Douglas Mackenzie

Thank goodness for Nathan Shaw.Thats this weeks summary.That boy was the MOM and is growing in confidence.

Thought that was much better than last few weeks,but accept that would not be hard. Thought we had drive and desire today.Having Devine and Welsh back and playing Carson in midfield made all the difference.Doran was good and hit bar with a shot.Shaw looks a good buy.Their number 9 is known to be dangerous,he only needed a couple of mistakes and he made us pay.Imagine having a  6 foot number 9.Billy does a lot of running and works hard but he never wins these high balls when he is against any defender with height.We need to learn to pass the ball on the ground to him

On 11/6/2022 at 1:22 PM, Douglas Mackenzie said:

I think we had so many chances to kill the game and never took them because we tried to pass or walk the ball into the net.Why not try some shooting on site that's what they practice before the game, although some of that shooting leaves a lot to desired.I just feel that a the dropped points will come back and bite us again.Why could we not have started the game as we did the start of second half.

Meant sight and should be all the dropped  

I think we had so many chances to kill the game and never took them because we tried to pass or walk the ball into the net.Why not try some shooting on site that's what they practice before the game, although some of that shooting leaves a lot to desired.I just feel that a the dropped points will come back and bite us again.Why could we not have started the game as we did the start of second half.

First half instantly forgettable.Showed more desire and tempo second half and flashes of some nice football.Said it before, Mackay and Oakley don't work up front.Thought we would go 4 5 1

Individual defensive error cost us 3 points.

Thought Shaw had one of his better games.Thats about it other than amazing that we are only 3 points off top.

We could have been a couple up by half time,but credit to their goalkeeper he had some good saves.

Overall,better than last week though that would no be hard,but think we have to remember that we are 9 first team lads down,so the fact we are in the mix still is good.Imagine if we had a full team.

Day following the night before: We have more injured than any other team in the league why?Bad luck or is there another reason?

We are not sharp enough up front and don't threaten the opposition goal.Oakley and McKay doesn't work.

Our midfield are not strong enough and we have lost too many good defenders to injury.

Allied to all this the tactics are questionable. However  the players don't become bad players overnight, so surely they can get together thrash out the issues,put round pegs in round holes and all make sure they know their role.

We huffed and puffed last night,but never looked threatening.However when Morton went forward you had to hide behind a cushion.

Time to sit down,reflect address concerns,build up confidence and togetherness and make sure we are never embarrassed on TV again.

Agree.We just were not at the races.Man of the match a 34 year old who played his first game for Morton.Basically, showed how to defend.What a miss are Deas,Devine,Allardyce and Co.

Think damage was done when we gifted 3 to the opposition!!there's just no way back from that.Added to this fact is the fact that we could play till midnight and we don't look like scoring.Morton dangerous every time they go forward.Really missing our big players,but those selected should and could have done better.Embarrassed.

You just cannot afford to give any team 3 goals for nowt and expect to win games.All the pressure for first five minutes,Morton go up park for first time and score.A stupid pen and then an own goal.Only ICT

Well a hard fought draw,  which we are probably lucky to have secured.I thought we were all over the place for the first 15 and then settled a bit. To be fair we nearly have a team on the injured list so any points are a bonus and despite the injuries we are top.For me Billy Mackay and Oakley were very good,especially Oakley's hold up play.I actually thought that was Oakleys best game to date, but they all did their best which is all we can ask for.Now to get a win at Morton by any means or method.

Oh and special mention for Strachan I think he looks a great prospect going forward.Good to see Billy changed formation of defence early on as the original three at back didn't work.

A great chance to go clear top and we froze.Deleaney,Boyd and Ridgers get pass marks,the rest were woeful.From the first few minutes it was obvious the tactic was to boot the ball forward and chase it.It never works for us and even having a taller player than normal upfront as a target man it made no difference.Why we keep trying this is beyond me.The midfield were all posted as missing for the entire game and as for their goal,it was embarrassing from a defensive point of view.The hungrier team won and although no great shakes,they were better than us.This is not a top flight team and shows that outwith our first 11 we are just left with at best average players.I thought they would be so keen to show what they can do.

Well that was a good night.Real hunger,drive,determination and tempo.Played well and nullified the threat of Graham and their number 7 forgot his name.At least this time we managed them both and kept them out of the game and this with so many out injured.Well done boys.

8 hours ago, Jaggernaut said:

That was a really poor display, and we were lucky to get it to penalties in the end. Brechin are going well in the Highland League, so they are used to winning, and, I thought they had a far better passing game than ours. I don't think we take this tournament seriously enough, there's no point in going into a competition if you don't want to win it, so we should have started with a much stronger team, and once we had a foothold in the game, introduce the youth players. Some of the subs and formations that ict ended up playing was mind boggling. Does Dodds have something against young Hyde? He gave him and Harper too much responsibility at CM, and then stuck him back in his nightmare position at right back! And we seem to be back to our ponderous best again, passing in back and fore across the back four, going nowhere, allowing Brechin to regroup, while they were hitting us fast on the counter attack. We really need to be more direct, our default position, when we receive the ball, seems to be to turn back and pass back, instead of turning and running at them.

