Matchday Thread Ross County -V- Inverness CT

[Weekend Hacker]

46 minutes ago, Jack Waddington said:

Rooney returned the punch (like anyone would do, you can't shrug off a punch to the jaw), but in all honesty, I can see why punches were flying. Everyone was worked up because of the shambolic refereeing of Andy Dallas, but hell, it definitely added some electricity to the game .

Hopefully we have a decent ref who can actually see fouls in the return derby in March.

But we need a team that can actually score, we're 100% the more dominant team in possession, cos literally any time I saw us on the ball, the County players were climbing on top of who ever was on possession, just to get the ball. But as stated earlier in this thread, possession does not win games. One thing that does need to be worked on in training, is heading, each and every single corner or cross that was put in (at the away section of the dump) was put in the exact same place above the bar, even though we got the ball first, we need to work on target practice for it.

Seriously though, we really need to get a grip, I really can't see this club surviving in the Championship for much longer, our attendances are pure dire compared to previous second tier seasons, and the amount of away fans coming north, we don't even need to open their stand, as there is almost literally a minibus full of them, which certainly does not help ticket sales. If we want to get the chance of Premiership football again, we need to start working the players to score goals and hold a lead. Constant draws don't win promotion spots.

Aye, the video is on the Staggies page and I’m still confused on Rooney.  Was it across the far side after the initial incident?  Spoke to someone who reckons he nutted someone but footage inconclusive. Graham attempted to nut Rooney in Dingwall last time......

[CableGuy]

I've not felt that bummed out after a game for a long long time. I felt the first half was very level and either team looked like taking the lead at any time, and was expecting more of the same in the second, but whatever Robbo said to the boys, they were right up for it and as much as county had good possession they couldn't do anything with it and we looked by far the team that were next to score, as always though it was only going to come from a deflection or a bundle over the line because as much as polworth and Walsh were running the midfield, the crosses into the box were never accurate enough and the resulting touches were never enough to trouble Fox, who once again was on top form. As the game wore on I could only see one winner, and the very worst another draw.... However something was starting to tell me that as so often this season we would be outdone by a last minute goal, but when it actually came it still felt like I'd been punched in the chest. Utterly gut wrenching and cruel. They never deserved that, they barely deserved a draw but there you go. As many have said the "positives are to take that performance and desire into the next games and we should be OK"... But sadly we predictably won't and we will revert to slowly tapping the ball about with as much pace as a sausage dog with no legs. That game needed someone like Oakley, or Austin like he was last season. Can't understand why he has dropped down the pecking order so dramatically. White is not a natural goalscorer and simply can't win a ball and turn or lay off to a teammate and gets smothered easily. We need reinforcements immediately if we are to go on any kind of season saving run, but the big problem is with our budget and lure will we simply end up with another "striker" who simply dosent know how to score. 

[Polo Chick]

We  need to get rid off Austin & Beith and spend the money on 1 decent player Robbo needs to admit to fans that the Beith signing was a mistake he is not the answer to our problems to be halfway through the season and he still hasn't pulled on a jersey is complete madness he has had enough time ship out. P.S Draper is a complete W****r but at least we agree on that with the County fans they hate him.

[CableGuy]

 

[Downinthedumps]

28 minutes ago, CableGuy said:

 

Enough chances to win four games

[Robert]

Indeed, looked more dominant on the highlights than at the game itself.

If the ref had not already lost the plot, we may have got a penalty at the death when Fox pulled Mackay down on the line.

[starchief]

We dominate the middle because we play 5 midfielders. We have possession without penetration. Our sole outlet is White against 2 central defenders. No-one there to get knock downs or to make a late run to draw markers off White. I'd take the chance of giving up some possession and see if Austin can take that deeper role. He's got the skill but can he be badgered into giving his all? Not convinced but, without buying, no-one else can do it.

[DWH]

Going by the highlights, we had many more chances : most are right in front of goal where the player should at least hit the target / test the keeper.

Too many draws will cost us : along with strikers who are pretty ineffectual.

Even if we sneak into the play offs, can't see this lot lasting long.

What with being a long time Spurs supporter, it's been a bummer of a weekend.

[+DoofersDad]

Well that was a pretty feisty derby!  Losing that game is hard to take as we could easily have won it by 3 or 4 given the pressure we put them under.  It was a terrific, positive performance from our lads, urged on by fantastic vocal support. To be that dominant against the side that is top of the division demonstrates that we aren't far from being a very good team indeed.

