Scotland vs Norway 19th November 2023

[ArabFC]

14 hours ago, Ewanandmoreagain said:

When ? 

Serious question. Who do you think are our best defenders of all time ?

Gough, Narey, Hegarty and Malpas.

 

But I was more referring to the 1 goal conceded in our first 5 qualifying games compared to 14 goals conceded in our last 5 games.

[No_Problemo]

1 hour ago, Steven W said:

Unlikely I know, but in the off chance that they post here, a wee word of thanks to the two guys who looked after and comforted my son at the South Stand turnstiles when, owing to a hiccup with the turnstile, he found himself having gone through the turnstile and I was stuck on the other side and unable to get in (eventually after a poor show from the stewards I just squeezed in beside someone else). Was a pretty anxious few minutes for him (and me) but these two guys were brilliant and said they wouldn't leave him until I was through 

Not something I’ve ever really thought about, but surely there should be something in place in terms of their risk assessments for electronic turnstiles in terms of this. 

Regardless, even if there isn’t - it isn’t exactly a difficult situation for a steward to fix!

[rollstar]

37 minutes ago, Skyline Drifter said:

Well Ireland weren't even in the equation since they finished 2nd but aye.

Ireland were in the equation as their record was the same as that of the Netherlands. Lots were drawn to decide which of the 2 went through in 2nd place.

[2426255]

Quite a lot came out of the camp in terms of tactical and personnel, which I found interesting.

I thought McGregor's game stood out in the 1st half last night. I liked the way we worked the ball down the left generally (McKenna-Taylor-Armstrong-McGinn). Jack Hendry was also good.

The camp reminded me of our start to 2021 WCQ. Two draws, some good, some bad - lots new. I don't think our levels were worse than past performances (e.g 2-1 v Ireland, 3-2 v Israel).

[Skyline Drifter]

22 minutes ago, rollstar said:

Ireland were in the equation as their record was the same as that of the Netherlands. Lots were drawn to decide which of the 2 went through in 2nd place.

I'm aware of that. But those lots were drawn before any consideration of who was best 3rd place pot. Whatever happened we were not comparing our record to both Ireland and Netherlands, Ireland were awarded 2nd and therefore not in the equation for 3rd place rankings.

[Bing.McCrosby]

13 minutes ago, 2426255 said:

Quite a lot came out of the camp in terms of tactical and personnel, which I found interesting.

I thought McGregor's game stood out in the 1st half last night. I liked the way we worked the ball down the left generally (McKenna-Taylor-Armstrong-McGinn). Jack Hendry was also good.

The camp reminded me of our start to 2021 WCQ. Two draws, some good, some bad - lots new. I don't think our levels were worse than past performances (e.g 2-1 v Ireland, 3-2 v Israel).

The performances haven't been terrible recently. But momentum and confidence is a big thing in sports, I feel we've lost a bit of that.

I dont think the France or England games have helped us tbh, probably the opposite.

Would have been great to end the campaign with a couple of wins to build that back up. 

A couple of friendlys against teams we should be beating and doing that I think is definitely what we need to get that belief back before the tournament.

[2426255]

42 minutes ago, Bing.McCrosby said:

The performances haven't been terrible recently. But momentum and confidence is a big thing in sports, I feel we've lost a bit of that.

I dont think the France or England games have helped us tbh, probably the opposite.

Would have been great to end the campaign with a couple of wins to build that back up. 

A couple of friendlys against teams we should be beating and doing that I think is definitely what we need to get that belief back before the tournament.

It's an intangible. If we're trying to evolve our game it's probably necessary to take a few knocks. If we can build back momentum in March then does it really matter if we lost a little in October/November? 

I agree in the sense that we don't want to go into the Euros on a losing run, but if you look at Euro-2020 and the World Cup playoffs I didn't see lack of momentum/belief highlighted as a major contributor to performance.

Edited November 20, 2023 by 2426255

[The Shark]

2 hours ago, tarapoa said:

Well done to those that did go on a Sunday night in November for a dead rubber - especially with all the predictable high profile no shows from both nations.  Glad all that did got an open entertaining match.

Whilst it was a luxury rarely afforded to us (even in the days we did always qualify), it also reminded me how awkward contrived parties can look and feel.

Sometimes better just to let the fans do their own thing, rather than play extremely loud tunes over the Hampden tannoy - some of which are annoying  e.g. Hey Baby which got irritating enough very quickly in 2001.

Still, that's all I can think of to find a wee Victor Meldrew moment of a Monday, so things must be good.......... 

 

Can we add Runrig's butchering of a beautiful song to that please. And having an anthem that doesn't celebrate capitulation might help.

[Ewanandmoreagain]

1 hour ago, ArabFC said:

Gough, Narey, Hegarty and Malpas.

 

 

Pretty good !

[Steven W]

1 hour ago, No_Problemo said:

Not something I’ve ever really thought about, but surely there should be something in place in terms of their risk assessments for electronic turnstiles in terms of this. 

Regardless, even if there isn’t - it isn’t exactly a difficult situation for a steward to fix!

A steward came to help, but he was powerless to really. Initially suggested I came out the turnstile but I said there was no way I letting my son out my eyesight. He then said he'd speak to his supervisor, but five minutes went past so by that point I said sod it and squeezed in beside the other guy.

[Hendricks]

Well sounds like the Georgians karma came around rather quickly though God alone knows what they were thinking!!! No idea why they would play by far their best player, as we saw last week, Kvaratskhelia, in a meaningless game v Spain, with a play off guaranteed and him on 2 bookings. Inevitably he stupidly got booked and now misses the play off semi final. An incredibly idiotic decision by their coaching staff! 

