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Inverness CT -V- Arbroath - Play Off - Previews


tm4tj

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More resembled a game of volleyball in the first half.

Second half we improved but just couldn't take any of the chances we created due to a combination of poor finishing and good goalkeeping. I can't help but feel that will come back to haunt us Friday?

 

 

Special mention for the ref too....his performance was unbelievable, literally ! 🙈

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More resembled a game of volleyball in the first half.

Second half we improved but just couldn't take any of the chances we created due to a combination of poor finishing and good goalkeeping. I can't help but feel that will come back to haunt us Friday?

 

 

Special mention for the ref too....his performance was unbelievable, literally ! 🙈

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Well, for Arbroath that went exactly to plan. They are well organised and hard to break down, not attractive but effective, shielding the back four with a midfield happy to sit in front of them. We looked nervy and off our usual game, struggling to get going and put some decent passes together.

However, I think we will do better in a game where it is all to play for, rather than these unnecessary two leg games, and we certainly have nothing to lose, we have to go for it. So bring it on and let's play like we know we can. It's a cup game now, so let's play like it's one. I don't think they will be any better than tonight, whereas we definitely can be.

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7 minutes ago, The Long Man said:

Well, for Arbroath that went exactly to plan. They are well organised and hard to break down, not attractive but effective, shielding the back four with a midfield happy to sit in front of them. We looked nervy and off our usual game, struggling to get going and put some decent passes together.

However, I think we will do better in a game where it is all to play for, rather than these unnecessary two leg games, and we certainly have nothing to lose, we have to go for it. So bring it on and let's play like we know we can. It's a cup game now, so let's play like it's one. I don't think they will be any better than tonight, whereas we definitely can be.

Yes very true but we have to kill it off in the 90 minutes!

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What a disappointment that first half was, but the second was slightly better.Long balls never work when you have smaller strikers.We looked disjointed and Arbroath had us man marked well.Broadfoot has experience and served us well  over the season,but he needs a rest.I would play Duffy on Friday.Just think we need to practice passing as it is woeful at times. Well it is half time,so lets make Friday better. Special mention for the officials,you too were dire.

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38 minutes ago, Douglas Mackenzie said:

What a disappointment that first half was, but the second was slightly better.Long balls never work when you have smaller strikers.We looked disjointed and Arbroath had us man marked well.Broadfoot has experience and served us well  over the season,but he needs a rest.I would play Duffy on Friday.Just think we need to practice passing as it is woeful at times. Well it is half time,so lets make Friday better. Special mention for the officials,you too were dire.

Someone near me at half time said Dodds should take Broadfoot off and move Deas into the centre and bring on Duffy which would be the same as your thinking which sounds ok but I think Dodds will favour Broadfoot come Friday. 

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Broafoot is a disaster waiting to happen at the moment. He might have years of experience but it certainly doesn't show these days. We can't afford  his mistakes on Friday because I am sure Arbroath will be far more attacking minded than tonight. 

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A match I had high expectations for, was a bit of a let down. Dodds must be happy with them punting the ball up the park to our non existent target man, otherwise he would be screaming at them to cut it out! Our best chances were created by stringing some passes together, but those were few and far between. Fridays game is now a cup final for us, winner takes all, and we must get our passing game going, play on the deck and be at it from the first whistle. We have the players to do it, and we have to leave every ounce of endeavour out on that pitch to achieve our goal of a shot at getting back to the top league.

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5 hours ago, IBM said:

Someone near me at half time said Dodds should take Broadfoot off and move Deas into the centre and bring on Duffy which would be the same as your thinking which sounds ok but I think Dodds will favour Broadfoot come Friday. 

I think you are right and, in doing so, Dodds will be wrong.

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Who knows when we will have a better chance of getting back into the top flight.

Forget about the play off final, at least for now, and treat this as a one off final.

'Must win match' is a cliche over used in football but it definitely now applies.

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The first half was pretty grim viewing from an ICT perspective. Arbroath were well on top and completely stifled our midfield. Their pressing was relentless but, as we saw against Killie, they eventually run out of steam. By the hour mark they had 9 men behind the ball sitting in protecting their lead draw. In the first half our best chance fell to Chalmers with that thunderous effort off the bar but Arbroath definitely had the better opportunities as we looked very weak defensively. (Jack) Hamilton and Nicky Low had the best chances for the away side.

Second half was a different story. As Arbroath tired we grew into the game. We weren't having to play panicked long balls forward and had more time on the ball to pick a pass which obviously suited us a lot more. Chalmers and Samuels had the best chances with the former flashing an effort just beyond the post and the latter denied by a good save from Gaston although I can't help but feel if he had connected with the shot more sweetly it would have gone in.

