Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 vs Switzerland 🇨🇭

[JS_FFC]

15 minutes ago, SlayerX said:

Only one 3rd placed team in Euro 20 qualified to the next round with 3 points.

In total, three 3rd placed teams finished with three points in Euro 20.

It's possible to qualify with 3 points, but I wouldn't bank on it, especially with our goal difference.

100% of the teams who finished with 4+ points qualified.

We need to win to guarantee a place in the next round.

 

 

It’s not possible for us to finish on 3 points.

[oneteaminglasgow]

Just back from the game.

I thought we were worthy of a point, both teams could’ve won but it would’ve been harsh on the other if either had.

Ralston was unlucky in that there’s only one player on the park who’s punishing that mistake, and it was him it fell too. Fundamentally, he’s not good enough but that’s not really his fault.

Definitely a much better, more battling performance and if we do that again on Sunday then we definitely can beat Hungary.

No matter what, the anthem and the pure unbridled joy at the goal will live with me forever. Sensational. 

[allyo]

Having lost Aaron Hickey and Nathan Patterson, we are left with over 5 million Scottish people, none of whom would be comfortable playing right back in a major international football tournament. But Anthony Ralston has stepped up, fair play. He's probably doing as good a job as anyone else would and I don't think he should be criticised excessively for it.

Another thought; he never gets mentioned for a start because midfield is relatively strong, but I always think Kenny McKean looks pretty composed when he comes on.

Next game I'd go:

Gunn

McCrorie, Hendry, McKenna, Robertson

Gilmour, McGregor, Christie

McTominay, Adams, McGinn

[Chripper]

In retrospect it's a good point.

A win will see us through. Wish it was that simple. Never Is.

[PB1994]

2 hours ago, RawB93 said:

Considering his influence v Hungary I don't remember Xhaka having a single involvement tonight.

Clarke did a job on him, a brilliant one at that. McTominay was all over him every time Switzerland had the ball in defence so they couldn’t use Xhaxa to build the attack.

I think you have to find a way to have Gilmour and Christie both in the starting 11 for Sunday. McTominay, obviously, has to start. I want particularly impressed with McGregor overall but he did set up the goal. I do think him and Gilmour are very similar in the way they play and Gilmour is just much better at it.

With Tierney out you could make the case for going 4 at the back but I am not sure if that is the right call. Maybe drop McGinn into the deeper role and have Christie starting instead of MacGregor.

Adams has to start, again. I thought he went missing for a while at the start of the second half but he really showed what he can do in the last 20 or so minutes and is by far our best striker. 

It was a good performance and a decent result against a very good Swiss side. We could have won it but also could have lost it. There was no way we were going to go all out and try to win this game with 20 mins or so to go. Although the Embolo goal was offside it showed if we had gone for it we would have easily been caught on the counter and that would have been tournament over. All in all I thought it was the right mix between defence at attack.

Got to feel for Ralston, it was a horrendous mistake and I felt as though he was poor for the majority of the 90 mins but what can you do? He’s the third choice wing back. I can see the argument for Forrest but I’d argue defensively he’d be even worse and we do need someone who can defend more than attack in that position.

 

[pandarilla]

53 minutes ago, Empty It said:

McGregor was shite and so was Ralston, would be happy if neither of them was anywhere near the squad v Hungary. 

What the f**k?  McGregor was absolutely solid.  Ralston is what he is.  I'd like to add that Hanley's shite pass just before the Ralston f**k up got the whole thing going (although obviously Ralston is to blame).

 

I'm also amazed at the hatred for Clarke on here.  Yes he's conservative but we're pretty fucking limited - and he knows it.  I would've liked earlier subs and a wee bit more positivity late on but you can't deny that a point was crucial tonight.  3 points would not have been enough after our pumping but 4 points and we're through - and that's where we're at.  It's an absolutely solid result, stops the bleeding, and gives us a sense of momentum that Hungary will lack. 

 

I still think we''ll f**k things up on Sunday but tonight was overall fairly positive.

[Jives Miguel]

I thought Ralston was alright tbh, goal aside. Do agree with Moyes though that Hanley's initial hospital ball didn't help. But Ralston was under a huge amount of pressure in that the game, he was very clearly getting strongly targeted the whole game. Thought he stood up to that pressure and bounced back well from the mistake.

[whodanny]

14 minutes ago, PB1994 said:

is by far our best striker. 

Are you fuckin NUTS ? A fine player for sure, but whaaaat ??  That's why ICT are deid.

[Mr. Brightside]

The Swiss left-winger had Ralston on toast anytime he took him on, I'm surprised they focused on Robertson so much in the first half.

[ClydeTon]

Positives-:

The goal

The anthem

Che Adams

 

Negatives-:

Anthony Ralston

The fucking trams

[Skyline Drifter]

2 hours ago, BucksburnDandy said:

General thought is I thought that was a really good game of football by both teams. Not high scoring but well matched good quality football with a bit of edge about it but staying the right side of the line.

 

I think some of our big players turned up tonight - Robertson, Hanley, Tierney, McTominay and Gilmour all and McKenna was really good off the bench I felt, he's never going to be Tierney but he did well.

 

Obviously horrific error for the goal and Ralston is a massive weak link that needs addressing although with an untested McCrorie and Forrest as options, hard to see that changing.

 

McGinn was anonymous for so long in that game. Adams did ok but he's just nowhere near Lyndon Dykes in games like that. McGregor also wasn't quite at it.

 

All in a point was pretty fair.

