Cyprus V Scotland 8.9.23

[HuttonDressedAsLahm]

22 minutes ago, accies1874 said:

Having rewatched the Cyprus and Georgia home games, I can see why Clarke thinks it might be better to press from the 5-3-2. We were able to press in a front four with McTominay and McGregor joining Dykes and McGinn, which could isolate Gilmour at times but the passing lanes were cut off well and, if not, Porteous and Tierney were nice and aggressive stepping out either side of him. That can still happen in the 3-4-3 but it's a bit less fluid when they're all coming from a narrow position imo. Georgia had quality out wide, too, so it was good having that cushion of not needing the wing-backs to back up the press. 

Because of all of the shenanigans against Georgia, I don't think I was all that focused on how good a performance it was. Individual mistakes sometimes let down attacks, and I don't think many of them got to grips with how to weight a pass on the waterlogged pitch, but it was a really straightforward performance. The challenge now is to do it away from home, which I think we've only done once (against Moldova) since probably the November 2020 matches. England was a great performance but we understandably didn't control the game, Austria (2021) likewise, we were dreadful in the first half against Armenia and despite playing well against Ukraine, I don't think we strung five passes together. 

I'm not gonna predict what Clarke will do as he can be unpredictable, but I think I'd now quite like us to go with the same setup as the Georgia game but with Adams for Dykes and maybe Patterson for Hickey. RWB is the toughest choice as Hickey gives you more security in possession but Patterson gives those surging runs down the right. That's not always necessary, though, when McTominay or McGinn make in-to-out runs. 

All in all, I don't have a clue what's gonna happen but, as always, I'm looking forward to seeing what Clarke has in store for us. 

This is very true.  Georgia created very very little in the game.  That's partly down to them losing their heads completely, but also a very assured performance that didn't let them get started.

I'm encouraged by the concept that we're now a team that can dictate our game onto an opponent, rather than having to always setup to respond to them.  Clarke seems to have a game plan for every team, and we only make minor adjustments that otherwise have some pretty big effects.

I'd expect us to dominate possession and press them.  That's another of the benefits of having a strong squad, 5 subs, and no second competitive game this week.  We can push hard onto the Cypriots, knowing that we can switch out anyone that gets tired - Adams/Christie/McGinn/McTominay can run themselves into the ground, and be switched out either by another attacking option or if we want to kill the game, doing that too.

The 5 subs massively helps us over teams like Cyprus.  If this was 5/10 years ago, the impact wouldn't be anything like the same.

Edited September 8, 2023 by HuttonDressedAsLahm

[2426255]

35 minutes ago, accies1874 said:

Having rewatched the Cyprus and Georgia home games, I can see why Clarke thinks it might be better to press from the 5-3-2. We were able to press in a front four with McTominay and McGregor joining Dykes and McGinn, which could isolate Gilmour at times but the passing lanes were cut off well and, if not, Porteous and Tierney were nice and aggressive stepping out either side of him. That can still happen in the 3-4-3 but it's a bit less fluid when they're all coming from a narrow position imo.

Steve Clarke said the one up top and two #10's can be a difficult shape to press from and we didn't get it right against Cyprus. He never detailed why it didn't work. I think you suggested with the 3421 you've got three players to support the initial press but more cover behind that. With the 352 you have an additional player on the initial press, but only one player (Gilmour) covering and I agree with that.

The Cyprus game was good because you could observe the two different pressing approaches in the same game. I made a video which I think demonstrates that, showing examples of both from the Cyprus game. With the 3421 the players seems to struggle to cover the spaces - whether that was Jack and McGregor not squeezing up quickly or Armstrong and McGinn having longer distances to travel to engage the Cypriot centre-backs.

It's something you'd only notice after re-watching the game, but the press was clearly a bit dysfunctional.

https://streamable.com/79s7u1

Edited September 8, 2023 by 2426255

[itzdrk]

26 minutes ago, shizzlemanizzle said:

So, asking for a friend. If someone works from home but has finished all he has to do, the sun is shining and he’s just had some lovely new garden furniture delivered, what time is it acceptable to start tanning the fridge full of beer.

As someone who's internet went down around 9 this morning and is working in the office now, your friend seems a real bad dude.  

[TONTROOPER]

I've heard this game is available on SKY Ch 412. Anyone verify?

[Craig fae the Vale]

I'll be out for dinner when this kicks off as I didn't have the foresight not to schedule my wedding for 7 years ago today. Will no doubt be nervously checking my phone every five minutes throughout dinner and end up in the bad books.

2-0 Scotland. Hopefully.

[Richey Edwards]

5 minutes ago, Craig fae the Vale said:

I'll be out for dinner when this kicks off as I didn't have the foresight not to schedule my wedding for 7 years ago today. Will no doubt be nervously checking my phone every five minutes throughout dinner and end up in the bad books.

2-0 Scotland. Hopefully.

They do say marriages start going downhill after seven years anyway. 

