Scotland v Czech

[accies1874]

The only thing worse than a shite Scotland performance is reading folk posting trite pish on social media afterwards about us being the best fans in the world because we still party after a loss - usually accompanied by a video of folk singing or dancing on tables. Appreciate that it’s behaviour ingrained after years of disappointment in a you laugh or you cry sort of way, but can’t help feeling we might be in a better place if as a support we didn’t accept/celebrate mediocrity quite so much. 

I think it's good that people are enjoying our first tournament in 23 years. I'd imagine this is the first tournament many of the people you're referencing have seen/can remember/can watch with their mates in the pub etc.

Yesterday was a huge disappointment but fans are making the most of an opportunity that might not happen for another 23 years.

[roverthemoon]

8 minutes ago, accies1874 said:

I think it's good that people are enjoying our first tournament in 23 years. I'd imagine this is the first tournament many of the people you're referencing have seen/can remember/can watch with their mates in the pub etc.

Yesterday was a huge disappointment but fans are making the most of an opportunity that might not happen for another 23 years.

Agree to a certain extent given the pandemic and when it’s a choice of wallow in your own misery or just get drunk and party, then totally understand why the latter seems like the better option. Have done it myself on trips. But there’s a fine line between dealing with disappointment and actually almost celebrating it. Has been happening for the last 20 years around the national side and now seems like we just accept the happy to be here line. Just not sure it helps us as a national side. 

Edited June 15, 2021 by roverthemoon

[craigkillie]

How the fans behave makes exactly zero difference to how successful we are as a national side. I'd rather fans were enjoying us being in a major tournament rather than being a bunch of miserable c***s sitting at home whining.

[Jacky1990]

Lots of confirmation bias going on here.

People dont like SOD or Hendry so using each and every mistake to demand they shouldnt be in the team.

SOD looked incredibly nervous at the start and his clash with Christie was comical. But other than that he was largely fine. We know his limitations as a player, but he had been solid in most his 20 odd caps so was the obvious choice yesterday.

Hendry as well was largely fine. Couple of nervy moments early on but he defended well enough. Could have done with being a bit braver on the ball and stepping forward into midfield at times. Should have passed at their second goal, but his involvement in that is getting overblown IMO because people dont want him in the team in the first place.

Armstrong had a worse game than those two and I see very little criticism being aimed his way. McGinn was totally MIA in the first half, again little criticism going his way.

Guys like SOD and Hendry arent great, but they are not the reason we lost the game yesterday.

[Glennie]

2 minutes ago, Jacky1990 said:

Lots of confirmation bias going on here.

People dont like SOD or Hendry so using each and every mistake to demand they shouldnt be in the team.

SOD looked incredibly nervous at the start and his clash with Christie was comical. But other than that he was largely fine. We know his limitations as a player, but he had been solid in most his 20 odd caps so was the obvious choice yesterday.

Hendry as well was largely fine. Couple of nervy moments early on but he defended well enough. Could have done with being a bit braver on the ball and stepping forward into midfield at times. Should have passed at their second goal, but his involvement in that is getting overblown IMO because people dont want him in the team in the first place.

Armstrong had a worse game than those two and I see very little criticism being aimed his way. McGinn was totally MIA in the first half, again little criticism going his way.

Guys like SOD and Hendry arent great, but they are not the reason we lost the game yesterday.

I thought Hendry was fine too but O'Donnell is a liability at this level. McGinn and Armstrong wasn't nearly enough involved I think loads of people have mentioned it, though partly Clarkes fault with the tactics

[Distant Doonhamer]

In hindsight we really missed Ryan Jack in this game. He would have been invaluable dropping back to collect the ball before driving forward. 

Yep lots of folk don’t like Jack but we are a better side with him in the team. He’s a big miss.

[Guest Bob Mahelp]

8 minutes ago, Glennie said:

I thought Hendry was fine too but O'Donnell is a liability at this level. McGinn and Armstrong wasn't nearly enough involved I think loads of people have mentioned it, though partly Clarkes fault with the tactics

The idea of playing Hendry/Cooper/Hanley was fine, but it needed one of them (Hendry) to effectively become an extra midfielder at times when we had the ball. First half especially, he sat far too deep and we ended up with 3 central defenders against 1 forward and quite a few situations where their midfield had far too much space. 

Second half Hendry pushed forward more, and we actually caused them problems for a while until he arsed it up. 

In hindsight, Clarke would have been far better playing McTominay in that role from the start and bringing in an extra attacking midfielder or even Adams. 

[velo army]

Agree that Armstrong and McGinn are getting too easy a time of it. The preoccupation with Henry's "involvement" in their 2nd is pretty odd and I'm surprised it has persisted in the discussion for so long.

Armstrong hid for much of the game, but the tactics were pish and made us highly predictable. Hanley was giving me a rage-headache through his propensity for continually passing behind teammates. But the fact that SOD was an obvious liability and he never changed it until we were 2 down was pretty painful. 

It isn't confirmation bias to blame SOD. He was no t the only player playing poorly, but he was terrible and an absolute bag of nerves.

[Detournement]

1 hour ago, Glennie said:

I thought Hendry was fine too but O'Donnell is a liability at this level. McGinn and Armstrong wasn't nearly enough involved I think loads of people have mentioned it, though partly Clarkes fault with the tactics

He's not cost us any goals in the last year I can think of so I don't think he's a liability. 

 

[DA Baracus]

2 hours ago, roverthemoon said:

The only thing worse than a shite Scotland performance is reading folk posting trite pish on social media afterwards about us being the best fans in the world because we still party after a loss - usually accompanied by a video of folk singing or dancing on tables. Appreciate that it’s behaviour ingrained after years of disappointment in a you laugh or you cry sort of way, but can’t help feeling we might be in a better place if as a support we didn’t accept/celebrate mediocrity quite so much. 

