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Scotland v Armenia


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That we have 2 away games in the next 6 days and there is no point having McGinn and McGregor out there strolling around. They are both going to start the next 2 games and be important players.
Same for Robertson.

But they literally were strolling around, it's not going to have taken any more out of them than a light training session.
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It’s one of those games where Clarke was damned if he did, damned if he didn’t. If he’d taken McGregor, McGinn and Robertson off at HT and Armenia had scored early in the 2nd half, we would have been sweating and he would no doubt have got some stick.

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28 minutes ago, shizzlemanizzle said:

C’mon, put us out of our misery. Did bugle boy turn up? Details and pics please. 

I'm happy to announce that he did not. Me and a'body else around me were celebrating that more than we celebrated the goals. In his place I got a cool wee boy of about 9 and his quite lovely Auntie to watch the game with. Decent night in all. 

Edited by velo army
Boy, not bit. Fuckin thumbs.
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8 minutes ago, Mr Tourette said:

It’s one of those games where Clarke was damned if he did, damned if he didn’t. If he’d taken McGregor, McGinn and Robertson off at HT and Armenia had scored early in the 2nd half, we would have been sweating and he would no doubt have got some stick.

We did not need to change the back 3 and Ralston !

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37 minutes ago, Ewan8472 said:

McTominay is not a defender. Maybe MacKenna should have started at LCB but he had the championship final just before

McKenna’ s played twice a week all season and been sensational. Hope he’s as good for Scotland as he is for Forest.

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22 minutes ago, craigkillie said:


But they literally were strolling around, it's not going to have taken any more out of them than a light training session.

Is it that good enough though?

There are barely any friendlies to give players a game which is why you end up with Hickey making his debut in one of our most important games in years.

And we should be trying to score more goals. Maybe get Adams on the scoresheet and not just to give him a lift but the fact that goal difference might come into play for winnning the group, especially if we think ourselves and Ukraine are going to sweep Ireland and Armenia.

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37 minutes ago, BFTD said:

About what I was expecting; much better tactics, and just the same old problem of being unable to score, even when we had plenty of decent chances. We did more than enough and it was comfortable, but I'd have been much happier if we'd picked up a third at some point in the second half. Armenia were definitely more 0-9 to Norway than 1-0 to Ireland tonight.

Re: Adams, I think he's very good, but he's never going to do everything on his own and he's much more likely to create chances for others than score himself. He's much better at the job than Kenny Miller or Steven Fletcher ever were, although Miller was more of a goalscorer.

Neither of them are goalscorers. 

Adams: 4 in 17

Miller: 18 in 69

There’s very little in it, but neither are prolific. Adams is a more talented player, but has the same issue with overdoing it, and taking too many chances to score.

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One thing that needs to change is that if we play 3atb with Hendry in games like that, McGregor doesn’t need to drop back and take the ball off his toes.

The Armenian defensive line finished at 45 yards from their goal. McGregor dropping deep to take the ball is a poor use of space and bodies.

McTominay was a big improvement over Armstrong. He rattles the ball around quicker and get passes through the lines. It also moved McGinn up the pitch. He’s still not himself, but he was much improved in the last 20 minutes over the previous 70+90.

Only changes I’d make for Saturday would be McTominay>Armstrong, and potentially starting Patterson. It may be a physical game, so whoever can cope with Duffy/Egan etc I’d start.

Ralston was far better than I expected. Difficult to know his ceiling given how bad Armenia are, but I’ll happily have him as second choice behind a fit Patterson.

Odd to take so long to make changes. There’s no value at all in giving Brown and Stewart 5 minutes. 

Other than that, we still can’t shoot, but that wasn’t learned tonight. That’s why a player like Bale/Haaland turns a team like us/Wales/Norway into a side that qualifies for tournaments.

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Is it that good enough though?
There are barely any friendlies to give players a game which is why you end up with Hickey making his debut in one of our most important games in years.
And we should be trying to score more goals. Maybe get Adams on the scoresheet and not just to give him a lift but the fact that goal difference might come into play for winnning the group, especially if we think ourselves and Ukraine are going to sweep Ireland and Armenia.


