Talking Points from the Premiership weekend

Yogi continues to prove us wrong
Another game, another feather in the cap of John Hughes.  This time it was Dundee United who were effortlessly brushed aside as Caley Thistle leapfrogged the Tannadice side into second place. With Ryan Christie suspended, James Vincent returned to the side and showed how effective he can be playing behind the striker rather than being hung out on the flanks. By dropping slightly further into midfield alongside Ross Draper and Greg Tansey, Vincent and his team mates strangled the United midfield and prevented any real creativity coming from the centre of the pitch.

With their attackers subdued and lacking service, United were reduced to a single solitary shot on target during the course of the 90 minutes.  ICT's second successive 1 - 0 victory was ultimately far more comfortable than the scoreline suggests.  Yogi has now presided over the most successful first quarter of a top flight campaign of any ICT manager after Saturday's victory took him to 23 points from the opening round of games.  Whilst some doubters still remain, they are definitely dwindling in number with more and more each week tucking into some humble pie.  Long may that continue! AS



The two poorest sides in the Premiership?
What lessons should we take away from the draw in Paisley?  Well, firstly, I hope no-one tried to tell Jim McIntyre that dodgy decisions balance themselves out over the course of a season - the offside decision that denied Michael Gardyne a goal and Ross County a 2-0 lead was an inexplicable error from the assistant, and is the primary reason why the Staggies remain bottom of the pile.

Secondly, and more prudently, this looked like a match between two relegation contenders.  The fact there were four goals was less down to both sides being adventurous and impressive in attack and more to some dreadful defending.  If County and St. Mirren play like this for the rest of the season, they will be the bottom two sides at the end of it..though I wouldn't like to predict which order they would finish in.

County of course can point to the influx of new players, and claim that once they have a settled team, performances and results will improve.  It's certainly possible.  Tommy Craig doesn't have nearly as good an excuse for his side's travails.  The return of Ellis Plummer in defence and Steven Thompson up front will help, but how much? LS



St. Johnstone manage to stop the rot...
Pregame, Tommy Wright would have taken a goalless draw and a borefest at Firhill if you had offered it to the St. Johnstone manager, as it ends a run of five straight defeats.  But it was hardly an encouraging performance from the Perth Saints, who continue to struggle up front.  Even during their successes of recent seasons, their style has been more pragmatic than pretty, but the number of long diagonals from the back towards big Brian Graham is deeply unpleasant to watch for fans; one wonders how James McFadden feels as the ball goes sailing over his head again and again.

Thankfully for them, Partick Thistle have their own problems in attack; the drop-off in quality in the final third during Kallum Higginbotham's absence has been staggering.  Whilst they dominated possession, they were hopelessly short of guile in the final third, and in fact it was the away side who passed up the best chances of the game.  But it's hard to see what either manager can do until he gets important players back from injury - Higginbotham and Gary Fraser for Partick, Steven Maclean for St. Johnstone.  Until then, they grind on the best they can, but with Partick eight points and St. Johnstone nine points adrift of the top six already, those reinforcements are needed pronto. LS



...unlike Motherwell...
Motherwell blatantly went to Pittodrie looking to shut up shop and bring an end to their horrendous run of late...a plan which Jonny Hayes wrecked within two minutes of kickoff on Friday night.  When picking the team, Stuart McCall must have felt caught between the devil and the deep blue sea; Hamilton proved last week that the Dons' back line can be got at, but Motherwell's own back line is bereft of confidence itself and a heavy defeat at Pittodrie would only have lowered heads further.  McCall stuck with pragmatism even after the early concession, only throwing on some attacking subs with fifteen minutes left.

