Scotland v Armenia

[G51]

Adams is definitely our best striker, but there's no denying that we lack a goalscorer in the team.

Sometimes it's worth sacrificing your best all-round striker in exchange for a worse player that regularly scores goals. Particularly if the rest of your team are well structure

[ahemps]

45 minutes ago, Detournement said:

Ralston was fine. Patterson has more going forward which is valuable in a side which struggles to create but they are both good options and Ramsay and maybe even Ashby will be in the mix going forward. It shouldn't be a problem position any more, Clarke fucked up against Ukraine. 

The real problem is our attack with neither Adams or Dykes having real quality and McGinn either scoring or contributing nothing from the attacking midfield role. I often feel that when subs are made late in this type of game it's because the manager doesn't want a selection problem caused by the likes of Brown, Stewart (or Turnbull) coming on and doing well. By only giving them a few minutes no one can criticise Clarke for picking Adams again in the next fixture despite his lack of form. 

In what world does a manager avoid making a sub in case that player does well????? Steve Clarke wants to win games of football and if he brings on a player it is not in the hope that he is poor.

 

[shizzlemanizzle]

16 minutes ago, craigkillie said:

Clarke does not give a tiny f**k about "calls" for anything. He kept Adams on in the hope he would get a goal because he will be starting the next two games on account of being miles better than the other available strikers.

This, all day long.  You don’t half talk a lot of sense for a Killie fan which makes me like you and for that reason I hate you. There you go, that’s my compliment.

[Detournement]

5 minutes ago, ahemps said:

In what world does a manager avoid making a sub in case that player does well????? Steve Clarke wants to win games of football and if he brings on a player it is not in the hope that he is poor.

 

Managers freeze players out and pick favourites all the time at all leves. 

If we lose to Ireland no one will say Clarke picked the wrong forwards because he has cleverly ensured that there are no other options. 

[craigkillie]

This complaint about managers having their favourites basically translates to "a manager prefers players who he thinks are better than other players".

[Lex]

10 minutes ago, G51 said:

Adams is definitely our best striker, but there's no denying that we lack a goalscorer in the team.

Sometimes it's worth sacrificing your best all-round striker in exchange for a worse player that regularly scores goals. Particularly if the rest of your team are well structure

Yep agree with this. Adams is probably the best striker we have, but he's not very good. It's been a weak part of the team for as long as i can remember. We haven't really had a natural goal scorer at international level in a Scotland shirt since Dalglish retired.

[lau03143]

14 minutes ago, Lex said:

Yep agree with this. Adams is probably the best striker we have, but he's not very good. It's been a weak part of the team for as long as i can remember. We haven't really had a natural goal scorer at international level in a Scotland shirt since Dalglish retired.

A bit of a myth about Dalgleish tbh, about 1 goal in 3 games. McCoist had a better strike rate, even McFadden, Boyd, and just about Kenny Miller had similar rates of return, just that Dalgleish played so many games in a golden era for us. I think what we're missing is just that one or two strikers with that rate.

Dykes has about the same, but over such a shorter space of time, it's just that he doesn't compliment the team as much as shown against Ukraine.

[accies1874]

9 minutes ago, Detournement said:

Over the past two games he hasn't done much other than shoot poorly and looks unfit and a bit too heavy. Ukraine were taking our whole midfield out the game with a few passes because McGinn and Gilmour were miles off it.  He still deserves a start but last night was an opportunity to see if other attacking options could step up. 

Last night Armstrong was McGinn's replacement in our usual system so he did try something different there. Turnbull's a weird player who I don't think fits into this Scotland team as a starter but I would like to see him a wee bit more. Games like last night and Moldova are more suited to him but we don't get them very often. 

8 minutes ago, G51 said:

Adams is definitely our best striker, but there's no denying that we lack a goalscorer in the team.

Sometimes it's worth sacrificing your best all-round striker in exchange for a worse player that regularly scores goals. Particularly if the rest of your team are well structure

Is there anyone worth sacrificing him for though? 

[wastecoatwilly]

18 minutes ago, Lex said:

Yep agree with this. Adams is probably the best striker we have, but he's not very good. It's been a weak part of the team for as long as i can remember. We haven't really had a natural goal scorer at international level in a Scotland shirt since Dalglish retired.

His first touch was shocking last night,Christie playing up top would be a better option IMO,We should be beaten that team by at least 4 plus McGinn should be scoring that chance that came off the bar,not even sure if Adams meant the ball to go through his legs plus the one where he was 6 yards out and couldn't get the ball out of his feet very poor.

[G51]

6 minutes ago, accies1874 said:

Last night Armstrong was McGinn's replacement in our usual system so he did try something different there. Turnbull's a weird player who I don't think fits into this Scotland team as a starter but I would like to see him a wee bit more. Games like last night and Moldova are more suited to him but we don't get them very often. 

Is there anyone worth sacrificing him for though? 

