Jacky1990

We have nearly no chance of qualifying from a group when we are currently in the playoff position? Its not a great start weve had, but hardly disastrous.

If we are playing Ross McCrorie in nets, we really are in trouble! Still rather him than Jack Hamilton mind. Craig Macgillivray won Portsmouth's POTY. Obviously English League One isnt a great standard and Pompey didnt have a great season, but he must have something about him. Would like to see him or Kelly being given a chance in the squad, certainly over McCrorie, Doohan, Clark or Bain.

Oli McBurnie was £20 million. At that rate, McGinn for £50 million is a steal.

That wasnt the issue. If they are passing across the pitch, the midfield and defence have done their job. Cant score going sideways. The issues we had came when our players tried closing them down without supporting presses from their teammates. We very rarely pressed as a team and rarely nullified the space between defence and midfield. It meant Croatia could just pass it past us and move into the vacated space. Their off the ball movement was good, but we facilitated it by ball watching and being too eager to win the ball back at times, McGinn and McGregor in particular.

Yes, it really didnt work. It was clear as day they were getting all the control in midfield. In hindsight, we should have stuck McGinn on Modric at the start of the second half and asked John to sacrifice for the good of the team. Or, brought some like Turnbull or Christie on to play alongside Adams or Dykes but to drop in more. The selection of Armstrong in the deeper position didnt work against a weaker midfield against Czech Rep. Gobsmacked we went with the same approach against an even better midfield. I get we tweaked it slightly with Armstrong and McGinn either side of McGregor, but he was still playing in the same areas of the pitch. Chasing shadows most the game.

It wasnt so much the space or time we gave them, but that none of our players were disciplined enough to shut off the space rather than chase after their man. John McGinn kept on trying to press but constantly just vacated the space and Croatia had smart enough players to make the most of that space. It looks good for the crowd on the rare occasion he wins the ball, but it gets him caught out of position all the time. Callum McGregor as well, as great as his moment at the goal was, isnt defensively intelligent enough to play that deeper midfield role. He kept on running out of position to try close the ball, without ever realising that that is exactly what the Croats wanted him to do. Same with McKenna getting dragged into midfield by their centre forward, creating space for Perisic in particular to exploit. The issue for me last night was that all our players were trying to press their man, but we very rarely pressed as a team and never once looked in control of the midfield spaces. Good players like Modric rip you apart when that happens. There was a lot of naivety in last night's midfield performance, as there was against the Czechs. It is starting to become a pattern and its a bit worrying that Clarke hasnt tried to address this in either of the games when things arent going as planned.

Grant Hanley for me, with Robertson in a close second. I've thought Hanley with a blundering hoof merchant for most of his 30+ caps, but he really looked the part the last few games.

Wait...people are paying for this? Actual cash money? 😂😂

Based on what? Stats arent everything, but you cant seriously say the guy who has scored 82 goals in 160 games in the Bundesliga is shite based on an unspectacular spell at Leicester 7 years ago. For comparison with Christie and Forrest (which is who you are weirdly comparing him to)....Christie has 47 goals in 199 league games, Forrest has 61 goals in 256 league games. At a widely inferior level. Its a fucking weird thing to be claiming.

You're on the wind up surely? The guy is a goal every other game in one of the best leagues in the world for a fairly average team. His "crash and burn" at Leicester was literally the only bad half season he has ever had. Also his first season away from his homeland. Of his 15 league games there, he only started 6 games. Are you really saying he's average because of 6 starts despite years of proving to be a good striker at a very good level? You really are one of those who believe the EPL is the be all and end all because Sky told you to, arent you? What a stupid argument.

I wish I was a neutral tonight and could just sit and admire everything Modric does. The touch, the weight of pass, the movement, little drops of the shoulder. The guy makes it look effortless. Iniesta and Xavi are the only other players Ive seen live that come close to that. Modric can do more without touching the ball than the England midfield (or ours) can do with time and space on the ball. The definition of world class is an odd one too. For me, you are only world class in your position if you are in the debate for best player in the world in that position. Based on that, Kane is the only English player close to being world class. Some people might argue TAA or Walker, but Kimmich shits all over them at right back. Thats literally it.

But it was good we were there? And the future does look better?

Its obviously all doom and gloom now we are out and some justified criticism being thrown about, but what are peoples positives from Scotland's Euro 2020. I'll start. 1. Billy Gilmour. I hope he was in the hotel taking notes of Modric's performance tonight. Frightening potential who should be in the starting eleven every game going forward. 2. The squad is still relatively young (all outfield players 30 or younger) so still time to improve as a group with new players such as Patterson and Turnbull coming more into it. Hopefully this will be a good learning curve for all involved. 3. Most importantly, the buzz this has generated will hopefully inspire the future generation. Ive seen loads of people who couldnt give two fucks about Scotland this time last year going about screaming at the games. That can only be a positive. Any more?

There is some threads that serve to remind you how many fucking wallopers are on this forum. This is one of them.

I still love the big man. I think his role in this team is very similar to that Emile Heskey used to do for England back in the day. Hes not really there to score goals. Hes there to battle their defenders and facilitate and create space for an Adams, Christie, etc. The alternative is Adams does that graft then you lose out on him being in the spaces. Thats my theory anyway and the bit of defending I'll do for Dykes. His role is easy to criticise when the team as a whole isnt scoring but is vital if we go direct as often as we do. Not sure Nisbet has the physicality to play that role.