However, it just isn't happening in any area of the park for the Steelmen.  In defence, Stephen McManus is having a terrible season (and loanee Mark O'Brien was dropped after a string of poor performances), while up front John Sutton is in a funk and Henrik Ojamaa is still playing catch-up after arriving at the club short of fitness.  The midfield is the biggest concern though - I dispute that Fraser Kerr, Josh Law and Zaine Francis-Angol are good enough for this league, and Keith Lasley looks like his legs have gone.  Which makes it all the more baffling that Lionel Ainsworth can't get a game.  The winger is the epitomy of inconsistency, but his ability to create and score goals out of nothing makes him far more qualified for a place in the starting lineup than almost all of his teammates.

Motherwell are in Perth on Friday night.  That'll be a game for the diehards only. LS

Celtic still aren't firing on all cylinders

Celtic's third win on the trot was helped no end by the first half red card for Killie skipper Manuel Pascali.  A turgid affair up until that point, the game was decided by two moments of quality - a flash of inspiration from John Guidetti and a second goal in as many games for Stefan Scepovic.

In the first 20-30 minutes, Killie were more than equal to a Celtic side that seemed to be suffering yet another European hangover; Craig Gordon had to be imperious once more between the sticks for the home side.  But when Pascali was dismissed for a professional foul on Scepovic, it was double jeopardy for the visitors as Guidetti smashed the resultant free kick into the net for his fifth goal of the season.  Allan Johnston’s side dug in but the second goal killed the game.  The best move of the match began with with wonderful vision from Emilio Izaguirre to pick out substitute Mubarak Wakaso; he found Scepovic peeling away from the Kilmarnock defence and the Serb cut the ball back across Brennan’s goal to seal the points for the home side.

The results are beginning to come together - up to fourth in the league, seven points in the Europa League group after three games, and a possible League Cup semi-final if they can outgun Partick Thistle on Wednesday night.  Things are looking up for Ronny Deila, but there's still plenty of room for improvement for this Celtic side.  PF

Dundee are in the top six mix

Hamilton might have taken a few teams by surprise this season, but Dundee played them four times in last year's Championship, so Paul Hartley knew what to expect.  Whilst Accies were a bit unlucky - they missed several chances before the quickfire double from David Clarkson and Greg Stewart - there wasn't much of a difference in quality.  Hartley pointed out afterwards that he brought in more new faces than Alex Neil, and feels that only now are his side beginning to gel.  

Given that they are currently within touching distance of the top six, and have a genuine goalscoring threat in Clarkson (four goals in four games!), it's quite realistic for the Dark Blues to aspire towards a finish in the top half. LS

Andrew Sutherland (AS) occasionally writes for When Saturday Comes.  He would never miss an ICT match unless he was offered a date with the lead singer of CHVRCHES...who he would then take to said ICT match.  

Paul Fisher (PF) is content producer for Celtic Live, so you can guess where his allegiances lie.  His dayjob is as a journalist for the Ardrossan Herald.  Believe it or not, he's big in the Scottish Lawn Bowls scene, if there is such a thing.

County need continuity

Yoann Arquin, Jordi Balk, Darren Barr, Jonathan Bateson, Liam Boyce, Scott Boyd, Richard Brittain, Mark Brown, Kurtis Byrne, Joe Cardle, Graham Carey, Uros Celcer, Erik Cikos, Alex Cooper, Mark Corcoran, Melvin De Leeuw, Tony Dingwall, Tim Dreesen, Russell Duncan, Terry Dunfield, Jim Fenlon, Mark Fitzpatrick, Mark Fotheringham, Michael Fraser, Ben Frempah, Paul Gallacher, Michael Gardyne, Gary Glen, Ben Gordon, Andre Hainault, Jackson Irvine, Jake Jervis, Stuart Kettlewell, Filip Kiss, Marc Klok, Mihael Kovacevic, Paul Lawson, Kevin Luckassen, Darren Maatsen, Brian McLean, Colin McMenamin, Branislav Micic, Sam Morrow, Grant Munro, Orhan Mustafi, Evangelos Oikonomou, Paul Quinn, Rocco Quinn, Antonio Reguero, Steven Ross, Steven Saunders, Martin Scott, Jordan Slew, Yann Songo'o, Ivan Sproule, Michael Tidser, Ross Tokely, Lewis Toshney, Iain Vigurs, Steffen Wohlfarth

Phew, deep breath!

