Team for Dundee United (Draper Out)

[Renegade]

As mentioned in the banner, Draper is suspended for this one I believe, while Marley Watkins should be back.  With that in mind, I'd go with - 

 

Brill

 

Raven Warren Meekings Shinnie

 

Polworth Ross

 

Watkins Doran Greenhalgh

 

Mckay

 

Subs - Esson, Tremarco, Christie, Williams, Pepper, Devine, Agdestein*

 

* Should Toby have left the building by then, bring Evans onto the bench.

Edited January 6, 2014 by Renegade

[old caley girl]

Don't think you are correct re Warren. It's the Aberdeen games he misses according to the sfa list.

[fraser]

i hear raven hasnt been starting recently due to personal reasons but if everything is okay with him then i want him back in the team:

 

Brill

 

Raven Warren* Meekings Tremarco

 

Polworth Shinnie

 

Doran Ross Watkins

 

Mckay

 

 

Subs: Esson, Devine, Williams, Greenhalgh, Pepper, Christie, Ferguson

 

if Warren is suspended then put Devine in there and if Watkins is still injured then put Williams in. I dont want Toby anywhere near the team after his poor display against county. Definitely think its time to pop one or two capable local youngsters on the bench. not only does it make them feel they are closer to the first team but also may get some more fans through the gate

[Sneckboy]

Warren is NOT suspended. old caley girl is correct.

His one-game ban is for the first match from January 15th - likely to be Aberdeen. If that's postponed, then the next game will be his ban and so on.

 

Incidentally, fraser, Raven has not been missing due to 'personal reasons'. He's technically been involved in all the recent games in some capacity even as an unused sub! 

He was introduced to good effect against the dons but hasn't featured since. (Unless the personal reasons you allude to are a euphemism for Hughes not rating him!)

[PerfICT]

Can't go with the usual formation IMO because we simply don't have any holding midfielders available (unless Vincent is back on the radar). I think we have to drop the "holding" midfielder idea until we have some holding midfielders available (Ross, Polworth, Christie, Williams cannot do this specialist job). We really need somebody to win the ball in the centre too, so I would have Pepper in there somewhere.  So, until Draper and Foran are back, I'd go with:

 

Brill

Warren Meekings Tremarco

Raven                                     Shinnie

Pepper Ross (or Draper, if available) Polworth

Doran

McKay

 

Not sure this really solves our problems (still lightweight in midfield and also no height!), but we're a bit threadbare! Annoyingly, if we can get at DU's back four we could get something out of this game, but we have to win the ball to do that!

Edited January 6, 2014 by PerfICT

[fraser]

Warren is NOT suspended. old caley girl is correct.

His one-game ban is for the first match from January 15th - likely to be Aberdeen. If that's postponed, then the next game will be his ban and so on.

 

Incidentally, fraser, Raven has not been missing due to 'personal reasons'. He's technically been involved in all the recent games in some capacity even as an unused sub! 

He was introduced to good effect against the dons but hasn't featured since. (Unless the personal reasons you allude to are a euphemism for Hughes not rating him!)

 

yeah he has been there in case we really need him but he has not been starting due to personal reasons. hughes actually does rate him but of course fans will automatically just assume that he doesnt rate him. which is completely wrong!

[Renegade]

Is Raven's wife not due to have a baby very soon?  I'm sure I heard that somewhere.

 

I seem to recollect Phil McGuire scoring once and then not playing the following week for similar reasons.

Edited January 6, 2014 by Renegade

[Sneckboy]

I sympathise with players being absent for a multitude of personal reasons, be it the imminent birth of a child, to the other extreme, maybe a bereavement. And I understand that players have to occasionally be missing on match-day to attend to those situations.

 

However, Raven's not been absent from the match day team/squad. He's been available for selection and has been on the bench as a used/unused sub.

 

I'm reluctant to get involved in a tit-for-tat, fraser but I fail to see what 'personal reasons' can prevent a footballer from being available to perform at 3pm yet are fine to be introduced anytime after - as was witnessed in the Aberdeen game where he performed so well!

(to prevent any pedantry, ok, Raven came on at 6.30pm approx. in the dons game because personal reasons prevented him starting kick-off at 5.30pm)!!

 

 

 

 

 

[ICTRoughi]

Brill

Shinnie Meekings Warren Tremarco

Polworth Williams

Doran Ross Greenhalgh*

Mckay

* Watkins instead if fit to play.

[AJS]

Play Raven. 

[Huisdean]

i hear raven hasnt been starting recently due to personal reasons but if everything is okay with him then i want him back in the team:

 

Brill

 

Raven Warren* Meekings Tremarco

 

Polworth Shinnie

 

Doran Ross Watkins

 

Mckay

 

 

Subs: Esson, Devine, Williams, Greenhalgh, Pepper, Christie, Ferguson

 

if Warren is suspended then put Devine in there and if Watkins is still injured then put Williams in. I dont want Toby anywhere near the team after his poor display against county. Definitely think its time to pop one or two capable local youngsters on the bench. not only does it make them feel they are closer to the first team but also may get some more fans through the gate

 

I disagree about not having Toby anywhere near the team. I thought he did okay against County and by no stretch of the imagination was he the worst performer on the day. It is hard for a striker to show what he is worth when he only gets 5/10 minutes a game which has been happening to Toby. When he has had some deceny game time against Dundee Utd and County, i think he has done okay.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

I feel sorry fer Mrs Raven as it would appear that she has been in labour fer almost two months. Otherwise I would go with fraser except that I would be tempted to put Christie up front in a 4-4-2 and keep Ross on the bench as he gives lots of options from there if necessitated.

[Mithrandir]

Brill

Raven Devine Meekings Shinnie

Warren Watkins

Doran Polworth Ross

McKay

[caleydawson]

                   Brill

 

Raven  Meekings  warren tremarco 

 

       Williams                  Ross

 

Doran        Polworth              shinnie

 

                    Mckay 

[Council Juice]

Perhaps it's personal medical reasons that don't allow him to play a full game. Or perhaps the staff are unsure if his mindset is correct but he's too good to be left out the squad altogether.

Or maybe as he wasn't in the team when Hughes took over, we'd had a few clean sheets and Hughes didn't want to change that.

[tm4tj]

http://caleythistleonline.com/page/index.html/_/previews-2013-14/inverness-ct-v-dundee-utd-preview-r1117

 

Ginger Jaggy has a preview for us.............................

[PerfICT]

Can't believe so many would persist with Williams as a holding midfielder: he's been a passenger in that position for the last 3 or 4 games. A ball winner in there beside Draper, please! Williams can go wide on the left if anywhere.