[Melanius Mullarkey]

1 minute ago, Richey Edwards said:

They do say marriages start going downhill after seven years anyway. 

The 7 year itch they call it.

I put that down to VD though.

[TONTROOPER]

5 minutes ago, Melanius Mullarkay said:

The 7 year itch they call it.

I put that down to VD though.

[shizzlemanizzle]

The five subs tonight will be crucial. It used to be that if Scotland made subs it weakened the team but not now. Our strength in depth is phenomenal and I trust sir Steve Clarke to use them effectively.

[Jambomo]

I wonder if the feeling of being nervous and worried about Scotland games against teams we feel we should beat, will ever go away? Is it like football PTSD? I still expect us to do things like draw away to Georgia and get beat 3-0 by Kazakhstan. 

[welshbairn]

1 hour ago, TONTROOPER said:

I've heard this game is available on SKY Ch 412. Anyone verify?

That's Viaplay's slot on SKY, you'll need a separate subscription unless something's changed.

Should be free on here:

http://cybc.com.cy/live-tv/ρικ-sat/

[Stephen Malkmus]

The game that's making me nervous is the 0-1 win in the Faroe Islands a couple of years ago when Dykes scored a late winner. We had pretty much exactly the same team that night as we'll be putting out tonight. Let's see how far we've progressed.

[microdave]

1 hour ago, Craig fae the Vale said:

I'll be out for dinner when this kicks off as I didn't have the foresight not to schedule my wedding for 7 years ago today. Will no doubt be nervously checking my phone every five minutes throughout dinner and end up in the bad books.

2-0 Scotland. Hopefully.

My sympathy is limited as you probably chose to get married during the fitba season.

[Richey Edwards]

17 minutes ago, Jambomo said:

I wonder if the feeling of being nervous and worried about Scotland games against teams we feel we should beat, will ever go away? Is it like football PTSD? I still expect us to do things like draw away to Georgia and get beat 3-0 by Kazakhstan. 

Anyone who has been a Scotland fan for any length of time will know that we should never take anything for granted.

Just now, Stephen Malkmus said:

The game that's making me nervous is the 0-1 win in the Faroe Islands a couple of years ago when Dykes scored a late winner. We had pretty much exactly the same team that night as we'll be putting out tonight. Let's see how far we've progressed.

Faroes were absolutely robbed in that game. They had been the better team.

[mozam76]

16 hours ago, dirty dingus said:

I think this might be a Gough 96 minute job as Cyprus aren't a bad outfit. Got to trust Clarke and the lads though. A win here and it's gravy, going to be watching it in Tangiers so any good link would be appreciated. C'mon Scotland. 

Any excuse to post this piece of late 80's magnificence. Key takeaways for me are the state of the pitch (the bounce before wee Mo scores the first, f**k me), the Jock Brown phraseology ("a prodigious leap, a POWERFUL header - seriously, why can't commentators talk like this anymore), and overall scenes as we win with a goal THAT late.

 

 

[microdave]

9 minutes ago, mozam76 said:

Any excuse to post this piece of late 80's magnificence. Key takeaways for me are the state of the pitch (the bounce before wee Mo scores the first, f**k me), the Jock Brown phraseology ("a prodigious leap, a POWERFUL header - seriously, why can't commentators talk like this anymore), and overall scenes as we win with a goal THAT late.

 

 

I watched that game in a hospital after having my appendix removed the previous day. A sickie from school to watch the game that went a bit too far

[resk]

4 minutes ago, microdave said:

I watched that game in a hospital after having my appendix removed the previous day. A sickie from school to watch the game that went a bit too far

Was it a weekday afternoon kickoff?  I think I watched it in primary school with the teacher wheeling the telly out into the classroom for us.  

[mozam76]

2 minutes ago, resk said:

Was it a weekday afternoon kickoff?  I think I watched it in primary school with the teacher wheeling the telly out into the classroom for us.  

It was a Wednesday, I know that.

[shizzlemanizzle]

12 minutes ago, microdave said:

I watched that game in a hospital after having my appendix removed the previous day. A sickie from school to watch the game that went a bit too far

I took an actual sickie from school that day. Woke up with a ‘sore tummy’. My mum positioned me perfectly on the couch in front of the telly with a bottle of lucozade and much sympathy. She had no idea there was a game on until the bloody Alpine delivery man grassed me in. He came to the door just as the game was kicking off and had seen me through the window. “Is that your boy off the school so that he can watch the Scotland game?”. After the third degree from my mum I caved in and admitted there was no ‘sore tummy’. Lucozade confiscated and sent to my room. Which had a telly!

[Dirty Sanchez]

25 minutes ago, microdave said:

I watched that game in a hospital after having my appendix removed the previous day. A sickie from school to watch the game that went a bit too far

Half the kids in the country gave school a miss that day, including me.

The controversial referee turned out to be spying for the Stasi back home. Makes sense that someone attracted to refereeing would also enjoy grassing citizens in to the authorities. I'll bet some of our pint sized whistling twerps would go for that too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siegfried_Kirschen