What do these sixty-one men have in common?  That's right - they have all turned out for Ross County since the beginning of the 2012/13 season, their first in the Scottish Premiership.

That's twenty-six months.  Sixty-one players in twenty-six months!

Two of those players, Jonathan Bateson and Kurtis Byrne, only made a single League Cup appearance each.  So actually 'only' fifty-nine of these guys have played in the Premiership.  When recent arrival Martin Woods makes his debut, he'll have the dubious honour of being number sixty.

Make no bones about it, that's a shocking statistic.  Add in the fact that only two of them - Tony Dingwall and Steven Ross - have actually come through County's youth system, and it's even more shocking.  The constant chopping and changing, and the lack of a settled team, is the primary reason why they are in their current predicament at the bottom of the league.

Ironically, their promotion was won in the first place by a strong, settled group.  Only three of that pre-summer 2012 bunch are left - Scott Boyd, Richard Brittain and Rocco Quinn.

Having got into this mess because of short-termism, they have no choice but to try to escape via the same route.  Since his appointment at the start of last month, Jim McIntyre has hit the free agent market like a kleptomaniac in Tesco.  Woods is his fifth signing, following Lewis Toshney, Terry Dunfield, Jamie Reckord, and Paul Quinn.  His chairman, Roy McGregor brought in three other new faces just prior to his appointment - Darren Barr, Jackson Irvine and Michael Gardyne.

Thank goodness for McGregor's generosity, or McIntyre would have had to make do with the duds that he was left by his predecessor.  Derek Adams had signed eleven players himself in the summer, but it looks like plenty of them will be discarded like XXL boxer shorts at the end of a Fat Camp.  It's quite possible that we'll not see the likes of Uros Celcer, Tim Dreesen or the utterly horrific Jim Fenlon (players who all started their opening match of the campaign) again.  After all, McIntyre has an enormous squad now at his disposal - twenty-six players who have passed their twenty-first birthday, more than either Rangers or Celtic!  It seems unlikely that County still have the lowest wage budget in the top flight.

So their survival may rest on how quickly the new manager can work out what his strongest eleven is.  And on how quickly the players learn each other's names.  And if he can pull it off, he then needs to keep them together, so that this fiasco doesn't happen again.

L.

Chopping and changing - the last four seasons at Ross County

The team that won promotion in 2011-12

The side that finished the 2012-13 season in fifth

The strongest lineup from last season

The eleven that might keep them up?

Talking points from the Premiership weekend

McCall deserves the benefit of the doubt
If you were to pick the best Scottish manager over the last 5 years, Stuart McCall would surely be near the top of your shortlist. In his three full seasons as manager, Motherwell have finished third, second and second. Those numbers are impressive enough, but they were achieved the only way most clubs of their size can remain sustainable - through high squad turnover.

As much as we’d like to see it, teams like Motherwell can’t really hold onto top players like, for example, Nicky Law, build a settled team round him with two or three other players of his quality and a solid squad, and make three or four additions each season to keep things fresh. Their future depends on finding good young players, improving them, and selling them on for a healthy profit to fund the club for another season or two in which time they hope to develop the next big thing.

This is obvious, but worth pointing out because it make it almost impossible to achieve consistency, and any manager that is able to do so deserves all the praise he can get.

Motherwell have been pretty hopeless for the most part this season, but I hope it doesn’t result in too much pressure on McCall. A bad start to the season should be viewed more as a regression to the mean than anything else.

It is worrying how short of confidence the players look though, and a game against Dundee (on a bit of a slump after a promising start to the season) would have been seen an opportunity to kick start the season, but they looked defeated as soon as they went one down.  How McCall could have done with having David Clarkson back in the strip he graced for so many years, rather than scoring goals for the opposition.

