Stats from last night

[Bobby Russell's Lovechild]

http://www.uefa.com/european-qualifiers/season=2018/matches/round=2000717/match=2017754/statistics/index.html

 

After Strachan's horseshit excuse that they are bigger boys hoofing it up the pitch and being genetically bigger, the number of passes (and completed ones) along with the possession, suggests how much of the ball was actually kept on the deck by them.

Edited October 9, 2017 by Bobby Russell's Lovechild

[Bino's]

2 minutes ago, Bobby Russell's Lovechild said:

http://www.uefa.com/european-qualifiers/season=2018/matches/round=2000717/match=2017749/statistics/index.html

 

After Strachan's horseshit excuse that they are bigger boys hoofing it up the pitch and being genetically bigger, the number of passes (and completed ones) along with the possession, suggests how much of the ball was actually kept on the deck by them.

we left ourselves outnumbered in midfield which automatically means we will have less possession

[JECK]

They just looked twice as hungry than we did in the second half and I just don't get that. We were abysmal everywhere maybe apart from Griffiths. What did Strachan say to them at half time? I've said before I genuinely like Strachan but those 45 mins were a nightmare. Can't be trusted for another campaign.

[GordyA88]

20 minutes ago, JECK said:

They just looked twice as hungry than we did in the second half and I just don't get that. We were abysmal everywhere maybe apart from Griffiths. What did Strachan say to them at half time? I've said before I genuinely like Strachan but those 45 mins were a nightmare. Can't be trusted for another campaign.

I agree. We were 45 mins away from a play off place. They should have been out with fire in their hearts and running through walls for it. It was insipid. We could all see we were hanging on, fair enough we might have come through it. But he waited till we were dead and buried before changing it. Not good enough from the management.

[Orraloon]

I sometimes think that most Scotland fans never look at what the opposition are doing during games. They just concentrate on what the Scotland players are doing. Which is fair enough, but by doing that they are missing half the game. Slovakia and Slovenia are technically far better than us. You just have to watch how they pass and control the ball to realise that. If Strachan doesn't see that then he is worse than I thought. I think he does know but just doesn't want yo say it. I wouldn't either if I was in his position.

They have much better ball control than us, they pass the ball better and their movement off the ball is far superior. Strachan did try to get us playing nice triangle passing football but the problem was that our players don't have enough technical ability to do it at pace. Our triangles were either static or moving backwards. 

Having said that, Slovenia aren't going to the World Cup either and Slovakia will probably miss out as the worst 2nd place team. 

Why do England always get such an easy draw?

 

[ceudmilefailte]

Surely the best way to play against a team that is technicley  superior is to give them less space by having five in midfield and pressing them as far up the park as possible. Strachan cost us this game that along with the three worst substitutions ever

[andyD]

On 10/9/2017 at 9:39 AM, Bino's said:

we left ourselves outnumbered in midfield which automatically means we will have less possession

We set up to outnumber them in midfield.
Fletcher and McArthur were in there to shield and disrupt, and Bannan was playing in off the flank, not as an actual wide man, so it was really a 3 in central midfield. And it worked.

It's like people have forgotten that we were 1-0 up and reasonably comfortable at half time.

They started better at the start of the 2nd, and Strachan reacted by making the sub to switch to 451, making us even more solid in the middle and putting Anya in so we could better hit them on the break. It was a sensible call, and done early enough that Solvenia hadn't got properly on top and made the most of our slightly unbalanced midfield, which was doubtless something that was talked about during their half time teamtalk.

Sadly for Strahan, and us, Fletcher decided to go thru the back of someone just outside the area and then not mark his man for the resulting freekick. 1-1. That changed the game, and there's absolutely nothing Strachan could do about it. It's 2 foolish moments from the the captain, the most experienced, most decorated player in the squad. From there we just lost the midfield. They had energy and we didn't. Few players have ever moved as slowly and McArthur and Fletcher during that last 40 minutes.

Honestly, if you can bring yourself to watch the game back, I think you'd agree that Strachan didn't actually get much wrong in the game. The first half worked. We were 1-0 up and ok. The change to 451 with Anya made sense. Bringing in Fletcher and Snodgrass up top made sense and the latter got us a goal back. By far the worst thing Strachan actually did on Sunday was to say the word genetics.

[JECK]

Definitely haven't forgotten about the first half and I don't think anyone has really?We were ok the first 45 and of course 1 up.  My point was we didn't look as keen as they did in the second half and am failing to understand that. Fletcher had a mare, no question but it doesn't excuse the rest of the 'midfield' if that's what they were. In fact it was a bottle job all round, couldn't handle the pressure. Still fkin gut wrenching 

[fringo]

1 hour ago, andyD said:

We set up to outnumber them in midfield.
Fletcher and McArthur were in there to shield and disrupt, and Bannan was playing in off the flank, not as an actual wide man, so it was really a 3 in central midfield. And it worked.

It's like people have forgotten that we were 1-0 up and reasonably comfortable at half time.

