Loominous

BG has played around 15 minutes of English Premier League football with Brighton this season. A discussion of his physicality in English Premier League games will be based on limited or old evidence or be purely speculative. First and foremost it's up to BG to get himself into the Brighton team and get more time playing football which is something he seems to be aware of. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/articles/cxxjxx799ppo

Sort of like when a Female team plays against a Male team maybe?

Sergio Busquets has retired. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/64000328

I could see them making one or two changes to their approach, maybe nothing so drastic as a move to the other end of the footballing spectrum. Their new coach was asked about changing Spain's style. "There is a model, an idea, which is non-negotiable, but to which nuances must be incorporated to enrich it. We will try to grow and continue to improve. Football is constantly changing and we will try to cover our needs. The most important thing is being open to everything." https://www.barcablaugranes.com/2022/12/12/23505407/new-spain-boss-luis-de-la-fuente-talks-busquets-eric-garcia-gavi-pablo-torre

He'll have to watch this then:

I think on reflection this is pretty much how I see it having played out. I don't see anyone shouting for the Morocco manager or the Croatia manager who are actually performing miracles.

A change of manager isn't an awful outcome for Scotland. The difficulty for Steve Clarke will be knowing how Spain will approach the game under the new manager as there will be little available information. Norway play them on the first matchday and then it will be a mad dash for the analysts after that. Just as well Steve Clarke didn't waste his time going to Qatar as I don't think a lot can be understood from Spain's tournament going into Euros qualifying.

thanks, finally agree on something.

The picture and narrative always changes after each result and so it therefore doesn't make much sense to me to form a view regarding team performance prior to the conclusion of the group. That's the point I'm making regarding the twitter post - I never said anything about Steve Clarke to be fair so have no idea why you're involving me in that conversation. A good example is the England fans going mental after beating Iran before their meltdown after the draw with the USA - It's the same thing. It's just fickle in my view - You can't really draw many conclusions based on a single game.

I think it just shows how fickle people are and how much crap is on twitter for me. One good result from Saudi Arabia and Japan combined with a good performance from Canada and people are getting a little carried away. Canada are now out of the tournament and we will see if Japan and/or Saudi Arabia make it to the last 16.

The Japan and Saudi Arabia teams doing their best to make the people highlighting them for being more than the sum of their parts look a touch silly.

Sun reporting that BG is looking to move on loan from Brighton after failing to establish himself in the Brighton team. The Sun claim that an important reason for BG moving to Brighton was to work under Potter and that for those two reasons he is looking to move on loan in January, that he is open to a move away from the Premier League.

Yeah you did say that - spot on. I also thought Robbo was pretty good even when he played more advanced in the 2nd half and I'd agree with you on BG's performance which I thought maybe went under the radar in the first half where I thought he played quite well.

Tough watch to be fair most of the game. A good experience for the team but some of the performances were pretty dire. It reminded me a little of the Ukraine game in June but also a bit like the 2-2 friendly draw away in Austria. Glad we at least got a goal and made more of a fight of it at the end. Those kind of away games are hard and the positive for me is that we kept at it.

As I said before I am just posting my opinion, if you don't like that it conflicts with your own then I'm sorry for that. I don't mind if you don't attach any value to it - Have a nice day and enjoy the game pal.

Hurling insults doesn't add credit to your opinion or lessen the value of mine.

That's fine, you're entitled to your own opinion. I'll be interested to see where the conversation will move if we get a disappointing result or two playing a back4.

Well half the team was changed for both sides so yeah I think that could have been a big factor. I'm hesitant to overplay the change in formation partly due to the performance in the subsequent matches against Ireland and Ukraine (away). It's a small sample really and we'll get a better idea as more games are played. I don't think that's unfair.

5 Players started both matches for Scotland at home to Ukraine so the two Scotland teams in terms of personnel weren't consistent. 5 Players started both matches for Ukraine away to Scotland so the two Ukraine teams in terms of personnel weren't consistent. The circumstances and emotion around the Ukraine seemed more intense in June. Ukraine's performances were also not consistent between the two games. The June games at the end of a long season perhaps didn't suit Scotland in the same way as the September games at the start of the season. A handful of the multiple factors that could be considered for the improved results in September. The formation changed along with other factors so I don't really see a basis to distinguish one variable as being more significant than another.

The best I've seen Scotland perform against Ukraine under Steve Clarke was the 3-0 win at Hampden and the best I've seen Scotland perform against Ireland (under Steve Clarke) was the 2-1 win at Hampden. There were several variables that changed between June and September including the formation. I don't know to what extent the change in formation affected the performances and results and therefore I would stop short of highlight that solely as the reason personally. Correlation does not imply causation I think is the phrase most people use to sum that up.

I wasn't particularly impressed by the performances against Ireland at Hampden or Ukraine in Poland. If Parrott had scored hit sitter for Ireland and we'd drawn 2-2 or if Yarmolenko had scored his sitter and we'd lost to Ukraine 1-0 I don't think we could argue the results as unfair. The results were fantastic but I have seen us play at least as well if not better in games prior to the matches last September, that's just how I see it. I'd never really thought about it that way, but I agree with that - his team do have an ability to pull a result out of the fire at times in spite of their performance. It feels to me like a team that can generally be trusted.

We got the results we wanted but I seem to remember the performances not being great against Ukraine (away) and Ireland at Hampden - on another night it could have worked out differently which I don't think is being unfair. On a separate note I hope the pitch is looking better than it was for Amedspor's match against Bursaspor a few weeks ago.

Thanks, I will.

Good player, hoping to see him get some action in this game. Does anyone know if he has ever played a competitive game as a wing back? If we go with wing backs then the other options in the squad might include Ryan Fraser or dare I say it Andy Robertson.... I don't think it's a big issue to be honest and from what I've read in the paper it seems more likely we'll be using full-backs for this game, but you never know.