Scotland v Israel

[8MileBU]

30 minutes ago, Monkey Tennis said:

The rankings are clearly a pretty inexact science, but they're indicative of sides' standing.

We were awful last night against Israel, and fortunate to escape with a draw having created literally nothing.  If you think that's acceptable that's up to you.  You seem to think that because the performance was fairly typical, it was decent enough.

It wasn't.

It was dreadful, pitiful.

Where at any point did I suggest it was “acceptable” or “decent enough”? The only bit that’s right there is the “dreadful, pitiful” bit. That’s a fairer reflection of the tactics and formation the players were given to work with though. We the fans appear to have been baffled by Clarke’s set-up and I think that feeling translated to the players on the park too.

However I’m loathe to be overly critical of the entire team and 2/10 them all when the likes of Tierney, Jack and Dykes didn’t play badly and did as asked and could be realistically expected of them. I’ve just seen some tool on Twitter slaughtering McGinn’s performance last night and that’s a good example. McGinn might’ve been worthy of a 2/10 last night but it’s totally unfair IMO when Clarke played him in far too advanced a role meaning he spent a lot of time with his back to goal looking for the ball. That’s not his game and he’s going to create far less if the tactics issued result in him facing the wrong bloody way.

Edited September 5, 2020 by 8MileBU

[Doctor Manhattan]

Those expecting a 3-0 walkover against the Czechs may be in for a disappointment according to the UEFA guidance quoted by the BBC, depending on how they define "forfeited" in a Covid situation:

"If the match cannot be declared as forfeited, the outcome of the match will be decided by drawing of lots (i.e. win 1-0, loss 0-1 or draw 0-0) carried out by the Uefa administration"

[Monkey Tennis]

1 minute ago, 8MileBU said:

Where at any point did I suggest it was “acceptable” or “decent enough”? The only bit that’s right there is the “dreadful, pitiful” bit. 

So you think a dreadful and pitiful team performance merits a mark of 6/10?

What an extraordinary system you're adopting.  This could revolutionise the way we think of number as a concept.

[Savage Henry]

5 minutes ago, Doctor Manhattan said:

Those expecting a 3-0 walkover against the Czechs may be in for a disappointment according to the UEFA guidance quoted by the BBC, depending on how they define "forfeited" in a Covid situation:

"If the match cannot be declared as forfeited, the outcome of the match will be decided by drawing of lots (i.e. win 1-0, loss 0-1 or draw 0-0) carried out by the Uefa administration"

Guarantee Clarke goes for the 0-0 toss, but we end up with the 0-1 defeat on the grounds of diminished responsibility.  

[Doctor Manhattan]

1 minute ago, Monkey Tennis said:

So you think a dreadful and pitiful team performance merits a mark of 6/10?

What an extraordinary system you're adopting.  This could revolutionise the way we think of number as a concept.

The same sort of thinking that saw Kelvin and Rankine re-baseline their scales to absolute zero. Probably after watching a Scotland game.

[Doctor Manhattan]

3 minutes ago, Savage Henry said:

Guarantee Clarke goes for the 0-0 toss, but we end up with the 0-1 defeat on the grounds of diminished responsibility.  

We'll probably still find a way to lose 3-0.

[Aberdeen Cowden]

42 minutes ago, Monkey Tennis said:

The rankings are clearly a pretty inexact science, but they're indicative of sides' standing.

We were awful last night against Israel, and fortunate to escape with a draw having created literally nothing.  If you think that's acceptable that's up to you.  You seem to think that because the performance was fairly typical, it was decent enough.

It wasn't.

It was dreadful, pitiful.

When was it anything different? Just nowhere near good enough. The usual excuses just don’t wash any more.

Support the rugby team, might not be the best but never short of effort.

[Marshmallo]

11 minutes ago, Monkey Tennis said:

So you think a dreadful and pitiful team performance merits a mark of 6/10?

What an extraordinary system you're adopting.  This could revolutionise the way we think of number as a concept.

He didn't mean anything by it. It's just filler.

[Guest bernardblack]

Four at the back, bench one of the left backs.

If we had two top strikers we wouldn’t play one up top and one left wing.

[John Lambies Doos]

Think we should just relegate ourselves to the bottom nations league, then hope for a jammy play off win against San Marino. Then we could all go on one final swan song to Euro 2024, then wind up the national team and put this sorry state of affairs to its bed for good.

