VictorOnopko
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Posts posted by VictorOnopko
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3 hours ago, 2426255 said:
I think it could be taken as sign this team under Clarke is continuing to move in the right direction.
I don't personally buy that much into comparisons between generations or the 'making history' line from Clarke and Scotland. It's good in the sense that it gives us a goal and a purpose at the tournament to focus the mind, but beyond that if your line between success and failure is decided by 90 minutes of football then you're probably looking at the wrong things.
If we win, it would be a big boost for everyone ahead of the Nations League, but regardless of how we do tomorrow we know we're still a bit short of being consistently competitive against the top-10 nations, but we can be consistently competive against the teams just below that and in one off games against the top-10.
Yes, I've often said that the most important thing about getting out of the group and into the knock outs at a major finals would be how it tees up the next round of nations league matches...
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1 hour ago, oneteaminglasgow said:
Starting to think Ukraine might not be very good.
Also, subjecting us to Martin Keown might be worse than anything the Ukrainians have been through the last few years.
They were dreadful in the Romania match which I was at, but a more than decent fightback today.
I still can't believe Chelsea paid somewhere between sixty and ninety million pounds for Mudryk. He loves a run along the D without shooting, then losing all attacking momentum/possession of the ball.
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No stadium Schottland action but still a great trip.
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Lineker, Ferdinand and Richards are seething at half time, cheated by the pitch, Harry Kane's not trying hard enough. They're not even losing (yet). Get it right up the lot of you. and 'mon the Legomakers.
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8 minutes ago, ArabFC said:
Any full-back at any level can expect a pass back from a midfielder under pressure. Unless we're suggesting that without Gilmour the ball should never touch the ground in our own half when in possession.
7 minutes ago, An Absolute Imposter said:If Gilmour had received a decent pass from Hanley instead of that abomination, he could have moved the ball on instead if having to waste time getting it under control first. Only gave it to Ralston as no other option with Swiss players all around him.
I don't disagree with either of you. The goal wasn't Gilmour's fault. He should start every game for us IMO.
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41 minutes ago, Skyline Drifter said:
To be pedantic, in 1990 we were absolutely tied with Austria, not "lowest ranked". That table is just presented in alphabetical or group number order. If Uruguay had lost their last game we'd have drawn lots with the Austrians.
I appreciate you are aware of this but it's worth stressing that if Euro 92 was the only one where we were out in two games, it was also our best performance as there only were 8 teams qualified for it. In saying we didn't get out of the group we're saying we didn't reach the semi finals! We effectively finished 5th/6th in that tournament and unless we get out of this group AND win at least one knockout game we haven't actually done better. Of course there were less countries in 1992 and it was easier to get to the last eight.
And you're absolutely right about 98. I mean it didn't matter as we were down and out by half time v Morocco so nobody paid any attention to what was happening in Brazil v Norway but there was an assumption we'd go through by winning and ultimately we wouldn't have.
Yes, all fair points there, we were indeed joint lowest ranked at 90 and Euro 92 was a small finals so overall it was a very creditable performance. In fact when you look back, we've competed well at quite a lot of these finals, often with one memorably bad result (Iran, Costa Rica, Morocco, Czechs at home). The disappointment against Germany was that we were so spectacularly outclassed, but it was only one game which we were expected to lose, just not that heavily.
Obviously in a purely rational sense all this history has no bearing at all on how things might pan out this time, but it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if we beat Hungary and were eliminated anyway, on 4 points, once again.
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What a relief to see Gilmour selected last night. I thought he was superb, and this is a pretty good article:
Makes the fair point that Gilmour's brilliant passing has the downside that our shaky defenders can't cope with it very well, and Ralston's error came from getting the ball and panicking. Maybe Clarke made this calculation pre-Germany - that Gilmour is too good for the defence behind him?!
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4 hours ago, Jives Miguel said:
Have we not been knocked out 3 or 4 times from tournaments on goal difference? If there's anyone that could be the first team eliminated from the 24 team Euros, it would be us.
I posted something similar in the "will we qualify out of the groups" thread but here is the info, which makes grim reading:
WC 74 - first team to go home from a World Cup unbeaten with a win and two draws, and we went out on GD by 1 goal.
WC 78 - again out by a single goal on GD when the Dutch (finalists in the end) scored with 20 mins to go to get back to 3-2 down against us.
WC 82 - out after a win and a draw by 2 goals GD because Brazil beat us by more than they beat the USSR.
WC 86 - one goal against Uruguay would have got us through although we had lost the first two. We drew 0-0.
