Scotland v Cyprus 25/03/23

[Bogbrush1903]

8 hours ago, DA Baracus said:

The tournament where we scored a grand total of one goal?

It was also the tournament we beat the Swiss, drew with the Dutch and were a penalty away from upsetting the English in their own backyard.

Edited March 26, 2023 by Bogbrush1903

[Molotov]

1 minute ago, Bogbrush1903 said:

It was also the tournament we beat the Swiss, drew with the Dutch and were a missed penalty away from upsetting the English in their own backyard.

We were battered by the Dutch. If VAR had been in place or a better ref we would have conceded a penalty.

England beat us 2-0. Great performance by Scotland but we never troubled Seaman that much in such an important game.

You seem to blame a weirdo called Uri Geller for the penalty miss by our captain. Regardless whether the ball moved it was a poor penalty technique by Gary given his style before. Seaman was a great shot stopper. Credit where it’s due.

I always felt that Ally Mc would have been better taking that penalty as he was on the park at the time.

And despite a valiant effort against the Swiss our lack of goal scoring is our Achilles heel which is what @DA Baracus was saying I believe. 

[Lancashirearab]

15 hours ago, Binos said:

Not sure against Spain will be it

 

[Monkey Tennis]

1 hour ago, Molotov said:

We were battered by the Dutch. If VAR had been in place or a better ref we would have conceded a penalty.

England beat us 2-0. Great performance by Scotland but we never troubled Seaman that much in such an important game.

We'd also have been down to ten men against the Netherlands.  We would have been in real trouble in the game.

I generally agree with the post, but Seaman says one of his best ever saves came in that game against us, and he's not talking about the penalty.

Edited March 26, 2023 by Monkey Tennis

[Renfrewblue]

8 hours ago, ancientnoise said:

Scored early, kept the ball for most of the game as they do, but nearly got stung by a few missed Norway chances.

Got the second, relaxed a bit and got a third soon after.

We can get 4 points of both IMO.

Norway played well and if Haaland had been playing there's at least 2 of their chances I'd expect him to bury. 

Neither of these teams are going to even remotely easy. 

The one saving grace is that the Spanish don't have the deadliest goalscorers. We'll need some luck. 

[Bogbrush1903]

46 minutes ago, Molotov said:

We were battered by the Dutch. If VAR had been in place or a better ref we would have conceded a penalty.

England beat us 2-0. Great performance by Scotland but we never troubled Seaman that much in such an important game.

You seem to blame a weirdo called Uri Geller for the penalty miss by our captain. Regardless whether the ball moved it was a poor penalty technique by Gary given his style before. Seaman was a great shot stopper. Credit where it’s due.

I always felt that Ally Mc would have been better taking that penalty as he was on the park at the time.

And despite a valiant effort against the Swiss our lack of goal scoring is our Achilles heel which is what @DA Baracus was saying I believe. 

My original post was that I believed that 1996 European Championships was our best performance in finals tournament but that does not mean that I think we played brilliantly throughout.

The only other tournament that, in my opinion, could be up there with it was 1974.

However, if you thought we had problems scoring against the Swiss in 1996 then that is repeated against Zaire and even against a Brazilian team much weaker than the one that had swept to glory in Mexico four years previous.

A late equaliser when we were already all but out of the tournament against the Yugoslavs put an 'undefeated' gloss on a campaign that seemed to have unfulfilled potential.

With regards your points, my reference to Uri Geller was obviously tongue in cheek.

The VAR what-ifs is irrelevant when discussing 1996, and whilst Collins handled the ball on the line, the Dutch had another hour and a half to get a goal which they failed to do. It was seen as great point at the time and one that should've set us up for progression to the next stage.

I agree that McCoist should've taken the pen at Wembley but Gary MacAllister should've had the experience and skill to bury that and if (I'm doing what ifs now) it had went to 1-1 then the English were under serious pressure in those last 15 minutes having drawn against the Swiss....but it wasn't to be and we'll never know how that would've played out.

[PSJ.84]

On 22/03/2023 at 13:15, PSJ.84 said:

All I know is that I’ll be very hungover on Sunday. 2pm on a Saturday for a Scotland game is dangerous. 

Rough as f**k.  

[tree house tam]

13 hours ago, Ludo*1 said:

I wasn't meaning he was a Dundee hero although, what a player, and he was definitely a personal hero growing up. Just a genuine hero of a character in the game.

I take it you wouldn't define Goran Stanic or Jason Scotland as St Johnstone heroes?

Sorry, I don't regard any players as heroes, most are absolute fannies tbh.

[CM.]

Thought the game was pretty flat but job done at the end of the day. Porteous bar his daft yellow and Hanley were good, which will annoy all the dafties on twitter who've never watched football in their life questioning why they're (in particular Hanley) in the team. 

I was surprised Jack started (another one that frothed the mouths on twitter) but he done okay and I don't understand some of the criticism he gets. Never really let us down. The subs did happen at the right time though. Thought it was actually one of McGinns quieter games for Scotland but he still pops up with a goal.

I suspect Gunn will be busier on Tuesday. Can only remember his wee slip and recovery then 2 saves from shots straight at him. They were absolutely stinking to be honest, the way they crowded the ref in the first half wanting a red for the foul Armstrong got booked for about 80 yards from their goal was embarrassing.

PS this is a long shot but if anyone sitting in South Upper at the East corner happened to find a bracelet it's probably mine. 

