Scotland v Czech

[Archie McSquackle]

There's no defence for Hendrys decision to shoot there. Simple pass to the right to set up a cross, and 2 players completely free in the most dangerous area of the pitch.
He's so high up the park because he dozily followed a striker into the centre of the park.
Ball had come over from the left which is why Cooper/Hanley aren't covering the massive gap he's left, while O'Donnell bombs forward expecting the pass.
His shot doesn't directly cause the goal, but a culmination of yet more naive, rash, decision making from Hendry creates the situation.
He's nowhere near good enough and it's wild he started this game. McTominay there and Gilmour central wouldve been far more preferable.

He shouldn't be shooting there as he should be more aware of the position of his teammates. He should realise that if his shot gets blocked then there's a huge gap behind him.

While O'Donnell didn't have a great game he was there to be passed to. For the last year or so we have seemed to have tactics of playing everything down the left and ignoring the right. Fair enough if that's deliberate tactics but don't pick O'Donnell if you're not going to pass to him. I'm not saying Patterson is the answer mind you as I thought his defending was all over the place against Luxembourg.

[Jacky1990]

1 minute ago, RandomGuy. said:

Almost like one player had a hit and hope at an open goal while being closed down with no help, while the other hit it against a defender 3 yards away despite having options all around him.

People are arguing with themselves here.

No one is suggesting Hendry made the right decision to shoot. Literally no one.

But it was hardly a grave error that was the route cause of them scoring. It was one in a long list of poor decisions in the final third today.

The fault for the goal is Marshall's and Marshall's alone.

[Jacky1990]

10 minutes ago, Pepper said:

The two situations are hardly comparable though. 

Only because one went in and one didnt.

[forameus]

1 minute ago, Jacky1990 said:

People are arguing with themselves here.

No one is suggesting Hendry made the right decision to shoot. Literally no one.

But it was hardly a grave error that was the route cause of them scoring. It was one in a long list of poor decisions in the final third today.

The fault for the goal is Marshall's and Marshall's alone.

He was literally the root cause. 

[DA Baracus]

5 minutes ago, Jacky1990 said:

The fault for the goal is Marshall's and Marshall's alone

It really, really isn't. Hendry is hugely at fault there.

[eez-eh]

If Hendry had passed the ball to an opposition player in that situation everyone would be slaughtering him. That it was a shot should make no difference - he, a centre back, gave the ball away while he was halfway into the opposition half leaving the Czechs with a 2 v 2 on the break.

Marshall was too far forward but absolving Hendry of any blame is wild.

[DA Baracus]

The argument that Hendry scored against the Netherlands is a nonsense one. He was in line with the D of the opponent's box with no Scotland players in front of him when he hit that one. It wasn’t a similar 'position' or 'situation' at all.

Edited June 14, 2021 by DA Baracus

[RandomGuy.]

10 minutes ago, Genuine Hibs Fan said:

Glad we've at least gone from "the goal was completely Hendry's fault and actually goalkeepers are always that far up the pitch" to "the xG says never shoot from there". If only Jason Kerr had been there eh 

I mean, if you could point out where I've said literally any of that, it would be great.

You've completely fabricated it though, I'm afraid. Anyway, you don't need any geeky numbers to tell you a CB shooting from 35 yards is fucking stupid.

7 minutes ago, Jacky1990 said:

But it was hardly a grave error that was the route cause of them scoring.

I mean, taking a shot while massively advanced, and the ball then ricocheting into the massive gap you've left, to an unmarked player who then scores, literally makes Hendrys decision the root cause of the goal.

[roverthemoon]

Both were at fault for the goal. Hendry’s shot was ill judged and Marshall’s positioning was poor. If Hendry passed the ball - no goal, if Marshall positioned himself better - no goal 

Edited June 14, 2021 by roverthemoon

[Aufc]

I’m in the “its jack Hendry’s fault” camp.’ Marshall’s positioning should be completely irrelevant in this situation as Hendry has absolutely no business shooting in that situation.

[Sergeant Wilson]

10 minutes ago, Jacky1990 said:

People are arguing with themselves here.

No one is suggesting Hendry made the right decision to shoot. Literally no one.

But it was hardly a grave error that was the route cause of them scoring. It was one in a long list of poor decisions in the final third today.

The fault for the goal is Marshall's and Marshall's alone.

There was only one touch, the block, before Schick hit it. That's quite direct.

[charger29]

Any info on Robertson for Friday? They said on the radio that his thigh was strapped up in the warm down.

On the game itself, for me it simply came down to not taking our chances. We can all moan till we're blue in the face about player x not starting or the gameplan not being correct but it's all irrelevant if we don't take any chances. We must have had 6/7 decent chances today.
Remember our last game against the Czechs? We were atrocious (far, far worse than today) and could have very easily lost by 3 or 4 goals. Somehow we score from our only shot on goal and the Czechs were the ones missing multiple absolute sitters. What was the difference between the two teams? A brilliant goalscorer.

