PerfICT

On the Vigurs issue, I have mixed emotions. On one level, I think he's a good footballer, with a free kick on him too - I always thought he loooked dangerous around the box when we played against him. However, he does have self-discipline issues and right now he's not what we need. We've got midfielders galore and are problems are all in attack and defence....

The point is: if there realy is a treasure chest for a rainy day then this is the moment to open it. The unthinkable alternative would be to keep it in reserve until we're in the Championship. This isn't about smashing wage caps or investing in a massive squad, it's about patching up a really thin squad that has been ravaged by injuries. Short contracts, loan deals etc should be enough to at least give us a fighting chance of scoring a few goals.

'Inverness boss John Hughes says he thinks he needs to add 3 players to his injury hit squad' 'John Hughes "we've got the wee treasure chest we've put away for a rainy day, unfortunately the rainy day is upon us'' As I said "it's already p!shing down!" Open up the treasure chest Mr Cameron or it might just be too late!

Are we ever going to see Richie Foran again? Setback after setback and his age might suggest that we won't. A real shame if he doesn't make a return - we could really do with him right now!

After seeing the match on Saturday, this is simply terrifying news. I cannot believe that we don't have some cash in the kitty to help us out of the spot we find ourselves in regarding a lack of strikers and a stack of injuries. If the chairman is keeping some for a "rainy day", I think he needs to think again - it p!shing down already and January might be too late to save us. Pessimistic - too right I am: makeshift defence for months to come and no strikers - what's to look forward to?

It's taken me until now to recover from that car-crash and comment on yesterday's game... Put simply, that is as bad a performance as I have ever seen from ICT. Yes, we're ravaged by injuries, but that has only served to show us all what we already knew: we have a very thin squad and need more strength in depth! Our recruitment this year has been nothing short of a shambles and yesterday was the result. No depth, no strikers, no shape, no energy, no pace. On the new boys: his is the first time I've seen Lopez and I was totally unimpressed. He carries no aerial threat, no pace and no ability to anticipate (striker's instinct). He's is passable at linking play in a number 10 role, but not a number 9. Mutombo looked quite sparky when he came on and was instrumental in our only chance from open play, but without a target in the box, most of his good work came to nought. I didn't see enough of Wedderburn to make a judgement - Yogi was unfortunate to have hooked him for tactical reasons before Warren was injured. Fon Williams made several excellent saves, including the penalty. After a bit of a shaky start, it looks like he's a good addition. I know he's not all that new, but Horner looked distinctly average. What else did we learn? 1. Raven is no left back. This experiment should not be repeated. Williams did OK hen he went to left back and that appears to be our only option now. 2. Meekings is not a right back. The Warren-Meekings partnership in the heart of defence is our backbone and losing Warren is going to hurt. 2. We can't play 4-4-2 because....we don't have a single striker, never mind 2! As Craig Levein found out in Czech Republic, 4-6-0 just doesn't work. 3. Right now, we need to banish thoughts of top 6 and concentrate on the usual - avoiding relegation. Where to from here? Yogi needs to work his socks off in the transfer market. We need at least 2 strikers and (now) several defenders. I think we've missed the boat to a large extent - loans might be the way forward? I can only see one formation with any merit at the moment, with 2 holding midfielders protecting a new central defensive partnership: Fon Williams Raven Devine Wedderburn (Meekings) Williams Draper Tansey Mutombo Christie (Roberts, Doran) ???? My granny? (Ferguson, Sutherland?) Time to scrap for every point and get some of these injured guys back. Very worrying.

...on that basis, I say play your trusted servant and make the new boy prove himself worth the place. There is nothing wrong with strong competition for places and if Wedderburn proves himself to be better than Draper, then he should get the nod in the long run.

DD is spot-on for me. Goals win games and entertain crowds and we were not prolific last season (if highly successful). We have a squad packed with midfielders and light on attackers, with few options at left back in particular. Spare a thought for Vincent and Polworth who will barely get a sniff this season and will follow Ross out the door, together with Draper. I think this might be tough.

Here's my guess at the league table at the end of 2015/16: Celtic Aberdeen Dundee Hearts St J ICT Dundee United Kilmarnock RC Motherwell PT Hamilton That said, I think that positions 3-12 are totally up for grabs and we could easily end up in a dogfight at the wrong end!

Wow - I'm astonished by the absence of Draper in all these suggestions. I haven't seen Wedderburn yet and I understand that Draper was poor in the home game against Astra, but he was a rock last season and one poor game shouldn't condemn him to the bench. I'm for: Fon Williams Raven Meekings Warren Williams Christie Draper Tansey Doran Foran Lopez If Roberts is fit, I'd play Draper and Tansey holding and have Foran on the bench, with Doran and Roberts wide. Whatever way you look at it, there's a lack of balance in the squad at the moment.

