Germany v Scotland

[18May1991]

7 hours ago, 54_and_counting said:

He's played 200 minutes more than ralston did all last season

He’s also much better than Ralston. Much better. 

[RandomGuy.]

5 minutes ago, Zapp Brannigan said:

The midfield were no better. McGregor back to his early Scotland career worst.

He was man marked out the game.

Germany could do that because we have no alternative way to play through midfield. While they had 3 CMs and 2 CBs who can "playmake".

Even if we'd played Gilmour they'd still have managed to smother us.

[IrishBhoy]

Watched the game with my dad and a few Old Firm supporting friends, and after about 5 minutes I said to them that I feared it was going to be 5 or 6. Literally from minute 1 we looked completely clueless, could count on one hand how many times we put 4 or 5 passes together in that first half. I compared it to a provincial club playing away at Ibrox or Parkhead, where there is a defined tactic that stops your technically superior opponents being able to play through the middle of your team, usually by crowding the 18 yard line, stopping crosses before they come into the box, pressing hard at players who want time to pick a pass, and having a forward that can hold up the ball for 3 or 4 seconds and allow the team to get up the pitch. Scotland done none of that, and Germany made us look a pub team. 
 

I’ve watched St Mirren at Ibrox and Parkhead and at 90 minutes we end up getting beat 3 or 4 nil, but I walk away saying ‘well I seen what we were trying to do there, players fought for every ball, we tried to counter when we could’ etc. Can anyone describe what they think the game plan was last night? Christie starting in midfield, a guy hardly known for his battling qualities. Adams floating about doing hee haw, and when he did get the ball played to him he lost possession almost instantly. McGinn and McGregor tried as best they could to find a bit of space but even those 2 looked out of their depth. A proper dooing that you don’t often see at major tournaments, trust us to be on the end of it in the opening game. 

[leomessi1984]

Worrying that Germany clearly targeted Ralston with Wirtz & Musiala taking turns to get after him. Ralston put in a shift but that's all he's got to offer at this level I'm afraid.

Midfield was totally anonymous. I don't think Gilmour starting would have turned the tide but he's by far our best ball retaining player & needs to start now. 

McGregor had a shocker but the rest weren't any better. Hendry & Porteous, then Hanley, looked like traffic cones.

[LiviLion]

11 hours ago, tinkerbelle said:

Scotland have never made more than 2 passes yet. Nothing is getting past Rudiger.

[HeartsOfficialMoaner]

The way they bullied us. Dominated us. Never gave us room to pass the ball. You expect the skill from their front players but I never saw that power they have. That was total annihilation. Germany are back. 

[tree house tam]

We all knew Germany had better players in every position than us but what was really galling was the fear. Fear in the set up, fear in the tactics, fear in the players and fear in their play. Absolute shite bags from top to bottom. 

[Ross.]

Reminded me very much of that Netherlands play off game under Vogts, and certainly up there as one of the most inept performances I have seen by any side at a decent level. Technically, tactically and physically beaten with ease. It was fucking shite from start to finish and there isn’t a single positive to be taken from it.

[houston_bud]

4 minutes ago, HeartsOfficialMoaner said:

The way they bullied us. Dominated us. Never gave us room to pass the ball. You expect the skill from their front players but I never saw that power they have. That was total annihilation. Germany are back. 

We absolutely should've been better, tighter on our men, in their faces a bit more. Also, Gunn was suspect a few times. But Germany were miles better and put in an unbelievable performance. Maybe they won't replicate that in every game, but I fancy them to win the whole thing after watching that.

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

6 hours ago, HoBNob said:

Nah, Christie is a talented footballer in the grand scheme of things. 

That game doesn't change if Gilmour plays, not to the extent of five goals. 

 

We're looking for a villain here, and the Gilmour for McGregor/Christie one isn't it. 

I never said Christie isn’t a talented footballer nor am I remotely blaming him for the result. I am having a pop at Clarke for exluding the one player in our team who would’ve given us a chance at holding onto possession for more than 3 seconds. That can most certainly impact the goals against column. 

For me he starts over Ryan Christie, not because Christie is bad, because it makes us better against this particular opponent. It wasn’t the only poor decision from Clarke FWIW but for me it was the glaringly fucking obvious one.

[Ross.]

7 hours ago, Lyle Lanley said:

How bad was the trains tonight to head to the ground? Took over an hour to get on one. 

We watched 4 come through our stop with no one getting on because it was that crowded. Took a train the other way for 4 stops and got on before the crowd. Looked the only way we we getting on one at that point.

[VictorOnopko]

2 minutes ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

I never said Christie isn’t a talented footballer nor am I remotely blaming him for the result. I am having a pop at Clarke for exluding the one player in our team who would’ve given us a chance at holding onto possession for more than 3 seconds. That can most certainly impact the goals against column. 

For me he starts over Ryan Christie, not because Christie is bad, because it makes us better against this particular opponent. It wasn’t the only poor decision from Clarke FWIW but for me it was the glaringly fucking obvious one.