 

 

[accies1874]

31 minutes ago, 2426255 said:

It's an intangible. If we're trying to evolve our game it's probably necessary to take a few knocks. If we can build back momentum in March then does it really matter if we lost a little in October/November? 

I agree in the sense that we don't want to go into the Euros on a losing run, but if you look at Euro-2020 and the World Cup playoffs I didn't see lack of momentum/belief highlighted as a major contributor to performance.

I think it was a bit deflating that we followed up qualification for Euro 2020 with two defeats (albeit good/decent performances) then an underwhelming March 2021 camp. That led to Clarke having changed things about quite a bit by the time we got to June, and a bit more uncertainty around certain players (O'Donnell, Marshall. Dykes). 

The World Cup playoff getting moved did have a negative impact on us, but I don't think that was anything to do with momentum. 

[HuttonDressedAsLahm]

1 hour ago, Hendricks said:

Well sounds like the Georgians karma came around rather quickly though God alone knows what they were thinking!!! No idea why they would play by far their best player, as we saw last week, Kvaratskhelia, in a meaningless game v Spain, with a play off guaranteed and him on 2 bookings. Inevitably he stupidly got booked and now misses the play off semi final. An incredibly idiotic decision by their coaching staff! 

 

 

That’s incredibly bad planning from their perspective.  I presume he has a poor yellow card in his locker, as that pointless lunge against us on Thursday must not have been out of character.

Their draw will likely be kind enough that it shouldn’t be terminal (likely Kazakhstan or Luxembourg), but they’re going to need everything they have to get past Greece.

[Hendricks]

Just now, HuttonDressedAsLahm said:

That’s incredibly bad planning from their perspective.  I presume he has a poor yellow card in his locker, as that pointless lunge against us on Thursday must not have been out of character.

Their draw will likely be kind enough that it shouldn’t be terminal (likely Kazakhstan or Luxembourg), but they’re going to need everything they have to get past Greece.

 

It's actually staggeringly bad management. He is their star player (by far), an absolute talisman and frankly could have won that semi by himself if he was on it. It's the biggest match in their football history, they have a genuine chance of making it though to the Euro's given the opposition and regardless of their shithousery (which may actually assist them!). I just can't believe they would jeopardise that in such a nothing fixture. 

[Ewanandmoreagain]

2 hours ago, 2426255 said:

Quite a lot came out of the camp in terms of tactical and personnel, which I found interesting.

I thought McGregor's game stood out in the 1st half last night. I liked the way we worked the ball down the left generally (McKenna-Taylor-Armstrong-McGinn). Jack Hendry was also good.

The camp reminded me of our start to 2021 WCQ. Two draws, some good, some bad - lots new. I don't think our levels were worse than past performances (e.g 2-1 v Ireland, 3-2 v Israel).

Those two games , Ireland and Israel , were poor defensively. We were not closing down their goalscorers !

On the other hand Jack Hendry was very good against Ireland 

and Robertson and Tierney worked their magic against Israel

[Bing.McCrosby]

1 hour ago, 2426255 said:

It's an intangible. If we're trying to evolve our game it's probably necessary to take a few knocks. If we can build back momentum in March then does it really matter if we lost a little in October/November? 

I agree in the sense that we don't want to go into the Euros on a losing run, but if you look at Euro-2020 and the World Cup playoffs I didn't see lack of momentum/belief highlighted as a major contributor to performance.

Yeah its a feeling, so its hard to quantify. The only real yard stick on how the players would feel is its probably relatable to how the fans feel

 

[Elgin Macca]

Enjoyed my day out/night at the game yesterday. Good atmosphere in the lead up and on the whole throughout the game. Positives: coming back twice, better performance from mcgregor, played some good stuff at times. Negatives: our back line needs to include Gunn/hickey/robbo/tierney or in my opinion we don’t get out a group stage with the other defenders we have. Striker options a bit worrying. Been mentioned we don’t have anyone anywhere close to being on form. Hopefully changes in the coming months. Very enjoyable campaign over all! 

[craigkillie]

5 hours ago, Hendricks said:

 

It's actually staggeringly bad management. He is their star player (by far), an absolute talisman and frankly could have won that semi by himself if he was on it. It's the biggest match in their football history, they have a genuine chance of making it though to the Euro's given the opposition and regardless of their shithousery (which may actually assist them!). I just can't believe they would jeopardise that in such a nothing fixture. 

I agree with your point, but I would argue that the home play-off final against Macedonia for the last Euros (which they bottled) was a bigger game than this semi.

Edited November 20, 2023 by craigkillie

[Hendricks]

1 minute ago, craigkillie said:

I agree with your point, but I would argue that the home play-off against Macedonia for the last Euros (which they bottled) was a bigger game than this semi.

 

Fair point, hadn't realised that they had lost that. 

[Stevie Kirk]

7 hours ago, Hendricks said:

Well sounds like the Georgians karma came around rather quickly though God alone knows what they were thinking!!! No idea why they would play by far their best player, as we saw last week, Kvaratskhelia, in a meaningless game v Spain, with a play off guaranteed and him on 2 bookings. Inevitably he stupidly got booked and now misses the play off semi final. An incredibly idiotic decision by their coaching staff! 

 

 

He’s a diving wee fanny who thinks he can referee the game as well as play. 
 

Most pleasing.