May as well start off this thread early.

FON WILLIAMS

RAVEN  McCART  LAING  TREMARCO

KING  TANSEY  DRAPER  POLWORTH  COLE

MckAY

But will Foran have the bottle to bench Warren and Vigurs and play Polworth and play an attacking formation ?!!  Vigurs simply surrendered at Firhill. He may as well have waved a white feckin flag. Polworth is the new whipping boy. Warren has looked out or sorts fer weeks. Played out of position at Firhill but saved our day and possibly our season. May be harsh but I hope that goal does not influence Foran. Gary has been really suspect of late and I don't think that he could cope with the frantic atmosphere and pace of this crucial Highland Derby.

Spot on for me with the exception of Mulreaney in for Cole, if fit, as I think County's defence is vulnerable to pace. Warren did drop Warren and Vigurs for the Rangers game so hopefully he will have seen the benefits but it would not surprise me if he played Warren on Saturday.

The stark truth is that, so far this season, the Highlands have been theirs.

However, Saturday represents an opportunity to put things right. Win and we reduce the gap to a single point with the momentum with us. Lose and County are a massive 7 points ahead of us and a four horse race to steer clear of the relegation places could well become a straight battle between us and Hamilton for who is relegated automatically and who lives to fight again by way of the play off.

Possibly the most important Highland derby in our history. If ever the club needed a twelfth man in the form of packed and noisily supportive Main and North Stands it is on Saturday.

Can't argue with that.  Unfortunately I won't be there.  Like Tim Farron and the Scottish Lib Dem Conference, I have a prior engagement at a family celebration.  

There is now some real pressure on a County side who have lost 5 of their last 7 games.  We really need to keep that pressure on them as they have some real quality in their side and I would worry that a derby win would give them the confidence to lift themselves well clear of the drop zone.  We are probably at the stage where home games, at least against any sides out of the top four, are "must wins".  Please shout some encouragement to the lads on my behalf.  

With you on this one, IHE...except maybe Warren. It's a tough one - he's certainly had a poor season, but there is no doubting his desire - witness far post header for a point on Saturday! Whose more likely to get a handle on Boyce? He's not massively pacey, so it's about positioning. Not sure....good luck with that one RF! What we must have is pace and width - that means 2 from Mulraney, King and Cole. Polworth in the hole for me.

Assuming the likes of Tremarco are back from injury and suspension and we have no other players drop out this week I'd like to see us go with the following:

Fon Williams
Raven Laing McCart Tremarco
Draper Tansey
King Polworth Cole
Mckay

Tough to leave out Warren but he's been so shaky this season it's hard to justify him staying in the side when Laing and McCart have been a bit stronger than he has. Probably just about prefer to have Raven over Brad Mckay at RB but not much in it. Draper and Tansey back in the middle please with Polworth just ahead. Tansey has really come onto a game recently and looks much more comfortable working with Draper and Polworth who will work significantly harder than Vigurs does to help protect the defence.

Doran is out for six months and rumours are Mulraney is out as well. If that is the case I'd like to see King and Cole get a start and obviously it has to be Mckay up front. He might not have bagged as many goals as I would have hoped but his all round hold up play is a cut above anything else we have in the squad.

Really have no idea how this will pan out. I think it definitely falls into the must win category for us but we've still only won once in 17 games. Hardly the form to give us confidence going into this massive match.

This P & J article says Mulraney is likely to be be back in contention for a starting spot which is good news.

https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/sport/football/inverness-caledonian-thistle/1194098/could-late-equaliser-reignite-caley-thistles-season/

County were slightly unlucky against Kilmarnock and we were a little lucky against Partick. However, Celtic apart, we have points from the other four games. If every single player in our side and every single supporter had a game where we all needed to be focussed, it is Saturday. A defeat is unthinkable. A draw might take us level with Hamilton or if they were to lose heavily at Ibrox above them. It is time to really believe we can beat Ross County again without over committing. It should be a tense match so it will be interesting to see what support comes from over the bridge.

County have looked pretty decent in the two derbies so far. When you're at the bottom it's easy to feel that all the other teams are better. Yet apart from the two derbies County have actually been worse than us in the league. Same goes for Hamilton - another side we've failed to beat.

14 minutes ago, TheMantis said:

Yet apart from the two derbies County have actually been worse than us in the league. 