[Todd_is_God]

16 minutes ago, Doctor Manhattan said:

Those expecting a 3-0 walkover against the Czechs may be in for a disappointment according to the UEFA guidance quoted by the BBC, depending on how they define "forfeited" in a Covid situation:

"If the match cannot be declared as forfeited, the outcome of the match will be decided by drawing of lots (i.e. win 1-0, loss 0-1 or draw 0-0) carried out by the Uefa administration"

The game is back on, apparantly

 

[Enigma]

Four at the back, bench one of the left backs.

If we had two top strikers we wouldn’t play one up top and one left wing.

We probably would.

[DA Baracus]

That was truly dreadful last night. Slow, uninspiring and draining.

I have no idea what the game plan was. There were no obvious tactics. There didn't seem to be any sort of plan to take advantage of any of Israel's weaknesses. There was no cohesion. Israel had a pretty obvious plan of attacking down our right, with the intent to hit a diagonal over our defence to onrushing players or to whip in a cross from the touchline.

I have no idea what our attacking intent was.

The lack of movement from the midfield was a massive negative. They were so static and slow. No one was making runs to shake their marker and make space. No one was coming short and demanding the ball. No one was making driving runs on the ball. There were no quick one twos and no real link up at all between the midfield. It was just safe wee passes that Israel were totally comfortable with that created nothing all night.

Who was rushing forward to support the attacks and get in the box for any potential crosses?

Was Robertson told he wasn't allowed to try and beat a man? Was he told that no one was allowed to overlap him? Was he told he was only allowed to turn and pass the ball backwards?

Our midfield and defensive lines were yards behind where they needed to be. They needed to be much further up the pitch.

Where were the crosses? There could only have 2 or 3 in the whole game! There were a few wild shots but what saves did the Israel keeper have to make (except that one near the end that was a result of a defensive error)?

There were too many hoofballs. There's times when you might have no other option but a long clearance up the park, but almost none of the hoofballs we smashed last night were that. They were almost all unnecessary. Most teams must look at that in absolute bemusement and/or laughter. We are so far behind and that sort of garbage is prehistoric. It's so easy to defend against and is just wasteful turnover of possession.

Were players hiding? They looked like they had no confidence to do anything. They looked slow and lethargic, drained of any energy and belief.

Where was the high energy pressing of the opposition when they had the ball? 

Where was any leadership, where was any spark or creativity?

Abject pish.

[Monkey Tennis]

11 minutes ago, Aberdeen Cowden said:

 

Support the rugby team, might not be the best but never short of effort.

Yes, but they play rugby.

[invergowrie arab]

13 minutes ago, Aberdeen Cowden said:

When was it anything different? Just nowhere near good enough. The usual excuses just don’t wash any more.

Support the rugby team, might not be the best but never short of effort.

Pish. They are bigger shitebags than the football team.

[8MileBU]

19 minutes ago, Monkey Tennis said:

So you think a dreadful and pitiful team performance merits a mark of 6/10?

What an extraordinary system you're adopting.  This could revolutionise the way we think of number as a concept.

Fucking hell. I used to think the stick you got for being boring was harsh but I didn’t have you down as being stupid too. 

The players did exactly what they were set up to do and you could literally hear them being instructed to do. Therein lies the problem. No point slaughtering the entire side when they played exactly as you’d expect in that set up which for starters totally nullified the qualities of the two best midfielders who started the match.

[NotThePars]

The game is back on, apparantly
 

Clarke can’t even get a game called off for us absolute shambles. Give it to, eh, Hartley.

[Monkey Tennis]

Just now, 8MileBU said:

Fucking hell. I used to think the stick you got for being boring was harsh but I didn’t have you down as being stupid too. 

The players did exactly what they were set up to do and you could literally hear them being instructed to do. Therein lies the problem. No point slaughtering the entire side when they played exactly as you’d expect in that set up which for starters totally nullified the qualities of the two best midfielders who started the match.

Why do you think that in saying the performance was simply woeful, I'm absolving the management of any blame?

[DA Baracus]

17 minutes ago, invergowrie arab said:

Pish. They are bigger shitebags than the football team.

They really aren't. It isn't even close.

[DA Baracus]

Anyway, do these fuckers need a psychologist? There is definitely a mental issue when Scotland play. All the confidence and energy goes and players hide and look nervous and are afraid to do things they might usually do.