Dundee -V- Inverness CT

[12th Man]

Hope the boys get plenty of R&R before Hearts.

[Eagle4Caley]

I wonder, given that we are playing 6 games in 18days, four of which are away, and we include two games against Hearts and the Cup match, whether there is a bit of 'energy management in that second half performance??

[+HawkeyeTheGnu]

1 hour ago, Eagle4Caley said:

I wonder, given that we are playing 6 games in 18days, four of which are away, and we include two games against Hearts and the Cup match, whether there is a bit of 'energy management in that second half performance??

Part of me hopes so, but I would have preferred 'anti-relegation management'

[CaleyD]

14 hours ago, caley100 said:

Which brings me to another gripe,  Injuries.

We have had so many injured, key players out this season i cant believe its just bad luck.  Is it training systems or crap training facilities? but to have this many injuries is very mysterious, I've never known any Caley -thistle team to have this many players sidelined.

 

This is not our worst....

In 2011/12 we were beyond Christmas and heading towards the split before we managed to play the same team 2/3 matches running due to the number of injuries we had.  From what I can pull together from reports (may have been more).......Jonny Hayes, Greg Tansey, Owain Tudur Jones, Billy Mckay, Richie Foran, Aiden Chippendale, Thomas Piermayr, Josh Meekings, Kenny Gillet, David Proctor, Chris Hogg, Andrew Shinnie, Aaron Doran, Ryan Esson, Gavin Morrison & Lee Cox all suffered injuries that kept them out for some part of the season.

[WYNESS101]

Dundee are alot like us this season. Win one week and slip up the next. To be honest I am quite happy coming away from Dens park with a point. Yes I would have liked all three but the way Dundee came out in the second half it could have been alot worse for us. Alot of credit has to go to Fon Williams he made some wonderful save to keep it at 1-1.

We have lot of players out at the moment and yet we are still picking up points which is good in my eyes.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Nearly every team is winning and slipping. It has never been so close to call and now even the Arabs are not out of it.

[tm4tj]

Ahhh, but out of all the players out injured I would suggest only Doran would get into the side, and even then, we have moved on with Roberts, Storey, Hughes and Williams. Raven might be another, but that's about it.

[Ronaldo]

I predict we will quietly drift over the finishing line

[Sneckboy]

As 'few' as 40 points may be enough to secure top-6 this season!
In the 15-year history, the least points required to make the top-6 split has been 41. The average being 44 points.
15 seasons is not a huge sample but still enough to go on. 44 points should be the benchmark to make the split - but, with teams taking so many points off each other, the previous lowest total of 41 could be enough. But, I doubt a total in the 30s will be sufficient!
We're 9 or 10 points away, I'd say.
 

 

[alternative maryhill]

4 hours ago, Eagle4Caley said:

I wonder, given that we are playing 6 games in 18days, four of which are away, and we include two games against Hearts and the Cup match, whether there is a bit of 'energy management in that second half performance??

Possibly, but if so, it's a risky strategy given our tendency to concede late goals. It would be nice to think there was some reason for how negative we were after scoring, particularly as we did so well for almost an hour pressing forward at Celtic Park, and played some pretty good stuff throughout the game against Aberdeen. Maybe just an off day, but there's no way we'll get so lucky again if we try to do the same against Hearts or Hibs. Good day out in Dundee as always, but not between 3.30 and 4.50.   

[Caley Mad In Berks]

Just watched the highlights, or should I say, for us, the only one highlight, Draper's goal.  Nothing else was shown except Dundee missing chance after chance in the second half, before, deservedly it would seem, getting an equalizer.

I'm fearful for our trip to Tynecastle on Tuesday night, and apprehensive about our visit to Easter Road next Sunday.  Hopefully, a good strong away crowd on Sunday will lift the lads  so that they quickly regain that 'magic of the cup' feeling, and give Hibs a seeing to.  After all, surely we can do what Morton and Dumbarton can do!

If we can go to Easter Road with another 3 league points under our belt, that would be fantastic, but realistically, I'd accept a draw on Tuesday, and a win, of course on Sunday.

[CaleyD]

You need to be watching the right highlights.....

 

[Row S]

17 hours ago, CaleyD said:

You need to be watching the right highlights.....

 

Proper highlights they are too, and I could view them from Rome. Shows how poor the BBC are.

