hislopsoffsideagain

For goodness sake... I was under a surfing flag just before kickoff at Boro v Liverpool in January. It was absolutely fantastic and it looked magic on MOTD that evening. Down south fans wave flags at games all day long. If the team and the club don't give us any reason to enjoy ourselves, either with what's on the pitch or by distracting ourselves off it, then no wonder we moan all the time!

I think my sentiments are much the same as those already expressed. That is the first game I've ever travelled from Aberdeen for that has seemed little more than a chore - I was not looking forward to it at all. To be honest the only home supporters who will have enjoyed this afternoon's "efforts" (in the loosest sense of the word) are those who suddenly found their insomnia cured. I would have gouged my own eyes out, but I couldn't find a suitable instrument. Interesting interactions between the dugout and the fans in the main stand today... 1) Just before kickoff someone yelled at Brew, "About time for 4-4-2, we're the home team" , and Brew turned and gave him a rather withering stare. If looks could kill... 2) Someone got into a shouting match with Malky in the second half - Malky accused him of not supporting the team and the fan responded by saying he that if he paid his money he was entitled to see better. 3) A shout of "Don't sign a new contract" as Dennis was subbed did not go down well with the bench. 4) I'm told that Roy McBain was giving me daggers when I yelled "See, Brew, that's a team that actually wants to win the game" when Falkirk scored. I'm treating it as a badge of honour, and I completely stand by that comment. I go to Caley games either to see us win, or to be entertained (last year's 4-3 defeat to Killie was the best game I saw all season). At the moment there doesn't seem to be a snowball's chance in **** of either happening any time soon. We couldn't have scored in a brothel today. We are completely lacking in imagination, initiative or passion. I would like to think that the players and coaching staff will have gone home utterly disgusted with the performance tonight. But I wouldn't bet money on it. As for complaints about the negativeness of the support, here's an open question to which I don't know the correct answer - as paying customers, are we entitled to heckle and slag off our team during a performance like today? Or should we be keeping schtum?

I've been moaning and naysaying about Gretna for months on my blog (http://nareystoepoker.blogspot.com - I'm not going to miss the chance to advertise myself!!) and so, to be honest, I'm absolutely fed up with the whole situation. The sooner they get relegated/go bust the better as they can stop making a mockery out of Scottish football.

While the point about the same computer being used to cast different votes is valid, the underlying problem with the POTY votes has been constant occasions where someone has, for example, voted "1st - Black, 2nd - Black, 3rd - Black" or the like. And in recent matches votes like that make up more than half the votes. In almost all occasions it's for Black or Cowie. As for whether Brew is rigging it, I suspect that, if he was, Russell Duncan would be doing rather better...

Further to Scotty's earlier post - just to point out the problem is significant enough that in a number of games more than half the votes cast are dodgy. Unfortunately that means the POTY points for the Motherwell game will be based on just 2 valid votes.

A round of applause for CaleyD who has just put everything that I and everyone else around me thought about the match into an extremely eloquent and entirely accurate posting. Particularly the bit about the lack of effort. :025: :025: :025: :025: :025:

That's an interesting point. Who does the blame for the lack of protection go on then?

