Scotland v Czech

[welldaft]

4 hours ago, dysartrovers said:

I can't remember a Scotland game over the last few years where we have worked the goalkeeper so often and not scored.

When all is said and done we had 19 shots at goal. Not all on target granted but that is more than any of us had any right to expect. 

I am not saying the Manager or the players got it right but so many things went against us on the day. More possession and shots than the Czechs and lost 2-0 v 30% and one shot on target and won 1-0 in the last competitive game v them. 

Was at the game and I could not really argue with the line up. I would have liked Gordon to start in goals but that would have probably been a little unfair on Marshall.

I was also quite pleased to see Armstrong rather than McGregor. He played well v Holland but sadly he had a bit of a stinker. His defensive efforts were pretty woeful. Also thought Christie and McTominay had poor games. Stephen ODonnell comes in for some stick, but he was far from the poorest Scotland player on the pitch today. Still he is not Nathan Patterson and that seems to be that. NP will be a better player in the future but NO way Clarke starts with him in the match today. I also thought Hanley was our best player which is not something I thought I would ever type. 

We needed to win today imho to progress. Unlikely to get anything at Wembley and even 3 points v Croatia unlikely to be enough. 

A bit disappointing but I still feel there is enough in this squad going forward to make us a better team than we have been for the past decade or so. Clarke is the right Manager for the job and nothing I saw today changes that opinion. Very few teams play two up top and it is wise after the event. I actually think Adams would have been a better option than Christie but only based on the 2nd half when we are chasing the game after going 2-0 behind. Again I will not really criticise Clarke for not starting with that formation.

All in all I think we deserved something from the game, But it is Scotland in a major tournament at home. We really should have seen this coming....

[FrankChickens1]

46 minutes ago, welldaft said:

Stephen ODonnell comes in for some stick, but he was far from the poorest Scotland player on the pitch today.

Sorry but cannot agree. He was absolutely lightyears worse than anybody else. He absolutely shat the bed any time the ball came anywhere near him. Two Czechs closed him down instantly most times because they could see he was shite and he had no answer. He was barely paying attention on the attack even when getting forward. It was a complete horror show from him. 

The bit I can agree with is that it would have been brave to go with NP, but an alternative argument is that Czech may have been the game to do it. Maybe a shame they are up first and we are already out, rather than going into a final game hoping for something against them. 

[saint pogo]

6 hours ago, DA Baracus said:

Totally disagree here and really not sure where you're getting that from.

Are you genuinely suggesting that Hendry should have tried lobbing the keeper? If not, I fail to see your point.

Not sure how your reading my post. Just take the two different paragraphs as they are.  
I was pointing out the irony of  a lot of the earlier posters saying that Hendry had no right to go for a worldlie from 40 yards when literally the very next kick was scored from 50.   I agree as pretty much everyone else does that shooting at that point was bad decision making for all the reasons talked about. Distance isn’t one.   
 

[Empty It]

I still haven't seen any reasonable suggestion as to why Marshall was dancing about in the center circle.

[Melanius Mullarkey]

2 minutes ago, Empty It said:

I still haven't seen any reasonable suggestion as to why Marshall was dancing about in the center circle.

Boogying m9

[Empty It]

Boogying m9

Still seething

[Jaggy Snake]

7 hours ago, DA Baracus said:

Totally disagree here and really not sure where you're getting that from.

Hid from his responsibility is the phrase I was trying to find, ie was a shitebag.

He got on the ball plenty and, as I mentioned he was hamstrung by a poor midfield, but he still didn't do enough to try and pass the ball out from the back. He was too happy to take the easy option and pass square to Hanley.

[Marshmallo]

10 hours ago, Genuine Hibs Fan said:

I would say though posting the photo of the moment he's striking the ball is a bit daft as obviously players are moving to close the shot. Watching it back in real time didn't look like he had many options except O'Donnell (which was still the better option but I can't blame him for not passing to him).

Maybe it looked different on TV but from behind the goal at the time it was very obvious the shot was going to be blocked the second he was shaping up to shoot. He needs to be more aware of his surroundings and the other options around him. 

In saying that, if Marshall wasn't up at the halfway line no one would be discussing Hendry taking the shot on.

[Neilly]

SOD must be the worst, or among them, player to grace a European Championship. Can only blame the manager though really for putting him out there. 

What was the purpose of Callum McGregor coming on? There was as much chance of me turning the game in our favour from the pub than that.

I like Clarke a lot but he's had an absolute mare yesterday.

[craigkillie]

2 minutes ago, Neilly said:

What was the purpose of Callum McGregor coming on? There was as much chance of me turning the game in our favour from the pub than that.

The biggest issue in that part of the game was that we our three centre-backs had the ball they didn't really have any midfielders dropping deep to offer an option to pass it out. McGregor would have been brought on with that in mind, a way of linking between them and the other attacking players. It didn't really work though.

