Something is wrong ?

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Laff if ya may but my job is a lot to do with observation and intuition. That was not a together ICT out there today. There is a lot of bitching going on and pointing of the fingers. The team spirit and "all fer one" ethos that has served us well fer years, and helped us survived, is sadly missing. We lost our shape today and the game because it appeared that some players decided to do their own thing - or was it tactical - which would be even worse.

I have never seen so much moaning and whingeing and lack of camaraderie. Am I wrong? Please tell me that I am - If not we are in deep shittt if we dont sort it out pronto.

[tm4tj]

Did you get the impression that they have no confidence in Grantie or is the Niculae factor rearing it's head already.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Did you get the impression that they have no confidence in Grantie or is the Niculae factor rearing it's head already.

To be honest - I dont feckin know. It just felt really bad today and I would love to be challenged on that. I will not mention names but I suspect that CC is favouring some when others feel that they are not worthy. We have changed our defensive style to accomodate Caff and I dont think ANY of the other defenders are too happy about it. Niculae is arrogant but if he gets fit and plays fer the team that could be a real PLUS. But then again WHY did CC not hook him early into the 2nd half when he was clearly fecked. Denzil looked totally pissed and maybe a few others did as well. As fer Deano - he may have come on late but he did NOT look interested.

[2Tokely]

already 2 posts calling niculae arrogant, and this one saying deano wasnt interested? what are these opinions based on?

deano looked hungry and ran as fast as his lil legs can take him, while niculae also looked up for it, not every player may look to be giving their all like bayne or tokely, but there was nothing out there today that i thought suggested arrogance, id have them as the front two next week, for looking dangerous.  give them a chance.

i think niculae was frustrated as he could have been layed in for shooting chances twice and wasnt, i dont think it was down to his fitness (which obviously needs to improve)

[Harry Chibber]

Did you get the impression that they have no confidence in Grantie or is the Niculae factor rearing it's head already.

To be honest - I dont feckin know. It just felt really bad today and I would love to be challenged on that. I will not mention names but I suspect that CC is favouring some when others feel that they are not worthy. We have changed our defensive style to accomodate Caff and I dont think ANY of the other defenders are too happy about it. Niculae is arrogant but if he gets fit and plays fer the team that could be a real PLUS. But then again WHY did CC not hook him early into the 2nd half when he was clearly fecked. Denzil looked totally pissed and maybe a few others did as well. As fer Deano - he may have come on late but he did NOT look interested.

IMO we had the right team on the field today and the first half probably reflected that but we badly missed a leader at the back, in the second half I have never seen us so disorganised, I thouhts Dods would be our biggest loss this season and today you could see that.  When things were falling apart we needed someone to keep their head on the pitch and lead the way but it seemed everyone was looking for an excuse or someone to blame.  If we had some discipline that should have been an easy 3 points today, make no mistake about it Motherwell were pesh and there for the taking, we just missed the solidarity that has served us well for the last 12+ years.  Was really disappointed today, not just because of the result or the last minute penalty but by how easy it was for us to give up.  Unless we find the fight we have had for seasons previous we are going to have a loooonnnggg season!!

[2Tokely]

I do agree with the main issue of the post that the lack of camaraderie was appaling- i think the team needs a leader who can shout and russel , tokely or black and make them listen.

[CaleyD]

Of their is anything in your intuition IHE then I would make the following comment...

The pressure would have been on after last week, and as CC had chosen to single out players for criticism then it wouldn't surprise me that they were going to be out there to make sure they weren't the ones being singled out this week - each player trying to out-do the other instead of playing as a unit and getting upset when someone else got in the way of that.

We need to be playing as a team and that should be reflected in all criticism and praise.

[alternative maryhill]

Maybe I missed something, but I wasn't aware of any terrible collapse in team camaraderie. The Granty - Russell incident stood out a bit, but IMO Granty was in the right: Russell risked a totally unnecessary booking by overreacting to a perceived foul, and CC should have a word with Russell about respecting his captain's instructions. As for the rest, Tokely has always been a bit of a law unto himself and we all know that when Blackie loses it there's not much anyone can do about it (and for the record, apart from one reckless tackle in injury time, he conducted himself pretty well today). There is no more obvious captain in the squad than Granty - he's solid and intelligent, he's a first pick player, he never gets into unnecesssary altercations with opposition players; can we say that of Tokely, Black or Duncan? The other possible choice, Barry Wilson, is probably not going to in the team regularly enough this season to justify making him captain. If any player has a problem with Granty as captain (and as I said, I didn't see much evidence of that today), then it's up to CC to sort it out quickly.

2 other points reacting (with mucho respect) to IHE's observations:

1. It doesn't seem fair to me to say that Deano looked "disinterested" - by the time he came on we'd already started falling into the trap of playing far too many high balls. If we'd continued playing balls to feet like we did for much of the first half, he'd have had far more opportunity to show his strengths. He should have been on after an hour - possibly for Marius, who looked knackered by then.

2. IHE, you mentioned that we've had to change the defensive system to accommodate Caff. I'm not disagreeing necessarily, but what other options do we have while we don't have another recognised, experienced, centre-half. And why should this cause such unrest? - it's not as if any of our remaining regular back four from last season has lost his place. I'm interested to know how else you would see the defence lining up, assuming we don't sign anyone else?    

