Matchday Thread Inverness CT -V- St Johnstone

[Caley Mad In Berks]

Great result, and a decent crowd for a cold Tuesday night in Jan.  I imagine the directors will see the 'pay what you can' experiment as being successful.  Well done to them for showing initiative.

 

But the biggest plaudits are to Yogi and the team. A clear 3rd in the SPFL is no more than we deserve.  What a great 2015 it has been so far. Roll on Saturday.

[Biggin]

Another great result in what is usually a difficult match and clean sheet to boot  

[Eagle4Caley]

Fourth win in a row, Watkins comes back and scores, Billy carries on his good run, seemed like a canter for us, a reasonable crowd for a winter Tuesday night, now upto 3rd...only frustration was not being able to get the radio connection on my tablet sorted in time.

[AlexJones]

Has to be a contender for best performance of the season. Everyone was excellent. Tremarco had a shaky start but grew into one of our best players as the game went on. Shinnie had his best game for a while at right back. Warren and Meekings solid as ever. Saints are one of the most dangerous teams in the league from corners and set pieces but they didn't even get a sniff tonight. I can only recall one occasion where a Saints player won a header from an attacking corner. Tremendous stuff.

Our midfield completely bossed the game, a real 'beast mode' showing from big Drapes, his crunching tackle on 'you know who' was especially pleasing. Our attacking play tore the dilapidated Saints back 4 to shreds, we could quite easily have had a cricket score if we'd been a bit more clinical / lucky in the final third. 











 

[Row S]

Apart from the first 10 minutes we were well in control. It was 2 going on 6 nil. Only our own defenders worried Deano with back passing and Shinnie's miscue over the bar in 5 minutes. Some nice inter-changing of passes between the half way line and Saints box although over-cooked at times. Good to keep the run going and now only 3 points behind the over-rated Dons.

Edited January 20, 2015 by Row S

[PerfICT]

A masterclass in possession football. Well done lads - tricky to pick a MoM!

[CaleyThistle]

Out of interest, how many points did we have after 22 games last year?

[Yngwie]

The 44 points we have now may well already be enough to secure a top 6 place.  Kilmarnock (or Dundee) would have to earn more points per game than they have done so far to exceed that by game 33.

 

Our 44 points is also 4 times what County have got. 

[Scarlet Pimple]

Not to  be too money orientated but has anyone got an idea as to how much came the way of the club?

 

Sounds like a great game.  Faaaaantastic stuff.

[Joe DiMaggio]

Would be interesting to know the average price paid tonight. Also the lowest and highest prices paid.

[Yngwie]

Highest was £30 according to Ian Auld, interviewed on Sky.

[Granty24]

  On 1/20/2015 at 11:06 PM, CaleyThistle said:

Out of interest, how many points did we have after 22 games last year?

 

We had 37 points. We were also on 52 points at the time of the split last year, with St. Johnstone in sixth on 48. With some really winnable games coming up, I'd like to think we could be confirmed in the top six fairly soon. 

[Caley Mad In Berks]

Looking forward to seeing a full match report from someone who was there.  I see Nick Ross is collecting most of the votes in the MOM thread.  Well done to him.  Good to see him starting as opposed to his sub role of late.

 

Just noticed that we got no yellow cards last night.  Quite an achievement these days when they seem to be dished out often, even  for minimal contact tackles. I'm too lazy to check back all our match reports, but I'd guess that is our first yellow card free outing for quite a long time.

[ICTGAZ]

Great performance all over the park, agree Nick Ross really shone. Warren + Meetings solid throughout and not a poor performance really from anyone.

 

Good to see young Ally Sutherland get on for a wee run out.

 

Thanks lads great night never noticed the cold (much)

 

[CELTIC1CALEY3]

Sublime one touch passing for those not there!! Indeed a masterclass of passing. We need to keep our feet on the ground in terms of one game at a time. Hamilton is a very difficult venue. Ross County will really fancy their chances and Partick away in the cup is about the worst draw we could have got.  

[+roarer]

Just watched the highlights and we gave them a real belting! Quality football played by quality players led by a quality coach. Beautiful!

[hislopsoffsideagain]

Well, that was rather easy.  After an early barrage of high balls into the box from St. Johnstone, we took control and never relinquished it.  Our passing in the first half was crisp and incisive, and I've never seen so many back heels at a game here!  We understandably took our foot off the gas after the break - and even then we should have scored a few more.

 

Yogi now has a selection headache - the type every manager wants, mind.  He has Ryan Christie and James Vincent on the bench, plus Tansey and Raven to come back from suspension, but the starting XI last night played really well.  In Tansey's absence, Danny Williams took the bull by the horns and was my man of the match; whilst he doesn't offer a Hollywood Pass like Tansey does, his movement with the ball made us play at a higher tempo that St. Johnstone couldn't live with.  Nick Ross has been deservedly getting plaudits too, whilst Tremarco, not a favourite of mine normally, had a great game.  His first touch remains iffy, but you could see his confidence shoot up after he set up Watkins' goal and in the second half he spent more time in their half than ours.

 

This was a superb team performance, albeit against a St. Johnstone side missing some important players.  Hopefully it impressed some of the folk who took up the Pay What You Can offer - which came on a night where, to be honest, ICT were so good that it would have justified the full admission fee.  

[Sneckboy]

  On 1/21/2015 at 6:37 AM, Caley Mad In Berks said:

Looking forward to seeing a full match report from someone who was there.  I see Nick Ross is collecting most of the votes in the MOM thread.  Well done to him.  Good to see him starting as opposed to his sub role of late.

 

Just noticed that we got no yellow cards last night.  Quite an achievement these days when they seem to be dished out often, even  for minimal contact tackles. I'm too lazy to check back all our match reports, but I'd guess that is our first yellow card free outing for quite a long time.