In light of today's performance, and pretty much every performance since New Year, I think that, as loyal fans, we are obliged to help Brewster with what is clearly a huge deficiency in his managerial skills, using the expansive experience that we all have (mostly from years of playing "Football Manager"). Firstly, my knee-jerk reaction, after today, would be to send the following team out against Falkirk. Wheelie Bin Traffic cone Proctor Traffic cone Traffic cone Cowie Traffic cone McBain Traffic cone Niculae Wyness Seriously, though, it is clear that this 4-5-1 system is not working, and has not worked since John Rankin was shown the exit. He was the key, a guy who could put a foot on the ball, play the killer pass, and get forward quickly to support the lone striker. Unfortunately Cowie and Wyness have shown that they cannot produce the impact they can in other positions, and Niculae simply can't/won't put in the defensive work required of the role. In addition, we just don't have a player who can play as a lone striker - Bayne is awful at holding it up, while Marius and Wyness just don't have the strength or aerial prowess. Therefore, it seems to me that we certainly need to go back to 4-4-2. I don't think we have the personnel for 4-3-3 - while Imrie could play on the left wing, who would be on the right? (especially with Barry gone?) - though perhaps 3-5-2 is an option. So, then, who should be in? Contrary to my suggestion above, we probably can't just drop two-thirds of the team. But some need a seat on the bench so they can "think about what they've done". I think the general consensus is that Duncan is one of these, and personally I believe McGuire is another. At the moment, though, it is quite clear that there a number of players - Imrie, Cowie and Niculae come to mind - who we are simply not getting the best out of in the current climate. Thoughts?

4ize's post has just made me smile for the first time since 3pm. Thank goodness CaleyD didn't ask me to do the match report today, it would have read like a suicide note...

Cheers, I did travel 100 miles for that. Can I claim to the club for my mileage please? Hopeless, abject, disgraceful, useless...all adjectives that don't do justice to how bad our performance was. Where do you start? Defensively, we would have been better off putting wheelie bins on the park today. Nade, a mediocre forward made to look like a Brazilian international, bullied them from start to finish - Munro and McGuire were almost cowardly in the way they bounced off or stood off him. Driver ran us ragged on the left, while Fraser made two great saves which don't make up for his part in the general calamities that were the first and third goals. Midfield? What midfield? Before today I thought criticism of Duncan recently had been a bit harsh, but today he was the worst of an appalling bunch. In addition to his passing, he got caught in possesion constantly and his "attempt" to tackle Nade for the second goal was pure comedy. Black gave us no spark at all, and what was he thinking with that backpass?! Meanwhile Cowie wandered round like a kid who lost his mum in a supermarket, so unsure was he of his role. I forgot Imrie was on the pitch, such was his contribution, which totalled a succession of rubbish corners and one good cross which Niculae headed over in the first half. Hooking Markus at half-time was a mercy to him, he constantly failed to track back on the marauding Neilson and didn't get a single cross in. Up front, I have great sympathy for Niculae, who ran his *** off, and pleaded constantly for something resembling service. On the other hand, he missed a sitter right on half time, our only decent chance. Wyness showed some neat touches off the bench but in general we couldn't score in a brothel. And the ref? Alan Freeland was, well, Alan Freeland. The mental effort of trying to understand his decisions is enough to make you have a stroke. But his incompetence isn't the reason we lost. Though if he had sent Mikoliunas off for his hatchet job on Hastings (right in front of section B, we went ape) then the game might have been different! That's about it, really? Positives? A bit of dignity from the main stand, politely clapping Nade off when he was subbed because he was by distance the best player out there.

McGeady's only 21, mate. Well done Brew, Denzil on for Patti, Roy on for Blackie. 10 mins to go for another comeback.

Is there a comeback on? Go on boys! Just seen it on Setanta, it's a defensive howler but who cares?

Like our lineup, especially if Bayne is injured. We have a midfield there that will run their socks off all evening long. Can we last more than 10 minutes before conceding this time?

Awwwwwwwwww, we're going to get hammered... Just thought I would inject some positive thinking.

Yeah, straight red tackle, but I don't think he should be banned for any more than the three matches. In Eduardo's case, his prognosis may well be worse because, unlike Larsson's injury, in this case it is a compund fracture (i.e. the bone can be seen sticking out of the skin). The pictures I've seen are also suggestive of dislocation at the ankle joint. It's about a year since I've done any orthopaedics, but I suspect that the surgeons will put in about enough metal to build a new Forth Road Bridge! It's incredibly sad that this is happened, but the advances made in treating serious sports injuries have been phenomenal in recent years so I'm hopeful that there will be grounds for optimism.

