AlexJones

I agree with Yogi's meritocratic philosophy. If he had put all the regular first teamers straight back in, and we'd gone on to lose, everyone would be complaining - why change a winning team that performed so brilliantly the week before? The reserve players who came in and did such a good job last week earned their starting places today. What's the point in giving young players a chance if they subsequently lose their place in the team no matter how well they play? I would have named the same starting 11 as last week. Warren's form has dipped as the season has gone on. Devine played very well last week and our back 4 was rock solid.

I always felt that Butcher didn't handle pressure or criticism well. Everything was fine during the good times, but when the chips were down he would become erratic. He seems to be losing the plot a bit with those comments. Expect him to start making bizarre team selections and cussing the fans behind the dugout next. Hibs have a long line of managers who 'lost the dressing room' and were punted shortly after. He better watch himself.

The best team won. The defence barely gave Aberdeen a sniff, we were first to every second ball and pressed them all over the park, something we hadn't been doing so well recently. Lots of composure on the ball and good passing moves. Tansey impressed when he came on and we were unlucky not to win by more IMO.

The player should hold out for an exceptional offer, his next move will be huge for him. He's easily good enough for one of the biggest Championship teams at least.

He was a bit of a luxury first time around. Lots of fancy touches, turns, drags etc. And always going for the spectacular driven pass. But he started to adapt and come good towards the end of that season. To be fair, he might have been a victim of circumstances. We were in a relegation dogfight and playing some dire football. His style might be much better suited to our current team.

Didn't we start out as Caledonian Thistle? Were the toilets at Telford Street Park painted red and black in our first season in division 3? Did all the Bolton wanderers fans spend half time having an every man for himself kick about on our pitch during a pre season friendly against us? Did Alan Hercher score a hat trick from 3 consecutive corners in our first league match? Was Richard Hastings really our designated set piece specialist in the early days? Did Tokely once play in goals for us after we used all of our subs? Did Mark McCulloch score a 30 yard piledriver, with his weaker foot, in the last minute of injury time, in a Scottish Cup replay against Dundee United?

Not to pick on Ross, but he has hardly any shot power, as his goalscoring record, or lack of, attests. You want somebody who can generate power effortlessly without much backswing, otherwise the goalie can read the run up. Do we have anyone like that in our squad now? We used to have the likes of Thommo, Gollie, Hart, Wilson, Mann, Rankin etc who could score long distance piledrivers, but now we hardly ever see it. Did we used to do more shooting practice in the old days? The last time I can remember us scoring from a direct free kick was Gavin Morrison away to Ayr in the first division. It's a shortcoming we definitely need to do something about.

A much improved performance, especially going forward. The longer the game went on, the stronger we got. The subs gave us a real impetus, Greenhalgh must be knocking on the door for a start on the left wing.

Good news.

I wouldn't put Pele on the list though, he played and scored all of his goals in a couple of mickey mouse leagues, his record is padded out by including goals scored in friendlies. Brazil would have won those 3 world cups with our without him. One of his 3 medals was awarded to him even though he only played the opening 2 games.

Not trolling, but I think players from that era tend to be hugely overrated.

Foran's 3 year deal, at his age, suggests the club are grooming him for some kind of role in the management team. But I think he's too similar to Hughes. What you want is somebody who is a good foil for the manager. Somebody who compensates for the managers weaknesses. What does Hughes lack? He seems like 'one of the boys', a decent motivator and coach, but unproven as a tactician and with a reputation for favouritism and bullying. I think the assistant should be a bit more detached, objective and cerebral.

I agree with IHE but would go a bit further. I think Hughes unwillingness to change Butcher's team is a Machiavellian ploy on his part. Had he changed it, and results plunged, he would have been blamed. By keeping the system the same he's waited for cracks and weaknesses to be exposed. Other teams have now gelled, caught up with our fitness and adapted to our tactics. Butcher's plan A has run it's course. Fans now have a more realistic view of Butcher's teams limitations. Putting everything into perspective, it's been a great season so far, and wholesale changes would be foolish. But things definitely need freshening up. There needs to be more competition for places. Ideally you want to make changes BEFORE atrophy sets in, but I can understand why it was a canny move for Hughes to have allowed problems to manifest. Now the fans are crying out for change, and he has the mandate to start putting his own imprint on the team.

