Inverness CT -V- Arbroath - Preview

[RiG 3,831]

Apart from either side of half time where we looked a little threatening that was another awful performance. Why are we so poor? Apart from the second half against Partick Thistle we have not been great at all this season and somehow sit (or sat) top of the league.

[Jack Waddington 433]

Feel like we could've got something from that had the Arbroath team not been full of chodes diving and "getting injured". Aside from that we seriously need to get a grip if we expect to gain points at Firhill on Saturday

[SteveA 233]

I've seen some bad performances at the stadium but that must be up there with the worst. Horrible game. We never threatend, couldn't pass the ball and looked bang average all over the park. We showed next to no urgency and got exactly what we deserved. I might of missed the man of the match announcement or maybe whoever was picking it decided that none of our players deserved it. If it was the later I would fully agree with them. Every one of them was shocking. 

[Alan 93]

An absolutely inept performance and we got what we deserved - nothing!!

[tm4tj 2,503]

Found out at last.

To be honest, despite our league position we have been honking for weeks and don't fill me with confidence when watching the games. Rubbish performances especially against 10 men twice and scraping results is not the sign of Champions. 

[Yngwie 4,185]

4 hours ago, Kingsmills said:

 I will be sitting on my couch watching on PPV and nursing a wee Glenmorangie 🥃😁

How many of them would you need to drink to find positives in our performance?!

[jed5697 269]

Arbroath adapted quicker to the conditions. No attempt to play out and lumped the ball into our half at every opportunity and then pressed to keep it there. Ugly but effective. Second half we at least got up the pitch but it never felt like we were going to score unfortunately. Rubbish weather and rubbish game.

[Satan 583]

Well done Arbroath,  resisted the temptation to drop down to our level and outplayed us the whole night.

Not a clue where we go from here...

[Jack Waddington 433]

Can you be fined for pretending to collapse unconscious to kill off time? Cos if so that rat at the end of the game deserves every book in the library thrown both at his face and his bollox.

Makes a mockery of medical professionals and those who've died in situations like that, especially if you just hop up and act like nout ever happened.

[Kingsmills 6,514]

7 minutes ago, Yngwie said:

How many of them would you need to drink to find positives in our performance?!

Far too many for the good of my liver.

[Kingsmills 6,514]

11 minutes ago, tm4tj said:

Found out at last.

To be honest, despite our league position we have been honking for weeks and don't fill me with confidence when watching the games. Rubbish performances especially against 10 men twice and scraping results is not the sign of Champions. 

At this rate, it's unlikely even to be the sign of play off contenders.

[CaleyHedgehog 257]

I wish I had stayed home like Kingsmills now (and I admire your dedication for travelling 200 miles for any game).

Arbroath were first to every ball and passed well until they got the goal and then they completely ruined any chance of a decent game with fake injuries and a goalie who insisted on collecting the ball from the furthest place possible when it went out of play. Very poor sportsmanship. The ref. was either completely hoodwinked by them or he comes from Arbroath. There should have been about half an hour of extra time for all their fannying about. We were poor, but Arbroath are a bunch of cheats - something that is usually reserved for some teams in the SPFL. 

[RiG 3,831]

This is exactly the kind of gamesmanship you should expect from a part time side playing away from home only a couple of days after their last fixture. To combat it maybe we should try not allowing ourselves to get into a situation where Arbroath can time waste and feign injury to disrupt the game?

[FrontRow 97]

We just seemed very tentative in the first half, as if we were waiting to get the wind in the second half. They were definitely snapping up the balls in midfield. Allardice is a big miss in there and def isn’t comfortable out at right back. The number of balls just lumped up to our forward line is a compete waste of time. 

[Kingsmills 6,514]

4 minutes ago, CaleyHedgehog said:

I wish I had stayed home like Kingsmills now (and I admire your dedication for travelling 200 miles for any game).

Arbroath were first to every ball and passed well until they got the goal and then they completely ruined any chance of a decent game with fake injuries and a goalie who insisted on collecting the ball from the furthest place possible when it went out of play. Very poor sportsmanship. The ref. was either completely hoodwinked by them or he comes from Arbroath. There should have been about half an hour of extra time for all their fannying about. We were poor, but Arbroath are a bunch of cheats - something that is usually reserved for some teams in the SPFL. 

It's gamesmanship and something Dick Campbell's teams have been adept at for three decades.

It's annoying and frustrating but what's more annoying and frustrating is that we didn't appear to have a clue how to counter it.

[Yngwie 4,185]

I don’t think it is a coincidence that our winning run turned into this dismal run (starting with Hamilton away) when we lost Carson. Doesn’t bode well.

[+caley100 719]

Hopeless,  Inept, clueless and that was the referee! ICT were not far behind, As has been said before we have been very poor and tonight showed that we are papering over the cracks.

