Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC v St Johnstone FC

[Savage Henry]

The defending for the penalty... good lord. And then the third goal. ICT have given up.

[Radford]

Obviously delighted with the big win but I've still not seen us play well in Inverness! That was a real slog for 80 minutes. There was no bite from Saints - maybe the exertions of the last week taking it's toll - and Inverness were allowed to move the ball around too easily, something they did relatively attractively until it came to a final ball.

Despite Saints struggling to string any sort of passing movement together, contrasted with Inverness regularly knocking it about for extended periods, you assessed the chances created at half-time and on those grounds, I'm not sure a lead was totally undeserved; Cummins had three really decent scoring opportunities on top of Maclean's goal. Hard to see but assume it was a spill from OFW to put it on a plate for MacLean. It looked like good play from Coulson, who also created a couple of Cummins' openings. It's hard for Coulson as a creative player though as he hasn't had a chance to build up proper relationships with the other players.

The second half followed much the same pattern but Mannus at least had his palms stung a few times. I'm not sure an equaliser was coming but given Saints' propensity for conceding late there must've been a chance but Cole killed any notion not that. Expect he'll be hammered by the club. It was such an innocuous foul and then to say enough to get booked then a (straight?) red is madness.

What will disappoint ICT the most from the day though surely has to be the reaction to the red. Barry Wilson described it as a capitulation on Sportsound and that was exactly right. Credit to Chris Millar and Craig Thomson who brought fresh legs and an energy that had been absent in those final 10 minutes but it could have been four or five goals rather than just the two; Thomson hits the side netting, Cummins drags one wide, Millar has a netbound effort deflected and Craig rattled the bar.

Important win with Hearts and Thistle both winning but our hardest game in a while coming up next week.

[alsy]

8 hours ago, nelsjfc said:

Has Cole been any good for Caley? Thought he was poor today; constantly giving the ball away, stopping promising breaks and generally adding little. Caley caused issues for saints but always looked fragile and collapsed after the sending off. The build up to the second goal didn't look like a team "fighting" to stay up.

Not really. He's obviously got the ability to beat players, but his decision-making isn't great, and I don't think Foran knows where to play him, which is pretty characteristic of Foran's management. I felt a bit sorry for him yesterday, up until the sending off, because he was one of the few players actually trying to make something happen, and I think his poor distribution was at least in part because several of his more experienced team mates looked like they couldn't be fucked making the runs to give him options.

Yesterday was the first match I've seen (apart, perhaps, from Hamilton away at the end of January) where it actually looked like some players had just stopped playing for Foran; Ross Draper, in particular, has been a galvanising force in the team for the past four seasons, and with Laing and Tansey both in the side, he should have been one of the players to drive forward from midfield and try to put pressure on the St Johnstone defence rather than leaving that entirely to Mckay and Fisher, but he did nothing. In fairness, the entire midfield has been hung out to dry to some extent by Foran's failure to set out a team with any width in the final third. Expecting Tremarco and McNaughton to provide the only width for the entire length of the field, as yesterday's latest-spin-of-the-wheel-of-shit selection seemed designed to do, is ridiculous. McNaughton tried his best, and was our best player by some distance before he was hooked; presumably because he was completely knackered, as there was no other logical reason for taking him off. Foran, in his defence, may point to the fact that we created more than Saints, especially in the first part of the second half (I don't know if he has done so, because I can't bring myself to listen to his post-match interview), but nearly all those chances came from build-up through the packed middle of the park, in front of a very competent St Johnstone defence which dealt with almost everything easily. I barely remember them being stretched at all.

It's been clear for some time, to most people that see a fair proportion of our matches, that we're going to be relegated, despite the protests of the happy-clappers who point to the fact that we forced six corners in the process of shipping four goals to Celtic on March 1st as evidence that we 'have too much quality' to go down. Up to now I've thought that we should just accept that we'll be rebuilding under Foran, because of his four-year deal, and have hoped that he'll be able grow as a manager. When the second went in yesterday, though, I found myself hoping desperately that some sort of agreement can be reached to allow him to be replaced. There's no coherence in tactics or selection, and whether consciously or subconsciously, proven players are not performing anywhere near the level they're capable of. When one of those players comes a out after the game and starts tweeting about going for four wins from the remaining six, when so far this season we've managed four from thirty-two, we're entering the realms of farce.                 

