Scotland Squad: Sep-2023 (Cyprus, England)

[2426255]

Interesting game given the circumstances. Element of it being "must win" which creates a pressure and urgency to chase a victory. Will we chase from the start or pick our moments?

Given the heat It'd make sense to control the game through possession. It would make less sense to press aggressively for 90 minutes. 

Should we play the game in their half? How quick are their forward players? Are they adapted to play on the counter like Armenia?

I think those sort of questions will define the gameplan, team selection etc. If for example Cyprus continually play long to Sotiriou maybe you're better to have strong ball winners in the middle 3rd and more creative players in the final 3rd so maybe more McTominay & Armstrong and less Gilmour & Christie.

Edited September 5, 2023 by 2426255

[Elgin Macca]

1 hour ago, 2426255 said:

Interesting game given the circumstances. Element of it being "must win" which creates a pressure and urgency to chase a victory. Will we chase from the start or pick our moments?

Given the heat It'd make sense to control the game through possession. It would make less sense to press aggressively for 90 minutes. 

Should we play the game in their half? How quick are their forward players? Are they adapted to play on the counter like Armenia?

I think those sort of questions will define the gameplan, team selection etc. If for example Cyprus continually play long to Sotiriou maybe you're better to have strong ball winners in the middle 3rd and more creative players in the final 3rd so maybe more McTominay & Armstrong and less Gilmour & Christie.

Yea good points. I imagine it will be the same sort of line up/formation as Georgia. Adams possibly in for Dykes depending on his fitness. I agree, in that I think heat will play a big part. I expect Keeping possession and being patient. This is the sort of game in the past in this situation that would give me the fear but this squad of shaggers are made of different stuff. Not a comfortable game by any means but confident of the 3 points and up the road!

[Savage Henry]

6 hours ago, TheScarf said:

How is this for a Scotland XI.  You can see how far we've come in 12 years squad wise.

 

I have absolutely no recollection of that game at all. 

[TheScarf]

1 hour ago, Savage Henry said:

I have absolutely no recollection of that game at all. 

Neither did I until I saw Mackie's goal. I just remember it in isolation and couldn't have told you who it was against if I saw a clip of just that particular goal. 

[HuttonDressedAsLahm]

As someone pointed out when the draw was made, the fixtures have been reasonably kind - this game is before England, so we can solely focus and setup for it.  The same is true for the Spain game, albeit with different pressures and expectations.

The England/France game largely looks after themselves, and even if we had injuries/need to rotate, our bench is strong and just about every position can be replaced without any real reduction in standard (perhaps goalkeeper asides).

I'd expect us to be setup to dominate possession and press them when necessary.  The heat is a problem, but more so if you're chasing the ball, which I wouldn't expect us to do with how comfortable most of our players now are in possession.

Edited September 5, 2023 by HuttonDressedAsLahm

[Arch Stanton]

 

 

[No_Problemo]

3 minutes ago, Arch Stanton said:

 

 

An incredibly divisive, untrue and just all round terrible headline. 

ETA, not quite untrue I guess but clearly looking to encourage a pile on for someone who has an injury. 

Edited September 5, 2023 by No_Problemo

[Savage Henry]

1 hour ago, No_Problemo said:

An incredibly divisive, untrue and just all round terrible headline. 

ETA, not quite untrue I guess but clearly looking to encourage a pile on for someone who has an injury. 

I’d imagine Scott Burns will be having words with his online editor.  It’s a fairly abhorrent take on a guy dropping out with an injury.  And it will lead to a pile on.  My guess is the headline will be reworded sooner rather than later. 

[Ewanandmoreagain]

4 hours ago, Elgin Macca said:

Yea good points. I imagine it will be the same sort of line up/formation as Georgia. Adams possibly in for Dykes depending on his fitness. I agree, in that I think heat will play a big part. I expect Keeping possession and being patient. This is the sort of game in the past in this situation that would give me the fear but this squad of shaggers are made of different stuff. Not a comfortable game by any means but confident of the 3 points and up the road!

