hislopsoffsideagain

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?!

...Ian Black! Blackie was the winner of the man of the match poll against Aberdeen, Hibs and Rangers, and took second place against Gretna, so it's no surprise he also garnered the most votes. Of course, the postponement of the Motherwell game means that all POTY polls for January are now closed. The results in each match were: vs Aberdeen: Ian Black 5pts, Michael Fraser 3pts, Don Cowie 1pt vs Gretna: Marius Niculae 5pts, Ian Black 3pts, Michael Fraser 1pt vs Hibernian: Ian Black 5pts, Michael Fraser 3pts, Marius Niculae 1pt vs Rangers: Ian Black 5pts, Michael Fraser 3pts, Don Cowie 1pt In terms of votes, Blackie got 91 out of 128 cast over the month, with Ike Fraser getting 68 and Marius Niculae third with 65. As for the player of the year standings, it gets tighter at the top... 1) Don Cowie 55pts 2) Michael Fraser 54 pts 3) Ian Black 46pts 4) Marius Niculae 39pts 5) Ross Tokely 14pts It's pretty safe to say it's a four horse race now! For the record, the previous player of the month winners were: August: Michael Fraser September: Don Cowie October: Don Cowie November: Don Cowie December: Michael Fraser Who needs Nintendo DS Brain Training when you've got these numbers, a piece of paper and a stubby, blunt pencil, eh?

From what I remember of Rangers' Champions' League encounters with Juventus, Cleland never got close to Del Piero... :tic01: From what I know, he's supposedly a pretty decent youth coach, so good stuff.

Just back. I suspect I might be in the minority here, but I thought we were really great today. A lot of people will moan about our poor use of the ball in the final third, and perhaps a lack of adventure on our parts, but that Rangers defence is as good as any we'll play this year. So often we had the ball in midfield with Black, and he had no options because the marking was tighter than pair of Paris Hilton hotpants. Our defence, until the last twenty minutes, was excellent as well - Proctor was my MOTM and Munro had his best performance of the season. As said above, Rangers maybe just shaded it, but we would have been good value for a point.

I have exactly the same except for Wyness on 12pts - I thought I was to give him 1pt for the Motherwell game where Marius came first and Michael and Don tied for second. I have all the numbers made up for each separate game, each month and overall standings including total votes, which all seem to add up perfectly. It's in a microsoft word format if you want me to send it to you? I couldn't be bothered horsing around with a spreadsheet so dared to use a combination of my brain and a calculator (mostly the calculator!)

No probs, Scotty, will do it ASAP - just a couple of questions... 1) Where are the poll results for the games in August? They don't appear to be on the drop down menu. 2) What are the tiebreakers when players have the same number of points from a single match? It's no surprise that Don Cowie was player of the month in both September and October...

Cheers, Scotty. If you want, I'd be happy to do the sums, I'm a bit autistic that way! I see all the poll results are still available on the website except for games before September 1st.

Who's winning so far this year? Can't find updated scores, or player of the month awards. Of course, it may be because I'm blinder than a bat whose eardrums have been gouged out...

I need to go on wikipedia and find out who Statler and Waldorf are... That's about as easy as it gets in the SPL, I suppose (except when we did them at Fir Park). Niculae's first goal was a cracker, not least because of Duncan's magnificent run to set it up. I thought Duncan was fantastic today, and he brought a great save out of Caig in the second half. As said before, the second half was a bit of a kickabout - I think that we could have stepped up a gear and scored more if we'd needed to, but they've played a lot of games over the festive period so I think they were entitled to take the foot off the gas a bit. And a well done to Rossco, who, after being slagged a lot following Pittodrie (not least by me) had a very good game today.

I think things have come to a head today because of Rossco's error, but for me this is just the latest of many mistakes/poor performances that he's racked up in the last season and a bit. Apart from today, I made it to Tannadice and our home win over Hibs, and I thought that in both games Proctor got forward as often has Rossco does, passed as well as Rossco does, but noticeably Proc gets back a gazillion times quicker than Tokes does when attacks break down. I'm not convinced that Proc is more naturally talented, but I think all Tokely's problems are based on the fact that after about 20 minutes he's knackered... As an aside, while Sophia makes very good points in her post, does anyone else picture her as a prim 19th century schoolmistress with spectacles on the end of her nose and her hair tied back in a bun? Or is it just me?

Agreed. Back to topic. I thought "roscoe23" was a reference to the number of pounds Tokely has put on since he won those awards...

Whythankyouverymuch, RiG! I don't think we've agreed on anything since primary school, when we both supported the San Francisco 49ers...

I stand by my comments on the matchday thread. He is unfit and looks overweight, and has done since the beginning of last season. Scotty is right, as always. He deserved those awards a few years ago. But I've long lost patience with Tokely, and Proctor has now shown that he is at least as good an option. Rossco, in short, needs to shape up or ship out.

Just back - I live round the corner from Pittodrie. Biggest waste of 21 quid ever. Neither team deserved anything from that whatsoever - each side looked about as threatening as a damp sponge, apart from a short period in the second half where we reminded Langfield that he was actually playing in a match. The referee did his best to liven up with some weird and wonderful decisions against both sides. I was sure it wasn't a penalty - Miller went down like someone in the Richard Donald stand had got him with a sniper rifle. Regardless, Rossco was wheezing like an asthmatic from about the 20th minute and needs to be dropped until he cuts the pies out of his diet. As for our attack - where do you start? Bayne looked more out of his depth than ever. A person with no eyes and no legs would be able to judge and control high balls better. On the rare occasions he got it, he required about eight goes to actually control the **** thing, by which time he'd gone back ten yards and the defence had reorganized. Meanwhile, Niculae was anonymous, at best, and missed our best chance with a header wide from 8 yards. A word of advice for Rankin and Cowie today - it helps to pass the ball to players in the same coloured shirt as you. Poorest I've seen Cowie in an ICT shirt, none of his crosses seemed to be within 5 yards of a teammate. And why were we playing with one up when we were chasing an equaliser? What about Wyness or Wilson? Pass marks? Well, Fraser had bog all to do till he picked the ball out of his net. McGuire, Munro and Hastings seemed to be strolling through it. And Black was the one shining light for me. Aberdeen won because they were marginally less hopeless. I know I'm really angry and annoyed at the moment because we lost a game we shouldn't have. But from the tremendous minute's applause at the beginning it really was downhill.

Marks out of five: FRASER :003: :003: :003: :003: I wish he would come for crosses more, but two outstanding stops today, and partial credit for dribbling round the Hibs striker in the first half PROCTOR :003: :003: :003: :003: Solid again. For the love of goodness, Brew, keep Tokely on the bench next week MCGUIRE :003: :003: :003: Titanic battle with Donaldson. Lucky not to be sent off for his shirt pull as Donaldson hit the bar. We need to bust a gut to keep him MUNRO :003: :003: :003: :003: Only really lost Fletcher once all game. Appalling passing out of defence though HASTINGS :003: :003: :003: Beaten all ends up by Morais a few times in the first half but comfortable in the second period COWIE :003: :003: :003: Quieter performance than most recently, but worked as hard as ever BLACK :003: :003: :003: :003: Another great effort, using the ball well when we had it and harassing Kerr and Noubissie tirelessly when we didn't DUNCAN :003: :003: Continues to protect the defence well but even by his standards the passing was atrocious. Subbed late on with an injury RANKIN :003: :003: :003: :003: :003: My man of the match. Nearly caught out Makalambay from distance twice. Still pressing Hibs defenders in the 94th minute. How can we possibly let him go? MCBAIN :003: :003: Worked hard but never really in the match much. Subbed for Bayne NICULAE :003: :003: :003: :003: :003: Oh, Marius! Two super finishes, he held up the ball really well first half, and looked different class when he came deeper after Bayne's introduction Subs BAYNE :003: :003: :003: :003: Made the difference when we were shaky at 1-0 - he went in where it hurt to start the move for the second. It's a long time since he's done that well WILSON :003: :003: Not really on long enough to do much BREW :003: :003: :003: :003: :003: Kudos for bringing Bayne and changing things while we were under the cosh. We look better organised and fitter than we have in ages.

This afternoon was a flashback to Brewster's first stint in charge - we did a great job of shutting up shop after nicking a goal away from home. What for me was particularly striking was that the midfield were still running and pressing high up the pitch right to the end - are our fitness levels back to what they were pre-CC? Wonderful goal from Blackie - at first I thought it was a fluke but on Setanta it looks like he meant to lob the goalie, who did end up going a**e over t*t attempting to save it. Cowie was absolutely magnificent first half, combining well with Proctor in the early stages, and Rankin gave it everything, though he spent a lot of time in what must be an unfamiliar "second striker" role. Please keep him, Brew! We rode our luck in the second half a bit - Kenneth missed an absolute sitter from 6 yards, and the ball spent most of the last 45 minutes bouncing around our box. McGuire vs Wilkie was a fascinating battle, and Phil did a great job of keeping him under control while United lobbed the ball at him again and again. And for me the man of the match was Grant Munro, who always seemed to be first to the loose ball, and threw himself in front of everything. Also a special mention to Marius who, despite an ineffectual afternoon, did a smashing job of wasting time by insisting on shaking the ref's hand as he was subbed! Good performance, great result. Not often we can say Brew got his tactics spot on...

Late last Wednesday night in Aberdeen's A&E, I had to look after a bloke who, in his early twenties, had come in with angina brought on by cocaine use. Just a reminder that one of the reasons that "recreational" drugs are illegal is because they are potentially very dangerous to health - whether cocaine, heroin, cannabis or whatever. The one undeniable fact is that Richie Hart has been an idiot - as said above, a lot of what's being talked about is based on rumour and assumption. While there are very good (and very bad) arguments for and against terminating his employment with the club, I'm not sure if it has been pointed out yet that Richie Hart is a professional athlete whose career is hugely dependent on his fitness. I know it all happened during the summer, and it might well have been a once-off, but doesn't it **** off anyone else that we pay the wages of someone prone to such unprofessionalism? If he a) shows some remorse (or at least more than he showed in HN) and b) suggests to the club himself that he VOLUNTARILY goes round local schools etc. (not sure if it would actually make a difference, but it's a gesture), and c) maintains Brew-like standards of fintess and professionalism, then he deserves a second chance. If it hasn't occurred to him to do the three things above then he's the architect of his own downfall.