stevenmcn
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Posts posted by stevenmcn
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32 minutes ago, Chripper said:
I think that remark looks a little bit silly now. A week since I posted this and virtually everyone is raving about him now.
Just think back about 14 months ago when very few cared if he picked us over England and claimed he probably wasn't commited to Scotland cause he had refused a call up.
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18 minutes ago, Fairbairn said:
How does one go about getting on the ballot paper?
💰💰💰
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32 minutes ago, andyD said:
Ok, Vogts didn't work out, but we've tried a foreign manager with a good record once, and cos it's failed we've cast it aside as an idea and repeatedly gone for a cheap Scotsman who wasn't up to the task. I'd like to see us look for the best candidate, instead od just getting in yet another cheap Scot who can't get a job anywhere else.
Considering that Vogts had to basically build a squad from scratch and got to a play off and also the fact that barring one good campaign in the last 20 yrs, we've been gash, was it really that much of a failure?
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1 hour ago, Burj_Alba said:
Cant believe people are opposing the idea of a young former player taking on the managers job. As someone said the ones in the "SFA system", McLeish, Mackay, Stark" are so past their sell by date that you need the digits 19 at the start of when they were actually employable.
We are not going to get anyone who is on an upwardly trend with a team like Preston or Sunderland ( or even Newcastle, Benitez?? I did laugh at that one ) so that leaves us with the Wales ( Giggs, Hughes) Germany, Klinnsman, Low) route. It may or may not work but can seriously be worse than we have ( or the other options ) now. i doubt it.
I can't believe people support the idea of giving a guy with no coaching experience the job. Genuine question, but is he even interested in coaching/management, does he have his coaching badges? The only reason it's not laughable is that I'd rather see that happen than have McLeish manage one more single game.
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19 minutes ago, Chripper said:
Is it lashing out, though? What have McGregor and Armstrong actually done in football? Both have done/did well for Celtic, but it's more difficult to play badly in a dominating team than to do well. Armstrong has joined a top league and he's pretty much done zero. If McGregor made the same move he'd probably make the same impact.
I'm not trying to single out these two, as you can add Christie, Bain, Shinnie, O'Donnell, Burke, McNulty, McLean, etc, to the list. The jury is out with McKenna and Bates, I don't think they can play in a flat back four, though, not at this level. I'm convinced by Fraser, Robertson, McTominay, Tierney and Forrest. People aim abuse at Forrest but I think Scotland has never properly utilised him proper, apart from the two final matches of the Nations League.
I don't like saying this. Trust me. I wish all our players were playing for top clubs in top leagues but they don't. We must stop watching McGregor, Burke, et al, run rounds around teams that has no disposable income and fool ourselves into thinking that they're good. They aren't. If they were as good as some people think they are they'd be strutting their stuff with AC Milan, Barcelona or Manchester United rather than Aston Villa, Celtic and Southampton.
No doubt. Darren Fletcher should definitely be brought in. I'd suggest that he's more capable and more competent than McLeish, Grant and McFadden combined. If his name was even considered as manager, I'd take him in a heartbeat. The dedication towards Scotland by Darren Fletcher is probably the most I've seen by a Scotland player in my lifetime, and that was even before his illness, throw in his illness and he's a Scotland legend in my book.
So, are we going to pick our team on what players "have done". Well we're going to have a very short list. Robertson and Fraser definitely make that list. McTominay probably makes that list too, he looked a class above when he came on, can't believe he didn't start either game. Where do we go after that? You can't say McGregor has been great only for Celtic and dismiss him cause of the quality of the league, then say Forrest just hasn't been utilised well for Scotland. For me there's no real difference between the two. The bottom line is having a coach who doesn't know how to utilize his players. Add to that the amount of call offs and retirements we've had in the last 12 months and it's going to lead to another miserable future for the national team.
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1 hour ago, KirkieRobRoy said:
Quite agree.
Though the players need a good had look at themselves too.
Trouble is, with a worse performance than usual we've actually reached our optimum away score v San the Man. Every reason, if you're an SFA blazer-filler, to not punt Eck.
You're probably right about the blazers and their decision making, but I can't understand why historical results against a poor opposition are in any way relevant. Basically what some people are saying is that as long as we beat San Marino at least 2-0 away then it's acceptable, just forget how poor they are. Incidentally Luxembourg beat them 3-0 away last year, just saying.
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53 minutes ago, Chripper said:
But that's only one player. We can't clone him.
McGregor is hopeless, so is McLean and Armstrong. The match changed when Forrest and McTominay came on.
The point is that we have decent players, just don't have a manager who knows what to do with them. To say McGregor and Armstrong are hopeless us just a stupid comment.
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10 minutes ago, SMcoolJ said:
Kazakhstan and San Marino away. We have a negative goal difference and 3 points! Worse than that, the players look scared and lacking any in sort of confidence/flare/drive. I genuinely wouldn’t have been surprised it tonight had finished 1-1. McKenna is a good player but he looked like a shell of himself again tonight. Something very wrong.
