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".