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Scotland v Czech Republic (UEFA Nations League)


King Kebab

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Arguably the main difference next month will be quality off the bench eg Armstrong or Christie on for Fraser; Forrest would be exactly the kind of player to take pressure off a tired team that is hemmed in. Midfield is McGinn plus two others - finding the balance of the two is key.
 

Anyone old enough to remember the early to mid 90s will recall a stuffy 352 which didn’t create many chances, shit-fested games and rode their luck against quality teams, often hide-behind-the-sofa games where you wondered how the f**k we didn’t get beaten (Sweden at Ibrox, Russia away) but qualified for tournaments.

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Serbia, who crumbled at home to Turkey tonight, after losing to Hungary the other night?

Looking at the Serbia highlights, I would be confident of not losing the type of goals that Turkey did and equally I would be confident of scoring against that defence which literally gifted Turkey their goals!!!
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11 minutes ago, Gordopolis said:
12 minutes ago, red23 said:
Well, exactly how it sounded on radio. The highlights showed we were being utterly tanked. Play like that against Serbia it'll be 5-0

Serbia, who crumbled at home to Turkey tonight, after losing to Hungary the other night?

2nd string team vs Hungary and Turkey are no mugs. Home advantage with no fans? 

You did see the number of chances that czechs had right?

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5 minutes ago, Gordopolis said:

We can and will get a scudding at some point, but on percentages, most teams at and around our level will struggle against our stuffy defensive setup.

The luck thing is interesting. Yes the Czech dude near the end should clearly have netted, but I'm certain that their desperation played a part in his miss. Had they been 4-0 up and strolling, our defenders would be broken and nowhere near him, he dinks that in and jogs away to the acclaim of his teammates.

 

Quite possibly. But that's one bit of luck. We got to play a scratch Czech team over there due to Covid and we still needed lots of wee breaks to win. Their  preparation for tonight was pretty farcical too. Israel were better than us last week and we were lucky to win. I don't recall a Scotland side being so fortunate over the space of a few games. I think lots of questions remain about how we are setting up. 

The flip side is that the team are growing in confidence with positive results and something like consistency in team selection. Playing a few games in quick succession helps too. For the first time in ages we have some momentum and the players look like they are pulling together. Plenty of positives for sure. 

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Quite possibly. But that's one bit of luck. We got to play a scratch Czech team over there due to Covid and we still needed lots of wee breaks to win. Their  preparation for tonight was pretty farcical too. Israel were better than us last week and we were lucky to win. I don't recall a Scotland side being so fortunate over the space of a few games. I think lots of questions remain about how we are setting up. 

The flip side is that the team are growing in confidence with positive results and something like consistency in team selection. Playing a few games in quick succession helps too. For the first time in ages we have some momentum and the players look like they are pulling together. Plenty of positives for sure. 

Good points, and in particular the one about the three game week. I think it's been very helpful, almost feeling a wee bit tournament-like, what with penalties and all.

As a fan, I've loved this. 3 games, 3 wins, 2 u21 games and 2 wins (plus 9 goals and a new all time top scorer and great candidate for near future number 9)

 

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Just now, Gordopolis said:
Just now, red23 said:
Well, exactly how it sounded on radio. The highlights showed we were being utterly tanked. Play like that against Serbia it'll be 5-0

Serbia, who crumbled at home to Turkey tonight, after losing to Hungary the other night?

 

Just now, King Kebab said:


Looking at the Serbia highlights, I would be confident of not losing the type of goals that Turkey did and equally I would be confident of scoring against that defence which literally gifted Turkey their goals!!!

Thats the problem, I've not seen either of Serbia's last games. But I'm sure turkey didn't go out playing the 5 another back snooze fest.

Serbia will be loving our defensive formation.

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Thats the problem, I've not seen either of Serbia's last games. But I'm sure turkey didn't go out playing the 5 another back snooze fest.
Serbia will be loving our defensive formation.
I reckon it's the exact opposite. We go 4231 and they will carve us open. We won't outscore them.
352 and we can frustrate the hell out of them though. Dykes and Fraser, maybe Griffiths, maybe a.n.other and we've proved we can counter and score against good opposition.
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9 minutes ago, Waspie said:

Quite possibly. But that's one bit of luck. We got to play a scratch Czech team over there due to Covid and we still needed lots of wee breaks to win. Their  preparation for tonight was pretty farcical too. Israel were better than us last week and we were lucky to win. I don't recall a Scotland side being so fortunate over the space of a few games. I think lots of questions remain about how we are setting up. 

The flip side is that the team are growing in confidence with positive results and something like consistency in team selection. Playing a few games in quick succession helps too. For the first time in ages we have some momentum and the players look like they are pulling together. Plenty of positives for sure. 

Our preparation for tonight was hardly ideal either and we were missing numerous players. 
 

Israel weren’t remotely better than us last week either and I don’t recall any luck against either Israel or Slovakia. 