It's actually more frequent than one would imagine! Aside from last night, our most recent 'card-free' game was last month against Partick. There have been 3 other instances this season including back-to-back games against Motherwell and Celtic in August.

[Eagle4Caley]

  On 1/20/2015 at 10:50 PM, PerfICT said:

A masterclass in possession football. Well done lads - tricky to pick a MoM!

Almost sounds like 'ticky tacky'?

[gordieict]

While I was hoping that Yogi would prove me wrong when I doubted him never in my wildest dreams did I think he would prove me this wrong!!!

 

He stuck by his footballing philosophies and they have come to fruition big time, great passing and movement and we totally played the Saints off the park, the idea that Billy couldn't play in his system has now also be totally dispelled.

 

Full credit to Yogi and his coaching staff along with players who must have worked so hard to get used to this system.

 

[The Mantis]

Very comprehensive win, Danny Williams was MoM for me. Left my phone behind in the stadium so thanks to the young apprentices who were in at 8.30 this morning so I could get the phone back and catch the train

[LundavraJag]

Last nights game reminded me of a comment Yogi made earlier in the season, that at some point we will play a team that will get absolutely battered by us(may have been post Dundee United at home when we played them off the park, only to win 1 nil). Last night should have been that game, St Johnstone had a few corners right at the start but otherwise were never in the game. Very impressive performance from us and so comfortable.

 

One negative for me which has nothing to do with the team. There was a heckler in the row behind me in section D who just could not be pleased no matter what we were doing, this man the entire game was moaning(loudly and not to himself) about not going forward with the ball and instead finding a pass along the line or in the middle. I can understand this impatience if we have had no attempts at goal after 60 minutes(just like our opponents last night) and/or are losing but i looked at my phone to see the BBC stats at half time as i thought they would probably be one sided. The stats were telling me the possession was 60/40, shots were 11 to 0, SOT were 9 to 0 and the score was 2 goals to zero. I am astounded that even at 2 goals up, put ourselves in a position where we have no need to bust a gut and expose ourselves when you don't particularly need to and still creating chance after chance, some people are still unsatisfied? He wasn't alone either. I don't expect people to ever like Yogi or his play but some people need to seriously get a grip, if he wasn't twice my size i might have told him. Having watched this new style of football that we're playing i remember how i felt last season, i remember feeling the same way as him but we have come on so far from then, i don't feel like having my head in my hands anymore(although Brill came close once) every time we make a pass along the back and i reckon every one of our players are better players from playing this way. If he had been watching properly, he would see that long balls and clearances weren't working...because they literally gave the ball straight back to us on a few of the small number of occasions they even had it.

 

So an awesome game for me and my girlfriend, i am sure most people thought it was but a shame there are still people out there unsatisfied with such a comfortable win. 

[hislopsoffsideagain]

  On 1/21/2015 at 10:08 AM, LundavraJag said:

Last nights game reminded me of a comment Yogi made earlier in the season, that at some point we will play a team that will get absolutely battered by us(may have been post Dundee United at home when we played them off the park, only to win 1 nil). Last night should have been that game, St Johnstone had a few corners right at the start but otherwise were never in the game. Very impressive performance from us and so comfortable.

 

One negative for me which has nothing to do with the team. There was a heckler in the row behind me in section D who just could not be pleased no matter what we were doing, this man the entire game was moaning(loudly and not to himself) about not going forward with the ball and instead finding a pass along the line or in the middle. I can understand this impatience if we have had no attempts at goal after 60 minutes(just like our opponents last night) and/or are losing but i looked at my phone to see the BBC stats at half time as i thought they would probably be one sided. The stats were telling me the possession was 60/40, shots were 11 to 0, SOT were 9 to 0 and the score was 2 goals to zero. I am astounded that even at 2 goals up, put ourselves in a position where we have no need to bust a gut and expose ourselves when you don't particularly need to and still creating chance after chance, some people are still unsatisfied? He wasn't alone either. I don't expect people to ever like Yogi or his play but some people need to seriously get a grip, if he wasn't twice my size i might have told him. Having watched this new style of football that we're playing i remember how i felt last season, i remember feeling the same way as him but we have come on so far from then, i don't feel like having my head in my hands anymore(although Brill came close once) every time we make a pass along the back and i reckon every one of our players are better players from playing this way. If he had been watching properly, he would see that long balls and clearances weren't working...because they literally gave the ball straight back to us on a few of the small number of occasions they even had it.

 

So an awesome game for me and my girlfriend, i am sure most people thought it was but a shame there are still people out there unsatisfied with such a comfortable win. 

 

If you're talking about Section D in the main stand, there are a couple of guys there who have been turning up for years to do nothing but shout abuse at both our players and the opposition, and occasionally other fans that ask them to be quiet.  They're usually absolutely plastered.  I can hear them from Section C, and it's often made me wonder what someone has to do to get ejected from the ground.

[+bughtmaster]

Laid up at the moment so didn't manage to follow this game properly'.   Sounds like we are a class act but I've got to get my dig in!. Why is it that when we play a team off the park the Pundits say we played against a poor side, or an off form side, or a weakened side Why don't the B****** see that we, ICT, make teams look that way because we play so much better than them and they can't cope with us.

Well done the lads                                                                                Back to bed now.

[LundavraJag]

If you're talking about Section D in the main stand, there are a couple of guys there who have been turning up for years to do nothing but shout abuse at both our players and the opposition, and occasionally other fans that ask them to be quiet.  They're usually absolutely plastered.  I can hear them from Section C, and it's often made me wonder what someone has to do to get ejected from the ground.

 

 

 

 

Section D in the North Stand, can't say i have noticed this guy before so not sure if he is a regular but it certainly dampened the experience for me as it relentless.