Ireland v scotland

[Lex]

Said to my mates in the ground (home end) that there really wasn’t that much between the two teams. All around us waxing lyrical about the players and manager was a bit baffling as we probably shaded the chances and game in the first 20-30 minutes and found ourselves two down. Two poor teams is the reality of it but Ireland were clinical and by the end probably deserved the win. 

What chances did we have? The two McGinn shots from outside the box and…?

[red23]

and people are still saying this is the best Scotland team since the 80's 

[DA Baracus]

2 minutes ago, red23 said:

and people are still saying this is the best Scotland team since the 80's 

Who? Who has said this?

[Broony88]

16 minutes ago, Lex said:

 

What chances did we have? The two McGinn shots from outside the box and…?

 

One was a free shot from 18 yards with nobody really putting him under pressure, we had the Duffy mix up where only luck got them out unscathed. Robertson also had a shot charged down from about 11/12 yards when in acres of space. I didn’t claim we were all over them but I thought we shaded the game very slightly and didn’t deserve to be 2-0 down on the balance of play. 

[red23]

1 minute ago, DA Baracus said:

Who? Who has said this?

Will need to find it, was a discussion if this team was better than the Euro 96/ WC98 team, yes was the answer.

[Lurkst]

30 minutes ago, HuttonDressedAsLahm said:

If we’re ranked 20th by FIFA in Europe, would that make us a second seed for WCQ? 

They are yet to confirm how playoffs will work for ECQ, but you’d imagine that coming second in our group would be enough. Beating Armenia and Ireland would near-enough guarantee that. 

If the same format is applied for the WC26 qualifiers draw then we would be in Pot 2 as it stands.

For Euro24, 32 teams will either qualify directly or compete in the play-offs. It would be a major disappointment if we fail to be one of them.

 

[DA Baracus]

3 minutes ago, red23 said:

Will need to find it, was a discussion if this team was better than the Euro 96/ WC98 team, yes was the answer.

Well I disagree with whoever said that. The 96 and 98 squads were stronger. Think some of the players from the current squad would get in to that squad, but overall those two are stronger than the current lot.

[Marshmallo]

2 hours ago, Glennie said:

fucking shambles

series lack of winners on the park, rockets needed up a load of arses

Every player we started yesterday is a multiple time trophy winner with the exception of Adams 

[gerrymcc1978]

said it a million times, clarke has to be braver in terms of his approach against teams we are better than. all for trying to be compact against decent sides but this not pressing the ball against Ireland and the likes will cost him his job.

 

the irritating thing is , i've seen us play well, serbia away we were positive and they better than us man for man , then we have this bizarre approach where it looks like we are waiting to be gifted a goal before we actually start.

 

ireland lost the ball 2/3 times at the back passing it around for the life of me i'll never know why we didnt at least push higher up the pitch and apply a bit more pressure.

[wastecoatwilly]

4 minutes ago, gerrymcc1978 said:

said it a million times, clarke has to be braver in terms of his approach against teams we are better than. all for trying to be compact against decent sides but this not pressing the ball against Ireland and the likes will cost him his job.

 

the irritating thing is , i've seen us play well, serbia away we were positive and they better than us man for man , then we have this bizarre approach where it looks like we are waiting to be gifted a goal before we actually start.

 

ireland lost the ball 2/3 times at the back passing it around for the life of me i'll never know why we didnt at least push higher up the pitch and apply a bit more pressure.

What we had was a Raging Irish side who just got beat from a shite Armenian team plus a manager on the brink of getting sacked,Scotland didn't read the room.

[Lex]

One was a free shot from 18 yards with nobody really putting him under pressure, we had the Duffy mix up where only luck got them out unscathed. Robertson also had a shot charged down from about 11/12 yards when in acres of space. I didn’t claim we were all over them but I thought we shaded the game very slightly and didn’t deserve to be 2-0 down on the balance of play. 

None of them are clear cut chances in the ‘should have scored’ category. Half chances at best.
The best chances of the game that weren’t taken were the Duffy header at the back post which was well saved and the miraculous goal line clearance from Hanley. Gordon also made a decent save down low before they scored that was harder work than anything we made their keeper do and they hit the bar from a corner when we got a very soft foul.
I didn’t feel we were at all unfortunate. No dodgy refereeing decisions to blame, no hard luck stories, no what ifs.
Just humped.

[Theroadlesstravelled]

I can’t think of a Scotland squad with worst strikers. I’d love someone even like Kenny Miller or Steven Naismith.

 

Naismith was a decent footballer tbf.

[Salt n Vinegar]

Trying not to overreact, but that was fkkn awful. 

I wasn't expecting RoI to be swept aside but neither did I expect that I'd be listening for the Scottish fans singing the old favourite "We'll support you up to four". I didn't hear it but at least it would have given us a laugh. 

We can now look forward to some on P&B explaining how we are going to rout Armenia in a couple of days, then get us ready for 9 points out of 9 in September. Simples! 

Nobody ever said it was easy being a Scotland fan but surely it doesn't have to be such a miserable existence. 

[Bogbrush1903]

2 hours ago, Satoshi said:

What's a backwards step?

Nobody is disputing this, but we qualified for the playoffs which is a success.

The poster above is right, we are not one of the best 13 teams in Europe. Better teams than us didn't qualify for this world cup. Occasionally we might get there but it will be euros and occasional world cup for us. Realistic goal is going for the playoffs which we achieved.