Most criticism of the team here seems to be centred around the need for a more prolific striker, but I'm not sure where folk think we can magic one up from at a price we can afford.  There are plenty strikers in this division who will be on far more than White, Oakley and Austin are on but who do not score with the regularity White and Oakley are hitting the back of the next with.  Sure, White in particular has missed a few he perhaps should have scored but he gets himself in the right place and I feel that with a shade more fitness and confidence he could potentially become quite prolific.  I don't think Austin's attitude is quite as good as White or Oakley but he strikes me as a more natural goal scorer.  I would like to see him given a bit more game time.

Regardless of the views on the strikers, we really should be scoring more goals from midfield.  Walsh has scored a few recently and with the service he got yesterday he probably should have been on the score sheet.  There were some terrific balls played to him by several different players and whilst he usually did well to get himself into a position to shoot or cross the ball, he lacked the accuracy which might have given us a comfortable win.  Doran, Polworth and Chalmers all had efforts on goal but all were rather tentative and didn't unduly trouble Fox.  We need to see a bit more sharpness in their shooting.

Defensively, we continue to be let down by a lack of concentration.  Draper made space for himself well on the edge of the box and got away a better shot than any of our midfielders could manage. Donaldson stood and watched Ridgers dive to his left to save whilst Mckay anticipated the rebound and was left unchallenged to slot home when the rebound duly arrived.

It was disappointing to see players getting involved in a stramash near the end.  I don't know whether there will be repercussions when footage is looked at closely, but players must learn to let the officials deal with matters.  We really can't afford to lose players with suspensions with such a threadbare squad.  The referee already had the red card in his hand for Graham's cyinical challenge when Rooney and Polworth charged in.  Ironically that was one of the few things he did get right.

[Caley Skye]

We got what we deserved: nothing.  If you can't put the ball in the back of the net, you don't deserve to win.  A new striker is vital but not sure where the funds will come from.

Also, why is it that we only seem to be able to raise our game vs County?  From the dozen or so games I've been to this season, our three best performances have been against them and we have a grand total of three points to show for it.

[RiG]

Absolute sickener to lose that one. However as so many of us have been saying for weeks if not months we cannot keep wasting these golden chances to score and expect to win games and that was the same with yesterday. We could have been about 4 - 1 up going into the last 15 minutes but after Walsh missed the target with a lovely sidefooted shot County seemed to press us back and you could sense the momentum was shifting albeit they didn't create anything too clear cut until the eventual winner.

Easy to say with hindsight but when County did start to push us back I would have liked to have seen Robbo bring on Mackay for Doran to try and get back on top of things. Most of our threats came behind the County left midfielder and left CB with Walsh getting a lot of time and space to send crosses in. Again he tired as the game went on and this was probably another reason County were able to push as back.

White is such a bizarre player. Another nice tidy finish yesterday but other times his first touch was garbage, he struggled to win headers and moves broke down because of his apparent inability to control a football. Polworth also had a very quiet game but County were on top of our players almost any time they had the ball in the first half. Their closing down was excellent.

Incredible stramash at the end. Not sure what Graham was thinking. The game was pretty much won and if he wins that header he could be off to the corner flag to run the clock down. Instead he launches his arm into the face of Donaldson then starts throwing punches all over the shop. I guess Rooney got sent off for a headbutt as it looked like someone threw their head into a County player. Absolutely disgraceful scenes to end the game. More please!

[cif73]

Go to 3 mins 35 secs in RCTV highlights below for Fox's save of the match which is strangely not in the Caley Jags TV highlights ...

 

 

[Gregor]

20 hours ago, starchief said:

We dominate the middle because we play 5 midfielders. We have possession without penetration. Our sole outlet is White against 2 central defenders. No-one there to get knock downs or to make a late run to draw markers off White. I'd take the chance of giving up some possession and see if Austin can take that deeper role. He's got the skill but can he be badgered into giving his all? Not convinced but, without buying, no-one else can do it.

Been saying for weeks we need to play with two strikers 

All our strikers have decent goals to starts ratios but our problem we only play one of them at a time

listened to the County manager at end of game interview and he had four strikers on at end of game as in his words he needed offensive players on the park as they are more likely to get a goal, we only changed when we lost a goal at 87 mins

[Satan]

We could play with 3 or 4 strikers, what difference would it make if they can't hit the target? We create more than enough chances.

We need one striker who can score.

[The Long Man]

Well, despite the stab-in-the-back ending (and it did feel like a mugging, as opposed to being outplayed - not least thanks to their unprovoked aggressive attitude, like sulky teenagers aware that they are being outclassed), that was a terrific game to be at, great support, atmosphere; the kind of game you couldn’t really take your eyes off for a second. Robbo was right - that was daylight robbery. 

Weirdly, in spite of the disbelief we felt walking away, there was also a certain amount of pride in the way we played. We played them off the park for long periods, with the kind of passing and moving we have had in the best periods of our history. If you remember where we were this time last year, and how we were at the beginning of this season, when I saw them last, there is a huge improvement. The most pleasing thing for me is how we played as a team -  instead of that disjointed scattergun approach we seemed to have, this felt like a coherent unit who knew their positions and had a plan, getting the ball down the channels and behind their defence generated a lot of chances. Walsh in particular looks like an essential part of this team now. 

Of course it is a massive letdown to come away with nothing, but there was ample evidence that Robbo is moulding the team into a good football side who have nothing to fear from the distinctly unimpressive league leaders. We all know about the scoring problem, but with at least one more fresh face in this week, and Oakley to come back, if we can build on that performance we will come good. A strong second half to the season and we can challenge those above us. The next two games will be very interesting. I hope we can carry through the positives from that performance. The players deserve a bit of credit for it.

[Gregor]

4 hours ago, Satan said:

We could play with 3 or 4 strikers, what difference would it make if they can't hit the target? We create more than enough chances.

We need one striker who can score.

Not true we need two on the park at same time 

White has scored seven in seven starts should be starting all the time with one other and should be tried playing with Oakley as we haven’t started any game out of twenty five with this pairing.

What would be the harm in giving it a go 

What we need is a player who can put a decent cross int the box that gets past the first defender as far too often this doesn’t happen but look what happened when it did from Walsh corner White met it so well and scored an excellent goal which most on here seem to forget that it was a cracking finish.

Wish the fans would get behind the guy and give him the vocal support he deserves or are we going to moan if he moves and does it elsewhere.

Confidence is everything for Strikers and chopping and changing does nothing for confidence , it’s starting games that count and the bigman whilst did have some poor touches on Saturday but all in all led the line well and scored an excellent goal Also I think it was him who had the diving header that was shown in County highlights, it was an incredible save by the keeper. Some other posters have said said that it would be good for midfielders to get on the goals too but it just seems to be that its White who gets the majority  blame for a perceived lack of goals.

Some joker even said he only gets taps ins , that’s what a good number 9 does ,  as he is where the ball should be placed for the tap ins.Listened  to Pat Bonner on radio the other day and he said strikers need good balls into box . It really is time to take the White hating glasses off and give the lad support like we do Coll Donaldson as the support to Coll is fantastic but don’t we all think that if we supported White like that it may help as surely as a supporter that is what we should go to games to do rather than be critics.

Edited December 31, 2018 by Gregor

[Robert]

13 hours ago, cif73 said:

Go to 3 mins 35 secs in RCTV highlights below for Fox's save of the match which is strangely not in the Caley Jags TV highlights ...

 

 

If that had gone in White would be our hero rather than the villian many have cast him as!!

Edited December 31, 2018 by Robert

[Satan]

Rather than goals per start, how about goals per shot, or per shot on target. 

The fact is we are creating enough to win most games comfortably - having two misfiring strikers rather than one ( whilst surrendering midfield numbers) won't help the cause in most cases.

This isn't a particularly new issue, we haven't been converting chances for two or three years now. We've tried different combinations and in desperation thrown forwards on in games but it has seldom done much good. 

Quality,  not quantity.

[The Long Man]

1 hour ago, Gregor said:

Not true we need two on the park at same time 

White has scored seven in seven starts should be starting all the time with one other and should be tried playing with Oakley as we haven’t started any game out of twenty five with this pairing.

What would be the harm in giving it a go 

What we need is a player who can put a decent cross int the box that gets past the first defender as far too often this doesn’t happen but look what happened when it did from Walsh corner White met it so well and scored an excellent goal which most on here seem to forget that it was a cracking finish.

Wish the fans would get behind the guy and give him the vocal support he deserves or are we going to moan if he moves and does it elsewhere.

Confidence is everything for Strikers and chopping and changing does nothing for confidence , it’s starting games that count and the bigman whilst did have some poor touches on Saturday but all in all led the line well and scored an excellent goal Also I honk it was him who had the diving header that was shown in County highlights and an incredible save by the keeper. Some other posters have said said that it would be good for midfielders to get on the goals too but it just seems to be that White gets blame for all the ills of lack of scoring.

Some joker even said he only gets taps ins , that’s what a good number gets as he is where the ball should be placed for the tap ins, listened to Pat Bonner on radio the other day and he said strikers rely on good balls into box . It really is time to take the White hating glasses off and give the lad support like we do Coll Donaldson as the support to Coll is fantastic but don’t we all think that if we supported White like that it may help as surely as a supporter that is what we should go to games to do rather than be critics.

Agreed - that was a cracking goal from White. What I also noticed was just after that County had their only sustained spell of pressure, for about 10 minutes. We needed all hands on deck, and White was back on the edge of our box, harrying and tackling, helping out the defence with no little success (and not conceding free kicks). Hopefully that is the kind of work ethic Robbo is instilling, that kind of commitment, work rate and together attitude will be invaluable.

[CaleyD]

[gingerjaggy]

Now the dust has settled I will add my thoughts. Lots of people in the mallard used the thrase we were robbed but we shot ourselves in the foot like we have done with many of the draws of we accumulated so far. Our lack of cutting edge has cost us points and Saturday was no different. In all three derbies Caley have played some great football but lack of goals has seen us pick up 2pts instead of 9 that we deserved. First game was tightest but we should have been clear in the first hour and then our home game we missed a hatful. Saturday we dominated throughout, county had chances but we had the better ones before we murdered them second half. Had that been a boxing fight then county would have thrown in the towel. But we failed to take any of our glorious chances including a wonderful chance for tom Walsh, who was exceptional without having that killer pass or strike to back it up. We had a better team in 09/10 when we came back from 12 Pts behind Dundee and we are 13 Pts behind county but realistically we are in the battle to stay in the play offs and chance our luck in that. Mixed emotions so proud of the performance but gutted by the result but we stick together and whatever will be will be in 2019 -  Happy New Year to everyone!!!!!!

[Gregor]

19 hours ago, gingerjaggy said:

Now the dust has settled I will add my thoughts. Lots of people in the mallard used the thrase we were robbed but we shot ourselves in the foot like we have done with many of the draws of we accumulated so far. Our lack of cutting edge has cost us points and Saturday was no different. In all three derbies Caley have played some great football but lack of goals has seen us pick up 2pts instead of 9 that we deserved. First game was tightest but we should have been clear in the first hour and then our home game we missed a hatful. Saturday we dominated throughout, county had chances but we had the better ones before we murdered them second half. Had that been a boxing fight then county would have thrown in the towel. But we failed to take any of our glorious chances including a wonderful chance for tom Walsh, who was exceptional without having that killer pass or strike to back it up. We had a better team in 09/10 when we came back from 12 Pts behind Dundee and we are 13 Pts behind county but realistically we are in the battle to stay in the play offs and chance our luck in that. Mixed emotions so proud of the performance but gutted by the result but we stick together and whatever will be will be in 2019 -  Happy New Year to everyone!!!!!!

The other way to look at it was if we hadn’t conceded a goal in last 5 mins then we would have left with 1 point .

Says a lot that their keeper was man of match so to keep blaming missed chances when it was tremendous saves from Fox especially the ones from Walsh and White that helped them win.

11 players on the park it’s a team game and the team lost unfortunately.

Happy New Year everyone 

 

[Sir C the 3rd]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/30592297 

The same Brian Graham. The guy is an absolute tool and should have got 2 reds on Saturday. One for the initial elbow and the 2nd for punching Rooney.

[Weekend Hacker]

5 hours ago, Sir C the 3rd said:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/30592297 

The same Brian Graham. The guy is an absolute tool and should have got 2 reds on Saturday. One for the initial elbow and the 2nd for punching Rooney.

I’ve heard from a fairly reliable source that he did actually get 2 reds though haven’t seen any confirmation yet.  But yes, an absolute walloper

[The Long Man]

That was an assault, and should be treated as such.