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Inverness CT -V- Motherwell


Scotty

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With all these injuries we are going to have to be very very patient over the next few fixtures, doesn't look like there will be much done on the training ground as far as getting used to our system is concerned. Worrying yes but that's the disadvantage of having a small squad and little money.

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Feeling pretty despondent just now.  Was pretty hopeful that despite the injuries and the lack of anything in the final third, we'd be good enough overall to take something from this game.  With about half the team now injured, we are unlikely to be up to full-ish strength for a few weeks too.

The only good news just now is that we are not Kilmarnock.

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Well I suppose the 2nd half has to be slightly better as possession went from 46% to 49% shots went from 0 to 3 on target 0 to 0 corners 0 to 5 and obvious lack of cutting edge. A lot of injuries sure but you wonder where we are going to get the goals from. I thought our programme for the start of the season looked quite good and we would pick up a good few points (was counting 3 for today)  but now I don't know.

Will be interesting to hear what people at the game thought. Just hope injuries to Warren / Meekings? are not too serious

Looking like a long hard season ahead

 

All us would be Managers know best so don't forget to get your Fantasy Team entered:lol:

Edited by Biggin
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It is as simple as this: WE NEED BLOODY STRIKERS, how the gaffer can't see this is beyond me!!!!

but that doesn't fit with the old Barca ideology. 4-6-0. 

Wouldn't mind the new Barca front 3. How much you reckon that'll cost use. Get the squad to skip a chippie on the way home after the next away match? 

Sounds like we don't have anyone who is a natural poacher. But everyone wants one. 

 

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It is as simple as this: WE NEED BLOODY STRIKERS, how the gaffer can't see this is beyond me!!!!

I'm sure he knows that.  With our budget, where do you suggest he gets them?   To be fair he has signed Lopez.  Whether Lopez is up to the job is another matter.  I was surprised he didn't keep Hooper who at least could score (including one or two when he was trialling with us).  Whether Mutombo can play as an out and out striker remains to be seen.  I will be interested to hear what folks thought of him today.

I think the euphoria of last season will soon wear off and that we will do well to retain top 6 this year. That, in fact, will be an achievement I feel.

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Completely toothless up front. Lopez is slow and useless ... is that the best striker we can sign .... REALLY??

After initial nerves when he came home, Mutombo looked quite tidy in a Marley-esque wide role.

Fon Williams is looking increasingly impressive with notable key saves on top of the penalty save ... might have easily been 3 or 4 without him.

Too much slow passing back and fro without urgency or craft. 

A long tough season awaits if this is the benchmark. 

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I dont normally find Barry negative ... I would say he is realistic. he is sounding like a frustrated fan. 

Thats what i thought also. I doubt he has sour grapes, I have seen come at ICT games as a fan since he has left.

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It is as simple as this: WE NEED BLOODY STRIKERS, how the gaffer can't see this is beyond me!!!!

I'm sure he knows that.  With our budget, where do you suggest he gets them?   To be fair he has signed Lopez.  Whether Lopez is up to the job is another matter.  I was surprised he didn't keep Hooper who at least could score (including one or two when he was trialling with us).  Whether Mutombo can play as an out and out striker remains to be seen.  I will be interested to hear what folks thought of him today.

I think the euphoria of last season will soon wear off and that we will do well to retain top 6 this year. That, in fact, will be an achievement I feel.

Sorry but i dont buy all this small budget crap anymore We finished third in the premiership. Won the Scottish cup and qualified for the Europa Leauge. Got loads of TV money and £150K for Billy Mckay We can afford more than just signing free trialists from the lower leagues.

 

Dundee did this. They signged a proven goalscorer (Loy) He scores two on his debut. So what *are* we doing with all the money we have?

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Aside from the injuries, which obviously haven't helped, there is plenty that could have been done differently today to make us a bit more competitive. Defensively, we started with:

Meekings-Warren-Devine-Raven, which is simply not our best back four. You don't break up one of the best centre-back pairings in the league unless you've got a very good reason, and I don't think Hughes would be able to offer one. Added to that, we are effectively neutering one of our biggest assets which is the potential for the full-backs to get forward on the overlap. Meekings doesn't have the pace to do that and always seemed to be a bit hesitant to commit himself forward and Raven is playing out of position. It is harder for a right-footed player to get forward to cross a ball in if he has to cut inside to do it. Hughes put Raven on the right in the second half but by that time it was too late.

In midfield, we had Wedderburn and Draper who are far too similar. I don't want to be too harsh on Wedderburn, but there are literally hundreds of players in the lower levels of British football who could do what Yogi asks him to do i.e. play sideways passes and never think about getting forward. He doesn't have the mobility to be an effective defensive CM at his level either.

With Draper and Wedderburn in holding midfield, Tansey was playing as an attacking midfielder - again, not his best position. he is best in the "QB" role where he can pick passes with time to think about them. To his credit, Hughes took Wedderburn off in the first half and shifted the system about. 

We started with Christie and Williams as wingers, two players who are best in central roles. I won't blame Hughes for this because injuries forced his hand.

Up front, Lopez was woeful today. His attitude stinks. I gave him the benefit of the doubt against Astra as it was his first game but he was more interested in moaning at the referee and team-mates at times than putting in a shift. He needs to pull the finger out.

People around me were getting frustrated with the sideways passing at the back but the options and the pace simply weren't there up front for balls to be played over the top or in behind the Motherwell defence. Lack of pace is the key difference between the team that started today and the one we had out last season. Motherwell were content to sit very deep for much of the second half which made it harder for us to get in behind, which was also a factor.