[TheCaleyBoys]

2 minutes ago, alternative maryhill said:

   

I think you're spot on. The reality is we don't look any more organised or motivated than we did vs Partick on the opening day of the season, nearly nine months ago. It was obvious straight away we just weren't ready for a season at this level and nothing was done. We've seen every formation and selection possible since then, Foran clearly thinks the problem is our shape. The players seem to take things into their own hands, at one point yesterday Mcnaughton was pressing the St Johnstone centre backs while the forwards lingered around the midfield. There was some attempt to press collectively in the first half, probably from the Brian Rice school of football but it was fruitless. If Foran had any balls he'd admit he just isn't ready (or even capable) for this role and let someone else take over for the last few games of the season. I would love for McNaughton to get some kind of player/coach role but we'll probably stick with Foran and slowly slip into oblivion. 

[thorogood's destroyers]

http://caleythistleonline.com/index.html/reports-2016-17/inverness-ct-v-st-johnstone-report-r1461/

Championship here we come.

[CityDave]

The most frustrating part is not the lack of quality in the team nor how we are set up and orginised for games, its the lack of fight, lack of will to win. We've always had that, its something that was ingrained into playing for this club, its a big reason why we have done so well and achieved much since the club was formed. It makes me angry more than anything to see players giving up.

Listening to Richie Foran's interview after the game, he just seemed a 'what more can I do?' air about the way he spoke. Its too late to decide right now to get angry with players and tell them that their performances are not good enough.......what's he been doing up to now?

I'm pretty much now thinking about the Championship, who will be in charge and who of the current squad will be staying. I agree with Barry Wilson in that this is the worst Caley Thistle team ever. The make do team that went down in 2009 under Butcher fought hard to stay up right up to the final whistle of the season.

 

[Highland Capital]

10 hours ago, nelsjfc said:

Has Cole been any good for Caley? Thought he was poor today; constantly giving the ball away, stopping promising breaks and generally adding little. Caley caused issues for saints but always looked fragile and collapsed after the sending off. The build up to the second goal didn't look like a team "fighting" to stay up.

Very hit and miss.  For instance, he was excellent away at Tynecastle about a month ago.  The following week when we beat Rangers he was terrible (he constantly had the ball out wide and was constantly unable to cross.  He was unable to get it to leave the ground!).  As AM says, Foran seems unsure if he's a right winger, a number 10 or an inside forward on the left cutting inside.  His effort though is usually pretty good, until his act of stupidity yesterday.

[The Woolshed]

How did Clive play yesterday?

[Radford]

2 minutes ago, The Woolshed said:

How did Clive play yesterday?

Few wobbly moments in the first half and didn't provide the width we probably needed. Again though, if he was our own defender not long turned 19, then we'd be pretty encouraged I think. Because he's a loan player, you don't tend to look on him as the equivalent of our U20s. He's setting a pretty good benchmark for them though and something Tommy Wright can point to as the level he wants our young players to reach.

[RandomGuy.]

15 minutes ago, Radford said:

Because he's a loan player, you don't tend to look on him as the equivalent of our U20s. 

Yup. Hes younger than Aaron Comrie and George Hunter, neither of whom I'd expect to be anywhere near as comfortable at this level. Three years younger than Craig Thomson too.

[The Woolshed]

Do you think we will try and get him on board permanently next season?

[Radford]

6 minutes ago, The Woolshed said:

Do you think we will try and get him on board permanently next season?

I don't as we'll have Foster, Watson and Comrie all contracted. On what I've seen, wouldn't be surprised if he stays at Preston, who can play him in the U23 league. He'd be too old for our U20s next year though.