I said something similar the other day. Between the performances, the call offs and retirements over the last 12 months, something definitely stinks.
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25 minutes ago, Chripper said:
We can't even break San Marino down. I'm not a McLeish fan, but the players are absolutely useless. The midfield is dreadful.
That's one way of looking at it. Another is that we have the player with the second highest amount of assists in the EPL behind Eden Hazard on the pitch right now. So is it the players or the tactics/manager?
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24 minutes ago, macy37 said:
No easy games in international football now like.
I'm sure Kazakhstan would disagree.
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1 hour ago, andyD said:
So, hopefully we're now settled on a formation and a system for the remainder of McLeish's reign (and maybe beyond).
For me, 4231 is the only thing we should be considering, but do we have enough depth to be able to play it despite call offs?GK: McGregor, Gordon, McLaughlin
RB: O'Donnell, Paterson, Palmer, Ralston (or Tierney)
LB: Robertson, Tierney, Douglas, Kingsley
RCB: Souttar, Bates, Devlin, Hanley, Hendry, Lindsey
LCB: McKenna, Mulgrew, Tierney, BerraCDM: McGregor, McTominay, Shinnie, Fleck, McDonald
CM: Armstrong, McGinn, Bannan, CairneyRW: Forrest, Russell, Phillips, Burke
LW: Fraser, McKay, Morgan, GMS
SS: McGregor, Paterson, GMS, Bannan, SnodgrassCF: Fletcher, Griffiths, Naismith, McBurnie, Rhodes
To me it feels like right back and left wing are our problem areas in terms of depth.
But overall it feels like we've got a bit more quality among the wider squad of players than we've had for a long while.I'd say we're a bit weak in CDM too. McGregor can play there but you only have to look at Israel's first goal to see that he probably shouldn't be playing there. McTominay hardly kicks a ball at Man U and the jury is still very much out on McDonald at international level. Personally I'd play Mulgrew there rather than in central defence. He's played there before and is reasonably decent with the ball at his feet. It's just a pity McArthur quit cause we could be doing with him. It's a position that's going to need addressed cause last night's formation won't work against better teams.
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11 hours ago, Texas Pete said:
There’s a rumour going around that McLeish will resign on Tuesday night due to ill health.
Maybe folk should wait until they hear the facts before accusing someone (who actually isn’t a big drinker unless something has changed fairly recently) of being an alky.
So we could win our group, get a home draw and get rid of McLeish in one night? Sounds too good to be true.
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7 minutes ago, romanticscot said:
Lets just settle this for everyone, regardless on what you read or hear anywhere, Tuesday is MUST win for us to top the group, qualify for the Euro 2020 play off, most likely be seeded in the League C play off AND deep breath get promoted to the UEFA Nations League 2020-21 ..League B and get increased prize money for the League C win.
There is allot at stake, but we can handle it.
Not directed at you personally, but of course it's must win, it's Israel at home FFS. Great result tonight, but I fear it just papers over the cracks. Hope I'm wrong, but seen it before
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1 hour ago, JECK said:
well done Ryan Christie, potential star in the making
I thought that 18 months ago. Seen him play against Partick Th at the end of last season when he was at Aberdeen on loan and he stuck out like a sore thumb.
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39 minutes ago, Chripper said:
Nah, you're alright.
Fair point about the midfield, which is refreshing to hear, as it would appear that there are certain people who think we have good midfielders. We're as weak in midfield as we are in defence, maybe not as weak, but it's certainly a weak area. That being the case, we should look towards the midfield as we do the defence (load up the middle) and see how far we get. If McLeish can organize us, enough that every single player knows their job and what's expected of, then we could do something.
To be fair, you might be saying that tongue in cheek, but you aren't far off. We are weak in attack (it seems to be a theme) so we should play two strikers. As am I.
Lol, so just to clarify, apart from goalkeeper and left back, we're a bit shit. Think we're going to have to petition FIFA to be allowed a 5-5-4 line up. 😂😂😂
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1 hour ago, Chripper said:
I thought I had.
Our central defenders aren't very good, let's be completely honest, they are traffic cones with a wage. They aren't intelligent, football wise, so in lieu of this I would pick an extra defender to literally fill space. The basic way of saying is "strength in numbers". The way that it's been for 20 years is if one defender screws up then we concede, but it would be nice to have an extra body in there as insurance.
When we made the three at the back successful as we had of note was Colin Hendry, the rest weren't much better than we have now. Fine, the midfield back then was miles better than our current midfield, but again, that gap can be bridged by sheer work rate and endeavour.
Would it be fluid? Yes it would. Each time one of the wingbacks are bombing up the win, one of the central defenders come across, thus making it into a back four, as to keep up from being exposed down the flanks.
To be honest, mate, I have tons of literal evidence that 4 at the back doesn't work (20 years worth) for us. We have NEVER been solid with a back four, at least not consistently. I have no proof that the back three wouldn't work.
