Spain (a) in October

[Skyline Drifter]

1 hour ago, accies1874 said:

I probably prefer Adams in these games as he's generally a more reliable out-ball whereas Dykes prefers the rough and tumble which can be very useful but isn't always helpful. They're both capable of being brilliant or terrible tonight, though, and I reckon Clarke will try and go with as close as possible to the team that beat them in March so Dykes will get the nod imo.

Gunn

Porteous Hendry Cooper

Hickey McTominay McGregor Robertson

McGinn Dykes Christie

Christie over Gilmour? Not for me.

I also think McKenna will get the nod over Cooper, he's generally been picked ahead of Cooper by Clarke.

The decision between Dykes and Adams on the face of it is tight but Dykes played them last time and did well, he did outstandingly in a similar away manner in Oslo and I think there were some hints that Adams wasn't fully fit so I'm expecting Dykes to start.

[tree house tam]

54 minutes ago, Venti said:

Even if we do, we've won 5/5 Euro qualifier games. Stop being so negative.

Counts for f**k all if you don't qualify. 

[MarkoRaj]

Gunn

Hickey-Porteous-Hendry-Robertson

Gilmour

McTominay - McGregor

Christie - Dykes - McGinn

[Venti]

21 minutes ago, tree house tam said:

Counts for f**k all if you don't qualify. 

We've won fucking 5 games out of 5. We will qualify.

[microdave]

24 minutes ago, tree house tam said:

Counts for f**k all if you don't qualify. 

I think we'll qualify even if we lose our final three matches. 

[AMMjag]

2 hours ago, Suspect Device said:

 

 

 

At least that's closer to a Scotland strip than their duff national team managed all night at Hampden.

[Kevin Finnerty]

31 minutes ago, tree house tam said:

Counts for f**k all if you don't qualify. 

Good thing we've got 3 games left to play and only need 1-2 more points (or for Norway to drop any at all), then.

For me one of the advantages of getting maximum points from the first five games is that we don't really need to lose our heads about the prospect of maybe getting beaten away by the massively quality pot 1 side. If we take a hiding tonight I'm sure all the miserable doommongers will be crowing about it being a "wake-up call" or a "reality check" as I'm sure they're already itching to do. In the meantime I'll carry on being buzzing for the game and hoping the lads pull off something special.

Edited October 12, 2023 by Kevin Finnerty

[craigkillie]

There are 10000% people on this forum absolutely buzzing about the prospect of us losing 5-0 tonight and then Norway sneaking a win on Sunday.

[accies1874]

38 minutes ago, Skyline Drifter said:

Christie over Gilmour? Not for me.

Makes us better off the ball, imo, while also providing some flair down the left in Tierney's absence. That said, Gilmour in the middle of a three could allow McGregor to replicate some of Tierney's runs from deep. 

Quote

I also think McKenna will get the nod over Cooper, he's generally been picked ahead of Cooper by Clarke.

I don't think that's true in recent times. I can only think of McKenna starting ahead of Cooper once in the past couple of years (Armenia at home) and Cooper tends to be Clarke's go-to CB sub to see things out. 

[Granny Danger]

I’m simply looking for a result that will have Rodri sitting on the pitch at full time bawling his eyes out.

Please make it so.

[2426255]

1 hour ago, Skyline Drifter said:

I also think McKenna will get the nod over Cooper, he's generally been picked ahead of Cooper by Clarke.

 

1 hour ago, accies1874 said:

I don't think that's true in recent times. I can only think of McKenna starting ahead of Cooper once in the past couple of years (Armenia at home) and Cooper tends to be Clarke's go-to CB sub to see things out. 

There have been two occasions since Euro 2020 where Liam Cooper has been preferred to Scott McKenna as a replacement for KT (Ukraine, Czech Republic).

Scott McKenna has played on one occasion when Liam Cooper was available (Armenia home). He also played LCB for Scotland when Liam Cooper played as the central centre back (Denmark away) or when Liam Cooper was unavailable due to a wedding (Ireland away) or injury when McKenna played in a back-4 in the UNL (Ukraine, Ireland home).

Piece of paper between them, but history is on Liam Cooper's side. That's not to say who will play tonight, we don't know the circumstances that affected those decisions or will affect tonight. For completeness, Jack Hendry and John Souttar have filled in there when neither Cooper or McKenna were available (Armenia away, Georgia home) and if it were up to me I'd pick Scott McKenna as he's stronger, faster and tidier on the ball.

Edited October 12, 2023 by 2426255

[pub car king]

Back 4 and some sort of 5 man midfield is the way to go here. If Tierney isn't playing the current formation fails as nobody else has the quality to fill in as a direct replacement. Pretty much every player can play or does play in a back 4 at club level.

Remember a 1-0 defeat could still see us win the group on head to head lets not try and make something work when we don't have the personnel to do it with. 

[tree house tam]

4 minutes ago, pub car king said:

Back 4 and some sort of 5 man midfield is the way to go here. If Tierney isn't playing the current formation fails as nobody else has the quality to fill in as a direct replacement. Pretty much every player can play or does play in a back 4 at club level.

