Eagle4Caley

‘Another tactical masterclass from Big Yogi and the Team.  This has to be some of the most intelligent football ever played by Caley Thistle.’ Caley D

‘Great game to watch, great players, great performance against a good team’ 12^th Man

‘First time we've ever been top of the league as late as November’ Yngwie

‘The first time in just over 3 years that we've won a league game after conceding the first goal.  The curse is broken!’ Yngwie

‘Thats the best performance i have seen in a long long time’ Forza Caley

Patience and persistence has it rewards! Well done Yogi!

By any measure that was a good result against the surprise form team of the SPL....Billy back scoring, and Vincent/Warren on the score sheet too....  Top, just need a favour tomorrow before the international break

I reckon a Billy hat-trick...or is that being greedy?

Get in there! Billy was due one and now it's come! Will it be like a London Bus? (if you know what I mean?)

yep! another one has turned up! yee haa!

Get in there! Billy was due one and now it's come! Will it be like a London Bus? (if you know what I mean?)

 

^{Is a 4-3-3 with three striker something that could be looked at, to have right go at Accies, essentially trying to overpower them?}

 

^{Something like this -} 

 

^Brill

 

^{Raven Warren Meekings Tremarco}

 

^{Draper Tansey Shinnie}

 

^{Sekajja Mckay Watkins}

 

^{Subs - Esson, Devine, Ross, Doran, Vincent, Christie, Williams}

 

A really innovative line up - I like it! Even with that team, look how strong our bench is. Cover and options in abundance!

 

Much as I'd like to see Sekajja start....in reality it should be Christie in that line up behind Mckay and Watkins.

It is a strong bench with options to hold with Vincent and Christie or attack with Sekijja and Doran depending on the way the game is going and whether we fancy improving our goal difference!

With Dundee U losing last night we have a chance to go top for a day and perhaps longer if the Dons can hold Celtic

The SPL is looking very competitive this year...alright Celtic have awoken and are slowly climbing towards top spot...but I'm seeing a top seven fighting it out for sometime....unless Hamilton and Dundee run out of puff. If we stay strong we will be in the top six..... I feel the top four spots will be between Celtic, Dundee Utd, Aberdeen and ICT, I agree with CraigF92, that 4th would be a good finish.

 

Brill

 

Raven Meekings Warren Shinnie

 

Tansey Draper

 

Christie Vincent Williams

 

Watkins

 

Not time to ditch Billy quite yet

Brill

Raven Meekings Warren Shinnie

Draper

Tansey    Vincent   Williams

Watkins Mckay

Keep it tight but counter-attacking with Watkins close to Mckay......having the option of Christie, Doran and Sekajja to really have a go later in the game!

I'd rather a 1-1 with Billy scoring than a 0-0 .... can see it being 2-1 to us though

 

Missed that. Did he, for once, speak in something other than cliches ?

 

The bit from 2:45 onwards rivals Al Pacino's 'Any Given Sunday' speech imo.

 

 

Aye...It's a mighty fine aftermatch interview!

ICTRoughi....I can't comment on the Rangers game, but I felt we did pretty well in the Cup Final, first absorbing Aberdeen pressure, then nullifying their threat...for 20-25mins of the 2nd half we were in complete control, but couldn't get the goal, and blew ourselves out. I think we relied too much on Billy to get the goals. I think the team now would win that game...yes I know you have to take the chance when presented, maybe we weren't quite good enough, but there are several players who have come on a fair bit since that game.... helped I in my view by Yogi's stewardship

Some very thoughtful responses, I'm glad I re-ignited the discussion. 

