Scotland v Israel

[2426255]

Just now, AJF said:

I never said we are the better team. It's a 50/50 match in my opinion.

agreed.

[oneteaminglasgow]

Just for what it’s worth, head to head obviously isn’t the only criteria by which you can measure which team is better than another. 

We finished ahead of Israel in both Nations League groups we shared with them, and are currently ahead of them in this qualification group too. We’re a better team than Israel are, but not by that much.

Edited September 9, 2021 by oneteaminglasgow

[2426255]

2 hours ago, oneteaminglasgow said:

Just for what it’s worth, head to head obviously isn’t the only criteria by which you can measure which team is better than another. 

We finished ahead of Israel in both Nations League groups we shared with them, and are currently ahead of them in this qualification group too. We’re a better team than Israel are, but not by that much.

Israel have played Denmark twice and Scotland had the fortune of a game against a Covid ravaged Czech team in the Nations League. 

You could barely slide a baw hair between the two teams so all this pish saying we 'should' beat them is just showing up those who are saying it. (not you oneteaminglasgow)

You can argue the toss as much as you want, there is just no clear evidence that we should be beating Israel - that's the bottom line. The most sensible prediction would be a draw and that's the end of it.

Edited September 9, 2021 by 2426255

[Binos]

11 hours ago, 2426255 said:

Is that what you were telling yourself as you bawled your eyes out when we didn't beat them in our last few games? 

Yes I was bawling my eyes out when we put them out in the play off semi

Which Bitton described as their biggest game in decades 

[Binos]

6 hours ago, 2426255 said:

Israel have played Denmark twice and Scotland had the fortune of a game against a Covid ravaged Czech team in the Nations League. 

You could barely slide a baw hair between the two teams so all this pish saying we 'should' beat them is just showing up those who are saying it. (not you oneteaminglasgow)

You can argue the toss as much as you want, there is just no clear evidence that we should be beating Israel - that's the bottom line. The most sensible prediction would be a draw and that's the end of it.

We have better players than them 

[George Parr]

7 hours ago, 2426255 said:

Israel have played Denmark twice and Scotland had the fortune of a game against a Covid ravaged Czech team in the Nations League. 

You could barely slide a baw hair between the two teams so all this pish saying we 'should' beat them is just showing up those who are saying it. (not you oneteaminglasgow)

You can argue the toss as much as you want, there is just no clear evidence that we should be beating Israel - that's the bottom line. The most sensible prediction would be a draw and that's the end of it.

f**k 'sensible predictions', I've spent most of the post-Austria period cost comparing high-end Doha accommodation.

[HuttonDressedAsLahm]

9 hours ago, 2426255 said:

Israel have played Denmark twice and Scotland had the fortune of a game against a Covid ravaged Czech team in the Nations League. 

You could barely slide a baw hair between the two teams so all this pish saying we 'should' beat them is just showing up those who are saying it. (not you oneteaminglasgow)

You can argue the toss as much as you want, there is just no clear evidence that we should be beating Israel - that's the bottom line. The most sensible prediction would be a draw and that's the end of it.

If you flipped it on its head, you’d have a hard time proving to a bemused neutral why Israel were the better team.

[Bing.McCrosby]

I'd love to see us show a bit of flexibility and ditch the back 3 for this game. Israel have seen it so often and seem to love playing against it.

Either that or press much higher and aggressive from the start. 

Israels defence is worse than ours, if we really go after them I think we could get a solid win here.

[velo army]

1 hour ago, BingMcCrosby said:

I'd love to see us show a bit of flexibility and ditch the back 3 for this game. Israel have seen it so often and seem to love playing against it.

Either that or press much higher and aggressive from the start. 

Israels defence is worse than ours, if we really go after them I think we could get a solid win here.

That's my fear for this. Each time we played a back three it played right into their hands and they seem to have it completely figured out.

IIRC when we beat them at Hampden we played a 4-5-1 and should have won by much more.

 

[craigkillie]

I wouldn't say that was the case in that 3-2 game. We were absolutely terrible that night, a complete mess of a team, characterised by Callum Paterson's WOAT performance at right-back. Only a brilliant save from McGregor at the death got us the win.

None of that is really relevant to the upcoming game though, it's mostly different players and a different manager. I think there's a case to be made for four at the back, but I'd be surprised to see it.

[2426255]

8 hours ago, HuttonDressedAsLahm said:

If you flipped it on its head, you’d have a hard time proving to a bemused neutral why Israel were the better team.

I'm no sayin Israel are better than Scotland, I'm saying they are on a par.