So many poor passes, and failed lay offs to nobody, and a complete lack of idea's in the opposition box.

The ref was awful, truly awful, He lat them get away with murder, then ignored the time wasting **** of a keeper.

Not happy.

[Jaggernaut 362]

I don't know where yo start with that performance. We lost the midfield battle, we needed three in the middle, two wide and play one striker. We certainly miss an Allardice or Carson winning the ball, but too many players just didn't turn up or made the wrong final ball. And I lost count of second balls We lost. It was terrible conditions, but Arbroath seemed to handle it better. We need to turn this bad run if form around quickly or my prediction of us ending up fifth will come true. Partick are the best team we have played thus season, so Dodds will have to get his tactics right for Saturday. Really disappointed tonight. Can't think who will get my man of the match tonight. 

[Kingsmills 6,514]

1 minute ago, Jaggernaut said:

I don't know where yo start with that performance. We lost the midfield battle, we needed three in the middle, two wide and play one striker. We certainly miss an Allardice or Carson winning the ball, but too many players just didn't turn up or made the wrong final ball. And I lost count of second balls We lost. It was terrible conditions, but Arbroath seemed to handle it better. We need to turn this bad run if form around quickly or my prediction of us ending up fifth will come true. Partick are the best team we have played thus season, so Dodds will have to get his tactics right for Saturday. Really disappointed tonight. Can't think who will get my man of the match tonight. 

Maybe the player of the match should be shared by the fans to braved the wind and rain only to witness that rubbish.

[+IBM 1,690]

17 minutes ago, Kingsmills said:

Maybe the player of the match should be shared by the fans to braved the wind and rain only to witness that rubbish.

Nothing to add that hasn't been said already 

I will agree with you on that Kingsmills hope you enjoyed your dram more than the football.

[+Robert 1,561]

We got what we deserved tonight and it’s been coming as we’ve been struggling for a while now. That’s 8 points out of the last 18 which is mid table performance, so we need to cure this and fast.

Yes the conditions were poor, but we were at home so should have been able to master them better than Arbroath.

Yes the referee allowed acting and time wasting but the defeat was solely down to our poor performance and inability to create or take chances.

Hopefully it is the kick up the backside we need to start getting positive results again before we slip further down the table.

I’m also struggling with the MOM as no one rose above mediocrity. Ridgers would have been my pick for a couple of decent saves but I felt he was caught out at the goal. I may abstain this time round.

As for the comments above about Carson, the poor lad has just lost his father. The club and fans need to show him support at a difficult time, as Mckay did when he raised Carson’s shirt when he scored against Morton. Now is not the time for gossip and rumours.

 

Edited October 26, 2021 by Robert

[DoofersDad 4,269]

Arbroath are up to 3rd and have the best goal difference in the division.  They are there on merit and we saw tonight the qualities that make them a very hard team to beat.  They were very well organised.  Every player knew what their role was, they closed us down quickly and anticipated who the ball might be played to and closed them down quickly too.  Put simply, they stopped us playing football and were helped in that regard by poor playing conditions and an inept referee.

But we didn't help ourselves.  It was an uncharacteristically lacklustre performance, and even when we did get in behind their defence, the delivery into the box was poor (if it actually reached that far) and shooting was either very weak or very speculative.  If the referee had added on another 30 minutes for Arbroath's farcical timewasting antics, we still wouldn't have scored.  I'm afraid we need to up our game if we are to remain in a play-off spot at the end of the season.

Good to see some youngsters making a bit of noise with the drum at the far end of the North Stand, but I'm afraid even their welcome enthusiasm was extinguished by what was happening on the pitch.  Here's hoping for another stirring performance against Partick to get us back on track and to re-kindle everyone's enthusiasm.

[Yngwie 4,185]

1 hour ago, Robert said:

Ridgers would have been my pick for a couple of decent saves but I felt he was caught out at the goal.

Totally. Free kick was nicely whipped in but it was an uncharacteristic blunder from the keeper.

Edit to add - I don’t imagine that Carson at right back would have given away the free kick that the goal came from. 

Edited October 26, 2021 by Yngwie

[CELTIC1CALEY3 704]

We need time to reflect. Being at the top was something few of our players have experienced too often. Killie can have the pressure for a while to allow our players, management and supporters to work out how to move forward. This is a marathon and we have only just started it. We must recall how we eventually got our act together and over hauled Dundee in the famous Championship win.  Going to Partick will be an interesting challenge. Even if we lose heavily, and that must be a real concern, we will stay second but the rethink has to assess how to stabilise and rebuild. Still a great start to the season.

[Kingsmills 6,514]

Professional football is about entertainment as much as results.

Until recently, we have somehow managed to grind out results but, the second half against Partick aside, I honestly don't recall being entertained by this team this season.

That might be acceptable while we are contriving to win but iit is a bit depressing when we are neither winning or even attempting to entertain.