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3 hours ago, Belfast Brigade said:

That didn't stop queen of the South putting 4 past them. We have pure and simply bottled it play offs at best I reckon 

Agree it's not about money it's about how you coach your squad DU have put 7 goals past us in 2 games so far this season and we have scored none as you say QOS scored 4 and i am sure are on smaller budget than us The problem is Robbo and his sidekick

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That was disappointing in several respects.  If we are to have a chance of winning this league then we needed to at least not lose that game.  Utd have been on a run of poor form of late and we should have been more positive and taken the game to them.  Instead, they clearly had far more hunger and we let them come on to us and dominate us in every aspect of the game.  Utd didn't even need to work too hard for their goals as we helped them out with all 3 - our central defenders went AWOL for the first, we gifted possession for the 2nd and gave away the most stupid of penalties for the 3rd.  We seemed to be lacking leadership on the park and showed a lack of attacking ideas beyond the long hoof until Walsh came on.

It was disappointing if not bewildering to see Todorov not starting.  He played the full 90 minutes on Tuesday and played pretty well.  He seemed to offer a good bit more than White does and scored a good goal too.  To be fair, White wasn't too bad yesterday but lacked support.  Maybe Walsh is not match fit yet but it is clear that he provides our best options going forward.  As soon as he is back in the starting line up, the better.  I don't know if young Machado is injured, but from the little I've seen of him it seems abundantly clear that he offers so much more than Storey does.  The less said about Storey's 30 minutes on the pitch yesterday the better.

MOTM was Trafford who gave his all and who made several good tackles and interceptions.  Carson had a good game too but perhaps not quite as effective as he was against Queens.  Ridgers was solid in goal but there's really not a lot else positive to say.  If we are to retain any realistic thoughts of the title, we just have to get a win against an Arbroath side who are doing very well.  If we are not going to seriously challenge for the title, we at least need to aim to be comfortable in a play-off spot.  

 

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16 hours ago, Jack Waddington said:

Not sure if I'm clutching at straws here, but doesn't having a player with no name or number on his shirt count as fielding an ineligible player? Dropped the SPFL an email about it (the player, not hoping to steal a win from United or their inelligibility), but I'm unsure

Aye, that was weird. He came on as 44 and then changed?

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2 hours ago, Satan said:

Theres been quite a lot said on here regarding yesterdays poor display, but i'm now quite eager to hear from the manager himself...i wonder which game he saw?

 

Can't seem to link to the actual tweet but it comes after this one.

Edited by TheMantis
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What a manager says to the press always has to be taken with a pinch of salt so I don't read too much into Robo'scomments.

I could copy and paste much of what I said after the last home game against Alloa however and Robo seems to be watching a different game in not recognising our limitations.

Whilst Jordan is clearly an 'honest' player and puts a shift in it is clear that the manner in which we play is heavily affected/constrained when he is on the park and we become one dimension and not a particularly great dimension at that. The first game against Alloa with Curry up front was a different style (even though much of our play was sloppy).

When we play Jordan we effectively operate with a player who lacks mobility and will only play in front of the defense. This works fine for a target man such as Higdon or Brewster who will hold up play bring others in, etc. Jordan is not capable of this and it is made worse by the number on times he is on his heals and reacts slowly to balls coming his way.

Whilst the standard of ball forward to him was not great (wind had a part possibly), he will either not connect with the ball or if he does none of our players know where the ball is going hence why it breaks down.

Against better defenders the physical presence is nullified and we effectively end up playing with 10 men. We also end up with the ball coming back very quickly and midfielders lack options and therefore have to play sideways or backwards.

Others can be criticised from yesterday however when I saw the team before the game it was demoralising in that the game went the way I expected. I employ three Arabs in one of my offices down south and they all were hoping we would play him as they think we are an easier team to play when he is up front as we are predictable and can be stopped playing without much effort.

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3 hours ago, Robert said:

That’s harsh about Trafford. When I’ve seen him play this season, he has shown passion and he was our best player by a mile yesterday. 

Traffords gash 2 semi decent games both against dufc doesn't justify him taking a wage that's a sad state of affairs when he's our best performer also waiting on a crock like Welsh coming back shows how far wev slipped he's half decent but always been injury prone more time on the treatment table than the pitch! It's sad 2 see our club in this state wev always punched above our weight now we can't even put up a fight at home! SuperCaleyGoBallistic no more! Side note be good to see DUFC back in the top flight good team from my youth good travelling support as well

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20 hours ago, TheMantis said:

 20 years ago. Guys like Russell Duncan who were considered jobbers when we won the First Division would be standouts in this team. Forwards like Wyness, Ritchie, Bingham, Wilson, Hislop are players we would kill for now, and that's without mentioning that the standard in the league has dropped in 20 years.

"Jobbers"?? This ain't professional wrestling ?. Totally agree with you said. Just thought that was a weird word to use in football terms? 

