Caley Thistle defender Coll Donaldson hopes to come up with the answers against Dundee today in a bid to avert the Highlanders’ recent Championship slump.
Inverness have recorded just one league win from their last five matches, with bruising losses to Dundee United and Arbroath still fresh in the memory.
Caley Jags have not found the net since a 2-0 victory over Queen of the South on October 29, and Donaldson feels there is plenty for his side to put right against the Dark Blues this afternoon.
Donaldson said: “As a team, it’s a big game. We haven’t scored in three games, while we shipped three at Arbroath and at home to Dundee United.
“It is unusual for us. Over the last couple of years we have scored quite frequently.
“It’s something that we will look to put right as a team. It’s not just the strikers, the wide players or midfielders – I think we can all chip in.
“We will be looking to do that – I think we’ve got a few questions to answer.”
A recent sickness bug caused manager John Robertson and assistant Scott Kellacher both forced to miss last weekend’s Tunnock’s Caramel Wafer Challenge Cup quarter final against Clyde, which the Highlanders won on penalties.
Donaldson, who also struggled with the illness, is refusing to cite the bug as an excuse, with the 24-year-old adding: “It was obviously not great timing. We were struggling with form, and then we got the sickness bug.
“Excuses are easy to be made. We had two players missing on Saturday, so it was not like we were down to the bare bones.
“The manager has not been in the dugout for any of the previous rounds in the cup, and we have managed to fly through them.
“If we were looking for excuses they were there, but we weren’t trying to use them.
“We weren’t at our best on Saturday. It was probably better defensively, but it can’t be one or the other.
“We need to start being better at both ends of the park.”
Dundee go into today’s match a point ahead of the fourth placed Caley Jags, but are looking to bounce back from a 2-0 derby defeat to Donaldson’s former club Dundee United last time out.
Donaldson reckons James McPake’s men will be eager to put that result behind them at Caledonian Stadium, adding: “Dundee is a big footballing city. In a sense it makes it more important that Dundee United are in the league as well. That’s their direct opponent just now.
“Dundee will probably be thinking that if they can finish above United, they will go up.
“There’s probably more pressure from that point of view.
“They will have big expectations. It will be a tough game.”
