Scotland v Czech Republic (UEFA Nations League)

[HuttonDressedAsLahm]

I think we can ignore the Israel performance, as it was a nervy one-off.  The positives were we conceded very few chances.  The negatives, our final ball was lacking so didn’t create enough ourselves.

The Dykes and Fraser partnership looks very positive.  Fraser is match fit now, but probably not yet match sharp.  His final pass and shot haven’t quite been at his very high standards.

I thought we looked like scoring from every corner over the three matches, and only really poor heading got in the way of a few goals.  With a tight defensive unit (I imagine Tierney at RB, and Robertson back in) it is possible that the same back three could line up against Serbia.  The only question is Cooper/Considine at this stage.  I presume McKenna doesn’t walk back in after this week.

It will be particularly beneficial to have Christie, Forrest(?), Burke, and Armstrong back in, even if just to give us some strong options from the bench which we lacked this week.

I give us a slim chance in the Serbia game, but a strong chance of finishing top of the group.  Two wins might be a push, but four points is definitely achievable.

[Stellaboz]

How good is Tierney in the air generally? I don't know if he gets into that back 3 if he's not able to defend in the air, which we seem really solid with now. 

[Menzel]

Working from home cruelly depriving me the ability to dish it out today

[KingRocketman II]

11 hours ago, BingMcCrosby said:

At times israel were better than us tho, for decent spells. Same as we were on top for spells.

We were at home tho, and israel are crap. So it doesn't really reflect us favorably failing to beat them over 90 and then 120 mins.

playing at home not the advantage it once was in this "new normal". and that also bodes well for the final play-off being played in Belgrade (not sure if they use Partizan or Red Star but either ground would have had quite the atmosphere).

More generally I am really pleased to see a) Scottish Premiership players being called up and rewarded for consistent performances and b) going on to play well and not look out of place when selected. Someone suggested that Clarke may be doing this to avoid a risk of Covid by getting someone in from England but I don't really think the risk is mitigated that way and I genuinely think that Clarke can see the value of his approach. Managers in a new job tend to return to the pool of players they are most familiar with and Clarke in his two seasons at Killie obviously saw enough to suggest players here across the league are good enough to step up. The complete antithesis of Strachan's approach who despite managing Celtic, seemed myopic when it came to the English Championship. 

Finally, wonder what influence Carver has had on our improved defence? Very little I would imagine and merely coincidental that he joined up ahead of these last 3 games. I am not quite sure of the merits of Carver (or Reid for that matter) and thought Dyer would be a real loss, but obviously that would not seem to be the case. I would say though that this extended international window would seem to have been a blessing for us as it has enabled Clarke to really work with the players over an extended period and get settled with the new system, improving with each passing game. He wouldn't have been able to do that as effectively with the normal international window or even if we had been travelling away at any point in the last three fixtures so as things stand, and obviously this is said with a little trepidation, but the last 10 days could perhaps be the catalyst for a long overdue upturn in the national team's fortunes......

 

[ropy]

Can we take a minute out to pay homage to Gallagher’s tackle (no euphemism here).

[Carnoustie Young Guvnor]

12 hours ago, craigkillie said:

He was most likely told by Clarke he would be rested for tonight anyway. It wouldn't surprise me if Clarke was the one who suggested it.

If he was going to be rested there was no need to get himself booked.  Do you actually think about the things you post?

[DA Baracus]

1 hour ago, KingRocketman II said:

playing at home not the advantage it once was in this "new normal". and that also bodes well for the final play-off being played in Belgrade (not sure if they use Partizan or Red Star but either ground would have had quite the atmosphere).

Pretty sure there will be some fans there.

[TheScarf]

40 minutes ago, ropy said:

Can we take a minute out to pay homage to Gallagher’s tackle (no euphemism here).

It was a pretty big tackle in the grand scheme of things.

[ropy]

26 minutes ago, Carnoustie Young Guvnor said:

If he was going to be rested there was no need to get himself booked.  Do you actually think about the things you post?

 But it allowed him to use up and clear a yellow card, made sense even if there is a whiff of subverting the process.

[coprolite]

27 minutes ago, Carnoustie Young Guvnor said:

If he was going to be rested there was no need to get himself booked.  Do you actually think about the things you post?

It would reset his disciplinary record and remove his booking from a previous game  at the cost of missing a game he would miss anyway. 

This should be obvious to any adult humans with a passing knowledge of football's competition rules and relatively normal cognitive abilities. Which makes your aggressive condescension all the more ironic. 

[DC92]

12 hours ago, LIVIFOREVER said:

Looking forward to seeing Halkett get his chance to team up with Dec again, just unlucky he got injured or he'd have been playing already.  The two of them played brilliantly together in a back 3 for Livi, so wouldn't be difficult for him to slot seamlessly into Clarke's defensive line up.

I know the policy of chucking in any old journeyman defender has served us well in the last few games, but let's not push our luck.

[Carnoustie Young Guvnor]

52 minutes ago, ropy said:

 But it allowed him to use up and clear a yellow card, made sense even if there is a whiff of subverting the process.

