Armenia v Scotland

[2426255]

It's been a weird international break with some fairly odd results, maybe we were fortunate to get Armenia to play twice. We didn't start any better than against Ireland on Saturday, but we pushed through and achieved the result we wanted in the end.

Callum McGregor stood out for me along with Armstrong. Pleased McGinn and Adams hit the back of the net, pleased for Taylor to start another game and Turnbull to get half and hour.

[Satoshi]

There was plenty to dislike about the first half performance with mistakes and weak play all over the place. Better sides would have undoubtedly punished us more than Aremnia did.

Still, the second half was much positive and proves (at least) that we have some excellent techincal players in our squad. 3 of the 4 goals coming from Scottish youth development as well in Dundee United and St. Mirren - real credit to our youth coaching to turn out such players. Armstrongs second, if you judge by difficulty of execution, is probably one of the best goals of the Nations League so far.

Ireland taking a point off Ukraine is very positive as well, amazing how things can turn so quickly. 

The reactionaries and self haters after the Ireland and Ukraine games looking a bit sheepish now, but overall it's still a poor international break on the whole.

Roll on September when I think we will be looking a lot better.

[velo army]

11 hours ago, BingMcCrosby said:

That generally the case, its easier to play against less players. We didn't turn the corner.

Clarke should be buying the lad a few beers. It was the bin for him tonight until the red card

Didn't mean to quote you but my phone won't let me delete, although it is germaine to my overall point.

Obviously it's generally easier to play against 10 men (in theory, at least) but we were beginning to dominate and put together some lovely play in the last third. I felt that a goal was inevitable, whether the man got sent off or not. 

The sending off is being seen as a separate event when I think it can be viewed as a result of this attacking superiority. I only joined after 25 mins, but we were winning everything in midfield at that point and starting to get into gear. They were always going to resort to fouling so a card for them was an inevitable consequence. 

It was a good performance from a tired (apart from McGregor, who never tires apparently) squad. 

[lau03143]

9 hours ago, accies1874 said:

Armenia are a really horrible bunch who I don't want to play again anytime soon.

The first half will stick in the mind much more than the second. I suppose we do need to account for fatigue and missing a few key players, but all three who started at the back are regulars, Gilmour dropped a disasterclass and McGregor carried over his form from the Ireland game while 11 v 11 (was good 11 v 10). Taylor had some decent moments but he's not a wing-back. 

We played remarkably well in the second half considering it's at the end of such a long season, a disappointing international campaign and in the Armenian heat.

[wastecoatwilly]

38 minutes ago, velo army said:

Didn't mean to quote you but my phone won't let me delete, although it is germaine to my overall point.

Obviously it's generally easier to play against 10 men (in theory, at least) but we were beginning to dominate and put together some lovely play in the last third. I felt that a goal was inevitable, whether the man got sent off or not. 

The sending off is being seen as a separate event when I think it can be viewed as a result of this attacking superiority. I only joined after 25 mins, but we were winning everything in midfield at that point and starting to get into gear. They were always going to resort to fouling so a card for them was an inevitable consequence. 

It was a good performance from a tired (apart from McGregor, who never tires apparently) squad. 

That's a good idea to turn the game on after 20 minutes have lapsed,we don't start games well it's something that needs to be addressed.
Kicking the ball out after two passes from centre set the tone,maybe it's a lack of belief in the players but it's starting to be a thing with Scotland.

[DA Baracus]

56 minutes ago, lau03143 said:

We played remarkably well in the second half considering it's at the end of such a long season, a disappointing international campaign and in the Armenian heat.

How hot was it?

[accies1874]

We played remarkably well in the second half considering it's at the end of such a long season, a disappointing international campaign and in the Armenian heat.

They're a dreadful side who were playing with 10 men.

[2426255]

1 hour ago, velo army said:

Obviously it's generally easier to play against 10 men (in theory, at least) but we were beginning to dominate and put together some lovely play in the last third. I felt that a goal was inevitable, whether the man got sent off or not. 

The sending off is being seen as a separate event when I think it can be viewed as a result of this attacking superiority. I only joined after 25 mins, but we were winning everything in midfield at that point and starting to get into gear. They were always going to resort to fouling so a card for them was an inevitable consequence. 

Give the boy something to grasp on to, it was a bad night for him. Get that champagne back on ice Bing.