The last game in Cyprus , pre VAR thank **** ,  they had a perfectly good goal disallowed so it will not be easy 

Really hoping BDD and everyone are fit

[Donathan]

If Dykes is available I have a feeling that Clarke might play Dykes and Adams together up front. I know we've not used that set up in a while and it was a disaster against both Ukraine in the playoff and Croatia in the Euros but those are both much stronger midfield teams with the ability to overrun us. Cyprus are a much weaker team and they focus on long balls rather than playing through the midfield, so I don't necessarily think we can't sacrifice a player to get an extra man on the end of crosses in the box. They'll be hard to break down so crosses will be important.

 

Of course the downside of that is you either need to sacrifice one of McGregor/McTominay/McGinn/Gilmour, or go back to McTominay at RCB. I think the latter is a terrible idea. His main contribution to this campaign has been getting those late arrivals into the penalty box and scoring goals from flick ons, rebounds and second balls. That's never going to work from RCB to we should kibosh that idea. Also the back three of Porteous RCB, Hendry/Hanley CCB and Tierney LCB has only conceded one goal in four games and that was a penalty, so I don't think you really mess with that.

 

I think ultimately he might stick with 3-5-1-1 but with the option of chucking a second striker on in the second half if we are struggling to break them down.

 

Remember we need each of the following three results to happen to qualify this week:

 

1) Scotland beat Cyprus on Friday (80% chance with the bookies)

2) Spain beat Georgia on Friday (80% chance with the bookies)

3) Norway and Georgia draw on Tuesday (no odds available yet)

 

 

[2426255]

Is John Carver the perfect person to do the press duties? Talks loads without really saying anything of substance, goes on tangents and like we saw in March is capable of creating controversial stories unrelated to the upcoming games.

I learned today that he coached Omonia Nicosia for 6 months or so which is probably helpful for the Cyprus game in terms of knowing what to expect over there and you'd have to think that he was influential in convincing Elliot Anderson to come along (albeit briefly) for this camp. He also strikes me as the kind of guy who's hard to dislike in person and so I'm in no doubt he's a great go between for the manager and the players.

All in all a useful guy to have around even if he can sometimes come across as a hand grenade waiting to go off. 

Edited September 6, 2023 by 2426255

[kennie makevin]

19 minutes ago, 2426255 said:

Is John Carver the perfect person to do the press duties? Talks loads without really saying anything of substance, goes on tangents and like we saw in March is capable of creating controversial stories unrelated to the upcoming games.

I learned today that he coached Omonia Nicosia for 6 months or so which is probably helpful for the Cyprus game in terms of knowing what to expect over there and you'd have to think that he was influential in convincing Elliot Anderson to come along (albeit briefly) for this camp. He also strikes me as the kind of guy who's hard to dislike in person and so I'm in no doubt he's a great go between for the manager and the players.

All in all a useful guy to have around even if he can sometimes come across as a hand grenade waiting to go off. 

'Hadaway 'n' shite, man..Wor Carver's a reet bonny lad, aways ready wi a bottle o dog an a tab for the bairn like, ye canna gan about takkin' him doon, man' or words to that effect 

[HuttonDressedAsLahm]

1 hour ago, Donathan said:

If Dykes is available I have a feeling that Clarke might play Dykes and Adams together up front. I know we've not used that set up in a while and it was a disaster against both Ukraine in the playoff and Croatia in the Euros but those are both much stronger midfield teams with the ability to overrun us. Cyprus are a much weaker team and they focus on long balls rather than playing through the midfield, so I don't necessarily think we can't sacrifice a player to get an extra man on the end of crosses in the box. They'll be hard to break down so crosses will be important.

