Netherlands - What did we learn?

[andyD]

Just running thru the players that played i'm not sure we really made good use of the fixture.

Gordon - Very much a known quantity and did everything you'd expect of him. Zero change for the goal, but otherwise solid.

Jack - Was ok defensively, tho his lack of pace showed a couple of times. Offered virtually nothing going forward tho. Very much a 2nd place to Paterson and on that showing I'm not convinced he's a better option at right back than Ralston or Palmer. We sort of knew that already tho.
Berra - Not the best game from him. The headbutt on Tierney was kind of embarrassing. He's still one of our pool for the next squad tho.
Tierney - Solid defensively and did what he could with the ball when he had it. Still felt like a waste watching him at centerback compared to how he can play on the left, but he's an option if needed. Which we knew.
Robertson - Decent game. Did exactly what we expected and knew he could do. Did enough in defense and threatened in attack.

Forrest - The standard international Forrest. Worked hard. Made nothing. Wasted what he had. He really can't be our first choice on the right going forward.
McLean - Stood around. Pointed a lot (often at the wrong pass). Wiped sweat off his brow (the flood lights must have been hot). Really unimpressed by him, wanted to be our Blind, but was too deep, refused the ball and didnt get involved further forward. So he was sort of an anti-Blind. Annoyed that he gave up chasing Depay for the goal.. stupidly went to ground to left Depay go past him, but had the time to make up the ground, but you can see him just slow down and not actually try and get back. I'd be happy for him to retire on 2 caps at this point.
McGinn - Energetic, some really good passes, but drifted in and out a bit. Will almost certainly be a regular in a few years (which we knew). Was a little reckless at times tho.. a stricter ref would have given him at least a yellow for kicking the guy on the ground.
McGregor - Looked decent, active and inventive in the first half.. drifted out of it a bit in the 2nd. Probably our 3rd choice in this role, just about what we thought he was.
Christie - Did alright. Good feet. Drew a few fouls, but did little in terms of creating chances, despite some good runs off the ball. Put in, I think, just 2 crosses all game. Looks like he might be an option in a couple of years.. which is kinda evidenced by Celtic having loaned him out. Promising, but not there yet.

Phillips - While some seem to relish it, I find it hard to berate him tbh. He did what was asked of him, he worked hard and he tried. Players can't help not being more than they are, all you can ask of them is they put the effort in and Phillips did that. He ran, he hassled, he made chances for himself, he worked back and helped retrieve the ball (for example on the right before he slipped in Cummings). But.. he's in no way, shape or form a center forward. He doesn't have the instincts for it. His movement isn't good enough, he doesn't anticipate where the ball will come and he's not particularly good at holding it up. None of that's his fault tho.. so if you want to blame someone, blame the manager who asked him to play that role.

Mulgrew - Was solid when he came on, I actually think he's our best centerback right now.
Fraser - Looked lively when given the opportunity, but supply to him was poor. Jack didn't really distribute forward or overlap, and McLean was playing more as a sweeper than the right side center mid that he was supposed to be. Looks like  he can do things if we give him the ball, but we didn't find out if that's true or not because we persisted with Forrest.
Cummings - Barely got any time. Should have done better with his chance, but it can be hard when you've just come on and are still a bit cold to the game. Didn't have time to really tell us anything about himself at this level.

 

So overall I don't feel like we learnt anything much at all. From a squad with 8 potential debutants, we played just 3 of them. There was opportunity to learn things.. to give players more opportunity..

See if Archer can handle internationals.
Give game time to Cooper or Hanlon to see if we have capable back ups in central defense.
See how Tierney and Robertson interact on the flank together.
See what Shinnie can do (would have been a natural sub at half time or on the hour for McLean).
See what Fraser can do over 90 minutes.
See what Cummings is like as a lone forward.

None of these got answered and instead we just learnt things we already knew, like Phillips isn't a striker.
So overall it was a pretty disappointing game for me. We learnt little and did ok-ish against a poor, 2nd gear Dutch side.
For me, the best thing we learnt last night was that Mackay won't be the next manager.

 

[PASTA Mick]

It was a complete waste of time for everyone involved. November friendlies are usually the worst especially when we should be playing a play-off match instead. 

The biggest positive is that no players got injured. 

[Chesney TA]

It was an international friendly. So nothing could be learned.

[scotlad]

The performances of Christie and McGinn were define high points for me.  Ryan Fraser, in one brief cameo, looked more dangerous than James Forrest had the entire time he was on the pitch. Hopefully he'll feature more in the future. 

Without Griffiths we are going to struggle as an attacking force.  We have no other forward of a similar standard who can step in. I quite like Phillips but centre forward clearly isn't his position. We missed Griffiths' delivery from set plays last night too, I felt. 

[vanderark14]

I learned that James Forrest I said immense for Celtic but crap for Scotland.............actually I didn’t learn that from The Netherlands match, I knew it already.

 

[robbo cop]

Agreed, we introduced a few new players who apart from Mclean were good, so that is a positive. Why Phillips started instead of Cummings was a strange one, and Shinnie could have got some game time.

Ryan Fraser could also have started rather than Forest, but may well do next time.

[Alan]

Think the review was a good summing up.

McGregor, McGinn and Christie must be in future squads as we say thanks but good bye to older players.  

For the next campaign we have promising players and a spine of Celtic who are well coached and confident.

GK - well catered there

Full backs - Paterson, Tierney, Robertson

Centre Halves - weakest area. Mulgrew & Berra. Need new choices here. Try Cooper, Liam Lindsay etc.

Central Midfield - Brown, Armstrong, McGregor, McGinn, McArthur, Christie, Fletcher?

Wings - Fraser, Forrest, Phillips?

CF - Griffiths and 2 others tbc.  Martin an option.

[Clyde1998]

Interestingly, the Dutch won 3-0 in Romania tonight. The stats suggest that it was a very one sided game.

Romania are one of the top seeds in our Nations League section - along with us, Hungary and Slovenia. Hopefully this suggests that we have a good chance of reaching Euro 2020 via the Nations League route, should it be required.

[Rude Gullit]

2 minutes ago, Clyde1998 said:

Interestingly, the Dutch won 3-0 in Romania tonight. The stats suggest that it was a very one sided game.

Romania are one of the top seeds in our Nations League section - along with us, Hungary and Slovenia. Hopefully this suggests that we have a good chance of reaching Euro 2020 via the Nations League route, should it be required.

I'd say we've practically qualified and won the trophy