The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Inverness boss playinga dangerous game – Rab Douglas’s No1column
Paul Hartley had some harsh words for his players after the game against Aberdeen on Friday night, as he did the week before after Dundee crashed out of the Scottish Cup to St Mirren. And Scott Bain spoke his mind pretty bluntly at Pittodrie as well.
But there’s a big difference between what they said and Richie Foran’s post-match comments after Inverness Caley Thistle lost to Hamilton on Tuesday. He went to a whole different place. When you say “some of our players haven’t got the bottle” that’s a very high-risk strategy.
He has maybe thought that he hasn’t got anything to lose, given they are bottom of the table.
Foran hasn’t been a manager long and he might regret going as far as he did.
The worry for him will be that some of the players could down tools.
It will certainly be interesting to see if anybody pulls out with an injury this weekend.
Saturday’s game against Dundee is a huge one.
It’s shaping up to be the biggest of the season for both sides.
I actually thought Dundee started really well at Aberdeen and if that Paul McGowan shot had gone in we could have been watching a totally different game.
But there’s no getting away from the fact that they fell away as the match went on.
The return of Darren O’Dea could be vital for Dundee.
Darren was a young boy at Celtic when I was at the club and he’s gone on to become a leader.
You need guys like him in your team.
As I said before, I don’t think Paul or Scott went too far with their comments.
It becomes history when you go back to training on Monday morning and you can’t afford to hold grudges.
I don’t know much about the new midfielder Marc Klok but I reckon Henrik Ojamaa could be just what Dundee need.
They need a spark and Ojamaa is the type of player who can give a team that. He’s got a bit of pace as well.
There’s no real time to find your feet when you sign in January, so the fact that both men have played in Scotland before is a big bonus as well.
Dundee could do with the same sort of performance they produced at Hamilton a few months ago.
And if some Inverness players “bottle it” again, all the better.
He has maybe thought that he hasn’t got anything to lose, given they are bottom of the table
Heed the warning
The description I’d use for Leigh Griffiths is a ‘loveable rogue’.
I’ve always liked Sparky and he lives for playing football and hitting the back of the net – which he is very good at. He’s a fantastic natural goalscorer. Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers has spoken publicly this week about him having to work harder to improve his fitness.
I really hope that he takes his manager’s words on board.
Brendan has got the best out of players at Celtic, who weren’t flourishing under Ronny Deila. Stuart Armstrong springs to mind.
But I think he’ll be a pretty ruthless guy. You wouldn’t want to mess with him.
As successful as Sparky has been in the last couple of years at scoring goals for Celtic, I suspect he might only get one warning.