ICT -V- Aberdeen : Matchday Thread

[tm4tj]

Fans yellow carded, wow, thats a new one :32:

[L_G]

Ian Black (or the absence of)- was apparently in the Heathmount while we were playing.

Ian Black was at the game.  He arrived just as I was going through the turnstile about 2.50pm and watched the game from the main stand.  He wasn't part of the first team squad so he wouldn't have had to report for duty but he was there.

[dead_ball_specialist]

I missed the game yesterday because I was kicking *** at the inaugural north of scotland poker open at the chieftan  :003:

But according to all of my friends and family who were in attendence, caley were terrific and didn't deserve to lose.  :024:

Not sure where all the negativity is coming from? In the long term we need to get results, but it's the poor performances as of late that everyone on here has been bemoaning. Yesterday sounded like a gutsy performance (marred by a few individual errors, bad refereeing and bad luck) surely we have to take the positives out of it?

Brewster bashing seems to have become an obsession for some.

[Guest zxycba]

I missed the game yesterday because I was kicking *** at the inaugural north of scotland poker open at the chieftan  :003:

But according to all of my friends and family who were in attendence, caley were terrific and didn't deserve to lose.  :024:

Not sure where all the negativity is coming from? In the long term we need to get results, but it's the poor performances as of late that everyone on here has been bemoaning. Yesterday sounded like a gutsy performance (marred by a few individual errors, bad refereeing and bad luck) surely we have to take the positives out of it?

Brewster bashing seems to have become an obsession for some.

I think you can add to that some players are bashed too.  I was there at the match.  The team played really well.  Our star foward was class; yet we have a persistant basher in that domain too!?

You only move forward when you recognise and work on positives.  As said in previous thread, the game had all the things previous matches lacked.  I think 3-3 would have been a fair result.

[MissICT]

Fans yellow carded, wow, thats a new one :32:

I mean the players!!!

[RiG]

Just going to list various things I noticed or thought of during/after the game:

Overall the game was poor in terms of the football played. Aberdeen seemed more likely to try and pass it but we were too reliant on hoofing the ball up the park as usual. However, there was some nice passing in places I felt.

Our line up was odd. Not sure about Tokely in midfield really. He was caught out a lot by Aluko but stuck to his job well on most occasions. However, in our system the right midfielder needs to help cover back with our right sided full back and this he couldn't to due to this lack of pace and Proctor was often left exposed.

The first Aberdeen goal was abysmal defending from Proctor, Tokely, Munro and McGuire. Far too easy for the lad to cut inside and stroke the ball past Fraser.

Niculae being ball greedy! Why oh why did he not pick out Cowie all alone with an empty net in front if him? Worst decision by anyone of the entire 90 minutes.

Odd goal to level with but we'll take it. I thought it was going to head out of play till Bus(s) arrived to smash a header into his own net.

Duncans finish was a sweet strike and I believe his yellow for his celebration was incorrect however the highlights might clear this up as to what happened. Seemed that it was the reaction of Aberdeen players and fans that got him booked.

Especially when you consider Nicholson celebrating in front of/baiting the ICT fans. Personally I think both should have been allowed but if MacDonald was to book Duncan then he should book Nicholson. It was a fantastic goal they equalised with but Hastings was too slow to close down and allowed Foster (?) too much time and space to pick out the runner into the box with McGuire static as Nicholson rose. Could Ikey have come for it? Cracking goal nonetheless but we made it easy.

Duncans sending off - will be interesting to see just what he does with regards to "kicking the ball away" from MacDonald. Can't help but fele that there wasn't too much in it but we'll see (hopefully) in the highlights. Put us on the back foot for the 2nd half but we coped well under intense pressure at times though on other occasions we were falling apart.

Seemed to galvanise the effort from the lads so that was appreciated given recent performances showing so little enthusiasm.

Munro had a spectacular goal line clearance from Miller or Mackie I think it was. Miller then went on to miss an open goal as he sidefooted wide. More dodgy defending from us allowed this opportunity.

Our free kicks at the edge of the box were atrocious. We had a horror one from Duncan against "Team X" but Imrie topped that yesterday with his one. Something we need to work on clearly. Any chance of Rankin giving the lads some pointers?