We won't know until we play them tbf.

Stewart got 23 goals or whatever it was last season. Lets try him out and see what we have there.

[Broken Algorithms]

We were unfortunate that it wasn't 5 or 6. Armenia were absolutely stinking. Even at 2-0 down they looked in no rush to bother playing football. They've had their win against Ireland which got them up the table but never offered any proper threat.

Ralston was a standout and offers us a bit of a question at right back given how well Patterson has done. It's a far better situation than having nobody available. It was good to see our centre halves in control of the game when Armenia had their rare breaks.

Going forward, you could argue Adams, Christie (and even to a degree McGinn) haven't looked their best, but I'm fully behind them playing as they're by far and away the best options to use from the start.

It's a good result given the situation. We needed a reset after the Ukraine match and the players have delivered just that. Ideally, we can carry it on against an out of sorts Ireland team.

[oneteaminglasgow]

17 minutes ago, wastecoatwilly said:

His first touch was shocking last night,Christie playing up top would be a better option IMO,We should be beaten that team by at least 4 plus McGinn should be scoring that chance that came off the bar,not even sure if Adams meant the ball to go through his legs plus the one where he was 6 yards out and couldn't get the ball out of his feet very poor.

No he fucking wouldn’t have. 

[craigkillie]

12 minutes ago, G51 said:

We won't know until we play them tbf.

Stewart got 23 goals or whatever it was last season. Lets try him out and see what we have there.

I'm sure Adams would have got 23 goals at that level too. Adams scored 22 in his final year in the Championship, I'd be very impressed if Stewart got near that next season.

[wastecoatwilly]

16 minutes ago, accies1874 said:

Turnbull's a weird player who I don't think fits into this Scotland team as a starter but I would like to see him a wee bit more. Games like last night and Moldova are more suited to him but we don't get them very often. 

You've got to ask why that is,for me it's Clarke's back door mind set the passive aggressive approach that loses the midfield every time we play better sides.
Ukraine and Croatia are the perfect examples of this.
Clarke has improved this pool of players but needs to find that next level to beat the slightly better teams.

[eez-eh]

I love McGinn, but his constant shooting whenever he was within range of the goal last night was a bit weird. Between that and his poor performance last week he maybe needs a rest. I thought it would have been the ideal game to see how Turnbull got on instead for the last 30 mins or so.

As for Adams, unquestionably our best striker but on nights like last night he can be frustrating to watch. Taking too many touches and struggling to get the ball out from under his feet. Huge contrast between that and him ragdolling Denmark.

[Detournement]

8 minutes ago, craigkillie said:

I'm sure Adams would have got 23 goals at that level too. Adams scored 22 in his final year in the Championship, I'd be very impressed if Stewart got near that next season.

Adams isn't in the form he was in through the winter, it's about that rather than ability. He has zero goals in his last 15 games for club and country going back to February. If he has another stinker in the first hour against Ireland and we need a goal what do we do?

 

 

Edited June 9, 2022 by Detournement

[Estragon]

I thought Adams actually looked alright last night, big improvement from last week (opposition quality accepted).

He was wrong footed at a low cross in the first half, and frustratingly couldn't get that ball out from his feet in the second - but he was linking well with oncoming midfielders most of the game. He's definitely our best option in that position. 

[G51]

5 minutes ago, craigkillie said:

I'm sure Adams would have got 23 goals at that level too. Adams scored 22 in his final year in the Championship, I'd be very impressed if Stewart got near that next season.

He probably could have yeah, but the thing I really like about Stewart is the rate of improvement in him. I'd like to see him get a shot. For a boy who began playing for junior clubs like Kilwinning Rangers and St Mirren to end up a Scotland international is astonishing. I wouldn't be that surprised if he kept developing and hit 20 goals next year.

[wastecoatwilly]

38 minutes ago, oneteaminglasgow said:

No he fucking wouldn’t have. 

I'm not saying Adam's isn't a decent striker but last night he was pants M8, A sharp Adams should be getting a brace last night against a poor Armenian team.
Having Christie and Armstrong supporting him and McGinn playing slightly deeper last night should've gave Adam's the right time and space to play in.
 

[velo army]

12 hours ago, invergowrie arab said:

Just home. f**k taking the car again. Cathcart Rd to M74 took longer than the journey back to Dundee.

Anyway, I suppose a win with economy of effort in a busy period is a good thing.

I would say they are the worst team I have seen at Hampden in many many years and I'm probably including Faroes and Gibraltar there.

Could have had 4 or 5 if we really wanted.

Park your car anywhere between Hampden and Kings Park avenue. My cousin parks where I used to live on Kingsacre Road. It's a 10min walk from the ground and from there you can drive towards Shawfield and from there it's easy enough to hop on the motorway. I got a lift to the Cathedral (was getting my bus) last week and we encountered no delays in getting there from where he'd parked.