I’ll always back a team with a good manager over a season though, and if it’s a straight fight between McCall, Tommy Craig and Jim McIntyre, I know who my money would be on.   IM

Celtic return to form
Sitting in the baking afternoon sun of Gran Canaria, it was good to see Celtic get back to winning ways before making a mad dash for my plane home.  It could have easily have been double figures for Ronny Deila's men against a lethargic Ross County side who looked beaten from the off.

I could single out each of Celtic's starting eleven for praise but there were three stand-outs for me. Returning from injury, Mikael Lustig took the right back spot from Efe Ambrose, to the delight of much of the Celtic support and his service down the flank, linking up with the imperious John Guidetti and Callum McGregor seemed to work almost instantly.  If the Swede can retain full fitness then surely he will be one of the first names on the team sheet for the club. 

Anthony Stokes scored the pick of the bunch with his first-half strike and grabbing the fifth in the second half made him my man of the match.  The Irishman has been coming in for some flak over the last month due to his lack of goals but I have been a vocal supporter due to his tenacity and continuous work across the front line. When he scores, we tend to win with considerable ease - his previous goal was against Dundee United in the 6-1 win earlier in the season.

Meanwhile, Stefan Johansen has been a mainstay in midfield and, while his form has not matched that of his first few months at the club, Saturday afternoon was one of his finest showings for the champions. Playing alongside Scott Brown allows the Norwegian to get forward and his vision was second to none. The midfield works so much more effectively when Brown is there to sweep up any discrepancies.

The big negative from the lunchtime kick-off was the injury to Emilio Izaguirre. The left wing-back had been pummelling the Ross County back-line for the majority of the game and those with green and white leanings will be hoping that Deila's comments saying he will be back on Thursday night prove to be true.  PF

Aberdeen got it all wrong
Yeah, it's no fluke that Accies are still top of the table.  There haven't been too many times that Aberdeen have been properly pumped under Derek McInnes' charge, but Friday night was a horror story for the Dons.

This was partly down to the home side; Hamilton weren't cagey in the slightest and came out to play their own game.  With Mickael Antoine-Curier such an effective target man, Alex Neil's side were able to go long when necessary and, even when the big forward didn't win the ball, his teammates swarmed round any loose pickings like wasps around a jam sandwich.  Danny Redmond and Dougie Imrie buzzed everywhere, while the presence of Grant Gillespie in front of the back four allows Ali Crawford and Tony Andreu to gamble on trying to support Antoine-Curier - Andreu's two goals came from tremendously timed late runs into the box.

But a woeful performance from the visitors was also a significant factor.  I understand Aberdeen had been training on Falkirk's artificial pitch earlier in the week; presumably they had also read my recent piece from The Terrace, given that they set up their side for a physical battle and a more direct style than usual.  It was not a wise move from McInnes; with Ryan Jack tucking in from the right of midfield to give the Dons an extra man in that area, Shay Logan was left on an island against Redmond and the overlapping Stephen Hendrie and was tormented all evening.

As for the rest of the back four, the less said the better.  I couldn't tell if Mark Reynolds was at left-back and Andy Considine in the centre, or if they were simply pulled out of position so often that it just looked that way.  And Ash Taylor?  Good grief.  Aberdeen surely would have been better concentrating on what they do best, rather than overcompensating for their opponents, and for the surface.

There's no sign of the Accies bandwagon being derailed yet then...though one imagines they'll have plenty of trickier games than this one. LS

Partick need to play for 90 minutes

Oh, Partick, if only you didn't keep shipping late goals.  Having turned three points into none against Hamilton earlier this season, and then let in a last-gasp winner to a dreadful St. Mirren side a few weeks back, the Jags missed out on a well-deserved point at Tannadice.  To be fair, Nadir Ciftci was a country mile offside in the build-up to the penalty decision, but not getting the points their performances merit is a recurring theme for Alan Archibald this season.

