Are we scared of this profile

[bishbashbosh]

This season is something special....regardless of how it ends....none of us has any right (as fans) to downplay what has and is being accomplished.

100% agree with this CD. The only (present) disappointment for me is that we are in a bit of danger of this special season being overshadowed by our neighbours over the bridge. It niggles me that our teams outstanding season is potentially going to be bettered by them!

We need to step up just a little bit, to try to keep them "forever in our shadow".

 

agree. not the 100% bit though

 

how often have you seen a horse lead a race from the off, or an athlete in a 1500 metre race. ( race for top six or higher. celtic were always going to canter to the championship)

pace yourself and then have a go down the final straight. county seem to have timed their run, especially after their january window signings, and are now getting all the plaudits we were getting before xmas.

 

what would this forum have been like if we had come back from 2 down to cellic to win 3-2 ?

we seem to be limping over the line, if in fact we get there.

 

we got to scottish semi, they get to final

we have never got top six in all our years in spl, they look like doing it first attempt

 

what looked like our best season ever, with our manager turning down a bigger/better paid job to finish off something special could be ............. well who knows, only time will tell

[CaleyD]

I like the banter with the C*unty fans, but it is just that...banter.  Ultimately I couldn't give a toss what they achieve this season (or any other season) and I'm certainly not letting it have any bearing on how I go about supporting ICT or enjoying what we are doing.

 

For those who are concerned with our near neighbours, or want to hold their achievements in high regard......bear in mind that they are achieving thanks to Uncle Roys wallet, although the existence of side companies which hold in excess of £2.5 Million of debt suggest he's maybe not dipping as far into his pocket as some might have you believe!!!  People seem to have short memories...a quick look at the rise and fall of teams like Livingston and Gretna should be warning enough that such things are not sustainable.

 

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them - Ephesians 5:11

[Scarlet Pimple]

What we all have to remember I think is that "It's never over until the fat lady sings".

 

If we ever forget that all you have to do is look at County's record. ---coming from absolutely nowhere and look where they are today.

 

Our team will still need a supreme effort to get where we want  to go for next season and beyond.

 

If we  wallow in the defeatest attitude that says ""The other teams have now sussed us out, etc, ..blah, blah.." 

 

Well, it's now up to Terry and the boys to change the tactics to concentrate on scoring .Our defence is great but we need to find that something extra to score goals or we can't get that elusive 3 points.

 

I like Davie's very positive post and hopefully the Inverness fans will come out in droves  from now on.

 

[old caley girl]

What we all have to remember I think is that "It's never over until the fat lady sings".

 

If we ever forget that all you have to do is look at County's record. ---coming from absolutely nowhere and look where they are today.

 

Our team will still need a supreme effort to get where we want  to go for next season and beyond.

 

If we  wallow in the defeatest attitude that says ""The other teams have now sussed us out, etc, ..blah, blah.." 

 

Well, it's now up to Terry and the boys to change the tactics to concentrate on scoring .Our defence is great but we need to find that something extra to score goals or we can't get that elusive 3 points.

 

I like Davie's very positive post and hopefully the Inverness fans will come out in droves  from now on.

 

Wise words Scarlet! We've just got to keep believing. One step at a time for us. Firstly to secure our top 6 place then well let's see how far we can go.

[Laurence]

How long is a piece of string

How long is a week

Contemplating the navel or a crystal ball does not help

We like any other side are as good as our last match

As the pundits always say, " Take it a match at a time", 

Don't worry about Ross county , or bragging rights ,  life is about the future not the past..

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Why should any of us be worried about what Tinkerville may or may not achieve this season. At the end of the day all we should be interested in is what ICT achieve this season. Of course we should be feckin expecting to take three points away to Dundee. We should be expecting to take three points at home twice before the split and at least one from Easter Road. Just think where seven feckin points might take it. And next Saturday is not the six pointer that a lot are talking up. After the split there is going to be a chance for ANY of the five surviving teams to get second, third and fourth places. We just have to start thinking about making the Top Six first and nowt feckin else.

