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Scotland v Ukraine (21st Sep)


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We seemed to play all the greatest hits tonight.

After 10 minutes I was prepared for abject misery.

When Patterson went off I was prepared for it being a What Could've Been story.

When we were missing all those chances I was prepared for it being One of Those Nights.

And then when we ended up battering them it turned out to be a walkover the likes of which we tend to only see against minnows.

I wasn't sure about the back four in the first half as the pressing wasn't clicking down our right and Hendry + Patterson started a bit iffy, but the team grew into the shape (could be wrong but think we might have tried to push Ukraine onto our left which is much stronger off the ball) and Hendry and McKenna dealt with absolutely everything that came their way. That same partnership played in Mexico more than four years ago now.

Also delighted that the first three subs all came on yet didn't miss a beat. When folk are firing like that, it makes the squad look a wee bit deeper compared to when they're all struggling.

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25 minutes ago, Virtual Insanity said:

Same starting 11 for Saturday please with Hickey in for Patterson.

I think that tonight was the formation and line-up I’d like Scotland to play every match and it was telling in the performance having a couple of guys (namely McTominay and Tierney) in their strongest position and not somewhat shoehorned into the side to some extent. 

Think I’d leave Patterson at RB on Saturday. If I was bringing Hickey in to start I’d be tempted to do it at Tierney’s expense based purely on Tierney being made of glass.

24 minutes ago, shizzlemanizzle said:

Hickey has the potential to be ridiculous. In a good way.

Never forget our dearly departed football mastermind… 🤡👇


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18 minutes ago, Donathan said:

Looked like a back four from the start to me. McTominay might have dropped deep on occasion but he mainly played in the midfield throughout. 

This is correct, it was a back 4 for the most part with McTominay occasionally dropping into defence but rarely required thankfully.

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1 minute ago, 8MileBU said:

I think that tonight was the formation and line-up I’d like Scotland to play every match and it was telling in the performance having a couple of guys (namely McTominay and Tierney) in their strongest position and not somewhat shoehorned into the side to some extent. 

Think I’d leave Patterson at RB on Saturday. If I was bringing Hickey in to start I’d be tempted to do it at Tierney’s expense based purely on Tierney being made of glass.

Never forget our dearly departed football mastermind… 🤡👇


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This is correct, it was a back 4 for the most part with McTominay occasionally dropping into defence but rarely required thankfully.

Patterson was carried away on a stretcher tonight. I’d be surprised if it’s not Hickey at RB on Saturday, but if not, it’s probably Ralston. Patterson sadly will be out for a while unless it’s less serious than it looked. 

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ThAt first half I was worried we were going to Chuck it, so many good chances and positions and the decision making or finishing wasn’t happening. Ukraine looked like their winger could’ve caused bother on the counter but credit to the defence they snuffed out any chances.

second half we battered them, Adam’s could’ve had a couple, Armstrong about 3 and likes of tierney and hickey good efforts aswell.

Subs really stretched Ukraine, dykes dominated them and Fraser looked lively. Hickey was excellent when he came on. 

dykes gets criticism but he’s so effective especially against tired defenders. Wins every header and 2 good finishes for his goals.

don’t think Gordon had a save to make, very comfortable in the end and realistically could’ve had 6 or 7. 

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1 minute ago, Virtual Insanity said:

They tried (I think) to do the Bournemouth/PSG/whoever else straight through the middle goal from kick off. Didn't really come particularly close to working.

Definitely. Very unlike Clarke too, his Killie teams constantly just punted it into the corner and pressed.

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1 minute ago, accies1874 said:

11 games with Austin MacPhee, 7 goals from set-pieces.

11 games prior to Austin MacPhee, 1 goal from set-pieces (exc. penalties).

He's had a massive impact on this team.

I thought teams were starting to catch on to the “looping corner to the back post, flick back across goal, header in” routine that brought us Souttar goal against Denmark and at least one more. I was wondering when MacPhee would catch on to teams over committing to stop that and we’d get some free headers at the near post. Turns out tonight was the night. 

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I thought teams were starting to catch on to the “looping corner to the back post, flick back across goal, header in” routine that brought us Souttar goal against Denmark and at least one more. I was wondering when MacPhee would catch on to teams over committing to stop that and we’d get some free headers at the near post. Turns out tonight was the night. 


Yeah Hendry v Austria too. We mixed things up in June with disappointing returns but the variety worked really well tonight.
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3 minutes ago, accies1874 said:


 

 


Yeah Hendry v Austria too. We mixed things up in June with disappointing returns but the variety worked really well tonight.

 

Ukraine had clearly been watching tape of the Souttar and Hendry goals because they were committing a lot of defenders to the back post at every corner tonight. Made for free headers at the near post which Dykes took full advantage of.

 

 

Hopefully next week we might be able to bring the longer looping corners back as they’ll need to actually mark the near post this time. The two Dykes goals were a carbon copy of one another and you’d be forgiven for thinking you were watching a replay when the third goal went in. 

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54 minutes ago, Monkey Tennis said:

Well over forty years.

I think the extreme swings in performance level are particularly pronounced just now though, which is why I posted about it.

I dont know if I agree there.  We've lost 2 games in the last year while winning 7 and drawing 2.  I believe the commentator said we'd lost 1 home match in the last 14.

When was the last time Scotland were this consistently good?  The Craig Brown era?

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2 hours ago, ancientnoise said:

Not sure, but Matterface came out with this earlier:

"Scotland have never lost a Nations Cup game at home"

Pleasantly surprised. Haven't checked. This guy does his homework.

 

Matterface is an insufferable English c**t.

If you require further verification, head to his commentary in the Euro 2021 final.

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1 hour ago, Craig fae the Vale said:

Just home, what a second half. Looked like a totally different team when we switched to the back four.

Second half performance was as good as I've seen from us in a long time. No voice left, can't believe I have to go to work tomorrow. 

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Work is going to be a rough one for a few tomorrow 🤣 top of the section!

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2 hours ago, Diamonds are Forever said:

A very small sample size from which to judge, but I think tonight showed a couple of things, the first of which people have been saying for a while.

When either Robertson or Tierney aren't available we should be playing with a back 4. To be honest even when they are available I'd be going with a back 4 (although I'd listen to arguments), but given Tierney's injury problems over the years I think it's foolish building a team based on both of them being available. The back 3 also came from a time a few years back when we had almost no competent defenders (Charlie Mulgrew and Mikey Devlin anyone?) so there was probably a need to clog that area up to provide support. It's still one of our weaker areas but we have a few options there now with a bit more experience and we can deal with just having 2 centre backs, assuming they are properly protected in midfield.

McTominay and McGregor with McGinn in a forward role is clearly our best midfield. Gilmour may be the golden boy for some but he does not provide the protection we need for the defence, the biggest difference tonight compared with the last Ukraine game was that they weren't able to continually run off our midfield (mainly Gilmour). Hopefully he'll get a run of games with Brighton but he shouldn't be in the starting 11 unless we have injuries and/or he has been performing well with Brighton, this is a massive season for him.

The one position which is a real weakness is the Ryan Christie role. He's been awful for almost 2 years now, continually gives the ball away and has no end product - 1 assist and 0 goals in last 18 appearances. However in fairness to Clarke I couldn't offer a better alternative to play that role given our lack of options so we'll maybe just have to persevere.

Ukraine looked a difference side than the last game but that was partly down to us. A much more encouraging performance which we need to repeat on Saturday before we can think we've turned a corner.

Ryan Christie was excellent tonight. 

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