THE MATCHDAY THREAD Discuss ICT & other games in this thread as they happen St Mirren -V- Inverness CT PREVIEW 9th September @ 3PM, St Mirren Park, Paisley Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Facebook Go to the Chatroom Media Coverage   AUDIO COVERAGE BBC Sportsound Open All Mics [UK Only]   LIVE TEXT (ONLINE) Sporting Life BBC    VIDEO SPFL YouTube Channel ICT Official YouTube Channel   TEAM LINEUPS TO FOLLOW   Tweets by @ICTFC Tweets by @ICTFC

OFW should be starting and looks like he would play if asked

It could be easily rectified but there is obviously a serious break down in communication between Robbo and him

To be fair to OFW if rumours are correct he is in a group of players that seem to have been cast aside whether that is down to the manager or finances I don't really know 

Robbo should be making mends here priority not what toppings will be on his pizza 

Dougal

 

 

 

 

Nice to see OFW has joined the forum...

7 minutes ago, PumpFake said:

Nice to see OFW has joined the forum...

What I was thinking lol

For those brave enough to watch a goalkeeping defending horror show ...

 

 

At the open night, did Robertson not say that if Raven and Fon Williams were still here after the transfer window shut, they would then become part of the squad and would be available for selection? He is using Raven, probably only because Seedorf is injured,  but Fon Williams seems to be a totally different situation.  It was reported he was injured, then he wasn't injured! I think it's time for the club to come out and tell us what the real situation is. When we bought our season tickets, the club said that they were going to keep the majority of the squad from last season and get us back up at the first time of asking, well that never happened,  but if we are not going to play our best available 11, the questions need to be asked why not? I am all for giving the new manager and players time, but if there are any petty personal squabbles between players or coaches, they must be put aside for the benefit of the club.

If OFW's position is now that he is fit and ready to play then, whatever the rights and wrongs of what went on between him and Robbo initially, he should be played. Ridgers has been given an opportunity and has cost us goals and points and is continuing to do so.

 

The Fon Williams situation is beyond ridiculous now and must be resolved. He had a poor season last season, but at least part of that can be attributed to playing through injury early on, and he would still be an upgrade on what we have now. Ridgers has made several dreadful blunders, his confidence must be shot, and the evidence on the pitch is that his teammates don't trust him.

The fact that the defensive unit collectively looked so weak again yesterday is also a source of real concern for the next few games. Teams will come up against us knowing that if they throw everything at us going forward, we're likely to crack. Yesterday we conceded from a player allowed to go through one on one with the keeper, from a cross ball into a crowded penalty area, from a (superb) snap shot from distance, and from a player being allowed too much time and space on the edge of the penalty area: we look vulnerable in multiple areas, in other words. If we continue to ship goals like this, then it can surely only damage confidence and morale further, which in turn is likely to affect how we play as a team, and on current evidence we simply don't have enough going forward to compensate for our deficiencies in defence; this is not a Steve Paterson-vintage throw-in-three-score-seven ICT side.

The shape did look better in the first half hour yesterday: as I noted against Brechin, Trafford's dogged work chasing everything and breaking up play at the base of midfield frees Vigurs and Polworth to play to their strengths, and yesterday Polworth in particular was excellent, our busiest and most potent attacking threat, despite missing a sitter when one-on-one with Craig Samson. Vigurs had some fine touches linking play too, and Baird worked hard again and deserved his goal. Calder quickly frustrated however - after looking lively early on, he seemed to get brushed off the ball too easily thereafter and seemed too ready to go down under very little contact - while Cooper simply disappeared about halfway through the first half; we offered next to nothing down the right. 

Hopefully St Mirren will be one of the strongest teams we will face this season, but the next two games must be seen as serious tests of how we match up in this league - pre-season, I'd have had Livingston and Dumbarton down as the most likely candidates to occupy two of the bottom three spots, with Brechin in the other. Neither has started particularly well, but both had decent results yesterday. Hopefully Tremarco will be fit enough to return to the starting line-up against Livvy - he's not going to solve our defensive problems, but he'll be a far more intimidating opponent than Chalmers, he'll hopefully be able to organise the defence a little better during play, and despite being primarily a defender, he'll probably still offer more threat on the left than we showed yesterday. Beyond that, our options still seem limited, and where we do seem to have a better one - i.e. Fon Williams - then we should use it.        

Edited September 10, 20177 yr by alternative maryhill

Ridgers getting a fair bit of flack here and whilst a fair chunk is deserved don't forget about the fact that the defenders in front of him are also culpable for a lot of mistakes leading to goals as well.