[Kingsmills]

Saturday's result and performance really emphasised two things.

Firstly; It once again demonstrated the folly of sitting deep and trying to defend a lead. We have shown time and time again that that is not something at which we excel and are just not capable of certainly not for an hour or more. Even without an in form forward, we are much more effective staying on the front foot and going forward. I've lost count now of the times we have squandered a winning position to either draw or lose. Can we please concentrate on doing what we are effective at and stop trying to do what we are not ?

Secondly; It's not Storey's fault that he is both out of goal scoring form and being played out of position but the last two Saturdays have shown that we need experienced striking options. It looks like we will be saving the salary of one experienced goalkeeper next season and I see no reason why we can't manage with at least two fewer midfielders in a squad top heavy with them. It's imperative that we put that cash into recruiting at least one and preferably two recognised forwards going into next season.

[CaleyD]

Apparently OFW can play as a forward.

[Alex MacLeod]

36 minutes ago, CaleyD said:

Apparently OFW can play as a forward.

Perhaps thats why Hoban appears to be in goal tomorrow

[bdu98196]

On 28/02/2016 at 1:16 PM, tm4tj said:

Ahhh, but out of all the players out injured I would suggest only Doran would get into the side, and even then, we have moved on with Roberts, Storey, Hughes and Williams. Raven might be another, but that's about it.

Meekings without a doubt, Raven and Doran.

[lightwelter]

On 28/02/2016 at 9:51 AM, Eagle4Caley said:

I wonder, given that we are playing 6 games in 18days, four of which are away, and we include two games against Hearts and the Cup match, whether there is a bit of 'energy management in that second half performance??

I don't think conserving energy was a concious plan or tactic, but there's some evidence to suggest that when players are subjected to so many games with little recovery, they display more conservative pacing strategies in order to preserve high-intensity activity, whether consciously or subconsciously.

In response to the question about whether our training regime had anything to do with the injuries of the players, I most certainly think it does. At the start of the season, we had countless players dropping out through injury. I would guess that because of the Europa League games, the players went from doing nothing during the off-season, to all of a sudden being subjected to a high training load, which has been proven to increase the risk of injury. This is why careful management of training and recovery is essential to be successful in the modern day game. Lower injury rates and higher player availability are associated with performance throughout the season, and there's no doubt we'd be in a better position with less injuries. 

Maybe we should take a leaf out of County's book and higher a full-time sport scientist to work alongside the coaching staff and help to design and monitor a training programme. 

[DEANO96]

Have we not got any strikers in the youth ranks who are clinical finishers, players that will stay central and shoot on site? As much as o hate to say it, Manchester United have their injury problems and when they brought in a guy youth ranks he's gone on to score 4 goals in 2 games! 

We're not man Utd I know, and the quality might not be evident but surely it wouldn't hurt to try? 

Playing storey worked when he had confidence and was scoring but now he's being used as a winger with no strikers! If there was a youth player available, get him into the first team, with storey, Roberts and Williams or polworth behind him and you never know what could happen. 

[Sneckboy]

Calum Ferguson was tremendous last season, but has been dogged by injury this term. Although, I noticed he's recently returned to the Development team.
He was frequently on target last season despite the team having a wretched time, finishing 17th and bottom of the Development League. But, for me, that's the sign of a guy who knows his way to goal.
He may have got a few games towards the end of last season if we'd had a series of 'meaningless' games - but obviously that wasn't the case as we were aiming for 3rd in the League and had the Cup Final.
He's certainly one to watch and will hopefully stay fit and rediscover his scoring form!

[Kingsmills]

18 minutes ago, DEANO96 said:

Have we not got any strikers in the youth ranks who are clinical finishers, players that will stay central and shoot on site? As much as o hate to say it, Manchester United have their injury problems and when they brought in a guy youth ranks he's gone on to score 4 goals in 2 games! 

We're not man Utd I know, and the quality might not be evident but surely it wouldn't hurt to try? 

Playing storey worked when he had confidence and was scoring but now he's being used as a winger with no strikers! If there was a youth player available, get him into the first team, with storey, Roberts and Williams or polworth behind him and you never know what could happen. 

The development squad are second bottom of their league at the moment and have not exactly been firing in the goals so the answer would appear to be no.