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Kevin Finnerty

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Posts posted by Kevin Finnerty

  1. 17 minutes ago, Fletchers Saucy Manbun said:

    Fan mood indirectly affects the players. Getting plaudits for a pasting does no good.

    Really do not think that the fans as a whole have been showering the team with praise over the Netherlands result or that the players or staff seem satisfied with the way that game turned out. Recognising that there are positives to take from the 70 minutes of that game where we played in a very competitive and assured manner against one of the world's top-ranked teams on their own turf is probably a healthier "mentality" than just writing the entire performance off based on the scoreline.

  2. Whenever Ten Hag brings on Scott to save the day at the end of a game I picture Mr. Burns instructing Daryl Strawberry in that Simpsons episode where they play softball.

    "You - McTominay! Score a late winner!"

    "Sure thing, Skip!"

  3. 1 hour ago, AMMjag said:

    North Ireland is a big drop off in quality from Switzerland. I assume the only remaining alternatives were them, Cowdenbeath or Eastwood Juveniles and we've picked the game most likely to rack up the goals. 

    Bizarrely I actually had a dream a few nights back that Scotland V. Cowdenbeath was the first March fixture. Steve Clarke was drilling the players and kept sternly telling them not to underestimate the other side as "they'll be desperate for a win here."

  4. 1 minute ago, ekok said:

    Looking forward bit worried by managers comments about friendlies up to Euros. Agree we don't want " easy " if there actually is such a thing anymore. Last thing we need is " difficult  " of which their are many. Momentum is the key,  not dispiriting losses against teams  truthfully fair bit ahead of us.

    Suggest teams close to our standard,  similar in style to whoever is in our group. Don't see it matters if they are/ not going to Germany. 

    Clarke has said that he wants to target European sides who failed to make the tournament for the friendlies. 

  5. I reckon we're due at least one absolute blowout victory before this campaign is over and the Georgia game seems like a good candidate. I'm thinking 4-0 at HT and a cheeky two or three more in the second half as we let all the subs get a run around and bury the spectre of Georgia (A) once and for all. 

    (Followed by a torturous 1-0 win against Norway to cap it all off).

  6. I mean, it's not that unlikely that we'll be playing at least one of these last three countries in an actual competitive game next year. In any case I doubt anyone will be regretting this run of fixtures when our next meaningful match against a high-ranked nation rolls around.

  7. 45 minutes ago, scottsdad said:

    I'd just go for the confidence builders. San Marino, the Cayman Islands and Gibraltar. 

    What's the point in facing difficult opponents? Did we really gain anything form getting pumped by France last night?

    Yes, experience. These recent games against England, Spain and France give the team a meaningful benchmark for the improvement they will be striving to show against the similarly-ranked teams they'll be playing at the euros and in next year's nations league campaign. Maybe we could've played Latvia last night instead and put 8 goals past them and felt very good about ourselves but I think choosing to take on high-class opponents in low-to-no risk games like this is much more meaningful to the team's development.

  8. 7 minutes ago, ArabFC said:

    Maybe playing (arguably) the 3 best teams in Europe in a row wasn’t the best idea?

    We've got a European finals tournament and a Nations League group A campaign next year. We're going to be playing games against top-level teams whether we like it or not (possibly even against one or more of England, Spain and France) so we might as well try to rack up some relatively risk-free experience while we can.

  9. 1 hour ago, Monkey Tennis said:

    Since we won in Cyprus, Norway have had two chances to drop points but haven't.  Similarly, we've had a chance to seal it, but haven't.

    To be fair, Norway were never going to drop points against Cyprus in a million years and they were favoured to beat Georgia too so I don't see those results as particularly ominous for us. Meanwhile our first slip-up came in objectively our toughest game in the campaign and I think it's fair to say we were a bit unlucky not to take anything from it. In all three of those matches though the result has pretty much gone the way that a neutral observer would have expected. If Norway somehow win on Sunday then it'll be the first meaningful hazard that's arisen in our path to qualification so far. (I would still firmly expect us to win the group in that circumstance though).

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