2 points out of 15, losing at home to the worst team in the league. Definitely time to freshen thinks up. If the fringe boys are progressing and working as hard as the gaffer says they are, then give them a chance. Raven shores up the back 4 and offers us another dimension in attack. He will also bring out the best on Doran, who should return to his best position on the right wing. 1 goal in 3 matches against County, St Mirren and Partick Thistle (3 of the poorest defences in the league) is a dire return. Polworth was excellent against County and provided composure and intelligent penetrating passes, one of which lead to our goal. Christie and Greenhalgh have both done the business when they've been on the park, both can beat a man and create something out of nothing. Brill Raven Devine Meekins Tremarco Polworth Shinnie Doran Greenhalgh Christie MacKay

3 narrow defeats in a row where we deserved to take something out of the game. What a bummer. We dominated County for 90 minutes, even with 10 men, and they got lucky enough to score 2 goals with their only 2 shots on target. What frustrates me is our tendency to make hard work for ourselves. We're in the habit of starting sluggishly, conceding soft early goals, chasing for the rest of the game - and just falling short. If we were to START the games with the same speed, urgency, impetus and attacking drive that we finished today with (and the second half of the Aberdeen game) we would be winning these games comfortably. We've lost our sharpness. The warning signs started during the Morton game and the rot has set in. Our passing is slack, our marking is slack, our decision making is poor, we don't press opponents when we lose possession anymore, and we don't win so many second balls. Perhaps all the praise and adulation has gone to the players heads, or maybe they've taken the foot off the gas without the Butcher and Malpas fear factor. County are dire and the only thing that can save them from relegation this year is Uncle Roy's chequebook. For our next fixture, Raven needs to come back in. Shinnie needs to switch to left back. Doran needs to switch to the right wing.

As critical as I was about Hughes appointment, I have more faith in him than previous managers to give home grown young players a chance. Christie looked terrific in pre season and by all accounts has impressed in the U21s. He's earned his place on the bench.

Doran hasn't played badly recently. The reason he seems to have dipped in form is because Raven is out of the team. They work well as a unit. Williams impressed me today. He showed good composure under pressure and kept the ball well. Don't see any reason for him not to start against County. We tried to play a passing game today and had some success. There were spells when we looked great. But against a team like Celtic, sometimes you need to be a bit more direct. Their players are too big, strong and fast to play through. We got away with a few situations where we lost possession in dangerous areas in our own half from hospital passes, similar to the Aberdeen game. Overall the performance was encouraging and we didn't deserve to lose. If we play the same way on Wednesday we'll put 5 past County.

Brill Shinnie Warren Meekings Tremarco Raven Draper Watkins Ross Doran McKay

Unleash the Raven.

I watch and enjoy almost all of your youtube content. Keep up the good work.

The Championship is the seventh biggest league in Europe. The average attendance is just under 18,000.

Every football clubs support base contains anti-social scum. The OF seem worse because their bigger crowds afford these types the critical mass to blend into a mob. Our own gobby neds stand in a small group at the back of the stand and are pretty much harmless. But if you had a few hundred such types bunched together they would be far more belligerent. People behave worse in large groups. I'm sure the resident psychologist can explain.

I meant that up until recently ICT rarely gave out contracts longer than 1 year and had to rebuild the squad almost every season. The fear of relegation and not being able to sustain the wage bill held us back. It's only when we've felt established and secure that we've become more far sighted in handing out longer term contracts.

Kenny Shiels? Used to be assistant at Hibs. Could concentrate on his youth coaching and community work without having to face the media. Think his demands would be reasonable, sounds deflated by his recent rejections and probably just wants to get back into football.

Harsh on Adams given they've lost Vigurs, Lawson, Ikonomou, Wohlfarth, Hainult, Munro, Tokely and Fotheringham. A massive rebuilding job required. Perhaps a bit short sighted of him to rely so heavily on aging players and to only give last seasons January signings short term contracts, but up until recently that was ICT club policy too. I recall they were battling with Dundee down the foot of the table at this stage last season but improved massively after the January transfer window, history will probably repeat itself.