Chripper
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Posts posted by Chripper
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4 hours ago, ErsatzThistle said:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/snooker/47311055
0.23 seconds in. (Woman on the left)
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1 minute ago, Tartan Chris said:
Would be more of a 1 nil job I think.
Bigger worry is Finland are having a similar sort of uplift and had some brilliant results in the nations league. Beat Armenia away 2-0 in euros qualifying who are similar level to Kazhakstan.
Would be a tough play off.
Kazakhstan beat us 3:0, so I'm guessing it would be larger than 3 nil.
I quite like seeing smaller nations getting their act together and pulling in the same direction. It shows that there are FA's out there who really care about their national team.
Honestly, our stock is so low that I could only see us beating Faroe Islands and San Marino... anyone else and I'd be worried.
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2 minutes ago, Tartan Chris said:
Fair point although that still dosen't make their core squad of 20 play for better clubs in europe....
More they've had an excellent NT manager for last five years (Lars Lagerback) who could organise them properly and so confidence grew from that.
They also had a really good under 21 team in 2009 that qualified for that euros (Glyfi Sigurdsson was part of that) so group of players who've come through the system together and know each others games inside out. Wales in last 10 years have been similar.
I know. In fairness, though, their country is too small to really produce players that are going to play for Real Madrid or Barca, etc.
Agreed.
I know. Their achievements haven't been an overnight thing. They've been doing the proper things for more than a decade now. They're a country of 300k and they'd probably beat us 4 or 5 nil.
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17 minutes ago, Tartan Chris said:
Andy Robertson was a key player for Hull in their championship season in 2015-16.
Not saying they're all going to be brilliant in the premier league (Rhodes is hardly getting a game for Norwich now so he's one that won't be in the prem next season) but I reckon a couple of them will step up nicely if given a proper chance.
Bigger issue here is the negative mentality and mindset around the Scottish game currently which means the NT often play like 11 strangers and lack of commitment.
Andy Robertson is an anomaly. He made it because of his character and because of a steely resolve. The general Scottish player thinks they've made it simply by being a professional player. What makes top players what they are is the continual will to improve. Look at Tony Watt for example, he scored against Barcelona and he his progression stopped as he believed the hype.
On the continent they don't just produce top footballers, they also produce top human beings. Just look at Clairefontaine, they don't just teach kids how to play football, they also teach the mind as the schooling goes hand-in-hand with coaching. Meanwhile in Scotland, we're producing human beings like Garry O'Connor and Jason Cummings...
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9 minutes ago, Tartan Chris said:
Alright let's try Iceland then who have just had a golden last five years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland_national_football_team
Cardiff, Burnley, Villa, Darmstadt, Augsburg, Rostov, Brondby provide their regular players....
Difference is their players are full of confidence and believe they'll get results even if they go a goal down as they did to Argentina in the last world cup.
As soon as Scotland concede a goal heads drop and the world is expected to end as it pretty much in Astana.
Of course more ability is needed but the mentality of the squad is at an all time low.
It's not just about confidence. Have you any idea how many indoor facilities and general pitches they have in Iceland?
They're a country of about 300k people and yet they have more proper facilities than we do, both for summer and winter training. If people wonder why we're useless at football, that's one reason.
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6 minutes ago, daviebee said:
When we almost beat England we were organised and knew what we were doing. I'm hoping the next boss will do the same for us, no matter the formation. You might be pleasantly surprised if it's 4 at the back.
With your preference you want to take (arguably) the 2 best left-backs in the UK and play neither of them in their natural position!
Do you see what I mean, though? We've been playing with a four for 18 years. No success.
We play with 3 at the back for a few matches, the results don't go our way, so we go back to the tried and failed system.
Oh, there's no doubting that the next manager will play 4 at the back.
I would play Robertson as an anchorman, as he'd be more involved in that position and I'd play Tierney as a left wingback.
Too many people are stuck on the "natural position" thing. I suggest people read the article about David Alaba I posted. He's been left back, anchorman and apparently his best position is as a number 10. Top players are versatile.
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1 minute ago, ceudmilefailte said:
The master of twisting facts.
