ICT -V- Kilmarnock : Matchnight Thread

[RiG]

Personally, I thought Tokely was a one man band last night, with only Esson giving him a hand now and then.

Good report though rig.

Everyone sees it differently so each to their own. I wasn't impressed with him but I'm not exactly the ruling authority no matter how much I would like to be :biggrin:

Edited December 30, 2010 by RiG

[Johnboy]

Personally, I thought Tokely was a one man band last night, with only Esson giving him a hand now and then.

Good report though rig.

Killie were good, too good for us. It is very disappointing how the last couple of games have gone tots up, maybe we all need a break

Pretty much how I saw it, and for what it's worth he did get the MOM award.

[AJS]

We were woeful last night but i think Kilmarnock deserve alot of credit for their performance, what impressed was how quickly and efficently they moved the ball about. Taouil, Sammon, Eremenko, Kelly etc, they were so quick and also very dangerous with ball at their feet, didn't matter what we did they always seemed to break up play and create the breaks for themselves.

I don't think there was a lack of desire from ourselves but there was a lack of basic play, too often the easy passes, the through balls, the crosses were going wrong. Without Johnny we essentially lose our creative edge on the park, Blumenshtein managed to put in a great ball towards the end, but it was the only really good ball i remember going in. Still think we need to add to the midfield in January.

I think Ross Tokely's night can be described as mixed. He made some great moments, last ditch tackles and interceptions etc. But at other times was bullied by Sammon, punting the ball aimlessly out of play and looked slow when Kilmarnock were attacking.

[Fanoffooty]

Have to agree Kilmarnock were the better team but they didnt have 2 Games in 4 days

[sexycalie]

1st let me say I was pleased to see the team trying to play some football again. We really need a creative midfielder - no one on the team can see a pass or a run from the forwards and if they do its to late.

I thought Richie did very well last night and Im sure when Adam recovers from his bug and is back to full health he will be back to his goal scoring ways.

Mind you we do have to try and get the ball into the box more often. I would also like to ask the fans to please get behind the team the other night was just terrilbe , you could hear a pin drop at some stages in the match.

So lets be positive and send that message to the team for Sunday 3 points will be ours - I believe.

Come on Caley

[davieB]

Agree with Rig. I thought both Tokely and Munro were awful last night, and they got torn a new one by the strength and speed of the Killie attack. Surely they must've learnt by now that just hoofing it up the park is going to result in the ball coming straight back to them.

Funny how we all see it differently. I actually thought Shinnie had a great game!

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

I now feel and share the dissapointment and the frustration - I havent got time to read what has been posted before but here goes.

ESSON Still the best player overall this season by a country mile - unlucky with the penalty but he is making a habit of hitting strikers when they go to his left - as with the Jam Tarts I dont think the Killie boy was going anywhere.

DUFF Some said he had a stinker but I felt that he held his own and at least he tried to pass the ball with some forward momentum. I still think he is a fine rite back but I am afraid that we miss his craft in midfield becos he has looked as he has the composure to be more of a playmaker than anyone else that we possess.

GRANTY Rosscoe and Granty are solid and structured away from home but they looked like they hadnt played together before. Granty was sadly caught out of possession on a few occassions but he had to do a lot of "sweeping" mainly for Rosscoe.

ROSSCOE He certainly looked the part and was the last man standing at times but he is one paced and Sammon took him to the cleaners. In recent games Rosscoe has man to manned the main striker and Granty has sweeped - that didnt happen last nite and I felt that was mainly down to a very poor central midfield and Rosscoe.

He looked immense at times in the second half as he seemed to be there time and time again to put in a saving header and a block - and fer that he deserves MOM - I know that he will never falter in reagrd to passion, effort and committment but there were a few occasions last nite where he was slow to react and found himself in the rite place at the rite time - it was not about positional sense.

SHINNIE I though that he stood up to a real test. Killie clearly targetted him and our left defence - why ? - becos Shinnie WAS our left defence. Granty was too busy covering Rosscoe, Duncan and Cox were toiling in the middle and Foran went defensively AWOL in the second half. Shinnie looked as bad as Rosscoe looked good but there is always more than meets the eye.

ROSS I would say that central midfield is where he will end up. He isnt a winger is he ? And I feel that too much pressure was put on him to be a Hayes lookalike - which again he isnt. Id love to see Duff in the hole and Ross in central midfield.

DUNCAN / COX Pulled all over the place as was Cox. The movement and craft of the Killie midfield and the support on the break nullified Duncan and Cox. But neither are playmakers or can spot a pass or an early ball. They are like two Ray Wilkins crabs in the middle and it is not helped that Granty and rosscoe miss out the poor wee crabs with hoofs.

FORAN Take that feckin captains armband off him and give it to Esson or Rosscoe. He isnt a maraduing lef winger any feckin more - why cant we play him deeper as we do away from home - as he is far, far more effective when he comes from deep. Goal took a wicked deflection but he always looked the most likely to score at the back post.

ERIC WTF was he started for and in the hole - AARGGGGHHHH.

ROONEY Was that a feckin lookalike or what. Away from home he moves all the time - last nite he never left a square that was ten yards in diameter. I can understand why he got frustrated as he got zilch service but he was rarely looking to get on the last man but rareley either had anyone to play balls off to with forward momentum.

GIL WTF was he played again wide left - feck me it is clear that he favours his rite foot and will always cut inside - play him in the feckin hole alongside Rooney - there he has the touch and the movement to cure one of our problems.

