Scotland Vs Northern Ireland

[SH Panda]

Nothing to be too worried about.

NI under Michael O'Neill have done that kind of thing for years, including recently against Denmark. It's a different style to play against.

Friendlies are about development, not result, and I'm sure the players and Steve Clarke learned from it.

I have no doubt the reaction from the media and some fans will be massively overblown but that won't be the case for the players and coaching staff.

Onwards and upwards.

As for NI, it looks like they beat us at home once every 40 years or so. Sounds about right.

[Richey Edwards]

Scotland were diabolical last night. 82% posession is worth f**k all if you do nothing with it.

[KirkieRR]

7 hours ago, VictorOnopko said:

 

I think we'll do well this summer and I'm not panicking like a lot of folk on here are. We qualified in style and need things to click again at the right time. My point is, we're at the finals. We waited 20 years to qualify for anything and Clarke has got us to two Euros in a row. If we get out of the group that'll make this the best Scotland team ever, and I still think we can do it. Not a loser or defeatist attitude, quite the opposite. 

What makes you think that?

[Dons_1988]

There’s no getting away from the fact that was bad last night, but I don’t see any real need for panic. I don’t think we learned anything we didn’t know about this team. 

- we don’t do well against low block/well organised teams (like many middling quality teams)

- we don’t do friendlies 

- the strength in depth in the back 5 is a big drop off if the first choices are out

- midfield is very good generally but lacking in the individual quality/creativity to open up stubborn teams

I did think dykes was a strange choice for the opposition, felt more like a decision to give him game time rather than a sensible choice for the circumstance. I’m not yet fully convinced shankland is the nailed on first choice some do, but I think you wanted a striker last night who was going to move the NI back line about a bit more. 

The winless run isn’t great but we set ourselves up for that with the run of friendlies we have ourselves. It doesn’t hugely worry me tbh. I don’t feel much up or down on our euros chances based on last night. I still think we could get anywhere between 0 and probably 7 points in our group. 

[ChrispPancake]

In isolation and in its own merits we were absolutely awful last night. I thought our tactics and formation were shocking. No wingers, but we play needing two wingers, We play a big man up front who lacks pace but we don't get the ball into his feet and support him or hit the by line and cross it in, then when he comes off we start crossing the ball into the box. 2/10 last night, really really poor and if someone has to take the blame it's Steve Clark for that last night.

From Denmark and Spain to Northern Ireland, holy jings what a cliff edge we've just went over.

[Monkey Tennis]

7 hours ago, Boo Khaki said:

A pair of shitey results in the past few days, but I think the rot started a good while back. We squeaked that win in Oslo and the results have been pish ever since. Ok, there is no disgrace in losing in Spain, or to far better sides in Friendlies, but the performances towards the end of that Quali group were totally underwhelming, and the players looked yet again like they'd decided that the hard work was done so it was fine to half-arse it. The results and performances v Georgia and Norway were totally unacceptable, even against the backdrop of having qualified. There was no way we were going to start battering top-10 sides in Friendlies, and considering there was still the possibility of improving our Pot seeding for the Finals I felt that the general effort and endeavour was far short of where it really should have been. It felt like we had a small window of opportunity to maintain the momentum we had, and for whatever reason, the players just thought "nah" and fucked it away. It's never easy to get that back.

Yip, totally agree with this.

It's a year since we beat Spain and there's a good argument that we've been in decline ever  since.  That win in Oslo was tremendously exciting, but it wasn't deserved; it was absolutely freaky.  It was the decisive match in qualifying, and we made heavy weather of it from then on, even before this run of friendlies.

The rogerings from England and France weren't pretty, but at least mealy mouthed excuses were available.  We've run out of even them now though.

[Willie adie]

I think  we needed to look at other striking options in this get together,  I would  say 20 -22  of the squad no they are going to Euros .

We should  have looked  at others who could have pushed 

[lau03143]

8 minutes ago, Willie adie said:

I think  we needed to look at other striking options in this get together,  I would  say 20 -22  of the squad no they are going to Euros .

We should  have looked  at others who could have pushed 

Who would you think are the other striking options? 

I hoped Shankland would get the start last night after doing reasonably okay against the Netherlands, and was disappointed for Clarke to go back with Dykes - or we could have tried a 2 up front with Shankland and Dykes. 

[Clyde_MM]

Having calmed down a wee bit I think one positive is that all teams will have games once in a blue moon where nobody gets more than 5/10 and we've at least got ours out the way in a meaningless game.

We were abysmal though. Northern Ireland kept their shape very well but they're not a good side. Barely strung two passes together all night. Their discipline allowed them to frustrate us though and getting that fluke goal gave them something to hold on to. It actually wasn't unlike seeing a diddy team do a number on one of the Old Firm.