 

Lets face it - it aint over till the fat lady sings - I do feel that we have blown a huge chance to get to the League Cup final and to soar away at the top of the SPL. It aint defeatist to point out that we have been sussed cos we have - is there another explanation for our 2013 slump. But there is still time to make ammends - We have the team to do it, we have the motivation to do it - but do we have the tactical know how to change ?

[davie]

Why should any of us be worried about what Tinkerville may or may not achieve this season. At the end of the day all we should be interested in is what ICT achieve this season. Of course we should be feckin expecting to take three points away to Dundee. We should be expecting to take three points at home twice before the split and at least one from Easter Road. Just think where seven feckin points might take it. And next Saturday is not the six pointer that a lot are talking up. After the split there is going to be a chance for ANY of the five surviving teams to get second, third and fourth places. We just have to start thinking about making the Top Six first and nowt feckin else.

 

Lets face it - it aint over till the fat lady sings - I do feel that we have blown a huge chance to get to the League Cup final and to soar away at the top of the SPL. It aint defeatist to point out that we have been sussed cos we have - is there another explanation for our 2013 slump. But there is still time to make ammends - We have the team to do it, we have the motivation to do it - but do we have the tactical know how to change ?

^^^^^^^

what he said. I do think that other teams have learned how to stop us playing and we need to mix it up, and after we get top 6 anything is possible. Over the bridge might as well be 1000 miles away for all I care about what they do. This is about us.

[+bughtmaster]

Och we've just been havin a wee rest for the final push.

 

Lookin forward tae Settrday ittlll be back tae proper fitba.

[Alex MacLeod]

Trying to analyse this closely. For us to go out of top six we need to be overtaken by three of the five teams below us. St J have two to play and would need two points from those games. Hibs need five points from nine. DU need six points from nine. Aberdeen and Killie both need seven from nine.

 

Killie away to County and home to St Mirren and Dundee...........I can only see them get a max six points.

Aberdeen away to Celtic home to Hearts and away to DU...........Realistically they may get four points.

DU home to Dundee away to St J and home to Aberdeen...........For them to gain six needed they will have cancelled out either StJ or Aberdeen.

Hibs away Motherwell home to Us and away Celtic.....................The most I see them getting there is two points

St J have home to DU and away to us.......................................If they win both then they may overtake us but will have cancelled out DU's chances.

 

Killie ruled out of top six. Aberdeen also ruled out. Hibs ruled out from overtaking us and may struggle to stay in top half.

 

So, and I know miracles can happen, being realistic, and basing analyses on how those teams are faring at the moment, I cant see a permutation that will dislodge us from top six.

[Snafu]

Maybe some of our supporter should take a leaf out of the Gumball Rally film on Italian Driving.

 

[+DoofersDad]

Trying to analyse this closely. For us to go out of top six we need to be overtaken by three of the five teams below us. St J have two to play and would need two points from those games. Hibs need five points from nine. DU need six points from nine. Aberdeen and Killie both need seven from nine.

 

Killie away to County and home to St Mirren and Dundee...........I can only see them get a max six points.

Aberdeen away to Celtic home to Hearts and away to DU...........Realistically they may get four points.

DU home to Dundee away to St J and home to Aberdeen...........For them to gain six needed they will have cancelled out either StJ or Aberdeen.

Hibs away Motherwell home to Us and away Celtic.....................The most I see them getting there is two points

St J have home to DU and away to us.......................................If they win both then they may overtake us but will have cancelled out DU's chances.

 

Killie ruled out of top six. Aberdeen also ruled out. Hibs ruled out from overtaking us and may struggle to stay in top half.

 

So, and I know miracles can happen, being realistic, and basing analyses on how those teams are faring at the moment, I cant see a permutation that will dislodge us from top six.

 

I don't think we are yet in the realms of miracles being needed to thwart us.  In fact, it is quite possible that at the split we could be 9th.  We have 3 very tough games ahead of us; County are flying whilst Hibs and St Johnstone are fighting hard to gain a top 6 slot as well.  So let's say that we lose our next 3 games and remain on 44 points, then let's have a look at what the teams below us need to do to better that.

