THE MATCHDAY THREAD Discuss ICT & other games in this thread as they happen Inverness CT -V- St Johnstone PREVIEW 20th Sep 2014 @ 3:00PM Caledonian Stadium Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Facebook Go to the Chatroom Media Coverage AUDIO MFR radio player (MFR) [not broadcasting ICT today] Open All Mics (BBC) [uK/VPN Only]   TEXT ESPN BBC SKY Sporting Life VIDEO SPFL YouTube Channel ICT Official YouTube Channel   TEAM LINEUPS

No doubting we were the better side but we were hardly great.  First half was thoroughly forgettable.  Second was a bit better and came to life with a bit of Doran magic down the left.  A decent strike from Christie should have put us in comfort zone but we gave away possession far too easily and let them come at us.

 

Felt for Billy again today.  Makes some great runs which team mates seem unable to spot.  And again had a couple of low crosses which he was just unable to get on the end of. 

 

Of course it is great to top of the league but we need to play much better if we are to stay there.  After 2 defeats to Partick and Glasgow's 3rd team, the win was more important than the performance, but we will need to play better to get anything out of the Dons next week.

Is it worth getting in a new Striker signing (free agent, as was mentioned after deadline day) or would that not solve Striker problem of not scoring? Just a thought.

Ryan Christie scoring which is a bonus so imo, just stick him up top haha.

Enjoyable game. We were well on top in the first half with some great play but no goals. Second half St Johnstone started with more fire and were looking more dangerous. Not for long with two well taken and worked goals we looked as good as ever. Lots of pressing late on brought them a goal and poor defensive decisions made us look shaky. We held on for a deserved win.

The referee was poor overall but at least consistently poor giving an average performance, not helped much by a less than impressive main stand side assistant.

We had had the best of the possession and far more chances than them. Good result from the team and overall the work rate was good. With improvements needed at the back we look to be deservedly in top position.

Completely unforgettable first half.

 

Second half we seemed to inject a bit of urgency into our game. You don't normally see us counter attack as quick as we did for Doran's goal today but it was a refreshing hark back to older ICT sides. Really rapid attack down the left hand side and his pin point cross found Watkins about 8 yards out who took a touch and poked it underneath the body of Mannus who rushed out to close him down.

 

Second goal was a bit of a cock up from a Saint Johnstone point of view. Bit of a tussle in the Saints right back area, I was a bit surprised when no foul was given to be honest, and the ball quickly found its way to Christie at the right edge of the box and he whipped a shot in beyond Mannus. At this point we were cruising.

 

Thereafter we slowed the pace of the game right down and struggled to retain possession allowing Saints right back into things. I didn't see the goal as I was too busy looking at my feet. Last few minutes were somewhat panicky as we struggled to deal with crosses and there were some fairly hurried clearances from our defenders desperate to scramble the ball away to briefly relieve the pressure. 

 

Overall I think we deserved the win but it should have been more comfortable than it was. We allowed Saints back into things by taking our foot off the pedal and becoming somewhat negative when we had the ball. Mckay continues to cut an isolated figure up front. At least three times today he made an excellent run off the last man only for his team mates to play the ball to the other side of him and the chance was gone. It looked like he was getting a bit frustrated to say the least. Something just isn't clicking between Mckay and the rest of the team when it comes to bringing him into play.

Is it worth getting in a new Striker signing (free agent, as was mentioned after deadline day) or would that not solve Striker problem of not scoring? Just a thought.

 

I think we should bring a free agent in on loan 

With his yellow top and black shorts, Brill's colour scheme was the same as the match officials.  I didn't think that was allowed. 

With his yellow top and black shorts, Brill's colour scheme was the same as the match officials.  I didn't think that was allowed.

Spoke to a ref the other day and apparently it's allowed now!

As poor a first half as I have ever seen. We were grim and St Johnstone were grimmer. I don't recall anything happening in the first half. Something had to change at the break and thankfully it did. RIG has it spot on, Billy resorted to kicking blades of grass, such was his frustration with his team mates. He does seem out of sorts just now. Two good goals and a soft one to concede. All hands to the pumps for an uncomfortable last ten when we should have been out of sight, most of it was our own doing with Brill and the back eight making rash decisions and causing ourselves all sort of bother deep in our own half.

