ICT -V- Hearts : matchday thread

[izzy]

CaleyD, I dont blame Brewster for the striker fiasco. I blame Savage. Because of the Niculae thing there just wasn't money to bring anyone in. Barrowman hasn't shown anything yet but I have heard that he wasn't Brewsters choice but was pursued by the DoF. Rooney is young but has class and will show it in time.

Maybe we should look at Bryan Prunty in january.

What really amazes me every week when I read this thread is how different the various viewpoints can be from people at the same game. Tokely is MoM. Tokely's a waste of space.

I wasn't there so cant comment but I hear from the various reports that the boys played well but couldn't finish. Indeed Skysports had Hastings as MoM. The one thing for certain is our defence must have been doing something right. But then Hearts closed up after they scored.

I was at game and there is no doubt in my mind MoM should have gone to either Tokely or Imrie who played their socks off all over the park. We could possibly have had a better result had we not been playing against 12 men , and that is not a biased remark its fact the ref was shocking yesterday and rightly booed off the park. VERY VERY FRUSTRATING

[Guest CaleyJAGGIE]

barrowman today was as much use as a **** flavoured lolly pop.

[Ivy League]

For what its worth... i cerrtainly thought there was a lot of huff anf puff... but no end product... same second half against Falkirk when the keeper was obviously rubbish... but we didnt have a shot on target, apart from the goal!! Same yesterday... 1 shot on target whole game... and that was a weak effort... that has been a trademark of Brewsters teams... pass it instead of shoot... if that had been other teams, the goal would have been peppered both on Wed night and yesterday...

I dont know how Tokely gets nominations for MOM... i think that everyone seems to only notice his foraging runs (when he never ever ever ever ever ever delivers) and forget that he is 1st and foremost a defender... and he is ALWAYS out of position... seriously... watch him... ALWAYS caught out and teams are playing on that now... with the rationale that some on this forum use about attacking defenders, then surely Lionel deserves his chance then!!!

Did anyone else notice Imrie falling over several times on Wed night and again yesterday... is he wearing plimsoles??

[tm4tj]

Ivy, apparently Neilson cleared two efforts off the line in the first half. Presumably when Barrowman and Rooney were through on goal.

Imrie worked hard yesterday but is another who fails to deliver consistently. He was noticed falling a few times, he also had on good fifty yard run out of defence................then stood on the ball and fell over

Tokely was for me clear MoM even if it was for sheer effort alone. But thats only my opinion, and three or four others who have voted in the poty thread.

[Guest Spectre]

Tokely was mostly "out of position" in the second half when we were pushing for a goal, he can't be in two places at once and if you leave people up the park to attack then you are bound to be more open at the back.

Neother Tokely or Hastings was responsible for the goal, that came from not pressurising the ball on the edge of the box and, quite possibly would not have happened if we had not lost Blackie. Tokely was definitiely MoM for me, but Hastings put in a good shift too, mostly he's got the pace to get back and cover.

[tokelyisvictorious]

imrie was absolutely p*sh. he had the perfect opportunity to run through on goal, but his touch meant the ball skewed sideways straight to a hearts player. Duncan was even worse, can that man actually pass to someone in his own team??? roscoe would be my man of the match, the only one showing drive to get forward and willing to put his foot in. Barrowman was by far the worst player on that pitch yesterday. Didn't see one flash of anything from him, apart from missing one yard out.

Losing black and cowie definitely hurt us, we just hadn't a hope in midfield without them; and hearts controlled the match from there.

[stevico1]

What worries me most is I thought our poor home form was down tactics, playing 1 up front and no real support to the forwards, well yesterday we played 2 up front and it still didnt work. Maybe the strikers need a run of games to gel, although I wasnt at the game those that were said Barrowman just isnt up to it, so that leaves up with Woods and Rooney. I like the look of Rooney and while I think that Woods has potential I dont think he is the answer yet.

This transfer window is one of the most crucial the club have ever faced both in terms of the players we have to bring in and the ones we have to keep. Its getting closer and Black and Cowie are still not tied up. Get this wrong and we could be in real trouble. I wonder what those in charge of getting players tied down to new contracts are actually doing as there doesnt appear to be much progress on that front.

[tokelyisvictorious]

bring on the transfer window. who to buy? i hear dargo is available. a bit of pace and finishing up front wouldn't go amiss.

[stevico1]

bring on the transfer window. who to buy? i hear dargo is available. a bit of pace and finishing up front wouldn't go amiss.

While he was brilliant for us , I think we were lucky with him as he has had problems with injuries wherever he has been, would we bo so lucky with him if we took him back, a bit of a gamble I think.

[tokelyisvictorious]

if the results keep going the way they are, a gamble is worth a few more goals. Then again I don't think he'd come back.

[Kingsmills]

What was obvious to most of us before the season began, namely; that we needed at least one experienced forward to replace the forced loss of Niculae and the voluntary loss of Wyness and Bayne is becoming more and more apparent.

If we had someone with a bit morecompusure up front today we would have got at least a point and could possibly have won the game.

Whether Brewster is still in charge or not that has to be a priority in the January window. There will be cost implications but not as much a the financial implications of droping into the SFL !

[tokelyisvictorious]

WE ARE NOT GOING DOWN!!!!

hamilton are a one-trick pony, and they have a dreaful run going on at the minute. They are full of youngsters who will crumble even if hamilton manage to make it a relegation 'battle'.

we have a good team, and we will pick up points here and there, enough to keep us up.

