to the attackers, but the defence played very well today, with Raven and Meekings real stand-outs for me. I was worried that the three weeks without a game might have sucked our momentum away, but no sign of that yet!
-
A cracking game for the neutral. Heart attack-inducing stuff for the supporters. Both teams seemed to just give up on the idea of defending, and the last 15 minutes saw each team taking a turn to attack the other. Whilst we had our share of chances, St. Mirren had two goals disallowed for offside and hit the bar and post late on. On the other hand, Craig Samson made some ridiculous saves at the other end, particularly one from a Doran header in the first half. Andrew Shinnie was absolutely awesome today, constantly finding space and driving forward. His goal was the latest in a line of very good goals we've scored at TCS this season, and might even be the best. I thought Draper had a really good game today too. The front players, as ever, looked very dangerous today. At the back, young Cooper looked a bit shellshocked at times. In the first half McGowan was beating him to every loose ball. The youngster got better in the second half and there's no doubt Warren was guiding him through the game. Not for the first time this season, Graeme Shinnie struggled when left isolated against a winger - Gary Teale appeared to be beating him at will. I don't know what was going on for their second goal - Teale given too much time and space to cross, and Stephen Thompson given the freedom of the six yard box to head home. We might not have got the three points, but it's still thrill-a-minute stuff so no arguments from me.
-
Well done guys, another superb result and another entertaining mattch too. This was such an open game that I felt nervous right up until the fourth goal because both teams were throwing so many players forward. Our centre backs did look a little exposed on a few occasions. But their defence - the excellent Rab Douglas aside - is just hideous and our forwards carved them open multiple times. Another terrific performance from McKay leading the line, and Andy Shinnie was just about unplayable in the second half. You wouldn't know we were 4-1 up if you'd looked at our dugout, where the boss appeared to have come down with an acute case of Tourette's in the second half! As far as I could tell, the standside linesman, Graeme Shinnie and Richie Foran bore the brunt of his ire... And isn't it nice that Colin Nish didn't score against us for a change? We are second in the SPL at Christmas. Bloody hell.
-
I was furious at missing this game for 'personal reasons' - turns out my decision to avoid the score and watch it on SkyPlus meant I was at least spared the cold weather and able to fast forward the last 20 minutes! First things first - the manager picked the wrong team. Butcher clearly remembered that Humphrey has taken Graeme Shinnie to town many times in the past and wanted Foran as extra protection on the left...but Foran offered no extra help, Humphrey ran riot, and by the time we changed it around we were two down. Not only that, but by playing Morrison and Jones in the middle we had no-one to get stuck in and make tackles - this is where Foran maybe should have started the match. When Butcher did move Richie up field, he stuck Andy Shinnie wide left where he saw virtually none of the ball. Of course, maybe Foran should have started up front - or even Sutherland - as Billy McKay has started 15 home games as an ICT player and we have won only two of those. Unfortunately when the likes of Motherwell (and Hearts last week) stop us from passing up the pitch, we can only hoof long balls, and McKay can't win them. It's not all his fault - he can't help that he is 5ft 8in. But he gets a lot more joy when we are away from home or when we are winning games and can play on the break. Aside from Doran (who ran his cotton socks off), the relatively solid Draper (relative to his fellow defenders at least) and Reguero (prior to his blunder for the fifth goal) the players were poor. Warren and Meekings have been outstanding as a partnership - but Warren was utterly bossed by Higdon today. Meekings was dreadful as well, and he will feel sick when he sees replays of his header straight to Murphy for the second goal. As mentioned above, Graeme Shinnie could not cope with Humphrey at all - the 1st and 2nd goals came because the winger got away and put in lousy crosses which we failed to clear properly (the first one was returned by the outstanding Law to set up Higdon). Sorry, Graeme, but you also fell asleep at the back post for the fourth goal as well - Cummins was your man and you lost him. In conclusion, the coaching staff didn't do their job well, the players didn't do their job well, and the crowd (in terms of numbers, volume and encouragement) didn't do their job well. So it's no wonder we got absolutely shellacked. Let's just hope it is a one-off, and not a sign that we are in a false position. But one thing is for certain - if Ross Draper has only one leg we still have to play him next week.