Apologies if you have explained it before mate, I must have missed it 👍. I do think you touch on our defensive issues by touching on how your midfield perform. I feel our midfield very rarely take control in matches, which isn't going to help whether you've 3 or 4 at the back. Yes, we do lose a fair few goals at set pieces which isn't down to midfield, but on the whole our central defenders simply aren't good enough or playing regularly at a high enough level. You can't just say they're all shit so just play more of them to compensate. What if we did that at the other end and just played 3 centre forwards cause Fletcher and McBurnie are crap? Anyway enjoying the debate. 👍
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3 hours ago, Chripper said:
Okay. Could someone please tell me why they think our players are suited, stable and balanced with 4 at the back. Where's the evidence of this? We've been nothing short of hopeless for 20 years playing 4 at the back. I'm not saying this is the only reason for our failings, but I'd say that it's a bloody big reason.
When is the last time that we qualified for a World Cup or a European Championships with a flat back four? 1990? That's a long time...
I keep saying this, international football is akin to European football. How many of our players shine in Europe? How many of our players are still playing In European competitions? Teams playing 4 at the back in the SPL is one thing, but once they do it in Europe they get beat against the likes of Skonto Riga and AEK Athens, etc.
And as stated previously, the groups for the Nations League is calculated by coefficients. Given that Israel ran us ragged, do you think we're better than them?
Maybe you can explain to us why you think a back 3 will work instead of giving us reasons why a back 4 doesn't. For the record, I'm not against a back 3. If we had the players, a tactically efficient manager and intelligence to play it then great, right now we don't.
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1 hour ago, Chripper said:
These kind of teams? We are these kind of teams. If we weren't in the same bracket as Albania and Israel then why are we are in the same group as them?
I think people don't understand how three at the back works. If people think it leaves us exposed down the flanks when we're attacking, those people would be wrong, as one of the center backs drifts out to cover the space. If people think it's a negative formation, those people are wrong, as when we are enjoying a lot of possession then one of the center backs can stroll into midfield, allowing one of the midfielders license to roam.
We are awful at the back, we have fragile center backs, we've played with a flat back four for 20 years and I can never recall us looking solid at the back. And yet people want to persist with it "because our players play this formation at club level". Yes, International level isn't club level. International level is akin to European competitions. How many players do we have currently competing in European competitions?
We have good midfielders? McGinn plays in the Championship with Villa, McDonald plays a team at the bottom of the EPL, Armstrong plays with a struggling Southampton side, McGregor plays against teams who have no transfer budget. McTominay can't break into the worst Man United team I have ever seen.
We have decent midfielders, France and Germany and Belgium and Brazil and Argentina, etc, have good midfielders.
Still not convinced with your back 3 obsession, but can't disagree with much else here.
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McGregor
Tierney McKenna. Mulgrew. Robertson
McDonald. McGinn
McGregor. Armstrong. Fraser
Russell
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9 minutes ago, mrniaboc said:
From that squad I think these may be our best 11 players at the moment. I have absolutely no fucking idea how to choose the best formation to suit them:
McGregor
Tierney
McKenna
Mulgrew
Robertson
Christie
McGregor
McGinn
Fraser
Russell
PatersonMcGregor
Tierney. McKenna. Mulgrew. Robertson
McGregor. McGinn
Paterson. Christie. Fraser
Russell
To be fair, it's not the worse eleven from what was picked.
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2 hours ago, Chripper said:
Oh god, here we go. 🙄
Why is it people in today's society view "thinking outside the box" as a wind up? If you don't agree with my opinions then fine, that's completely your prerogative. I consider it a hand-handed compliment that you take note of my posts, as I don't think I've ever noticed yours.
Yeah, when it comes to Scotland I'm an inch away from packing it all in, so no, no wind ups at all. If you don't agree with me all you have to do is open your mind to the possibility that people are able to think differently.
Fair play to you mate. Some of your ideas are a wee bit left field, and I'm not going to say I agree with them, but at least they're something different and you've put a bit of thought into it. We've been doing the "tried and tested" thing for years now and have went backwards. Unfortunately, right now we don't have many coaches capable of something a wee bit different, so we'll be either parking the bus, or lumping it up to a target man for the foreseeable future. Besides, I've seen way worse ideas from others on here.
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Steven Fletcher 😮😮😡. Is that the bottom of the barrel being scraped? Nothing really positive at all in that squad.
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1 hour ago, Chripper said:
The common consensus is that he reminds them of James Milner. I can certainly see that comparison, what with his engine. Whether he does as well as Milner, we'll see. His lapses of concentration is a worry as well as his poor decisions making at times. If he could eradicate his mistakes then he could be a top player. I hope a season in the Championship will help him cut out all the sloppiness, but it's not like he's a youngster. He's 25.
Definitely. He's got the skills, just needs refined under a good coach.
Next Scotland Manager ?
in TA specific
Posted · Edited by stevenmcn
There would be no point of a short term appointment. The qualifying campaign is already close to a shambles after just 2 games, we need a permanent appointment asap so that we can hopefully rescue what's left. The next game against Cyprus is already a must win, we can't afford another slip up. But, aye, Gemmill wouldn't surprise me.