Renegade, I understand your comment about not being too conservative , and not 'having to take the sting out of every game' ...I think with the midfield we have, we should be able to exert control more easily this season....If Vincent stays fit and plays in the correct position this will be a more regular event....I guess the match against Celtic will be the litmus test for this. I also think that the development of Christie, Watkins and Doran have given us game changers, which will take the pressure off Billy and he will get back to form pretty soon. Hopefully Ibra will contribute something as well to provide Yogi options

DD...although a very thoughtful response I think you are still being a tiny bit hard on Yogi....in the end you can only beat what is put in front of you....next year we may have a resurgent Hearts and Rangers to contend with....however as this season goes on, if we stay injury free, the likes of the guys I mention above will continue to develop, along with Williams. In terms of whether we can play at a high tempo for more of the game, a bit of me says that a 1-0 win saving energy might be a better season long plan if you see what I mean (so we don't run out of steam), although obviously preferrable to be defending a 2goal lead! Your assessment of what constitutes success is fair...I bet 15years ago the thought of ICT being the third best team in the SPL might have been considered somewhat a pipedream, and arguably, given our finances and crowd pulling potential probably the pinnacle of what we can do. Would we settle for a top six place and another Cup Final, or a top three place? More to the point do we want a chance to play in Europe next season given the likely strength of the SPL. In terms of Yogi's performance is he getting as much, more or less than the other potential contenders who were in the frame for the job last year...who can tell?  Certainly I think no worse (we're 2nd for heavens sake!), and he completed the job of getting us to the League Cup final if not picking the trophy up

Thought I would bump this, considering we are second in the table, level on points with top and generally seem to be going in the right direction under Yogi with a stronger looking team that seems to have a number of players developing quite nicely

And also bravely on my part just before we play Celtic away next week.... given the last couple of results there, I would take a score draw as proof of overall improvement under Yogi

Steps away and waits for comments on tippy-tappy football and wayward back passes!

This sounds like a well earned win, can't wait to see the highlights! Good that Vincent is back, and playing in his best position!

We seem to have a very strong midfield and with Watkins, Doran and Christie some creative spark as well. Billy is going to start scoring for fun soon, as the opposition more and more have to contain Watkins and Christie...Good to have Ibra on the bench though.  Our bench yesterday looked to be the strongest we have had for a while, which bodes well for a good long run.

Well done Caley...a profit is a profit,   however does £28K represent a 1st team footballers wage?   In other words hard to see any additions to the squad now without someone going first, and I suspect without a run in the Scottish Cup, more than one might have to go in the summer to balance the books

Also shows that even minor improvements to the ground are not affordable

5 minutes of highlights off the internet doesn't tell me much, other than it was a pretty scruffy game...although Billy did look pretty sharp

St Mirrens' ground looks pretty smart, obviously only a few years old...have hopes of making the Feb match my first ICT away match (if you exclude the cup final)

Noticed today the return of the BBC article on the price of football with updated figures for 2014/2015. The article also includes a calculator for you to see how much you spend following ICT. 

 

It's really pleasing to see we offer the cheapest day out in the whole of the Scottish Premiership! 

 

 

Link to article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29527838

Not when you include air tickets!  (haha), but seriously that's good! Also puts our league performances into some sort of perspective given the size of our crowds and the cost of going....points per attendance spend must put us top of the table!

The international break really seems to kill the domestic scene, I guess we run out of stuff to discuss come the weekend off which means by the following week interest seems to be slow to build....even down here interest in the EPL etc only seems to take off Friday night before resumption....although plenty of talk about the 'price of football' although not seem to much analysis at SPL level

Back to this Saturday...I suspect RiG is correct on the line up, although if we go behind be interesting to see if our new signing gets thrown on for the last 15mins.....Vincent doesn't seem close to being match fit as yet....I would like him firing on all cylinders to see him operating next to Tansey
 

Will be keeping an eye on the Accies v Aberdeen, wonder if their momentum will be maintained.....now: do we want Ross County to take anything off Celtic?

So, Eagle for Caley, what is your actual opinion of him then. A top prospect, or just another good and hard working player?

Personally I have little to go on, so will sit on the fence! (I'd take the latter though with a few goals lobbed in)

I see in one of the papers the other day, Yogi reckons Sekajja's the hardest working striker he's ever had.  Good finisher, quite tall, fast, hard working?  Like the sound of that!

 

I did see some comments from Crystal Palace fans somewhere that said in their opinion, he wasn't quite good enough to make it at their level (Championship at that time).  Doesn't mean he won't be good enough for us though.