That's four defeats in a row now - a run which leaves them only three points above the likes of St. Mirren and Motherwell.  If they are to have aspirations of a top six finish then they need to correct this soon.  LS

No case for the defence
St. Johnstone's woes in attack are well documented - in fact, even their 'goal' on Saturday shouldn't have counted, as Murray Davidson's effort didn't cross the line.  But it's clear now that their back line, so reliable in recent years, is now in a deep funk.

Against Inverness last month, they were completely unable to cope with pace and movement, which resulted in the benching of Frazer Wright.  With Tam Scobbie still injured, Tommy Wright has been using Dave Mackay in central defence, but the evidence from the defeat to Killie is that this hasn't helped.  At 34, Mackay is slowing down as well, and he was even less equipped than Wright to deal with Josh Magennis' muscle.  In addition, the right-back area is weakened with Mackay having been moved from there and Gary Miller struggling to fill in.  Add in a malfunctioning Steven Anderson - imperious last season - and St. Johnstone are in trouble until Scobbie comes back.  And even then, is the ex-Falkirk man really good enough to fix all the problems?  LS

Willie Collum v ICT & St Mirren

Referees are no strangers to abuse from the terraces but when both sets of supporters at a game unite in dishing out the abuse then it's probably safe to say you've not had a good day at the office. Willie Collum found himself in this rather odd position with a puzzling display during the St Mirren v Caley Thistle game.

Collum dished out nine yellow cards including a red for Inverness's Ryan Christie in a puzzling display that left both sets of supporters irate at his approach to handling the game. Whilst the players must accept some responsibility for their niggling fouls leading to a very stop-start match, Collum was frustratingly inconsistent. John McGinn can count himself lucky not to at least have been yellow carded having committed numerous fouls throughout the afternoon.  Likewise. Ross Draper was fortunate to remain on the park as he bench pressed the St Mirren midfield whilst already on a yellow. 

Officials make mistakes. They are only human after all. But a degree of consistency in how they handle games would be universally welcomed by supporters. AS

Andrew Sutherland (AS) occasionally writes for When Saturday Comes.  He would never miss an ICT match unless he was offered a date with the lead singer of CHVRCHES...who he would then take to said ICT match.  

Iain Meredith (IM) is technically a Rangers fan, but these days he tends to support them ironically.  He only agreed to help with this blog because now he can tell his wife that he's "only watching the game to help a friend out".

Paul Fisher (PF) is content producer for Celtic Live, so you can guess where his allegiances lie.  His dayjob is as a journalist for the Ardrossan Herald.  Believe it or not, he's big in the Scottish Lawn Bowls scene, if there is such a thing.

Plenty of positives

Scotland have made a lot of progress under Gordon Strachan, but it looks as if old frailties might once again scupper our chances of qualifying for a major tournament. Scotland have always been solid against the big teams while struggling against the weaker sides in the group.

So while a home win against Georgia and an away point in Poland are both good results, our failure to get anything against Germany, currently competing with Gibraltar as the group’s whipping boys, may come back to haunt us.

Four points from an opening three games that included our two toughest looking fixtures is pretty good, but while Scotland have performed slightly above expectations, our two biggest rivals have taken four points off Germany between them. It’s hard to complan if your team does pretty well and is beaten by exceptional results elsewhere, but it just feels so Scottish to have our upturn in fortunes be overshadowed by that of others.

These were by no means flawless performances. Once again we looked laboured when trying to break down a solid but less talented team in Glasgow, and by the end of Tuesday night we should have been grateful to leave Warsaw with a point rather than disappointed we didn’t take all three.

But the resolve to come back from a potentially disastrous early goal against Poland was yet further evidence of how far Strachan has taken almost the same set of players that were so soul-destroying to watch under Craig Levein. The equaliser in particular was as good a goal as Scotland have scored for a while. the inch perfect diagonal pass from Fletcher, a Bergkampesque first touch by Anya, and composed finish by Maloney were all just lovely.