I suppose. Fair point. 

[LIVIFOREVER]

4 minutes ago, DC92 said:

I know the policy of chucking in any old journeyman defender has served us well in the last few games, but let's not push our luck.

Halkett was comfortably our best defender in a great back 3, had shite luck since going to Hearts but i'm confident he'd be awsome in a back 3 for Scotland alongside his old playing buddy Gallagher. Good goal threat from set pieces too.

[LIVIFOREVER]

6 hours ago, Dons_1988 said:

Amazing to see a team develop so much over the course of a week.

Whilst I was pleased about beating Israel I wasn't very upbeat about anything ahead of us. We didn't concede many chances but Israel are a poor side that we made look competent. If anything, I was pretty down about our chances against Serbia.

Slovakia was a big step up in performance in terms of not just defending well but actually controlling the flow of the game,

Last night, in the first half, we were great (relative to us). Solid, dogged and a real threat on the counter. Exactly the way we will succeed against the 'big' sides in qualifying. The Czechs are a legitimate side we could be competing with for 2nd in a WC qualifying group so that was really encouraging. Yes they are a better side and we had some very shaky moments but I now feel really positive about the short to mid term future of the side.

Friday I gave us very little hope in Serbia. Today I think we have a really decent chance against clearly a good team.

From past experience of Scotland these last 3 decades, this is typical Scotland, getting your hopes up, only to f**k it up in the last minute of the final game, but you can't help fall for it every fucking time.

Seriously, i vow time and again i wont do this, and yet again i'm beginning to believe we can qualify for a big tournament, damn you Steve Clarke and Scotland, damn you to hell.

[Ro Sham Bo]

55 minutes ago, LIVIFOREVER said:

Good goal threat from set pieces too.

^^

Robbie Nielson found

[John Lambies Doos]

Slovakia are a gang, as the table proves. Hopefully when we go there they've accepted relegation and don't give a fuck about the game and we take full advantage. 

Didn't they beat Ireland [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

[Carnoustie Young Guvnor]

1 hour ago, LIVIFOREVER said:

From past experience of Scotland these last 3 decades, this is typical Scotland, getting your hopes up, only to f**k it up in the last minute of the final game, but you can't help fall for it every fucking time.

Seriously, i vow time and again i wont do this, and yet again i'm beginning to believe we can qualify for a big tournament, damn you Steve Clarke and Scotland, damn you to hell.

Its in the fucking bag mate, the only question is how far can we go in the tournament

[Carnoustie Young Guvnor]

Is it not just typical now Scotland are doing well, not one theRangers fan, apart from the ones that have, has commented on this thread.  Pathetic.

[ewan14]

16 hours ago, No_Problemo said:

They named a squad as a contingency and then never used it, I would imagine due to their previous issues. I don’t see how that affects their main squads preparation. We had as many players missing as they did. 

If you’re going that far into the Israel game to find a bit of luck then you’re struggling. And no I don’t think there was any luck involved in us winning the penalties. 

Perspective is needed, yes, but not bizarre negativity. 

The players were reported to have been practising their penalties before the Israel games

Well done all !

[ewan14]

10 hours ago, BigFatTabbyDave said:

I'm ill and passed out before the end tonight, but there's definite improvement going on, which is a relief in itself. The McLeish performances had been so poor that to not immediately perform better under Clarke was incredibly depressing. His plan is pretty obvious now and seems to have stabilised results - maybe we can stop going in to games with that sick feeling that we're seconds away from being ripped apart by anybody who fancies it. Also nice to see some unfancied names being called up and doing well - two caps and two MoMs for Considine, wow.

Sorry if this has already been posted, but this 'longest undefeated run in 32 years' thing is interesting. The last time we went this long without a defeat started at the arse-end of our disastrous Euro 88 qualifying group, when we pulled our socks up (too late to do anything but help Eire qualify for the first time) to record wins against Bulgaria and Belgium, before slumping to that infamous goalless draw with Luxembourg, who were notoriously Europe's worst side, back in the days before the micro-nations entered the fray.

We then managed a slim win in Norway and a home draw against Yugoslavia in World Cup qualifying, which wouldn't have been considered a great result at the time considering France were also in our group. Three friendly draws in Saudi Arabia, Malta, and Spain came before a goalless draw against Colombia in the Rous Cup, after which England ended the run.

This year's run of games doesn't look that impressive on paper either, but I don't think anybody in 1989 would have believed that this would have been our best run of results for over three decades:

Scotland 2 Belgium 0
Bulgaria 0 Scotland 1
Luxembourg 0 Scotland 0
Norway 1 Scotland 2
Scotland 1 Yugoslavia 1
Saudi Arabia 0 Scotland 0
Malta 1 Scotland 1
Spain 0 Scotland 0
Scotland 0 Colombia 0

1 )  We managed to beat Belgium , hooray

2 )  Norway was a qualifying game and they had a really good home record

The second goal resulted from G#ry G#ll#sp##'s wonderful run down the left ! wing.