PerfICT

Utterly paceless midfield. Vigurs, Tansey, Draper, Polworth doesn't give us the option of the quick break. We'll be restricted to long shells up to Anier and Mckay with no support. Not great.

Agree with DD. We're going to have to play very differently from the current system to get the best out of Billy BUT Doran is certainly capable of providing for him, so I have real hope that this will pay off. With luck, he'll get off to a flier tonight, but we might have to be patient....

...revised suggestion: Fon Williams Raven Mackay Warren Tremarco Tansey Draper Cole Doran King MCKAY!!

Well oh well oh well! I Didn't see that one coming - only yesterday I was watching the collection of goals "from happier times" on another thread and posted something along the lines of "oh to have Billy Mckay and Andrew Shinnie back"! On the other hand, it is a shame it didn't work out for Doumbouya, but he never quite managed to impress in league games. Really sorry for Ali Sutherland - he bided his time, but neither Hughes nor Richie quite had the rocks to select him, even when our strikeforce was failing. I wish him all the very best wherever he ends up.

...what I'd pay for a Shinnie/Mckay combo these days: All our problems would disappear!

Hats (or shoes!) off to all ICT fans who can make it to this. Let's hope the Hamilton fans boycott this one and take away some of the home advantage. RF needs to really identify who's properly fit for this one. If Drapes and/or Tansey aren't 100%, don't play them (I think Draper's said previously that artificial pitches don't agree with him anyway). I don't say that lightly, particularly in Draper's case, but he was nowhere near fit on Saturday and early returns from injury generally result in further setbacks. Once he has his fit and healthy team list, then decide the formation that is going to suit the players available. Where there are choices, go with form players in their best positions. For me, Doran is coming into form, so should play, perhaps behind the striker. Raven looked a bit rusty, but quite solid on Saturday, so we have a right back and Mackay did well in the centre, so the back four is good. The real problem remains up front with Doumbouya, Boden and Anier taking it in turns to fail to impress. Assuming everybody is fit, I think our personnel suit a 4-2-3-1 better than a 4-4-2, but that should remain an oprion if we use fully fit players in midfield (unlike Saturday, when it was full of crocked players!) I'd go with: Fon Williams Raven Mackay Warren Tremarco Tansey Vigurs/Polworth Cole Doran King Anier subs: Polworth, Mulraney, Doumbouya, Esson, Ebbe + U20 defender + Esson Another option would be to have Tansey as only holding midfielder and put Polworth or Vigurs alongside Doran in CAM. Neither Polly nor Vigurs are natural holding midfielders and Crawford has to be marked out of the game. RF needs to really get this one right and apply some logic. No square pegs in round holes. No room for error.

I'm trying to find a positive in RF's comments, so bear with me: If accurate, he was faced with something of a crisis this morning, with a series of half-fit guys + some suffering from a sickness bug. It serms his solution in advance of the game was (a) to cover up these issues (good plan) and (b) to hike the importance of the game to "must win", with the idea of galvanising a fighting performance from the players (always dangerous). The season has just been a series of frustrations - we've not been fortunate with injuries, which has highlighted our lack of depth. RF has continually fiddled with formation and personnel, with some surprise choices week after week. Much of this is enforced, but some smacks of poor judgement from an inexperienced manager. The frustration is that this collection of players is not relegation material, but the team is right now. It is the manager's respinsibility to mould players into a team and Richie needs to learn fast. Consistant performers are: Mackay, Tremarco, Draper (today aside) Guys who we know can do it, but are erratic: Fon Williams, Warren, Tansey, Doran, Polworth, Vigurs, Meekings (currently injured), Raven (just back from injury), Cole Fringe players with potential: King, Mulraney Unknown quantities: Anier, Boden, Ebbe Not sure where Doumbouya fits! Richie - build your team around your consistant performers, all in their best positions. Find a way to get the best out of your erratic performers: Drop those that have bad days, no favouritism. Your formation is determined by the players at your disposal. 4-4-2 didn't work today because under-fit players were selected in midfield. Why? Doran was dropped, but is coming in to form and is fully fit, so find a formation to accommodate him. If Draper and Tansey aren't fit, go with the guys that are! Frustrating! That was a game we could have won, but were nowhere near winning because the wrong team was fielded.

Loving your positivity, 12th man, but there may be trouble ahead! Richie needs to urgently find his best formation and reward players for good performances. An example today was not starting Doran - he was excellent last week, but is on the bench. Granted, he went 4-4-2 which probably doesn't suit Doran, but he's got to play his form players at every opportunity.