Edited June 15, 2022 by 2426255

[velo army]

39 minutes ago, wastecoatwilly said:

That's a good idea to turn the game on after 20 minutes have lapsed,we don't start games well it's something that needs to be addressed.
Kicking the ball out after two passes from centre set the tone,maybe it's a lack of belief in the players but it's starting to be a thing with Scotland.

I think it's the way forward. I might start doing that for home games too

[Salt n Vinegar]

Someone commented last night about bookings leaving Ukrainian players suspended. I confess that I hadn't been watching for that. Any big names set to miss the game at Hampden on 21 September? 

[Bonksy+HisChristianParade]

Anyone criticising Steve Clarke after a humiliating defeat to Southern Ireland sure is looking mighty sheepish after a barnstorming win over 10 man Armenia.

[Satoshi]

12 minutes ago, Bonksy+HisChristianParade said:

Anyone criticising Steve Clarke after a humiliating defeat to Southern Ireland sure is looking mighty sheepish after a barnstorming win over 10 man Armenia.

A 4-1 win away and with 8 wins from the last 10 competitive games the best record in UEFA.

I expect they are feeling very sheepish. And rightly so.

[Benjamin_Nevis]

Armenia are absolutely fucking dreadful. Beating them should be expected by any reasonable football side, even more so when they're playing with 10 men for the entire second half. I hadn't actually realised just how shite they were until I had a quick look at their recent results 

Good grief, they are pretty much on a par with Liechtenstein. 

A couple of scraped wins against Ireland and Montenegro, a couple of draws against luminaries like the aforementioned Liechtenstein, Iceland and North Macedonia, and largely everything else has been an utter pumping. Standouts include a 0-9 away to Norway, a home 0-5 to North Macedonia, and 0-6 and 1-4 off the Germans

[PrestersKTID]

Good win eventually, we were right under the cosh first half but did well to get back to level. Armenia seem to have a habit of getting men sent off and that completely changed the game. One way traffic after that. Couple of shocking challenges from them.

Armstrong put in a great shift, probably his best performance in a while. 2 good goals and assist for adams.

Pleased for adams who needed that goal badly. The confidence shift in the team when we went 3-1 up was nuts, started to play a bit.

Could tell at 4-1 though we struggled to create as much with the subs coming on, just a lot of passing along their box, campbell's shot apart.

Taylor was solid enough but surprised we didn't swap hickey in second half, it was a lot of sideways passes. 

[Joe Terrapin]

We definite

1 hour ago, Salt n Vinegar said:

Someone commented last night about bookings leaving Ukrainian players suspended. I confess that I hadn't been watching for that. Any big names set to miss the game at Hampden on 21 September? 

Zinchenko and Zabarnyi got booked which means they'll miss the Hampden game.

[eez-eh]

48 minutes ago, Bonksy+HisChristianParade said:

Anyone criticising Steve Clarke after a humiliating defeat to Southern Ireland sure is looking mighty sheepish after a barnstorming win over 10 man Armenia.

Don’t know about you, but personally I’ve felt so embarrassed that I’ve struggled at times to even login to Pie and Bovril dot com.

Every goal against 10 man Armenia was a like a dagger to my heart.

[BFTD]

Managed to find a video of Armenia's mauling by Norway back in March; despite the Ireland win, they've got bigger problems than us. Some dreadful cynical "tackles" in that game too, and utterly stationary defending at set pieces (worse than us against Ireland). I've seen plenty of limited international sides take a hiding, but they're just completely chaotic at the moment.

[Virtual Insanity]

We saw both the good and the bad of Armenia last night, they ragdolled us at times in the first half hour and we were lucky to still be at 1-1 at that stage, and you can see why they do pull off the odd decent result against mid ranked teams like ourselves, but then you also saw why they get skelped on a semi regular basis as they have been absolutely heads gone in both games against us, particularly once they're behind. 

[ropy]

Anyone seen any feedback from the Armenian camp?  Ref was against them, McGinn dived etc?

[2426255]

10 minutes ago, ropy said:

Anyone seen any feedback from the Armenian camp?  Ref was against them, McGinn dived etc?

I saw some feedback and it was basically saying that the ref was poor, both players were deservedly sent off (pointing to a history of unprofessionalism from those players) which changed a game they were doing well in. That was fan reaction and not Armenian papers or the Armenian camp. 

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