No LB and no strikers are probs we knew we would have since Jan and no solutions found. This could be a disappointing season ahead.

Ooooooohhhhh, come on lads!! Absolutely massive opportunity if we can turn this around! Please turn it on, guys!

Really disappointed to have missed this, but was a shocked as anyone by the starting line-up. Throwing a brand new keeper in at the deep-end is always a risk - communication with the back 4 is a fundamental role for the keeper and takes time to develop. The only explanation for the Meekings right back decision is that Raven is still recovering from injury and wouldn't have lasted. Lopez starting ahead of Roberts exposes our biggest weakness (recognised by all) - no match-fit strikers. Presumably, Tremarco is also not fit to challenge Wedderburn for left back - there is no point in playing Wedderburn, Tansey and Draper in midfield - too similar. Sounds like Williams is the shout for left back, if you ask me. All of that said, the performance sounded decent and there is still hope, despite committing the cardinal sin of conceding at home. I fear, however, that the away leg could be a very frustrating affair without an effective strikeforce.

Eh? This is just a load of garbage. Has somebody got silver and gold mixed up? Hamilton Accies have a great youth system and it is fair to say that The Adams Family and their successors have been prime examples of "buying in journeymen of dubious quality" to save their skins over the last 3 seasons. I hope ICT are taking the SFA to task about this ridiculous mis-representation.

I don't blame the BBC for this one. They've just quoted what the tw@t has said. The buck stops with Mr Grey. His facts are inaccurate and he chose the wrong team as an example (not that a specific exsample was really needed!)

Caleyboy's points are partly true - in terms of some individuals with no real chance of making it through the system being included at the younger age groups to make up the numbers - but the system he suggests would definitely reduce the number of boys who make the grade. Why? The issue is that the lads all develop at different rates - the concept that the boys who shine at 10 years old will have all the ingredients (dedication, hard work, physical development, staying off the booze, girls and drugs) to make it as a pro is completely flawed. Equally, some of the guys who are small and lack physicality at that age might well develop late and turn out ot be the stars when they catch up. So, yes, there is a terrible attrition rate (~95% don't make it), but the only way to make sure you catch the few is to trawl many IMO.

This is very misguided criticism. The point is not how many Scottish players teams have, but how many youth development players have made it thorough the system. IIRC, we had 5 products of the ICT youth development system playing in the match against Celtic at the end of the season - I'm not sure any other team could match that (except perhaps DUFC?) To level the criticism at JH and Latapy is also totally unwarranted - I'm not surprised they refused to comment. The majority of the non-Scottish imports were brought in on TB's watch and have been very successful. What is JH supposed to do - turf them out overnight and replace them with home-grown talent? I have no doubt Charlie Christie is spitting feathers about this. I have witnessed first hand the youth development system at ICT and it is no better or worse than the majority of other clubs on a very meagre budget. The real story here is that the likes of Clyde have seen fit to entrely ditch their youth development system - now that really could have catastrophic effects!

Really sad to see Nick Ross go - I hope we don't regret it! I thought he looked the real deal this year when he came on - worked hard tracking back and was no longer bullied off the ball (semi final against Broon springs to mind). I also think that Nick wanted to move for personal development reasons, which is understandable too. I'm sure his game time would have been limited again next season, so what choice did he have? I don't think our squad looks weak, but it does look very thin, particularly in attack and full back. I think we're late to the feeding frenzy and once again will need to be finding a couple of gems from the lower leagues

Clubs employ accountants to minimise the amount of tax they have to pay, and private limited companies tend to produce accounts containing the least information legally required. To give more than that would be commercially naive. ....except Rangers, who are allowed to ride rough-shod over all regulations because "we need them back in the top flight".

..he'll get off, though!

Blue Brazil fans hardly gushing about him on P&B. Sounds like he needs some work to get him anywhere near Premiership standard. I presume he's cover for Tansey and Draper?

Centre mid/centre half? Surely our strongest positions already....or is this confirmation that Ross and Polworth are offski? Sad to hear Ofere is not joining us. Hope there's a plan B.

I saw Kink come on in a few games and he offered absolutely nothing that I could see. I also wonder whether he'll fit in with our tight-knit bunch. If we've offered him a contract, I'm very surprised and he must be showing something in training that we've not seen on match days!

...why don't they just say "richest wins" and save the bother of playing the tournament? This cr@p drives me mad - all a stitch up to try to manufacture the desired outcome for the sponsors (e.g. Barca v Chelsea in CL). The same is true in the World Cup: of course, we all love to watch Brazil v Germany......but not every tournament! You'll note how slowly these numbers change to reflect performane: English clubs have had a pretty poor laast couple of years, but it's OK because they still rest on previous laurels and the country coefficient, so they retain the 4 CL places. P!sh.