Ex-Caley Thistle goalkeeper Michael Fraser says it’s vital the players block out the noise as the Championship side aim to halt a five-match losing slide.
Late in 2008, when ICT were in the Premiership, was the last time the club lost five or more games on the spin.
In their six-fixture slump back then, they lost 1-0 to Celtic, 3-1 against Dundee United, 2-0 at St Mirren, 3-0 against Aberdeen, 3-2 away to Motherwell, and 3-0 at home to Rangers.
Fraser was recalled to the team for a Scottish Cup tie in January 2009 and a 3-0 victory at home to Partick Thistle stopped the nightmare run.
The current side lost 2-1 against Dumbarton, 3-2 at home to Airdrieonians and 1-0 at Dundee in the Viaplay Cup before opening league losses to Queen’s Park (2-1) and then Ayr United on Saturday (1-0).
With no game this weekend, ICT return to league business away to Airdrie on August 26.
‘People want heads to roll’ – Fraser
Clearly, it has been a tough start, but Fraser feels the players and boss Billy Dodds know best what’s required to arrest the poor results.
He said: “It’s not nice and you can think about the run too much, but this can happen to most teams in Scotland.
“They are not losing heavily and sometimes it’s just the break of a ball which leads to decisive goals. I don’t think they should be too concerned, although they will be desperate to get the win.
“The Championship is always tight and you can always turn your form around pretty quickly. As players, you’re best not to pay attention to the noise from outside.
“Football is getting worse in terms of people’s reaction to results on social media and it’s the same with Celtic and Rangers. You see on online forums, poor form leads to people wanting heads to roll.
“Players don’t take too much notice of it. If you’ve had a poor game, you don’t need anyone else to tell you. The same goes for if you are on a poor run of form.
“Managers especially won’t pay attention to the outside noise. It’s a slippery slope if players take too much notice of the background noise.
“Listen, we love football because it provokes opinions, it’s tribal, but it’s a professional game and players will know best what’s required to get out of the run they’re on.”
Highlights of yesterday’s game against Ayr United are available online nowhttps://t.co/CxvgL7AmE1
— Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (@ICTFC) August 13, 2023
‘Airdrie are not Real Madrid’
ICT’s next opponents Airdrie advanced to a second-round Viaplay Cup tie against Ross County this weekend without dropping a point in the group stages.
The newly-promoted Diamonds also got their league season off the mark with a 2-1 home comeback win against Partick Thistle at the weekend.
While Fraser doesn’t doubt Airdrie’s ability, he insists Inverness cannot lose sight of the fact their trip to the Excelsior Stadium a week on Saturday is winnable.
He said: “By all accounts, Airdrie are a decent side, but in football teams can be overhyped.
“It’s Airdrie they’re playing, not Real Madrid. You hear how good they are, while Caley Thistle are rubbish. Fans think they’ll maybe go down and get hammered.
“Airdrie are probably not as good as everyone is saying and Caley Thistle are not as bad as people are saying. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle and they could quite easily go there and win.
“Just concentrate on what you need to do. Caley Thistle have been in the Championship long enough to know how to handle it. Hopefully, they will be back up and running – sooner rather than later.”