-
Andrew Shinnie is the talk of the town at the moment after earning his first Scotland call-up...and it's not surprising that, considering his excellent recent form, he was ICT's player of the month for October. The former Rangers youth player was the star man in the away victories at Dens Park and Ibrox, scoring in both matches as well as in the derby victory over Ross County. In a closely fought race this month, he edged Aaron Doran into second place by just two votes. Taking third was Spanish keeper Antonio Reguero, who has consistently excelled after taking over between the sticks following Ryan Esson's injury. The elder Shinnie now moves into a tie for the lead in the overall standings with club skipper Richie Foran, who missed three of the four October matches with injury. Ross Draper remains third overall. Overall quantity of votes cast for each player in October: (Used to decide Player of the Month) Player 05/10 19/10 27/10 31/10 TOTAL Andrew Shinnie 11 21 5 16 53 Aaron Doran 34 8 9 51 Antonio Reguero 13 17 14 2 46 Billy McKay 17 27 1 45 Ross Draper 25 4 3 8 40 Gary Warren 18 5 11 4 38 Graeme Shinnie 12 2 12 7 33 Josh Meekings 17 11 28 Owain Tudur-Jones 9 14 4 27 David Raven 3 2 4 3 12 Richie Foran 6 6 Philip Roberts 2 1 3 Shane Sutherland 2 2 Player of the Year Points ~ Current Standings : 2012/13 (Player of Month also highlighted in monthly column) Player AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY TOTAL Andrew Shinnie 11 10 21 Richie Foran 21 21 Ross Draper 11 6 3 20 Ryan Esson 8 3 11 Aaron Doran 3 1 6 10 Gary Warren 5 3 1 9 Billy McKay 1 8 9 Owain Tudur-Jones 3 3 6 Graeme Shinnie 3 3 6 Andre Blackman 5 5 Conor Pepper 3 3 Philip Roberts 3 3 Josh Meekings 1 1 2 Antonio Ruguero 1 1 -
I think it's a sign of how well we've been doing that we feel disappointed by only getting a point at home to Hearts. A fair result in the end, but the penalty decision was a shocker. Jones is going to clear the ball and the Hearts player runs into his leg. The big disappointment today was how disjointed our attacking players looked - in previous weeks they've appeared to have a telepathic understanding but today they looked like they'd never met before. We certainly don't look threatening when Doran and Andy Shinnie aren't playing well. In contrast our back four deserve plenty of plaudits - I thought they were all phenomenal today. David Raven looks twice the player he seemed in August. Warren and Meekings were majestic and Graeme Shinnie did well too., Foran also gave everything today. A bit of an off day really, but it's another point gained, I suppose.
-
Matchday Thread I.C.T. -V- St Johnstone
hislopsoffsideagain replied to Scotty's topic in Caley Thistle
Over the course of the 90 minutes I think a draw is fair - until we got the penalty (which would have ended up in the Firth but for the roof of the North Stand) St Johnstone looked to be shading it. But we had plenty of chances to double our lead, and the late equalizer was a soft goal which was all the more sickening - our back four had played extremely well up to that point. Warren was MOTM for me, with Raven and Graeme Shinnie also very decent. Reguero's parents were sitting next to my mum and dad and must have been proud of their son's performance - a couple of terrific stops which justified his inclusion ahead of Esson. McKay put in an excellent shift up front and took his goal really well; he was denied a terrific second by Mannus' fingertips. Andy Shinnie's hideous penalty and his subsequent miss from about 4 yards overshadowed what I thought was an otherwise good performance from him. St Johnstone looked like a very decent team to me and a draw is not a shabby result at all. And at least Tade didn't score... -
