professor challenger Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 1 hour ago, Dunning1874 said: Job done, somehow. The subs were bizarre at the time: bringing Martin on was obviously the right thing to do but Forrest had been the best player on the park and removing him completely killed our width, which only exacerbated the problem of Morrison and Bannan both being abject liabilities in possession and left Tierney exposed. The midfield continued to be pedestrian and a like for like sub with McArthur coming on for Fletcher - the only midfielder still on the park who was making a positive contribution - seemed the last thing we needed. Tierney was contributing nothing though and it made sense to remove him for a natural right sided player who could go outside, and all it took was him doing so once to create the goal. Tremendous play from Griffiths to put Anya in and he wouldn't have been able to drop deep to do that had Strachan not changed it to two up front. It was extremely painful to watch but we won and that's all that matters. If we shitfest our way to a win in Slovenia in the same fashion I won't give a shit how we did it or what I thought of the substitutions at the time. You were, for its entirety, watching a different game from me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Distant Doonhamer Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 Just back from the game. Interested to read a lot of the comments on here. All about opinions I suppose but I thought Morrison was excellent tonight. Bannan had a poor first half but did well 2nd half especially once he went out to the left side. Fletcher didn`t let anyone down either. Well deserved win against a decent team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthernJambo Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 #keeppushing FTFY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dafcburty Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 Well, that was probably the biggest rollercoaster of emtiond I've felt which watching a game of football in a long, long, time. I thought we played better when it was 11 vs 11 tbh, up until Chris Martin came on. I felt it was a penalty for the early challenge on Tierney tbh and on first viewing, I thought Gordon had sold the jersey but thankfully the ref got it right with the dive from mhak, which is evident from the replays. Lobotka and Hamsik looked impressive and if Gordon didn't make so many important saves we wouldn't have had a chance tonight. Even after Martin was introduced, I didn't think we were in full control. Slovakia defended really well and were well disciplined and their GK had an unbelievable evening. It was going to take something special or a mistake for us to score IMO and we certainly got that bit fortune with the OG. I thought Fletcher and Forrest were the two poorest performers on the evening and I would possibly play McArthur and Anya from the off on Sunday. It'd be harsh to not start Martin either after the impact he's made in this qualifying campaign but I can't see Strachan starting with 2 up front. Its in our hands. Hopefully we don't leave the winner vs Slovenia as late as yesterday! For anyone interested, here is my match report of the game; https://jordanburtfootball.com/2017/10/06/scotland-leave-it-late-again/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dublin Wasp Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 Phillips woeful, needs to be replaced by Snodgrass or Anya on Sunday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blootoon87 Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 Remember everyone saying we had no chance? Aye? Roon ye's. Shower of b*****ds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeadowArab Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 I'm just home from work and missed the game. Does anyone have a link to some decent highlights? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IainMorton Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 Apart from the goal, the best part of the whole match was the weird feeling in the ground when we got the free kick that Griffiths hit the bar with. It was almost as if as soon as the ref gave the free kick, everyone's mind jumped back to June and the two free kicks against England, and you could sense that he was going to do it again. Very strange feeling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JakeSAFC Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 Got bit off a scouser after winning today, unreal scenes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGoon Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 16 minutes ago, JakeSAFC said: Got bit off a scouser after winning today, unreal scenes. TMI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkoRaj Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 Without our 2 best players as well. Some result really Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JakeSAFC Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 TMI Agreed, I will get checked in the morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rednyella Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 The class of Griffith is there to see. He was excellent the entire game and very unfortunate not to score at least a couple. Amazed he didn't. The Slovak keeper had the game of his life. Forrest looked dangerous tonight with pace and caused the Slovak left back trouble all night. I was amazed WGS brought him off to be honest. I'd have taken Phillips off who really doesn't look comfortable out there. Slow and poor decision making. We should have been 3-0 up at half time. But in typical Scottish fashion we make it harder work than it needs to be. There was loads of space for us to hold the ball and make good decisions but for spells it was very frustrating to watch. The quality was poor from quite a few players mostly due to poor end product and the balance with Morrison and Bannan wasn't right for me. It was hard to keep the tempo high and Morrison and Fletcher are clearly not the players they where. It's amazing as the pressure which increased as game went on meant we got the goal. Even if it was ironically an own goal by Skrtel who played really well. The place lost the plot. They all count so let's enjoy it. Last word on Bannan. The wee man worked his socks off. He's got flaws and isn't very physical but I think Strachan thought his passing could create against a team who would play very defensively. He was right as in the second half Barry really tried very hard to break the Slovaks down. For all the skepticism of the supporters who wanted McGregor or McGinn he showed he can be valuable for the country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanky_ffc Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 We were pish, but still managed to win a 'must-win' game. Can't complain. Happiest I've left Hampden in years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
east fife for life Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 C'mon Scotland! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bernardblack Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 Need to get rid of the "we're now 1-0 up with five mins left and since we're Scotland we'll ruin this" mentality. That crept onto the pitch as soon as we scored. Excellent result (could've been 3) with a clean sheet and folk are somehow raging at WGS! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scary Bear Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 For me, that was one of the better Scotland performances of recent times. Even with 10 men Slovakia still looked a good side and were dangerous on the break, but we showed patience and managed to eventually get the goal after making quite a few good chances to score. The subs all looked correct in terms of taking of the most jaded looking players. Hopefully we can seal second place against Slovenia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desp Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 Griffiths' contribution to the winning goal was incredible. What a player he's become for his side. One more step. It'll be difficult, but we've nothing to fear over there. We can do this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stellaboz Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 Martin had a huge contribution when he came on, I sighed again when that change was made, I thought we'd lose our width on the right but it worked in the end. Credit to Strachan for changing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomGuy. Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 Forrest was taken off and Phillips left on as we virtually went with a proper 4-3-3, and Phillips height makes him a better target for direct balls. It meant our full backs were the width, and you could see Robertson push right up the park afterwards. McArthur replaced Fletcher who was looking leggy to try and close the space Slovakia were finding in front of our central defenders.Anya replacing Tierney was a masterstroke, it meant we had both full backs virtually playing as wingers. A bold move that paid off.Slovakias number 22 was the best player on the park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.