I for one was astounded when I saw a starting line-up composed of four defenders and so many naturally

attacking players, but Strachan has got everyone buying into a system where these players can be organised enough to not be too open while always being dangerous on the counterattack with so much pace in the team. It says a lot that we now feel comfortable enough to leave Darren Fletcher on the bench if he doesn’t fit into the system the manager wants to play.

So we move on to what might be our biggest game since Italy came to Hampden in 2007. Defeat to Ireland in November coupled with a Poland victory against Georgia would leave us six point behind both those teams and looking at an uphill struggle. A draw wouldn’t be a disaster, but if Scotland really want to take control of their own destiny then a win is surely a must. If only the SFA would do their bit and not jeopardise a full house at Celtic Park by charging through the nose for tickets.

Group D will go downn to the wire, and if Scotland are going to miss out, then at least we’ll have fun doing it.

Iain Meredith (IM) is technically a Rangers fan, but these days he tends to support them ironically.  He only agreed to help with this blog because now he can tell his wife that he's "only watching the game to help a friend out".

A helping hand to those in need

It's not been much of a fortnight for Rangers.

Last Monday, they crashed 3-1 at home to Hibs, a result that leaves them six points off the top of the Scottish Championship.  Ally McCoist's subsequent claim that finishing second to Hearts and then winning promotion via a playoff was perfectly acceptable fooled absolutely no-one.

There was at least a return to winning ways at Livingston at the weekend, although the 1-0 victory was perfect in the view of every non-Rangers fan - not impressive enough to suggest that the team have turned the corner, but a positive result which means that the utterly inept McCoist will remain in his job for at least a while longer.  Off the pitch, things were less rosy, as fans had an altercation with police in the ground and five were eventually arrested.  Mind you, the press seemed to think a few cheeky notes in the Livingston programme were far more outrageous than criminal behaviour, judging by their coverage.

And then this week has seen the ante upped in the boardroom as Mike Ashley, not content with being detested by the whole of the city of Newcastle, displayed his intentions to add half of the city of Glasgow to that list.

At least Rangers don't have to worry about an embarrassing result this weekend.  They were due to play away to Cowdenbeath, but successfully lobbied the SPFL to have the game postponed due to international call-ups.  As daft as that seems, given the Gers' bloated squad, rules are rules - the rulebook itself states that:

A Club shall be entitled to apply to the Board for the postponement of any Official Match where three or more of its Players who would otherwise have participated in such match are unavailable through international selection 

Rangers have had a few matches called off over the last couple of years for this reason.  So there's a precedent.

But this situation is weird.

Firstly, the league announced the rearranging of the fixture before call-ups even took place.

Secondly, one of the three players Rangers are missing, hapless Tunisian Bilel Mohsni, is suspended for club matches at the moment after some mischief against Hibs was picked up by TV cameras.  Cowdenbeath pointed out to the SPFL that, under the above rule, Mohsni didn't count.  The response was akin to putting their fingers in their ears and muttering "la la la, I'm not listening".

Thirdly, Rangers haven't actually had three players called up.

Ulsterman Dean Shiels didn't make the Northern Irish squad.  He's on standby because of injuries.  Apparently, according to Twitter users, the league say this counts., although I couldn't find anything written about it.  I don't know about you, but in my book 'on standby' is not the same as 'called up'.  You're either called up or you're not.

This leaves Lithuania's Marius Zaliukas.  He limped off injured at Almondvale, and is a severe doubt for his country's matches.  If he doesn't recover, then it's possible that Rangers won't have actually had a single player away.  That's just crazy.  And it'll cost Cowdenbeath too, as even if they fill Central Park, their income from hospitality is likely to be reduced.  And of course their part-time side will play after a full day's work.