Come on Brew, you have substitutes for a reason. two-nil, three-nil, four-nil are all worth exactly the same in terms of points, might as well go for broke. (Yes, I know, goal difference and all that).

Why the fudge isn't Wyness on the pitch yet?

Calm down, chaps, if being comfortably safe from relegation in February is "a crisis", then I'm up for a crisis every season. So we're going through a rough patch. It's football. Form comes and goes. Mind you, it doesn't make me feel much better about being 2 down in the first 10 mins away from home twice in four days...

Like the idea of playing Imrie and Cowie in the wide midfield areas. As stated elsewhere, I don't expect Bayne to make much of an impact up front today against Rob Jones.

I'm talking specifically about this match. There are matches where Bayne is useful to have (mostly as a substitute, mind) but if he starts today I think he's likely to be about as effective as an inflatable dartboard.

For the love of god, not Bayne up front. I was at Easter Road when we lost there last season and I don't think Bayne won a header in the whole match, while in the process giving away dozens of fouls. Bayne is our biggest forward, but he's still not good enough to trouble Jones. Wyness and Niculae up top, and for crying out loud, can we try and keep it on the deck? One of the trends of the season appears to be punting the ball up towards the opposition's big centre-backs, balls we can never win. In a dream world I'd try to somehow fit Markus, Imrie and Cowie into the same team, but this is probably the sort of game which calls for Duncan, Black and McBain in 3 of the midfield roles. I have a sneaky feeling that if we give our best performance of the season and win 4-0, some posters will still be claiming on Monday that there is a crisis (even if Niculae scores a hat-trick)

You mean my posts don't provide enough quality? (sobs into keyboard)

Yeah, Imrie was our best player I think, though McGuire and Munro were also ecellent (apart from the goal we let in, I suppose). 4-5-1 just wasn't the right shape at all today. Niculae needed semaphore flags to communicate with the midfield, he was so isolated. Black was ineffectual while Duncan's passing was, well, frustrating at best, and downright incompetent at worst. We somehow managed to lose the midfield battle despite seeming to have an extra player. Poor show. I feel vindicated because I was screaming for Markus to come on. A Paat on the back for him! (I'll just get me coat). But I would suggest that, chasing an equalizer with 10 minutes left, we might be better playing more than one striker? There was also a naughty rumour that Wyness's absence is because he has signed a pre-contract with Hibs, but I don't know what to make of that... All in all, a draw was probably fair, but the first two-thirds of the game was completely and utterly hopeless.

I know the opinion on Ritchie Hart has been polarised (rightly or wrongly) by the incident last summer. From a footballing point of view, however, he has been a good servant to the club - I don't think anyone can argue too much with that. He was another of Pele's clever little signings, a guy with a fantastic engine and, on his day, a great range of passing. Part of the fun with him was that you never knew whether you would get the good Hart (crunching tackles, bundles of energy, great delivery and a threat from long range) or the bad Hart (hands on hips, gash crosses and caught on the ball). In the end, one can only speculate about whether he might have moved onto the next level if he hadn't been stifled by constant visits to the treatment table. We haven't seen enough from him in the last couple of years to justify a new contract for him, I suppose. So in conclusion, thanks Ritchie for your contribution to ICT's rise over the last few years, and best of luck over the bridge, where you should be able to kick some first division *** next season.

Why not use it in the same capacity as Hibs fans use Sunshine On Leith? It's cheesy as **** but you could get people singing it and get a bit of atmosphere going pre-kickoff. I think what we really need is some proper music when the teams come out. I was at the Riverside stadium to see Boro v Liverpool a few weeks ago and as the teams come out the song they use is the one that we turn into "doo-doo-doo-doo, Dennis Wyness" - I have no idea what its actually called! But it gets everything clapping and singing and it's fantastic for atmosphere. Admittedly there were 33,000 at the boro game, but still... Or we could use the dambusters theme?!