Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 vs Switzerland 🇨🇭

[printer]

Ralston's clearly a weak link in the team, but we knew that would be the case when Patterson and Hickey were out. The guy is doing his best though and is probably the best option we have.

Overall he has done OK. Yes It was a bad mistake last night, but he's unlucky it goes to Shaqiri who is capable of that finish.

 

[whodanny]

8 hours ago, PB1994 said:

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.

 

So I'm right, you are NUTS .  

[Lex]

The catalogue of errors starts with Hanley firing a rolling ball at Gilmour’s head from about 8 yards away, absolutely brutal stuff. From that point we are in trouble.

The Swiss quickly spot the mistake and two of them rapidly close down Gilmour, he’s in a tough spot and can only take it on his upper chest and fire a bouncing ball back towards Ralston.

Tony in turn has a Swiss guy right on top of him and he has no faith in his first touch, understandably. Whatever he’s doing he’s doing it with one touch. He actually has three options, the best of which is just rolling it down the line back to Gilmour who you can see is showing for the return pass. The worst thing that happens there is we concede a throw in our own half if he over hits it.  The second is just the foot through the ball up the line. That guarantees conceding possession but it gets the ball out our half. 
The third, never never option, is playing a one touch blind pass backwards, which is what he goes for. 

Hanley and Hendry are clearly not expecting him to do that and are both flat footed squared up when he does. 

[Savage Henry]

1 minute ago, printer said:

Ralston's clearly a weak link in the team, but we knew that would be the case when Patterson and Hickey were out. The guy is doing his best though and is probably the best option we have.

Overall he has done OK. Yes It was a bad mistake last night, but he's unlucky it goes to Shaqiri who is capable of that finish.

 

He did about as well as could reasonably be expected.  He’ll start against Hungary and will probably do just about as well/badly.  It is what it is.  McRorie clearly isn’t any better. 

[Alert Mongoose]

8 minutes ago, kingjoey said:

In no way was the pass to Ralston a “hospital pass”. 

I guess if you take into consideration the recipient of the pass then you make an argument it was. Players should be aware of who they are passing it to. 

Giving that pass to Gilmour - not a hospital pass

Giving it to Ralston - hospital pass

Edited June 20 by Alert Mongoose

[bennett]

2 minutes ago, Gaz said:

Define "regularly"

 

And you're meant to be a teacher, here it is.

 

Definitions from Oxford Languages · Learn more

 

 

adverb

1. 1.

   with a constant or definite pattern, especially with the same space between individual items.

   "regularly spaced buildings"

    
2. 2.

   at uniform intervals of time.

   "the reunion has taken place regularly every two years

 

[Lex]

8 minutes ago, kingjoey said:

In no way was the pass to Ralston a “hospital pass”. 

It's bouncing, it's fast, and he has a player on him. And it's Tony Ralson, that's a hospital pass for me. 

[Skyline Drifter]

29 minutes ago, PB1994 said:

He is the best forward that we have available. I would have had Dykes starting both of these games if he was fit.

Well yes, probably, but that's not what I said. I was noting there are people on this forum, active, sensible people, who think Adams should start even when Dykes is available. @Savage Henry being one of the strongest advocates for it. I honestly don't know what they're seeing.

I accept Adams (who plays in a better club side to be fair) is a better goalscorer at club level but that doesn't necessarily track to his influence on the way Scotland play. Dykes is much better at bringing McGinn and McTominay into play, better at occupying centre backs and indeed deep lying playmakers, and offers far more in his own box at set pieces too. People were querying me pre-tournament (and pre injury obviously) when I said Dykes was a certainty to start.

In his absence Adams inevitably starts though. Shankland is a better goalscorer but can't put in the shift as a solo striker Adams does. Conway maybe could but it would be a leap of faith starting him at this stage.

13 minutes ago, Gaz said:

Dykes is better than Adams but both have been very good for Scotland.

Has Adams been "very good" for Scotland? Recently?

The last time I remember thinking he'd played well for Scotland was against Denmark at Hampden in the 2-0 game. That was nearly three years ago. Since then he's had 19 more caps and scored twice, one in Armenia and two weeks ago against Gibraltar. Granted a lot of those were off the subs bench.

[Skyline Drifter]

52 minutes ago, Crùbag said:

Adams works hard but doesn't score. Dykes, I've always thought of as lazy but does score.

Put Shankland on with one of them.

Big lad? Ozzy accent? Lots of tattoos?

I'm pretty sure you've been watching the wrong player. That's the single wildest take I've seen for a while.

[Alert Mongoose]

1 minute ago, Skyline Drifter said:

Well yes, probably, but that's not what I said. I was noting there are people on this forum, active, sensible people, who think Adams should start even when Dykes is available. @Savage Henry being one of the strongest advocates for it. I honestly don't know what they're seeing.

I accept Adams (who plays in a better club side to be fair) is a better goalscorer at club level but that doesn't necessarily track to his influence on the way Scotland play. Dykes is much better at bringing McGinn and McTominay into play, better at occupying centre backs and indeed deep lying playmakers, and offers far more in his own box at set pieces too. People were querying me pre-tournament (and pre injury obviously) when I said Dykes was a certainty to start.

In his absence Adams inevitably starts though. Shankland is a better goalscorer but can't put in the shift as a solo striker Adams does. Conway maybe could but it would be a leap of faith starting him at this stage.

