matchday thread - stirling

[12th Man]

Well that's a good omen, we only managed a draw away, in our first round last season too.

The tickets were priced at £15,10 and 5.

So not sure if both clubs would agree to a further reduction.  Hopefully it won't affect the pay what you want a few days later which strengthens the need to find new recruits for the 2 nd home game in 4 days.

Hopefully it will be on TV, that would make some extra cash for both clubs. If it is I hope some pay what you can boards are prominent for the TV cameras.

At least we are still in the competition unlike Hamilton, St Johnstone and Aberdeen. So will be interesting to see who we play in the next round if we are fortunate enough to beat Stirling as you can never assume you have the right to beat someone without earning the right.

[KirkieRobRoy]

Poor show. Albion did their homework better than us, frustrated our attack and fancied themselves attacking down our left (that will need fixed before the replay). They gained in confidence and often left two up front when we were in possession in the second half.

 

Having said all of that, will surely put it to bed at the second attempt. They can't play at such intensity twice, nor can we be so bad. Can't go, but I still hope it doesn't go on telly as the crowd for a cold January Tuesday night will be miserable enough anyway.

 

Re Craig Beattie - his problem was always injury proneness rather than Riordan-style self-destruction. And he is 35. I thought their starting No 9 put in a terrific shift.

[Sneckboy]

1 hour ago, KirkieRobRoy said:

Re Craig Beattie - his problem was always injury proneness rather than Riordan-style self-destruction. And he is 35. I thought their starting No 9 put in a terrific shift.

He's not 35. He's 31 (32 next week!)

[Yngwie]

It's quite striking that after scoring in 10 consecutive games, we draw a blank against part-timers from the 4th flight, who have conceded 3 in each of their last 2 games, v East Fife and East Stirling!

[+HawkeyeTheGnu]

First things first. Well done to Albion, who had a plan and executed it well. 

Now to the positives - at least we are still in the cup, and Fisher showed more in half a game than Lopez did in half a season. 

I was disappointed at our energy levels today. We should have been trying to play the game at a high tempo to try and test the fitness levels of part-time players. Instead, when they let us have the ball, we did our usual thing of passing around at the back like we had all the time in the world. 

We should have scored in the second half, but Storey managed to clear his own shot off the line. Fisher engineered a chance on the turn, but was reaching for the shot and only really poked it at the keeper. Other than that it was all shots from distance really  I suppose Mutombo had a chance in stoppage time, but he may have been better served pulling it back.

Stirling had a couple of chances, but I didn't feel we were ever under any real pressure.

There was a palpabable lack of width today, which was emphasised when Fisher came on. We need to get that sorted out.

 

[Yngwie]

What got me was that in the 2nd half we got a large number of crosses into the box but hardly any of them seem to find an ICT player, in fact most of them were overhit.

[+HawkeyeTheGnu]

5 minutes ago, Yngwie said:

What got me was that in the 2nd half we got a large number of crosses into the box but hardly any of them seem to find an ICT player, in fact most of them were overhit.

That's because just about every cross was from our right back 

[ICTPaisley]

Found this on the SFA website

 

The following William Hill Scottish Cup fourth round replays will be played on the following dates:

Forfar Athletic vs Linlithgow Rose
(To be played Tuesday 19th January 2016, 7:30pm kick-off)

Ross County vs Dunfermline Athletic
(To be played Tuesday 12th January 2016, 7:45pm kick-off)

Inverness Caledonian Thistle vs Stirling Albion
(To be played Tuesday 19th January 2016, 7:45pm kick-off)

[Scarlet Pimple]

Yogi must be frustrated. He's been havering on a bit on the latest clip about bringing Stokes to us from Parhhead. Maybe  we DO need a bit of sting up front after all and competition for our ---er----strikers would surely be a good thing?  How about Vigurs  Stokes and Storey all in a row/ What a line-up..