On the plus side, Fon Williams had an outstanding game and was my man of the match. Mutombo was very energetic and skilful too, although perhaps not as direct as he could have been at times. He should be a good signing though.

All in all, a poor start to the season but with a few tweaks we should be able to create more chances. Having said that, hopefully Warren and Meekings' injuries aren't too bad as if they are out for a while we will really be struggling

 

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Goodness, gracious me.  What the hell was that?

 

First, the caveats: any team in this league bar Celtic and Aberdeen struggles with a few players out - today we missed Brill, Tremarco, Vincent, Foran, Doran and Roberts (some of whom may have started, and some of whom may not have). Then we lose Warren and Meekings to injury.

 

But still, we could have easily lost that four- or five-nil.  Owain Fon Williams was outstanding (he even made a wonderful save for their goal, but Fletcher got to the rebound first), and it was just as well.  Motherwell missed several other chances.  We on the other hand, managed three shots on goal and none on target (according to the BBC).  The three shots were a Tansey free kick deflected well wide, a Tansey shot from distance that went miles high and wide, and a Lopez shot from distance that was closer to the corner flag than the goal.  And it's not as though we were fizzing crosses across the face of goal or anything.  Their keeper could have spent the match leaning on his post and reading the newspaper.

 

I know we were short of players, but the tactics were terrible.  Raven (when played out of position) and Meekings offer no attacking width.  There is no point to playing both Wedderburn and Draper, they are so similar in style that they are practically two cheeks of the same fat backside.  Williams needed to be at left-back from the off, just to give us a bit of width.  Raven was also dreadfully exposed by Marvin Johnson's pace.  Johnson and Chalmers kept getting into the space left by our full-backs when they bombed forward...with our twin defensive midfielders nowhere to be seen when they should have been covering.

 

We were a shambles from the off - Warren's panicky hack on McDonald in the first minute set the tone.  I know folk will bemoan our passing around at the back but Tansey's blunder was not because he was under pressure - he simply played a lazy, blind sideways pass.  What he was doing that deep at that point (and many others in the first half), when we already had two defensive midfielders, was beyond me.

 

Subbing Wedderburn and bringing on Mutombo was a desperate move, but the right one.  Mutombo had several good touches, though whether he has some substance, or is just a Fancy Dan, remains to be seen.  He at least went looking for the ball, which is more than can be said for Lopez.  The Spaniard must have touched the ball about ten times...and nearly every time it just bounced off him.  He didn't get much service, but nor did he compete with the Motherwell defenders or make an active effort to offer himself for a pass.  He's had three starts now and if this is as fit as he's going to get, then god help us.  I felt sorry for Ryan Christie, who kept getting caught in possession because no-one in front of him was ever looking for a pass.  He got more and more frustrated as the game went on, and made more and more mistakes.

 

It was a sign of the way our day was going that we lost both Warren and Meekings, which left us with a threadbare back four.  Devine was alright to be fair; it must be said that Polworth was decent enough in the second half but just offered more of the sideways passing.  Horner wasn't much cop, but then we had no other options, really.

 

So, in conclusion, that was terrible - maybe even worse than any performance in the whole of last season.  But surely once our injuries are cleared we'll be fine...right?

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Like the look of Fon Williams today, he certainly saved us on more than one occasion, penalty save aside. Agree with comments about Wedderburn, can't see what he offers.

As for Lopez, all been said already on here, if he's a striker were in deep trouble. Mutombo looks like he could be a decent addition though.

I'll put it down to injuries at the moment and hope the list shortens soon.

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Desperately poor first half, decent second half. When you consider the players that have left the club, our current injury crisis, and that we lost our 2 first choice centre halves during the game - a narrow defeat isn't exactly a calamity. Some people's expectations have become delusional.

Motherwell's goal was as soft as they come, a slack pass under no pressure in our own third. Rather like the first leg of the Astra game, conceding a soft goal early doors completely changes the dynamics of the game. From then on we didn't really look like scoring. This wasn't helped by having 3 holding midfielders on the park at the same time. Our shape improved when the impressive Mutombo replaced Wedderburn. But we still struggled to assert any kind of concerted pressure on Motherwell. There was a lack of movement in the final third, and all too often Lopez was left isolated. On the few occasions the ball reached him he didn't pose much of a threat. 

Positives from the game, Fon Williams was terrific. Looks like we've got a quality keeper on our hands. Mutombo, Horner and Polworth all improved the team when introduced.

Edited by AlexJones
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Only 3 competitive games into the season but already pretty concerned, we have no real striker up top and as others have said I really don't think a striker is going to help unless we change the tactics, it doesn't matter who we have upfront at the moment if they do not get the ball they will not score. I agree we need to keep possession at times, however I have never seen any of our players look so scared to risk taking a player on, there were several occasions today when players were in space one on one with fullbacks and the back pass to the halfway line was taken. I am really missing the days when our wingers took players on and got crosses into the box.

Raven our right back playing left-back was the only player who wanted to pass forward and push up until Motombo came on which tells the whole story. Fon Williams is the only other player to get pass marks in my book some big saves which kept us in it.

No goals in 3 and I can't remember a shot on target today, along with some big players injured it could be a tough couple of weeks ahead.

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Not a good start and it showed up our lack of strength in depth at the moment. Crowd got a bit rattled in second half when at one point we had five players in our own half passing the ball sideways (six if you include goalie). But as has been noted above Motherwell were sitting in because at that same time they had a clear 4-5-1 in their half just waiting to thwart our next forward move. Sometimes our passing was a bit wayward. One game doesn't make a season though. 

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