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Just now, Gordopolis said:

I reckon it's the exact opposite. We go 4231 and they will carve us open. We won't outscore them.
352 and we can frustrate the hell out of them though. Dykes and Fraser, maybe Griffiths, maybe a.n.other and we've proved we can counter and score against good opposition.

The 4231 is more adaptable in my opinion. You can  play it more defensive or offensive at different phases. 

Im not talking about us going out there to try and boss the game. Just actually play the game to win. 

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Just now, No_Problemo said:

Our preparation for tonight was hardly ideal either and we were missing numerous players. 
 

Israel weren’t remotely better than us last week either and I don’t recall any luck against either Israel or Slovakia. 

At times israel were better than us tho, for decent spells. Same as we were on top for spells.

We were at home tho, and israel are crap. So it doesn't really reflect us favorably failing to beat them over 90 and then 120 mins.

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30 minutes ago, Donathan said:

As far as I can tell Scotland win the group with any of the above permutations:

 

1) Scotland win either of the two remaining games

2) Scotland draw both of the remaining games

3) Czech Republic and Israel draw

4) Scotland/Israel draw and Israel beat Czech Republic

5) Czech Republic fail to beat Slovakia and Israel fail to win both of their remaining games

Such a great position to be in. And really worth pushing hard in those games. Right now we are the best group leader in League B. If it finished like that we'd only need 3 of the 4 group winners in League A to qualify for the World Cup and we'd be in the play-offs for that too.

If you'd told me at the start of 2020 that we'd be 90 minutes away from making Euro 2020 and very close to two matches from Qatar 2022, I'd have said there's more chance of the pubs being shut down and the Orange marching season cancelled.

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1 minute ago, No_Problemo said:

Our preparation for tonight was hardly ideal either and we were missing numerous players. 
 

Israel weren’t remotely better than us last week either and I don’t recall any luck against either Israel or Slovakia. 

Nobody's preparation is ideal at the moment but clearly we have been far more settled than the Czech Republic. Or maybe I missed us naming a possible alternative squad the last few days as we travelled around the continent. 

Have to agree to disagree on Israel. Horrific game of football and while they were pish too they looked a more coherent side than us. And you didn't think McGinn had a wee bit of luck with his pen? 

I'm delighted we are winning games and there are lots of positives. Nothing wrong with a wee bit of perspective though. 

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Just one thing on "luck" - the Czechs aren't going home thinking they were unlucky. They're thinking that they blew it. It wasn't bad luck that made them shank over from 4 yards or miss a volley at the back post. It was moments of bad technique and composure. We can be grateful they weren't better but the Czechs got what they deserved tonight - and so did we.

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2 minutes ago, Waspie said:

Nobody's preparation is ideal at the moment but clearly we have been far more settled than the Czech Republic. Or maybe I missed us naming a possible alternative squad the last few days as we travelled around the continent. 

Have to agree to disagree on Israel. Horrific game of football and while they were pish too they looked a more coherent side than us. And you didn't think McGinn had a wee bit of luck with his pen? 

I'm delighted we are winning games and there are lots of positives. Nothing wrong with a wee bit of perspective though. 


They named a squad as a contingency and then never used it, I would imagine due to their previous issues. I don’t see how that affects their main squads preparation. We had as many players missing as they did. 

If you’re going that far into the Israel game to find a bit of luck then you’re struggling. And no I don’t think there was any luck involved in us winning the penalties. 

Perspective is needed, yes, but not bizarre negativity. 

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Nobody's preparation is ideal at the moment but clearly we have been far more settled than the Czech Republic. Or maybe I missed us naming a possible alternative squad the last few days as we travelled around the continent. 
Have to agree to disagree on Israel. Horrific game of football and while they were pish too they looked a more coherent side than us. And you didn't think McGinn had a wee bit of luck with his pen? 
I'm delighted we are winning games and there are lots of positives. Nothing wrong with a wee bit of perspective though. 


Compared to us, Israel looked nicer on the eye in the first half, definitely. But it meant nothing. How many chances on goal did it give them? We easily could have tried to play like them - we definitely have the players with the technique - but I believe we were instructed not to by our manager. SC saw - before any of us - that playing the 4231 was leaving us too vulnerable and open to poor results. The approach we took offered much more security and a means of nullifying our opponents. From that point on - as it proved - we always had a stronger chance of victory.
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9 minutes ago, No_Problemo said:


They named a squad as a contingency and then never used it, I would imagine due to their previous issues. I don’t see how that affects their main squads preparation. We had as many players missing as they did. 

If you’re going that far into the Israel game to find a bit of luck then you’re struggling. And no I don’t think there was any luck involved in us winning the penalties. 

Perspective is needed, yes, but not bizarre negativity. 

Glad you agree that perspective is needed. And "bizarre negativity" is a bizarre charge in itself when I've listed a number of positives about our current situation.  

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