I have said for a few seasons now that we have an acceptable first eleven, but after that, we are pretty ordinary, so we aren't good enough to make the wholesale changes that we made today. I really believe in keeping a winning team going, and with our away trip to Ayr next week, we should have used this game to boost our confidence and form, but I fear it achieved neither of those things.

Couldn't agree more.Why not start strong get ahead and then when in charge of game bring on fringe players and boost their confidence,not further destroy it.Also agree as I also said, that we didn't look as though we wanted to be there,so why go in for these competitions if you are not going to try and win them.We could have kept winning mentality and confidence going if we played first 11 and then introduced the young boys.One day I will be able to work out the management's plans and tactics.

Well that was painful.3-1 up and we throw that away.The whole attitude was wrong today. They thought they just had to turn up.No drive,energy,tempo  or hunger to win. Passing woeful.This was a great chance for the fringe players to show what they could do and they blew it.Hyde and C Mackay need to go to Highland league team for a season .I think we should get our money back.Man of the match,all the hard suffering supporters.Embarassing.

13 minutes ago, caley100 said:

Dodds Get to f*ck!   OK that's enough!  I've had it..

There was no plan today, Just players going through the motions!   

No pass marks for anyone except Billy and Allardice.  What has happened with Mcgregor? feckin waste of space!  Carson...shyte  not a right back in my lifetime!

Why has Dodds not recruited proper full back?

Seriously disgruntled ICT fan TONIGHT!! 

Agree about Mcgregor he was just running about aimlessly.Carson,I used to rate,but today it seemed his mission was to see how many times he could hit the opposition with the ball.

Well that was truelly awful. It has been said already but in the first half everyone could see there was no tempo,no pace,no ideas no hunger no leadership no inspirational play.If this is how they react to getting gubbed by Partick, heaven help us.This week was every bit as bad.Yes we have injuries to key players,but as full time professionals they can do much better than that.They didn't act or play as a team.I thought at half time they'd get a rocket but alas no.More of the same garbage.

I suppose the only way is up.Unfortunately we are right in the brown stuff and on the showing over last two games don't look we have a clue how to get out of it.

On a positive,we experience a horror show a few times over the season.Now we have had the first one,let's learn lessons get the team selection and tactics right and when plan A is not working have a plan B.Lets put it all right next week and all will be forgotten. Finally don't put our young up and coming players against the best in the league and expect them to do well.It will just destroy their confidence when it doesn't work.No team in this league is a pushover so we have to go into every game focused and well versed.

The morning after the night before and yes It really happened.We were poor all over and only Ridgers,Billy and Samuel's can hold their heads up.I think the mid field must have been on witness protection because they were not at Firhill. Two minutes in and all could see Tiffoney as expected was the danger man.What did we do,we put the least experienced player on him and never changed until second half when it was all over.We have this amazing ability to be the masters of our own downfall.Well done to the travelling support you did your part,but alas ICT got gubbed in front of live TV because of poor tactics and team selection.Maybe the wake up call needed.

Back to the drawing board as Plan A is not working because teams know how we set up and play.A few minutes in you could tell Tiffoney was going to rip us apart and he did and we did nothing in first 45 to try and nullify the threat.

11 minutes ago, Robert said:

Exactly!!

Hyde was exposed tonight you could see after minutes he was out of his depth.I hope his confidence doesn't take a hit. Defence poor and midfield not in charge. Missing experienced players tonight.

We are struggling tonight especially in defence.Doran not getting in the game so far.Tiffoney and Graham causing us all sorts of problems.Samuel's doing well although probably defending more than he is getting chances to attack.Partick just not letting us play

Good all round performance by the team.Thought Samuel's was good today and Deas fair steadied the defence Allardyce controlled the game and when he plays well the team does .Thankfully not another draw,but didn't expect to win 4-1,so well done ICT

Well that was the first game of the season and after last week it was disappointing. Queens were right at it first half and if they were better at finishing we would-have been toast by half time.Midfield poor first half although slightly better second half.Defence shaky until Devine came on and we have ridgers to thank for still being in the game. Mackay goal was good and he worked hard all day as did MacGregor and Boyd. Carson was pick of the rest. Second half better,but realistically we need to improve and pass better. We need to stop being caught on the ball. Granted key players missing,but we should be able to cope with that.Queens deserve to be in league.Early days and hopefully we will improve.

WellI  enjoyed my first season contributing to this forum and respect all other views and opinions even if I don't always agree with them. I think we all have a passion for ICT and want to see them in the Premiership. There is no doubt many mistakes were made this year in team selection at times and tactics,but we seemed to get through that period and more or less be on the same page as we came up the home straight. Mid season we all (me included) questioned the will and committment of the team and quire rightly so,but these last dozen or so games they have risen to the challenge and done themselves and the club proud so well done to the team! Finally, I always wondered if we were actually ready for the Premiership this year and going up too early would have meant a season languishing around the relegation zone again,so maybe best we try and keep building and getting stronger and then when we are ready for promotion we can do it in style. See you all next season.

Two goals in 10 mins we can do it Allardyce is the man.That crazy 10 mins after break did for us.However I think team did well to get where they did this season and if it wasn't for that 11 game losing streak it could all have been so different.We never do anything the easy way 

Anyway well done for all your efforts in recent weeks.