AlexJones

Terrific performance today. Men against boys. They couldn't handle our aggressive pressing and running power. Could easily have been 5-0 up at half time. Funny that our most attacking lineup of the season was seconds away from a clean sheet - Hamilton on the backfoot and rattled for most of the game. Just goes to show, sometimes the best form of defence is attack. Anier on the right flank was a masterstroke, who knew the mediocre striker we signed in January is actually a top class winger? He looked like an international player today. Hope he gets a run in that position. Looks like we found a system that got the best out of our players today. Shades of Mike Basset England manager - we ditch the 'modern' system and go '4-4-bloody-2' for the win. Same again next week please lads!

I for one welcome IHE and his Nigerian consortium.

Richie Foran might have failed as first team manager, but to call him a fraud or a wage thief is harsh beyond belief. If the man is guilty of anything, it's accepting whatever contracts the club has offered him over the years (as a player, then manager). He can't be faulted for that. Your first loyalty is to your family - not your football club. If resigning means a financial sacrifice on his part, he'd be crazy to do so, and I don't blame him for holding on as long as possible. Ultimately he's just an employee doing a job to the best of his ability. If a new first team coach is required, it's up to his bosses to act - either cancel his contract and pay him every penny he's due, or negotiate and re-deploy him to a diminished but secure long term role (rather like Charlie Christie getting his Centenary Club job back). I thought the board was supposed to be full of business brains? If RIchie cannot be sacked for financial reasons, surely between them they can offer him a decent job worth 'walking away' for?

Agree with Christie and Wilson when it comes to stating the obvious, i.e. that Foran has been a disaster and the board inept in their inaction. Not sure how much credence to give their views beyond that. Think we need to be wary of ex-players who 'talk a good game', given our current predicament.

Don't think this is a good shout. A legendary player, but insufficient managerial credentials. His only previous experience in management ended in failure. Don't forget he left us bottom of the league below Gretna! Poor signings, Highland League tactics and cringe-worthy post-match interviews. Sound familiar? We need to learn from our mistakes. Wouldn't begrudge him a role as an interim figure, but not a long term solution. Nobody should be earmarked for the role. Advertise it openly - far and wide, and give it to the best candidate who applies. Common sense. Why settle for someone local?

Looking forward to next season already. "Dumbarton are a good young side - I like em. It'll be a tough game, but I told the boys already, we ain't in a relegation dogfight. We're only 4 wins away from dat play off spot and dats what we're aimin for." Dumbarton 4-0 Inverness "It's frustratin to concede 3 goals from set pieces, we work hard on dat in training. The lads just need to show more belief, more courage, more mental strength. I'm tryin to keep the spirits up. Stayin positive. Dat winnin run is just around the corner." See you in the Highland League.

1) McNaughton 2) McCart 3) Fisher (good performance considering lack of first team action)

Just because he's Invernessian?

Time to go I'm afraid. He might turn out to be a competent SPL manager in future, but the record suggests he simply isn't up to the job at this moment in time. He needs to learn his trade at a lower level and work his way back up.

In two minds about todays performance. A) We played some of the best passing football I've seen this season, dominated the game for about 80 minutes and created enough chances to be 3 or 4 goals up. B) Failed to take any of our numerous chances, conceded soft goals, had no plan B and fell to pieces against an opponent who didn't even play well. It's the same story week after week. St Johnstone looked a very mediocre team there for the taking. That such a limited side are a whopping 24 points ahead of us tells the story of how pathetic a season we've had so far. Cole's red card was a disgrace. Yes the referee had a shocker, but FFS to continue hurling abuse at him even after he's just shown you a yellow for dissent is pub league stuff. That this happened literally seconds before he was about to be substituted sums up our luck at the moment. As the saying goes, when you're down the bottom absolutely nothing goes your way. If Warren got himself red carded in the tunnel that's also a disgrace. To be fair he's probably one of the most committed, passionate players to ever wear a Caley shirt and I can only imagine the frustration he was feeling out there but FFS man! This meltdown might actually be a blessing in disguise if it forces Foran (or whoever is managing us next week) to revert to a back 4 with Laing (NOT A MIDFIELDER!) at centre half. Can't deny that Warren is having a shocking season, but he's not alone in that regard (Draper, Vigurs, Fon Williams etc). For those saying he's 'done' I would say there's been a massive regression in performance levels across the board this season. A change in training methods, game preparation, system and tactics could be just the jump start he (and our whole team!) needs. The whole 'who should be bin next season' conversation currently taking place is putting the cart before the horse IMO.

