Georgia vs Scotland 16th Nov '23

[MarkoRaj]

1 hour ago, Jaggy Snake said:

McLean did nothing despite being on the pitch for over 50 minutes.

 

Nonsense 

[Ewanandmoreagain]

1 hour ago, Jacky1990 said:

Clark - think some of the criticism is a bit OTT. We know he isnt good enough for this level, but it doesnt change the fact he is prob the best available right now. 6/10

Patterson - better as a RWB than RB. Can see theres a player there, but his lack of development over the past couple years is worrying. Was okay, but wasteful. 6/10

Porteous - one wild pass aside, one of our better players on the night. 7/10

McKenna - went walkabout for their first goal and is such a clear drop off in quality on the ball compared to Hendry and Tierney. Place at the Euros in doubt. 5/10

Taylor - shite. Tonight he went from 4th choice LB to 5th for me. Wouldnt be suprised to see him phased out the squad for Doig. 4/10

McGregor - annonymous if not for his insistence on passing the ball backwards when he has an opportunity to move it forward. 5/10

Gilmour - off it tonight, especially when trying to force ir forward. Correct decision to take him off. 4/10

McGinn - tried hard but left Patterson exposed when he drifted inside. Nothing really came off for him. 5/10

McTominay - looked most threatening for large spells. Good finish for the goal. 6/10

Christie - losts of running without anything really coming off. Does so much good work ruined by a poor final ball. 5/10

Dykes - looked off it from the start. Bit like the Norway game, was never really in the game and wasnt enough of a pest we know he can be. 5/10

SSC - picked the team I largely thought he would so cant argue with it. Didnt fanny about with making subs and trying to change things. 6/10

Overall the result is just about fine,  but performance should have been better. Sunday becomes a big game. Need to win to avoid us going potentially six months without victory.

I thought Patterson got us forward in the **** first half , unlike others.

McKenna needs to be playing first team football.

Super John came good eventually.

Surprised SSC played a back four !

 

 

1 hour ago, AMMjag said:

A dead rubber qualifying game at a challenging away venue with a number of key injuries is a difficult set of circumstances to come away with anything whilst playing poorly at the same time, so that's encouraging at least. 

I'm not convinced we have enough natural width or grit in midfield to look comfortable starting with a back 4 with this currwnt 23. I'd like to see us revert to usual against Norway and allow McGinn/McTominay more of a free role. 

 

 

The back four was not a success !

1 hour ago, Jaggy Snake said:

A poor performance tonight and mainly just confirmed what we already knew, that a lot of our back up options are well below the required standard.

We already knew the drop off in keeper after Gunn & Gordon was massive.

Taylor is miles off international standard both offensively and defensively, and that was with us playing a back four which would have suited him more than left wingback in a five.

Patterson is poor defensively and wasteful going forward, though with the odd bit of success.

Don't get the Gilmour criticism. He took the ball off the defenders time and time again in the first half and not one other midfielder gave him an option. McGregor should have been hooked as it's literally his job to link up between Gilmour and the players higher up the park.

Christie is best used as a sub in the last half an hour when his running causes defenders problems. He's not good enough to do it from the start.

Dykes clearly had a poor game and should have been subbed earlier.

McLean did nothing despite being on the pitch for over 50 minutes.

Ferguson was pretty much headless chicken stuff again when he came on.

Although Armstrong doesn't have that real drive that he used to he did at least show a touch more quality when he came on than a lot of the others tonight. And it was good to see Shankland get a goal.

Ferguson was good !

1 hour ago, accies1874 said:

The first half was a really abysmal performance, but the second improved to make it an even game imo (which still isn't good). I thought Porteous did pretty well covering for Patterson and McLean was a decent option between the lines at points. Ferguson seemed to link play OK too. Them, maybe McTominay and obviously Shankland were the only ones to emerge with more positive comments than negative. McGinn was anonymous until about 80 minutes, but I actually thought he was excellent thereafter. 

Georgia were pretty good at narrowing our shape and switching it wide, and in Kvaratskhelia they had an absolutely ridiculous 1 v 1 player up against quite a crap defender. Sometimes players just look a level above everyone else at this level (especially given we were without Robertson) and he was crazy good. 

 

He was given too much space!