If a neutral looked at my argument that Israel are about equal to us they'd have to agree because the evidence is there, but I'm no talking to neutrals so most people don't want to hear it.  

 

8 hours ago, BingMcCrosby said:

I'd love to see us show a bit of flexibility and ditch the back 3 for this game.  Israel have seen it so often and seem to love playing against it.

Denmark shagged them 5 - 0 with a back three. 

 

Edited September 10, 2021 by 2426255

[Binos]

10 hours ago, BingMcCrosby said:

I'd love to see us show a bit of flexibility and ditch the back 3 for this game. Israel have seen it so often and seem to love playing against it.

Either that or press much higher and aggressive from the start. 

Israels defence is worse than ours, if we really go after them I think we could get a solid win here.

In the away draw we only started playing and got on front foot when we ditched it half time and went to a back 4 (from a back 5 as it is)

The extra body in midfield helped us dominate game second half 

Now we could do that including with weebg in there

[Binos]

2 hours ago, 2426255 said:

I'm no sayin Israel are better than Scotland, I'm saying they are on a par.

If a neutral looked at my argument that Israel are about equal to us they'd have to agree because the evidence is there, but I'm no talking to neutrals so most people don't want to hear it.  

 

Denmark shagged them 5 - 0 with a back three. 

 

Denmark are on trophy winning form

[Binos]

8 hours ago, craigkillie said:

I wouldn't say that was the case in that 3-2 game. We were absolutely terrible that night, a complete mess of a team, characterised by Callum Paterson's WOAT performance at right-back. Only a brilliant save from McGregor at the death got us the win.

None of that is really relevant to the upcoming game though, it's mostly different players and a different manager. I think there's a case to be made for four at the back, but I'd be surprised to see it.

Get over your right back fetish 

[TheScarf]

Israel are clearly as good as Scotland, quite why that's up for debate is baffling.  And that boy Zahavi is light years ahead of any striker/attacker we have.

[The Derry]

Surely nobody actually thinks Dykes could play for PSV?

[craigkillie]

Get over your right back fetish 

What a weird post.

[accies1874]

I wouldn't say that was the case in that 3-2 game. We were absolutely terrible that night, a complete mess of a team, characterised by Callum Paterson's WOAT performance at right-back. Only a brilliant save from McGregor at the death got us the win.

None of that is really relevant to the upcoming game though, it's mostly different players and a different manager. I think there's a case to be made for four at the back, but I'd be surprised to see it.

I thought we were really good for maybe the middle hour or so and pretty bad either side of that. We were a bit of a mess out of possession (McGregor was just starting out as a six) and Paterson was a disaster, but the forward play was quite exciting that night.

[ropy]

I am so used to our back 5, what would a back 4 look like?  One of Tierney, Robertson.  SOD on the right? We have a number of central defenders, is Tierney better than them all in that position?

[harry94]

I'd love to see us show a bit of flexibility and ditch the back 3 for this game. Israel have seen it so often and seem to love playing against it.
Either that or press much higher and aggressive from the start. 
Israels defence is worse than ours, if we really go after them I think we could get a solid win here.

I would argue we're weak with centre back options. We've got some decent players there with two Premier League CBs but both don't really form that natural a partnership and then beyond that, I think the likes of Hendry and McKenna are potentially decent but wouldn't be trusted in a pairing right now.

Beyond that, we have depth issues at right back and even in goal, I think we're a bit poorer than we've been for years (that's no slight on Craig Gordon who has been playing very well but he's about to turn 39).

In midfield, we don't really have the traditional ball winners anymore. A few really good technical players who can sit deep but aside from Ryan Jack, I don't think there's anyone who is that natural at breaking up attacks and protecting the backline.

I think drilling our defenders to play in that type defensive system has been effective in making us a lot harder to beat in these types of games against the 'League B' type sides who are around our level (but have been our kryptonite in the past) and papered over these issues.

Having someone like Considine or Gallagher can come in for a pivotal game and look solid shows how much we've improved on that side of the game IMO.

I think the issue we've got is really just the directness of play and how we press and I don't really see the change in formation doing much for that tbh. Some days we've ended up trying to play it out too slowly and ended up deep and others the front two have put in a shift and we've went fairly direct and done well.

We probably do persist with it too much against the real minnows but I think Clarke is obsessed with trying to get everyone drilled and suited to the system in the limited time he has which is maybe brutal to watch but a good exercise.

Israel are a team with a lot of quality going forward and a few intelligent players, I wouldn't be wanting a more open game.