St Johnstone -V- Inverness CT

[Kingsmills]

I agree with IHE. Fans are never going to be enthused about a brand of play that seems designed to retain the football (quite often unsuccessfully) rather than doing something positive with it.

[forresjags]

Maybe we were doing an injustice to Russel Latapy and it was his influence and creativity that produced good performances last year.

Difficult to see where the next goal or win is going to come from, but we will never have a better opportunity than Saturday to rectify this with Hamilton at home.

      

[Kingsmills]

9 minutes ago, forresjags said:

Maybe we were doing an injustice to Russel Latapy and it was his influence and creativity that produced good performances last year.

Difficult to see where the next goal or win is going to come from, but we will never have a better opportunity than Saturday to rectify this with Hamilton at home.

      

I certainly don't think Russell leaving and Brian Rice coming in has improved the situation. The circumstances of Russell's leaving have always struck me as a bit odd...

[gingerjaggy]

Ok I think we need to calm down. I am worried and a potential play off is hovering dangerously close. I haven't seen us play this season but it has been frustrating to perform well one week and then terrible. We have outplayed Celtic on their own turf for 50 minutes and beaten the sheep. Those performances were full of in your face direct play that we created from. Why cant we do that all the time? I do believe our biggest loss has been Watkins with his pace to change the tempo in a game, we haven't got that. This years team is not as good but would it be the end of the world if we didn't make the top 6 but survived and got to another final and potential defence of the trophy is good. Next week is huge with a 6 pointer with Hamilton, opportunity to get to Hampden and the derby. Win all 3 by any means and top 6 is still on with a semi to come which may just see us hit form. Lose and its a very rocky end to what has been a inconsistent season. If we do beat Hamilton and killie are at pittordrie we could go 8 clear and although the hard work doesn't stop I will definitely breathe a little easier.

 

[Sir C the 3rd]

This season has been a bit of a car crash from the beginning. The first home game had a great atmosphere and buzz about it, as did our play. Then Astra scored. Since then we have struggled to create anything.

Our signings, and let's give yogi the curtousy of considering otherwise, have been dreadful by in large. Nobody scouted at the end of last season except wedderburn. Everyone else has come via a trial or from his distant memory. Except vigurs of course who we happened to find in the gym. It really is shake your head stuff.

i certainly wasn't expecting the highs of last season but we should still have had enough to be well clear of relegation. Forget about top 6 now. Let's just win a couple of games and get some breathing space between ourselves and killie . Also forget about trying to be pretty now. We've been found out. Press our players and then we're clueless. 

i said to someone after a few games and all the injuries, that this season is just a write off. Bar a few games it has just been a season of utter frustration on and off the park.

lets get our heads down and battle for a win on saturday

Edited March 10, 2016 by Sir C the 3rd

[ThorburnGolf]

We need to look at the facts, last season we had 2 of the best players in the league in Christie and Shinnie who are now gone. We also lost a hell of a player in Watkins. The squad was pretty settled, we had no real injury worries throughout and the same players played week in week out.

This season there has been new faces, probably the biggest injury crisis in the league and to be honest a tougher league with Aberdeen improving and Hearts coming in. We have been in the quarter finals of both cups (still have a fantastic chance in one of them to reach another final given the draw) we have hovered around mid table all season and to be honest if we go on a wee run of wins who's to say a miracle couldn't happen and we finish 4th?

Yes we can't be complacent as we could still end up in a dogfight for relegation. But we have one of the smallest budgets in the league, we need to be realistic, Hughes can't work miracles every season like last but to me he's a damn good manager and I think the criticism of him is a touch unfair. If we stay up, given the good cup runs we have to say its been a successful season.

We need to stop dreaming of last season, if it ever happens again, wonderful, but we just aren't a big enough club to be doing the things we did last season every season.

[Kingsmills]

Not sure I agree. Hughes took the plaudits last year, and rightly so, including a Manager Of The Year award by doing well with a team very largely put together by his predecessor.

This season we are faring much much less well in the league with a team much more of his own creation. Yes we have lost important players but it's not as if he hasn't been allowed to bring in more than half a dozen of his own players in replacement. Who's fault is it that so many of those have proved such a disappointment ?

He rightly got credit for success. It's right that he bears a substantial part of the blame for this season's relative failure but we are not Celtic fans and are not calling for his head we just want him to get it right and to do so before we end up in the Championship.

[ThorburnGolf]

I'll agree with you Kingsmills in the part that he must share blame for mistakes made. HIs signings haven't been great but how much of that comes down to luck of the draw, many players we sign are struggling with career and are risky signings, some pay off some don't, we can't match wages of pretty much any other team in the league. He has a tough job on his hands, if he didn't get it wrong from time to time he wouldn't be our manager, he'd probably be managing someone in the champions league.

We forget that when Hughes came in we went on a rotten run, he barely won a game when he took over, but he settled the squad and last season happened.

I reckon some continuity with keeping the majority of the team we have, less injuries, one or two coming in and we will be surprised again next season.

[AlexJones]

When IHE is making the most sense in the post match thread you know we're in extraordinary times. 

[Robert]

I agree with most of what has been said.

I listened to the radio commentary, and a defeat seemed inevitable in the second half.

Now is the time to really get behind the players and Manager and give them our support to hopefully secure safety in the league and continue our cup dream.

Let's help to make it another season to remember for the right reasons!