Edited March 26, 2023 by CM.

[throbber]

2 minutes ago, PSJ.84 said:

Rough as f**k.  

Me too - was in the corona bar for 11 and knocked them back fairly quickly then went to a pool hall not far from hampden and didn’t get back to Edinburgh til 11. 
 

Thought game was poor, maybe Cyprus just dragged the overall standard down but Scotland didn’t really look like they had much quality going forward and can’t see how they are going to ask any questions of Spain.

[Lurkst]

2 hours ago, Molotov said:

He’s played in Scotland for Hamilton, Hibs and St Mirren since 2017. 

No excuse!  

I'll be honest given his name I'd no idea Gogic was a Cypriot.

Didn't realise it was him playing either as we got in after kick off.

There was a smattering of Buddies outing themselves with applause as he was subbed though 

 

[Jambomo]

3 hours ago, Molotov said:

He’s played in Scotland for Hamilton, Hibs and St Mirren since 2017. 

No excuse!  

I didn’t know he played for Cyprus.

[PSJ.84]

35 minutes ago, throbber said:

Me too - was in the corona bar for 11 and knocked them back fairly quickly then went to a pool hall not far from hampden and didn’t get back to Edinburgh til 11. 
 

Thought game was poor, maybe Cyprus just dragged the overall standard down but Scotland didn’t really look like they had much quality going forward and can’t see how they are going to ask any questions of Spain.

Our bus left at 9 so I couldn’t even tell you if I was still out at 11  

Game was really poor. Not wanting to read too much into it myself as Cyprus weren’t at all interested in playing football. Still of the opinion that we need at least a point from Tuesday night if we’re to qualify 
 

 

[throbber]

3 minutes ago, PSJ.84 said:

Our bus left at 9 so I couldn’t even tell you if I was still out at 11  

Game was really poor. Not wanting to read too much into it myself as Cyprus weren’t at all interested in playing football. Still of the opinion that we need at least a point from Tuesday night if we’re to qualify 
 

 

I can see Scotland getting a 0-0 but if we fall behind I think we are fucked. Will no doubt completely take the game on Tuesday and be unrecognisable but still get beat 

[Insert Amusing Pseudonym]

1 hour ago, Renfrewblue said:

Norway played well and if Haaland had been playing there's at least 2 of their chances I'd expect him to bury. 

Neither of these teams are going to even remotely easy. 

The one saving grace is that the Spanish don't have the deadliest goalscorers. We'll need some luck. 

What chances?  

[baillieinleeds]

A hard fought win, and can I say that new Scotland strip is a thing of Beauty. 

[Ewanandmoreagain]

10 hours ago, DA Baracus said:

Worth noting that Robertson often has far more time on the ball to put in a cross when playing for Liverpool and also that Liverpool have far more men forward to get on the end of such balls.

If he had put in a couple of the balls he did today for Liverpool then I reckon they'd have been put in the net.

Sorry , but it is a pity he cannot shoot

[Ewanandmoreagain]

11 hours ago, Bogbrush1903 said:

Veteran newspaper men like Chick Young are forever indulging themselves with fantastical notions about how great Scotland were between the 1960s-1980s.

In reality, we've never had a team that was capable of performing to a high standard consistently away from Hampden.

Consequently, we've never progressed beyond the opening groups stages in a finals tournament.

 

the 1966 World Cup should've been opportunities

The teams that won our qualifying groups in the sixties were Czechoslovakia (sp) , Italy and West Germany.

Italy only partial mugs due to losing to a Korea in 1966

Czechosovakia were beaten finalists in 1962

W. Germany semi finalists in 1970¹

We partially messed up for 1966 by losing to Poland at home , despite leading 1 - 0 with 15 minutes to go . The defence was ****

 

 

Edited March 26, 2023 by Ewanandmoreagain

[Dunning1874]

Ultimately we've won 3-0 and flat track bullied a lower seed which is exactly what you're looking for us to do, so you can't complain much. For 70 minutes though that performance was a textbook example of how not to play with a back three.

If you're playing a team whose sole aim is get every man behind the ball and escape with a draw, you need constant movement from the midfield to stretch them and open up gaps. That's true in any shape but especially so with a back three.

I'm not being hyperbolic in saying that every single time Tierney, Hanley or Porteous stepped forward with the ball at their feet in the first half, what they had in front of them was six players standing still and Stuart Armstrong. Not much came off for him but he was the only player bothering his arse to show for the ball, I have no idea what McGregor or Jack were trying to achieve in purposefully latching on to Cyprus players and removing themselves as an option for a pass whenever a centre back took a touch. It's no wonder Porteous ended up hoofing it to their keeper so often, all three centre backs were being hung out to dry. Even when Robertson and Hickey were able to get themselves room to receive a pass they never had anything on but going back to the centre backs. It was really dire pedestrian stuff, a flat performance that in turn flattened the atmosphere.

It didn't really improve until McTominay came on and introduced the incredible concept of making runs to his teammates. He was excellent and I'm glad to see him being played in a more advanced role, it's definitely where he's at his best.

Edited March 26, 2023 by Dunning1874

[BFTD]

McGinn naturally gets the headlines because he's magic, but McTominay deserves attention for finishing the game. Very good player for us, considering he's usually out of position.

Everyone would obviously prefer that we raced off out of sight in the first half of matches, but there's something quite satisfying about games where we make changes and pull away towards the end. Those final goals have put me in a good mood today