Are you genuinely suggesting that if the fans booed a bit more over the years, or didn't clap and chant as much, the team would be better?

Seriously? You'll need to show your working here. Personally I feel that years of sub standard coaching, not enough coaches, lack of facilities, paucity of ambition, a culture towards diet and conditioning that is years behind and a seemingly taught mentality of negativity, all overseen by massively inept, parochial, and out of touch governance has led us to where we are.

[HalfCutNinja]

3 minutes ago, Detournement said:

He's not cost us any goals in the last year I can think of so I don't think he's a liability. 

 

He cost the first goal yesterday FFS

[HalfCutNinja]

2 minutes ago, DA Baracus said:

Are you genuinely suggesting that if the fans booed a bit more over the years, or didn't clap and chant as much, the team would be better?

Seriously? You'll need to show your working here. Personally I feel that years of sub standard coaching, not enough coaches, lack of facilities, paucity of ambition, a culture towards diet and conditioning that is years behind and a seemingly taught mentality of negativity, all overseen by massively inept, parochial, and out of touch governance has led us to where we are.

Its alright though, Old Firm colt teams will fix it

[Detournement]

1 minute ago, HalfCutNinja said:

He cost the first goal yesterday FFS

Not having bodies outside of the box cost us. We had 9 players still inside the box when the guy played the pass. 

O'Donnell stuck with his man and it might have been a different outcome if he came off him but that's what happens with man to man marking. We lost a goal from second phase of a set piece against Austria as well, Clarke has decided to focus on packing the box.

[HalfCutNinja]

Just now, Detournement said:

Not having bodies outside of the box cost us. We had 9 players still inside the box when the guy played the pass. 

O'Donnell stuck with his man and it might have been a different outcome if he came off him but that's what happens with man to man marking. We lost a goal from second phase of a set piece against Austria as well, Clarke has decided to focus on packing the box.

Pish. Watch it again. A good player sniffs danger there. It was very simple. When the ball got played down the side of McGinn O'Donnell is closest. He jogs over.

He should have sprinted. A good defender realises there's danger there, his job there as the closest to it is to close the space between him and the ball as quickly as possible, just a simple ten yard sprint.

If he did that, instead of jogging, the guy couldn't have just stood the cross up like he did. He would have had to bend it round O'Donnell or take a touch and try to go past him. O'Donnell didn't recognise the danger and just jogged across. If he had sprinted he would have been a few yards closer and the guy can't cross it.

That was 100% his fault, just stupidity, lack of awareness and bad defending. All he had to do was close the distance between him and the ball as quickly as possible thus stopping the cross coming in, and he's a fucking fullback by trade. Yet he wasn't able to identify stopping someone getting a cross in is actually quite important. Watch it, that was his fault. If he did his job that goal doesn't happen.

[HalfCutNinja]

46 seconds in. He jogs over. Imagine that was a wee sprint instead of a jog. He's what 4/5 yards closer, and that cross doesn't come in. That's his actual job to stop crosses coming in, and he wasn't aware of the danger. 100% preventable just by basic defending, and 100% his fault.

 

 

[Detournement]

I can't find a replay that shows our positions at the corner but you can see here that at this point Dykes and Robertson are marking no one. 

Given that Robertson is LB why isn't he pulling out there? Dykes eventually does switch onto Hendrys man but it's too late.

Clarke has a reputation as an organiser but both goals are down to really slack defensive positioning. The Czechs blocked 7 or 8 shots due to a higher level of tactical coaching. 

[HalfCutNinja]

Its very similar to McGregor who has cost us at least two goals under Clarke by the same thing. Just not sniffing out danger quickly enough and realising how big a problem it is. Good players who play at a good level realise you have to put pressure on the ball immediately, you can't give players time to get their head up or they'll kill you.

Maybe its with those two spending their whole career in a poor league instead of moving to the bigger leagues where you have to learn or get punished repeatedly.

[Detournement]

2 minutes ago, HalfCutNinja said:

46 seconds in. He jogs over. Imagine that was a wee sprint instead of a jog. He's what 4/5 yards closer, and that cross doesn't come in. That's his actual job to stop crosses coming in, and he wasn't aware of the danger. 100% preventable just by basic defending, and 100% his fault.

 

 

It's not his job to cut out crosses from our left. 

Another good question looking at the screenshot above is where the f**k is Christie? He has to be tracking the runner from the halfway line.

[HalfCutNinja]

Just now, Detournement said:

It's not his job to cut out crosses from our left. 

Another good question looking at the screenshot above is where the f**k is Christie? He has to be tracking the runner from the halfway line.

Yes it is, he's a fullback that's his job. He was closest to the ball, surely as someone who makes his living as a fullback he must understand the danger there, yet ambles over as if its not a very dangerous situation. A simple little ten yard burst and that goal doesn't happen. It doesn't require him to be Baresi, just a wee bit switched on.

[Detournement]

1 minute ago, HalfCutNinja said:

Yes it is, he's a fullback that's his job. He was closest to the ball, surely as someone who makes his living as a fullback he must understand the danger there, yet ambles over as if its not a very dangerous situation. A simple little ten yard burst and that goal doesn't happen. It doesn't require him to be Baresi, just a wee bit switched on.

It's down to team defending. 

I've shown you there are definite errors from Robertson and Dykes and Christie is posted missing. SOD is the guy exposed by this but it could happen just as easily that. leaves his man and he scores.