 

If St J beat us then they can afford to lose to Dundee Utd and still be ahead of us.

If Hibs beat us, then they need 2 points from their 2 games against the top 2.

Dundee Utd need 6 points which they get by beating Dundee and St J.  They can afford to lose against Aberdeen and still be ahead of us.

Kilmarnock would need 7 points from matches against County, St M and Dundee.

Aberdeen would need 7 points from their matches against Celtic, Hearts and Dundee U.

 

So Mathematically still quite feasible to be 9th at the split so top 6 is certainly not a given.  We need a result against County to make things comfortable and to restore pride and confidence.  Saturday's game is the most important game of the season so far so let's get behind the team and show them just who the best team in the Highlands is.

[Alex MacLeod]

DD, if my mental arithmetic is correct it is impossible for us to finish ninth at the split. For that to happen we need to be overtaken by five teams below us and each of those teams must take points of each other at some stage.

[Yngwie]

It is possible Alex.  If I knew how to paste a spreadsheet into here withpout messing up the formatting I'd show you how it could happen.

[+DoofersDad]

Alex, if you look at the matches you have identified in your post and then look at the results I have postulated, all 5 clubs can overtake us.  There aren't actually many matches between these 5 teams.  Dundee Utd play both Aberdeen and St Johnstone and that's it.  Kilmarnock and Hibs don't actually play against any of the other teams in that group.  Aberdeen would need at least a point out of Dundee United and Dundee United would need to beat St Johnstone.  Assuming they all win their games against us and the clubs above and below then they would all overtake us.  Can't see it happening mind you but it has been a very unpredictable season. If we can still be 9th at the split, I for one am certainly not counting my chickens about being top 6 yet.

[CaleyD]

Excellent....now we're working out all the ways we can fail....on a thread about how we should be looking upwards!!!

[+DoofersDad]

Success is acheived by understanding how you can fail. The complacency rife on this forum is a dangerous thing.  We have won nothing yet.  We may be three games away from our greatest achievement yet but we could also be 3 games away from being 9th.  I remember the season we got relegated and after having gone on a great run after Butcher's appointment there was a feeling we were safe and sound - and we all know what happened next.

 

A sense of reality is needed to make people appreciate that 100% effort all round is required if this season is not to end up as an average bottom six , no cup final sort of season. Some folk seem to me a bit like the cyclist who raised both hands in salute in the finishing straight only to crash and have the whole bunch overtake him.  When you've fallen on your erse, looking upwards is about all you can do.

[CaleyD]

If I, or anyone on this forum, was out there having to play the game then you'd get 100% agreement from me.

 

But we're not, so I'll continue to look more towards the positives and potential for the season whilst blowing raspberries at the harbingers of doom and gloom.

 

If that leaves me with egg on my face come the end of the season...meh, who cares, at least I can say I enjoyed it at the time.

[clacher_holiday2]

Theres been a lot of similarities between this season and our first back in the SPL.

 

I seem to remember us being close to third or joint third with Hearts and about 6/7 points behind 1st place around Christmas and of course we ended up in the bottom 6 with a terrible New Year and stuttering run up to the split.

 

Back then we blamed a lot of those poor 2nd half results on fatigue and having a young squad, this year CaleyD(and other happy clappers) would have us blame nobody and put everything down to bad luck.  Much like that season, its poor fitness and concentration that have squandered all the hard work put in over the opening 20 odd games, both symptoms of complacent management.

 

I actually wonder if over the length of a season we suffer from trying to create a squad with good harmony, where everybody is buddies with each other.  Everybody should be on edge, totally focused, with cutting edge ALL professional footballers should step onto the park with.  I really couldn't care less if everyones bff's in their spare time, they should be competing with each other to get starting positions all week in training and in the gym.  When they cross that touchline they prove their worth by playing as a team and winning, ultimately thats what they get paid to do isn't it?  The stronger they are, the longer they can press the ball, chase the ball and pass the ball, a squad putting the effort in will beat a side dying on its legs every single match.  Players themselves will be inconsistent over 90 minutes if they haven't got the legs for it, mistakes are made.  It's all a bit late in the season to be worrying about this though.

