Gordon Strachan

[Officer Barbrady]

So you're genuinely saying that he sabotaged qualifying so that he could keep good relations with clubs?  As in, failing in his current job, so he can...em...succeed in his current job?

 

Like, honestly 100% suggesting it?

Not sabotaged, as such. I just have very serious doubts that when pressed on it, taking Scotland into a Finals is a distant second at best to his employers. Win win for him without the pressure, and for them too. Used to be that qualification swelled the SFA coffers, hence how until about 2005 it was a reasonable price for a ticket.....the extortionate prices for third-rate fare in the qualifiers nowadays, ensure a very healthy swagbag without the need for any culpability.

It's also important that the wind-and-pish from his boss is seen to be visionary, and that Scottish football can only succeeed with both cheeks together. That's the priority, for all of them. You could say his only attempt at 'sabotage' would be simply to demotivate the f**k out of his players. Which, tbf, he's really good at. So, something positive.

[Gordopolis]

This is particularly relevant for a nation like ours when we don't get many goal scoring opportunities.

An out and out poacher starting for us would be a complete waste of time.

As a lone striker, yes

[Gordopolis]

I realise it was only one game, but by a considerable distance Scotland's best performance under Strachan was the 2-0 win at home to Croatia. What was fundamental to our outstanding attacking play that night was Naismith's movement as lone striker, dragging the Croat defence all over the place and creating space for the midfield three behind him.

I realise that doing that in one game doesn't mean he'd be capable of doing it every time, and Snodgrass having a tremendous game behind him was also crucial to our performance that night, but since that night Strachan hasn't played Naismith as a striker once, which is just bizarre. Fletcher clearly isn't capable of the same type of movement and running, and our failure to create space up front with a static Fletcher was a clear problem in the second half of the last campaign. He needs to try Naismith there again.

Totally agree re that performance but we weren't playing 4231 that night. It was a 442

http://www.skysports.com/football/scotland-vs-croatia/teams/253676

[Elixir]

Has this useless ginger clown looked himself in the mirror and saw fit to do the decent thing and resign yet?

[HibeeJibee]

Whatever each person's opinion of Strachan and the Scotland job, you cannot look at Albania qualifying for Euro 2016; at Northern Ireland making the Last 16; at Iceland making the QFs; or at Wales making the SFs; and ascribe our fortune to lack of quality, technical ability, CL experience, whatever.

[Dunning1874]

Totally agree re that performance but we weren't playing 4231 that night. It was a 442

http://www.skysports.com/football/scotland-vs-croatia/teams/253676

 

I'm sure Sky have got that wrong - 4-2-3-1 with Naismith as the lone striker, Brown & Morrison as the sitting two, Anya, Snodgrass and Bannan as the attacking three.

[forameus]

Whatever each person's opinion of Strachan and the Scotland job, you cannot look at Albania qualifying for Euro 2016; at Northern Ireland making the Last 16; at Iceland making the QFs; or at Wales making the SFs; and ascribe our fortune to lack of quality, technical ability, CL experience, whatever.

 

So what would you put it down to?  Most would probably say manager, but wasn't Chris Coleman derided for being utterly shite by most people here?

 

Perhaps it's down to a bit of pressure too.  Wales lose, and to be honest most of the fans go back to rugby until the football team are good again.  We lose, and suddenly it's the end of the world, everything's shite and we need to change the manager, players, kits, flavour of the bovril, tea lady, the whole lot.  Slight hyperbole, but why can teams like Wales, Northern Ireland etc play without fear, while ourselves - and England too to be honest - play like the alternative is the end of the world?

[Officer Barbrady]

Coleman isn't a particularly 'great' manager, in relation to either Lagerback or Michael O'Neill. Bale, in my opinion shields a lot of the focus allowing others to express themselves; changing the manager, wouldn't necessarily derail them that much. Perhaps those countries look better, is because they actually seem to enjoy playing the game with a bit of belief not just from the dick that picks the team, but also in each other to do their fucking job. Ours look like a bunch of strangers.

[Raidernation]

Ours look like a bunch of strangers.

Who are continually talked down by our "manager"

[kenny131]

This is particularly relevant for a nation like ours when we don't get many goal scoring opportunities.

An out and out poacher starting for us would be a complete waste of time.

Think you will find the last out an out poacher we had in the team scored the important goals to qualify our nation to big tournaments.

So the fucking shite about donkeys holding the baw up is horseshit.

Ally mcoist was fucking useless at holding it up he just banged the goals in.

I shall take a bow as FACTS don't lie

[kenny131]

Not anymore, which is why Walter Smith regularly dropped Kris Boyd and why Jordan Rhodes has never played above the Championship.

 

Steven Fletcher is our best all round striker, its not even worth debating. Naismith is close but isn't suited to being the main forward at all, while Griffiths is miles from being good enough. The likes of Martin and Rhodes are too one-dimensional to be any good as a lone striker aswell.

So by your reckoning and some others above if ally mcoist was 28 for this arguments sake. You guys are saying because he can't hold it up and bring others in to play and can only be a goalscorer and poacher he is not good enough.

Mcoist was bang average footballer outside the box, but inside it he was a fucking goal machine. But according to you and others he would be overlooked these days.

A striker is judged by how many times he puts it in the net FACT.

Steven Fletcher scored 13 goals in prem league 1 season and got 11million quid move. He scored f**k all after than and has been released enough said on this

[MarkoRaj]

I reckon Fletcher will bang them in at Championship level. Him and Hooper up front will be lethal against lower level defences. In fact it will probably work out better for us having a striker come to us high on confidence than one who was struggling to get a game.