WC 90 - out as the lowest 3rd placed team - this table makes bad reading
WC 1990 Ranking of third-placed teams
Pos Grp Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification 1 B 
Argentina
3 1 1 1 3 2 +1 3 Advance to knockout stage 2 D 
Colombia
3 1 1 1 3 2 +1 3 3 F 
Netherlands
3 0 3 0 2 2 0 3 4 E 
Uruguay
3 1 1 1 2 3 −1 3 5 A 
Austria
3 1 0 2 2 3 −1 2 6 C 
Scotland
3 1 0 2 2 3 −1 2 Euro 96 - out yet again by 1 goal on 4 pts when the Dutch scored in a heavy loss against England (cue smug, grinning Shearer post-match when told that it had knocked us out, "what a shame" - c6nt) and we couldn't find a second against the Swiss.
We arguably weren't even miles off it at the last Euros when we were drawing 1-1 with Croatia in the final match (although they eased past us in the end).
The 92 Euros and 98 World Cup are the only non-narrow misses I think, although in 98 we obviously thought we had the chance to qualify in the final game. People forget though that while we were busy being tonked by Morocco, Norway beat Brazil and finished on 5 pts, so Morocco didn't qualify either!
Overall, I'm not sure if any other country has had so many close failures to get out of the groups.
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Italy, for the classiness of their shitfesting - and for the memories.
Czechia, for being a brilliant footballing side down the years who don't get as much credit as they should.
Both are absolutely brilliant places to visit, too.
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10 hours ago, PJ70 said:
We're already out. A dud keeper and no defenders. No goals in 2 games.
We really, really aren't. And although the Germany OG was flukey, we scored an excellent goal last night from a really good break, regardless of the deflection on the shot. So you're wrong on that too.
Guessing you're going to be raging if we beat Hungary...
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8 hours ago, Cheese said:
Steve Clarke should be relieved of his duties and a selection council of P&B Da's should be installed for this crunch fixture.
I'd pick 4/5ths of the Hearts starting XI and the reincarnation of Cafu at RB for me Clive.
Alan Hutton's quite happy doing media these days I think.
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9 hours ago, smc4761 said:
Ralston was an absolute bombscare for most of the match
Why is Clarke waiting until 89th minute to bring on Shankland
Because it wasn't a tactical move or a freshen up move, it was a timewasting move.
8 hours ago, BFTD said:I don't get this either. I can understand substitutions like that when you're trying to run time out at the end of the game, but not when you're still chasing a goal.
Clarke isn't the only manager who does it, so clearly it's some galaxy-brained shit that I'm too thick to understand, but surely it would make more sense to bring on a fresh striker(s) with maybe twenty minutes to go and give them time to get into the pace of the match.
Clarke was very, very happy with a draw (the Hungary game will show whether that was the right call in a winnable game), and wasn't chasing anything. It also showed that he doesn't trust Shankland or Conway over a run-into-the-ground Adams.
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9 hours ago, Scooby_Doo said:
Gabby Logan said that no third place team has failed to qualify with 4 points before.
Challenge accepted.
Yeah, this... We were the first team to go home from a World Cup unbeaten with a win and two draws in 1974 and went out on GD by 1 goal. We also went out by a single goal in WC 78 and Euro 96, and 2 goals in WC82, each time with 4 points (yes I know the system is more generous in these Euros). One goal against Uruguay would have got us through in 86. We weren't even miles off it at the last Euros when we were 1-1 with Croatia in the final match. I'm not sure if any other country has had so many close failures to get out of the groups.
TL/DR - we have plenty of historic form for going home by a very narrow margin.
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Punching the air after doing the absolute bare minimum to keep us in it by our fingernails. We could easily go out on 4 pts with our bad GD if we somehow beat Hungary.
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England wittering and a Gareth Southgate arse licking feature at HT on a crucial Scotland match. Is this for real?
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12 minutes ago, Melanius Mullarkey said:
Where was this Germany on Friday?
Running around in acres of space and unlimited time to pick their passes and shots.
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On 18/06/2024 at 14:42, AJF said:
I’ve seen a couple of videos circulating from Germany where there’s been Hibs fans on a train singing a Hibs song, and then the P&B twitter account last night posted a video of a big group singing Sunshine on Leith.
This is more of a general point rather than being aimed at Hibs fans, it just so happens those were the videos I stumbled across, but am I alone in thinking while in Germany, singing club affiliated songs has at least a hint of tinpottery?
I fly out on Saturday and I think if I find myself on a plane, train or in a pub surrounded by others wearing Scotland gear but belting out club songs then I’d be cringing a bit.
I was at the Olympiapark fanzone in Munich on Friday and thousands of Scotland fans were singing along to Sunshine on Leith with the old Scottish guy on stage who I assume is a regular TA entertainer. It's a great song and would be absolutely fine in the Scotland songbook alongside Loch Lomond and 500 Miles IMO. No one was cringing, and interestingly, most of the randoms I chatted to were fans of smaller teams.