Absolutely spot on  Kingsmills

I would add - Williams is a professional goalkeeper an International - These days regretfully player power is just part and parcel of any club set up.  ICT should realise  that and be thankful we have him. If he wants out because of wages , that can be addressed for sure.  If there are other reasons the manager should agree to let him go as soon as he can get a replacement in the next transfer window. I am not sure about the transfer regulations in Scotland , but I have feeling loan players can be brought in at anytime.

He should be played if at all fit. No question

anyone else think mabey Ridgers turned up for a Trial when the Circus was at TCS and mabey took wrong turning? Goals 1-3 should have been saved poor stuff granted not much chance with fourth goal i cant see it getting any better anytime soon 

 

Esson should be back in goal.

18 minutes ago, Bronson said:

Esson should be back in goal.

Inclined to agree there. Esson would easily be better than Ridgers but to be fair a kid with no legs from a blind school would be better than Ridgers. He is absolute dross that would struggle to hold his place in a Highland league side. Get Esson in now.

1 minute ago, Jockdoonsouth said:

Inclined to agree there. Esson would easily be better than Ridgers but to be fair a kid with no legs from a blind school would be better than Ridgers. He is absolute dross that would struggle to hold his place in a Highland league side. Get Esson in now.

I do think Ryan would do a better job but only marginally. I've been a great Ryan fan but he got a couple of chances last season and you could see he wasn't so agile. Ridgers' confidence must be absolutely shot, especially since the defence obviously have no faith in him never mind what the fans think.

I think we really need a club statement to clarify the OFW situation! 

 

John Cleese defending at times. Presumably Scott Kellacher is our defensive coach? If so, he needs to up his game. It certainly looks like the need to bring in OFW to provide some experience or stability. Ridgers needs a rest.

We need a GOALKEEPER. Horror show all four goals. In the highlights I say that loosely, even the players are giving Ridgers a hard time.

Edited September 10, 20177 yr by MorayJaggie

To lay all of that at the door of Ridgers is harsh. Going by the highlights, we just can't defend. He certainly could have done better with a couple of the goals, but the defence give him little help. 

Our ability to conced goals when we've got the ball in the opposition penalty box is breathtaking. 

I would say  goal keeper  is not good enough Ridgers but the Defence of Caley is poor as well to me they need a new Goal Keeper and much better Defenders 

Plus points - 

• Polworth looks miles better as a number 10.
• Vigurs again played well.
• Trafford looks a tidy player, but needs to lose the man-handling side to his play as it's going to cause him bother.
• We played some good football at times.

Negative points - 

• Mark Ridgers is, quite simply, the worst goalkeeper we've ever had.  He's worse than Les Fridge and Zibi Malkowski.
• Joe Chalmers is, quite simply, the worst left-back we've ever had.  He's worse than Lionel Djebi-Zadi and probably Richie Byrne.
• Brad Mckay is very inconsistent.  Sometimes he's reasonable, yesterday was not one of those days.
• Alex Cooper is garbage.  A complete non-entity who I forgot was playing.
• Riccardo Calder starting showing some of the traits that he seemingly showed at Dundee.  A talented player, but a bad attitude.  He didn't look up for it yesterday.
• John Robertson got the tactics after we went behind all wrong.  3-2 and then 4-2 down and he continues for the rest of the game with Baird as the only striker and Cooper and Chalmers having absolute shockers, leaving Oakley, Mulraney and Tremarco on the bench.

Edited September 10, 20177 yr by Renegade

Why have the club tweeted a 'comedy' video mocking the opposition when the only comedy on show in Paisley yesterday was defence and our goalkeeper!?

POOR PAISLEY RETURN

It actually felt good going back to Paisley. No re-match drinks in the Alamo, presumably avoiding the fly ridden buffet ?!!  Often criticised as a Legoland stadium but I would have a similar set-up in Sneck in a feckin second. There was a good atmosphere and only 3610  in attendance – they pack their wee Ultras into the corner by the away end. That works a feckin treat as well. We mustered 150 and it was more of a case of the Under70’s than the Under 17’s !!

Jack Ross mentioned that his team were “enjoying their football” and that was clear to see. They are young, pacey, eager, energetic and confident. That apparently was the first time that Midden scored more than 3 against us. It could have been 6 or 7 but the same could be said to us – yes we could have scored 6 or 7 as well. We suffered from poor finishing whereas they benefitted from poor defending.

We came out of the blocks at the start of both halves. For 15 minutes of both we looked good and in charge. Our heads do appear to go down easy but the way that we conceded the goals must have infuriated anyone outside of our back four.

Baird was unbelievably amateur in the 2^nd minute when he fell for the Midden offside ploy. All he had to do was to look and hold back. However I also thought that Calder could have fired in a shot also. Minutes later Calder misfired from a similar position.

And then we took a breath and Midden came back into the game. Warren mistimed. Mckay went on his back foot without a thought of a direct challenge. Where was Raven. They allow Morgan to run and run and shoot. Shure it deflect off McKay but that was there to be stopped by Ridgers. 31 minutes and we are behind when we could have been 2-0 up. Enuff said.