52 minutes ago, edinabear said:

Pleased with the draw but if we are to become the tier 1/strong tier 2 side that we all think we should be these sort of results and performances need to be a thing of the past 

Seconded

39 minutes ago, velo army said:

I thought Gilmour was great. He demanded the ball and always tried to move it forwards. I get that it didn't always work out, but I'd rather players tried and failed than didn't.

McGinn is great when it's a fair fight or a 60-40, but when we're up against it he's fucking rubbish and simply disappears. He's not the player to take the game by the scruff of the neck and as such gets a very lenient deal from fans. I think we should expect more from him to be honest. He was fucking rubbish tonight.

This was one of the worst refereeing performances I've seen since Brian Cassidy made a colossal arse of Thistle v QOS in 2002. Every time their lad went down he gave a foul and every time he gave a foul for us in our own half he never let us take it quickly. An utter shitebag who should bever be allowed to ref another senior game ever again. 

I hope Georgia get relegated. A bunch of arseholes.

Nonsense about McGinn

38 minutes ago, welldaft said:

As do I. Unlikely we will ever become a Tier 1 side as such because we are a relatively small nation with a smaller player pool v nations with 10x the population. Sure Croatia have done it but that was a golden generation.

I would say we are a decent Tier 2 side and given we were Tier 4 not that long ago then I will take that. 

Performance was not great but we are missing an entire 1st choice defence. But given the history in Georgia. Given they have won 13 of their last 20 games. Given they were at home. Given they were play acting fuckwits. Given the referee was useless. I think a 2-2 draw is an OK result all things considered. Especially being behind twice.

Many Scotland teams in the past would have lost that type of game today……… and in fact did twice. 

Denmark winning whichever Euros they won

22 minutes ago, PrestersKTID said:

Pretty much a half team out there. In a game which is essentially a dead rubber. Would’ve been almost impossible to top the group.
If everyone is fit/available then clark, Taylor, McKenna and patterson aren’t playing. 
Midfield to front was as strong as we could put out but losing the goal allowed Georgia to dig in.

The fact that we broke them down twice shows we have that quality in us. 
If robbo/tierney playing we don’t lose that first goal imo.

 

We should have won

[BFTD]

Croatia's Golden Generation has been going on for quite a while now, considering they finished third at France 98 and had a fair bit of success as part of Yugoslavia before that too.

[KirkieRR]

Georgia's David Tennant-a-like may be a good player but after scoring two goals yon 'tackle' on Ferguson and his gracelessness when he got the yellow indicate a lack of class.

[Tony Wonder]

Think some if the criticism of Clark is a bit harsh. I think everyone knows he's not as good as Gordon or Gunn but getting the blame for the goals is a bit odd. 

First one, it's hit hard and low from about 5 yards. 

Second is fired through a ruck of bodies, it's not like it's gone under him.

A top goalie might save one or both, but it doesn't automatically make them mistakes either. Defence is far more culpable at both than Clark.

[Tony Wonder]

Overall I think given the injuries, change in shape, and fact they are really strong at home (Spain game aside) it's not an awful result.

Getting a point when not at your best at a tricky venue is not to be sniffed at.

Hopefully we can finish off the group strongly on Sunday.

[Hendricks]

4 hours ago, Jeff Venom said:

Poor result in isolation but I hope those Georgians are absolutely howling, #seething, distraught etc 

 

My scenario after tonight: I hope they come through Path C of the play offs which I think they have a decent chance in. We draw them as our Pot 4 team, play them at full strength and give them a fucking pasting in front of 40,000 melted and raucous Scots in Frankfurt or some such delightful German city.

Edited November 16, 2023 by Hendricks

[Hendricks]

3 hours ago, Alert Mongoose said:

I'm pretty disappointed in the progression of Patterson but didn't he have a pretty bad injury that kept him out for a good while? Added to that being in an Everton squad that has been in freefall for most of his time there and I think it's probably a bit early to be writing him off I reckon.

 

Time is still on his side and there have been mitigating factors such as the shambles of his club side and his constant injuries but when you look at the progress of Hickey in comparison it has been a bit disappointing he has stalled. 

[2426255]

9 hours ago, Tartan Dave said:

Kenny Mclean was good when he came on

I thought moving Kenny McLean to left-back when Taylor came off for Armstrong worked quite well in a game where we had a good amount of the ball. I wouldn't mind seeing that again against weaker teams.

Edited November 17, 2023 by 2426255

[accies1874]

1 hour ago, 2426255 said:

I thought moving Kenny McLean to left-back when Taylor came off for Armstrong worked quite well in a game where we had a good amount of the ball. I wouldn't mind seeing that again against weaker teams.