He has managed three clubs and nearly won the best of the rest EPL in England in another., but still only survied a year and a half at West Brom. Caretaker at Villa and they decided Steve Bruce was a better option. Won't even bother mentioning Reading as that is self explanatory
You stay in your little SPL gold fish ball were you think finishing fourth or fifth makes a good manager.
Forget who he has worked with add up how many years he has actually managed clubs. Then ask your self why? Also ask yourself why he ended up at Killie and don't say it was his childhood dream
Your probably think that club management and international management are the same thing, well that just shows an ignorance of the whole concept of people management. He has no experience what so ever at international level.
If they want to bend over backwards they can go for Bilic, if they want some one to bend over for them they can get Clarke.
Irrelevant. People are saying that he's "inexperienced". He is not.
Ew. SPL goldfish bowl? You do realize that I want to rip up the SPL and begin again, right? lol.
He ended up at Killie because he was treated horribly by West Brom. There's a reason why Fulham are looking at him. There's a reason why Mourinho trusted him. There's a reason why Dalglish trusted him. There's a reason why Gullit trusted him. People are saying that he's inexperienced and he's this and he's that, but the fact of the matter is that he's worked with superstars, he's worked under a great manager and he's on a different level to the other names on our shortlist.
He has no experience at international level? I disagree. He's worked with top foreign players, he's coached them and knows how they work. This to me gives him "international" experience. And what international experience did O'Neill have? Craig Brown? You can only have international experience if you're given a chance. If every single international team only hired managers with international experience then it would be akin to musical chairs and eventually they wouldn't be able to hire anyone, as the ones with international experience have all died.
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Just now, Tartan Chris said:
Irish national teams pick from the same pool last time I looked.
Is that really the gold standard?
Yikes. If we're really using the Irish team as a barometer of success then we truly are doomed.
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Just now, Tartan Chris said:
A couple of them are actually key players for their club sides.
Yes, but at Championship level.
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17 minutes ago, Stapes said:
Anyone see Gary Wilson's shot on the green against Selby? Leans on the butt of the rest to raise the metal end off the baize above the blue ball. Great shot, but wondering why they no longer use extended spiders or swan neck rests.
I wasn't watching.
Not to sound like a misogynist, but did anyone watch the Robertson vs Murphy match?
To the left of the players seats, second to the right, was the most beautiful woman I've ever seen at a snooker match. Hopefully she's there for the second session tomorrow.
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9 minutes ago, daviebee said:
And we played 3/5 at the back against Israel and got fkin humped as well! 2-1 going on 6 or 7 FFS. I wonder what the common factor was?
So, you're citing one match over a period of 18 years? How about when we almost beat England?
We've been playing with 4 at the back continuously for 18 years. We've played with 3 at the back for what, five matches in that period? I don't think it's fair to bring up one match, as I could mention 18 years worth of embarrassment.
If we had played with a 3/5 at the back for two or three year and we were still hopeless at it, then fine, but we haven't given it a consistent chance.
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52 minutes ago, stevenmcn said:
Aye, exactly. In terms of experience, the only other manager linked to the job with as much experience is Moyes, who incidentally while not my first choice, I'd be quite happy with. I think he's been written off too early IMO.
A few years ago I'd say yes, but I don't know. He's always flirted with the Scotland job saying that he wants it one day... but his stock has fallen so far that I'm not even sure he's in the frame. His confidence must be dented with the United, Sunderland debacle and not to mention his La Liga journey.
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23 minutes ago, mccaughey85 said:
Well i would say the Celtic players mcgregor, Tierney, forrest and griffiths would be good players in the epl, add the epl players of Robertson, Fraser, snodgrass,mctominay and armstrong then you have the basis of a decent team imo. Mcginn is getting rave reviews at villa and will probably be playing epl sometime soon. Another positive is they are all 26 and under bar Griffith's. Imo all that is needed is two epl class cbs and you have a decent side that should qualify for the euros under good management. I think it's just a case that you don't rate most of our players bar one or two. This is understandable but imo the players are not that bad and plenty of countries achieve better results with far worse players, for example ni and Iceland.
