AlexJones

Solid performance, can't fault the team. I concur, Gary Warren MOTM by a mile. The only changes I would make next week - Shinnie in for Watkins, Christie in for Vincent.

http://sport.stv.tv/football/clubs/ross-county/270596-derek-adams-highland-derby-defeat-down-to-refereeing-mistakes/

I would put money on the current Brora Rangers team to beat Glasgow Rangers. On a side note, Zander Sutherland has been absolutely sensational playing as an out and out striker this season. His pace and trickery combined with clinical finishing. He's got 35 goals in 44 appearances so far. He's still only 26. Would love to see him given a trial back at ICT to see what he can do.

Some hilarious diving from County tonight, that Cikos clown actually screams as he goes down, what a rocket. Good performances all round. Raven man of the match for me, great shift down the right flank. Tremarco likewise, he was first to every ball and full of running. Can't fault the gaffer tonight. Two wins on the bounce at Victoria Park is no mean feat.

He talks a good game. It's the results that matter.

To be fair to Sergi, he was up against the best County manager in their history. It's been all clowns since then.

We should go 4-6-0. Keep passing the ball around our own half for 90 minutes and hold out for a 0-0 draw.

Christie inherited an excellent team, kept it going for a while, then let things slide. His signings? IIRC Dean MacDonald, Ally Ridgers, Markus Paatelaien. Relegation fodder. The high fitness standards left by his predecessor slid, the team became disorganised. We started playing aimless long high punts to the Dargo and Wyness. From free flowing, high energy attacking football to Highland League stuff. We had a great chance of a deep run in the Scottish Cup, very few SPL teams remained, we blew an easy home draw against a very weak Partick Thistle. The following (or maybe previous) season were on the verge of knocking Celtic out of the Scottish Cup, keeping things tight with a few minutes to hold out. He takes on Rory McAllister and Graham Bayne, they equalise shortly after. Towards the end of his run we couldn't buy a goal, he had Wyness and Dargo sitting on the bench, and favoured Graham Bayne. Every week he came out and talked Inverness down, insisting that we should all be grateful just to have a team in the SPL. He expected unconditional praise and adulation regardless of results, and refused to accept any criticism. He had delusions of grandeur, coming out in the papers talking about how he was learning Italian, and wanted to try his luck managing in Italian football one day. In the end he bottled it, and walked out of the job leaving us bottom of the league with 'nil pois', below Gretna. He was a great player, but a terrible manager.

1) Pele 2) Butcher 3) Robbo 4) Brewster 1 5) Baltacha 6) Brewster 2 7) Hughes so far 8) Christie

Friday could be the tipping point. If it's another terrible performance and embarrassing result, the ultras will 100% be chanting Yogi GTF.

After our recent run of draws and defeats in games we would easily have won earlier on this season - count me in the 'mibbes' camp. A good manager plays to his teams strengths. A good manager gets the most out of his players. A good manager gets results. We are a big, strong, physical side who tear teams apart with pace, power and pressing. Hughes seems to want the team to play like Arsenal no matter what. It didn't work a few months ago, it's not working now, and it's never going to work.

How the feck did we manage to lose that game?

I don't know if you've noticed our recent fixture congestion. It doesn't allow for much time on the training pitch.

Agree with most of Hislop's points, but disagree on Watkins. He chased down and pressed the St Mirren defenders into a few mistakes and looked dangerous on the break. Billy McKay needs to be rested, he's running on empty.

He's done well with the limited chances he's been given. He definitely has all the attributes to develop into a very good SPL player. Hopefully he does well at Stenny and signs a new contract.

There's no such thing as a 'strongest team' per se. Players form fluctuates throughout the season. Also, you need to take the opposition into account. That said, I agree we have too many holding central midfielders in the team, it's congested and unbalanced. Playing Polworth and Christie makes sense as a long term investment. The more experience they accrue, the better they're going to get. Our attacking players haven't been doing the business recently. Vincent and Tansey shouldn't be considered undroppable. Since they both came into the team, we've barely scored any goals, let alone won games. Foran hasn't been up to standard recently, but in fairness I think the excessive tippy tappy style currently being employed doesn't suit his game. Tremarco is unfortunate to be out of the team. As above, since Shinnie was put back at LB, we've conceded a lot of goals and not picked up many points. I would rest Shinnie, and on his return put him back into midfield where he did so well earlier in the season.

Wonder how much red wine he's going through in an average week these days? The stress must be getting to him.

First half was as bad as we've played all season. Far too much tippy tappy stuff in our own half. Goalie plays it short to centre half, midfielders come deep to pick up the ball and knock it around between them, play becomes congested in our half, Partick close down, we lose possession. Rinse and repeat. Second half was excellent. Our shape was much better, we had width, we pushed men into forward areas, we had much more movement up front, and we played much more direct long passes. This stretched the game and ultimately was too much for Partick to handle. We should have scored 2 or 3. When we try to play like Arsenal (i.e. first half) we struggle and look like relegation fodder, when we play to our strengths (i.e. pressing and direct) we are much more dangerous and look as good as anyone outside Celtic.

Next weeks instalment, "Bottom of the table chat, with Terry Butcher."

Charlie is the better player for me, although Iain is probably the better manager.

Far too much tippy tappy stuff. We keep playing ourselves into trouble with hospital passes to men under pressure. Style over substance. Shades of Alex Smith. Central midfielders coming too deep. Forward players too isolated. When we lose possession we sit deep rather than press the opposition into mistakes. Our finishing is awful, our set pieces are awful, our crossing is awful. Players seem sluggish and robotic in possession in contrast to the free flowing, sharpness earlier in the season. (overcoaching perhaps?)

The team and tactics seriously need freshened up. We can't buy a goal at the moment, never mind a win. It'll be a disgrace if Warren, Christie and Ross don't all start on Saturday.

We definitely need to rest a few to avoid burnout. We've also been struggling for goals recently so no harm in experimenting with something different up front. I'd go with. Brill Raven Warren Meekings Tremarco Draper Williams Doran Ross Greenhalgh Christie

After our last 2 gubbings, and Aberdeens recent form, everything points to a comfortable Aberdeen win in the final. However, as a pessimist, I would absolutely HATE if it were the other way around. Traditionally, every time ICT go into a big game as favourites, we get the stuffing knocked out of us. I've heard a few Aberdeen fans expressing the same sentiment. The bigger underdogs we are, the better I say.

You have to give players some leeway to play their way back into form. The Derek Adams approach of making sweeping changes every time you have a bad result (which is almost every week for County these days) leads to unhappy, insecure, nervy players who are afraid to express themselves.