Edited March 10, 2016 by Robert
Typo

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

1 hour ago, AlexJones said:

When IHE is making the most sense in the post match thread you know we're in extraordinary times. 

Working nights and enforced sobriety has sadly taken its toll 

[GaliantGrunt]

Jings mon I never realised that Dundee Motherwell and Partick have managed to drag themselves so far away from us 

[wynthank15]

We had three decent players (not great given our past Scottish heritage) in Watkins, Shinney and Christie and that's the difference. Take them out of the team and we are very ordinary. JH alluded to this in his interview before the StJ match recalling the loss of Billy McKay etc, it's quite clear Hughes is frustrated at the loss of our best players, I read it as a comment directed to the board.If we lose to Hamilton at the weekend I believe we will be in the play off position, if you can't score you can't win. It would be a strange coincidence if Falkirk whom we beat in the final relegate us as they did some years ago. Quite frankly, given our current form I would not bet on us to beat Falkirk. Fact is the level of the SPL is awful, our fomer 1st div team under Patterson would be comfortably in the top six, that's how far the standard has fallen.

[kilda]

I am getting seriously worried here. We are 5 points clear of disaster at worst and relegation at best. I reject the game in hand, look what 2 games in hand did for us. We are in trouble,  I doubt we can not secure top six, I fear we may go down.  I have been a long term supporter Of John Hughes but I am now  beginning to regret his T town attraction: that rhymes with D and begins with DOWN.

[Eagle4Caley]

On 10/03/2016 at 0:21 AM, Jagman said:

Really can't believe guys calling for Yogi's head.

Still in the cup, and the league should be no problem.

Agree...maybe the fayre offered up on Tuesday was not great, but that must be the 5th away in a row since the excellent home win against Aberdeen. We have a very small squad, and yet more absences, this time through illness (are others suffering a bit as well)?...so we were left with one fit striker upfront, who has not that long returned to fitness himself. I'm not surprised to see at the end of the winter the guys running out of a bit of energy. And the departures of Christie and Watkins, with Doran and Vincent injured, have left a creative hole.

I take IHE's point about team formation, I guess in one sense it does make sense to try and get all three of the most experienced midfielders into the side. Be interesting to see what happens against Hamilton with Warren presumably out...Draper at the back with Devine, and hopefully one of Storey or Mutumbo back

 

 

[Scarlet Pimple]

Lost many of our excellent players early on, seemingly constant injuries, our captain out  and possibly will be lucky to ever return permanently now and chopping working out for us. So, to blame J H entirely is not an accurate assessment of where to place blame. Because we can easily forget that the money available  in the kitty is not overflowing the edges of the barrows that some folks easily forget are not there. How can we hire great players at a time when the season is  coming to an end - they are all committed to their present clubs at this time and may be on big bonuses to win crucial games .

I agree wholeheartedly with the posters who prefer attacking football rather then defensive football but with positions chopping and changing is there much room for manoeuvre to completely commit to the former ? Fear of relegation and so on will also be putting both the Manager and  the team under pressure which creates tension, the bugbear of the ability to play flowing  and/or attractive football .

My fear is that at this stage of the season it could be too late to be sure of fixing the situation and it's at times like this that I feel  that we have to support the Manager and back the team to the hilt .

 

 

 

[12th Man]

Let's see what tomorrow brings.

Other teams fans' have been concerned for months.

Let's see what we can do on home turf.

[CaleyHedgehog]

23 hours ago, Robert said:

Now is the time to really get behind the players and Manager and give them our support to hopefully secure safety in the league and continue our cup dream.

Let's help to make it another season to remember for the right reasons!

 

11 hours ago, Scarlet Pimple said:

My fear is that at this stage of the season it could be too late to be sure of fixing the situation and it's at times like this that I feel  that we have to support the Manager and back the team to the hilt .

Spot on.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Remember the rousing cheers that we all gave to our team after Falkirk scored in the Cup Final - I'm still convinced that it helped to give them the spark needed to go on and win. The atmosphere created by the fans at recent home games has been the best I can remember.We must let the team know we are behind them tomorrow,because if they have been reading some of the posts on this thread and what they say about both the team as a whole and individuals, they will be packing their bags and leaving.

C'mon Caley Thistle. You can do it.

 

[Robert]

Well said!

[Yngwie]

On 3/10/2016 at 11:11 PM, kilda said:

I reject the game in hand, look what 2 games in hand did for us.

Where games in hand used to be an opportunity to earn points and gain ground, now they just seems to be a means to pick up more injuries and suspensions!

[RiG]

19 hours ago, CaleyHedgehog said:

Spot on.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Remember the rousing cheers that we all gave to our team after Falkirk scored in the Cup Final - I'm still convinced that it helped to give them the spark needed to go on and win. The atmosphere created by the fans at recent home games has been the best I can remember.We must let the team know we are behind them tomorrow,because if they have been reading some of the posts on this thread and what they say about both the team as a whole and individuals, they will be packing their bags and leaving.

C'mon Caley Thistle. You can do it.

I never understand posts like this. Look at our form over the last 8 or so games. We are not on a good run and are not playing well and creating little of note in these matches to excite the fans. Despite this, I don't think anyone has said they are not behind the team or not supporting them despite this sticky patch (EDIT: Apart from Mahonio and he doesn't count anyway).  Posters on here are simply voicing their concerns about these recent performances but they're still supporting the side.

Edited March 12, 2016 by RiG