Errrrr… that's what we said about Armstrong, and he's struggling. But yes, the EPL isn't an incredible league where only the strongest survive. Look at McArthur and Arfield, those two did well in the EPL. But yes, I would imagine that McGregor, Griffiths and Forrest would be with an EPL team like Burnley. The only player out of those Celtic players that would do well with a top 6 team is Tierney. The others would be treading water.
Errr…. If Armstrong can't break into a pretty poor Southampton team then I don't think we should pin our hopes on him. Snodgrass is pretty much retired.
McGinn getting rave reviews in the Championship is akin to a player getting rave reviews in the SPL. It means nothing. And yes, an EPL team will probably buy him for £15m (Probably a team like Burnley), but that just goes to show how crazy English football is.
No. They are that bad. The struggled against the worst ranked international team on planet Earth. People can blame McLeish all they like, but the fact is that the players are the ones who froze against Kazakhstan and the players are the ones who looked the equal of the worst team on Earth.
13 minutes ago, mrniaboc said:There haven't been many Kazakhs in the lower end of the EPL, or even the the upper end of the Championship, recently. In fact, most of their squad play for mid-table Russian clubs. A standard far below that of the English league. To call these lads hopeless is unbelievably negative and misinformed.
With the right management and team spirit these guys could perform wonders in a Scotland jersey. Just look at Robson-Kanu at the last Euros for Christ's sake!
Which just goes to show how bad our players are, and how over-rated English football is (barring the top 6 of the EPL)
In order to shape our team we must scrap the 4 at the back system. It's too open and we don't have the central defenders for it. In other worse, we have to pack the defence and condense the middle of the park. We have to be hard to beat and that can only be done by playing with a 3/5 defence.
The tagline of "our players are comfortable with four at the back as they play it every week" got obliterated when Kazakhstan pulverized us.
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3 minutes ago, stevenmcn said:
Definitely. There will be people wondering why the guy who's only done quite well with Kilmarnock is deserving of the Scotland job unaware of his history and will be quite surprised after reading your post above. Someone the other day compared Clarke's achievements with those of Levein 🤔
Seriously?!
If you really take stock of who Clarke has worked with and who he's coached I think it's clear that the SFA should bend over backwards to get him in. If they don't... I think we should all chuck it in.
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1 minute ago, mccaughey85 said:
It comes back to my point about expectations, most countries of our size and ability have squad players that are from the English championship and are the same standard as fleck or mclean, if you are expecting that to change anytime soon then you will be disappointed to say the least. Also we have had players in our squads from the English second tier for at least 20 years from what I can remember albeit in the last 15 years it has become a far larger share of the squad. The expectation I personally have is that we can field a team of players that are good players in the epl or any of Europe's top leagues and to have a few players who are at top clubs in Europe, eg Robertson and mctominay. I would be very surprised if most of the members on this board expect much more than that and if they do then they are deluding themselves imo. I also believe we are only a few players away from this goal like for instance a couple of top cbs would be needed and a good striker unless we can get Griffith's back. What we are also missing is good management that can make us good enough to qualify for tournaments.
Nah. It won't change anytime soon. I don't expect it to ever change, as no one who has any real say in Scottish football wants change.
It's me being pragmatic when I call those players useless, because they are. Why dance around the subject.
The expectation you personally have is that we can field a team of players that are good players in the epl or any of Europe's top leagues and to have a few players who are at top clubs in Europe, eg Robertson and McTominay? I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon, to be fair. We have how many eligible players in the EPL (apart from Robertson and McTominay)? two or three? And one of them is McDonald....
Ever since I called for the reintroduction of the 3-5-2 in this place I've been soundly mocked, but in reality if we play a system that everyone else plays we will get thrashed. Man United played 3-5-2 against Man City because City are better than them. That pretty much sums it up. Okay, City won (through two goalkeeping errors) but that had nothing to do with the system that United played.
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1 minute ago, killiefaetheferry said:
It seems obvious but nobody on here has said it.
I know.
He hasn't exactly had many stand out games for Scotland, mainly because the supply-line is not up the standard that he's used to. Moving him into midfield would involve him more and he'd make a greater influence. Imagine him and McTominay in central midfield, add a more creative spark and we'd be getting somewhere.
Plus the fact that we have Tierney, it makes more sense.
