silver Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Are we in a better position than this time last year? Well yes. However take a look at our form. First 11 games-3 defeats and 18 points Second 11 games 7 defeats and 12 points. Improving? If supporters are happy then good luck to you. If you are happy with the midfield and defence, then fine. As for me I see signs that we are slipping and I go back to what I said earlier. This side needs to shaking up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankthetank22 Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Are we in a better position than this time last year? Well yes. However take a look at our form. First 11 games-3 defeats and 18 points Second 11 games 7 defeats and 12 points. Improving? If supporters are happy then good luck to you. If you are happy with the midfield and defence, then fine. As for me I see signs that we are slipping and I go back to what I said earlier. This side needs to shaking up. A player or two may come or go, that's just natural but imo what this team needs is to toughen up. No radical shake up required. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CountyFan Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 It was the nature of the defeat, I found it unacceptable. I don't know what you thought of it? It has been coming for a while. The game v Saint Johnstone when we lost 3-2, that was bad too. Our away form is dreadful. How many defeats in the past 10-12 games? As I said our defence is leaking goals and I never felt at ease whenever the ball went anywhere near our box. Look at the goals we conceded v Kilmarnock and Dundee If you think our defence/midfield doesn't need shaking up then fine, but I think it does. We need to see more competition for places. Perhaps you are happy with the team performance? I am not delusional and know full well what realistic expectations are, but I also know that playing the 'wee highland village' label is a thing of the past. We are in the big league now and as such we have to rise up to the challenge and not class ourselves anything other than an equal. As for the best squad in the history of the football club. No chance. When have we ever had a better squad than we do now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stonedsailor Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 When have we ever had a better squad than we do now? We've had better, far better. Makes this result pleasing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 The Invincibles I doubt we will ever see the likes of that side ever again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunglebonce Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 The Invincibles I doubt we will ever see the likes of that side ever again. As much as we all loved that team, they won what they did at a lower level and I'm not convinced we'll never see better. Gary Miller has found himself as backup at a couple of clubs in the top flight; Scotty Mo would have been bullied at the far post a bit, even if I did like him/Fitzpatrick has found his level at Airdrie. The athleticism of centre-backs goes up a fair bit in the top division compared to the Championship, which immediately showed against McMenamin. Munro & Boyd were imperious in the First Division, but like the ICT team that Butcher inherited the poor distribution from the back (including the keeper) really hindered the team sometimes, especially away from home. Brittain at right-mid couldn't get away with a lack of pace as much and, as good as his long range shooting, FKs and pens were, his touch in open play probably wasn't top-six quality in the way that Lawson's and Vigurs's was. I would've liked to have seen the exact same XI have a bash at the SPL and I think they would've been comfortably mid-table. But it was the injection of pace that Sproule gave, the ability to bring the ball out by the new full-backs and the switch to a midfield three, bringing out the best of Lawson, that got County as high as they were. This might be controversial, but I don't have any doubt now that the team that finished 2012-13 was better than the team that finished 2011-12. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 The question was what was the best squad we had. Whatever level you play at you can only beat what is in front of you. To achieve the level of success that side did so consistently was frankly remarkable. The first division is notoriously hard to get out of. We did it with style and panache. For me it is irrelevant whether a player could perform at a different level, they performed at the level they did and as such deserve the applause for that. How many times have I looked at the current squad and thought as we took a free kick 'I wish that was Ritchie about to take it' or 'I wish we had Ketts in the middle right now'. The litmus test will be in years to come when we look back at this squad and say 'I wish we had x player from season 2015/16 playing for us right now'. Of the present crop only Curran would be that player for me. Boyce has done well and deserves praise too. I didn't mention Gardyne as he was an 'Invincible'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunglebonce Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 The question was what was the best squad we had. To answer Countyfan's post, I think the best squad we had was still the end of 2012-13, because it had a blend of the Invincibles plus the pace and craft that was brought in on top of that. They were a quality centre-forward from getting into Europe. Whatever level you play at you can only beat what is in front of you. I've never believed that phrase actually means anything. How many times have I looked at the current squad and thought as we took a free kick 'I wish that was Ritchie about to take it' or 'I wish we had Ketts in the middle right now'. I certainly think that all the time. But both midfielders have been in really bad County teams in the past as well, for instance the first half of 2013-14, when the midfield was the big failing point of the team. On the whole, this current squad is close to being among the best we've had, in my opinion. Boyce is undoubtedly the best centre forward we've had at this level. Jackson Irvine carries the centre of midfield and needs a better partner to further his potential. Davies is scary when he gets turned but is still the best centre-back we've had in the top flight IMO (I look at Songo'o and Hainault with rose-tinted glasses, but Songo'o would go to ground far too rashly and Hainault was pretty weird in the air). Curran is great to have and makes the current system work. There's some depth, and I think that Schalk will show that if they play to his strength's instead of using him like a weaker Curran. I don't believe County need drastic changes, even if there are a couple of positions that can be improved on. I think they'll fall out of the top six over the next month with the forwards out, but I would bet on them finishing in the top six. Form isn't great, but I've only seen County outplayed by teams in the top three. 30 points, two thirds into the pre-split season. I'm reasonably happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherrif John Bunnell Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 We need more local lads IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savage Henry Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 We need more local lads IMO. I don't see what Jamie Reckord brings to the team. What chance do we have when Kyle McLeod can't get a game ahead of him? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Defender Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 Reckord has a great delivery and can get some incredible crosses into the box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staggie52 Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 Are we in a better position than this time last year? Well yes. However take a look at our form. First 11 games-3 defeats and 18 points Second 11 games 7 defeats and 12 points. Improving? If supporters are happy then good luck to you. If you are happy with the midfield and defence, then fine. As for me I see signs that we are slipping and I go back to what I said earlier. This side needs to shaking up. You can show lots of things by statistics but it's always better to look a bit deeper than headline figures. For example, we had 5 wins in the first 11 and 4 in the second. 2 of our wins in the first half were home games against Aberdeen and Hearts, we lost to them both away in the second 11. We lost in both games to Celtic. If you look at games against the top 3 you could argue that the defining difference between the first 11 and the second was that we had both Aberdeen and Hearts at home in the first and away in the second quarter. Take these games out the equation and against the rest of the league we got 12 points in both quarters. I don't see that we're any worse this quarter when I look at the results but time will tell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 We have Aberdeen and Hearts at home in the coming weeks so we shall see what transpires. It is primarily our away form that is the fly in the ointment, 2 wins in 11. Dunfermline will be a stiff test. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoda Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 I guess your non attendance shows. How anybody could exclude Jackson Irvine from a starting 11 is beyond me, easily the best player in a county shirt so far this season. Foster is currently our best right back both attacking and defensively and very much deserves his place in the starting team. De Vita has been too much out of the squad to comment on. As mentioned either on here or OTB we desperately need a decent left winger. JI is only excluded because he's yet to find an ideal partner. I have nothing but love for Irvine - pure, beautiful love - but somewhat controversially, could a midfield pairing without him work better than a midfield of him + one other? [Partridge] Food for thought, certainly. [/Partridge] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosscubed Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 JI is only excluded because he's yet to find an ideal partner. I have nothing but love for Irvine - pure, beautiful love - but somewhat controversially, could a midfield pairing without him work better than a midfield of him + one other? [Partridge] Food for thought, certainly. [/Partridge] No. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dingdong1929 Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 That's all well and good, but we have MacLeod who would whip in an inch perfect local delivery for himself to head home locally. Such a waste. Just a wee tweak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunglebonce Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 I didn't realise ICT produced highlights as good as these. Hat off. I hoped this was the type of thing that rosscounty.tv was going to produce rather than video interviews, as good as some of those are. A few thoughts that resonated with me at the time but which really show in the highlights: How much more fluent and balanced ICT looked when Vigurs went on for Wedderburn. I wish he was at County How little Fox could do with the Tansey FK (I like the GoPro/wide angle view from the stanchion). Why can't County put in balls that would be on target at the far post, if everybody missed? I can't fathom that it can be that difficult a skill, but it seems to be the type of set-piece which Woods particularly struggles beating the first man from. I'm trying to forget Gardyne's FK into the shins of the ICT wall from the first half, thankfully that wasn't on the highlights. Graham's shirk at 4mins looks really bad from the GoPro Boyd was bossed in the air at set-pieces again. In other news, I was at the DL derby today for the first half. Richie Foran was at centre-mid and Mutumbo, Lopez and Roberts were the '3' of the 4231. Roberts took an early clattering and continued after initially hobbling off, but never looked 100% to me. Lopez showed some nice touches when he could be bothered getting involved. Foran looked really chunky compared to when I last saw him at a derby. McShane played the type of passes Alex Schalk would thrive on and which never arrived for him on Saturday, but McShane wasn't always 100% accurate with them... unlike his FK from 25 yards which was lovely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Malkmus Posted January 5, 2016 Author Share Posted January 5, 2016 That tackle from Draper should be in a gallery somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiG Posted January 6, 2016 Share Posted January 6, 2016 Unfortunately the highlights aren't done for every game due to lack of resource but when they are done they are pretty good. A significant improvement on what you will typically get with Sportscene nowadays. As for the game I think it's been covered pretty well. County shaded the first half and we were probably fortunate to be two goals up. Both pretty scrappy affairs that rivalled that horrible Robert Eagle goal from a few seasons back in the Challenge Cup. We were much improved in the second half and really should have won by more in the end. Disappointed with County. Was expecting a lot more from them but they looked very average. Not to say that we were significantly better but at no point did I think we were really in trouble. Still a bit perplexed at our lack of width. Unless Tremarco or Raven push right up there is virtually no one to play wide left or right unless Storey runs all across the front line which he seemed to be doing a lot on Saturday. No wonder he has been shattered in recent matches. Hughes keeps talking about signing a striker but a wide attacker would be a preference for me. Interesting to see us go a lot more direct than usual. Lots of balls over the top for Storey to chase. Not sure if this is something that Hughes will persevere with in the next few weeks or if it was just something that we employed against Aberdeen and County in anticipation of the likelihood that they were unlikely to sit in deep against us and therefore Storey would have a lot more space to move into off the back of the last defender. Really hope we get him signed up. I dread to think where we would be without him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunglebonce Posted January 6, 2016 Share Posted January 6, 2016 Interesting to see us go a lot more direct than usual. Lots of balls over the top for Storey to chase. Not sure if this is something that Hughes will persevere with in the next few weeks or if it was just something that we employed against Aberdeen and County in anticipation of the likelihood that they were unlikely to sit in deep against us and therefore Storey would have a lot more space to move into off the back of the last defender. That's been the case in the derbies in Dingwall since the beginning of last year. I had a weak theory that County did better recently in Inverness because ICT felt like they had to play on the front foot more, but Saturday was just like the matches in Dingwall again where County couldn't play through and were hit on the counter. The only major difference from October's match was that Boyce wasn't playing to get a consolation goal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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