I felt we were quite conservative with our approach to the game. Deas, marauding down the left at Firhill last week, seldom got beyond Chalmers on the left (in the first half) although he did have a marauding run in the second period. Carson got forward bit more as the game went on but without support from the full backs we seemed to be awfully narrow. Sutherland was a non entity for most of this one after his recent good form and Mckay had very little service to work with so it was no real surprise to see him come off though I do feel that Dodds pulled the trigger with the subs too early as Arbroath were running out of steam and I felt more gaps were appearing for someone like Mckay to take advantage of.

Low was very good for Arbroath, pulling the strings at the base of their midfield but he also ran out of puff and when he went off we dominated the middle of the pitch. Even so, some of our passing was still out of sorts and some our set piece delivery was abysmal. You'd imagine Arbroath, backed by around double the number of ICT supporters that turned up last night (that's a sad indictment of support for this team in Inverness) will be all over us from the start on Friday. However, if we can keep them contained then perhaps we can sneak a goal later on if, as last night, they start to fade into the second half. That said, Arbroath have outscored their opponents 3:1 in the second half of games at Gayfield and have bagged a ridiculous 9 goals in the last 15 minutes of games there. So perhaps we can't rely too much on them tiring as they did last night as the game goes on...

Finally, shout out to Tam O'Brien and has laughable attempts to try and get McAlear sent off for, erm, standing next to him. The way he feigned contact and started rolling around ont he ground was a pathetic sight from one of the best players in the league this season.

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1 hour ago, Ronaldo said:

I'll settle for 0 -0 at half time. We are a good away team and the pressure is now on Arbroath

Yes 0-0 isn't a bad result, as the 2nd half showed that as a team we have plenty in us to get goals, even if it didn't go our way on the night. 1st 30mins was a bit of a shambles, but I think Arbroath will rue not scoring when on top.

Come Friday I think I would start with Sutherland in the middle to win and hold some ball, with Samuels alongside, Chalmers sitting deeper in the middle, Harper on the left. That gives a fresher Mckay and then Doran to come on later, or Allardice, Hyde if protecting a lead. Given how good Duffy was as CB when we beat them 3-0, I'd be tempted to play him instead of Broadfoot, who I think still does OK but can get turned too easily and probably should be told not to go forward.

Feel quietly confident [in a 'whatever you do don't express any confidence out loud coz you'll jinx it' sort of way]

The Pink strip is a must.

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A tired performance from the first whistle to the last. Looked more interested in not losing than winning the game. 

Hard to pick out a stand out but Chalmers always looks like he has a goal in him. Amazed yet again he was replaced before the end.

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11 minutes ago, forresjags said:

A tired performance from the first whistle to the last. Looked more interested in not losing than winning the game. 

Hard to pick out a stand out but Chalmers always looks like he has a goal in him. Amazed yet again he was replaced before the end.

Chalmers is both a creative and a direct goal threat from virtually anywhere in the final third.

Given that he seemed to be out of luck last night, I thought it wasn't such a bad idea to take him off and have him that little bit fresher for Friday.

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As RiG says in his excellent summary, Arbroath's pressing in the first half was relentless.  They did it well but rarely made much of the opportunity when they won the ball.  But it is not something they can keep up for 90 minutes hence all the time wasting and other antics.  Arbroath's tactics suggest to me that they know we have the beating of them, but we do need to exploit our strengths better than we did last night.  We need to press them as hard as they pressed us last night.  We need to move the ball a bit quicker, use the width of the pitch better to make them work even harder and generally make our pace and fitness count.  It won't be easy though. and an enthusiastic home crowd will be  helping them find their reserves of energy.  It's a game I believe we should win but we need everyone to be on their game.  

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29 minutes ago, SteveA said:

I thought Danny Devine was superb last night. I wasn't overly happy when we signed him but in fairness to him he had been really good this season. 

Same here. MoM. Then probably Sean Welsh. I know he's injury prone but he takes some hammering in midfield.

Hats off to Dick ****** Campbell, although it was fairly obvious what he would do. Press hard, get right in our faces and see if we could deal with it (how will you deal with it Doddsy?).  Run around for an hour, just like at Killie, see if they could get a lead to take back to Gayfield and then run out of steam and pray that was enough to see them through the last half hour. 

We don't have a Xavi or a Messi so our players constantly had  one eye on the opponent who was arriving to hit them hard and their touch let them down. Never seen so many misplaced passes in one ICT game. We should have taken at least one of those chances though. Arbroath are not pretty but they're good at what they do and we were drawn into that. Expect more of the same on Friday. How long is Walsh out?

 

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