 

Three points is about the only good thing to come out of the day. Report card will say, tries hard, must do better, needs to concentrate more.

 

Yngwie, I beg to differ, St Johnstone were guff, certainly guffer than us and offered little threat until we tried to help them back into the game.

Like Kilmarnock before them, St. Johnstone came up with a plan to frustrate us.  I think people who are criticizing the first half performance need to remember that.  We had all the play and Graham's goal was their first shot on target.

 

We were in control and cruising till that point, and I think the shock of conceding a soft goal, coupled with some weary legs after three games in eight days, was why we were hanging on at the end.

 

I've got to say that I was generally happy with our build-up play.  Christie, Doran and Watkins were interchanging very effectively and finding lots of space between defence and midfield.  The criticism of Mckay is completely unwarranted - there were several occasions where he made superb runs but the man on the ball made a mess of the final pass (or, on a couple of occasions, didn't even notice him).

I thought it was humourous when a mod with some dry wit slagged off the team after a great win over county and signed it with Dougal. (the infrequent posters wouldn't have picked up on that).

Sitting top of the league I'm still waiting for the mods punchline.

  Did anyone else notice Graeme Shinnie running around with an anvil on his head

Although I have my season ticket I had to miss the match as I was taking part in the Inverness Contract Bridge tournament. I was frantically asking if anyone knew the score. Nobody knew anything; and the cards rook preference.

 

Anyway on reaching home at midnight I read the reports and I was over the moon at the result. My attempts at bridge success fell on much stony ground but I have a chance today for improvement

 

Congratulations to the team  must add

It may not be pretty to watch at times, but whatever we're doing must be effective. Only one defeat in our last 13 home games is a terrific record.

As for the crowd, 2,770 isn't good, but it's higher than ANY of Hamilton's 4 home league games this season, and that's a team who've been doing really well and have the novelty of being back in the top-flight to their advantage. I don't think we'll be 'bottom' of the attendances league this season!

Why is it when we are top of league playing a brand of football that many wanted when Butchers kick and rush was not acceptable that the only way we will keep everybody happy is to win every game playing better football than Barca scoring 4 goals a game and not conceding . Oh and don't forget we want to see all that for a fiver !,

United currently 4-0 up in Dundee derby, knocking us off top spot for now

just my opinion..............

 

first half same as Dundee and Kilmarnock   ---- tippy tappy sideways backwards   nothing happening last 3rd.

 

just a borefest first half.

 

second half started the same for me ------ but then the players noticed yogi leaving the dugout to go to the toilet and tried long punt , eventually ball to doran, cross and hey presto goal............... think the second started with a punt up field also. will find out tonight when I see the highlights.( second half only for highlights)

 

the SJ defence were very comfortable when we were tippy tappying, as we were so slow moving forward they could easily get their two banks of 4 in place, but got flustered when we punted it long.

 

happy clappers please don't bother attacking me with 3 points, winning game, yogi style fantastic, top of the league  etc,etc . I am probably just a grumpy old fart who does not know any better, wishing he was watching the quick couter attacking teams of the past. 

 

while driving to the game yesterday sportsound, willie miller and tom English were remarking how poor ict were first half against the rangers midweek. kept the ball but did nothing with it. we played the " name, the occasion" and not the team in front of us.

 

since ICT entered the Scottish leagues I have bought at least 2 season tickets a season, 4 up until 2 seasons ago. seriously thinking about giving next season a miss.

 

 

yes the team are top at present but I am bored to death watching possession football  which has turned a 20 odd goals a season striker into an insignificant passenger.

 

when was the last time you looked at the top scorer chart at this time of the season and not see billy mackay in the top half dozen, in fact not heading the chart.

We are mor second. Same points and gd but less goals scored.

just my opinion..............

 

first half same as Dundee and Kilmarnock   ---- tippy tappy sideways backwards   nothing happening last 3rd.

 

just a borefest first half.

 

happy clappers please don't bother attacking me with 3 points, winning game, yogi style fantastic, top of the league  etc,etc . I am probably just a grumpy old fart who does not know any better, wishing he was watching the quick couter attacking teams of the past. 

 

So punt up park and hope ? Quick football and in relegation zone suspect you would have been threatening to reduce season tickets on that basis as we'll

Billy was always going to be double teamed this season as he was our main threat

What is it Invrness fans want from their team obviously success does not apply to some !!