I sort of know what you mean about "club songs" but it's worth pausing to think about what SOL is - a wonderful, universal, wistful, anthemic song about love and life which brings a tear to the eye. That's why it works in a Scotland context, even though Hibs sort of own it. A few other tunes belted out at the larger Scottish grounds are just a wee bit less appealing...
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13 hours ago, lichtie23 said:
Always enjoy watching the Scott Hoch miss. He was a grade A w****r
Voted most unpopular player on tour by his peers I believe, so official confirmation of his w*****-dom.
Hoch also missed a 2.5ft putt on the 71st hole in that Masters, a wee shame. Faldo was a lucky boy in the playoff though, having already bogeyed the 10th with a poor approach only to stand and watch Hoch do that.
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1 hour ago, HuttonDressedAsLahm said:
Whether we recognise it this week or in September, this current setup cannot continue to compete in international football without pace. Of all the other ‘average’ nations, they have pace where we don’t.
Morgan and Conway both have pace, but probably too late to start them.
Shankland makes no sense to start unless we expect to dominate the ball. I’m fine with that if it’s both our plan, and we’re capable of doing it. Otherwise, he’s neither able to effectively counter or act as a target man.
Gilmour has to start. I’d drop McGinn - he’s looked off it in a Scotland shirt for months. His trademark ‘trap and roll’ move seems to becoming less and less effective as defenders appear to be prepared for it, and referees much less willing to give fouls when he’s handled.
Strongly agree with all of this. It's so obvious that Gilmour must start that I wonder if Clarke's stubborn streak will mean that he doesn't. McGinn does need rested.
I don't tend to watch press conferences but watched Robertson and Clarke's earlier this evening. Clarke was at a Strachan level of chippiness at times and certainly came across like a man under huge pressure. Here's hoping he's in a better mood late tomorrow night.
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On 12/06/2024 at 16:38, carpetmonster said:
Got bids in on a Mortlach 15, and Glenfarclas 17 and 21 on an auction that closes on Sunday (local pickup so I'll have anything I win in time for the Swiss game).
ETA - outbid on the Glenfarclas 21, sub in a Longmorn 16.
Longmorn 16 is a very, very underrated dram.
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7 hours ago, Jan Vojáček said:
I've only watched a few games due to being out all weekend (Friday obviously, then Italy v Albania and now this) but the atmosphere has looked absolutely tremendous in every game. I can't remember the last international tournament I watched where the crowds and supports were as passionate as this. Maybe Germany 2006? I can't say I've thought about Romania as a nation since Marius Niculae played for Inverness. But I found myself going 'YES' when that third went in, just because their support has been absolutely class.
I was there today and my pals and I were expecting a Ukraine win. The Romanian team performance after a ropey start was superb, as was the atmos in the stadium. A great day out. Mudryk and the other Ukraine stars looked pretty poor tbh.
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Just now, Mark Connolly said:
Both.
I get that Rory thinks the relationship they have really helps him, but he needs a Billy Foster type who will sometimes just get him fucking telt
"you're Rory Mcilroy. What the f4ck are you doing?!"
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That was a brilliant finish to a major - really exciting. Bryson rebooted is not as annoying as before, although the USA! USA! chanting was a bit much.
An absolute calamity for Rory. The miss on the last was Doug Sandersesque. There's no getting around the fact that this will forever be remembered as a massive choke. Feel for him, but get it so far up you P. McGinley.
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8 hours ago, 2426255 said:
Try basing your thoughts on more than our last game. That'll help you. Look at how the game changed away in Norway for the latter and look at the Spain game at home for the former. Clarke obviously knows how to set up a team at this level.
I've watched all our games and the friendlies against the big teams were all poor performances apart from the Netherlands. Norway away was a long time ago now and the players look jaded and are playing in a system which failed spectacularly in our biggest game in over 25 years. It wasn't even just a failure, it was a fiasco right from the start. Are you saying he set up the team competently?
Pat Nevin nails it here:
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cd11pengy0ro
"He obviously knows these things better than I do, but I’d like to have had wee Billy Gilmour in there. These tournaments, it’s about keeping the ball, because if you give it away, you don’t get it back for five minutes, you end up chasing shadows. When you play top technical teams, the one thing you must do is hold the ball. He’s our best (...) We had a game plan that really, really, really didn’t work".
I hope Clarke and his team have some fresh ideas for the Swiss game. Let's see if he can set them up effectively and deal with unfolding shit/ adversity this time.
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Will we qualify out the groups
in Tartan Army Ramblings
Posted
I don't care what the 3-game group tells us, I just want Scotland to get through into the knock-outs. It's a competition, not a long-term form analysis spreadsheet.