[stevico1]

WE ARE NOT GOING DOWN!!!!

hamilton are a one-trick pony, and they have a dreaful run going on at the minute. They are full of youngsters who will crumble even if hamilton manage to make it a relegation 'battle'.

we have a good team, and we will pick up points here and there, enough to keep us up.

while I agree we will not go down this season, they way we are playing will have an impact on the crowds and thus the finances, making it more difficult to improve the squad and if we dont continually improve one season we will not have the luxury of a Hamilton or Gretna

[RiG]

hamilton are a one-trick pony, and they have a dreaful run going on at the minute.

And how are ICT significantly different from Hamilton here?

[gordyfromsneck]

Barrowman was and is a disappointment. Should now replace wood as 3rd choice striker. Rooney is going to be very

good soon. Cowie and Black were sorely missed. Hearts are a "very physical" side.

Tokely as always was good going forward, but a liability at the back. Bazza, shoudl not start, Vigurs, who was great should have been on from the start with Bazza, coming on at 60 or so, according to the scoreline.

Imrie is still learning, but was my MOM. Energetic and committed. Sure he fell over a few times, but so would you if you were as pished as he was the night before Best find for a yonk.

Duncan can read a game very well, but cant pass a ball. Esson has the ambition to get the high early ball out, but our front players still dont expect it.

The damage was done when the Hearts goal went in, and a predictable outcome, no matter how exciting the end was. Hearts were there for the beating and we didnt. The gates as suffering, and will continue to do so , until we start a bit of home from.

Still, two aways next and thus two wins, I am sure.

[izzy]

Does anyone have any news on Ian Black as we missed him desperately yesterday when he had to come off .Hope its not serious and he will be fit for Killie game .

[tokelyisvictorious]

we are capable and have the spl experience to grind out results from time to time. Hamilton are naive in their tactics, and they are getting found out for it. I gaurantee you that we are better than hamilton, and the league table will show this at the end of the season.

[Alex MacLeod]

Said it on another thread and I say again here.....Craig Brewster get your boots on.

[stevico1]

Said it on another thread and I say again here.....Craig Brewster get your boots on.

I think his shoulder is the problem Alex, plus even though he probably still trains you need match fitness and that is something he obviously doesnt have at the moment

[RiG]

we are capable and have the spl experience to grind out results from time to time. Hamilton are naive in their tactics, and they are getting found out for it. I gaurantee you that we are better than hamilton, and the league table will show this at the end of the season.

I don't disagree that I think we will finish above Hamilton. But your post said that they were a one trick pony and were on a bad run which seemed to somehow distinguish them from ourselves. But the same argument could be levelled at ICT. We have seen already that we seem to rely heavily on a counter attacking style of play and don't seem to be able to change from that and are also on an atrocious run just now. Neither of your original two points couldn't also be levelled at ICT at this moment in time.

[TSTtiger]

Said it on another thread and I say again here.....Craig Brewster get your boots on.

what exactly is stopping him coming on. is it just the shoulder or has he actually decided thats it as far as playing goes?

dont think to many would grumble if he got a start regardless of match fitness and age.i dont see anyone else with his quality and experience joining us in january

[tokelyisvictorious]

not saying that ict don't have their faults, but we have proved that we can play a)nice football, pasing it when possible (except it hasn't quite come off yet up front) counter-attacking football and c) lump it up the park and hope football. Yep, we are also on a bad run right now, but we have shown before that it only takes one result to change it around. With Hamilton, IMO, they will not be able to string more than two or three games unbeaten before they get beaten.

[RiG]

not saying that ict don't have their faults, but we have proved that we can play a)nice football, pasing it when possible (except it hasn't quite come off yet up front) counter-attacking football and c) lump it up the park and hope football. Yep, we are also on a bad run right now, but we have shown before that it only takes one result to change it around. With Hamilton, IMO, they will not be able to string more than two or three games unbeaten before they get beaten.

Hamilton have shown all those styles of play as well. By all accounts they were playing Celtic off the park. I think the key thing is that teams coming up from SFL1 to the SPL need to grab chances to score in games any time they get them. Hamilton are not doing this and we need to in order to stay ahead of them. Our strike force needs to click for us to do this. This is where the key battle will be.

A lot of the teams in the bottom half of the SPL don't have a goal scorer that will get maybe more than 10 goals a season. We had one in Dargo who scored for fun for a long time and we were well clear of the relegation zone. You can see the difference now that we don't seem to have anyone putting the ball in the net with any real consistency.

[CaleyD]

One of my big fears at the moment is that come January I'm not confident we have the resources to identify and bring in what is needed whereas others might and if we're in the relegation dogfight at that time then we could easily find ourselves left behind.

[tokelyisvictorious]

although hamilton have shown the same types of football as us, they do not have the players for it to get them enough points to stay up. They lack consistency, whereas we have shown in the last 5 seasons that we can (and will) go on runs that will give us the required boost to stay away from any relegation battle. I know so far w have been consistnetly losing, but we usually turn it around. Without hamilton winning regularly like they were in division 1, and feeding off that confidence, plus they can't use their plastic pitch; they are going down.

As soon as we get black and cowie back to their best, and as soon as rooney starts getting a couple of chances a game (a by-product of cowie and black at their best) then we will start winning games.