Scotland v Austria

[johnnydun]

2 hours ago, King Kebab said:

FT stats...

And I get to keep all 13 fingers.

[Father Ted]

What I took from game:

Christie being grappled in box, stonewall penalty.  Ref knew he f*cked it, cut us a bit of slack claiming foul on Tierney,  for Austria's non goal.

Took to long to get into game from start.

O'Donnell did well. Alaba did not have a good game.

Hendry did well. Second goal for Austria, difficult flight on ball. Hanley could have been better positioned, but that might be a bit harsh.

We need to be far more clinical in the box. Dykes or Christie should have buried keepers blunder in first half. 

Christie is a good player but needs to be more clinical.

Belter from McGinn. 

Hanley doing what Hanley is good at, good header.

Showed good spirit to get back into game. We should have won, just a bit more belief and luck.

Austria will take points off Denmark and so will we. 

 

 

[greenockraver]

every time i watch scotland the more impressed i get with O'donnell . Cultured right peg. 

 

Hes got shades of prime charlie mulgrew about him. who all the jokes aside, wasnt actually a bad option in his time .

I think thats at least a couple of assists now in the last few maches. 

Edited March 26, 2021 by greenockraver

[Coooombe]

I don't understand how O'Donnell is being panned but Robertson is getting a free pass. O'Donnell managed to have a decent game up against Alaba and put in a far better delivery from a set piece than Robertson has managed in god knows how long. For being put captain and supposedly best player (seems to me Tierney and McTominay have a claim to that) Robertson hasn't done anything special for Scotland in donkeys. 

Edited March 26, 2021 by Coooombe

[Gordopolis]

I don't understand how O'Donnell is being panned but Robertson is getting a free pass. O'Donnell managed to have a decent game up against Alaba and put in a far better delivery from a set piece than Robertson has managed in god knows how long. For being put captain and supposedly best player (seems to me Tierney and McTominay have a claim to that) Robertson hasn't done anything special for Scotland in donkeys. 

Good point re the captaincy. For me it should be Tierney or McTominay.

[greenockraver]

4 minutes ago, Gordopolis said:

 

 

Good point re the captaincy. For me it should be Tierney or McTominay.

 

both would be amazing skippers in the dark blue. 

 

Robbo was phenomenal last year at club level and still operates at at the highest level... but it's clear to see who the leaders are in the squad . Tierney doesn't stop shouting and pointing from start to finish and leads by example. His run in the 2nd half when he kept changing pace to beat men was up there with anything you will see in world football. 

Edited March 26, 2021 by greenockraver

[red23]

1 hour ago, BingMcCrosby said:

Good list, you however missed my favourite. As time goes on it just gets better.

Also a belter

 

What was proved tonight about my point???? Did one of them sign for a Scottish team to disprove me?

Both players would be standouts in this league especially if also playing for Celtic.

[Jacky1990]

1 hour ago, G51 said:

Robertson doesn't produce Liverpool performances for Scotland because teams prepare a plan for Scotland that primarily focuses around stopping Robertson playing. When they're preparing a plan for Liverpool, they're focused on Alexander-Arnold and Salah.

Teams can afford to sell out to stop Robertson because we have nothing on the other side.

Not sure i agree.

Liverpool generally play in such a way that maximizes Robertson's attacking attributes. For Scotland he is asked to play a much more controlled game. Not even taking into account Mane's role in front of him for Liverpool creating space for Robbo's galloping runs. 

As fans we need to accept Robertson plays a different support role for Scotland to help the team as a whole. Rather than the one man band role Bale plays for Wales for example. If Robbo and Tierney can strike up a partnership on the left we will be far better for it, even if it means Robbo being a bit quieter than he is for his club.

I'm not sure teams doubling up on Robbo changes his main role in the team. If anything it creates space elsewhere in midfield that we can look to exploit.

[Aufc]

I think the key to Scotland being successful is having mcginn further forward. As soon as he moved forward, we instantly looked more dangerous and he obviously scored the goal. I think him with fraser playing off dykes would see us being much more of a threat.

[Stellaboz]

I wouldn't mind seeing Christie play that way then instead of Armstrong.

[Antiochas III]

7 hours ago, velo army said:

People saying that O'Donnell has been as good as Robbo is a bit much. He's clearly not good enough at international level, but he tries hard and never hides, so I like him, but he is poor on the ball and his crossing is utter shite. Robbo on the other hand is good on the ball and his crossing is miles better. 

I thought Tierney was incredible today, the number of times he took the ball from his own half and made 60 yards or so was fantastic.

 

Robertson's crossing is miles better?  O'Donnell in the second half alone had to collect Robbo's crosses as he thought our strikers were all 15ft tall...  same in previous games.  Meanwhile O'Donnell is getting assists or almost assists game by game from his crossing.  

As for not good enough at international level - biggest load of tripe ever written about a footballer playing in our top flight as they'd all do the business against a few team at this level while also fail badly against others - just like our "superstars" - especially the midfield do.

[Jambomo]

I honestly don’t think anyone was really awful for us last night. Most players will make a few mistakes, but also had moments where they did a lot of things well. I hope he can keep McTominay in midfield and as I think he sees Hendry as the natural fit there, how he progresses as well.

I’m not sure that I can remember a Scotland side with so many genuinely good players in it. It’s a strange balance when you have Liverpool, Arsenal and Man U players alongside Motherwell's finest but it’s working so far. 

