Texas Pete Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 36 minutes ago, Clyde1998 said: Hungary were in the same pot as us for the Nations League, so they'll be the rough standard of team we'll be facing in the Nations League play-offs should we win our group. It's positive that it was a fairly comfortable win, even with a few key players missing from this squad. Our away record over the last few qualifying tournaments has been quite poor, as you say, and that's been a big issue for us. Northern Ireland showed that they can reach major finals and play-offs, and there's no reason we can't. The future is looking quite bright ahead of the Nations League, but we still have three very tough friendlies coming up. Hungary were in the same pot as us but they are on a serious slide downwards. They were ranked in the top 20 less than two years ago and now they are 50th. God knows what they’re ranking will be next month after losing to us and Kazakhstan. I have a feeling they’ll get pumped in the Nations League unless their new manager turns things around pretty quickly. Slovenia is probably a better gauge of the level of team that we’ll get in the playoffs should we win our group. We’ve shown we can beat them as well though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supersub Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 Great to see Fraser getting a chance to show what he can do. Workrate was second to none getting up and down the pitch. Also still think there could be a place for Snodgrass. He's capable of playing behind a lone striker if we go with one up top - knows where the goal is and experienced. Would also like to see Cairney get another chance as an attacking midfielder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BraveheartGordon Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 I thought it was an accomplished away performance, we managed the game very very well, whilst dominating possession and playing dynamic football. McKenna is a star in the making, Phillips offered us something different tonight as a 9 and Jack Hendry was really composed on the ball and made a goal saving challenge in the second half. We've learned a huge amount in the 2 matches and there was the makings of a side tonight which could qualify for the Euros. Once you add Griffiths, Tierney, Gordon, Snodgrass and McTominay, Paterson and McBurnie from the first match into contention it becomes quite exciting to think about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toepoke Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 2 hours ago, Texas Pete said: Hungary were in the same pot as us but they are on a serious slide downwards. They were ranked in the top 20 less than two years ago and now they are 50th. God knows what they’re ranking will be next month after losing to us and Kazakhstan. I have a feeling they’ll get pumped in the Nations League unless their new manager turns things around pretty quickly. They must be a bit concerned because they are a host nation for Euro2020 like us. It'll be a bummer for them rebuilding the national stadium for the tournament then not qualifying! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BraveheartGordon Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 Just watched the game back again and the goal was a perfect example of how the 5-3-2 type system we deployed can create overloads in key areas. The wing backs pushed up stretching the game, the 3 central defenders switched the ball from side to side creating the space centrally, Mulgrew split the lines with the pass to Phillips who laid it off to Forest eventually leading to Frasers delivery for the goal. If we make the correct movements quickly enough the opposition either have an outnumbered situation in midfield or they can’t press our central defenders. I criticised it on Friday but we simply didn’t have the right personnel to play it. I actually think it suits our better players quite well and might well combat the goals we’ve conceded in the last 2 campaigns from crosses and set plays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProudScot Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 McKenna & Hendry the big plus points of the evening, as well as the result. Mulgrew, for me, can easily be dropped for Souttar, Bates or McCrorie - yes he’s experienced but he’s slow, sloppy & those two young cb’s showed that ability, pace and determination are more important than “experience”. And Hanley can stay out of the squad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacques Hunt Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 8 hours ago, SkyBlueScot said: Oh, and I don't think we should be careful not to say "tonight's performance was good, Friday's was poor so we'll just stick with tonight's players.". Cairney is a player I'd like to see a lot more of as I have heard such good things about it. Would like him to get his chance again. Agree 100%. Good performance tonight and McGregor outstanding in midfield. Delighted for Phillips and feel he has a part to play for us but not as main striker. He is strong and held it up and may compliment Griffiths in some games. It is settling our main team and fitting them all in that will be the issue IMO. Hendry and McKenna also impressed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mccaughey85 Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 9 hours ago, bigfingers said: I think cairney would have played well in that midfield tonight and not with the mediocrity of kev macdonald and Matt Ritchie. I think he should be given another chance or two to show what he can do in a midfield of Armstrong and McGregor as he is a good player imo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macy37 Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 Interesting to see those who were spewing about Hendry being called up have gone remarkably quiet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parklife Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 9 hours ago, bigfingers said: I think cairney would have played well in that midfield tonight and not with the mediocrity of kev macdonald and Matt Ritchie. McGinn did play and played very well. So why do we have folk desperate to shoe-horn in some boy who was as good as missing on Friday? How about we give McGinn an extended run to show what he can do? Or McLean who's in the best form he's been in in years at club level and played well when he came on last night? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfingers Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 I don't think we need to throw mctominay into games now just because he plays for man united. Mcgregor, mcginn and Armstrong looked the part. I don't think forrest behind a striker is the solution but we have a number of other players who can play that role. A back 3 of any of Tierney, McKenna, Hendry, Liam Lindsay, McCrorie, Souttar and Bates is quite exciting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMcoolJ Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 Thought the midfield 3 were very good last night with Armstrong the standout. He really drives the game forward. McGinn got caught a couple of times early on but turned things around and had a really good game. McGregor does very little wrong. Touched on it earlier but a back 3 of McKenna, Tiernay and Hendry would be absolutely fine by me. Fraser played out of position and while he defended well and put himself about, didn’t do too much up front (other than the assist!). Forrest didn’t do enough for me. Phillips had a good game but I’d still have Griffiths in ahead of him. McGregor is still a really good keeper. I think we controlled the game last night and were perhaps unlucky not to win by a larger margin. Hungary were very average and resorted to being physical. Don’t think the ref handled them very well at all. Not convinced by a 3-5-2 but seems the only way we can get Tiernay and Robertson in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dalgety Bay TA Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 Much more pace and movement compared to Friday. The completely different midfield 3 saw to that as well as having pace in the wide areas with Fraser and Forrest. On Friday Robertson was the only one who really had pace wide and it showed. Definite positives with 2 young centre backs doing well. You can argue Hungary didn't show much up front but what they did show, the back 3 dealt with. I also don't see Mulgrew being dropped any time soon. Like it or not, pretty sure Eck will go with an experienced person in there, even if he was the poorest of the 3 tonight. No way I can see him playing a back 3 who are about 20/21 years old each. Still need Griffiths fit as we are lacking options there. Phillips isn't the answer long term but he was better than McBurnie on Friday and glad to see him get a goal. Then again the performance was night and day as a team from Fridays effort. McGregor in goals also showed why he is still a good squad option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
er yir macaroon Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 2 minutes ago, Dalgety Bay TA said: Much more pace and movement compared to Friday. The completely different midfield 3 saw to that as well as having pace in the wide areas with Fraser and Forrest. On Friday Robertson was the only one who really had pace wide and it showed. Definite positives with 2 young centre backs doing well. You can argue Hungary didn't show much up front but what they did show, the back 3 dealt with. I also don't see Mulgrew being dropped any time soon. Like it or not, pretty sure Eck will go with an experienced person in there, even if he was the poorest of the 3 tonight. No way I can see him playing a back 3 who are about 20/21 years old each. Still need Griffiths fit as we are lacking options there. Phillips isn't the answer long term but he was better than McBurnie on Friday and glad to see him get a goal. Then again the performance was night and day as a team from Fridays effort. McGregor in goals also showed why he is still a good squad option. I think Phillips as a number 10 supporting Griffiths is an option in a 3-5-1-1 . Snodgrass also but he lacks the pace that Phillips has. Oliver Burke could be another if he can sort himself out. I was unconvinced by Fraser at RWB but maybe we just need more practice with this formation. Don’t rule out Docherty in that role as he has the required pace and power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N4Footsoldier Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 Having not been able to see the game last night it's pleasing by the sounds of it that we could feasibly make the 3 centre backs system work. I said all along the result wasn't important but it is a by-product of us getting closer to getting things right. Having said that we will come across sterner tests than this particular Hungary team. Significant upside when you think that we didn't have close to our strongest squad available for this game alone. Peru and Mexico will be significant tests if we can prove we are up to it. Although I have a feeling the players will be in end of season holiday mode for that one again with a depleted squad. One decision for McLeish now is after backing Mulgrew so strongly as captain of the squad, can you have him back in? If not, who does he have captain? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacques Hunt Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 3 hours ago, Parklife said: McGinn did play and played very well. So why do we have folk desperate to shoe-horn in some boy who was as good as missing on Friday? How about we give McGinn an extended run to show what he can do? Or McLean who's in the best form he's been in in years at club level and played well when he came on last night? I take your point Parklife; good one, well made. I just feel that Cairney, judged on club form reviews should be given another chance in a more familiar role. Also suspect that the league in which he currently excels is not your favourite barometer for gauging international suitability. Good thing is that there is competition for places. Interesting games ahead and hope that all players go to Mexico and Peru but bet a few call off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toepoke Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 2 hours ago, SMcoolJ said: Fraser played out of position and while he defended well and put himself about, didn’t do too much up front (other than the assist!). ....and winning a penalty... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mox Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 13 hours ago, JECK said: Mckenna outstanding definitely but I feel McGregors performance has been somewhat glossed over. He spoke a good game before it about wanting to win etc and I thought he was excellent. Not giving the ball away is imperative at this level he was almost perfection tonight in this regard. Great touch in tight areas as well, he promises much.We should build the team around this lad I feel. He's the only Scottish player that i can remember in recent years that always receives the ball on the half turn and has that intelligence to find a bit of space when others are drawn to the ball and the direction of play. The one thing I think he still lacks is a wee bit of decisiveness in the final third at times, but he's a lovely wee player. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mox Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 11 hours ago, supersub said: Great to see Fraser getting a chance to show what he can do. Workrate was second to none getting up and down the pitch. Also still think there could be a place for Snodgrass. He's capable of playing behind a lone striker if we go with one up top - knows where the goal is and experienced. Would also like to see Cairney get another chance as an attacking midfielder Snodgrass has had a good career and is still a good player but his time at this level is up. He is far too slow to play the kind of game we should be playing. Our strength is in midfield and attack and most of the players we have in those positions have pace which Snodgrass has never had, his inclusion would be to the detriment of the style we are trying to implement imo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pool Q Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 McGregor and McGinn were exceptional last night, Armstrong and McKenna not far behind. By all accounts the team on Friday were asked to play the same pressing game. What McGregor, McGinn, Armstrong, Fraser and Hendry were able to do, Ritchie, McTominay, McDonald, Cairney and Hanley weren’t. It would be foolish to write off anyone based on Friday night (a game against better opposition) but a few from last night took their chance and deserve to be considered in poll position. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squirrelhumper Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 14 hours ago, Toepoke said: Stevie O'Donnell, best right back in the Premiership at the mo... What he said. And for the folk writing him off as Luton fans didn't rate him, McKenna wasn't rated at Ayr!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Third Lanark Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 43 minutes ago, Squirrelhumper said: What he said. And for the folk writing him off as Luton fans didn't rate him, McKenna wasn't rated at Ayr!!!! I've heard him being mentioned on Sportsound as a possibility so it's not just you, a lone voice in the wilderness! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Langtonian Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 (edited) 6 hours ago, macy37 said: Interesting to see those who were spewing about Hendry being called up have gone remarkably quiet. Dont think it was anything to do with him being called up,its the fact he didnt merit a call up whilst at Dundee but did after he moved to Celtic and playing a couple of games Edited March 28, 2018 by Langtonian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ceudmilefailte Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 2 hours ago, Langtonian said: Dont think it was anything to do with him being called up,its the fact he didnt merit a call up whilst at Dundee but did after he moved to Celtic and playing a couple of games You can learn a lot very quickly with the higher standard of coaching and training with the top players that Parkhead allows Half the Scotland youngsters will be saying that after this weekend. Interesting thing now is who will McKenna be playing for next season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Windae cleaner Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 2 minutes ago, ceudmilefailte said: You can learn a lot very quickly with the higher standard of coaching and training with the top players that Parkhead allows Half the Scotland youngsters will be saying that after this weekend. Interesting thing now is who will McKenna be playing for next season. I'm sure Hull had a bid rejected for him but that could just be papertalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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