[Georgeios]

Gils a lefty IHE.

[Granty24]

Just seen the penalty decision on sky sports. Absolute dive! Even Jim McLean said there was minimal contact! Esson was unlucky, the outfielders perhaps should have reacted better.

[tm4tj]

Thought as much last night as well, he was going to go to ground when Esson came out, and Esson made a hash of the penalty save.

[gingerjaggy]

Just seen the penalty decision on sky sports. Absolute dive! Even Jim McLean said there was minimal contact! Esson was unlucky, the outfielders perhaps should have reacted better.

I completely agree willie collum has got previous with that dive from broadfoot in the old firm derby i think looking back on it it was a shocking decision and that was when we had a good spell in the game

[caley100]

But will Collum say sorry?

[gingerjaggy]

it doesnt matter tbh the game is gone and we have lost

[davie]

Ginger, you're right. Games gone. The rest of you, just stop it. We weren't "woeful" we didn't get "beasted" there was no great excess of pointless hoofery. Collum was p*sh, so was my pie. The best description of us that I have heard so far in this entire beautiful year is that we are a "wee diddy team from the arctic" That we are, and enjoying it (mostly) Leave it at that.

[The Mantis]

The BBC commentary kept saying it was a decent game to watch and we were just beaten by a better side. Also that Tokes kept making great recovery tackles and was MoM. Kind of glad I didn't travel all the same

[RiG]

Just seen the penalty decision on sky sports. Absolute dive! Even Jim McLean said there was minimal contact! Esson was unlucky, the outfielders perhaps should have reacted better.

Just saw it there. Absolutely pathetic. A couple of the lads I go with said they thought it was a dive and they were spot on.

But will Collum say sorry?

This is the third home game in a row I have been left bemoaning the ref. Murray was garbage in the Rangers game, Thompson gash in the St. Mirren fixture and last night Collum was balls. Get these foreign lads back. At least they seemed to be half decent at officiating. The Scottish officials are simply not good enough. At least McDonald has retired so we are saved his pishness.

[Scarlet Pimple]

Rgardless of whether Esson took him down or not that lad was never going to catch up with that ball before it went over the bye-line.Even if he had got a toe to it where was he going to put it with his back to the goal and stretching out just to nick it. By the time he even would have touched it, I think the defence would have been back.

Anyway, it was a real soft penalty and one that ICT did not need at that point in the game. Killed the game for sure and took the steam out of it for the spectators who are paying the bills. Revise Scottish football?--then start with eradicating penalties which would , substantially, also eradicate the other scourge of the game which is increasing by the minute----and that is "diving".

In a situation like that what is the point in giving a penalty? No common sense and just slavish falling back onto the sterile rules. Do away with penalties anyway, I advocate. Spoils the whole game--give a foul exactly where the incident happened and leave it at that.The attacking team has a very good chance of scoring and watching a good stramash int he goalmouth is far more exciting than watching an almost dead cert goal.

Just suck it up boys and let's keep the team going. Nothing else for it IMHO.

[Georgeios]

I agree SP, its a blip.....

[tm4tj]

Unfortunately the home form has not been just a blip, it is a trend, and a trend that needs addressed.

Mantis, we were beaten by a better team on the night, but it was hard to take following hard on the heels of the avoidable St Mirren error strewn performance. Penalty looks like it was not a penalty, and again should Esson have made the challenge, same at Tynecastle, avoidable.

I am delighted at where we are and what we have achieved so far, but we don't want to stagnate, and the only area that we can improve dramatically is the home form because our away form is enviable.

Something needs to change at home, whether it's the tactics or personnel, that is up to the manager to sort out.

[TopSix]

Narrow the playing area. Pot of paint or 3 will do the job.

[old caley girl]

Thought it was a penalty at the time but after seeing the highlights the Killie player dived! Dunno if it would have made any difference but it certainly killed the game as far as we were concerned.

[Sir C the 3rd]

I think this shows there is a serious debate over refereeing in Scottish football. Sitting in the North Stand we could see it wasnt a penalty and that Bryson (the erse) went down in installments. There was an incident with Eric i'd like to see again, looked more of a penalty, naturally as its little Caley no one cares. Of course referee and more importantly as it happened right in front of him the linesman seen nothing. Just like Kilmarnocks penalty, he seen nothing and again was right in front of him.

Make no mistake if this happened in a game involving the Old Firm this would be in the papers for a week. Now I'm not saying that Celtic have a point with the "conspiracy" nonsense. But I am saying the quality of refereeing is something to be looked at in Scotland now, I turn up at games expecting the referee to be bad. Also the linesmen don't contribute anything apart from giving offsides and throw ins. They're job is more than that, but to be fair they struggle to give them correctly!

We were awful in the 1st half on Wednesday, but the 2nd half was a bit more even. When it got back to 2-1 we looked as though we might do something, but a poor descision by the referee has spoiled the game. Don't get me wrong though, i'm not saying referee's are against us, I'm saying that most teams get a raw deal from referees as they're not good enough. Makes me laugh that the old firm complain the most, they're the teams that get the best deal!

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Gils a lefty IHE.

Every time I have seen him play - 3 times so far - he never goes down the left wing - he always cuts inside and favours his rite foot. When he was moved up front at Stockport - lying just off Shane Sutherland - I thought that we had unearthed a beauty - I just feel that it is a waste playing him wide left.

Lets face it - we were beaten by a better team on the night. There was just a clear no penalty shout when Eric tumbled after beeing outbeefed.