It won't come as a surprise to anyone that ICT skipper Richie Foran was CTO's Player of the Month for September. Foran was on target in all four league games, including an outstanding brace against Dundee United, and was even voted as the top player in the one September game he didn't score in - the League Cup game at Stenhousemuir. He was deemed to be Man of the Match in every game except the home draw with Aberdeen, where debutant Andre Blackman took the honours. The Irishman compiled a total of 77 votes this month, nearly double that of second placed Philip Roberts, with Ross Draper third. Richie also flies to the top of the overall standings, where he holds a four point lead over Draper. Overall quantity of votes cast for each player in September: (Used to decide Player of the Month) Player 02/09 15/09 22/09 25/09 29/09 TOTAL Richie Foran 6 12 13 7 39 77 Philip Roberts 1 4 36 41 Gary Warren 2 12 7 5 4 30 Ross Draper 4 14 5 4 3 30 Aaron Doran 1 2 15 18 Conor Pepper 1 14 3 18 Andre Blackman 16 1 17 Josh Meekings 2 3 4 2 5 16 Ryan Esson 2 5 5 12 Andrew Shinnie 1 6 7 Gavin Morrison 1 2 3 6 Antonio Reguero 6 6 Billy McKay 5 5 Shane Sutherland 3 3 Graeme Shinnie 1 1 2 Player of the Year Points ~ Current Standings : 2012/13 (Player of Month also highlighted in monthly column) Player AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY TOTAL Richie Foran 21 21 Ross Draper 11 6 17 Andrew Shinnie 11 11 Ryan Esson 8 3 11 Gary Warren 5 3 8 Andre Blackman 5 5 Aaron Doran 3 1 4 Owain Tudur-Jones 3 3 Graeme Shinnie 3 3 Conor Pepper 3 3 Philip Roberts 3 3 Billy McKay 1 1 Josh Meekings 1 1 -
It's not been a good start to the season for ICT - but the one bright spark so far has been the form of Andrew Shinnie. The attacking midfield player, who missed most of the second half of last season with a broken foot, scored against Kilmarnock and Hearts, as well as picking up a double at Arbroath in the League Cup - so it's no surprise that he was CTO's Player Of The Month for August. He was voted man of the match twice and picked up 50 votes, just clear of newcomers Gary Warren and Ross Draper. It's early stages in the overall standings, but Andy is joined at the top of the table by Ross Draper, who also gave two man of the match performances in August. There's a long way to go yet, though... Overall quantity of votes cast for each player in August: (Used to decide Player of the Month) Player 04/08 11/08 18/08 25/08 29/08 TOTAL Andrew Shinnie 9 19 9 5 8 50 Gary Warren 6 19 10 8 1 44 Ross Draper 5 3 11 18 3 40 Ryan Esson 6 30 2 38 Graeme Shinnie 3 5 8 6 2 24 Billy McKay 7 9 1 3 20 Aaron Doran 3 3 6 3 15 Owain Tudur-Jones 3 7 5 15 Simon King 1 9 3 13 David Raven 4 5 9 Nick Ross 4 1 1 3 9 Conor Pepper 4 3 7 Josh Meekings 1 3 4 Shane Sutherland 2 2 Gavin Morrison 1 1 Player of the Year Points ~ Current Standings : 2012/13 (Player of Month also highlighted in monthly column) Player AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY TOTAL Andrew Shinnie 11 11 Ross Draper 11 11 Ryan Esson 8 8 Gary Warren 5 5 Aaron Doran 3 3 Owain Tudur-Jones 3 3 Graeme Shinnie 3 3 Billy McKay 1 1 -
That was about as much fun as you can have with your clothes on. To be honest, I thought that Utd were the better team in the first half an hour, but after we took the lead they absolutely collapsed and we played them off the park. There were some quality goals there too. Foran's first was a glorious finish, curled first-time into the top corner. His second was a smashing header as well, set up by a quality cross from Roberts. There was an element of Keystone Cops about the third, from Andy Shinnie, but for me the fourth was the best of the lot. All Roberts' strike needed was Alan Partridge screaming "He must have a foot like a traction engine!" It nearly took the net off. An excellent performance from back to front. Foran led the line brilliantly and Doran, Roberts and Shinnie were all excellent. Roberts, like David Davis last year, has a technique and skill level far ahead of anyone else; once he gets fully fit (he looked knackered even at half time) then we might see some fireworks! Draper was superb again. Morrison has an element of Russell Duncan about him - he doesn't seem to do much but we look more solid with him in front of the defence. The back four dealt with Daly and Russell well. I'm not sure Meekings put a foot wrong all day. Given the criticism that has come his way this season, Raven's good performance deserves mention too. I assume Esson was injured in the warmup? Reguero is a bit unorthodox but he made some decent saves and his distribution was great. Aside from another useless referee, no complaints from me at all. It's a long time since I've enjoyed a ICT game this much. Bring on the County!