From this blogger's perspective, the league seem to have been happy to assume that several Gers players would be away, just because the Gers said so.  It's nuts.

But then the authorities have not been too bad to the club this season.  Their League Cup progress has received considerable aid for a start.  They were allowed to postpone their First Round match against Queen's Park on the grounds that Ibrox was in use for the Commonwealth Games.  This would be understandable...but for the fact that the match wasn't at Ibrox, or even at Hampden Park.  It was at Airdrie, where the Spiders are playing this season.  The fact that Rangers already had a friendly match at Derby County (which I bet came with a not-so-insignificant appearance fee) is entirely coincidental, of course.

With Rangers running a round behind everyone else, this caused a problem for the seeded draw for the Third Round - if Inverness won the tie, they would be seeded, but if Rangers won the tie, they would not.  Instead of just delaying things, the league instead held the draw as if the winner would be seeded.  When, to my despair, the Gers won, they got an easier Third Round tie and avoided another top flight opponent.

A few folk in powerful places seem happy to accept that they are indeed The People.

You'd think, with all this help, they'd really be doing rather better.

L.

Talking points from the Premiership weekend

Cracking Accies!
It was a joy to hear Alex Neil being interviewed both before and after the sensational win at Celtic Park that has catapulted promoted Hamilton to the top of the Premiership.  Asked about his philosophy, he made an enormous deal of two factors - firstly, the amount of hard work his side put in, and secondly, their youth policy.  Asked about outstanding full-back Stephen Hendrie, and how Accies would cope if a bigger club came in for him, Neil reeled off the names of three other left-backs in the club's youth setup who he had hgh hopes for.  How many other Premiership bosses could name players in their club's under-17 side?  He's under orders to play young players, and he embraces that with gusto.

I was spectacularly wrong in predicting Accies for the drop, an embarrassing belief tempered only by the fact that it was shared by everyone else outside New Douglas Park as well.  This season, Hamilton's younger players have stepped up more dramatically than could have been envisaged.  Hendrie and fellow defender Ziggy Gordon have been terrific.  Midfielder Ali Crawford, the matchwinner at Celtic, has started playing in a more advanced role and is scoring goals left, right and centre.

Accies are top of the league, and deservedly so.  Manager Neil's humility is remarkable, given that his team are playing some fantastic football and leaving a lot of us eating our words.  No-one (except Motherwell fans) would begrudge this success story continuing. LS




ICT's Plan B

The Highland Derby was expected to be a one sided affair. So far this season Caley Thislte, until a recent minor blip, had been resolute in sweeping aside any challenge that came before them and they were expected to easily deal with a Ross County team that had only the week before secured their first league win of the season.

Both sides will feel they could have won as County dominated the first half, ICT the second. The Staggies, along with other sides in the league, seem to be cottoning on to the fact that by pressing the ICT players when they have taken possession they can force errors or at the very least make things uncomfortable for Inverness and stop them playing the way that John Hughes wants. ICT were afforded little time on the ball with Jackson Irvine in particular clamping down in midfield, and Jim McIntyre's attackers diligently and aggressively pressing the opposing central defenders.  With Yoann Arquin having deservedly opened the scoring, and the visitors having carved open Inverness time after time before the break, it looked like it might be County’s day.

But Yogi shook things up in the second half, switching to a more direct 4-4-2 and moving Marley Watkins up front.  It paid dividends when Watkins grabbed an equaliser and for the rest of the second half the home side dominated as County couldn't maintain their high intensity pressing style for the full 90 minutes.

Teams might have found a weakness in the Inverness style of play but Hughes showed he has an alternative plan after all if things aren’t going his way. For County it was an encouraging display and one their fans will have been delighted with. McIntyre appears to be slowly piecing together his strongest team and there seem to be more positives at this time for the Dingwall side than relegation rivals Motherwell. AS





Not necessarily better, but better to watch

Last year Derek McInnes rarely moved away from playing a single striker, and it paid rich dividends with the Dons having their most successful season in recent times.  Adam Rooney in particular seemed perfect for the formation and must have felt aggrieved in August when his place was given to new arrival David Goodwillie.