Fon Williams: 9. Kept us in it during the first half. A couple of good saves and one quite outstanding one. Raven: 6. Did OK for his first game back, but a bit rusty. Warren: 6. Solid performance, but a crazy yellow card for dissent. Mackay: 7. Solid throughout. Tremarco: 8. Our full back had our best chances again! Header across goal in the first half and shot over the bar in the second. Polworth: 6. Worked hard, but not very effective today. Had our only "shot" on target, I think. Draper: 4. Didn't look fit - game passed him by. Tansey: 5. Also out of sorts - explained by his illness. Cole: 5. Struggled to reproduce brilliance of last week against better players. Flashes of skill, but not enough to influence the game. Doumbouya: 4. Curiously found himself in wide positions too often. Failed to hold the ball up effectively and was sacrificed to put an extra man in midfield. Anier: 5. Worked tirelessly, but gave away too many free kicks, for which he was eventually booked. Very unlucky to be penalised for a foul when he burst through on goal. Vigurs: 7. Impacted on the game when he came on. Pulled the strings in spells, as we know he is capable of. Mulraney: 5. Skinned the fullback regularly when he came on, but final ball lacked quality. Got wiped out very late by a defender....not punished by the referee! Doran: 6. Very unlucky not to start after last week and contributed for his short spell today. Spurned a good chance when he mis-hit a curler. Foran: 5. Most of us liked the look of the starting line-up, but it didn't work. Credit to him for changing it early to try to win back the midfield, but the balance wasn't right throughout. There's still the feeling that he's still no idea what the best formation and starting 11 is (illness and injuries aside). Ref: 3. First half, he seemed to give everything our way, often wrongly IMO. Second half, he redressed the balance with some shockers in PT's favour. Anier and Mulraney have particular cause to be agreived!

2nd best all over the park. Sounds like there were a few casualties playing for us today, which might explain the flat performance. Fon Williams kept us in it and defence did OK, but we didn't deserve the win. Top 6 is a million miles away.

What a turnaround for the young 'uns. Brilliant - whatever the magic dust was, we need it sprinkled on the first team!

Based on last week's performance and assuming that we have nobody returning from injury, I'd go with a core as follows: Fon Williams x Warren Mackay Tremarco Doran Polworth Tansey Cole Anier Doumbouya The problem is right back. If Raven isn't fit and with Meekings out, you either have to go with Polworth there again, bring in a U20 (Brown maybe) or play 3 at the back. If Draper is back, I suppose he could play at centre half, with Mackay moving back to the right....

I see Ziggy Gordon is in talks with a Polish club - great! Let's hope he doesn't play on Saturday!

Actually, I think the 2nd cross shown was from Boden, not Doran.

Good points, DD.

The point of a wall is to block shots below head height on one side of the goal (near-post). Only a curler of Roberto Carlos proportions should be able to bend into the near post bottom corner. Granted, the ball was shifted a couple of feet in the free kick routine, but the shot had virtually no bend on it and was still a yard inside the near post - watch the BBC highlights, the angle is perfect to see this. So, a wall won't prevent a bobble, but should stop it ever getting near the goal if mis-hit towards the near post.

OFW - 4: Really only had one save to make and didn't. for me, the wall wasn't set up correctly because a straight trundler should not have been able to get inside the post on the side the wall is on. Mckay - 7: Looked really assured all game. Warren - 7: A much better performance from him - read the game well and put in some important blocks. Tremarco - 8: Mr consistency delivered again Cole - 10: Didn't put a fot wrong all game and scored at a crucial time. I don't often give 10, but he deserved it! Vigurs - 5: So frustrating! Had good spells and a great free kick off the bar, but was entirely at fault for the free kick leading to the goal and fades in and out of the game Tansey - 6: Some wonderful cross-field passes, particularly in the first half, but still not imposing himself on the game as much as he can. Doran - 7: Not quite sure what position he was playing in - he was quite often central, but also out wide. Played well, but just seems to be missing the spark he had at his best. Good cross for Doumbouya's goal. Polworth - 6: Put in a good shift in an unfamiliar position, but did get skinned a couple of times in the 2nd half. Didn't have his shooting boots on! Doumbouya - 7: Had plenty of opportunities and scored the winner. Goal that was ruled out looked perfectly fine to me. Could easily have had a hat-trick. Boden - 3: Offered very little indeed. The one bright spot was his cross for Doumbouya's header against the bar, but against lower-league opposition he failed to take his opportunity to shine. I don't think he has the necessary. Anier - 3: Should have been on much earlier. Showed glimpses of his pace and got a decent shot off after great control.

Actually, not quite as bad as I thought. We have had 2 home draws over last 2.5 seasons in Scottish Cup. So, 2 home v 6 away.

From memory, we've only had one home draw in either cup over the past 4 years, but I might be wrong. The stats for the Govan Liquidated are almost the complete reverse.

According to Sky, Queens Park RANGERS were in the draw for the Scottish Cup. Embarrassing!

away (AGAIN!) about as bad a draw as possible, but we've shocked them before!

I'm glad Richie gave him the chance to prove himself yesterday, but relieved that it didn't cost us in the end! Any defender would be delighted to see him on the teamsheet - no pace, poor in the air and limited movement. Anier is much better.

I don't entirely buy this as an excuse: Elgin swapped ends before kick off for a reason and a smart move it was, with defenders struggling to see into the sun. However, goalies are allowed an aid in these situations - it's called a cap! In addition, I don't think the wall was quite placed correctly - it is supposed to protect that side of the goal. I like OFW, but he is out of sorts just now and free kicks are a weakness.

Depends on your definition of "missed". I reckon he had 6 chances: 1 scored, 1 disallowed (wrongly IMO), 1 saved well, 1 off the bar, 1 shot blocked, 1 sitter wide. How many chances did his strike partner have and how many did he score? Yes, Doumbouya could have had a hat trick, but he certainly gets himself in the right areas and he won us the game.

Exactly what I had, Jagster.