Jump to content

Austria v Scotland


GordonS

Recommended Posts

I watched March's Austria game this morning and I'm not sure what shape the midfield will be. We started with a 3-4-3 before moving to a 3-4-1-2 with Armstrong marking Grillitsch in buildup. You could see it being that tonight with McGinn doing a job on Grillitsch, but Clarke might stick with the flatter midfield which could be bad as it's a bit more complicated with the pressing and McT and McG had a lot of possession in front of Austria's shape last time as opposed to either stretching them at all which could easily become three in overly safe positions tonight. Where it might help is it would make us every so slightly harder to play round - two or three quick passes round the 3-4-1-2 can often lead to an opposition player facing up one of the outside CBs in an awkward position.

The attacking play was so disjointed last time too. Dykes didn't get much joy out the CBs with no one there to help. O'Donnell was actually a decent enough out-ball (and he did a good job pressing Alaba) but there wasn't much support for knock-downs and he doesn't have the technical ability to be isolated. It was a 3 v 5 all too often when the ball went forward quickly. Hopefully having a natural striker next to Dykes and McGinn perhaps behind them will make long balls a bit more effective.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, accies1874 said:

I watched March's Austria game this morning and I'm not sure what shape the midfield will be. We started with a 3-4-3 before moving to a 3-4-1-2 with Armstrong marking Grillitsch in buildup. You could see it being that tonight with McGinn doing a job on Grillitsch, but Clarke might stick with the flatter midfield which could be bad as it's a bit more complicated with the pressing and McT and McG had a lot of possession in front of Austria's shape last time as opposed to either stretching them at all which could easily become three in overly safe positions tonight. Where it might help is it would make us every so slightly harder to play round - two or three quick passes round the 3-4-1-2 can often lead to an opposition player facing up one of the outside CBs in an awkward position.

The attacking play was so disjointed last time too. Dykes didn't get much joy out the CBs with no one there to help. O'Donnell was actually a decent enough out-ball (and he did a good job pressing Alaba) but there wasn't much support for knock-downs and he doesn't have the technical ability to be isolated. It was a 3 v 5 all too often when the ball went forward quickly. Hopefully having a natural striker next to Dykes and McGinn perhaps behind them will make long balls a bit more effective.

Fair point, there is no guarantee the shape or the roles of the players will be the same as against England. Different opponent, different strengths & weaknesses. We are building up a volume of variations which could hopefully help us if we need to adjust the gameplan.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Todd_is_God said:

Am I right in saying that, so long as we don't lose tonight, finishing 2nd remains in our hands even if we lose to Demmark at Hampden?

I don't mean to be arrogant, but if we can't beat Israel at Hampden then maybe we don't deserve to get a playoff spot.

It coming down to one game at Hampden would have been the dream scenario for both sides going into the campaign.

RE: tonight, though. Let's go after them. Get ahead and see what they have in them.

 

2 hours ago, The Moonster said:

As long as Denmark beat Israel tonight I think that's right. 

 

I think we'd also need Austria to lose to Denmark as well (Unless we win tonight)

 

If we draw tonight then Austria can still get to 20 whereas losing to Denmark would give us a maximum of 18. If we win tonight then Austria's maximum is 19 and we could get to 20 by beating Israel, Moldova and the Faroes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Detournement said:

Scotland specialise in being good in one game out of three in triple headers so I think we will at least get a better performance tonight. 

Start the Wembley team with Henrdry in for McT and Gordon in goals. 

 

Stevie Clarke taking my advice.

Sturgeon take note.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Aufc said:

 


He is average going forward despite a few decent plays he has done. Paterson has started one game and played a big part in the winning goal. Yes he will mistakes but he should only get better and I’d rather play him and mould him to the system

 

Patterson made an incredible number of mistakes in the first half, some of them serious. A pisspoor shot, giving up a free kick to a guy under pressure facing his own by-line, several slack passes and one misplaced pass back to Hendry that would have led to a goal against better opponents. If SOD had done exactly the same things he would have been roasted on here.

Patterson will surely become a better player at international level than SOD but in a pressure tie against a decent team away from home, and potentially directly against a world class opponent, we need to go with more experience.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, GordonS said:

Patterson made an incredible number of mistakes in the first half, some of them serious.

It's better to create a goal from nothing while making loads of mistakes than be a solid 5 or 6/10 though (*Robertson, Tierney, McGinn*).

I would have picked O'Donnell to start this game but given how much we struggle to score we shouldn't talk down Patterson's contribution the other night.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...