PerfICT

We're just past the halfway stage of the season, so what are our thoughts on the shape of it so far? Here are some statistics to be bored by or to chew over to help the discussion along: The league stats show a certain amount of symmetry: P21 W7 D7 L7: 28 points. Goals For: 30; Goals Against 31 Given our terrible start, I'm delighted with the current league position and am fairly optimistic for the remainder of the season, if we can keep everybody fit. We could, however, do with Meekings and Doran back! Some other notable statistics - not many surprises! We have the lowest number of shots/game (8.56), the 3rd lowest shots on target (3.48), but the 3rd best conversion rate (goals/shots on target; 39.73%). This might reflect our reluctance to shoot unless it is a clear-cut opportunity! We also have the lowest corner count (won) which might be linked to the lack of shots on goal. Our average home crowd is 3,959 (260 better than the average for whole of last season) - 10th in league above Hamilton and St J and within 100 of PT and Killie. This suggests that our attendance is holding steady, but sadly there isn't much evidence of a bounce from last year's heroics. Our average possession is just less than 50% (49.9%) and there is a very clear inverse relationship between goals scored and possession in each game: for every 10% more possession we have, we score ~1 less goal. In 5/7 of the games we have won, we have had less possession than the opposition and in 5/7 of those that we have lost, we have had more possession. This might sound crazy and could just be a trick of the numbers, but I don’t think so on this occasion. Perhaps it indicates that we really struggle to break down organised teams that allow us to play in front of them (St Johnstone at home and Stirling Albion in the cup are good examples). Possession, particularly in the middle or defensive third does not win games and can often contribute to losing them. Cups: Going out of any cup is disappointing, no more so than when it is at the hands of County. Likewise, our performance in the Scottish Cup was not great against Stirling Albion, but at least we have a chance to put that record straight next week. It would be great to have another cup run and I see no reason why we can't this season. Good buys, goodbyes and star performers: Clearly, the best signing of the season was Miles Storey and it is fantastic that he's with us until the end of the season. Some of the other signings have not been so great - Lopez in particular. The most improved player has been Liam Polworth by a distance. It is also great to have Gary Warren back, but it is a real shame that we haven't yet managed to reunite Warren and Meekings. Draper, Tansey and Vincent are starting to show the consistency that we're used to from them. It was sad to say goodbye to Ryan Christie who was a star for much of the early season - I wish him well for the future. Thoughts?

Would agree with most of that, but no Raven or Williams? My guess is that JH won't sign either Raven or Doran, although I'd like to see both retained.

well (literally), it is no surprise that we will be away agaaaaiiiin if we manage to get past Stirling! Rangers at home agaaaain too.

Yes, Deano - that would be the team for me.

An interesting decision for Stokes if it really is in his hands. My guess is that he wouldn't "lower himself" to play for a diddy team (Scottish Cup Champions), preferring instead to go to the bigger team - Hibs in the Championship. I see this as a win-win: If he comes here, he's coming to get game time and to stick it up Deila; if he doesn't he's as shallow as I think he is and Inverness is not for him. Let's see what he does....

At the risk of sounding like the one-man James Vincent fan-club, did we not miss his energy and movement yesterday?! For all their strong points, a midfield of Drapes, Wedderburn, Polworth, Tansey, Vigurs just lacks energy for me. You can't have only one player (Storey) making runs - too easy to shut down.

Yes, I get the mutual consent bit - hence the "harder to shift". If we have to pay him off, we may as well keep him here. That's right about Mutombo - I had forgotten that he's here until the end of the season. That doesn't leave much room for manoeuvre.

If Roberts is fit and Doran perhaps in the wings(?) I agree that we should terminate loans for Mutombo and Sho Silva. Lopez will be tougher to shift: Contract terminated by mutual consent would be good. That might free up a little cash to bolster the squad, but I fear that we might lose some of the higher earners too. Dave the Rave for example.....hope not!

The impression from Hughes' comment is that the budget has been reduced - unsurprising, given the slight fall in attendances this season. Tricky decisions ahead perhaps? All very well "offloading", but there won't be any takers for the ones we'd want to offload, which means losing some of the higher earners (who we need to keep). Again - I hate the Jan window!

Yes, I think all the development squads (u11-17) play on the grass pitches at Charleston. U11s and 12s used to play their 7-a-side matches on Charleston Astro, but SFA regs have made them move to the grass pitches too. Development squads train at a mixture of Charleston Astro, Highland footie Academy (indoor), Millburn Astro, IRA (indoor) and Milton of Leys Primary School astro. Indoor facilities at this time of year are a must - multiple training cancellations due to poor weather.

