Armenia v Scotland

[HuttonDressedAsLahm]

I'm not sure how much to read into last night.  On one hand, Armenia are a dreadful side, but on the other they target their home games, have a few useful attackers, and we had a makeshift defence that was caught between dominating the play and being put under pressure.

As we've noted elsewhere, it's been a weird month, with plenty of rank results far worse than ours in Ireland.  Italy, France, England, Bulgaria, and Slovakia have had a dreadful time.

The Ukraine result was devastating, but there are enough excuses factors to at least consider it could be a one-off.  As soon as that game is dead and done, the rest of the month is gone.  That we got out of it without huge cause for embarrassment is perhaps enough to take.  It certainly could have been worse.

Our players are dead on their feet.  No matter how bad the month was, it doesn't mean that August - November 2021 didn't occur.  We still have very good players, and no amount of McGinn channelling his inner Christie this week changes that.

I'm going to be optimistic, write this off, and look forward to two winnable home games in September.  Ukraine won't have the same motivation or preparation as last time, and are missing their star man Zinchenko.  ROI are still a weak team, and will be setup defensively away from home.

Tierney's return, all things going well, will make us much better at the back and going forward.  A fully fit Gilmour, Patterson, and Jack, alongside a confident McGinn, and Adams will make the difference.  Souttar and Armstrong have already played themselves into contention.

It's in our hands, and I'd imagine we're far more likely to see a Denmark/Israel performance, than we are to see Ukraine/Ireland (ironically enough).

[Donathan]

Just now, HuttonDressedAsLahm said:

I'm not sure how much to read into last night.  On one hand, Armenia are a dreadful side, but on the other they target their home games, have a few useful attackers, and we had a makeshift defence that was caught between dominating the play and being put under pressure.

As we've noted elsewhere, it's been a weird month, with plenty of rank results far worse than ours in Ireland.  Italy, France, England, Bulgaria, and Slovakia have had a dreadful time.

The Ukraine result was devastating, but there are enough excuses factors to at least consider it could be a one-off.  As soon as that game is dead and done, the rest of the month is gone.  That we got out of it without huge cause for embarrassment is perhaps enough to take.  It certainly could have been worse.

Our players are dead on their feet.  No matter how bad the month was, it doesn't mean that August - November 2021 didn't occur.  We still have very good players, and no amount of McGinn channelling his inner Christie this week changes that.

I'm going to be optimistic, write this off, and look forward to two winnable home games in September.  Ukraine won't have the same motivation or preparation as last time, and are missing their star man Zinchenko.  ROI are still a weak team, and will be setup defensively away from home.

Tierney's return, all things going well, will make us much better at the back and going forward.  A fully fit Gilmour, Patterson, and Jack, alongside a confident McGinn, and Adams will make the difference.  Souttar and Armstrong have already played themselves into contention.

It's in our hands, and I'd imagine we're far more likely to see a Denmark/Israel performance, than we are to see Ukraine/Ireland (ironically enough).

 

Broadly agree with this. Looking at the bigger picture, this international break gets a 3/10 or 4/10 from me. Ukraine and Ireland were both disasters, Armenia (H) was a professional performance where we took care of business if unspectacular, Armenia (A) was a very professional recovery from a disastrous start. Looking at the knock on effects of the defeats, well Ukraine in particular, all it really meant in practice is we missed out on the opportunity to have Gareth Bale teach us a lesson.

 

Focusing on the nations league in particular, 6 points would probably have been about par for the course. Barring a surprise Ukraine slip up against Armenia we’re either going to have to beat them twice or take four points off them and avoid defeat at home to ROI. Neither of those should be considered mammoth as asks if we harbour any ambitions of being a league A side.

 
The main takeaway from this IB from a footballing standpoint is that we cannot defend without Tierney and if he continues to be absent then the game plan must change to “You score 4, we’ll score 5”. I’d also argue that Souttar is our best true CB and should be in the team when available, Patterson is miles ahead of other options at RB/RWB and Stuart Armstrong should be pushing for inclusion in the first choice XI. 

[Estragon]

On the ref, I thought his positioning was absolutely terrible yesterday. I can't readily remember a referee so often being hit by the ball, walking into players' path, having his movement restricted by the play etc. Just seemed to keep happening. 

[SpoonTon]

We couldn't have complained if we were 3 or 4-1 down when they went down to 10 men. The way we defended was woeful. Simple balls over the defence were killing us, just like they did against Ukraine and Ireland. There was some awful individual defending as well as lacking defensive cohesion as a unit. There were aspects of our defending even in the second half that were nowhere near good enough. It's worrying and exactly the type of thing that decent teams like Ireland and Ukraine (and others before that) have been taking advantage of and punishing us. There's a fundamental problem in that we cannot find the balance between being solid at the back and decent going forward. Armenia going down to 10 men sort of handed us that balance last night, and you can see that we do have players who can play effective football going forward when we do that. 

There are positives, but there are also big improvements that need to be made. There are plenty of potential second seeds for that would give us at least as many issues as Ukraine and Ireland, never mind the likes of France and England (who look likely to be seeded there). There aren't many of the current top two seeding teams that I would feel confident going up against. The bottom line is that we need to find a way to improve. 

[Richey Edwards]

That first forty minutes or so was absolutely woeful, yet less than ten minutes into the second half we were 4-1 up and comfortable. 

I was slightly disappointed we didn't score more goals. I'd have liked us to have kept going and tried to rack up a cricket score. That mob deserved an absolute pummelling for their antics.

 

[Scary Bear]

I’m watching the highlights and I can see why folk were making the comments they were. Alarming defending.

[Scotty Tunbridge]

15 hours ago, DA Baracus said:

How hot was it?

It was so hot o poured a McDonald’s coffee on my lap to cool down.
 

Johnny Carson said it.

[John Lambies Doos]

How hot was it?

Only 22 degrees, 34 when Ireland played there.
If our guys are classing 22 as hot then we have a major problem

[Jambomo]

15 hours ago, Scary Bear said:

I’m watching the highlights and I can see why folk were making the comments they were. Alarming defending.

Yeah, the defending was atrocious. 

[BFTD]

Against a halfway decent side, they'd have had the cigars out by half time and would've made changes to blood youngsters.

Thankfully, we weren't up against a decent side, but we'll be in trouble in September if the performances and tactics don't improve.