So lets move on to the second half and we start in 5^th gear again. Polly misses an utter 1 on 1 sitter, Warren misses a very good headed opportunity and instead of being 4-0 up we are still 1-0 down.

Then we take on Bell for the “injured” but wholly ineffective Calder and his flick ends up with Baird equalising in the 61^st minute. But it is 1-1 NOT 5-0 !! And then we blow it again. 3 mins later in the 64^th. Trafford is turned 3 times, falls on his erse, we do not compete against the cross, Ridgers does not compete or focus and we are behind again to a gift.

But then we get a bit of luck on 69 minutes. Polly drifting offside is abetted by a ridiculous touch from a Midden defender and this time he nets the 1 on 1. So what do we do – we feckin give away another goal 4 mins later in the 73^rd minute. Warren, Chalmers and McKay enact a scene from a Keystone Cops movie and Smith puts Midden ahead. Cue our heads going down and Midden smelling blood.

And it does not take them long to kill us off. 2 minutes in fact. In the 75^th minute Raven falls over this time and the ball eventually is cracked in by the ex-Tink McShane.

Cue substitutes methinks. Completed by Midden but not by Robbo. Unbefeckinleivable Jeff. The game then petered up. Polworth looked shattered but so did Vigurs. One for effort and the other for not being feckin fit enuff.

SMILEYMOMETER

RIDGERS   Possibly one of the worst ICT goalkeeping performances that I have ever seen. Not only the goals but his distribution was equally shocking. He has clearly lost confidence and so have others in front of him – in themselves and Ridgers.

RAVEN   Love the man. Will always be a fave but he is fading fast. He can still think a game but does not have the required energy or pace required. Given zilch help from Cooper though.

CHALMERS   Again not helped at all by Calder but another who looks wholly lacking in confidence. Pity as he does appear to have a pretty sweet left foot.

WARREN  No lack of determination from another old warhorse. Unbeatable most of the time in the air but as with Rave looks susceptible to pace. Misses Meekings or a likewise defensive partner.

McKAY   Can’t believe how much he dithered today and was hardly seen in the game, apart from mistakes.

POLWORTH   Would be surprised if any poster picked any else for MOM. 120% and literally ran himself in to the ground.

TRAFFORD  Liked the look of him BUT he appeared to be given the role of providing defensive cover fer Polly and Vigurs.

VIGURS    Great vision, great touch, great left foot but sussed by Midden and dealt with - although this resulted in him chastising others and losing his focus.

CALDER   Simply nothing other than a wing back (Please  note Robbo). Could he not reminded that he is required to shoot and defend. Injury was a way out ?!!

COOPER   Did ZILCH apart from make Raven look even worse.

BELL  Put it like this. He more that deserves a start next week. Would prefer him out wide in the place of either Cooper or Calder.

 

Have to agree with a lot of what Robbo said after the game. It could have been so different but you do not win games with our frailities at the back. But his attempt at a 4-5-1 simply did not work. You simply cant havea defence like ours and starve it of cover. It looked like the ploy was to play Calder and Cooper in advanced positions to assist Baird. Vigurs to sit and be a lazy playmaker, Polly to have a free, roving role – leaving Trafford to try and sit in front of the defence. Robbo stated that he wanted to push Midden wide. Well that totally fecked us as they ran feckin riot. And the decision not to take on Treamrco and Oakley – Well.

And to end with – Willie Gollum was absolutely shocking and both sets of fans joined in to Anti-Gollum chants.

 

 

46 minutes ago, Renegade said:

Why have the club tweeted a 'comedy' video mocking the opposition when the only comedy on show in Paisley yesterday was defence and our goalkeeper!?

Just beggars belief 

Lets have a look at some Midden fans quotes from P&B

Ridgers aside, I didn't think ICT looked as bad as their early form suggests. They certainly weren't as bad as Dundee Utd.

What a keeper Ridgers is by the way, easily the worst keeper I have ever seen grace st.mirren park, garbage

To be honest ICT impressed me they looked the best team we have played so far it wont be long before they climb the table. As for us especially the second half we looked like we could score every time we went forward. 

On another day it could've 4-4 or had Inverness a decent keeper we could've lost.

It was a pretty end-to-end game. We weren't particularly brilliant yesterday and I thought Inverness looked a decent team, keeper aside.

To be honest, I don't think we played that well today, and I don't think ICT were that bad. Two of our goals would have been stopped by a half decent keeper, whilst our keeper made 3 or 4 really good saves during the game. Samson gets a lot of stick on here, but I haven't seen a goalie play against us yet that I'd rather have right now.

 

Well - those at the game - swop the keepers and what would the score have been ?