Seems you cannot please all the people all of the time. While I will admit the new style of play isn't always working or exciting, it is generally starting to be effective. People have moaned for years about our style of play under Butcher but no matter what we do, fans still are not happy.

You could see what the team were trying to do yesterday but the ball would simply not break for us in the first half. If anyone is saying our first goal was a punt up the park, all I can say is watch again and that was classic counter attacking football. Billy did not have his best game but some of that is down to him being out of sorts and some poor play by us when the final ball to him was poor. It was the most I have seen the team try to get him involved. As for Billy not being at the top of the scoring charts, all I can say is that other players are stepping up and scoring and, to be frank, as long as someone scores, don't care who it is.

Probably classes as a happy clapper but with the on going complaining and constant negatives being highlighted about the teams performance, could this be contributing to poor crowds?. Getting a bit disillusioned with the negativity.

obviously not just me

 

Gordon waddell in todays mail on ICT first goal

 

" Just when you have lost the will to live, agonising over whether the second half was even possibly worse than the first the highlanders ..............."

 

as I said above it is just my opinion and apologise if I have caused offence to anyone.

hughe's type of football is not for me.

 

hughes quote from the mail

 

"its all about patience. I keep saying it. its not going to be gung ho when you come and watch inverness. its not about that, it's about ball retention"

 

I sign off now and it's goodnight from me

Negativity on this forum does not effect crowd sizes as the people who are not coming either don't read this forum or don't know it exists. If we all agreed about tactics, team selection etc. football would be very boring. More than once yesterday the crowd around me moaned as we went backwards when in their opinion a forward movement was on. The people moaning on here about low attendances I'll ask one question. What are you doing about it. Before you ask I buy an extra season ticket and give it to different friends for each game in the hope they will come back as a paying fan. Moaning about it on fans forum or CJT meeting will not bring new faces as they don't have that much interest yet.

Bit dull 1st half, more enjoyable 2nd, good 3pts, even someone got close on 'Shoot for Boot' Happy Days

Dare I say some people don't like a good malt whisky others really appreciate and enjoy it.

Dare I say some people don't like a good malt whisky others really appreciate and enjoy it.

 

I like it with Coca Cola! ...but then I'm a 'heathen' or a moron, or possibly both! 

 

From 5mins of highlights we looked pretty good...maybe the other 85 left a bit to be desired!

 

SPL looking quite an open contest thus far?

 

Given Hughes' comments on "it's all about ball retention" it is perhaps a bit surprising that we are not actually retaining the ball better.  I looked at the match stats for the 8 games we've played this season and we have had an average of 53% possession against 47% for the opposition.  That's closer to 50:50 than the referendum! 

 

Stats for shots at goal and on target are 12 & 4 per match and 8 & 3 per match for the opposition.

 

These figures suggest that we are effective at containing the opposition and restricting the number of chances they get (that's why Draper got the POTM award), but we are not dominating possession and we are not creating a lot ourselves.  What concerns me is the extent we play the ball sideways and allow the opposition to regain their shape.  We are most effective attacking at pace but such attacks seem a relative rarity these days despite both goals yesterday coming from Doran breaking at speed.  The second was interesting because initially it looked as though Shinnie was running to provide the overlap but then he just stopped and  let Doran take on two defenders on his own.  It was only when Doran got trapped by the corner flag that Shinnie then made himself available again and was lucky to be gifted the ball. Can't help but think that Yogi would have wanted Doran to check when Shinnie stopped his run and knock the ball back to Shinnie in the space behind to ensure possession was retained.

 

Of course it is great to be where we are in the league and a win is a win and all that, but apart from the two goals there was precious little to get excited about yesterday.  The crowd yesterday was dreadful and it is clear that the crowds are not going to come just because we are top of the league, they are going to come back if they are entertained.  The stats suggest that for all the hype, we are not actually keeping possession particularly successfully and nor are we getting much goalmouth action.  Even County who are bottom of the table with no points are averaging more shots on target per game than us.

 

It seems to me not so much that comments on here are negative, rather they are reflecting a negative style of play which happens to be successful.  With the talented squad we have, I can't help thinking we could have a much more positive approach to games and still be successful.