Subs were interesting. I actually think the players he brought on were good - Hart added fresh legs and plenty of effort in the midfield and putting Marcus on retained our balance. However we could have used another pair of fresh legs in there to help us hold the ball up away from the goal. That's where Wyness came in. Players like McBain and Cowie were tiring badly although that's too be expected.

We still looked a threat on the counter. Forced some corners and had a few reasonable efforts e.g. Marcus going for glory and I think Hart and Tokely both had breaks into the box that just failed to result in anything.

Killer goal at the end where we just couldn't clear our lines and up popped Maguire to steal in to get the winner.

Positives

The sheer effort from the team was a huge positive and something we haven't seen in a long time.

Some of the goals we scored were excellent I felt. I thought McBains goal was a great finish as it could so easily have got stuck under his feet (see Brown in the Rangers v Celtic game)

Niculae was brilliant in holding the ball up and looking for the clever pass into space - no long ball mince here!

Negatives

The result obviously

The possible lack of discipline from Duncan and Munro that resulted in the red cards

The defence still needs a lot of work

The fact that we were crying out for another pair of fresh legs to help take some of the heat off the lads towards the end was ignored

[Kingsmills]

Another poor performance in my view. Most of the football from both sides was of a very low standard.

That said, there's no denying that the team appeared much more committed than of late and the match was entertaining for once.

McGuire's performance was the worst defensive display I've seem in a long time although Grant Munro wasn't that much better.

Thatsaid, the bare fact is that we've now gone 11 consecutive games without a win and were it not for Gretna's implosion would very probably be heading for relegation.

[MissICT]

I thought the team played well!!

the best I've seen them playing for a long time!!

we should of garbed at least 1 point!!

If they play like that next week I know they'll get a good win!!

[Guest Aboynamedsue]

I thought the team played well

If they play like that next week I know they'll get a good win!!

                IF????  we win next week it'll hardly be the acheivement of the season eh in fact i'd probably get more excited watching Ant & Dec's saturday night takeaway

[MissICT]

well at least its a win!!

would you rather them lose??

[Kingsmills]

Ihave to agree a win against Gretna in the current circumstances will not mean a great deal. Anything less than a win, omn the other hand, could and should have serious consequences.

[Guest zxycba]

Just going to list various things I noticed or thought of during/after the game:

Overall the game was poor in terms of the football played. Aberdeen seemed more likely to try and pass it but we were too reliant on hoofing the ball up the park as usual. However, there was some nice passing in places I felt.

Our line up was odd. Not sure about Tokely in midfield really. He was caught out a lot by Aluko but stuck to his job well on most occasions. However, in our system the right midfielder needs to help cover back with our right sided full back and this he couldn't to due to this lack of pace and Proctor was often left exposed.

The first Aberdeen goal was abysmal defending from Proctor, Tokely, Munro and McGuire. Far too easy for the lad to cut inside and stroke the ball past Fraser.

Niculae being ball greedy! Why oh why did he not pick out Cowie all alone with an empty net in front if him? Worst decision by anyone of the entire 90 minutes.

Odd goal to level with but we'll take it. I thought it was going to head out of play till Bus(s) arrived to smash a header into his own net.

Duncans finish was a sweet strike and I believe his yellow for his celebration was incorrect however the highlights might clear this up as to what happened. Seemed that it was the reaction of Aberdeen players and fans that got him booked.

Especially when you consider Nicholson celebrating in front of/baiting the ICT fans. Personally I think both should have been allowed but if MacDonald was to book Duncan then he should book Nicholson. It was a fantastic goal they equalised with but Hastings was too slow to close down and allowed Foster (?) too much time and space to pick out the runner into the box with McGuire static as Nicholson rose. Could Ikey have come for it? Cracking goal nonetheless but we made it easy.

Duncans sending off - will be interesting to see just what he does with regards to "kicking the ball away" from MacDonald. Can't help but fele that there wasn't too much in it but we'll see (hopefully) in the highlights. Put us on the back foot for the 2nd half but we coped well under intense pressure at times though on other occasions we were falling apart.

Seemed to galvanise the effort from the lads so that was appreciated given recent performances showing so little enthusiasm.

