Eagle4Caley

Also we have not had the services of a properly fit Aaron Doran all season, who is someone that can make things happen, likewise even though he was injured a fair bit last season, Tom Walsh gave us a bit of width and a threat. Going back a bit further, within the midfield we have lost the sort of player who had creativity like Vigurs (even with the suspect temperament) or the much maligned Liam Polworth. I have high hopes for Allardice, Carson and MacGregor, they are all busy decent players, perhaps not in the Vigurs/Polwoth/Tansey mould and they need time to develop, or in Carson's case to get fully fit. I would say that in the odd season that we are in, and in a league where money is tight, as much for Caley as for most others, and skill levels are pretty similar, a single player can make a significant difference, and I suspect Caley haven't quite got that player on the wing (or at least as an alternative to a wide-playing Storey having an off day) or in midfield. Maybe the aspiration of a promotion run was a tad unrealistic, given the likely strength of Hearts, and lets remember promotion via the play-offs is a pretty difficult thing. Probably a more realistic aspiration is not to get relegated. On positive notes, although we are drawing too many games, we are not losing that many, and that could be as important in the run in. Secondly our backline has the potential to be pretty decent, especially fast forward to next season with that experience. I note that Toshney was on the bench yesterday, if he can gain match fitness and keep it, that could be very important in the run in. Its encouraging to see Todorov get another goal yesterday, he seems to be a better player than I previously thought (or certainly he is have a decent season) given a proper run I think he'll continue to get goals. On their day both Storey and Keatings can deliver, it's the consistency that's the problem. We may not be prolific but we are scoring more goals than our 'relegation' rivals. Although our defensive record get critcism, actually the stats suggest we are pretty good, compare us to Dundee and Queen of the South for goals conceded. The key to this season is to get enough performances together where we play well for both halves, it's about the percentages.....In Crystal Palace terms its 'Royball' where you grind out enough points to stay safe not pushing for higher and failing...It's not pretty (believe me!) but I think that is the name of the game this season. In the end finishing 8th will be good enough even if terribly disappointing, finishing 9th will be too interesting! If I were to put money on it, I think 6th or 7th place is more likely.

Couldn't agree more, yes we want promotion, but in reality that was perhaps a tall order, although most of the clubs around us are in the same situation. At the start of the season Hearts and probably Dundee would have been see as our main rivals, but Raith I think have surprised a few, and Dunfermline have come on strong this season. In a small league that leaves little margin for error. Before the two games against Hearts and Dundee, we might have accepted a loss to the former and something from the latter, so does last nights result register higher than a good point against Hearts? I rather think that losing Kennedy, with no replacement is a blow to the possibility of a play-off position, esepcially as Doran is injured and has looked fairly average when he has played and of course McDonald [if he was Kennedy's replacement] will probably play no part at all. So we need to re-focus our aspirations to surviving, and in our favour is that we are not losing many games, and certainly not shipping goals, this season is going to be a nail-biter in a different way!

We did well agianst a strong side...first 25minutes most impressive I was impressed with Duffy, and the entire back line, good to see Danny D get BBC's MOTM. Carson looked pretty busy, and Sorey had a good game We did miss someone like Kennedy or a properly fit Doran though.

I got my tickets yesterday, and letter, all signed by Robbo, and I have to say, in his current circumstances, I am rather in awe of the man, and a tad emotional about it too. I hope he is getting the support he needs now and comes back when the time is right, because it's been such a difficult year.....it would be helpful if Hearts rolled over for us tomorrow as well, or at least share the points.

Gosh ..what a topsy-turvey game, following it via the BBC website I had us down for an irritating defeat with 15mins to go, was over the moon with 10mins to go, went 'oh-no' to see we missed a penalty, and had my head in my hads with that late equaliser from Alloa....so it felt a bit like a defeat. Not sure what went on over the penalty miss, but if you grab the ball you need to make sure you don't give the keeper a sniff of a chance by blasting it. We have had problems with penalties recently. Still, on the good news front, it has to be so that we came back with two goals from behind, and sounds like it should have been more, and it probably helps that the club have got Neil McCann in to manage the team on the interim, we may get the 'new manager' bounce. Friday will be tough, how did Hearts get 20points ahead of us? but I am hopeful

Todorov comes across as a half decent player, who would benefit from more regular starts. If he is struggling against a particular opponent there is no shame in then swapping him out, at this level no one will be a 'world beater' game after game. When I saw Carson play in the corresponding fixture in January last year he really did look a good player at this level. We've never lost this season when Daniel Mackay has scored 😊, so good to see him, Harper and MacGregor stepping up well

Life always feels better when the team wins! Always felt Carson could be crucial for us, so hopefully he stays fit Can we build some momentum? Hopefully some of the injured will be back before the end of the season

Following Caley is like following Palace, sometimes the similarities are too much [though not the money] Palace have 10 players out injured, one (Wickham) has played just 50 games in 5 years, ...most of our CB's are crocks [Tomkins has barely played in two seasons, he came back for 5 games, injures his eye socket in training, Sakho was injured when he signed 4 years ago and has barely played in the last two seasons, seemingly gets fit and then tweaks a thigh muscle that sees him out for months as he flies off to Dubai) We signed a rookie right back who had already been injured for 5months when we signed him and has barely been able to train since [mind you we once signed a RB who broke his leg on his first day and never played for us in 3 years], we actually signed a winger who HAD a broken leg....how do these guys pass their medicals I often ask. And the difference at Palace is some of these guys are on between £60k and £110k a week!

I'm guessing Saturday will be off as well looking at the forecast, heavy snow showers following sub-zero temps. At this rate what are the chances of having Toshney, Deas, Devine, McHattie back fully fit for a busy spring run in? And we could have a full midfield and attacking cohort to pick from 🙂

I'm a South London based ICT fan and I've twice unsuccessfully tried to come up to watch Caley play at your ground, last autumn because of Covid [I was a bit optimistic] and in December 2015 when the match was called off due to high winds [when we landed the night before I don't think the plane was horizontal until we touched down!] Edinburgh is one of my favourite places in the World [after Inverness of course] so I will still keep trying. Interestingly I am also a Crystal Palace fan and we both shared a manager in Craig Burley, who experienced torrid times at both clubs..Palace virtually ended his career, although I think he had personal problems. Palace have been in Administration three times and nearly disappeared in 2010, so I have empathy with Hearts own recent troubles. This has been a brilliant initiative fantastically supported by the Hearts fans, and shows the better side of football and fans in particular. I think you guys might get promoted this season, maybe with a good run and momentum from all our postponed games we can attach ourselves to your coattails and come up via the play-offs.

Blimey, lot's of people trumping my crowd figure! However I wasn't referring to finals (I've seen Palace at Wembley a few times) or Internationals! This match could end up being the highlight of our season, can we beat Hearts in front of a virtual crowd of 16,000, more than double our actual capacity...it could happen Now if we see the 2019/20 Challenge Cup Final played finally before this season is out maybe we can do the same thing, and set a record for that match!

Good to see that this has got on to the BBC sports website.....I reckon we could see a 5 digit virtual attendance come the matchday. The highest club attendence I've been part of was 51,482 in 1979 when Palace got promoted..... I wonder?

Seem to remember seeing McDonald coming on as sub away to Falkirk. Hope he gets up to speed and has as bigger impact as Kennedy.

Bought mine [2] and spreading the word! I think there must be a chance we can exceed our real capacity!

Actually if the SFA could extend the seaon to the end of June, I have booked a hotel up in Inverness for my 40th wedding anniversary, so would be nice to include a game...and before you say it my wife is also a big fan of Caley, so she would love to see a game too...as long as she gets a proper meal after!

That sounds a fair summary and quite good, we have to remember that we have had a lot of games called off since Christmas, and we had a slow start because of injuries, (and judging from Wednesday the CB positions look under pressure still), so we haven't really built much momentum, and we are kinda starting again. Losing Kennedy, without a replacement was a blow, but not the biggest surprise. However we have only lost one game in the last seven, and as the old saying goes if you cant win the game, don't lose it. We have games in hand, and yes we do need to get a run going. JR needs to find the right balance in midfield, and on their day Carson, Allardice, Welsh and MacGregor, are all decent and dangerous players. Given the size of our budget and the Covid situation, I'm just glad we're still here. First things first is to build a bigger gap between us and the bottom two so that we are still in the Championship next season, which could have a rather interesting line up, rather than League 1...if we do that quickly then we might slingshot our way into the play offs. That said the sides in positions 2 to 4 look pretty strong.

Disappointing I guess....mind you playing against 10men, seems to be a surprisingly difficult thing for teams to do, certainly ones that I support. Palace have only once beaten a team with 10men, and recently Aston Villa smashed us 0-3 despite having 10 men for the entire 2nd half, on the other hand I've seen Palace win more games with 10 men than lose. Not sure what the reason is Obviously having not played for a while that could be a factor, but we have hardly been setting the league alight before then, and maybe Kai Kennedy is a bigger loss than we realise. We need to get a format than we can work with and need some momentum. Why are we so soft at defending set-pieces?

No Palace game this week (thankfully!), so would be nice for this one to go ahead and be streamed.... Looks fairly wet all the way until late Friday, although breezy, then the temperatures goes below freezing, but perhaps not long enough to affect the pitch (or might they run the under-soild heating for a period. Saturday itself looks OK, unless you we're sat in the stands getting chilled to the bone (which of course no one is) Actually a lovely sunny morning down here in South London, so I have my optimistic hat on. I sooo miss my trips up North Be good to see Carson back and see who goes in the wing in place of Kennedy.

I'm a bit more hopeful, I could see a pause in the season til mid to late Feb, but then a restart with the season running to late June/Early July

This is terrible news, a huge loss to the ICT family. I can't quite believe it. RIP Ian 😢

I forgot we got money for Donaldson, and Oakley

Can you recall what we got McKay and Draper.... I think it was something like £150K for McKay, was Draper 100K?

Whilst reading my book in the bath (as you do) it occurred to me that there was no mention of transfers fees, probably because we don't seem to pay them, and any we get in seem to be 'undisclosed'...from my shorter time supporting the club, I can only recall Billy McKay, Ryan Christie and Ross Draper attracting any sort of fee. Who else have we got a fee for? Have we ever paid a transfer fee to get a player in?

Looks a real open league this season, I reckon there are seven teams in it, and although Hearts probably will get automatic promotion, it's not a shoe-in IMO. Could be all about who can go on a really go run for the last 10 games...and for the guys in 2nd place after the play-offs, whether they are strong enough not to be picked off by the 11th placed team in the SPL. What are the chances of Caley facing a John Hughes led Ross County for that SPL spot!

I got my copy as a Christmas present, it's a terrific read for someone like me, a Sassenach, with no roots in Inverness or even Scotland, and for whom Caley first came to my attention on the 8th Feb 2000 and whose first live match was 20th October 2013 (v Partick). Reading it, brings home how incredible ICT's journey has been so far! And though I never got to see the likes of Tokely, Wilson, Sheerin and Wyness, let along Hayes, Rooney and (Charlie) Christie... these guys are all set in context, and I can see the overall picture. I must say it stirs the loins somewhat, and brings a tear to the eye, I can't wait for us to be rid of the damn pestulance, so that I can make my forays North again to see the boys in Red n Blue (or pink!)