Stokey sure sounds p....d off with his situation,  which essentially seems to me to be a significant waste of talent. If he still has his playing ability under control perhaps he would be on fire if he came just to prove to Mr. R Deila that he was wrong. After all, won't Celtic be paying the wages freight for him? Sounds good to me since Deila seems deffo quite scunnered with his behaviour. Wouldn't you think that he should play the guy and serve him a challenge to perform. If he can get us up the table in spectacular fashion then bring him to Tulloch.

[RiG]

10 hours ago, Yngwie said:

What got me was that in the 2nd half we got a large number of crosses into the box but hardly any of them seem to find an ICT player, in fact most of them were overhit.

Tends to be the case when the only wide player is your main striker who should be in the box trying to feed off these crosses. When it wasn't Storey actually crossing the ball he was often forced out wide and linked with Raven and was therefore quite out of position. We desperately need a Doran type player in the team right now to provide for Storey.

[alternative maryhill]

Disappointing performance. I know that our default strategy is to sit deep and build from the back, but I thought that yesterday would be an opportunity, against part-time players from a league below, to press higher up the park and try to overwhelm them early in the game. For the first ten minutes it looked like we were going to do that, with Storey and Williams both looking particularly lively, and Stirling's left back looking vulnerable. However, we then reverted to the deep-lying, low-tempo approach and created next to nothing for the rest of the half. Stirling were quick and direct down the right hand side, and looked threatening on a couple of occasions, although their moves tended to fall apart when they got to the edge of our box. We had a few more chances and close shaves in the second half, but rarely forced the Stirling keeper into saves. Fisher doesn't seem to have much pace, although he may need time to get up to the pace of competitive games, but he did add a bit of presence up front, and it may be that, if they play together, Storey starts to play a more roaming role, dropping deeper to collect the ball and taking it out wide when required - he was doing that anyway yesterday, but there was rarely any support for him until Fisher arrived. 

I don't have too many fears for the replay, but we will need much more of a cutting edge and more ability to press teams if we are going to get anywhere near where we did last season. Players of the calibre and directness of Watkins and Shinnie were sorely missed yesterday.    

[Yngwie]

Oh to have had the creativity of Ryan Christie as well, I'm pretty sure he'd have unlocked that defence with a bit of craft.

 

[+HawkeyeTheGnu]

2 hours ago, RiG said:

Tends to be the case when the only wide player is your main striker who should be in the box trying to feed off these crosses. When it wasn't Storey actually crossing the ball he was often forced out wide and linked with Raven and was therefore quite out of position. We desperately need a Doran type player in the team right now to provide for Storey.

My hope would be that when Storey is forced out wide he has Fisher to aim at in the centre. But if we are going to be playing a target man, we definitely need somone out wide who can deliver a decent ball to the middle. 

[jaggiesoverstaggies]

Will Carl Tremarco be available for the replay of this?

[12th Man]

4 hours ago, jaggiesoverstaggies said:

Will Carl Tremarco be available for the replay of this?

Yes it was just a one match ban. 

[PerfICT]

At the risk of sounding like the one-man James Vincent fan-club, did we not miss his energy and movement yesterday?! For all their strong points, a midfield of Drapes, Wedderburn, Polworth, Tansey, Vigurs just lacks energy for me. You can't have only one player (Storey) making runs - too easy to shut down.

[Caley Mad In Berks]

3 minutes ago, PerfICT said:

At the risk of sounding like the one-man James Vincent fan-club, did we not miss his energy and movement yesterday?! For all their strong points, a midfield of Drapes, Wedderburn, Polworth, Tansey, Vigurs just lacks energy for me. You can't have only one player (Storey) making runs - too easy to shut down.

I agree with that. I too like Vincent.  After his winner against Falkirk I'm sure he will always have a place in many ICT fans' hearts.  Yesterday was the first time I'd seen Wedderburn live.  Not impressed, slow and cumbersome with his first touch usually going backwards.  Mind you he was not alone.  Stats show 60% possession yesterday and only 2 shots on target.  I must have missed them, although there was one skirmish, from a corner I think, in the second half which I couldn't really make out.  Anyway, it was all pretty appalling against a side 3 leagues below us.  As others have said, we badly need some creativity, and improved ball crossing. Most of the crosses, bad as they were, came from the right. Williams seemed to disappear without trace on the left, after a promising start. The corner kick taking too was poor. At least two short corners totally wasted, and several others not causing any problem for the Stirling defence.