Only a few weeks ago, I would have taken staying up as a good end to this season, but after a few decent results I reckon we can start looking up rather than down. Top 6 would be an excellent outcome after such a shoddy start. However, I don't think St J and Hearts are out of reach, so who knows? For me, the most important thing is succession planning. Our budget is small, so keeping guys that like it here, rather than trying to hook new talent seems the better option. Fon Williams, Raven, Tremarco, Draper, Williams, Polworth, Devine, Vincent and Storey would be a start. Haven't seen him yet, but Roberts could be one to look at too. I wonder where Doran is at? Cup? Would be great to have another decent run. Retaining the Scottish Cup would be a historic achievement....one step at a time, starting with Stirling!

Yup: 45 min on Celtic, Aberdeen and the numpties in the Chumpionship and 10 min on the diddies.

PS - the Charleston Astro is now outdated and can't even be used for development squad matches without an expensive SFA inspection. Millburn Academy, Milton of Leys PS and (soon) IRA are much more attractive options.

Indoor facilities are used by some of the development squads every week. HOWEVER, ICT certainly got the short straw wrt the Highland Football Academy: The indoor facilities are what we really need and it's crazy having to send squads on a 30 mile round trip to get access to them. Added to this, RC clearly see these facilities as "theirs" (reference MacGregor's Sportscene piece this year). Indoor facilities are desperately needed in Inverness.

I think it's what JV does when we don't have the ball that is impressive. He chased everything down all game yesterday, forcing rushed passes and Fox to miss-kick clearances - this helps to keep the pressure on. When we do have the ball, he's always making intelligent runs to leave holes for Storey and the midfield to exploit. When he has the ball at his feet he wins a good number of free kicks. What he probably lacks is finishing....but let's not forget that he did score the most famous goal in our history!

Not sure we deserved to be ahead at half time, but I'll take it! Wedderburn was having a shocker and a good move to sub him for Vigurs. 2nd half was reasonably comfortable and Storey ran Boyd ragged. Vincent was absolutely everywhere and didn't give there defence any rest. In the end, we could have got another couple, but was more delighted with the CLEAN SHEET! Now, we need to do the business off the park: Storey (promising signs there), Draper, Polworth, Vincent, Williams, Fon Williams all signed up for another season or two please. I get the feeling that Rave won't be top of Hughes' list, but he makes us look so much more solid. I quite like Tremarco too. Well done lads: a happy New Year!

Would have preferred a comfy 2-0 win, clean sheet etc, but will certainly settle for a 4-3 win in a thriller! What a strike from Polworth. Please sign him up quickly!

oh yes! Our find of the season scores again! LP turning out to be a star!

LP has proved to one of the very few bright sparks over the last few weeks. I agree that we need to learn from previous mistakes and make sure that we either retain him for his best footballing years or we get value for him in the market.

A settled back 4, with Meekings and Warren in the middle is a must. For me, Raven and Tremarco would be at full back, but I wouldn't complain at Williams. Horner doesn't do it for me and Devine seems to make one mistake per game which costs us a goal. If Raven goes it would cost us!

Poor result, but looked like being a shocking result for a few minutes. Not sure what's going on with team selection. What's up with Meekings and Draper? What has Raven done wrong (anyone seems to be preferred to him!) Why not play Tremarco at full back to release Williams to go forward. Does Vigurs do enough to deserve a start? Answers on a postcard. Sadly, we're still looking down instead of up in the league.

A well-deserved win, but as usual made harder work of it than we should. Killie were shocking: The first goal was a shambles and their defence was for the taking. Polworth and Vincent were excellent today. First time I've seen Wedderburn - I thought he had a decent game too. Storey would have had a barrel -load if he had stayed on - hope his injury is minor. Mutombo was mercurial as ever: Little contribution, then skins 2 defenders in the corner and overhits the cross! I don't usually criticise the ref, but he had an absolute shocker today - some of his decisions (in both directions) were mesmerizing! Important win, now we need to do the same against United next week and pull out of the pack. That play-off spot is too close for comfort! Was Draper injured again?

Thanks, CaleyD. I bought the DVDs for my son's christmas, so haven't watched them yet. To be honest, I'd only ever really seen them as a keepsake and memory of what was just a crazy season. It's a shame that this won't net the club much dosh, as that was also part of the incentive to buying it. I had wondered about the cost of rights, so that explains it. Whatever - it will remind us of a wonderful season....until DVD players are confined to the museum, of course!

I'm less concerned about the rights and wrongs of allowing managers to talk to other clubs when under contract than Yogi publicly indicating that he was unhappy not to be allowed to speak to them.....only just having signed a new contract with us! He could, after all, have deflected the question by simply saying that he didn't speak to Utd - end of. As Kingsmills implies, why go public with an issue of mistrust with your employer after just having signed a contract? If he doesn't trust the club, he should have just packed up and gone. I just can't work out if he's incredibly naive or highly manipulative....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34985616 Not sure that this makes for great reading! I think we all knew that Yogi would have liked to have spoken with United, but I'm not sure it was wise to bring it all up again and to highlight his issues with the club for not allowing him to speak with them at the time. I'm happy that we have kept Yogi for the stability that it brings, but sometimes he just says too much to the press for his own good!