Inverness Caley Thistle head coach Billy Dodds explains Partick Thistle's tactical tweaks amid own injuries in defence ahead of trip to Glasgow to play under lights at Firhill
Billy Dodds is wary of a Partick Thistle side more likely to get the ball down and use width than last season ahead of Caley Thistle's trip to Firhill tomorrow night.
A late surge under Ian McCall after a tricky start to last season saw the Jags make it into the play-offs, where they lost out to Inverness in the quarter finals.
Dodds, though, can see McCall's effect beginning to show in Partick's performances, and he believes his opposite number has continued to develop the style of play in Glasgow with new signings this summer.
"Last year Richard Foster was getting on in years, and sometimes Kevin Holt played full back," Dodds recalled.
"I had Kevin at Queen of the South, and he will get forward but not as regularly. Now they've got two full backs in Harry Milne and Jack McMillan who will get forward whenever they want with youth and energy.
"Steven Lawless will come into pockets as well, but they've still got the threat of Brian Graham who lets them go direct as well.
"They like to play football, and their pitch is much better than it was last year. I know Ian McCall likes his teams to get the ball down rather than just lumping it.
"They've got wee tweaks, and their full backs are one of those with them now getting forward at will."
Space to exploit out wide?
With Partick's full backs now pushing further forward on a regular basis, the potential is there for ICT to take advantage of the gaps left on the wings.
Certainly the likes of Austin Samuels and Daniel MacKay would relish counter attacking when defenders are out of position, and it is perhaps a sign that Partick's new arrivals are still settling in that they have not kept a league clean sheet yet this season.
They let in two goals against Dundee, one against Hamilton and most recently three against Queen's Park in a losing effort, so Dodds hopes to continue that trend – but he knows the Caley Jags will have to work hard to make that happen.
"Of course you look at that," he reasoned.
"Partick are a right good team, and I'm sure Ian McCall will be telling them to get back to good defensive ways to keep clean sheets.
"It plays on your mind when you're losing goals – it would be playing on my mind – so it's something we'll look to exploit but we have to play well to do that.
"I'm sure Ian will be working hard on the defensive side of their game to keep nice and solid, but with the way we played last week and the pace we've got we're hoping to play through them and get in behind them.
"It will still be difficult, because they've good defensive players, they've just lost a few goals in the last couple of weeks."
Team news
While Shane Sutherland, Tom Walsh and Max Ram are long term absenstees, further issues were laid bare when ICT's starting line-up against Cove Rangers last weekend was revealed.
David Carson, Danny Devine, Wallace Duffy and Sean Welsh all also missed the match, and there is mixed news on their chances of playing tomorrow night.
"We've still got a couple of wee niggles, so we'll assess them like we did last week and see who makes the squad," Dodds explained.
"Danny's close, he has really improved this week which is great news. He had a wee twinge in his thigh, and sometimes you could be looking at five or six weeks, but he has improved.
"We're hoping he will be back in very soon, but this weekend has just come too early.
"It was a back spasm that Carson battled through at Arbroath. I didn't want to keep playing him. If you'd seen him on the Monday morning, you would understand why I didn't pick him.
"It's not fair on Carson, and it's not fair on the squad. He was sore after Arbroath, so we're thinking more long term where we could have him just now, but then lose him for six weeks."