Remember a 1-0 defeat could still see us win the group on head to head lets not try and make something work when we don't have the personnel to do it with. 

This is the way I'd be setting up as well. Counter attacking football, give them the 75% possession but end up with more shots on target/goals than the b*****ds.

[Richey Edwards]

1 hour ago, Kevin Finnerty said:

Good thing we've got 3 games left to play and only need 1-2 more points (or for Norway to drop any at all), then.

For me one of the advantages of getting maximum points from the first five games is that we don't really need to lose our heads about the prospect of maybe getting beaten away by the massively quality pot 1 side. If we take a hiding tonight I'm sure all the miserable doommongers will be crowing about it being a "wake-up call" or a "reality check" as I'm sure they're already itching to do. In the meantime I'll carry on being buzzing for the game and hoping the lads pull off something special.

It would take the absolute kings of f**k ups and unfortunate events for Scotland to not qualify now. We're practically there. 

[Skyline Drifter]

42 minutes ago, 2426255 said:

 

There have been two occasions since Euro 2020 where Liam Cooper has been preferred to Scott McKenna as a replacement for KT (Ukraine, Czech Republic).

Scott McKenna has played on one occasion when Liam Cooper was available (Armenia home). He also played LCB for Scotland when Liam Cooper played as the central centre back (Denmark away) or when Liam Cooper was unavailable due to a wedding (Ireland away) or injury when McKenna played in a back-4 in the UNL (Ukraine, Ireland home).

Piece of paper between them, but history is on Liam Cooper's side. That's not to say who will play tonight, we don't know the circumstances that affected those decisions or will affect tonight. For completeness, Jack Hendry and John Souttar have filled in there when neither Cooper or McKenna were available (Armenia away, Georgia home) and if it were up to me I'd pick Scott McKenna as he's stronger, faster and tidier on the ball.

Fair enough, McKenna has played more often, I assumed that was in preference to Cooper but didn't actually look to see if Cooper may have been unavailable at those times. I agree it's a close call though. McKenna is currently "playing" at a better level than Cooper but that's only since August and McKenna's not actually been picked for the last three weeks so may not be as match sharp. He was also not great in the last couple of outings for Forest he was picked for. Another coin flip call then.

[2426255]

In my opinion the safest way to start the game is to start with the 541 in whatever form that is and then as the game develops we could open up or change things if we are losing later in the game and change personnel etc as needed. There might be a good reason to change things from the start, but you'd have to have a good knowledge of Spain to really understand the benefits of doing that and KT being injured isn't necessarily enough reason to change on its own. That's my take on it anyway.

Edited October 12, 2023 by 2426255

[Jaggy McJagface]

I would normally support abandoning the back 4 when Tierney isn’t there, but I feel like there’s no hope of winning the midfield battle against Spain so an extra man in defence might be the better option to soak up the pressure.

We should pack numbers into that middle area and force them to go wide like we did at Hampden.

[MarkoRaj]

A flat 5 at the back without Tierney's energy to push into midfield is just inviting pressure

You need guys that can push up and win the ball back high up otherwise it's backs to the walls and could be a pumping

4 atb also allows us to play all of our midfielders plus Christie, who I think has to play when we are without the ball for long periods. No one presses like him

[Virtual Insanity]

4 hours ago, accies1874 said:

I probably prefer Adams in these games as he's generally a more reliable out-ball whereas Dykes prefers the rough and tumble which can be very useful but isn't always helpful. They're both capable of being brilliant or terrible tonight, though, and I reckon Clarke will try and go with as close as possible to the team that beat them in March so Dykes will get the nod imo.

Gunn

Porteous Hendry Cooper

Hickey McTominay McGregor Robertson

McGinn Dykes Christie

This is what I'd go with. Torn between Dykes and Adams, I think Dykes weaknesses as an out ball are less pronounced against a team like Spain than they are v Norway where they really prevented us getting into the game much, and his defensive contribution especially on Rodri and physical presence is massive.

Tempted by the 4-5-1 with Gilmour in for Cooper but there's a reason Gilmour doesn't tend to start Brighton's games against the bigger teams when De Zerbi thinks they'll have less of the ball.

[HuttonDressedAsLahm]

7 minutes ago, Virtual Insanity said:

This is what I'd go with. Torn between Dykes and Adams, I think Dykes weaknesses as an out ball are less pronounced against a team like Spain than they are v Norway where they really prevented us getting into the game much, and his defensive contribution especially on Rodri and physical presence is massive.

Tempted by the 4-5-1 with Gilmour in for Cooper but there's a reason Gilmour doesn't tend to start Brighton's games against the bigger teams when De Zerbi thinks they'll have less of the ball.

If I recall correctly from the Spain game, wasn't Dykes tasked with always pressuring Rodri so that his ability to dictate the game was always difficult?  He's one of the best midfielders in the world, and almost certainly the best player in that Spain side so I'd imagine that will be the tactic again.

 

Edited October 12, 2023 by HuttonDressedAsLahm