But we didn't need to be one of the Top 13 to qualify for the Play-Offs. We had in our group:

Denmark 11th

Austria 34th

Scotland 39th

Israel 76th

Faroes 124th

Moldova 180th
 

...Denmark won at a canter as expected only losing (to us) in their last game having won their previous nine.

We only really had to top Austria (although we've had problems with Israel in the past), and Austria and Scotland are pretty similar in leagues, population etc etc, so that could go either way.

Austria are the 18th ranked UEFA team in the FIFA rankings.

We were then humped by the 27th ranked nation (or 16th in Europe) at home in a one-legged semi-final.

Clarke guided us to second. Well done but a 'success'? I think, at very best, he achieved the minimum acceptable performance. 

As I said previously though, even if we had got past Ukraine, I think last night was a taste of what would've happened if we played in Cardiff.

I read a lot of nonsense before the Ukraine match that we had the best squad of the three nations. The rankings suggested we were the weakest and so it proved.

Edited June 12, 2022 by Bogbrush1903

[Glennie]

2 hours ago, Marshmallo said:

Every player we started yesterday is a multiple time trophy winner with the exception of Adams 

i said winners not trophy winners

plenty of winners medals hung around players who youd never call a 'winner'. doubly so at this level

Edited June 12, 2022 by Glennie

[Chewing Taffies]

47 minutes ago, Bogbrush1903 said:

But we didn't need to be one of the Top 13 to qualify for the Play-Offs. We had in our group:

Denmark 11th

...Denmark won at a canter as expected only losing (to us) in their last game having won their previous nine.

But historically we are better than Denmark. That is the main thing here. It all goes in cycles apparently. 

[GroundskeeperWillie]

First chance I've had to react to yesterday's steaming pile of misery.  By far one of the most insipid games of football I've seen involving Scotland in a long, long time, and I've sat through a 0-0 borefest with Hungary on a freezing cold midweek night at Hampden!

I wasn't for getting caught up in the ROI result against Armenia, as by all accounts they had their chances in that game, and felt yesterday would be tighter than some of the scorelines being predicted, but not a chance was I expecting us to either lose or to get roundly pumped like we did.

Some of the old failures reared up again, like the taking far too many passes to attempt to cut open a defence when the opposition can seemingly get through as at will.  At times, the motto appeared to be 'help yourself, if you can't find what you need, we'll give you a hand'.  We gave Obafemi far too much space at times and our defence was completely statuesque.  We appear to have no-one at the back capable of co-ordinating the rest of the rearguard, shouting encouragement and generally being the sort of defensive leader we had when the likes of Colin Hendry were at their peak.  Hanley seems to have regressed terribly, while Jack Hendry sadly had the kind of shocker he is capable of (although I thought he was good against an admittedly woeful Armenia)

Our biggest problem is the lack of a Plan B when things do go wrong.  I was stunned when Clarke went for the changes as early as he did, mainly because he seems usually incapable of doing so, but our overall pattern of play didn't seem to alter hugely.  You expect someone like Ryan Christie to run at defences and cause problems, but like a few people said before, he was an utter shitebag at times and when that happens, should rightly be hooked.

I have the real fear for us going forward.  Yes, we do have a good squad, but when so many are out of form, we have no other options, no-one you can trust to throw in and - particularly up front - no up-and-coming youngsters who are getting regular first team game time that we can get excited about.

I'm swithering towards punting Clarke, but being honest it feels like we keep doing that and get nowhere.  We need to figure out how to address the glaring disconnect between youth teams (in particular the u-21s and the main squad) and what the structure and coaching personnel looks like to take us forwards.

Looking at the 'time to go Steve Clarke thread' some of the shouts for who to replace him don't excite me whatsoever, and I can't say I'm particularly certain Bielsa is the man for the job, going by discussions I've had with a couple of Leeds fans I know.

[Bogbrush1903]

4 minutes ago, Chewing Taffies said:

But historically we are better than Denmark. That is the main thing here. It all goes in cycles apparently. 

Aye, but I can't see them cycling back to part-time status as they were when we were dominate against them.

However, it's a good point, if the Danish DBU can develop from an amateur farce to 11th in the world and, in 1992, Euro champions then surely there is hope for the SFA.

Maybe then Scottish fans can dare to have a bit more ambition than celebrating a play-off place in the World Cup qualifiers as a success.

[SpoonTon]

3 hours ago, Lex said:

 

What chances did we have? The two McGinn shots from outside the box and…?

 

To be fair, those were great chances, and he had more time with both to take them further in. Two free shots from the edge of the box should have seen at least one goal at that level. We had a couple of dangerous balls into the box as well. We really should have scored at least once, but our finishing was atrocious (as it was against Armenia). 

[Broony88]

1 hour ago, Lex said:

 

None of them are clear cut chances in the ‘should have scored’ category. Half chances at best.
The best chances of the game that weren’t taken were the Duffy header at the back post which was well saved and the miraculous goal line clearance from Hanley. Gordon also made a decent save down low before they scored that was harder work than anything we made their keeper do and they hit the bar from a corner when we got a very soft foul.
I didn’t feel we were at all unfortunate. No dodgy refereeing decisions to blame, no hard luck stories, no what ifs.
Just humped.

 

So majority of those chances were after the first 20/30 I mentioned, yes we were shit but my point was they definitely weren’t much better than us if anything.