Altogether, " a poor day at the office".  Hope its better next time I show up.

[12th Man]

I wasn't at the game so can't comment  but surely they will just pack out their own box so there may not be as much space to run in to. 4,5,1 with the 2 guys on the wings supporting  their striker on the counter attack, leaving a back row of 4 with 3 in front. They will be happy to make it to penalties.

What would we do, Williams on left, Storey on Right, also cutting in with support from carlos and raven, Fisher up front with Drapes behind with crosses to the head or chest. Tansey and Polworth behind. With usual back four. 

That would be my selection for they type of game it will turn into. 

Vincent can come on when we take the lead and more space opens up.

Edited January 10, 2016 by 12th Man

[TopSix]

Tremarco starting in the replay is a must. Williams should also start.  I thought their right back was their weak link and moving Williams further up to go up against him should be the key to unlocking their defence. Fair play to them though. They worked well and parked the bus. Why we sat back so deep is a mystery to me. And Nat Wedderburn? 

[TopSix]

29 minutes ago, Caley Mad In Berks said:

I agree with that. I too like Vincent.  After his winner against Falkirk I'm sure he will always have a place in many ICT fans' hearts.  Yesterday was the first time I'd seen Wedderburn live.  Not impressed, slow and cumbersome with his first touch usually going backwards.  Mind you he was not alone.  Stats show 60% possession yesterday and only 2 shots on target.  I must have missed them, although there was one skirmish, from a corner I think, in the second half which I couldn't really make out.  Anyway, it was all pretty appalling against a side 3 leagues below us.  As others have said, we badly need some creativity, and improved ball crossing. Most of the crosses, bad as they were, came from the right. Williams seemed to disappear without trace on the left, after a promising start. The corner kick taking too was poor. At least two short corners totally wasted, and several others not causing any problem for the Stirling defence.

Altogether, " a poor day at the office".  Hope its better next time I show up.

In terms of creativity, we could do worse than looking to sign Josh Falkingham from the Pars. Cracking wee player. 

[RiG]

I've long felt that we don't really go for the jugular under Hughes for reasons discussed at length elsewhere (slow build up, prefer to pass than shoot etc.) Using the BBC Sport information as a proxy here are the number of shots on target for each domestic game this season:

Motherwell (L) - 0

Saint Johnstone (D) - 3

Partick (D) - 3

Celtic (L) - 5

Dundee (D) - 4

Hamilton (L) - 4

Hearts (W) - 5

Dundee United (D) - 3

Livi (W) - 6

Aberdeen (W) - 5

Ross County (W) - 4

Killie (L) - 2

Saint Johnstone (L) - 2

Ross County (L) - 4

Dundee (D) - 3

Motherwell (W) - 4

Partick (L) - 1

Celtic (L) - 2

Kilmarnock (W) - 3

Dundee United (D) - 4

Aberdeen (D) - 4

Hamilton (W) - 7

Ross County (W) - 4

Stirling (D) - 2

Average of 3.5 shots on target per game. Pretty much every match where we have had more than our (current) average shots on target per game we have won the match bar a couple of fixtures. Anything below that we have tended not to take anything from the game. Not exactly rocket science but if we don't shot, we don't score and don't win games. Really need to improve in the final third to create some more chances for the likes of Storey.

Edited January 10, 2016 by RiG

[TopSix]

With our Premiership future looking relatively secure, might it be worth looking to give some of the players on the fringes some match time in the league fixtures? 

[+HawkeyeTheGnu]

1 hour ago, TopSix said:

With our Premiership future looking relatively secure

I wouldn't be sticking the life savings on that yet...

[TopSix]

44 minutes ago, HawkeyeTheGnu said:

I wouldn't be sticking the life savings on that yet...

Just had a look at the table. Fair point. 

[The Mantis]

11 hours ago, TopSix said:

With our Premiership future looking relatively secure, might it be worth looking to give some of the players on the fringes some match time in the league fixtures? 

It's the man off the telly