Scotland v Czech

[Thorongil]

We need to play our best players to have a chance. We might even need to play Tierney on the right or have him and Robertson man marking Sterling and Foden.

[Thorongil]

Just now, Thorongil said:

We need to play our best players to have a chance. We might even need to play Tierney on the right or have him and Robertson man marking Sterling and Foden.

And Gilmour is better than any of the Czech midfielders. He should have been playing today.

[Gordon EF]

Just now, DA Baracus said:

I can sort of see the positive that we created a lot of chances, but that's it, and we never took any of them either.

Aye. it's not like there are no positives to be taken at all. But on balance, the negatives outweigh the positives. Not recognising that is farcical. They might have had a point of that was Belgium or France.

[D Angelo Barksdale]

[paddymcp]

Wasn’t much difference between the teams  at all today other than their respective goalkeepers recovery powers. 
 

The blame for that second goal with Hendry & Marshall is not even comparable. 
 

Hendry miscued a shot in the oppositions half. The other was 40 yards from his goal and ran back to watch it fly by him without jumping at it.  
 

Gordon isn’t the saviour but Marshall’s game will be affected now. Would drop him IMO. 

Edited June 14, 2021 by paddymcp

[Doctor Manhattan]

27 minutes ago, Avon Barksdale said:

This photo to haunt us for 20 odd years till we qualify again.

[Ya Bezzer!]

19 minutes ago, roverthemoon said:

My tactic is for the goalkeeper to prepare for worst case scenario. Not wander upfield and leave your goal exposed. The striker literally said in his interview that he noticed the poor positioning of Marshall earlier so was ready to capitalise. Hendry’s decision making was poor as was Marshall’s 

If it's poor positioning that's too blame over giving the ball away then Hanley has to come into the question surely?

[Boaby Fisher]

1 minute ago, Gordon EF said:

Aye. it's not like there are no positives to be taken at all. But on balance, the negatives outweigh the positives. Not recognising that is farcical. They might have had a point of that was Belgium or France.

Agree that there is nothing positive to be taken from this game. They were poor, we were worse. The only positive I can see is that I was incredibly underwhelmed by Croatia and they look very beatable. England were far better than Croatia, but they may relax or play a slightly experimental side on Friday and a point may be enough against them if we can beat the Croats. That said, if Southgate goes with his most attacking side, we might get slaughtered.

[Ya Bezzer!]

1 minute ago, paddymcp said:

The blame for that second goal with Hendry & Marshall is not even comparable. 
 

Hendry miscued a shot in the oppositions half. The other was 40 yards from his goal and ran back to watch it fly by him without jumping at it.  
 

Gordon isn’t the saviour but Marshall’s game will be affected now. Would drop him IMO. 

Watch Gordon's last performance against England.

Much, much worse than Marshall today.

[DA Baracus]

Wait, there are folk who genuinely think that Marshall could have saved that had he only 'jumped' or 'dived'?

And these folk are being serious and not having a laugh?

[DiegoDiego]

All the neutrals who've sent me messages say they thought Scotland were the better team. They're obviously trying to be kind, but it wasn't like we were played of the park. Result is all that matters though and it was a shocking one.

[DA Baracus]

Stuart Cosgrove not holding back on Off The Ball.

[Clydeside]

I can't think that anybody would defend Marshall's awful positioning. And I can't think that anyone would defend Hendry's wild decision to shoot. In what proportion blame rests with each player doesn't interest me much.

There has been a lot of optimism about our chances at this tournament but it doesn't square with having Marshall and Hendry start. But for Allan McGregor's retirement and Craig Gordon's unfortunate fate at Hearts it's arguable that Marshall would still be at the bottom of our goalkeeping pecking order just as he has been in years gone by. I've never regarded him as a particularly good goalkeeper outside of his shot-stopping skills. Jack Hendry's involvement is an even more stark thing. This is a player who at the age of 26 has barely played 100 senior matches. Fewer than 50 of those have been at a level which would normally recommend you to the national team. That ought to mean he isn't due a jersey. Potential and stature irrespective.

I could go on about Dykes and others but I think other posters have made the same points. If we want to turn things around we will need to deploy all of our quality at once and we will need to do so in a system that masks the glaringly low quality defensive pool we have, Robertson and Tierney aside. It might seem ironic but I'd have Gallagher on the sheet first just by reason of being a very aggressive defender and doing the basics reliably. Poor as he may be in possession. I don't fancy the rest much.

[Thorongil]

2 minutes ago, DA Baracus said:

Wait, there are folk who genuinely think that Marshall could have saved that had he only 'jumped' or 'dived'?