Hickey had two caps before the Ukraine game, coming on as a sub in the second half. Didn't seem to do him much good.
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Some nice football in the first half, some strange goalmouth action in the second, but an impressively professional performance against a dreadful side. Ralston and Souttar probs the standouts imo, but McGregor was key to how controlled the performance was.

Disappointing that Adams and McGinn couldn't rack up the numbers in what seemed an easy game to do so, and I'd have liked to have seen a wee bit more of Brown and Stewart (and a wee bit less of McGinn and McGregor for fitness), but coming away from a game with those the only disappointments is nice. 

Btw the Armstrong-Ralston dynamic in the first half (at least) was near-identical to what Ireland did against Armenia with Parrott and Stevens on the left. Something quite satisfying about that. 

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26 minutes ago, velo army said:

I'm happy to announce that he did not. Me and a'body else around me were celebrating that more than we celebrated the goals. In his place I got a cool wee boy of about 9 and his quite lovely Auntie to watch the game with. Decent night in all. 

I’m happy for you but if I’m being honest I was hoping for a bit more drama in your reply. 

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I thought it was a good performance and but for some excellent goalkeeping and the break of the ball would have been 4 or 5. We strolled to victory against the kind of team that traditionally gives us problems. McCoist was spot on with the observation that any kind of press would get the ball back immediately because they were garbage on the ball.

They were really bad and it’ll be interesting to see if we can keep the same template next week away and they will be similarly awful - probably not as they will have an extra half yard in front of their own fans but who knows. I hope a similar press is applied.

I really like Armstrong- he is frustrating at times but the only  player in the current squad who breaks the lines and runs past people. Tierney does it when he is there but not many do otherwise.
 

Ralston was v good too, again going past people. McGregor is just a lovely player and apart from one pass in the last minute when he lost it he is just like a metronome - he was flawless otherwise other than the booking. 
 

Big positive that we can swap out a large percentage of our 1st team and still play well. I would hope McTominay never plays CB again, and agree with a previous poster that despite the obvious shortcomings of the opposition, Hendry is a far better fit as a ball playing CH in current system.

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Can't believe I read someone saying that they don't think Che Adams cares anymore and looks fed up now. Even at 2-0 in the 70th odd minute, he is chasing every ball down and working his arse off. Lost track of amount of times he stopped balls going out of play and kept possession for us.

There is a bunch of times I wish he would strike the ball earlier and he always seems to want an extra touch which often isn't needed and leads him into trouble but his touch is also excellent so he more often than not keeps possession or wins a corner etc. It's maddening to me that Scotland fans can watch him tonight and think he is shite. 

On a similar note, I can't recall a Scotland performance where we won so many second balls, intercepted the ball and genuinely pressured the opposition into so many mistakes.

Yes Armenia were shit but the tempo, the players attitude and the willingness to keep that up for the whole 90 was very pleasing to see. I really don't think we took our foot off the gas for the whole match.

Steve Clarke deserved criticism last week for some poor decisions, but tonight he earns praise for bold changes and making sure the correct attitude was applied for the whole match. It was what I as a Scotland fan wanted to see, and got it.

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Got to think a lot of the negativity directed towards Adams comes from anti England xenophobia and the fact he turned us down before because it certainly can’t be related to ability.

If he was called Chic McAdams from Lenzie instead of Leicester people wouldn’t waste their time criticising.

Edited by Scotty Tunbridge
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Got to think a lot of the negativity directed towards Adams comes from anti England xenophobia and the fact he turned us down before because it certainly can’t be related to ability.
If he was called Chic McAdams from Lenzie instead of Leicester people wouldn’t waste their time criticising.


Probably being whooshed here, but that is one pile of pish you’ve spouted, even if it is “bantz”

He was shocking whenever he got a clear chance. He’s still the best we have by the looks of it, which is frightening.
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Can understand the frustration with Adams inside the box and he was probs getting frustrated himself, but even if you ignore his other strengths, having a striker with his first touch sets him apart from a lot of the others we've seen over the years. 

If he scored against Ukraine then one of his chances tonight would've likely gone in, and it's a wee bit annoying that he'll go into the Ireland game with that built up even more. 

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