[Aufc]

I honestly don’t think anyone was really awful for us last night. Most players will make a few mistakes, but also had moments where they did a lot of things well. I hope he can keep McTominay in midfield and as I think he sees Hendry as the natural fit there, how he progresses as well.
I’m not sure that I can remember a Scotland side with so many genuinely good players in it. It’s a strange balance when you have Liverpool, Arsenal and Man U players alongside Motherwell's finest but it’s working so far. 

We even had decent options off the bench. Clearly we need a new right back to replace o’donnell but he does a job the now. I suspect he would struggle against the likes of england with their pacey wingers. Alaba is a good player but he is not a pacey winger as such

[Jamie_B]

8 hours ago, HalfCutNinja said:

There's nothing he could have done about either of them. 100% nothing to do with him at all imo and no player available to us would have done better in either situation. 

Both goals were mostly as a result of failing to press the ball and prevent the shot/cross from outside the box. Marshall should maybe do better with the first - but the shot is moving and dipping and his first priority is just to keep it out. I certainly wouldn’t blame Hendry for not being first to the ball - the striker is always favourite there.

But I’m surprised he’s getting such a free pass from many at the second. Again, mcgregor needs to press the ball far better and try to stop it coming in but it’s Hendry’s man, he positions himself to give himself a run at it and to challenge the striker but he doesn’t get close to him. Hendry is still a yard off him when he gets his head on it. It’s a great header and the guy is a giant but he’s under very little pressure and that’s on Hendry. Whether it would have made any difference is up for debate.

I thought Hendry really grew into the game as it went on and his ball playing was pretty good throughout. But I don’t think his actual defending is his main attribute - he quite often found himself way deeper than the rest of the defence and not quite in tune with what the rest of them were doing. That maybe comes with time playing as a unit - and maybe you can get away with it when your defensive partner *isn't* Grant Hanley, but it could cause us issues against the better sides, particularly in the Euros.

I’m sure he’ll get the Israel game again, and if I was going to make changes at the back at this stage it would be firing Hanley into the sun and bringing McKenna in to the centre.

Edited March 26, 2021 by Jamie_Beatson

[accies1874]

Robertson doesn't produce Liverpool performances for Scotland because teams prepare a plan for Scotland that primarily focuses around stopping Robertson playing. When they're preparing a plan for Liverpool, they're focused on Alexander-Arnold and Salah.
Teams can afford to sell out to stop Robertson because we have nothing on the other side.

It also makes it easier for Tierney to drive forward, but personally I would drop Robertson for Considine as he's NEVER had a good game for Scotland.

Hendry was fine aside from a rough opening and McTominay was excellent in midfield. Hopefully these things remain compatible.

Armstrong looked like one of those players who we clamour for because they've been doing really well in the English Championship but look lost when they finally get a chance for Scotland. It was a shame as he's much better than that, but it seemed too much for him in that system. As the game went on, I thought McGregor would've been better in the 10 as he's better at receiving the ball between the lines.

[Stellaboz]

McGregor has mostly been shite for Scotland and his brief appearance last night added to that. He's lazy defensively and we can't afford that.

[Guest bernardblack]

12 minutes ago, accies1874 said:

It also makes it easier for Tierney to drive forward, but personally I would drop Robertson for Considine as he's NEVER had a good game for Scotland.

Hendry was fine aside from a rough opening and McTominay was excellent in midfield. Hopefully these things remain compatible.

Armstrong looked like one of those players who we clamour for because they've been doing really well in the English Championship but look lost when they finally get a chance for Scotland. It was a shame as he's much better than that, but it seemed too much for him in that system. As the game went on, I thought McGregor would've been better in the 10 as he's better at receiving the ball between the lines.

That first paragraph is wild. 

[Marshmallo]

8 hours ago, Dunning1874 said:

It's equally bizarre for people to insist a player has had a great performance when they haven't because someone they don't like on the internet doesn't rate them; posters saying Hendry strolled it tonight are every bit as guilty of having made their minds up based on what would win them an argument on the internet rather than what happened on the pitch. He was far from the worst player on the park and he was far from flawless.

Most of the people "jerking off" over Hendry are Dundee fans, who likely view him as one of their own. I can understand wanting him to be a success as a way to validate supporting a poor football club but it really means they can't watch objectively.

The exception was @DavidMcG who I'd presume has a very sore head this morning after his frankly bizarre outburst.

[BFTD]

Still quite buzzing about the game last night. Slept like a bairn.

I know that, if we want to get to Qatar, we've essentially dropped two points, but it feels more like we've stopped them from taking the extra points from us. There was something about the way we clawed our way back from disaster that I really appreciated. The away game in Austria is going to be tough, but we haven't started campaigns well for quite a while, and if that's one of our poorer performances then it should be a memorable campaign.

But we need to win in Israel. They had some long stretches of quality play against the Danes, but were still nowhere near good enough to take anything. I can't see anyone qualifying from the group without taking six points from them. Fingers crossed.

[Bing.McCrosby]

5 hours ago, red23 said:

What was proved tonight about my point???? Did one of them sign for a Scottish team to disprove me?

Both players would be standouts in this league especially if also playing for Celtic.

So just to be clear.

The point your making is that Kolasinac and Monreal are better players than Tierney.

And you have seen nothing since then to make you change your mind. 

It was rubbish at the time, and its an absolute monumental pile of crap now.

But thats your opinion, so tell the world.