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What was the point in that?


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An absolute bore fest. Learned nothing new, and a but part Italy team absolutely dominated us. 

Strachan needs to go. We need someone young, fresh and dynamic. 

This malarkey with continuing wits Mulgrew Fletcher and the older team needs to stop. 

We are never going anywhere under the current regime. This is a poor and ageing squad, and we have a poor and limited manager. 

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I have no idea what we learned tonight, I can accept Mulgrew as a holding midfielder but not in the back 4. 

D. Fletcher & McArthur = great effort but not much creativity.  Anya might have lost 1/2 a yard :( and we really miss Maloney. 

S. Fletcher is going to be the main forward...

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Mulgrew should not be near the left back spot again, sad to say but I think Darren Fletcher is finished at that level.

Really dont know where we go from here. I can understand the clamour for older heads like Hutton, Brown, Morrison, Maloney, the Fletcher's and others to move aside but at the same time I just don't see anyone else who can fill their shoes that will still have is competing, McArthur was shocking tonight. We need to get a balance though and the likes of Burke, McGinn, Patterson and Tierney need to be kept in the squad going forward.

As for Strachan, I really want it to work for him but fail to win in Malta and I can see him being under real presure.

 

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With England, Wales, Northern Ireland and ROI at the Euros, and other Euro teams looking for suitable warm-ups against British-style opposition, we are, for a change, much sought-after friendly fodder so it's hard to blame the SFA for accepting these two offers (which is, I presume, is how these games came about).

We probably get some money from them (a bit of TV revenue, for example) and our players get the chance to play against higher-calibre opposition so there are reasons why they are not such a bad idea.

On the downside, our weaknesses can be ruthlessly exposed by better standard teams and there is a danger of confidence being knocked, too.

We don't play as many friendlies as other European countries. A few more and we'll be able to blood new players among the experienced guys and establish styles of play, combinations in various areas of the park etc.

It may be a painful process in terms of defeats and we could lose ranking points but we could benefit in the long run.

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19 minutes ago, gordiewell said:

With England, Wales, Northern Ireland and ROI at the Euros, and other Euro teams looking for suitable warm-ups against British-style opposition, we are, for a change, much sought-after friendly fodder so it's hard to blame the SFA for accepting these two offers (which is, I presume, is how these games came about).

We probably get some money from them (a bit of TV revenue, for example) and our players get the chance to play against higher-calibre opposition so there are reasons why they are not such a bad idea.

On the downside, our weaknesses can be ruthlessly exposed by better standard teams and there is a danger of confidence being knocked, too.

We don't play as many friendlies as other European countries. A few more and we'll be able to blood new players among the experienced guys and establish styles of play, combinations in various areas of the park etc.

It may be a painful process in terms of defeats and we could lose ranking points but we could benefit in the long run.

Exactly. How else do we try players and combinations ?

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13 minutes ago, bossman4 said:

Ranking points should mean bugger all for the next 3 years at least anyway

This.

The next tournament where FIFA ranking points will be relevant for us in the 2022 WC Qualifying draw, as the UEFA rankings don't count friendly games. The friendly games we're playing right now should be for blooding new talent and experimenting for the future.

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There's not much point playing with that kind of fear in a friendly, but hoipefully we learned that the formation we use in every game doesn't work for every game.
 

We need more presence in midfield and maybe it's a case of three in the middle for those kind of games to get us more opportunities to build attacks.

I thought Phillips was appalling bad.

I also thought Darren Fletcher was our best player. Someone on the BBC was criticising him for giving the ball away. I saw it the exact opposite. He's always available for the pass and almost always finds a pass once he's got it. We need more of that.

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Guest allyc

Absolutely terrible performance.we are going no where in the next qualifying campaign.we will be exposed even more against the french.time for Strachan to go.

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I think we need a bit of a reality check. I'm not saying we played well last night, but we are up against a mixture of regulars in the latter stages of the champions league and decent players fighting for a place in the Italian squad.

What did we learn? Are a number of players capable at that level and sadly the answer for most is no. 

Should Strachan go? For me, no. Who would do better? I'm racking my brains and can't come up with anyone. 

I do think a change of formation may be worth a try. 3-5-2 would be well suited to Anya and Robertson and would allow us to play someone like Griffiths or Rhodes who the current system just doesn't accomodate.

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22 minutes ago, ghtresa said:

I think we need a bit of a reality check. I'm not saying we played well last night, but we are up against a mixture of regulars in the latter stages of the champions league and decent players fighting for a place in the Italian squad.

What did we learn? Are a number of players capable at that level and sadly the answer for most is no. 

Should Strachan go? For me, no. Who would do better? I'm racking my brains and can't come up with anyone. 

I do think a change of formation may be worth a try. 3-5-2 would be well suited to Anya and Robertson and would allow us to play someone like Griffiths or Rhodes who the current system just doesn't accomodate.

Another advocate for 3-5-2 that misses the obvious fact that we have a dearth of centre backs. We struggle to find two that are good enough let alone three. 

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12 minutes ago, aaid said:

Another advocate for 3-5-2 that misses the obvious fact that we have a dearth of centre backs. We struggle to find two that are good enough let alone three. 

I'm only saying it's worth a try. Totally agree about the centre backs, but my opinion is the 2 we play leave us very open, so having a third might help.

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Pointless if we only go there to defend... Surely we need to practice opening up and attacking teams even if we do end up with a heavier defeat.

Is this the stadium where we play Malta? If so, familiarisation with the surroundings (avoiding another Georgia) for the game vs Maltais the main positive I can think of as it would have done zero for player confidence.

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4 minutes ago, smiler82 said:

Pointless if we only go there to defend... Surely we need to practice opening up and attacking teams even if we do end up with a heavier defeat.

Is this the stadium where we play Malta? If so, familiarisation with the surroundings (avoiding another Georgia) for the game vs Maltais the main positive I can think of as it would have done zero for player confidence.

Yes was the same stadium, squad actually stay in Malta till Friday Radio Scotland said last night.

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4 minutes ago, bossman4 said:

Yes was the same stadium, squad actually stay in Malta till Friday Radio Scotland said last night.

That's a good thing I suppose... I always think of Macedonia away (lost 1-0) where we arrived the afternoon of the day before the game... Had a 1 hour training session on the pitch and no time to get used to the heat. 

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25 minutes ago, Grim Jim said:

September will probably be warmer in Malta (was cool last night), but good exposure none the less. Would be good to play a Slovakian-style team before October too I reckon.

Suppose we played the Czechs in March time but another game against a similar team pre malta would be decent

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1 minute ago, bossman4 said:

Suppose we played the Czechs in March time but another game against a similar team pre malta would be decent

Strachan was asked at his squad announcement press conference if a game was planned for the free date before the Malta game and he said that no game was planned, so looks like chance is lost.

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2 minutes ago, wanderer said:

Strachan was asked at his squad announcement press conference if a game was planned for the free date before the Malta game and he said that no game was planned, so looks like chance is lost.

That would be dissapointing. Its not going to make a difference to our ranking as it will be 2019 at least before the ranking place comes back into play in regards to a draw.

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2 minutes ago, bossman4 said:

That would be dissapointing. Its not going to make a difference to our ranking as it will be 2019 at least before the ranking place comes back into play in regards to a draw.

True, but I think it's Strachans attitude towards friendlies before qualifiers (he vetoed a friendly and training camp in Malta before the Croatia game in Zagreb and he rejected the idea of a friendly match before the Germany game in Dortmund).

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