Mox

That's a fair point, but Wales and Austria don't miss out the midfield like we do. They also press, Austria were great at that against the Ukraine, totally on the front foot, we sit in our own half, watching players pass it about in front of us and then launching it upto a guy who is frankly not a very good footballer.

You're watching a different sport from me, stuck in another era.

He's got two fucking strikers in the squad that are better than Dykes.

Perfectly put.

That is wild nonsense. You don't think there's another manager on the planet who wouldn't be scared to attack? Who wouldn't have played Adams, McGregor, Gilmour and Patterson in the first game? Give me a break.

And that's down to the manager playing guys that are nowhere near good enough in O'Donnell and Dykes and playing a formation that doesn't work. He's too blame here, no one else, it's been an embarrassing three games.

Och, that just let's the manager away with murder. We've effectively played with 9 men for three games with O'Donnell and Dykes continued inclusion and we've not played to our strengths and tonight was a perfect example of that You stand off a 35 year Modric he's still going to run the show, it's not hard but it seems to be for Clarke.

We've been well beaten by a much better coached team, Croatia are going nowhere in this tournament, they'll be out by the next round.

It's been a horrible tournament from him, team selection, style of play, substitution, he's got everything wrong from the first minute of game 1.

He deserves another go but he's got to play to our strengths. We've spent another 90 minutes launching the ball upto that big wooden plank like it's 1976, it's diabolical.

All on the manager here, another dire display devoid of energy, woeful substitutions, horrible, horrible style of football. 23 years we waited and he plays 3 games looking for 0-0's.

And that comes from the manager, he's got it wrong again bit has 45 mins to get it right and make it history.

He has got to earn his wage here, we've been diabolical but find ourselves level. Our midfield have been dreadful, constantly getting by passed and O'Donnell is being exposed time and again. Go and fucking engage them, if we stand off them we are going out, go and be brave for once and win it.

He's obsolete, the fact that he's playing is part of the reason we've got 1 point and 0 goals after 2 games and need to beat the world cup runners up to progress and not even in 2nd place, but in third place.

We've really got to seize the initiative tonight and play to our strengths, play through the technical guys in midfield, use our energy and fitness to try and exploit croatias weakness, which is their lack of pace at centre half (Lovren and Vida) and centre mid (Modric and Kovacic) I'm hearing a lot about how they're not the team they once where and whilst thats entirely true, they can be that team for one night if you give them the space to do so. Modric, Kovacic, Rebic, Persic and Kramaric are all technically gifted and can pass it round you all night if you let them, we need to harass and win the ball back at all costs and use it properly. If we spend all night launching balls upto that useless Aussie prick, the two centre halfs will lap that up all night. Lets go out and play some actual fucking football, it's a beautiful day, keep on the deck, be quick, be intelligent and prove that we are equal and better of technically gifted teams like Croatia.

Serious questions about the fairness of their table tennis match?

He was much improved from his performance against Czech Republic but the reality is he should not be the first choice for that position, one reasonable game doesn't change that.

It's not saying much but he was the best of the midfield by far and he can be a goal threat. McTominay didn't look as if he knew what his role was and McGinn does what he always does when he's struggling games and doesn't want to take responsibility and that's stick his fat arse in the air and try and win free kicks.

Marshall Patterson. Hanley. Tierney Robertson. Gilmour. McTominay. Forrest. McGinn. Armstrong Adams

Correct. We barely opened the Czechs up with any sort of creative or incisive play, most came from balls being knocked down and lumped into the box, our inability to actually create much through the midfield is extremely concerning.

And rightly so, he was having a shot on goal from 35 yards out with the vast majority of players in front of him and players in better positions. In a microcosm, it's an absolutely excellent example of why so few of our players at an elite level

They can both be to blame, it doesn't have to be one or the other.

I find it absolutely astonishing that you don't apportion any blame to Hendry in that scenario. He's 35 yards from goal, there's numerous bodies in front of him, realistically what chance does he have of scoring there? 1%? 2%? Maybe less? It was a dreadful decision and it was only 10/15 minutes into the second half, it reeks of a complete lack of intelligence on his part and if my centre half thinks it's acceptable to try a shot from there then I question what is being coached.

Spot on. Complete lack of intelligence on Hendrys part.

Yesterday was completely demoralising, as soon as the team was named you knew it was going to be a slog. 3 centre halves, O'Donnell over Patterson/Forrest/Fraser and most infuriating of all, Dykes over Adams. We launched the ball aimlessly upto Dykes within the first 30 seconds and you just knew that was how we were going to approach our biggest game in 23 years. Every other team in this tournament has tried to play football, not everyone to the same possession or die attitude of Ukraine or Spain, but teams have tried to be creative and we prioritised physicality over creativity in 2021, it's like the last 15 years didn't happen. The whole attitude of the last week has been 'we are just happy to be here' and as long as we don't lose the first game then it's a good result, a complete losers mentality. We had what was effectively a home game in our first major tournament in 23 years and we played with caution and fear, all at the direction of the manager. Once again, we are out before a balls been kicked, I can't explain how angry that makes me.