That in itself showed just how much of a loss Tierney was, as much as Cooper was fine in that role, if Tierney had been on the park he would have just driven forward into the space and it would have offered us so much more as a unit. The back three works best when the two guys on either side of it can both bring it out a bit, but yesterday we didn't have that at all with Cooper.

[Genuine Hibs Fan]

1 hour ago, Marshmallo said:

Maybe it looked different on TV but from behind the goal at the time it was very obvious the shot was going to be blocked the second he was shaping up to shoot. He needs to be more aware of his surroundings and the other options around him. 

In saying that, if Marshall wasn't up at the halfway line no one would be discussing Hendry taking the shot on.

Aye, for me anyway he makes the interception well and it does sit to be hit but he shouldn't be shooting from there. The options ahead appear because he's being blocked if that makes sense, but still obviously wasn't the best option at the time he collects it. 

With Marshall I can't decide if he was just absent-mindedly creeping forwards past the point he was meant to be sweeping or Clarke told him to be that far forward. Not sure which is worse tbh 

[Blootoon87]

What the f**k was that yesterday? The Czech Republic at home is about the easiest game you'll ever get at a tournament. Waste of time.

[LondonHMFC]

6 minutes ago, Genuine Hibs Fan said:

Aye, for me anyway he makes the interception well and it does sit to be hit but he shouldn't be shooting from there. The options ahead appear because he's being blocked if that makes sense, but still obviously wasn't the best option at the time he collects it. 

With Marshall I can't decide if he was just absent-mindedly creeping forwards past the point he was meant to be sweeping or Clarke told him to be that far forward. Not sure which is worse tbh 

At the start of the second half, after the Czechs had those couple of shots we went down the other end and had a bit of pressure including the crossbar being hit and the keeper saving that deflection which looped over him (did remarkably well to get it out the way of Dykes). I think Hendry just got carried away, he was never going to score from that distance, he had McTominay on his inside who had peeled away from Soucek or he had the option of playing it out to the right hand side which was clear. Both options would have kept sustained pressure on the Czechs. As it was, Soucek gets the block and the lad scores an outrageous goal. 

You'll have seen the image behind Schick, but the amount of bend that he got in that shot was more than enough to make it difficult for Marshall to track. 

 

[IggyStooge]

3 hours ago, Empty It said:

I still haven't seen any reasonable suggestion as to why Marshall was dancing about in the center circle.

"Schpiderman een Glaschkow" followed by much hysterical laughter was how they reported it on Dutch telly during highlights (and they had the image below behind them on the big screen in the studio). No doubt who they thought was responsible and he really has to hold his hands up to that one. You could just feel the ultimate sucker-punch was coming as we were all up the pitch getting way too overexcited. Well, I could feel it anyway. Must be used to it by now. As Blootoon says, you could hardly ask for an easier tournament opener and we totally reverted to type. A side-order of two plucky results and ootski coming right up...

tl;dr - usual pish.

Edited June 15, 2021 by IggyStooge

[FalkirkBairn2021]

57 minutes ago, Neilly said:

SOD must be the worst, or among them, player to grace a European Championship. Can only blame the manager though really for putting him out there. 

What was the purpose of Callum McGregor coming on? There was as much chance of me turning the game in our favour from the pub than that.

I like Clarke a lot but he's had an absolute mare yesterday.

Think this is a decent shout. Maybe some Northern Ireland jobbers from 2016 could be worse? He's definitely the worst player we've ever started in a competition. Which when Jack Hendry is one of your neeburs is quire the claim.

[Snobot]

Unfair on SOD, his potentially goal-saving tackle on Christie in the first half was absolutely top drawer defending

[Comrie]

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

[roverthemoon]

58 minutes ago, FalkirkBairn2021 said:

Think this is a decent shout. Maybe some Northern Ireland jobbers from 2016 could be worse?

Not even close. Those Northern Ireland ‘jobbers’ worked effectively as a unit and progressed from the group to reach the round of 16. Something that is looking extremely unlikely at the moment for this Scotland squad. 

[roverthemoon]

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. 

Edited June 15, 2021 by roverthemoon

[Billy Jean King]

The biggest issue in that part of the game was that we our three centre-backs had the ball they didn't really have any midfielders dropping deep to offer an option to pass it out. McGregor would have been brought on with that in mind, a way of linking between them and the other attacking players. It didn't really work though.
That in itself showed just how much of a loss Tierney was, as much as Cooper was fine in that role, if Tierney had been on the park he would have just driven forward into the space and it would have offered us so much more as a unit. The back three works best when the two guys on either side of it can both bring it out a bit, but yesterday we didn't have that at all with Cooper.

The Czech number 8 sat on Mctominay all match to prevent him taking the ball from the defence basicallyforced the reshufflewhen he went back. This forced Cooper, Hanley and Hendry to try to play out from the back which they appeared totally incapable of. It's an obvious tactic against a team playing three Central defenders who are not good in possession.