AlexJones

Ryan Esson back to his best today. Probably man of the match. Vincent and Doran both impressed and played their way into contention for the final IMO. We made Dundee United look very average at times, no mean feat. (aided by some horrendous finishing from Ciftci!) I hope Hughes gives Kink, Polworth, Tremarco, Horner, MacKay and the rest of the fringe guys a run out at Celtic Park next week. Firstly, they deserve it. Secondly, we obviously don't our first 11 picking up injuries or red cards ahead of the final.

Slightly off topic, an in-depth interview with Ronny Delia. The reporter is banging on about Aberdeen, big Ronny retorts that they are the best team he has seen 'besides Inverness' in Scotland! Predictably, the BBC jobsworth completely ignores this response, and quickly asks yet another question about the Dons. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/scotland/32673556

Disappointed that there isn't a picture of the £1,225 jacket. Must be pretty fancy. That's almost enough to buy Dougie Imrie.

Wonder if he's used all his time off to do something productive, like his coaching badges? Or watching the entire DVD boxset of 24?

I concur with Morayjag's optimism. Collum was much more level-headed in his last outing at TCS. Hopefully he plays it cool on the big day! Think he has a touch of the Joey Bartons, every now and then the red mist descends and he just feels an uncontrollable impulse to do something extreme, except in his case it's flashing a red card or awarding a contentious penalty, rather than actually punching someone in the face (thankfully). Does our resident psychologist have any theories as to what makes Mr Collum tick? IMO, someone should send him a couple of Buddhist mediation tapes. Get him chilled out. The everything should be fine!

Surely with Hughes modelling our footballing philosophy on Guardiola's Barcelona, it makes sense for us to go back to our vertical red and blue stripes? Just a suggestion.

I would prefer we kept faith with the guys who got us where we are. The players who qualified for Europe should be the players who play in Europe. We should reward them with long contracts before we go out looking for new signings. Let us also not forget the club's philosophy up until now, to sign hard working young(ish) players from the lower reaches, and give them the platform to fulfil their potential. Shinniesta is the classic example. He certainly wasn't the finished product when he broke into the first team, in fact he was arguably the worst left back in the SPL. But persistence paid off. Today he's the best left back in the SPL. Would we have been better off shelling out for an 'experienced' player like Gary Naysmith back then over the green, rookie Shinnie? I think not! Let's not deviate from the strategy that has brought us so much success.

I was hoping Man Utd's slump would continue so we'd get them in the Europa. Looks like we're going to have to settle for Liverpool instead. Dave the Rave will nip in at the back post in the last minute to knock his former club out. I guess we could still draw United in the later rounds if they finish third in their CL group.

It doesn't feel like so long ago that we were getting humped by Albion Rovers and East Stirling in the 4th tier. A truly meteoric rise! Congratulations to the players and coaching staff.

If Chick Young were here, he would say "Danny Williams doesn't score ordinary goals!"

Phew, what a game. Massive, massive result for us. Glad I wasn't out there, horrendous conditions! Credit to the players for a great performance. Lots of brave challenges and solid last ditch clearances. We pressed United hard all over the pitch and won the midfield battle. The only other time I've seen us press so hard this season was in our 3-1 home win over Hamilton. Wish we played that way more often, the players are good at it. Williams, Vincent and Eddie caused United problems every time they got the ball. Meekings looked dangerous when he surged up the right flank, if he was more selfish and willing to have a dig he would probably have gotten on the scoresheet. One thing I would say though, you can see why we've had so much trouble holding a lead recently. Sitting super deep and hoofing the ball straight back to United every time. That was precisely the tactic that undid us time and again late on in matches under Butcher. It just invites wave after wave of balls into our box. United had 2 gilt edged chances late on. We need an out ball. The hoof over the top for Marley or Doran to chase almost never works. Hughes keeps telling them to stay on the last man, but coming deep for a ball to feet from time to time would be a safer bet IMO and relieve the pressure. Just a small gripe!

Doran's goal-scoring record is second to none. I wonder how many more he'd have if we'd put him up front rather than Watkins? Surely it's worth swapping the two around, even if only for 20 minutes in a game. The team definitely needs shaking up. Everyone has figured us out. Our current form fills me with dread for next season. Look at what's happened to Motherwell. Second place last year, relegation dogfight this year. That could easily happen to us. All the lower teams are improving, and we're going backwards.

Can see us dominating possession, missing 7 sitters, conceding a soft goal from a corner, and losing 1-0.

So many chances to secure third spot, thrown away yet again.

They were pretty unlucky not to beat Newcastle Reserves last Saturday at Ibrox.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx8CZyFM4b4

Edinburgh City have an unusual history. The club was brought back from the dead in the 1960s. Apparently this was legal on the basis that Edinburgh City Social Club had carried on operating long after the team had wound up. Does this mean that Caley FC technically still exist for as long as the Caley Social Club is still around?

I think some of the criticisms of him are harsh, probably stemming from bitterness over his departure. Can't comment on his record before he arrived at ICT, but he was arguably the most successful manager in Scotland (on a pound for pound basis) during his time here. He was pretty ruthless at getting rid of underperforming, or aging players, including club legends. But when he was given time to finish the job (unlike at Hibs) he put together a brilliant team on a small budget. It was no fluke either. During his stewardship we lost our better players almost every season, but he would always somehow manage to bring in a new batch who were just as good, and we'd do even better than the year before. Tactically we could be a bit one-dimensional at times, but his team was always fit, hard working and attack minded.

Neither one of them would last a single round with Gary Cornish.

He's gone for it with his wrong foot. If he felt he HAD to take it on his right, probably better to go for the outside of the boot, which would've angled it comfortably away from the keeper. Easy to say with the benefit of hindsight. Rooney and Mckay both missed worse sitters than that. The only real 'natural' finisher we've ever had was Ian Stewart. If you're not a natural finisher, best thing to do is the old Alan Shearer tactic - put the laces through it! Just going for maximum power every time will give you a decent finishing ratio, even if you put the odd ball into the Moray Firth along the way.

3rd time this season we've outplayed Aberdeen and lost.

We should put Willie Collum in charge.

I have no idea who writes the ICT twitter feed, but I have a mental image of it being Alan Partridge.

Imagine if Butcher had still been our manager when this all materialised.