 

Of course the downside of that is you either need to sacrifice one of McGregor/McTominay/McGinn/Gilmour, or go back to McTominay at RCB. I think the latter is a terrible idea. His main contribution to this campaign has been getting those late arrivals into the penalty box and scoring goals from flick ons, rebounds and second balls. That's never going to work from RCB to we should kibosh that idea. Also the back three of Porteous RCB, Hendry/Hanley CCB and Tierney LCB has only conceded one goal in four games and that was a penalty, so I don't think you really mess with that.

 

I think ultimately he might stick with 3-5-1-1 but with the option of chucking a second striker on in the second half if we are struggling to break them down.

 

Remember we need each of the following three results to happen to qualify this week:

 

1) Scotland beat Cyprus on Friday (80% chance with the bookies)

2) Spain beat Georgia on Friday (80% chance with the bookies)

3) Norway and Georgia draw on Tuesday (no odds available yet)

 

 

I’d much rather Spain dropped points to Georgia. That might delay our qualification but it puts them right in it. 

Georgia aren’t beating Spain twice, and Spain dropping points probably forces them to beat Norway, and really helps with our prospects of finishing top.

Georgia to draw both games please.

[Donathan]

13 minutes ago, HuttonDressedAsLahm said:

I’d much rather Spain dropped points to Georgia. That might delay our qualification but it puts them right in it. 

Georgia aren’t beating Spain twice, and Spain dropping points probably forces them to beat Norway, and really helps with our prospects of finishing top.

Georgia to draw both games please.

Yeah I agree. As glorious as being the first team (apart from the hosts) to book our place in the finals as early as this coming Tuesday would be, I think we need to play the long game and win the group outright to get a good seeding for the finals. If Spain drop anything against Georgia or Norway then we will win the group with wins in Cyprus and Georgia and at home to Norway, all games you'd have to make us favourites for on current form. The one game we won't be expected to win is the trip to Seville but if Spain drop any more points then we can afford a defeat there and still have the group in our own hands.

 

Technically we can afford a one goal defeat there anyway but if they don't win all their other games then we can afford any defeat and still have the group in our own hands before the last double header, provided we take care of business on Friday.

 

Looking at the last couple of qualifying group stages we probably need 21 points to be sure of being top seeds which means 3 wins out of 4. 20 points (i.e., going undefeated but drawing 2 games) might be enough, especially considering our goal difference is decent so far.

[tree house tam]

Anyone else feeling a bit dodgy about this game on Friday?

[Captain_Sensible]

1 hour ago, tree house tam said:

Anyone else feeling a bit dodgy about this game on Friday?

I watch every game, club and country, expecting to lose. 
 

The fact that we’ve had such a good run of results makes this game even dodgier for me. I reckon we’ll lose all our remaining games. 

[Brother Blades]

Hoping for an early goal to settle the nerves, this squad are certainly good enough to get the job done. I’m just hoping the occasion doesn’t get to them. 

We’ve got 3 tough games after this one in the group, it would be fantastic to be going into them on maximum points.

I’m another hoping for Georgia to get 2 draws in their double header. 

[Ewanandmoreagain]

3 hours ago, tree house tam said:

Anyone else feeling a bit dodgy about this game on Friday?

starting to.

Force of habit.

I hope it is not too hot

 

 

Edited September 6, 2023 by Ewanandmoreagain

[Donathan]

As much as our players won't be as used to the heat as the Cyprus guys are, it's worth remembering our team are a hell of a lot more technical than the type of brutes that wilted in the heat of Skopje fifteen years ago, for example. Our team coped fairly well in Norway as much as it was a smash and grab win.

 

I'm confident we'll win by a couple of goals.

[Ewanandmoreagain]

2 hours ago, Captain_Sensible said:

I watch every game, club and country, expecting to lose. 
 

The fact that we’ve had such a good run of results makes this game even dodgier for me. I reckon we’ll lose all our remaining games. 

I think we will get at least three draws from our remaining games