28 goals conceded in 14 games obviously equates to 2.0 goals per game, which we all know is too high. We also know that it doesn't really matter how many we concede if we score 6, but you can't expect that to happen every week.

Just out of interest I looked up how many goals per game were conceded by the team finishing bottom of the SPL in recent years.

2000/01 - 1.89 - St Mirren

2001/02 - 1.63 - St Johnstone

2002/03 - 1.87 - Motherwell

2003/04 - 1.76 - Partick

2004/05 - 1.87 - Dundee

2005/06 - 2.07 - Livingston

2006/07 - 1.45 - Dunfermline

2007/08 - 2.18 - Gretna

2008/09 - 1.53 - ICT

2009/10 - 1.50 - Falkirk

2010/11 - 1.55 - Hamilton

So our goals against (so far) is on track to be worse, and considerably worse, than the teams which finished bottom in 9 out of the last 11 years, or 9 out of 10 if you exclude Gretna who were just a joke.

I am currently in doubt that we will stay up. But what I'm wondering is if our survival will be achieved in spite of having a "relegation defence" throughout the season, or if we will tighten up as the season progresses to end up with a much more respectable goals against column?

We will start building points. We will stay up. And at the end of the season the goals against wont matter a jot.

There was a symbol/logo used for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver last year to encourage Canadian athletes to do well ..... and I think it is fitting here too, given we have used this phrase ourselves over the years !

FWIW - I do believe !!! I believe it will continue to be a long hard season, and we will continue to struggle, but in the end, I also believe we will stay up and live to fight another day (season) in the SPL ! As an ICT fan, I have to believe that, despite much contrasting evidence at the moment !

On it's own those figures would scare most people....however, I bet if you look at the bottom 3 teams from each season then they will be comparable and on more occasions than you might think, the bottom team may show a better figure than their nearest rivals.

Somebody's getting paid too much

Ok the team with the worst defence usually goes down. But I did a wee bit more digging and found:

Last season the Dons finished 9th with the same goals against as Hackies, while Well conceded 1 more and were top 6.

2006/7 Killie were 5th conceding only 1 less than the bottom club Pars. Well managed 10th despite conceding 6 more. DUFC 9th with 4 more.

2009/10 St Johnstone let in 4 more but managed 8th.

I should have looked at goal difference but couldn't be ersed. Yngwie, that's your job for Monday. Don't do it in the morning though, or you'll have nothing to do in the afternoon

our defence will reduce the goals shipped, as more of our players come back the stronger we will become, Hogg, Tudor Jones, Cox to be the blockers and give us better protection. That elusive clean sheet cant be far away, although the next two games will be a big test of our new confidence. Think Dundee Utd, Aberdeen and Dunfermline have had trouble here too

Is this a mods only topic...............you worry too much Yngwie

nope, not mods only ...... admin can join in too !

I would have had the same doubts as Yngwie and thought if only we can stay up this season it would be a blessing,that was until I saw ICT take on Motherwell,we played so well but unfortunately lost, We lost but I still went home with a smile on my face after discovering what the team is capable of, Kilmarnock reaffirmed it.

I dont really care how many goals were let in,or how many missed chances we had at the other end, thats in the past as far as I'm concerned. I'm not too bothered about sitting bottom either. The World cup winners had a slow start and their cup wasnt won over night. we arent going to win the league but if they want to put the time and effort in then catching Motherwell should be the plan and then see where that takes us. (Motherwell are about as far ahead of us as Dundee were)

I believe.

Remember the olde West Ham United ?

I don't even remember the new West Ham Utd!!!

4 feckin 3 - they didnt give a feck as long as they entertained and survived.

That's Pele's ICT you're thinking about......

Aye - thats a good point - those were the days of entertainment if not always winning ways.

Thought I'd revive this old thread and show the progress that was made with our defending.

In our first 14 games, at the time the thread was started, we conceded an average of 2.0 goals per game. In the next 24 games we only conceded 1.33 on average, helped by ending the season with 3 consecutive clean sheets. But what exactly brought about the dramatic improvement?

Our overall season average of 1.58 is still higher than the team relegated in each of the 3 previous seasons.

Unsurprisingly this year's relegated team Dunfermline have the season's worst defensive record with an average of 2.16 conceded. That's Gretna-esque! Many thanks again to Chris Smith for his enormous contribution to ICT's season.

Thought I'd revive this old thread and show the progress that was made with our defending.

In our first 14 games, at the time the thread was started, we conceded an average of 2.0 goals per game. In the next 24 games we only conceded 1.33 on average, helped by ending the season with 3 consecutive clean sheets. But what exactly brought about the dramatic improvement?

Our overall season average of 1.58 is still higher than the team relegated in each of the 3 previous seasons.

Unsurprisingly this year's relegated team Dunfermline have the season's worst defensive record with an average of 2.16 conceded. That's Gretna-esque! Many thanks again to Chris Smith for his enormous contribution to ICT's season.

For me the improvement is down to more competion for places at the back. Williams, golobart, Tokely, meekings, gillet, shinnie, and piermayr all challenging each other to play well or get dropped for another one. The first half of the season we had less of that with Tokely and Hogg knowing they were first choice at centre half and the rest only there to fill in. IMO this has spurred the starting defenders to play well or they won't start the next week

Edited May 12, 201213 yr by lukemackay

But what exactly brought about the dramatic improvement?

One thing to add is that the number of goals we scored also dropped sharply : 1.36 per game for the first 14 games, then just 0.95 for the next 24 matches.

So perhaps we just put more emphasis on not conceding?

Let's not forget to thank our Buddies, Rossco's Buddies who donated 10 points to us to help us stay afloat.