Munro had a spectacular goal line clearance from Miller or Mackie I think it was. Miller then went on to miss an open goal as he sidefooted wide. More dodgy defending from us allowed this opportunity.

Our free kicks at the edge of the box were atrocious. We had a horror one from Duncan against "Team X" but Imrie topped that yesterday with his one. Something we need to work on clearly. Any chance of Rankin giving the lads some pointers?

Subs were interesting. I actually think the players he brought on were good - Hart added fresh legs and plenty of effort in the midfield and putting Marcus on retained our balance. However we could have used another pair of fresh legs in there to help us hold the ball up away from the goal. That's where Wyness came in. Players like McBain and Cowie were tiring badly although that's too be expected.

We still looked a threat on the counter. Forced some corners and had a few reasonable efforts e.g. Marcus going for glory and I think Hart and Tokely both had breaks into the box that just failed to result in anything.

Killer goal at the end where we just couldn't clear our lines and up popped Maguire to steal in to get the winner.

Positives

The sheer effort from the team was a huge positive and something we haven't seen in a long time.

Some of the goals we scored were excellent I felt. I thought McBains goal was a great finish as it could so easily have got stuck under his feet (see Brown in the Rangers v Celtic game)

Niculae was brilliant in holding the ball up and looking for the clever pass into space - no long ball mince here!

Negatives

The result obviously

The possible lack of discipline from Duncan and Munro that resulted in the red cards

The defence still needs a lot of work

The fact that we were crying out for another pair of fresh legs to help take some of the heat off the lads towards the end was ignored

I think you have put this quite well.  I enjoyed the game very much.  I was a real shame we lost.  I would add one other point; the way we took corners.  I was sitting behind the goal.  All the corners were over struck.  It would be an idea either not to hit the ball so hard, or have someone waiting in a deeper position waiting.  Unlike the free kicks, corners had good flight.  If we can do this with corners, why not with free kicks?

[RiG]

I think you have put this quite well.  I enjoyed the game very much.  I was a real shame we lost.  I would add one other point; the way we took corners.  I was sitting behind the goal.  All the corners were over struck.  It would be an idea either not to hit the ball so hard, or have someone waiting in a deeper position waiting.  Unlike the free kicks, corners had good flight.  If we can do this with corners, why not with free kicks?

I don't think I put it well at all - it's just a list of bullet points really  :004:

I agree about the corners though I did note a couple of players move further back after the first few corners were over hit but still not that great overall. Even though Rankin sometimes struggled to get the ball past the first man when taking a corner when he did they were usually excellent. It's a shame we don't have someone with the same whip and bend he had. Instead they seem to be more "lofted" up to the back post as you point out. A wee bit of variety wouldn't go amiss.

[roby]

Where i agree it was a much improved performance in terms of effort and all round play , there can be no doubting we have serious problems in defence. To lose 4 goals 2 games running is not good enough . The back 4 and Mike have been together most of the season but when you watch them at times you could be forgiven for thinking they were strangers . Not sure of exact figures but i think we have conceded 9 goals more already than in any of our 4 previous seasons in the S P L .With 6 games still to play Brewster has to try out other combinations before the season ends. Finally i think it defies logic to bring on Hart as sub when he is commited to another club whilst he had plenty other options on the bench.Brewster these days talks about getting a reaction from players how can they give this when he wont even give them 10 mins. i. e. Wyness and Macallister.

[Kingsmills]

I have no difficulty with using Hart while he is still contracted to ICT. For what it's worth, I thought he did well when he came on and I'm disappointed that he will not still be atthe TCS next season.

[alimci]

Glad to hear that there was a good team effort, even if there are still problems. Not dreading the Gretna game *quite* as much now.

[Guest Aboynamedsue]

well at least its a win!!

would you rather them lose??

  I'm not saying i'd rather the team lose  just merely stating a win over Gretna is hardly worth shouting from the rooftops

Beating Celtic after being 2 nil down & only 10 men , NOW THATS QUALITY  :021: :021:

IN FACT THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE SEASON  :021: :021: :021:

[Jay_7]

Looks like Brewster reckons all is rosy now...  :018:

Also he's spoke out against the officials along with McGuire...

Brewsters comments here

McGuires comments here