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First of all Utd deserved their win. However, game spun in the minute of Keatings miss and Clark's goal. They had started to drop of and we were beginning to probe.

Unsure of Keatings role in the team. He played very close to White, almost too close I would say. If it's a 4-4-2 then fine. But if it's a 4-2-3-1 then he needs to be the player linking midfield and attack. We really missed that today. Ridgers to coll, coll looks for a pass ahead. No movement towards the ball. Coll trys a diagonal which is either intercepted or difficult to control. Repeat. Really need the midfield three to be taking the ball from defence and playing balls out wide or into Whites feet/body. Every fan knows that long balls to White don't work. Play into feet or his body he can hold up and lay off to others. Punting long balls at him is a rubbish strategy, likely to succeed very few times. Doran needs to offer more. Walsh has to start. Whenever we were on good runs they played like part of a front 3, making runs beyond the striker. Roddy or Machado in the 10 role. Roddy against Alloa was constantly making good runs in between the lines but the defence and midfield were too slow to play the pass. Uh, I'm depressed.

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37 minutes ago, Super Caley Man 94 said:

"Jobbers"?? This ain't professional wrestling ?. Totally agree with you said. Just thought that was a weird word to use in football terms? 

Other people's words bud, not mine. "Legend" will do for me. Some people say " Russeldinho" was invented by me ?

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1 hour ago, Stirling Observer said:

.Unsure of Keatings role in the team. He played very close to White, almost too close I would say. If it's a 4-4-2 then fine. But if it's a 4-2-3-1 then he needs to be the player linking midfield and attack. 

I think that's bang on. McGregor instinctively goes deeper to get involved - at Ayr and at QoS we had more presence in midfield as a result. 

I totally understand why Robbo might feel he's not ready to play every week but Keatings is not a like-for-like replacement because he plays so far forward. Why would you consciously take a man out of the midfield when you're playing the best team in the league?

Like you say, by all means play Keatings - he's probably worth it for set pieces alone and when he gets sharp again he'll score goals, but in a tight game you need an extra midfielder to compensate for the way he plays. Unless he was injured, it's a crime that James Vincent didn't start this game. I haven't been this annoyed with Robbo since Dumbarton 2 years ago. 

Edited by Caley Stan
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My comments are confined to Robbo's statement to the media which I listened to a few minutes ago. He did sound "down"  but not ultra frustrated or even furious and I don't recall him saying anything about making significant changes? His comments as usual were  a commentary on the different plays of each team and the different circumstances faced by each team which, at this point,  are already well known to the fans that attended. Exceot that he offered no solutions as to why the team did not win.

He was subdued but nothing he really said resonated as being of tremendous concern or why the team failed to contain D.U. and also put them under continuous  pressure. Frankly he seemed confused as if, in his mind, his team were  a  good team but, FOR SOME REASON HE COULD NOT FATHOM , THEY DID NOT FORGE FORWARD AND GIVE AS GOOD AS THEY GOT?  What springs into my mind, however, was what were the instructions he gave to each player and what roles were discussed?

Even if I like John Robertson the question does arise in my mind as to where he is going to go from here,? And whether he is the man-for-this job? It's a cruel world and a team without oodles of resources is already up against it even if the manager may not be the right fit. The comments about the assistants on staff are noted and perhaps the team needs a change there. Or the obtaining of outside professional help may, at least, be  investigated . to deal with  player motivation, training routines and so on. 

 

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15 hours ago, Alan Simpson said:

Traffords gash 2 semi decent games both against dufc doesn't justify him taking a wage that's a sad state of affairs when he's our best performer

TBF, he was the stand out on Sat and tried to get stuck in and give his all. While White seems to be getting plenty negative feedback he was poor and for a big guy has the shortest jump out of any player I think we have seen at ICT - he easily looses a foot in height when he jumps. But in addition to him, Keatings was honking too - he gave the ball away every time he was involved and much of his body language was highly negative really showing a lack of interest. Overall there is a lack of creativity within the team and often a lack of ideas, we miss McGregor as there seems nobody willing to carry the ball and be attacking - its too much high ball to White who as alluded to by everyone cant win the ball in the air - too predictable and one dimensional throughout.

Its expected that DUtd would win this league, but for all the money they spend I don't see them as a great team, this is the benchmark ICT should be aiming at if serious about challenging for the title, however we are far short of this. Reality is that we one of a few teams fighting for the play-off spots. The games against DUtd will not define our season but performances like this one against other teams and we will drop more points than win.

Next home game is Dundee, who are a step behind and a game we really need to improve as main rivals for play-off spots.

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Shankland got away with one in this game as he should have had a red card and a ban for violent conduct. Maybe highlights the pressure their players are under to deliver given the financial losses. This may yet have an effect and begin to tell as the season rolls on.  

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