Although technically (correct me if I'm wrong) he is the only player we currently have that has played (and scored) in the English Championship, albeit just a couple of games. Tansey I think is the next highest level performer having played in English League 1.  Initially he has to impress enough to get a longer contract, at 21 he has plenty of time to develop if he can stay at ICT long enough

Actually some CPFC fans said that neither Andy Johnson nor Mile Jedinak were good enough! But making snap judgements after a couple of games is not very insightful

Welcome Ibra...now a proper (almost) connection between my two clubs.....below is an extract from a club forum when he signed a two year deal in 2011

"Sekajja, 18, scored on his first team debut as a late sub last month, finding the net to equalise at Hull City which ensured Palace's Championship safety.

The striker, who had already agreed a one-year deal in March, has been with Palace for seven years and has been rewarded for a superb season with the U18 side where he scored 24 goals.

Palace boss Dougie Freedman told the official website: "I can remember when he was in my office and I told him that he would be one of the players who would be given a professional deal, there was a tear in his eye as my explanation was sinking in.

"He has been with us for years, I remember coaching him when he was 13. We don't just pick these kids up from anywhere - we get them when they are young and work hard to develop them. That's the way we work at Crystal Palace."

Hopefully he will find his feet at ICT and earn a longer contract...there were a few people down here who saw him play in the U21/friendlies who saw alot of potential...but in a side that was going for promotion to the EPL , he wasn't going to get too many chances when we had Zaha and Glenn Murray..he was released by Palace in May of this year....fingers crossed

Got to see an hours worth of highlights last night on Sky....talk about a game of two halves!! We were shocking in the first half, and nearly came a cropper at the start of the second. Fortunately Yogi dusted off Plan B, and we looked sooo much better in the second half.

Christie and Watkins looked good, and lovely surge down the wing by Dorans rewarded by being taken off! (Plan B.2).  Mckay looked alot more threatening and was unlucky not to score when County's goalie pulled off a good one....I think he will score soon

Not sure about Draper yesterday, and wayward shooting from Tansey, .... Meekings/Warren were uncharacteristically poor...maybe a break for one or other is due...I don't believe 'tippy tappy' translates to sell your own goalkeeper short!

SPL still looking the most open for years...shame I can't get up for Dundee U match...that could be a cracker!

Second biggest crowd of the season for a televised early Sunday game...yes I know a local derby, but I guess they stayed away too?

From reading the various reports and comments on here about the game, it sounds like our 'tippy tappy' style of play let us down a couple of

times yesterday. This is always going to be on the cards, especially when we fiddle about at the back instead of making more positive

clearances. But it seems that Yogi is dead set on us continuing the 'possession' style of football, so we will just have to live with the

occasional costly error.

I only hope it doesn't dent our confidence too much before the derby match next week, especially as County got a confidence boost yesterday

with their first league win.

I've just watched the highlights....seemed quite an even game which defensive lapses cost us, that said.. is Hayes one of the fastest guys in the SPL? He set off on a few runs that no one seemed to be able to stop. Interesting to see Goodwillie having a half decent game for the Dons, he had the briefest of spells at Palace a couple of seasons ago, where he looked slow and cumbersome (although what can you tell from one game!)

Not too worried about the County game...Doran, Watkins and Christie are in good form, and Billy is due a goal, being the slight superstitious guy I am (football wise) if County hadn't won at the weekend they probably would against us!

SPL this year looking so interesting with Dundee Utd and the Accies doing well..... not a 'shoe in'  for Celtic this year?

Dare I say some people don't like a good malt whisky others really appreciate and enjoy it.

I like it with Coca Cola! ...but then I'm a 'heathen' or a moron, or possibly both! 

From 5mins of highlights we looked pretty good...maybe the other 85 left a bit to be desired!

SPL looking quite an open contest thus far?

Damn SPFL awards....not seen any video highlights yet, but it sounded like we were pretty decent for a while. Good to see another Doran goal.

Kids for a quid for this match perhaps (given that a paying adult is £30) and not just the family section (where is that, the uncovered section of the main stand?)

...and a couple of surfer flags with pictures of people seated on it!