[kencar]

Give it time , it'll all come good in the end & remember its early days yet we're still only into our 3rd season in the SPL , yes it would be great if we get 6th place but to stay up will do me

It's our 4th season  :004:

As for other comments I seem to remember us losing many games over the last couple of years with poor defending when Dods WAS in the team so there's no need to be banging on about him like he's some sort of demigod  :018:

Also CC please stop saying 'It's a real sore one' in your post match interviews  :023:

[SMEE]

I think we have a poor leader at the helm folks making the decisions that matter. I didnt think CC should have been made manager back when, and i still dont :020:

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Read the feckin posts peeple.  :029:

I am simply saying that I have bad vibes and as an immortal seer that is feckin troubling me. I am mainly looking fer reassurance.

The system feels wrong - the togetherness is definitely not there.

Mary Hill - There was NO urgency from Deano - it was as if the contagiousness of discord had filtered through to him. Maybe he was pissed off languishing on the bench fer TOO long.

We should have sorted out the defence in feckin January - and I have been reliably informed taht our defence will be changed fer Midden - one positional and one transfer/loan.

[alternative maryhill]

IHE -

1. As a mere scribe and not an immortal seer, I bow to your knowledge of imminent defensive changes.

2. We will have to agree to disagree re Deano. Didn't you have him tipped as the new messiah though?

3. Lack of togetherness - who is to blame? CC, Grant or both? Would you have A.N. other as captain?

love,

Mary x 

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Dear Mary,

Do I know yer mother ?

It is all too early too tell and I was merely looking fer reassurance.  :001: but summat is wrong and the sooner we sort it out the better. It iseither going to get worse - doubt it - or issues are going to get sorted.

Bet we win a Cup this season - and the drinks are on me.  :014:

luv IHE xx :moon2:

[Tichy_Blacks_Back]

This was never going to be an easy season (you have to earn the right to stay in the SPL each season) - I as many though was disappointed to lose 1-2 after going 0-1 up so late in the game but that is life and I am sure the boot will be on the other foot at some time during the season (let's just hope it is a Scottish Cup semi-final game  :003:).  I don't think things are so desperate yet as many seem to point it out to be (look at Well last season) but full points against St.Mirren next week are a necessity to get some normality back.

[Tichy_Blacks_Back]

oh and a good home performance....  :004:

[clacher_holiday2]

im not sure what to say, i wasnt at this or the rangers game, i just hope its not as bad as some are making out

but i know what the truth probably is, if users of this site are saying 'there might be something up' or 'things could get worse' then it means the dressing room is in complete tatters with no respect for both captain and manager, youre all really good at glossing over anything remotely negative about ict

ill see for myself v st mirren, i dont plan on staying up all night watching oz like i did lasy night and WILL crawl out of my bed for it.

i just hope im wrong

[Tichy_Blacks_Back]

mich auch aber.... :001:

[clacher_holiday2]

i guess we'll both have to see next week then

[alternative maryhill]

Dear IHE,

I don't think you know my mother - although given your alleged immoral pillages from the west end into the more civilised environs of Kingsmills and Broadstone Park in the 70s I can't be sure...

As to the rest, I'm raising my glass of wine to the prediction of a cup victory - as I said in another thread, it'll take until at least the second round of matches until we see the best of Marius, but by 2008 he should be tearing defences apart. 4th round hat-trick at Pittodrie would do nicely.  

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

As I said before - I may be reading too much into it - but I cant help but feel that we are leaving it late to strengthen the squad as we did in the January window. Despite everything the performance was much improved yesterday but summat is afoot.  :024:

[vinnie87]

I didn't really see a lack of togetherness today. Most of the finger pointing was for some awful defending. If you look at the way they celebrated the goal there appaered to be a togetherness about them. I don't remember too many times when all the outfield players celebrated a goal together in one group.

[PullMyFinger]

Dear IHE,

I don't think you know my mother - although given your alleged immoral pillages from the west end into the more civilised environs of Kingsmills and Broadstone Park in the 70s I can't be sure...

As to the rest, I'm raising my glass of wine to the prediction of a cup victory - as I said in another thread, it'll take until at least the second round of matches until we see the best of Marius, but by 2008 he should be tearing defences apart. 4th round hat-trick at Pittodrie would do nicely.  

We won't have to wait that long for a hat-trick I hope. :009:

[Johnboy]

Painfully bleedin obvious wot's wrong with this team... I'm surprised IHE, with all his professional expertise can't see it....

The morale of a team can sink like a stone when individual members of the team are routinely labelled as "sh!te" or "pi$h" or "cr@p" or even "not fit to wear a Caley shirt"

Airing such comments from the stands is bad enough - that's been part of the game for a long time now - But to actually take the trouble to publish them on a website is reprehensible....

This will be the last post from me on this, or any other matter....  :blah01:

Ps... It upsets their families and friends as well...

 

[PullMyFinger]

:019: :sillywave:

[caleyblue]

all you doom and gloom people remember our first season in spl we only won one in nine seems everyones getting a bit carried away with a couple of results got to give them a chance away win next week and all will be great again with granty passing to duncan to score the winner as well  :023: :023: :clapping03: :clapping03: