mrniaboc

I'm a golfer, and recently after 20 years of playing I developed real problem. On the putting green I would get all my putts close or hole them with no thought about it, but once I stepped on the course I couldn't do it. Not only could I not do it, but my entire style and mindset changed. Mentally I fell to bits, even over the easiest of putts. I'm sure most of you will know in sports this condition is called the yips. It's a mental issue that manifests itself in your physical performance and can completely destroy sporting careers. The Scotland national team have the yips BIG STYLE and it's hard to watch.

Judging by the reaction on Twitter McBurnie may receive a tough time from the crowd tonight. Let's hope the TA at the match are not the same as the dicks on social media...

Hahaha no, I'm calling the general internet user thick. The fact that it was default made that formation the most popular choice because most people will not have realised they could have changed it. I do not have a PhD in web design, hence how I'm still alive, but I do work in that area too.

Yes! It's the team I wanted for once! To be honest, it's the team most of us wanted, and a bit of a no-brainer.

Personally I'll miss you around here for the next 30 days. You have the effect of galvanising everyone against you and supporting Scotland even more!

4-4-2 was the default. That means the one that is shown before you change it. The vast majority of fans will not have realised they could change the formation. Trust me, I work in web design.

About 65% of tonight's probable starting line up, and they all play for teams with a back 4.

With your industry analogy you're failing to take into account the fixed size of a football team. A company wouldn't hire multiple people for one position if it meant they had to get rid of their best people in other positions. I will tell you Clarke knows better than you no matter what, until you get your Uefa coaching badges. I mean how deluded do you have to be? If you are on a plane and it hits some bad turbulence do you try and burst into the cockpit and tell the pilot what he should do? I imagine you visit the GP and diagnose their ailments for them hahaha. Read up on the Dunning-Kruger effect for the love of God.

So we're weakest in goals, at the back, and up front right? So by your logic we pack another centre half in there and play two wing backs. We can't put more than one goalie in between the sticks unfortunately, but we can chuck another striker up front right? Because we're weak there. Needs more than one man to do the job. So now we're playing a 5-3-2, most of our top players are stuck on the bench, and the ones on the pitch are out of their usual positions, and we're playing against a team who will waltz through our empty midfield and then come up against 3 terrible centre backs. What will happen then? They will score. With ease. That's what will happen then. Ps: Scot Gemmill doesn't know best. OGS doesn't know best. Steve Clarke doesn't know best. They all know better.

We did not. But for every France 2006 there are many many more home games against top nations where we have lost.

You're comparing yourself to Luther? That renegade copper is always getting himself and those around him into serious danger due to his flagrant disregard for the conventional way of doing things!

Haha I am indeed, and I'm all for thinking outside the box and experimenting. In fact, I have made a living from it. But what we also do is try and consider all variables that may be causing a phenomenon and not just get transfixed on one that we like in the face of all evidence against it. Learn from the mistakes of Arthur Eddington and Fred Hoyle. I get what you're saying. Why not mix things up a bit? Try something new! Pack the back and middle of the park. It makes sense, until you consider the multiple other pieces of information that suggest that's a bad idea with the current manager and squad.

The reality is Clarke is a professional football manager with decades of experience at the highest levels of the game. I'd eager he's put some serious thought into the best formation for his team. Even more than us sad acts on here!

Haha I know, but he's not always spouting nonsense. Sometimes just a bit reductionist and radical without considering the reality of the situation.

Despite actually seriously considering your stance on this and almost being convinced at points, and despite really really not wanting to reopen this whole debate, I am completed to say that you really have to not attribute causation to correlation. Saying we qualified because of the formation is really hard to defend. We qualified because of many different factors, you even mention them later in your post. This isn't '96, it's not the same squad and it's not the same manager. It's not even the same game to a point! You have to play to your strengths, and we have a manager who knows how to make an average team hard to beat with a back four, and a bunch of good players in attacking positions who are used to fitting into a formation with a back four. To ask that manager and those players to adapt to an entirely new formation and new positions in a 4-day training camp and then execute it successfully in a competitive international match is absolute suicide. Your defence for this decision is not as strong as you think. It's tantamount to suggesting we call up Del Amitri and ask them to write us a song. Correlation does not imply causation.

I think you're right. I'd be surprised if the starting lineup doesn't look very similar to this.

Seriously though, looking at the 6 from that fateful night versus the 6 we have on offer right now we have: Caldwell D Fletcher Naismith Mackie Morrison Dorrans vs McTominay McGregor McGinn Fraser Forrest Christie Who would be your best 6 from those 12 players? I think I'd go with Fletch then any 5 from the second 6. See, our squad is actually quite promising when you compare it to recent history!

Yup. If you offered me the absolute worst 0-0 draw in the history of the game I would snatch it out of your hand right now and run for the hills.

Who's Armstrong? Seriously though, if Armstrong started ahead of him McGinn would have a strong case to take before the employment tribunal.

This is pretty much it. Harsh on Christie given his form, but he'll be a great sub to bring on!

You never fail to crack me up with a starting 11 and formation.

Did anyone see McBurnie in action for Sheffield at the weekend? He got involved well in a bunch of link up play with the midfiand strikers. I think he has a lot more to his game than some give him credit for, and I really hope he starts on Friday ahead of the other options.

This is a good post, but it would be even better if the vast majority of your posts weren't about detailing how shite you think the Scotland team is 😂😂😂

Saw Neymar tear us apart and score his first goals for Brazil when we played them at the Emirates a few years back.

By the same reasoning anyone who disses Scotland shouldn't be on the TAMB. Gonna be real quiet around here.