-
Should we just start every game with ten men? It seems like we play better after we have a man sent off... I'd have taken a draw at half-time, and bitten your hand off if you'd offered it to me after Jones was sent off. Amazingly, I ended up feeling disappointed that we hadn't won. The first half might have been the most banal 45 minutes ever. The fans might as well have been sunbathing. Nothing actually happened on the pitch. The second half more than made up for it. My first instinct was that Jones should have seen yellow rather than red - but he leapt in, his leg was off the deck and it was reckless. The ref was well positioned to make the call. I felt sorry for Ryan Fraser, who was the victim of two rather bad tackles from Raven and Foran as well, and looked like he could barely walk by the time he was substituted. The other sending off, on the other hand, was a no brainer. Sutherland got through, and showed real presence of mind to cut across Anderson, meaning that the defender couldn't win the ball without bringing him down...and Anderson fell for it. If only we hadn't @rsed up that four-on-one break - how on earth did Doran squander that? - we would have taken all three points. Unfortunately, a pretty good defensive performance was ruined by a collective loss of concentration when Aberdeen took a quick free kick, and Cammy Smith was unmarked to head home from six yards out. Still, at least we're off the bottom. Some very good performances today. I thought Ross Draper was immense in midfield. Blackman slotted in well at left back, and until the goal I thought Warren and Meekings were solid. Foran had a rank first half but, after dropping into midfield when we went down to ten men, he was a changed man and must have covered every blade of grass in the second half. Sutherland had his best performance for aeons after he came on - it was gutting to see him stretchered off at the death. It wasn't really a day for either Doran or Andy Shinnie, who couldn't get on the ball enough to make an impact. I'll cut Ryan Esson some slack because of the wind, but he flapped at a lot of crosses. And I'm sorry, but David Raven was terrible yet again. As soon as Hogg, King, Cooper and Brislen-Hall are fully fit, I don't think he'll be anywhere near the team. And as for the manager - he is lucky the fourth official was in sympathetic mood, considering some of the abuse Butcher was giving the ref - turning around to the crowd and screaming "He's the worst referee I've ever seen" is usually enough to get you sent to the stands. It's the first case I've ever seen of a middle-aged man developing an acute case of Tourette's. At least this is a bit more positive than my last few after-match posts! Still think it's going to be a struggle against the drop, but I wonder whether the Dons might be one of the teams we're fighting with...
-
As regards Paul Sheerin - both Craig Levein and Mixu Paatelainen made the jump from second division to SPL as coaches. Paul Hartley is another young coach doing well in the lower leagues.
-
For all those people saying "Who can we get who is better?" - I point you at St Johnstone's successful appointments of rookies Owen Coyle and Derek McInnes, or Derek Adams over the bridge, as examples. They took a chance on young coaches and have been rewarded. I feel Butcher still belongs to the stone age of football managers, where they think that all you need to do on matchday is tell the players to "go out and get it right up 'em". I can't think of any occasion when a tactical change by him has changed a game in our favour, but plenty where the opposition have changed their system and we've not been able to respond. He no longer seems capable of making this team even the equal of the sum of their parts (let alone greater than), nor does he seem to be able to coach up players - Ross, Graeme Shinnie and Sutherland, for example, have not become particularly better players over the last two years. This feels like 4 years ago, where Brewster was clearly a lame duck and the team were a mess.
-
Since we beat Hearts in January, we have won three out of nineteen league matches (one of which was against a second string Hibs side). In that period we have conceded 43 goals. On four occasions we have conceded four goals; twice we have conceded three. You have to admit, plenty of clubs have sacked managers following runs of form as bad as this, have they not? I'm sorry, but this now feels like September 2008, when Brewster's ICT side couldn't buy a win. And we all know what happened then...
-
Is it time to panic yet? Because I'm feeling pretty panicky...