Could be that him and Rhodes fortunes will be totally reversed

[mizfit]

As far as I'm concerned Strachan is now on thin ice. Hopefully he's got a red neck following his moan about lack of world class players.

For Strachan to stand any chance we need to be looking for maximum points before the England game in November, and he should be aiming to take something from them if they're still in disarray. Do I trust him to pick the best players for this and not his or the medias favourites? I don't know.

[Gordopolis]

I'm sure Sky have got that wrong - 4-2-3-1 with Naismith as the lone striker, Brown & Morrison as the sitting two, Anya, Snodgrass and Bannan as the attacking three.

I honestly don't think they did. I distinctly remember the game starting and seeing naismith and Snodgrass roving fwd together and the commentators stating something like: 'well, well, well, it looks like Scotland have a front two tonight' (pre game sky had shown us liming up in a 4231 or 433)

This was the height of the era when 442 was a toxic term so people were a bit nervous about lauding it as such.

[craigkillie]

I realise it was only one game, but by a considerable distance Scotland's best performance under Strachan was the 2-0 win at home to Croatia. What was fundamental to our outstanding attacking play that night was Naismith's movement as lone striker, dragging the Croat defence all over the place and creating space for the midfield three behind him.

 

I realise that doing that in one game doesn't mean he'd be capable of doing it every time, and Snodgrass having a tremendous game behind him was also crucial to our performance that night, but since that night Strachan hasn't played Naismith as a striker once, which is just bizarre. Fletcher clearly isn't capable of the same type of movement and running, and our failure to create space up front with a static Fletcher was a clear problem in the second half of the last campaign. He needs to try Naismith there again.

 

I've been banging that drum for a long time, but it seems as though folk have been blinded by one good pass from Fletcher against Germany and have decided that he is some sort of complete forward.

 

I know a lot of folk called it a 4-4-2 against Croatia, but I felt like Snodgrass was clearly playing behind Naismith.  Unfortunately, I think Naismith might be on the decline now, but I think there are plenty of similarities between him and Griffiths in terms of their style of play.  Naismith is a bit more clever, but Griffiths is a better finisher.

[pub car king]

The Rhodes situation is the thing that boils my piss the most.

He's basing his selection on a rubbish performance in Serbia where everyone was shit and the pitch was a ploughed field.

It just sums up his picking favourites when the replacement is chris Martin.

The Croatia games away in particular were excellent the teamwork and the way they played. It has gone to shit since then the two friendlies last month kicked whatever morale was left square in the baws.

Need a fresh start for the qualifiers pick players on form for the squad and fucking play them. Try to win games we need to/ expect to win.

[RandomGuy.]

So by your reckoning and some others above if ally mcoist was 28 for this arguments sake. You guys are saying because he can't hold it up and bring others in to play and can only be a goalscorer and poacher he is not good enough. Mcoist was bang average footballer outside the box, but inside it he was a fucking goal machine. But according to you and others he would be overlooked these days. A striker is judged by how many times he puts it in the net FACT. Steven Fletcher scored 13 goals in prem league 1 season and got 11million quid move. He scored f**k all after than and has been released enough said on this

 

Yeah. One dimensional goal poachers have absolutely no place in International football anymore, if you can find me one who does at our level, please tell me. Theres a reason Wales play Robson-Kanu and Ireland play Shane Long, and its not because they score goals.

[Gordopolis]

I've been banging that drum for a long time, but it seems as though folk have been blinded by one good pass from Fletcher against Germany and have decided that he is some sort of complete forward.

 

I know a lot of folk called it a 4-4-2 against Croatia, but I felt like Snodgrass was clearly playing behind Naismith.  Unfortunately, I think Naismith might be on the decline now, but I think there are plenty of similarities between him and Griffiths in terms of their style of play.  Naismith is a bit more clever, but Griffiths is a better finisher.

 

 

I've called it a 4-4-1-1 on here, maybe because I was hesitant to use the dreaded 4-4-2 terminology at the time, but I seem to remember Snod and Naismith breaking forward as a pair, Naismith slightly ahead in one break, Snod ahead in the next. It might well be the case that later in the game we sat in a little bit more, but at no point was it a ponderous 4-2-3-1.

My feeling at the time was that the sacrifice of an extra midfielder was worth it because of just how much the two forwards disrupted the Croatian defence - Naismith with his movement (and his winning of just about every ball in the air) and Snodgrass with his strength and movement. I've never seen that again since and I don't think we've ever set up quite like that since - which is odd, given the strength of the performance and the result that night.

[dogmc]

I've called it a 4-4-1-1 on here, maybe because I was hesitant to use the dreaded 4-4-2 terminology at the time, but I seem to remember Snod and Naismith breaking forward as a pair, Naismith slightly ahead in one break, Snod ahead in the next. It might well be the case that later in the game we sat in a little bit more, but at no point was it a ponderous 4-2-3-1.

My feeling at the time was that the sacrifice of an extra midfielder was worth it because of just how much the two forwards disrupted the Croatian defence - Naismith with his movement (and his winning of just about every ball in the air) and Snodgrass with his strength and movement. I've never seen that again since and I don't think we've ever set up quite like that since - which is odd, given the strength of the performance and the result that night.

Other than snodgrass being injured no idea why wgs would have abandoned the system that yielded probably our best performances in the guts of a decade.

[Officer Barbrady]

When was 4-4-2 ever seen as toxic? Other than by us, of course? I'm pretty sure that the opponents didn't need us telling them how we lined up, like it's some elaborate cover-up. Far too much is made of covert tactical set-ups when the basic tools are generally not utilised properly.