Indeed - in fact if we'd won even one of the derbies, County would be bottom and we'd be 10th!

1 hour ago, Yngwie said:

Indeed - in fact if we'd won even one of the derbies, County would be bottom and we'd be 10th!

Yes, all of this shows the nonsense of the "must win" concept early in the season. RF indicated that the Dundee home game and, IIRC, the Hamilton game were "must win". The truth is, had we drawn the Hamilton game, we would not be bottom now. I still think we're not yet in "must win" territory, but we're close to "dare not lose".

In fairness to RF, when he made those comments, he still had the deluded view that top 6 was possible...

I think we are in must territory simply because we are starting to run out of games, we have only one win in 17 matches and if the players and manager are to seriously convince fans that we can get out of this mess then this is the perfect time to show it.

Time for Foran to step up and demonstrate he has what it takes to manage and motivate  at this level. Every game between now and the end of the season should be viewed as winnable. Time for the senior players to really show what they are about, no more calamities. 

Heard Jim McIntyre on STV last night make it clear Ross County need to win the next four games to have a good chance of getting into the top six - clearly not coming for a draw so putting pressure on his players to get four wins in a row. He has decided Celtic away is a straightforward loss which is fair. Here are the games where the County plan to harvest their 12 points:

Inverness Caledonian Thistle v Ross County

Partick Thistle v Ross County

Ross County v Dundee

Hamilton Academical v Ross County

Ross County v Celtic

I just wonder whether Alex Neil might be brought in if the County lose a few. McIntyre invested very heavily in January so probably did so on the basis of a top 6 promise to Uncle Roy.

 

 

Edited March 15, 20178 yr by CELTIC1CALEY3

2 minutes ago, CELTIC1CALEY3 said:

Heard Jim McIntyre on STV last night make it clear Ross County need to win the next four games to have a good chance of getting into the top six - clearly not coming for a draw so putting pressure on his players to get four wins in a row. He has decided Celtic away is a straightforward loss which is fair. Here are the games where the County plan to harvest their 12 points:

Inverness Caledonian Thistle v Ross County

Partick Thistle v Ross County

Ross County v Dundee

Hamilton Academical v Ross County

Ross County v Celtic

 

 

If the County manager is still talking about top six rather than appreciating that, after an abysmal run of form, they are battling to stay in the division that should suit us just fine.

Be in no doubt, this is a relegation battle for both teams. We appreciate that. It appears that County don't.

Jim McIntyre is well known for regularly talking bullshittt. I the travelling nation are fuming with the Top Six talk.

 

 

 

Can't see us winning this, County are fairly rubbish but if I had to choose who was more likely to score a goal and keep a clean sheet I'd pick them.

Hope I'm wrong.

3 minutes ago, ictchris said:

Can't see us winning this, County are fairly rubbish but if I had to choose who was more likely to score a goal and keep a clean sheet I'd pick them.

Hope I'm wrong.

A few weeks ago, I would have agreed with you, ictchris. However, their form has dipped and they have something of an injury crisis (Fox, Davies, Woods, Schalke, McShane, Dingwall all out or carrying injuries). That's not to say that we have anything like a full squad to pick from either, but the team suggested by RiG (for example) still looks pretty handy. We just have to hope that Tremarco is back and I'd like to see Mulraney have a run at their defence too. Billy always scores against County...just with Doran was playing too!

24 minutes ago, PerfICT said:

A few weeks ago, I would have agreed with you, ictchris. However, their form has dipped and they have something of an injury crisis (Fox, Davies, Woods, Schalke, McShane, Dingwall all out or carrying injuries). That's not to say that we have anything like a full squad to pick from either, but the team suggested by RiG (for example) still looks pretty handy. We just have to hope that Tremarco is back and I'd like to see Mulraney have a run at their defence too. Billy always scores against County...just with Doran was playing too!

Word is that Davies has recovered and will be fit to play.

2 hours ago, ictchris said:

Can't see us winning this, County are fairly rubbish but if I had to choose who was more likely to score a goal and keep a clean sheet I'd pick them.

Hope I'm wrong.

The 3 points are ours and it starts with believing that the 3 points are ours and the battle will be won in midfield

Due to ill health, this will be the first home game I've missed this season. A nice big home win would help the recovery along nicely.