Stephen O’Donnell

[Jambomo]

I honestly feel that most of the stick he gets comes because he plays for Motherwell and is a bit more limited as a footballer than the others.

Against the Czechs he had a few mistakes but they all did, and I didn’t think he was more at fault for the first goal than some of the others - nobody stopping Coufal crossing in the first place. 

Overall he’s been solid and played well for us and I don’t feel that he limits us as a team, as we saw he can be very capable on his day.

[Grangemouth Bairn]

I’ve slated the guy regularly however he deserves great credit for last night.

He clearly loves playing for Scotland and his effort levels are immense. Well played son.

[ArabFC]

1 hour ago, Jambomo said:

I honestly feel that most of the stick he gets comes because he plays for Motherwell and is a bit more limited as a footballer than the others.

Against the Czechs he had a few mistakes but they all did, and I didn’t think he was more at fault for the first goal than some of the others - nobody stopping Coufal crossing in the first place. 

Overall he’s been solid and played well for us and I don’t feel that he limits us as a team, as we saw he can be very capable on his day.

Bit more this than the Motherwell thing. Him running into Christie in the Czech game was maddening!

However, he was brilliant last night and he has it in his locker - he's done it before.

That volley btw - I know I'm not the same level of footballer, but as a right-back my instinct as the ball went to him was obvious - nod it back across the six yard box. It takes balls to try and smash it in!

[Leith Green]

9 minutes ago, ArabFC said:

That volley btw - I know I'm not the same level of footballer, but as a right-back my instinct as the ball went to him was obvious - nod it back across the six yard box. It takes balls to try and smash it in

What I really liked was that he demanded it - when the England right back was turned inside out near the touchline, he put his hand up and asked for it to be delivered to that spot - and the cross was inch perfect.

Pickford did well to save it, but if it had been scored it would have been a great team goal as well as for SoD

[Kejan]

Delighted for him.

Magnificent performance from the big yin after a lot of unfair criticism, IMO from the first game.

Well done and has to start v Croatia

[Sugar_Army]

2 hours ago, Leith Green said:

Agreed.

When I got in from the pub I watched his interview and he clearly knew about the stick we had all (lets not deny it) been giving him - I felt a bit guilty.

If he has scored that one, I would have been first in the queue for the statue fund.

He still has time.  A last minute winner against Croatia and you might get your wish.  Hopefully he would get a better one than this!

[Thistle_do_nicely]

flashbacks to his chip for us against Dunfermline

edit: I think the last time I saw him in the flesh would've been Doolan's testimonial. Going from Thistle's involvement in the national team being pretty much just Kenny Arthur in B squads to having Nisbet, Hendry and O'Donnell featuring at a Euro's is kinda neat. I for one look forward to Zak Rudden bashing in a hattrick at a world cup a few years from now. Albeit he'll probably at Birmingham City or something by then.

Edited June 20, 2021 by Thistle_do_nicely

[Scumjob]

Apparently a handful of English Championship sides are interested in O'Donnell after his display on Friday as he has a release clause with Motherwell.

Wouldn't begrudge him a move where I'd assume he'll be on a few more quid.

[gannonball]

The criticism of his performance against the Czechs was embarrassing on here tbh.

[accies1874]

The criticism of his performance against the Czechs was embarrassing on here tbh.

He was awful tbf and the criticism was amplified due to Patterson's presence on the bench. I thought that Monday was the end of his time as first choice.

I'm absolutely delighted how much he proved us all wrong and his interview actually made me feel quite guilty. That said, I'm still not quite sure where his future lies with Scotland. With Tierney and Robertson overloading the left, there's definitely a place for him, but if either misses out and Cooper comes in then we need a more attacking RWB.

[gannonball]

17 minutes ago, accies1874 said:

He was awful tbf and the criticism was amplified due to Patterson's presence on the bench. I thought that Monday was the end of his time as first choice.

I'm absolutely delighted how much he proved us all wrong and his interview actually made me feel quite guilty. That said, I'm still not quite sure where his future lies with Scotland. With Tierney and Robertson overloading the left, there's definitely a place for him, but if either misses out and Cooper comes in then we need a more attacking RWB.

Its because our left side is so attacking that Clarke went with a flatter option on the right against England or indeed any formidable team. We currently don’t have the capabilities around the rest of the team to have two rampaging full backs at this level with the formation we have, especially one so inexperienced and who’s only game time (international or otherwise) in past few months was against Luxembourg. Patterson will almost certainly be Scotlands right back sooner rather than later though.

