Jump to content

Inverness CT -V- Arbroath - Preview


tm4tj

Recommended Posts

While I applaud the team for their display and performance yesterday along with an excellent result, I remain grounded and realistic about games to come and what the remainder of the season holds.

I can understand the reactions above and do believe most of it is through sheer relief more than anything else but rewind to the last few weeks and remember the outcry and outpouring of criticism forwarded to all at the club.

I stand by my previous comments and do believe the BD and most of the coaching staff need to go, I could be wrong but I think yesterdays result may just be papering over the cracks. If I am wrong then I will quite happily admit at the end of the season and will apologise however the cynical part of me doesn't think that I am.

Could it be merely the breathing space that all involved require to just limp home until the end of the season.

  • Agree 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, MrCaleyjag said:

While I applaud the team for their display and performance yesterday along with an excellent result, I remain grounded and realistic about games to come and what the remainder of the season holds.

I can understand the reactions above and do believe most of it is through sheer relief more than anything else but rewind to the last few weeks and remember the outcry and outpouring of criticism forwarded to all at the club.

I stand by my previous comments and do believe the BD and most of the coaching staff need to go, I could be wrong but I think yesterdays result may just be papering over the cracks. If I am wrong then I will quite happily admit at the end of the season and will apologise however the cynical part of me doesn't think that I am.

Could it be merely the breathing space that all involved require to just limp home until the end of the season.

You may be right and I have been as critical as anyone but, unless or until we are no longer in the promotion hunt, let's just get behind the team and leave such decisions for a bit later.

  • Agree 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's great to get a win at last.  The margin of victory probably flattered us but hopefully the win will give us a bit more confidence to push on.  Arbroath are where they are in the league on merit, but yesterday I thought they played as well as they were allowed to play.  We gave them little time on the ball and forced them into mistakes.  This clearly rattled them along with us (for once) being beneficiaries of a very erratic refereeing performance.

I thought the effort from the whole team was excellent, with Sutherland being outstanding and Devine having a commanding performance at the back.  It was good to see Doran have as good a game as he's had for some time and it was noticeable how he was being much more positive than of late.  That is reflected in the team as a whole in that we are looking to get players forward.  The 2nd goals was a thing of beauty and shows what we are capable of when we play with a bit more boldness and take a few risks.

For all the positives, it must be said that we didn't actually create many chances.  There is still too much of the long high ball to small strikers who are being jostled for position by big defenders.  If we are going to go on a run we absolutely must maintain the level of intensity we showed yesterday.  There is not a lot of difference between the teams in this division and any team can beat any other on their day.  If players are not up for it on the day, they will lose.  But keep the intensity, be bold and who knows, we just could be back in the top flight next season.

  • Like 2
  • Well Said 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My first trip up North this season [thanks to Covid] with my wife, and we had bright sunshine for the whole game and a very decent win. A great start with two early goals, really settled the nerves, not sure what would have happened if that Arbroath attempt that hit the post had gone in, but we contained Arbroath pretty well for most of the match, even if some of the play was a bit agricultural, there were enough moments of good play from the side to come away in good heart.

Sutherland was my MOTM, I felt he put in a very solid and classy display. Doran put in some excellent dead ball kicks, he looked more like his old self in parts, as did Dave Carson. I couldn't fault anyone for effort [Welsh/McAlear ran the midfield for large parts, and Billy M was busy and took his goal very well], overall the defence was pretty solid, and Mackay in goal looked really good. I kept an eye on Hardy a lot, and wasn't sure what he was contributing in the first half, he looks an intelligent player but was a bit powderpuff in challenges and slow, but his second half showing was so much better and he carved out a great chance that went begging. And a player who took me completely by surprise was Wallace Duffy, who hasn't really figured at all at right back, but was immense at centre back winning virtually everything in the air, was that a one-off, because if not he needs his contract extended.

As the saying goes 'One swallow doesn't make a summer' and automatic promotion is now a distance dream, but although Raith also won [finally also], maybe Partick losing yesterday makes the play-off fight still 2 from 3. And maybe, just maybe Arbroath will run out of puff in the play-offs... Every match is now a cup-final.

Aye, it it was a lovely trip up.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Glad you enjoyed your trip north: you picked the right weekend!!

Duffy has not really done anything wrong when he has featured, either at right back or centre half. With Broadfoot (presumably) bowing out in the summer, it makes sense to keep him on board, particularly if we may lose the likes of Deas.

Devine also needs credit for his performances this season. He has really matured into a really good defender and talks the defence through games.

Devine and Duffy could be a decent pairing for us next season. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Excellent result and one that will hopefully see Dodds reduce the amount of time we fire the ball into the air. We played had some very nice, crisp passing moves at times, like the second goal, which were wonderful to see after weeks of the ball being shelled vaguely in the direction of Mckay and hoping for the best. After some really quite clinical finishing from us it was a shame to see us return to the more direct approach as I felt we lost our way a little after that.

I was surprised at how "Route One" Arbroath were. We seemed to deal with their endless long balls pretty well for the most part. I felt our defence was largely untroubled except for Broadfoot making a horses arse of dealing with a clearance and almost letting Arbroath snatch a goal back. IIRC he was hooked not long after and Duffy did well in his place.

Sutherland also performed well in the slightly odd, for him, right midfield slot. He worked tirelessly again and deserves praise for his efforts. I also think Mckay showed his class yet again and McAlear continues to show real promise as he dominated the middle of the pitch for large spells. Carson also looked like his old self which is nice to see in the week that Michael Gardyne was searching for his own name on social media and liking Tweets from County fans calling him "Agent Gardyne".

Gaston will be having nightmares about the third goal. He looked really poor and Arbroath in general looked pretty tired. Perhaps it is to be expected that, cliché alert, a part time team would start to tire at this stage of the season after all their efforts. Smashing away support in the away end from the Smokies. Best of the season given the relative size of their club. Looked to be about 300 odd at a minimum.

On to the next one!

  • Agree 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, RiG said:

Excellent result and one that will hopefully see Dodds reduce the amount of time we fire the ball into the air. We played had some very nice, crisp passing moves at times, like the second goal, which were wonderful to see after weeks of the ball being shelled vaguely in the direction of Mckay and hoping for the best. After some really quite clinical finishing from us it was a shame to see us return to the more direct approach as I felt we lost our way a little after that.

I was surprised at how "Route One" Arbroath were. We seemed to deal with their endless long balls pretty well for the most part. I felt our defence was largely untroubled except for Broadfoot making a horses arse of dealing with a clearance and almost letting Arbroath snatch a goal back. IIRC he was hooked not long after and Duffy did well in his place.

Sutherland also performed well in the slightly odd, for him, right midfield slot. He worked tirelessly again and deserves praise for his efforts. I also think Mckay showed his class yet again and McAlear continues to show real promise as he dominated the middle of the pitch for large spells. Carson also looked like his old self which is nice to see in the week that Michael Gardyne was searching for his own name on social media and liking Tweets from County fans calling him "Agent Gardyne".

Gaston will be having nightmares about the third goal. He looked really poor and Arbroath in general looked pretty tired. Perhaps it is to be expected that, cliché alert, a part time team would start to tire at this stage of the season after all their efforts. Smashing away support in the away end from the Smokies. Best of the season given the relative size of their club. Looked to be about 300 odd at a minimum.

On to the next one!

Just when you thought Gardyne couldn't be an even bigger prat!! 

  • Funny 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • tm4tj unpinned this topic

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. : Terms of Use : Guidelines : Privacy Policy