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2 minutes ago, stevenmcn said:
Because a lot of people know very little about football and had probably hardly heard of him before he rolled up at Killie.
I'd bet a lot of money on that being the case.
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2 minutes ago, mccaughey85 said:
Firstly the guys mentioned by firstbluescot are hardly first team players, they are mostly squad players (bar mcginn)who are only going to fill in when someone is injured.
Secondly what is your expectations regarding our squad, it's unlikely that we will ever have 23 or more players like Robertson and mctominay who are at top clubs or a Fraser who could play at a top club. The players mentioned are hardly hopeless but admittedly they are not top level players but they are good players at English championship level.
Thirdly international football is not always a high standard, most small countries like ourselves have players that come from the English championship or other second tier leagues across Europe, English championship players do compete at international level and have performed well at international level. Ni and Iceland along with countless other small countries rely on English championship players.
But that's the point, isn't it? The fact that those players are even in our squad speaks volumes of how rotten we are. I wouldn't agree with you, though, Cooper is easily as good as Souttar or McKenna, etc. And Fleck and McLean are pretty much the same standard as McGregor, etc.
I kinda agree and kinda not on the third point. It's not always a high standard, it's just a different standard. The fact that so many of our clubs keep getting knocked out at early stages of domestic European competitions is pretty much a signal that our players can't compete with foreign players. They can't even compete against Kazakhstan!
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1 minute ago, killiefaetheferry said:
Robertson in midfield ? That's a new one ! Need to think but possibility it could work.
The lad is tigerish. Imagine him in midfield. He's be like John McGinn but with more intelligence and far more class.
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This is a good article about Alaba's versatility, and it also touches on Kimmich, too: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2677560-bayern-munichs-david-alaba-is-so-much-more-than-the-worlds-best-left-back
The youth academy director of Austria Vienna actually says that Alaba's best position is just behind the striker.
Robertson is easily the equal of both Kimmich and Alaba, so if anyone is genuinely suggesting that Robertson couldn't be equally as effective in midfield as he is at left back then I'd suggest that those people are underestimating how good Robertson is.
As far as midfielders, all we have is McTominay. The rest are garbage. Moving Robertson into midfield would be a masterstroke. Let's just hope our next manager is genius enough to notice.
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52 minutes ago, runningtings said:
Weirdly he is in that team as a left back and not as a defensive midfielder...
Liverpool have Keita, Fabinho, Henderson, Wijnaldum, Shaqiri to play in midfield.
If they had to rely on players of the ilk of Christie, McGregor, McDonald, McGinn, Fleck then I'd image that Andrew Robertson would be reimagined into an anchorman.
If he played in midfield he'd be involved a lot more than he is. And generally, in terms of football, having your better players more involved is a good thing, just ask Austria with Alaba (Full back for club, anchorman for country) or Germany with Kimmich (fullback for club, anchorman for country).
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7 minutes ago, noctonjock said:
Really? I wouldn't say hopeless. Cooper especially is very important to leeds and is also a lot better than 3/4 of our centre backs and Fleck is also a good player who has proved it the last 2 seasons .
Honestly, I think "hopeless" is still too kind.
All of them are Championship/lower half of the EPL standard players.
International level is a couple of notches above, which is why our players struggle even against the poorest of teams.
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Why do some people think Steve Clarke is inexperienced? Are they new to Earth?
In coaching terms he was Gullit's assistant manager at Newcastle, he also had a spell were he was caretaker, coaching players like Alan Shearer, etc. He was Mourinho's assistant where they won two EPL titles, an FA cup and two league cups. In season 08/09 he was the highest paid assistant manager in the EPL whilst at West Ham. At Liverpool he was first team coach under Dalglish, coaching players like Suarez.
He gave WBA their highest top league finish since 1981. He was manager of Reading, but it was never a good fit. He was also assistant manager to Di Matteo at Aston Villa.
Is this is inexperience then Levein, Burley, McLeish, Strachan, etc, were newcomers to football.
Next Scotland Manager ?
in TA specific
Posted
No. I think if we had a vote Clarke would get the nod.
That was my thinking, too. It would be like when McLeish's first stint.