Edited June 20, 2021 by gannonball

[Moomintroll]

12 minutes ago, gannonball said:

Its because our left side is so attacking that Clarke went with a flatter option on the right against England or indeed any formidable team. We currently don’t have the capabilities around the rest of the team to have two rampaging full backs at this level with the formation we have, especially one so inexperienced and who’s only game time (international or otherwise) in past few months was against Luxembourg. Patterson will almost certainly be Scotlands right back sooner rather than later though.

Sevco need to put up or shut up though, just like Gilmour is never going to get much game time under that arrogant Teutonic twat, Patterson needs to leave to be a first choice elsewhere if they don't sell Tavernier (pen) to an English Championship promotion hopeful team or a Premiership team looking to avoid relegation. Otherwise he will regress massively to the detriment of our National Team. Slippy G will not give a f**k about that but hopefully the people advising Patterson will do & will get him out of there before the damage is irrepairable

[craigkillie]

45 minutes ago, accies1874 said:

With Tierney and Robertson overloading the left, there's definitely a place for him, but if either misses out and Cooper comes in then we need a more attacking RWB.

 

28 minutes ago, gannonball said:

Its because our left side is so attacking that Clarke went with a flatter option on the right against England or indeed any formidable team. We currently don’t have the capabilities around the rest of the team to have two rampaging full backs at this level with the formation we have, especially one so inexperienced and who’s only game time (international or otherwise) in past few months was against Luxembourg.

O'Donnell is an attacking RWB though, yet again we saw him spend most of his time camped in the England half. He very obviously isn't as talented as Robertson, but he still more or less takes up the same position as him on the other side most of the time.

[accies1874]

Its because our left side is so attacking that Clarke went with a flatter option on the right against England or indeed any formidable team. We currently don’t have the capabilities around the rest of the team to have two rampaging full backs at this level with the formation we have, especially one so inexperienced and who’s only game time (international or otherwise) in past few months was against Luxembourg. Patterson will almost certainly be Scotlands right back sooner rather than later though.

Ideally Patterson is tactically flexible enough to fulfill the defensive duties against better sides and the attacking side of things against everyone else. If that happens and Hanley keeps strolling it then we've almost got a good back five sorted (still need to wait on Jamie Hamilton though).

[ropy]

There were times when O’Donnell was challenging the keeper as the only Scotland player in the box, he also put in a number of crosses from wide and obviously had that one shot.  How much more of an attacking player are we looking for.

For the record I thought he was largely fine on Monday, 2 obvious mistakes but underused by the team on the right.

[Fratelli]

 

[Bing.McCrosby]

23 hours ago, Kejan said:

Delighted for him.

Magnificent performance from the big yin after a lot of unfair criticism, IMO from the first game.

Well done and has to start v Croatia

Im delighted for him as well, but let's be honest the criticism wasn't unfair. He was awful against the Czechs.

He was magnificent against England and proved alot of people wrong including myself. That he couldn't cut it at the tournament. I would never consider dropping him now.

But the criticism was accurate for the first game. And was due, same as it would have been for any player in the squad who played that badly.

[ropy]

2 hours ago, BingMcCrosby said:

Im delighted for him as well, but let's be honest the criticism wasn't unfair. He was awful against the Czechs.

He was magnificent against England and proved alot of people wrong including myself. That he couldn't cut it at the tournament. I would never consider dropping him now.

But the criticism was accurate for the first game. And was due, same as it would have been for any player in the squad who played that badly.

I think the issue was the singling out of O’Donnell, I thought McTominay was poor and McGinn wasn’t very effective but O’Donnell was the easy target for many.

[Bing.McCrosby]

Just now, ropy said:

I think the issue was the singling out of O’Donnell, I thought McTominay was poor and McGinn wasn’t very effective but O’Donnell was the easy target for many.

Add to that Christie, Dykes, Hendry, Marshall and a few more. There was plenty of stick given. I didn't see anybody laying the whole thing on O'donnell.

He was the worst tho, it was probably the worst performance in the whole tournament. 

Makes his England performance even more remarkable, and shows the guys got alot of character.

[Savage Henry]

9 minutes ago, BingMcCrosby said:

Add to that Christie, Dykes, Hendry, Marshall and a few more. There was plenty of stick given. I didn't see anybody laying the whole thing on O'donnell.

He was the worst tho, it was probably the worst performance in the whole tournament. 

Makes his England performance even more remarkable, and shows the guys got alot of character.

Right.  It’s not at all contradictory, despite Kilmarnock fans’ best efforts, to say O’Donnell had a shocker against Czech Republic and a very solid game against England.