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Line up face Belgium


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1 hour ago, DAVIDB69 said:

 


No to players not playing club football so a no to Armstrong

 

Armstrong came off the bench against Man Utd last week and didn't look at all off the pace. He played well and looked sharp enough. 

While I think it's useful to apply that to certain players (Hanley was especially useless when he wasn't playing regularly), others cope quite well with it (Hutton a few years ago, for example).

 It's not something that more successful nations abide by either. Belgium played 2 strikers yesterday who aren't starting for their clubs. Croatia won 4-0 with players in their team who aren't starting or playing for their clubs at the moment. 

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52 minutes ago, Leonard Cohen said:

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I like the density of the midfield there, but the overall shape almost guarantees us zero goals. McBurni will be lost on his own vs the Belgian defence.  That's why I think someone like Snodgrass or maybe Christie roving near him is a must

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To be honest, and this is coming from a usually positive person when it comes to Scotland, we are fucked.  We could beat Belgium on Monday, and likely still wouldn't qualify as we'd need Russia to drop full points against us and then something elsewhere.  That's really unlikely.

So you know what?  f**k it.  It's clear that sitting back like a gang of shitebags didn't work against a good but not great Russia side.  What's it going to do against a very good Belgium side?  Play a strong forward line and try and beat them 8-7.   If we play a conservative formation worrying what Belgium will do to us, then we may as well just sack the rest of the fixtures in the group too while we're at it.  Go baws oot in front of a home crowd, then at least if we lose something like 3-2 in the sort of manner we did to Germany a while back, then at least that claws back some miniscule degree of respect from the fans, and hopefully from themselves.

But we'll shite it.  Unremarkable 3-0 defeat incoming.  Same as we'd get for a forfeit ironically enough.

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2 hours ago, Gordopolis said:

I like the density of the midfield there, but the overall shape almost guarantees us zero goals. McBurni will be lost on his own vs the Belgian defence.  That's why I think someone like Snodgrass or maybe Christie roving near him is a must

My idea behind that formation was that McGinn, Forrest and Fraser could join in attacks while the other midfielders held their position and helped out the backline. Maybe I've been playing too much Football Manager though. 

What the team lacks is a couple of proper horrible b*****ds at centre back or in defensive midfield doing the dirty work.

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Is Naismith fit at all? I’d be tempted to play him up top. If nothing else he’ll get a few free kicks by being a snidey wee so and so.
Christie has to play, I’d also consider Armstrong despite his lack of game time and I thought McLean did ok when he came on last night.

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Christie has to start. I'd probably play Armstrong too, in the hope that he could add a bit more drive and presence to the midfield - but I think McLean is ahead in the pecking order at the moment and more likely to come in with his good performance in the away game in mind. I wouldn't even be against giving Snodgrass a start in place of Forrest, as I think he could offer more purpose and leadership further up the pitch - but Forrest, as poor as he was against Russia, is probably still our best available option for giving O'Donnell adequate cover on the right, and he will need as much of that as possible on the evidence of last night. 

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Christie has to start. I'd probably play Armstrong too, in the hope that he could add a bit more drive and presence to the midfield - but I think McLean is ahead in the pecking order at the moment and more likely to come in with his good performance in the away game in mind. I wouldn't even be against giving Snodgrass a start in place of Forrest, as I think he could offer more purpose and leadership further up the pitch - but Forrest, as poor as he was against Russia, is probably still our best available option for giving O'Donnell adequate cover on the right, and he will need as much of that as possible on the evidence of last night. 
Fraser definitely failed to protect the full backs last night (I'm pretty sure he gave the ball away for their second goal).

As you say, Forrest is pretty good defensively.

But I'm another that would like us to try the no striker nonsense again. Loads of running midfielders, all trying to link up and make deep runs.

O Donnell against whoever they have is already giving me the fear.
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Guest DAVIDB69
Who would you play upfront then?


Would go with Ryan Christie , they might as well have a go either way they will get a hiding anyway.

Naismith is still the best at upfront on own role although seems to be injured.
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