That basically remained the case until last month when both were played against Ross County and then Livingston with great success, with Rooney bagging four in two games.  McInnes has clearly taken a shine to the new pairing, and why wouldn’t he? Aberdeen have scored fourteen goals in their last five games and look dangerous every time they go forward.

There is however a corollary to that which is that in the last three games they have conceded seven times, and threw away a two goal lead at home to St Mirren last midweek. At the weekend they conceded two to a Dundee side who were currently struggling for some form and badly depleted by injury.

It will be interesting to see over the coming weeks whether McInnes changes his tactics to introduce a bit more solidity, or continues to cram Rooney, Goodwillie, Peter Pawlett and Niall McGinn into a side that would have also included Jonny Hayes on Saturday had he not been injured.  I fear the former, as the boss did complain that the game was far too open.  Not only that, but Aberdeen visit the league leaders (I just looked at the table but I think it must be a typo) next after the international break.

But if they back themselves to continue to score one more than the opposition and take a 3-2 win over a 1-0 win, then we should all rejoice as they will be a lot of fun to watch. IM




McFadden dependence is dangerous
On the one hand, St. Mirren have clearly turned the corner.  On the other hand, St. Johnstone should not be losing at home to the Buddies.  It was same old Saintees on Saturday, struggling to produce chances for the willing but limited Brian Graham.  Tommy Wright's answer to their creative worries is the signing of James McFadden, who has already been told that he'll be playing in his favoured central role and who made his debut against St. Mirren as a half-time substitute.  Allegedly the highest paid player at McDiarmid Park, Wright needs the Fadders of 2012/13, not the pale imitation of last season.  But at 31 there's a worry that the former Scotland international's best years are behind him.  If he can't produce the performances, then the problems in attack will only continue.  LS





Plastic fantastic
Thank god I never got round to writing a blog last week titled 'Can Dundee United win the League?'.  Typically, after hearing so much fanfare about performances down Tannadice way, I've seen them only twice this season - the gubbing by Celtic and then a dismal 2-0 defeat on Friday night at Kilmarnock.

Killie, much like Hamilton, are confounding expectations, particularly on the back of some storming home form...which coincides with a change to an artificial surface at Rugby Park.  Killie player Jamie Hamill commented after the game that his opponents complained about the pitch during the game.  Whilst this might be considered sour grapes (and Jackie McNamara insisted afterward that the pitch wasn't a factor in the defeat), United seemed to struggle to put passes together and their players misjudged the bounce of the ball on numerous occasions.

This wasn't the only reason for a home win - Alexei Eremenko has found his form after shedding his spare tyre, and Tope Obadeyi is on fire right now - but it was one reason.  Kilmarnock are clearly using the plastic to their advantage. LS




What is wrong with Motherwell?
It seems a long time ago now that Stuart McCall's side finished second in the league - the loss at Partick now leaves them second bottom!  Last season, the team's ability to win without playing particularly well was often commented on, but that particular talent has deserted them dramatically in the last two months.  Whilst I blamed their earlier defeats on injuries, McCall is not short of many players now, and has his first choice defence available now.  Yet they're still leaking goals.  It's hard to see how things will improve quickly down Fir Park way - so hard, in fact, that Andrew's comments above about them being Ross County's relegation rivals are not particularly wide of the mark. LS




Andrew Sutherland (AS) occasionally writes for When Saturday Comes.  He would never miss an ICT match unless he was offered a date with the lead singer of CHVRCHES...who he would then take to said ICT match.  

Iain Meredith (IM) is technically a Rangers fan, but these days he tends to support them ironically.  He only agreed to help with this blog because now he can tell his wife that he's "only watching the game to help a friend out".