Baffled at Nathan Patterson lasting the full game. I thought at the time it was actually a bit pointless and cruel of Clarke to leave him on but I actually wonder if Clarke was thinking about where Patterson's confidence is at currently and was worried subbing him would lead to boos from fans?

[Ewanandmoreagain]

4 hours ago, SH Panda said:

Nothing to be too worried about.

NI under Michael O'Neill have done that kind of thing for years, including recently against Denmark. It's a different style to play against.

Friendlies are about development, not result, and I'm sure the players and Steve Clarke learned from it.

I have no doubt the reaction from the media and some fans will be massively overblown but that won't be the case for the players and coaching staff.

Onwards and upwards.

As for NI, it looks like they beat us at home once every 40 years or so. Sounds about right

Agree about it being a different style to play against but we did virtually f.a. in the first halfI still do not see why if space has been created Hendry and Tierney cannot take the ball upfield , play a pass and continue forwards

[Mr Heliums]

Don't think I'd lose sleep over the result.

What does concern me is that these last two games have left us further away from knowing who will lead our attack  – Dykes and Adams look to have gone backwards in the last 18 months – or who are our first-choice central defenders. We're panicking – justifiably – about a right-back position that looked really strong only a few months back, and I thought a player who hasn't been able to get a start in our midfield during qualifying was probably the only plus point last night.

The things that friendlies were meant to help us solve have left us in a worse position. How do we sort out our best team in the next two friendlies, one of which is against Gibraltar?

Edited March 27 by Mr Heliums

[Ewanandmoreagain]

41 minutes ago, lau03143 said:

Who would you think are the other striking options? 

I hoped Shankland would get the start last night after doing reasonably okay against the Netherlands, and was disappointed for Clarke to go back with Dykes - or we could have tried a 2 up front with Shankland and Dykes. 

Did we not end up with Shankland and Adams ?

1 hour ago, ChrispPancake said:

In isolation and in its own merits we were absolutely awful last night. I thought our tactics and formation were shocking. No wingers, but we play needing two wingers, We play a big man up front who lacks pace but we don't get the ball into his feet and support him or hit the by line and cross it in, then when he comes off we start crossing the ball into the box. 2/10 last night, really really poor and if someone has to take the blame it's Steve Clark for that last night.

From Denmark and Spain to Northern Ireland, holy jings what a cliff edge we've just went over.

I think some of our recent opponents have sussed our style of play

I wish our defence was , sometimes , as good as the Northern Irish last night 

[Scary Bear]

4 hours ago, SH Panda said:

Nothing to be too worried about.

NI under Michael O'Neill have done that kind of thing for years, including recently against Denmark. It's a different style to play against.

Friendlies are about development, not result, and I'm sure the players and Steve Clarke learned from it.

I have no doubt the reaction from the media and some fans will be massively overblown but that won't be the case for the players and coaching staff.

Onwards and upwards.

As for NI, it looks like they beat us at home once every 40 years or so. Sounds about right.

It is a bit worrying. What development did we get from that game?

We didn’t find a way to break down a fairly poor team.

We picked players who aren’t getting a regular game for their clubs and/or who are out of form and we found out that isn’t a great idea.

We found out our defence still isn’t great, our forwards aren’t doing the business and we rely heavily on our star turns in midfield.

If it was me in charge at the SFA, I’d get the Think Tank warmed up because it won’t be long until things are falling to bits again and everyone is wailing and gnashing their teeth at the state of the game in Scotland.

There’ll be calls for more Scottish boys to get a regular game in the Scottish Premiership, more foreign coaches from successful footballing countries, more indoor pitches. While the fans sit and fester in the rain.

The circle of life for Scottish Football. Glorious.

[MarkoRaj]

1 minute ago, Ewanandmoreagain said:

Did we not end up with Shankland and Adams ?

I think some of our recent opponents have sussed our style of play

I wish our defence was , sometimes , as good as the Northern Irish last night 

In our first 5 qualifiers we conceded 1 goal, a penalty scored by the best striker in world football

[Ewanandmoreagain]

7 hours ago, Hendricks said:

Scotland have won 15 out of our last 21 competitive games and 2 out of our last 19 friendlies. 

