The Bottom Line

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Lets be a bit more positive for a second - given all our traumas and difficulties this season we may be bottom BUT we are not adrift - only four points separate us from Midden.

I do have serious concerns about our management loyalty to certain players and adherence to a failing tactical system but we are slowly returning to full strength and we should progress. November and December are full of potential defeats - Cometh The Hour .........

[big man]

I have a feeling the more players we have available the more confused it will become. To-day we were an absolute shambles Tade scored a good goal but didn't have to use his feet.

[Stevie]

Lets be a bit more positive for a second - given all our traumas and difficulties this season we may be bottom BUT we are not adrift - only four points separate us from Midden.

I do have serious concerns about our management loyalty to certain players and adherence to a failing tactical system but we are slowly returning to full strength and we should progress. November and December are full of potential defeats - Cometh The Hour .........

Admirable optimism Johndo. I find myself unable to join in. Honest my glass is normally half full but since last season ended, I've lost confidence in el Tel.

There was a quote from Terry in this mornings "The Sun" which didn't exactly have me brimming with confidence. It went " I've said all along we will ger better the more we play and the more players come back- particularly after Christmas "

AFTER CHRISTMAS !!!! Me thinks it'll be a wee tad too late by then Terry.

[Scarlet Pimple]

Maybe it's not the "too many players" thing that is the problem. It COULD BE that there are "too many players who are new, are getting to know each other and don't understand their exact roles...etc" which leads to mistakes, friction among the players and instability and nervousness throughout the whole team.

A couple of good wins will work wonders to restore confidence though. At least that's what I'm hoping. Sigh.

[Ten4]

Sounds like a lot are worried about relegation, or would settle for an 11th place finish right now.

Why the heck am i still thinking we should be still aiming for nothing less than top 6 !!

[Pele_Is_God]

I'm sticking with my pre-season prediction of 10th place. We have a good enough squad to stay in this league, our problem is we have signed too many loan players and the attitude is not quite there for me. Looking at our next 6 fixtures it looks tough but the way I look at it is we normally perform better against the top teams so i'm not panicking yet!

[Laurence]

When all is said and done the best result in the City of Inverness on Saturday, was at Clach

[+Fraz]

Have you have finally found a team worthy of your esteemed support?

[AJS]

Im losing patience and optimism fast. We should have been hammered yesterday by a team that is seemingly supposed to be on the same wave lengths as us skills wise and yet we all know we should have been dead and buried at half time.

We may not be adrift but we certainly will be if we produce more performances like yesterday. I disagree with the comment that the sqaud will be more confused once its at full strength. For one we will be able to introduce players like Hayes and Doran into the team that are alot more dangerous and i dont think size will be an issue as i expect Chippendale and Golobart to be gone in January, freeing up some space.

I get the feeling that Terry will have a fair idea what his best team is, its just a case of waiting for the rest of the crocked players to come back.

[DALNEIGHCALEY]

I was speaking to a very senior ICT board member about the state of the side and when asked his thoughts he replied "we're ducked " . I think it was ducked he said but the bar was very busy !

[Kingsmills]

Usually fairly optimistic but I see relegation staring us in the face this season. Only real hope is somehow to finish above the Pars.

[CaleyD]

With such radical changes being introduced, the aim from the outset should have been one of survival and building. Had the season been sold to the fans on that basis then I don't think we'd be seeing so much frustration from within the fanbase. As it is, I think the club have been a little naive in (publicly) stating an intention to shoot for top 6. All this has done has increased expectation and the pressure that comes with that.

I still think we'll be fine. I've seen enough of the team/players this season to know they are capable, we just need to find the missing "whatever" that will bring it all together and make it click on a more regular basis.

I'm as frustrated as the next person, but the situation calls for cool heads and rational thinking.

[Renegade]

I think the bottom line here is still that there is no real goalscorer anywhere in the squad. Now, here is where in my opinion a mistake was made - last January a Russian team (Tom Tomsk?) bid ?100,000 for Rooney which was knocked back. I don't believe had Rooney gone ICT would've been relegated and still could well have finished in 7th place. I also don't believe knocking back that bid warranted what Rooney did for the team in the second half of last season. Had ICT taken the ?100,000, then chances are, though not a certainty, that it would of been far easier in replacing him for this season. That was a big mistake.

[PullMyFinger]

The club may or may not have been okay with the offer but if the player didn't want to go, they couldn't force him. Adam made the right choice for him and as an ICT fan that makes me happier.

[starchief]

I think it was Adam didn't want to go. Get our wingers back and I believe we'll see Foran scoring again. I think we miss them (and a defensive mid) more than we miss Rooney. Adam wouldn't have scored anything like those goals if he had to rely on A.Shinnie, Tansey or Davis playing wide.

[MissICT]

im still trying to keep positive, we're lucky the rest of the SPL is not at it's best. With a few wins we'll be right up that table

[Ronaldo]

It's the fine line thing again.

Assuming we'd managed to hang on to our lead for another 5 mins on Saturday the whole complexion of the forums would be different.

I think we should write off this season with many lessons learnt already and settle for 11th place which is more than achievable.

On the subject of lessons learnt, what really gets me is the goal differnce thing. For a team that was relegated on goal difference we dont seem to have evolved so to speak.........added to this the fact that we went down and got straight back up which is IMO a feat that may never happen again, talk about getting out of jail?

The only thing I'm looking forward to, other than moving off the foot of the table is Doran coming back. I am confident he will make a difference.

[lukemackay]

My view is we have 20 plus games to get 4 points more the the 6 teams above us and we are top six that's acheivable

Football is all about confidence especially for a striker rooney was a prime example of this didn't score alot in his first season but when he started scoring he couldn't stop scoring the same goes for the rest of the team a result and a good performance on Saturday could change our fortunes

[bauhaus]

Still think that December and January are our big big months. With injured players back and fit, this period will more than shape our season. Just being able to stay close enough to the rest will do for me in November. When Hogg, Cox, Tudor-Jones, Doran and Hayes are fit and playing we will be a different force

[PullMyFinger]

My view is we have 20 plus games to get 4 points more the the 6 teams above us and we are top six that's acheivable

That deserves a green dot!