 

The Hungary game without Tierney will be a huge challenge to shape up for.

Yeah pretty much agree with most of that. We needed a point, we got one. Tremendous character shown. We rode our luck a bit at times but come the end of the game we looked the more likely winners despite losing yet another big player. 

And we did it with a few still off it. McGregor might have had his worst game for Scotland even if he technically got an assist. McGinn and Adams worked hard but neither did much to any great effect. It defies belief some folk on here still think Adams is our best forward. Dykes has been a big miss.

However, some DID arrive. Gilmour was excellent, McTominay was back on it. Scored (& its HIS goal, stick your own goal up your arse!), spectacular volley near the end, would have got on the end of Robertson low cross barring Akanji's great interception. And on top of thst barely gave Xhaka a kick. Same job on Sjoboslai (or however you spell it!) Sunday please Sauce. 

Gunn was lucky with the offside goal first half, he got that all wrong, but he was otherwise faultless and the second half one he flicked wide was simply magnificent. I apologise for saying I'd be considering Clark after Friday! 

Hanley had his moments and was far from initially blameless on their goal but he got through it and was so unlucky when he hit the post. What a way to win it that would have been! 

And Ralston. Oh Tony! Horror start. Even before the goal he looked nervy and struggling. The goal is horrific from him. It would have broken many but he didnt hide. He got on with it, fired into an excellent tackle that effectively took Vargas out of the game and had a good 2nd half, even showing up back post in their penalty area a couple of times. 

Gutted for Tierney. Anyone still think we had too many centre backs in the squad? Two lost for sunday now. If we continue with a back three we only have Cooper for cover and Hanley may not have two 90 mins in a week in his legs yet. We're not far away from having to play McTominay back there! Should have brought Souttar not an extra winger! 

Bring on Hungary though! I'm off to Stuttgart in 48 hours. Late to the party but at least its still going! ️

Edited June 20 by Skyline Drifter

[C4mmy31]

1 hour ago, SlayerX said:

Only one 3rd placed team in Euro 20 qualified to the next round with 3 points.

In total, three 3rd placed teams finished with three points in Euro 20.

It's possible to qualify with 3 points, but I wouldn't bank on it, especially with our goal difference.*

100% of the teams who finished with 4+ points qualified.

We need to win to guarantee a place in the next round.

*D'oh!

 

 

It's impossible for us to finish with 3 points thou

[2426255]

Mixed feelings on the game. We were better than Friday, but I still wasn't convinced. Maybe it will be different watching the game back, but I thought it was only a matter of time before Switzerland scored a 2nd goal and knocked us out.

We still played a lot of long balls and while we were okay on the ball when we did play on the deck, It was mostly in our own half and we didn't get into threatening positions in their final third as often as I would have liked. Added to the fact I don't trust us at the back playing offside or with the high line it made it a nervy game to watch.

I think the result is the main thing and an improved performance, but we need to improve again if we are to beat Hungary. I also thought especially in the first half the referee was helping us out quite a bit. I interpreted the shape as going back to 3412 which we haven't seen in a while, with McTominay in the #10 and McGinn and Adams up front. Probably between 6 and 7 out of ten, but given the circumstances around the game I'll round up. 7/10.

[Chripper]

1 minute ago, C4mmy31 said:

It's impossible for us to finish with 3 points thou

I know.

Check out the asterisk.

 

[PB1994]

12 minutes ago, whodanny said:

Are you fuckin NUTS ? A fine player for sure, but whaaaat ??  That's why ICT are deid.

He’s better than Conway and Shankland by a long way. 

Not sure what that’s got to do with The Caley. Still alive and kicking btw.

 

[Braesoyetts]

5 hours ago, Zen Archer (Raconteur) said:

Actually my great great grandfather did.  Played about 130 league and cup games, scored only one goal, and it was against Fatty Foulke….

[19QOS19]

5 hours ago, Jives Miguel said:

I thought Ralston was alright tbh, goal aside. Do agree with Moyes though that Hanley's initial hospital ball didn't help. But Ralston was under a huge amount of pressure in that the game, he was very clearly getting strongly targeted the whole game. Thought he stood up to that pressure and bounced back well from the mistake.

Hanley gave a poor ball to (McGregor?) but he dealt with it by giving the ball to Ralston under no pressure. It was a ridiculous pass from Ralston and again, I can't believe anyone is blaming anyone other than Ralston for it. 

[Dons_1988]

It’s clearly ralstons fault and Robertson was being a good leader rather than honest after the game, think that’s clear to everyone. 

Doesn’t do any good to hammer ralston though, he isn’t good enough for this level and he really plugging a gap at this point. He clearly feels it, he has no confidence taking the ball in and doing anything. He only wants to play safe and not make an arse if it. I’m glad he got in a few tackles and made some advanced run, even if the crosses weren’t great. 

[Savage Henry]

8 hours ago, 19QOS19 said:

Adams is pish. He's a Poundland Kenny Miller. But because he runs around a lot it fools folk into thinking he's productive. Showing effort shouldn't be praised, it should be the bear minimum expected from a professional footballer. 

That’s pretty much the wildest take of this entire thread.  

[Albertlegend]

So negative overall, why leave it so late with the subs? An improvement on germany but still pretty poor. Ralston just looks miles out his depth, would rather see James Forrest at RWB but Clarke will never be that attack minded.

i though McGinn and McGregor were anonymous. Gunn and mctominay played well! 
 

I think Iv been burned too many times by Scotland at major tournaments but Hungary on Sunday in giving me Morocco at France 98 vibes!