A point against England would be massive and give us a chance going into the last game. It seems incredibly unlikely at the moment though since we seem incapable of scoring and are prone to making errors at the back ourselves.

[Diamonds are Forever]

19 minutes ago, Lex said:

And the second goal didn’t really change much.
Had we Marshall been in the correct position we would have just lost 1-0 instead of 2-0.

 

It wont matter in reality because we'll not beat Croatia, however that extra goal (on paper) could be crucial.

Our only real route to qualifying is to beat Croatia, hope England and Croatia hammer the Czechs, and hope our goal difference is good enough to get us one of the best third place finishes, or even overtake Croatia in 2nd. Being on minus 2 (and 4 goals behind Czechs, 1 behind Croatia already), with a probable England defeat to come makes us as good as out unless we were to beat Croatia by at least 3 goals and keep the English defeat to a goal.

Again, unlikely to matter but a 1 goal defeat today could have been cancelled out by us beating Croatia by 1 goal and the Czechs being given a hammering by England. We've given ourselves next to no chance now unless we pull off a result against England or a huge win against Croatia.

Edited June 14, 2021 by Diamonds are Forever

[roverthemoon]

1 minute ago, Aufc said:

I’m in the “its jack Hendry’s fault” camp.’ Marshall’s positioning should be completely irrelevant in this situation as Hendry has absolutely no business shooting in that situation.

A goalkeeper’s position is never irrelevant. That’s pretty much the job.

[forameus]

Without visiting the hot-take factory, both deserve a degree of blame.  Hendry probably 60 to Marshall's 40. Marshall's decision to be that far up was silly, but in a lot of cases wouldn't be punished.  Hendry's probably wouldn't be either, but is a far stupider decision than Marshall's.

Not to worry though. I don't think we'd have scored if we were still playing now, so we'd still have lost.

[Binos]

1 minute ago, forameus said:

Without visiting the hot-take factory, both deserve a degree of blame.  Hendry probably 60 to Marshall's 40. Marshall's decision to be that far up was silly, but in a lot of cases wouldn't be punished.  Hendry's probably wouldn't be either, but is a far stupider decision than Marshall's.

Not to worry though. I don't think we'd have scored if we were still playing now, so we'd still have lost.

The manager picked them both 

[Jacky1990]

1 minute ago, RandomGuy. said:

I mean, taking a shot while massively advanced, and the ball then ricocheting into the massive gap you've left, to an unmarked player who then scores, literally makes Hendrys decision the root cause of the goal.

Hendry shooting was the reason our attack broke down when we had good options, yes. It was a daft decision to shoot, no doubt about it. But Hanley and Cooper were both back covering and in fairly decent positions.

If Marshall is even 10 yards further back, Schick doesnt shoot. He even came out and said they had spoke about Marshall's high positioning.

[Scumjob]

Feel a bit for O'Donnell, I don't think he's terrible, especially defensively but he's certainly limited at this level. What compounds this is that he doesn't seem to back himself or even have the confidence in his own ability you'd expect from a first choice player. I think the latter was even something another player in the camp mentioned.

Clark is supposed to have manufactured this tactic that makes up for our shortfalls at centre back but we look glaringly weak at right wing back right now. The Czechs were more than happy to let O'Donnell have/carry the ball as he's not a threat which allowed them another body inside clogging up the midfield.

Whether it's Fraser, Forrest or Patterson who come in then we're potentially slightly weaker defensively but you can't have that weak link offensively in a tactic reliant on wingbacks so one of them needs to come in.

Seen O'Donnell get some flack for the first goal too. At the very moment you'd want him clocking the run from the eventual crosser and making the run to intercept he takes a glance inside at the man he's marking then he spends a half a second in no man's land deciding whether to stay or go and by then it's too late.  Maybe unlucky, maybe a player with greater awareness gets out quicker, maybe a shorter right back isn't man marking one of the Czechs taller players. All in all difficult to say.

[RandomGuy.]

1 minute ago, roverthemoon said:

A goalkeeper’s position is never irrelevant. That’s pretty much the job.

And if you're playing a back 3 and encouraging your wing backs +1 CB up the park, you need your GK to be primed to help the 2 CBs out in possession, or as a covering player.

We play the exact same system as Scotland in terms of the 3 CBs, take the exact same risk, and funnily enough paid the same price last season in terms of conceding from the halfway line. Its a risk of the tactic.

[RandomGuy.]

1 minute ago, Jacky1990 said:

Hendry shooting was the reason our attack broke down when we had good options, yes. It was a daft decision to shoot, no doubt about it. But Hanley and Cooper were both back covering and in fairly decent positions.

If Marshall is even 10 yards further back, Schick doesnt shoot. He even came out and said they had spoke about Marshall's high positioning.

Marshall is so far forward because Hendry is so advanced. Its his role to cover the backline and act as sweeper.

If you've an issue with his positioning, direct it at the manager for his set up rather than the player. Its common as f**k when teams play 3-5-2 and encourage CBs high up the park.