Yeah McLean did OK imo. I still don't like him as an option to hold the width on the left but he was fine at LB and when he drifted inside. 

I think it would be good to see Doig in from the start on Sunday, but I'm not really fussed about whoever starts there (even Taylor).

[MarkoRaj]

Has it been explained why McKenna was preferred to Hendry? Injury?

[Elgin Macca]

54 minutes ago, MarkoRaj said:

Has it been explained why McKenna was preferred to Hendry? Injury?

I really don't think there is much between our centre backs. Hanley, Hendry,Mckenna,Souttar,Cooper are all much and such championship level defenders. Its always a worry area for me when Teirney is injured

[Elgin Macca]

I didn't think watching a Scotland qualifier while already qualified would cause me so much stress! Between our below par performance, them rolling about like a bunch of fannys and the ref it wasn't an easy watch!

[HoBNob]

9 hours ago, Tony Wonder said:

Think some if the criticism of Clark is a bit harsh. I think everyone knows he's not as good as Gordon or Gunn but getting the blame for the goals is a bit odd. 

First one, it's hit hard and low from about 5 yards. 

Second is fired through a ruck of bodies, it's not like it's gone under him.

A top goalie might save one or both, but it doesn't automatically make them mistakes either. Defence is far more culpable at both than Clark.

It would shock me to my core if this wasn't a Hearts or St Johnstone fan. 

[kennie makevin]

12 hours ago, edinabear said:

Pleased with the draw but if we are to become the tier 1/strong tier 2 side that we all think we should be these sort of results and performances need to be a thing of the past 

With the depth of talent we have at our disposal that ain't happening any time soon . But turning what would have been defeats into draws is progress enough.

[Tony Wonder]

20 minutes ago, HoBNob said:

It would shock me to my core if this wasn't a Hearts or St Johnstone fan. 

I am a Hearts fan. I also don't particularly rate him, but neither of the goals are howlers. Stewart on comms kept trying to lay the blame for the 2nd on him. A really good goalie maybe does better, he's not that good. But it doesn't make it a bad mistake, he was unsighted and the defence was more culpable than Clark.

[albagubrath]

I thought Patterson somehow managed to be both our best and our worst player at the same time last night, a real curates egg of a performance mixing some fantastic moments with some awful.

Generally, thinking about the Euro I would say Shankland, Ferguson and Porto improved their chances of being on the plane, Ralston and Taylor reduced their chances of going and the rest are probably secure enough that there is no change. In terms of the starting 11 I think Dykes and Christie both harmed their chances where Clarke, McLean and Patterson won't be in the starting 11 in any case.

[albagubrath]

1 minute ago, kennie makevin said:

With the depth of talent we have at our disposal that ain't happening any time soon . But turning what would have been defeats into draws is progress enough.

I think we're only short a real stand out attacking player from being a side of that quality. Wales with Bale and to a certain extent Georgia with Kvaratskhelia are good examples of how much one player can elevate a team.

[Jambomo]

2 minutes ago, albagubrath said:

I thought Patterson somehow managed to be both our best and our worst player at the same time last night, a real curates egg of a performance mixing some fantastic moments with some awful.

Generally, thinking about the Euro I would say Shankland, Ferguson and Porto improved their chances of being on the plane, Ralston and Taylor reduced their chances of going and the rest are probably secure enough that there is no change. In terms of the starting 11 I think Dykes and Christie both harmed their chances where Clarke, McLean and Patterson won't be in the starting 11 in any case.

I think Patterson would do better if he were playing more at Everton. He’s not a bad player but I think he’s one that needs a game or two to get back to his best if he has been out.

[Skyline Drifter]

7 minutes ago, Tony Wonder said:

I am a Hearts fan. I also don't particularly rate him, but neither of the goals are howlers. Stewart on comms kept trying to lay the blame for the 2nd on him. A really good goalie maybe does better, he's not that good. But it doesn't make it a bad mistake, he was unsighted and the defence was more culpable than Clark.

The defence was far more culpable on both goals. McKenna going walkabout and Taylor gambling on an interception he was never getting cost the first whilst BOTH McGinn and Patterson showing "Maradona" inside on to his better shooting foot was criminally bad, particularly McGinn who took himself right out of the equation by over-committing the other way.