 

I personally don't care about either cup but 2nd place is worth a couple of million quid and a later start in Europe.  Somehow we're still in the chase for that spot so everything is well in our own hands right now.

 

We can still win every single game this year, that should be the target.

[CaleyD]

[old caley girl]

Starting to despair at some of the posts on here at the mo. if that makes me a happy clapper then so be it. We are 3 games, maybe/hopefully less, away from our 1st top 6 finish FFS. We only went out of a national cup semi on penalties! We have a small squad built on a shoestring and at the start of the season most of us if not all of of us would haven bitten your hand off for the present scenario. We have only been beaten by 3 teams all season Celtic x2 Motherwell x2 and St Mirren.

This really is the most important derby ever this Saturday and we need to get behind the team instead of looking for reasons to fail. Come on believe!

[Sneckboy]

Motherwell have actually beaten us x3 this season, old caley girl!

If my arithmetic's right, Caley Thistle could be celebrating a guaranteed Top 6 place on Sunday night.

[old caley girl]

Motherwell have actually beaten us x3 this season, old caley girl!

If my arithmetic's right, Caley Thistle could be celebrating a guaranteed Top 6 place on Sunday night.

Oops so they have! Unfortunately.

[Snafu]

Theres been a lot of similarities between this season and our first back in the SPL.

 

I seem to remember us being close to third or joint third with Hearts and about 6/7 points behind 1st place around Christmas and of course we ended up in the bottom 6 with a terrible New Year and stuttering run up to the split.

 

Back then we blamed a lot of those poor 2nd half results on fatigue and having a young squad, this year CaleyD(and other happy clappers) would have us blame nobody and put everything down to bad luck.  Much like that season, its poor fitness and concentration that have squandered all the hard work put in over the opening 20 odd games, both symptoms of complacent management.

 

I actually wonder if over the length of a season we suffer from trying to create a squad with good harmony, where everybody is buddies with each other.  Everybody should be on edge, totally focused, with cutting edge ALL professional footballers should step onto the park with.  I really couldn't care less if everyones bff's in their spare time, they should be competing with each other to get starting positions all week in training and in the gym.  When they cross that touchline they prove their worth by playing as a team and winning, ultimately thats what they get paid to do isn't it?  The stronger they are, the longer they can press the ball, chase the ball and pass the ball, a squad putting the effort in will beat a side dying on its legs every single match.  Players themselves will be inconsistent over 90 minutes if they haven't got the legs for it, mistakes are made.  It's all a bit late in the season to be worrying about this though.

 

I personally don't care about either cup but 2nd place is worth a couple of million quid and a later start in Europe.  Somehow we're still in the chase for that spot so everything is well in our own hands right now.

 

We can still win every single game this year, that should be the target.

 

A few similarities between this season and the first one back though this season our dip in form hasn't seen us drop as many points as we did back then. Hopefully though after we claim that top six place we can also go on a similar run of form after the split as we did that first season back.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Jhesus I am becoming more of a happy clapper as well !!  Up until the end of 2012 this was our BEST season ever. We were playing some great stuff at times, trying to pass instead of hoof, looking more solid all round and scoring goals fer fun. I am not going to repeat myself with some of my views on the decline. We have regrouped to a degree and at least we have stopped the losing streak if not resurrected the winning mentality. I reckon that if we had better fortune against Killie and hit a few goals that we would have gone on a roll. In some ways being where we are may not be a bad thing. I actually really feel that we can do Tinkerville and that will set us up fer Hibees and Perf. We should not be looking any further than that. WHEN we make the top Six we can then look at going in to overdrive. Sorry to end on a negative but my main worry is that we think that sticking to the old system and the faithful is going to bring us through. Tactically we have to come up with something different to bemuse the opposition and I am not sure if we have the nouse to do that.

 

Im ny opinion nobody has the rite to say I told you so at the end of the season - as it is all as much about hope and good luck as it is about performance and tactics.