-
Matchday Thread ICT v CELTIC - 25/08/12
hislopsoffsideagain replied to CaleyD's topic in Caley Thistle
Those two late goals, when Celtic had stopped playing, should not be allowed to detract from the fact that, for the first eighty minutes, we were an absolute embarrassment. First up, the team selection was dreadful. We know Raven has struggled at right back. We know Sutherland has contributed nothing on the wing. Yet both started, while Nick Ross was stuck in a deep midfield role instead of on the wing. What does Morrison have to do to get a start? I've no idea what the tactics were today. We appeared to be playing a shambles-0-1 formation from what I could see. Anyone who has watched Celtic the last 2 years knows Hooper drops deep into the space between midfield and attack - so most teams sit someone in front of the defence to counteract that. We didn't. So when he came deep, either our centre-half let him go, meaning he got the ball into feet and had time to turn and run at us, or the centre-half went with him, leaving Watt one on one with his partner (as for the second goal). The contrast to Ross County's performance against Celtic last week was striking. Derek Adams clearly had a tactical plan on how to make things difficult for their opponents. Terry Butcher just thought he'd put 11 players on the pitch and see what happened. The third goal summed it up. Presumably the players got a bollocking at half-time, but none of them were switched on enough to interfere with what was a pretty simple set-piece trick. Frankly, I think it's because most of them didn't really care about whether we won or lost today. Aside from Aaron Doran, none of our players looked like they wanted the ball...and Doran didn't use it that well when he got it. McKay was isolated as usual, but he failed to hold the ball up even when he got it into the channels or in to feet. The one time he got in behind, he wasn't quick enough to hold off the defenders. He's too small, he's too lightweight, he's not quick enough and he can't score...but apart from that, he's a top player. Ross and Doran tried hard, at least; the former was clearly out of position. Andy Shinnie barely touched the ball, and had one of those days where it seemed like every decision he made was the wrong one. Is Sutherland blackmailing the manager with dodgy photos or something? I can't think of another reason why he is in the team. Draper might have got two goals, but for a big unit he was outmuscled and outfought a lot. He wasn't the only one who couldn't manage to complete 5 yard passes to unmarked teammates - there were a lot of others (what the hell do they do in training?) - but he was the most culpable. He also has the turning circle of a bus, and Celtic just passed the ball around him. Our backline was so bad that they might have given me Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Raven was a catastrophe. He kept giving the ball away easily, kept being caught out of position, and kept being skinned. The centre-backs were also calamitous, particularly King, who was nutmegged within a minute by Hooper, and then was totally culpable for the second Celtic goal. Graeme Shinnie was the best of a bad bunch. Esson looked shaky at times, but I don't think he was culpable for any of the goals. The only positive I can think of was the perfomance of Pepper as a sub, who was lively and keen to get involved...and whose through ball for Draper's second was the only piece of quality football we produced all day. Lastly, Butcher should be censured for turning round and having a rant at the fans when we went 2-0 down. At that point we hadn't even managed to put three passes together, and there had been absolutely nothing to cheer - what does he expect? He should just be grateful that some of us (fewer and fewer by the week) are dumb enough to still pay through the nose to watch this utter dross. Can you tell I'm angry? -
Good game for the neutral, that. What the hell was OTJ thinking? It was a cynical foul but he should know a damn sight better than to raise his hands and then try to headbutt the guy. The ref had no choice but to send him off and I hope he's feeling pretty ashamed at the moment. It was all the more disappointing as I thought he'd had a great game today up to that point. We'd started well but after Doran missed the one-on-one at 1-0 we lost momentum and Killie bossed the latter stages of the first half. Racchi's penalty was rubbish but Esson's save from the rebound was stunning. Everyone around me thought he was at fault for their equalizer though - couldn't tell from my angle. The second half was about even stevens until the red card - though even then we passed up the best chance of the latter stages when Bell somehow kept out a close-range header from Nick Ross. Surely Nick must start next week - he did well again as a sub, and is a much better option than the mediocre Sutherland. I'm quite impressed by our two new centre-backs - both looked pretty comfortable. I'm still not sure about Butcher's tactics - Killie were having a field-day in wide areas, mainly because Sutherland and Doran wouldn't track back. We were absolutely swamped by their five man midfield and Killie dominated possession for long periods. And pushing Doran up front initially after McKay's substitution was bizarre. All in all, I'm pretty satisfied with a point today, as I think we can play better. And we will need to. But it's still eight years since we won our first home league game of the season (and that was at Pittodrie!).
