Jump to content

Cyprus V Scotland 8.9.23


velo army

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 755
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

I'd go:

Gunn

Porteous McKenna Tierney

Hickey Gilmour McGregor Robertson

McGinn Christie

Dykes

With an eye to using the movement and energy of McTominay and Adams off the bench, and McLean's composure. Subs important given the heat. Can see at least a couple of different picks by Clarke, but ones I'd be equally happy with.

I think we'll win, but it won't be anything approaching a stroll. 1-0 or 2-0 with a late second.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Alert Mongoose

Quote

Everyone is fit, even Dykesy. All fit and ready to go.

Steve Clarke

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/sport/football/11204949/steve-clarke-scotland-complacency-cyprus/

Quote

Yeah, he's trained. Obviously he hasn't played for over three weeks now, but he's trained - he's trained well since he came to the group so he's available for the game.

Steve Clarke

 https://streamable.com/9vtdtb

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, lubo_blaha said:

Hamilton: “It’s John McGinn, it’s Dykes, it’s McLEAN”

Stewart: “yeeeEEEEAAAAAAHHHHGDVVFB”

I love the 'John McGinn's in' from Stewart as McTominay launches it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute 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.

Noon

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...