Has Adams been "very good" for Scotland? Recently?

The last time I remember thinking he'd played well for Scotland was against Denmark at Hampden in the 2-0 game. That was nearly three years ago. Since then he's had 19 more caps and scored twice, one in Armenia and two weeks ago against Gibraltar. Granted a lot of those were off the subs bench.

While not disputing the premise of your argument, I feel there is enough to doubt your objectivity in this subject.

I think they are different types of player who probably bring about as much to Scotland as each other.

[O'Kelly Isley III]

There's a lot of fortune in football, that's for sure.  No-one will much remember the overhit back passes from Henry and Tierney which resulted in corners which came to nothing, but Tony Ralston's international career may now become defined in a polar opposite fashion to that of Archie Gemmill.

The guy stood up after his mistake and that was probably all that we could ask.  And Shaquiri could have had another 50 attempts at that hit without scoring.  But that's fitba and that's star quality.

[Skyline Drifter]

38 minutes ago, Lex said:

Yeah it was a three errors really, but Ralston's was the worst.  Hospital pass from Hanley to Gilmour, who in turn gives Ralston a hospital pass with a guy pressing him. Tony should just blooter it up the line but decides to slip in the Swiss boy instead. 

Yeah this. Hanley's ball to Gilmour was really poor and needlessly high. Gilmour though actually did well to control it and lay it off. It wasn't ideal and Ralston was being pressed but he had time to do lots with it that didn't involve turning and playing the most lethal Swiss attacker clean in on goal. He can simply pass it back to Hanley (which he tried to do really badly), he can as you say blooter it up the line, possibly off the opponent for our throw. He can even knock it straight out for a throw and let us regroup. It's a horror match costing error but he didn't hide and grew into the game after that. Fair play to him.

[Dons_1988]

6 minutes ago, Alert Mongoose said:

I guess if you take into consideration the recipient of the pass then you make an argument it was. Players should be aware of who they are passing it to. 

Giving that pass to Gilmour - not a hospital pass

Giving it to Ralston - hospital pass

Hence the problem with having a part of your team you can’t trust. You don’t want players decision making to be based on the perceived weakness of a teammate. 

Do you want gilmour just blootering it because we can’t trust the RWB to handle the ball there? Maybe? But you’re then asking a lot of gilmour to go against his instincts in a fast paced environment. 

Our goal is really made by the fact Gilmour can instantly release a short pass in a tight space that opens things up for us. 

[throbber]

22 minutes ago, kingjoey said:

I’m thinking that you didn’t see too much of the game if you think that we settled for the draw. Kept going for the winner right to the end.

Maybe at the end there was a bit of an effort but to a good hour after their equaliser which came against the run of play we sat back completely when they were still there for the taking. 
 

Im happy with the draw but it could have been much better. 

[Alert Mongoose]

1 minute ago, Dons_1988 said:

Hence the problem with having a part of your team you can’t trust. You don’t want players decision making to be based on the perceived weakness of a teammate. 

Do you want gilmour just blootering it because we can’t trust the RWB to handle the ball there? Maybe? But you’re then asking a lot of gilmour to go against his instincts in a fast paced environment. 

Our goal is really made by the fact Gilmour can instantly release a short pass in a tight space that opens things up for us. 

No argument from me - Ralston shouldn't have been playing but our two choices are injured so what can you do. Even throughout the existing team there are players who I would be less inclined to give a pass to while there is an opponent near them (eg McGregor)

[Stylish Kid]

I'm not sure about this "didn't hide" thing people keep saying. By the end of the first half 3 different players had all come over to help out at RWB with Ralston nowhere to be seen?

 

And as for options - he could have played it up the line or at worst straight out of play. I noticed that he was very much not keen to try sending it up the line which makes me think he's been coached/instructed to play it inside?

[Dons_1988]

Just now, Alert Mongoose said:

No argument from me - Ralston shouldn't have been playing but our two choices are injured so what can you do. Even throughout the existing team there are players who I would be less inclined to give a pass to while there is an opponent near them (eg McGregor)

I get that, it wasn’t meant to needlessly keep hammering ralston. It is what it is. He’s doing what Tony ralston is capable of. 

It’s just a glaring weakness of the team in hickeys absence. I also don’t believe Patterson is a huge upgrade. 

[Gaz]

11 minutes ago, bennett said:

 

And you're meant to be a teacher, here it is.

 

Definitions from Oxford Languages · Learn more

 

 

adverb

1. 1.

   with a constant or definite pattern, especially with the same space between individual items.

   "regularly spaced buildings"

    
2. 2.

   at uniform intervals of time.

   "the reunion has taken place regularly every two years

 

Very good. I think you knew what I meant, though

[Stylish Kid]

1 minute ago, Dons_1988 said:

I get that, it wasn’t meant to needlessly keep hammering ralston. It is what it is. He’s doing what Tony ralston is capable of. 

It’s just a glaring weakness of the team in hickeys absence. I also don’t believe Patterson is a huge upgrade. 

Yeah no I'm 100% here to hammer Ralston. 

[Gaz]

5 minutes ago, throbber said:

Maybe at the end there was a bit of an effort but to a good hour after their equaliser which came against the run of play we sat back completely when they were still there for the taking. 

Away man.

Since Shaqiri's worldy they were the better team for most of the rest of the first half. Getting to half time at 1-1 was a big result.