Guest DAVIDB69 Posted June 30, 2020 Share Posted June 30, 2020 I think all these lockdown games over the months has been a good measure of where we are. The russia game in 82 we we stroked the ball around well and found our men even in the heat of Spain . But we had majority of our players playing at the top level and they had a real decent level of fitness . By the time we got to euro 96 World Cup 98 everything moved much more slowly , distribution was poor but the quality of players dropped dramatically , players past it and too old and having much less players at a high level didn’t help. The last 20 years has mainly been not losing lobbing long balls to lone forwards who just aren’t good enough. I also think players have a real low level of fitness and tire during games. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Academically Deficient Posted June 30, 2020 Share Posted June 30, 2020 1 hour ago, DAVIDB69 said: I think all these lockdown games over the months has been a good measure of where we are. The russia game in 82 we we stroked the ball around well and found our men even in the heat of Spain . Agree with all this. In 82 our strikers played for Milan, Barcelona and Liverpool (Alan Brazil is left out to strengthen the argument ). We had at least 4 recent European Cup winners in the squad. Thereafter it's a slow decline with recent signs of improvement. Fingers crossed for the young team I suppose. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonksy+HisChristianParade Posted July 1, 2020 Share Posted July 1, 2020 3 hours ago, DAVIDB69 said: I think all these lockdown games over the months has been a good measure of where we are. The russia game in 82 we we stroked the ball around well and found our men even in the heat of Spain . But we had majority of our players playing at the top level and they had a real decent level of fitness . By the time we got to euro 96 World Cup 98 everything moved much more slowly , distribution was poor but the quality of players dropped dramatically , players past it and too old and having much less players at a high level didn’t help. The last 20 years has mainly been not losing lobbing long balls to lone forwards who just aren’t good enough. I also think players have a real low level of fitness and tire during games. Suggesting that a team with a multitude of players playing in the Premier League in England has a ‘low level of fitness’ is ridiculous. I’d imagine they’d be much fitter than players in the 80s. Sports science and conditioning has progressed tremendously since that era. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Lambies Doos Posted July 2, 2020 Share Posted July 2, 2020 Watching those games it's immediately apparent how much more comfortable on the ball our 70's and 80's players were compared to their current peers. Ok, 100 degree heat tends to have everybody on the pitch a bit more lethargic and grant you a wee bit more time on the ball, but there are none of the knee-height five-yard passes, players attempting to control a pass and it ending up at chest height after their first touch, losing the ball straight from throw-ins because the receiving player is uncomfortable taking it with an opponent on him etc etc Even Davey Narey and Willie Miller are comfortable haring forward, looking for the ball, and going on mazey runs, all while playing Centre-Half. It's night and day. The players of the past 20 years look like they're wearing hockey kickers by comparison. Graeme Souness going clean through Lothar Matthaeus, leaving him a writhing mess on the deck, and the ref no even giving it a second glance [emoji38]Games much faster now. Was easier to be more comfortable on ball back then 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boo Khaki Posted July 2, 2020 Share Posted July 2, 2020 So why are other nations' players still perfectly comfortable playing at a higher tempo, yet ours struggle? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Lambies Doos Posted July 2, 2020 Share Posted July 2, 2020 So why are other nations' players still perfectly comfortable playing at a higher tempo, yet ours struggle?Cause we never adapted 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scary Bear Posted July 3, 2020 Share Posted July 3, 2020 (edited) On 19/06/2020 at 09:55, BigFatTabbyDave said: I've noticed over the years that there's a real difference of opinion on P&B over the quality of the players Scotland produces, varying from folk who think we're pretty good and the management/SFA are responsible for poor performances, to people who reckon we'd get gubbed by Luxembourg if we were playing them tomorrow and it wouldn't matter wha's in cherge. So, let's have a wee census. The public have spoken. I voted that we should have done better in the past when we had great players and that the current bunch are too weak to realistically challenge top seeds for the qualifying places. Thank the lord for the Nations League. Edited July 3, 2020 by Scary Bear 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carnoustie Young Guvnor Posted July 3, 2020 Share Posted July 3, 2020 Realistically Scotland should have qualified for several tournaments since 98, we obviously have had several sides easily good enough to do so. We have had only really one good manager in that time (Smith) and he wasn't there for long and probably would have taken us to a tournament had he stayed a while. We now have another good one so if he stays we'll definitely get to something. If you appoint wallopers like Levein and McLeish you could give them Spain's squad they'd struggle. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheScarf Posted July 3, 2020 Share Posted July 3, 2020 23 hours ago, Boo Khaki said: So why are other nations' players still perfectly comfortable playing at a higher tempo, yet ours struggle? Shit youth coaches and managers mainly. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Binos Posted July 3, 2020 Share Posted July 3, 2020 6 hours ago, Carnoustie Young Guvnor said: Realistically Scotland should have qualified for several tournaments since 98, we obviously have had several sides easily good enough to do so. We have had only really one good manager in that time (Smith) and he wasn't there for long and probably would have taken us to a tournament had he stayed a while. We now have another good one so if he stays we'll definitely get to something. If you appoint wallopers like Levein and McLeish you could give them Spain's squad they'd struggle. Have seen no evidence to date Clarke is a good international manager 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carnoustie Young Guvnor Posted July 3, 2020 Share Posted July 3, 2020 1 hour ago, Binos said: Have seen no evidence to date Clarke is a good international manager Awesome. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Binos Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 10 hours ago, Carnoustie Young Guvnor said: Awesome. Our performance in the group was absolutely shambolic 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carnoustie Young Guvnor Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 22 minutes ago, Binos said: Our performance in the group was absolutely shambolic Quality 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DAVIDB69 Posted July 5, 2020 Share Posted July 5, 2020 Awesome. Cyprus twice, San Marino , Kazakhstan we have beaten under him so far doesn’t exactly inspire. The sorts of sides we only beat have not improved upon 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigkillie Posted July 5, 2020 Share Posted July 5, 2020 Cyprus twice, San Marino , Kazakhstan we have beaten under him so far doesn’t exactly inspire. The sorts of sides we only beat have not improved uponLiterally the only teams we've played outside of the two World Cup quarter finalists. Some laugh to be criticising a guy for not beating teams he hasn't played against. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFTD Posted July 5, 2020 Author Share Posted July 5, 2020 7 minutes ago, craigkillie said: Literally the only teams we've played outside of the two World Cup quarter finalists. Some laugh to be criticising a guy for not beating teams he hasn't played against. I'm going to guess it's more the performances than the results. Most folk seemed to be despairing that we didn't look any more competent after Clarke took over. He needs to be given time, but you do have to wonder when people will be more willing to admit it's not just a problem with shit managers. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carnoustie Young Guvnor Posted July 5, 2020 Share Posted July 5, 2020 2 hours ago, DAVIDB69 said: Cyprus twice, San Marino , Kazakhstan we have beaten under him so far doesn’t exactly inspire. The sorts of sides we only beat have not improved upon Brilliant. Thanks for your analysis. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carnoustie Young Guvnor Posted July 5, 2020 Share Posted July 5, 2020 1 hour ago, craigkillie said: Literally the only teams we've played outside of the two World Cup quarter finalists. Some laugh to be criticising a guy for not beating teams he hasn't played against. And he's about what ten games into the job. Football fans are absolute jobbers in the vast majority of cases. The pish you hear is unreal. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bing Posted July 5, 2020 Share Posted July 5, 2020 2 hours ago, BigFatTabbyDave said: I'm going to guess it's more the performances than the results. Most folk seemed to be despairing that we didn't look any more competent after Clarke took over. He needs to be given time, but you do have to wonder when people will be more willing to admit it's not just a problem with shit managers. I don't think most folk do think that at all. Personally i think we looked alot more organised than previously. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFTD Posted July 5, 2020 Author Share Posted July 5, 2020 8 minutes ago, BingMcCrosby said: I don't think most folk do think that at all. Personally i think we looked alot more organised than previously. Really? I'm just going by what I remember of the match threads on here. Obviously it would be quite difficult to be as shambolic as under McLeish's second reign, but I didn't get the impression we were performing anything like as well as people had expected. That's not a criticism of Clarke; it isn't fair to expect someone to march in and be an overnight success. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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