This, 1000% this. 

We'd still have lost but we wouldn't have been quite so overrun. It was a inexcusable selection. I've gone from feeling just sad and stunned last night by the massacre I watched to angry this morning. 

[No_Problemo]

 

6 hours ago, 2426255 said:

 

It was a tactical choice. A game plan that has been effective in similar circumstances. It's easy to say with hindsight that because we lost we should have gone down the other road.

The way the game played out was horrible though because we tried to go long exclusively for the first 20 to 30 minutes and it wouldn't stick and thereafter we tried to break their press and we couldn't. It was clunky and formulaic coming via Hendry, Ralston and McTominay down our right hand side.

I suspect the Germans maybe wanted us or forced us to come out that side, but would have to rewatch it to figure that out.

IMO, we haven’t set up with that level of absolute passiveness all over the park. 

[Squalor Vic]

Found that a tad embarrassing last night. 

When you set up not to lose and it's blown out the water in 20 mins then you're pretty much gubbed. We don't have any players who could come on and turn a game around 

[Binos]

Never seen a more humiliating performance from the national team 

[Jambomo]

7 hours ago, No_Problemo said:

Genuinely shambolic, and quite frankly potentially dangerous at times and I was there at six. 

The crowd management around the ground equally awful, no idea what they were playing at. The SFA should absolutely be making representations to UEFA about it. 

I agree with dangerous tbh. We got on one of the first ones and the display said the one after was in 48mins which I took to be wrong tbh but made people panic a bit none the less.

it was very crowded and I was a bit worried about getting crushed tbh. It didn’t help that those standing at the doors wouldn’t move to let people off, nor pay any attention so they ended up getting shoved off the train at one stop because people needed off. 

I was surprised how bad it was, it’s not like the Allianz isn’t used to capacity crowds. 

[deadasdillinger]

That was proper shite. 

Months to prepare and several games against bigger teams specifically to get ready for games against the top sides, you'd think we would keep it tight for the first half hour. Instead we got our pants pulled down within 10.

Said when I saw the team leaving Gilmour out was the wrong call. You could see that straight away. The defence would get it off Gunn and all we had was a pass from Porteous to Ralston, who looked lost and didn't want it under pressure. From there it would get hoofed or passed inside for someone to inevitably hoof. 

It was going to be a difficult night with lots of pressure. This is where wee Billy comes alive. He has no fear in asking the defence for it and putting his foot on the ball to zip it around the park. 

Thought the plan would be soaking some up, restricting them to passes around the middle of the park, lots of aggression, some moments of high pressure, some quick counters. The stuff that's worked. Instead we got so narrow that the big wide balls were always on, and there was no one there to meet it and stop the cross or the final ball. Within 5-10 mins we had been cut open and given several frights. 

A few players then let us down too. Gunn's wrists were made of spaghetti last night. He has to do better for goal 1. Goal 3 he spills the ball which causes the need for a rash challenge. 

Thought Ralston was poor. Porteous just compounds the issue when you're trying desperately to stay in the game. 

All that said... as my 10 year old said at the game, we can stay positive and keep the faith for the next two games. 6 potential points available. No reason to think we can't improve and do the job.

[NorthBank]

Unfortunately I have seen this movie too many times before. The fans get hyper and the players get carried away with it all. As soon as we qualify the players should be put in a box away from all the noise and told to concentrate.

None of them turned up. They were playing the game in their head instead of focusing on the job in hand. Poor attitudes all over the pitch with the expected result of not turning up for a game.

[IrishBhoy]

15 minutes ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

I never said Christie isn’t a talented footballer nor am I remotely blaming him for the result. I am having a pop at Clarke for exluding the one player in our team who would’ve given us a chance at holding onto possession for more than 3 seconds. That can most certainly impact the goals against column. 

For me he starts over Ryan Christie, not because Christie is bad, because it makes us better against this particular opponent. It wasn’t the only poor decision from Clarke FWIW but for me it was the glaringly fucking obvious one.

Spot on. It’s worrying that Clarke has looked at the squad and picked Christie over Gilmour. It was clear as day from literally the first minute of the game that Germany were having far too much joy passing round our midfield, which is not to be unexpected given the quality of their players, but at least try something to disrupt them. Kroos was standing like a quarterback pinging balls out wide with not a Scotland jersey near him. 

[welshbairn]

7 hours ago, Lyle Lanley said:

How bad was the trains tonight to head to the ground? Took over an hour to get on one. 

Very easy coming from a couple of stops north of the stadium, fucking horrible getting home though, pitch dark and folk tripping over barriers, some barging going on and near fisticuffs. If it's similar at Cologne I'll be arriving a full three hours early and drink and eat at the stadium, after the game too. Arrived 2 hours early and the queues were already massive for security, first time I've arrived more than half an hour before kick off. I fucking hate queuing..