If you compare our squad man for man with Saint Johnstone I'd say we have the better players and it's not even close. I'd also say our squad has considerably more strength and depth this season than last. So purely in terms of the players we have on our books we are woefully underachieving. 4 league victories after 30 games is an absolute disgrace. The problem isn't the players.

Don't see any point slagging the players off for this evening. Domestically Celtic have been literally unbeatable this season. They're a class above the SPL. Also don't agree with this notion that the players lacked 'belief', or should've been braver with the ball. Celtic are bigger, faster, stronger, more skillful and more organized than us. Trying to dribble or play tippy tappy against a team like that is suicide. 9 times out of 10 you'll be dispossessed (as we saw time and again tonight) and the team left exposed for a breakaway. No amount of 'belief' will magically change reality. Under these circumstances it's safety first - clear your lines, play long, safe balls up the park, don't take any chances, keep men behind the ball. This is how we played in the first half, and for the most part it worked well. Celtic struggled to break us down and it took a world class goal to break the deadlock. Second half was a bit of a shambles, but Celtic can make anyone in this league look like mugs. Having 2 energy sapping OF games in 5 days probably didn't help the cause. 4 points gained from Hearts, Rangers and Celtic is an excellent return. The bar has been set. If we can perform to the same standard against the diddy teams we'll climb the table.

How about bringing Terry Butcher back... as a player! Butcher flattens Chris Sutton

Voted no, but pressure must be mounting. Saturday shaping up to be one of the most dramatic, intriguing fixtures for years! Who knows what kind of starting line up, performance or result we're going to get? Expecting a tense atmosphere and raised passions. Should be entertaining either way!

For a game billed as a must win this result is a catastrophe. I keep expecting Richie to finally stumble upon a winning formula, but starting to doubt it'll ever happen to be honest. He's done a good job in the recruitment department IMO, and always carries himself with class and dignity (in stark contrast to most managers in this country) but something just isn't right. Time for the manager to ditch the casual nice guy approach and read the riot act. It's time to smash some crockery, knock some heads together and ask questions later. Change training drills, change tactics, change personnel.

We CTO posters are all pretty much clueless amateurs (with few exceptions), but as a wise man once said - even a broken clock is right twice a day! Surely between us we can come up with some good ideas? I'll get the ball rolling with a couple of suggestions. 1) We often hear about 'striking partnerships' or 'centre half partnerships', but less emphasis is placed on wide men. I would say our best combination on the right flank is Doran at RM with Raven behind him at RB. The two of them have a good understanding having played alongside each other for years, and work well together. Now that both lads are fully fit I would say lets start them together. 2) A new 'great wall of China'. Who else remembers this regular Butcher talking point? He put Draper and Tudor-Jones together in the middle as an impenetrable barrier to protect the back 4. It worked pretty well for the most part before Jones left for Hibs. Alex Fisher has played pretty much exclusively as a forward since his arrival, but what has impressed me most about his game is his energy, work rate and intense pressing game. I would give him a run in the middle of the park alongside Draper. He's a decent footballer (coached by Glen Hoddle no less) and if nothing else the two of them would give our midfield some steel.

A bit harsh blaming Donald Park for our current predicament IMO.

