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Portugal v Scotland


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3 minutes ago, dstuart82 said:

Clarke in his press conference a few minutes ago; difficult to qualify for a major tournament for ‘a country like Scotland’

What does he mean by that?

If a Scottish person goes to London there are two different paths. The first is "we could do this". The second is "we are incapable of this". Clarke is in camp B.

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8 minutes ago, Scary Bear said:

You clearly have trouble with basic English and don’t take Scotland defeats very well. You are a sad sack who likes using the word pathetic when you are angry that the team you support loses. 

Your taking a pasting, just checking tho. Are these posters me as well? 🤣

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Just now, Unleash The Nade said:

He’ll probably respond along the lines of “ I’m taking a pasting , but it’s taking part in the debate that really matters “

He expects to take a pasting, he's Scottish so must accept his lot.

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I'm not really sure what to gleam from the last two games to be honest.  In some respects there's some positives to take from the fact at times we've taken the game to our opponents and had a bit of a pressing game which was infinitely more positive than what was served up at the Euros.

On the flip side, we continually demonstrate the same weaknesses and concede through the same old ways.  Some of that is down to the fact we don't obviously carry the same quality of player as others do, that's clear to see.  But by persisting with the same players who contribute to those basic errors, are we contributing to our own downfall.

There were some glaringly obvious defensive screw-ups in there tonight, which may well have been pounced on had we been playing Portugal or Papua New Guinea.  And sadly it was the same culprits from before contributing those gifts.

Angus Gunn frustrates me greatly, a keeper who can make some great saves (as demonstrated tonight) but who (as also demonstrated tonight) can let in some daft goals.  It's likely we may well have conceded anyway (given the pressure we were under) but blunders like that immediately put you under increased pressure and also, at a stage when we were holding our own, make us more vulnerable.  The biggest question is can we afford to drop him given the paucity of options available to us.

I'd also lump blame on Steve Clarke for some of the selections/subs.  For all Kenny McLean produced a worldy of an assist, for the most part he was dragged all over the shop and positionally was ridiculously exposed.  His time as a starter has come, I'd be happy to give either Connor Barron or Lennon Miller the chance to make that jersey their own going forward.

Over the piece, I'm more and more leaning to the Clarke out way.  While the players themselves contribute to the goals we lose, the constant loyalty to those who have let him down at times doesn't help, and to make the same basic errors game after game is also partially down to the tactics employed.

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32 minutes ago, MarkoP said:

Oh well , feeling better about Clarke inevitably being in charge through this and World Cup qualifying 

Kenny McLean will be 34 by then so just about hitting his peak. Clarke's strategy setting us up nicely for those games

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27 minutes ago, Moysterclass said:

Georgia and Slovenia in league B both got results against Portugal within the last 6 months. 

 

25 minutes ago, Thumper said:

The funny thing is that if you said to Kilmarnock fans "any cups you win against the old firm are invalid because they are better than you" then they would gladly hand them over.


Struggling to see the relevance of either of these posts given that not one single bit of my post said it wasn't possible to beat Portugal.

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I thought McLean was pretty good tonight, but it does feel like that Scotland midfield is a defensively disciplined number six away from being potentially very good when at full strength. Gilmour and McTominay are great and were both excellent tonight, but someone to protect the defence and hold the shape out of possession would just help to elevate it as a unit.

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1 hour ago, craigkillie said:


Not going to debate the part, about having "favourites" etc, even though I disagree, because it's been well discussed on here.

However, would a club manager really be sacked for a run of eight games without a win? Derek McInnes has gone seven domestic games without a win and is nowhere near it for us.

Our Euros qualification was eight games (with bonus friendlies against England and France in the middle), and the NL is six.

If we went eight without a win in the Euro Qualifiers we'd have been in Fort William territory and a sacking wouldn't just be expected, it would be needed. With the nations league, it would be all six + two more - and you'd be out on your arse.

Eight games at club level is a blow to go winless, but there are more games to recover it with. You don't have those other 20 or however-many games to make up for it at international level.

So, yes, there are higher standards to expect here.

I don't think SC should be sacked as of now, but I think something does need to change - especially if we do qualify for 2026.

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5 minutes ago, ClydeTon said:

Our Euros qualification was eight games (with bonus friendlies against England and France in the middle), and the NL is six.

If we went eight without a win in the Euro Qualifiers we'd have been in Fort William territory and a sacking wouldn't just be expected, it would be needed. With the nations league, it would be all six + two more - and you'd be out on your arse.

Eight games at club level is a blow to go winless, but there are more games to recover it with. You don't have those other 20 or however-many games to make up for it at international level.

So, yes, there are higher standards to expect here.

I don't think SC should be sacked as of now, but I think something does need to change - especially if we do qualify for 2026.


I don't think going all 6 games without a win in a Nations League A group is necessarily that unexpected for the bottom seeds, likewise not winning a game at a tournament. It's disappointing and can definitely be classed as a failure, but it's completely different to not winning games in a normal qualifying group where you are playing a mix of quality.

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34 minutes ago, craigkillie said:


I don't think going all 6 games without a win in a Nations League A group is necessarily that unexpected for the bottom seeds, likewise not winning a game at a tournament. It's disappointing and can definitely be classed as a failure, but it's completely different to not winning games in a normal qualifying group where you are playing a mix of quality.

Thank goodness for some sensible comment. The bottom line is we lost to superior opposition. There is no way of disguising that fact.

However..I definately see improvement since Germany and trust in SC.

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8 hours ago, accies1874 said:

Gunn did look dodgy for the first and it seems that McKenna messed up for the second. 

Yes Gunn needed a stronger hand and McKenna trying to wrestle but out muscled by Ronaldo. In Gunn's defence he did keep us in the game with a few fantastic saves.

 

Goal.jpg

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8 hours ago, Thumper said:

"Scotland don't win games because Scotland don't win games" is the position of a mental dullard.

Fifty years ago Scotland were underachievers because they'd failed to win anything from a running start. Now they're underachievers because plenty of countries that didn't exist fifty years ago have more confidence in their success than Scotland.

The reason isn't entirely down to Scotland's unique loser mentality. But it doesn't help.

So we can just 'think' ourselves better footballers ? Good stuff 👍 

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11 minutes ago, kennie makevin said:

So we can just 'think' ourselves better footballers ? Good stuff 👍 

It’s some belief system they have. It’s the poor attitude of fans thats the reason for the Scottish national football teams patchy to poor performance throughout its history. 

Nothing to do with poor facilities, poor identification and development of young talent, and lack of an effective pathway from youth to adult football.

Edited by Scary Bear
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6 hours ago, TONTROOPER said:

Thank goodness for some sensible comment. The bottom line is we lost to superior opposition. There is no way of disguising that fact.

However..I definately see improvement since Germany and trust in SC.

I’d check that with his unwillingness to integrate new faces, all have been due to external pressure, even going back to Gilmour in 2020

The Ryan Gauld exclusion is the epitome of that, we needed fresh faces in June

We simply have to bring in fresh talent

McLean and McGinn are the two currently being picked on loyalty alone.

Both should be in the squad, but there are question marks about them starting.

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