No doubt tonight was extremely disappointing but you only need look at the evidence of our competitive record against our friendly record in recent years to understand where our focus lies. We have routinely been turning up when it matters and we will in June. I believe we will see the Scotland of the Spain game at Hampden and our first hour on Friday, helped by the return of the likes of Hickey and McGregor. When we play with intensity and energy we are a much better side and we'll be ready when it starts. This Scotland team has far more about it than not to turn up in Germany, we have captains at numerous clubs and we have leaders who will sort out the mess that was tonight. Unlike some I still retain huge faith in the Head Coach who has got us to back to back Euro's as well. I firmly believe Scotland will get out of the group and into the knock outs for the first time ever. Naysayers can GTF! 

Will Hickey , and McGregor be fit ?

[forameus]

I think it's easy to point to what was a great qualifying campaign and say "well x was fine then", but I'm not sure it holds much weight.  It's been 10 games since we had that famous win against Spain.  In club football, that's no time at all, but here it's an entire year.  9 months since our last really good result in Norway, and that was a bit of a freak with how badly we played.  I'm not saying we hit the panic button and everything is shite, but there's a worrying trend, and a great campaign doesn't really mean much now if we slide into the Euros and stink the place out.

As for last night, have to give Northern Ireland immense credit.  Not the most inspiring stuff for a friendly on a rainy Tuesday night, but they implemented their gameplan absolutely perfectly and we had no answer to it.  82% possession and I barely remember any actual chances we had.  The only bright spot is that we're unlikely to face a side playing like that in the Euros.  Germany are obviously better and will come at us, Switzerland and Hungary will probably feel the same too.  But a lot of people in the squad need to very quickly find their feet.

Still, at least Wales lost.  Lol.

[Ewanandmoreagain]

15 minutes ago, Scary Bear said:

It is a bit worrying. What development did we get from that game?

We didn’t find a way to break down a fairly poor team.

We picked players who aren’t getting a regular game for their clubs and/or who are out of form and we found out that isn’t a great idea.

We found out our defence still isn’t great, our forwards aren’t doing the business and we rely heavily on our star turns in midfield.

If it was me in charge at the SFA, I’d get the Think Tank warmed up because it won’t be long until things are falling to bits again and everyone is wailing and gnashing their teeth at the state of the game in Scotland.

There’ll be calls for more Scottish boys to get a regular game in the Scottish Premiership, more foreign coaches from successful footballing countries, more indoor pitches. While the fans sit and fester in the rain.

The circle of life for Scottish Football. Glorious.

This !

[Matty-RCFC]

Last night was abysmal; don’t get me wrong. I think Clarke definitely received a couple black marks against his name with his team selection, and also in his interview with Connie McLaughlin where he just sounds like a smarmy c**t. Patterson was a shambles and turned in one of the worst individual performances I’ve seen in a long time. He really needs to get out of Everton and get some game time - preferably abroad. I also don’t think it was a great selection of team to play in a friendly. I think many just expected us to turn up and win last night, but honestly don’t know what Clarke could’ve learnt from that game. Especially when nothing was really experimented with. I understand maintaining the “club spirit”, if you want to call it that, but calling up 26 players and only using 18 is just strange to me. 
 

All this being said, I still have faith that the boys will be in the right mindset for the Euros. Our intensity was poor last night but I don’t think that’ll be a worry come June. It’s just a case of whether we’re good enough to get 4/5 points. At this moment I’m not sure if we are - but I certainly don’t agree with some on here suggesting we’ll be embarrassed. 

[Dons_1988]

11 minutes ago, forameus said:

I think it's easy to point to what was a great qualifying campaign and say "well x was fine then", but I'm not sure it holds much weight.  It's been 10 games since we had that famous win against Spain.  In club football, that's no time at all, but here it's an entire year.  9 months since our last really good result in Norway, and that was a bit of a freak with how badly we played.  I'm not saying we hit the panic button and everything is shite, but there's a worrying trend, and a great campaign doesn't really mean much now if we slide into the Euros and stink the place out.

I’m not particularly buying this as a great concern. It’s a run of games that started in September (I’m not counting Georgia at home and Cyprus away, they may not be beating Spain but not sure we can ask much more there). We’ve played the two favourites for the euros and a good Netherlands side, positives to take from those albeit disappointing, particularly England for overall performance. 

Two dead rubber qualifying games, the Norway game at home was a farce, no one cared. Last night is the only real howler in there but it happens. 

Maybe naive but I’m not seeing the ‘worrying trend’ stuff. I don’t think this side has changed much from the one that qualified comfortably. 

[allyo]

Our poor run has coincided with the games being of limited consequence. Maybe we just need the jeopardy. 14 wins, 3 draws and 3 defeats in our last 20 competitive games. You could even take out two of these draws as we'd already qualified.

I'm not too worried if I'm no further forward in knowing who our starting striker or central defenders are. I'd like to think that Steve Clark probably is.

Edited March 27 by allyo