And these folk are being serious and not having a laugh?

He should have overhead kicked it right back into the Czech top corner.

[ewan14]

2 minutes ago, DA Baracus said:

 

 

Neil McCann thinks that the defending was mostly fine for the 1st and that it was just simply a great header. No mention of how long they had to cross the ball.

No , the defending was not that good

Their crossing , and corners , were a bit better than ours

[Jacky1990]

Just back from the game. Gutted just doesnt cover it. Even the atmosphere and the build up felt off which was a bit heartbreaking to be honest.

I thought it was a very even game between two evenly matches teams. But 2 brilliant goals and 2 brilliant saves ultimately won it for them.

Tactically, we were pretty shite in possession. Far too slow and lacking courage in our passing. We also focus far too much down the left, its so predictable. Yes, ODonnell might not be the best player in the world, but we need to switch it up more and stop having our only two options being passing down the left side or a boot up to Dykes.

Marshall - 6/10. Made the saves you would expect him to make. No chance with first goal but questions should always be asked when a keeper it beaten from that far out at that stage of the game. Wouldnt be surprised to see Gordon start on Friday.

O'Donnell - 5/10. Looked very nervy early on and started to look a bit out his depth on the ball as the game went on. Tried hard and defended fine but not helped by us having no functioning midfield and a refusal to play down the right.

Hendry - 6/10. Couple of nervy moments but overall solid enough. Needs to take more authority on the ball if he wants that position long term.

Hanley - 7/10. Thought the big man was largely excellent defensively all game. Probably the best Ive seen him play for us. Another who could do with being a bit braver on the ball though.

Cooper - 6/10. Fine, but Tierney was a huge, huge miss offensively.

Robertson - 7/10. Our MOTM just about. Really drove the team on and was always an out ball. Could have done better with his chances in the first half.

McTominay - 6/10. Could of flashes of why he is a Man Utd player, but nowhere near enough. Not helped by the tactics or performances alongside him. Missed Ryan Jack.

Armstrong - 4/10. Not at the races and doesnt look comfortable that deep. Had a few link ups with Robbo but not the driving force he can be. I would have subbed him rather than Christie at half time.

McGinn - 5/10. Far too far forward in the first half and the game passed him by. Better when moved deeper. He is not a number 10.

Christie - 6/10. Surprised he was subbed, thought he looked quite lively. Not helped by us shelling balls up to Dykes most the time.

Dykes - 6/10. Battled extremely hard and had a few good moments of link up. Asked to contest a lot of headers which he wasnt really winning. Should have scored.

Adams - 6/10. Good all round player, surprised he didnt start. Surely leads the line going forward.

Fraser - 5/10. Barely in the game. Not sure he was meant to be that far left all the time.

Forrest - 6/10. Lively cameo but we continually looked left first. 

Nisbet - 5/10. Late cameo without much to show for it.

McGregor - 3/10. Christ, the regression in him over the last two years.  Convinved he doesnt actually want the ball cause every run he makes is behind an opponent or to move away from space. Getting to the stage I wouldnt mind never seeing him in a Scotland jersey again because he offers nothing.

Clarke - 4/10. Starting Armstrong deep with McGinn ahead didnt work. Constantly trying to overload the left didnt work without Tierney. Without Tierney and McTominay in the back three we looked devoid of ideas and showed a refusal to go through midfield at times. Gilmour or Turnbull should have been on instead of McGregor. Tactically outdone by the Czechs.

[Biscuits]

Well that was that. I actually thought we were a wee bit unlucky - just didn't get the break of the ball on a good few occasions. SOD was shit. Patterson in for Friday. Christie was shit. Gilmour in for him please.

Thought the centre backs were pretty decent apart from first goal which should've been defended better.

[Thorongil]

5 minutes ago, DA Baracus said:

Stuart Cosgrove not holding back on Off The Ball.

Is that the Podcast? I can’t find it.

[WeAreElgin]

The shot wasn't on though. Its unfortunate that the ball landed where it did after the block but it was a total hit headed moment when there was no need to blast the ball. We were only 1 down with about 5 minutes of the 2nd half played.

Why? Players shoot from that range all the time. The block was unfortunate and Marshall was miles out of position.

More annoyed at the fact Lyndon Dykes couldn't shoot, couldn't win a header, couldn't challenge for a header, couldn't really do anything. He blew it big time.

[DublinMagyar]

No but the ball is give away a hundred times during a game. 
If Marshall has a correct position the guy doesn't shoot.

Can't believe I'm agreeing with this p***k but, aye, correct