Looked at in isolation tonight was the proverbial mugging. Inverness dominated the game for long spells, created more chances, hit the woodwork twice etc. Motherwell scored 2 slightly fortuitous goals (certainly weather assisted!) and ran down the clock. The trouble is, this isn't a one off. It's the story of our season. Average teams don't even need to play well to beat us. Our system isn't working and alarmingly, the manager doesn't seem to have a plan B (save throwing on a bunch of attacking substitutes in the dying minutes). I think to be fair, even Forans most ardent critics would have to admit his team has been extremely unlucky with results so far this season. Tonight being yet another frustrating example. But sometimes you need to make your own luck. I wouldn't go as far as the doom mongers and say we're going down. Man for man I would say we have one of the best squads in the league, certainly the best in the bottom 6. Recruitment is one area where Foran has done pretty well IMO. Those calling for a 'clearout' in January are well off the mark. Personnel isn't the root of our current predicament. The problem, as far as I can see, is that our current system isn't getting the best out of our players. First off, too many are playing out of position. Draper, our best defensive midfielder, has been deployed further up the park. Polworth has been shunted out to the right. Boden (who scored 13 goals in League 2 last season) has been deployed as a lone striker on the rare occasion he's even been on the pitch. Doumbouya, a good target man, has become the central focus of our attack of late mainly in the form of long balls from midfield - but what good is this tactic when he doesn't have a strike partner to knock the ball down to? Our strongest department is on the wing - we have King, Mulraney, Doran, Cole and Sutherland. But for some reason we don't play a system with wingers! We play these guys in a narrow front 3 behind a lone striker. A state of affairs even more puzzling when you consider our current in-favour forwards (Doumbouya and Fisher) main strength is their ability in the air. Why not make the pitch big, use our wingers in their strongest position, and put crosses into the box for our front men to attack? I'm no expert, and probably at least 50% of my opinions are rubbish - but for feck sake, it's time to try something different!

Dundee play lovely football but they're a small, one paced side and a soft touch physically. There's no balance to their squad. They remind me of an Alex Smith team. Lot's of tidy wee players passing the ball crisply but not doing any damage. Imagine a team of 11 Nick Ross's. That's Paul Hartley's Dundee. What a signing Brad McKay had been. First class performance today - solid defending and 2 assists at the other end. Take a bow son. Tremarco wasn't far behind. PS What's the craic with our goalie? Only one absolutely world class save today - his standards are slipping!

McKay Tremarco Warren

Thought we were unlucky to be 2-1 down at half time, but took a real doing in the second half and somehow won it 1-0. Our passing and midfield play was abysmal at times. Polworth and Vigurs gave almost no protection to the full backs as Celtics wide men ran riot. Only a literally world class display from Fon Williams and some dogged last ditch defending from our outstanding back 4 saved us from a drubbing. Hard to judge Doumbouya's attacking attributes as he was a marginal figure for most of the game but in terms of defending from the front he didn't do a very good job of pressing Celtic in the first phase. He mostly ran towards the player in possession at jogging pace from an angle that always left a simple pass on. Foran got the substitutions spot on again. Fisher is a workhorse and deserved that goal. Hope he starts next week. Mulraney and Doran looked a threat on the break and added a much needed injection of energy.

Raven / Horner / Vigurs could all do a job at LB. Their services won't be required though as Tremarco is indestructible.

And what exactly were Yogis ideas and innovations at Inverness? I appreciate the continental passing drills and the possession football were a novelty for the club, but taking other managers methods and implementing them isn't innovative, it's just copying! When one note Joe plays stairway to heaven on his guitar in the High Street, he isn't being creative, he's simply playing somebody else's tune. Innovation is when you stop following a script and solve problems using your own initiative. When performances dipped last season (new players struggling to perform the roles of old players, opponents adapting to stifle us etc) rather than change the system he stuck to the script and barely changed a thing. One note Joe indeed. I still think Yogi's contribution to the club was a massive net positive overall FWIW, but he'd reached the point of diminishing returns and it was time for both parties to move on.

But if he comes out and lambasts the players straight away where else does he have to go after that? He can't come out and say 'the players were rubbish' every week. Sometimes you need to keep your powder dry. Even Butcher the scariest manager we've ever had would often laugh off a shocking performance and talk up the players when we were all expecting him to blow his top. Having watched the highlights Hearts goals looked pretty good! (save some slack marking from Horner for the last 2) We won't be the only team that gets pumped at Tynecastle this season.

Only one way out of our current predicament, hard work. Extra training sessions next week, back to basics, full contact crossing drills - even if it means fat lips and bloody noses. Too many players underperforming. Not time for panic stations just yet. Still wouldn't surprise me for the same starting 11 to hammer Saints next week!