They started better at the start of the 2nd, and Strachan reacted by making the sub to switch to 451, making us even more solid in the middle and putting Anya in so we could better hit them on the break. It was a sensible call, and done early enough that Solvenia hadn't got properly on top and made the most of our slightly unbalanced midfield, which was doubtless something that was talked about during their half time teamtalk.

Sadly for Strahan, and us, Fletcher decided to go thru the back of someone just outside the area and then not mark his man for the resulting freekick. 1-1. That changed the game, and there's absolutely nothing Strachan could do about it. It's 2 foolish moments from the the captain, the most experienced, most decorated player in the squad. From there we just lost the midfield. They had energy and we didn't. Few players have ever moved as slowly and McArthur and Fletcher during that last 40 minutes.

Honestly, if you can bring yourself to watch the game back, I think you'd agree that Strachan didn't actually get much wrong in the game. The first half worked. We were 1-0 up and ok. The change to 451 with Anya made sense. Bringing in Fletcher and Snodgrass up top made sense and the latter got us a goal back. By far the worst thing Strachan actually did on Sunday was to say the word genetics.

We started with 2 up front unlike much of the campaign, which weakened the midfield.

We didn't deserve to be 1-0 up at HT and got outplayed in the 2nd half with little or not shape for most of it.

Slovenia equalised and then he brought on Anya 1 mins later AFTER they had equalised and we needed to win.

[Caledonian Craig]

Anya was stripped and ready to come on when it was still 0-1. Perhaps Martin had picked up a knock as it was too weird a time to make a substitution. We didn't merit the lead but which of us at that time were complaining? We conceded a needless free-kick, went to sleep at the back and got punished and that knocked us back and give them the momentum. 

[gkm_vancouver]

The tactics may have worked if we held on to the ball a bit longer. However, we sat back too deep, invited them to play and when we won the ball back, we gave it away too quickly resulting in wave after wave of attacks - a bit like what we did to Slovakia last Thursday. When it came to the first goal Gordon didn't know whether to come out for it or not as defence was too close to him  - similar to Kane & England game. For a team that had to win, to try and hold onto a 1-0 lead against a fairly skillful team was asking for trouble unless we got more possession. With 5 men in midfield and Griffiths running his socks off, we should ahve had more possession 2nd half and not let them pummel us - then maybe a different result....

[er yir macaroon]

17 minutes ago, gkm_vancouver said:

The tactics may have worked if we held on to the ball a bit longer. However, we sat back too deep, invited them to play and when we won the ball back, we gave it away too quickly resulting in wave after wave of attacks - a bit like what we did to Slovakia last Thursday. When it came to the first goal Gordon didn't know whether to come out for it or not as defence was too close to him  - similar to Kane & England game. For a team that had to win, to try and hold onto a 1-0 lead against a fairly skillful team was asking for trouble unless we got more possession. With 5 men in midfield and Griffiths running his socks off, we should ahve had more possession 2nd half and not let them pummel us - then maybe a different result....

agreed, it wasn't really working at any stage. We were far too deep the whole game, with the strikers miles away. This meant our midfield had to cover a huge amount of ground and unsurprisingly ran out of steam. McGinn and McGregor should have come on.

[dezmondo]

Fletcher did not have a nightmare! That was never a free kick leading up to their opener. Yes, he missed a great chance and lost his man for the goal but on the whole he was fine.

I do think we've probably been slightly over critical of the performance. If that match is in the middle of the campaign - considering not many teams go there and perform well - we'd be saying it was a decent result.

In saying that though, i do agree they looked like they wanted it more and to say Strachan never got much wrong is wide of the mark. Why it took so long to make the last 2 subs is beyond me. You only have to look at what happened when Snodgrass came on and the energy he offered. I genuinely believe had he brought on MacGregor and snoddy with 25 mins to go we could have won it. 

[Paulo2576]

5 hours ago, andyD said:

We set up to outnumber them in midfield.
Fletcher and McArthur were in there to shield and disrupt, and Bannan was playing in off the flank, not as an actual wide man, so it was really a 3 in central midfield. And it worked.

It's like people have forgotten that we were 1-0 up and reasonably comfortable at half time.

They started better at the start of the 2nd, and Strachan reacted by making the sub to switch to 451, making us even more solid in the middle and putting Anya in so we could better hit them on the break. It was a sensible call, and done early enough that Solvenia hadn't got properly on top and made the most of our slightly unbalanced midfield, which was doubtless something that was talked about during their half time teamtalk.

Sadly for Strahan, and us, Fletcher decided to go thru the back of someone just outside the area and then not mark his man for the resulting freekick. 1-1. That changed the game, and there's absolutely nothing Strachan could do about it. It's 2 foolish moments from the the captain, the most experienced, most decorated player in the squad. From there we just lost the midfield. They had energy and we didn't. Few players have ever moved as slowly and McArthur and Fletcher during that last 40 minutes.

Honestly, if you can bring yourself to watch the game back, I think you'd agree that Strachan didn't actually get much wrong in the game. The first half worked. We were 1-0 up and ok. The change to 451 with Anya made sense. Bringing in Fletcher and Snodgrass up top made sense and the latter got us a goal back. By far the worst thing Strachan actually did on Sunday was to say the word genetics.

Andy. You are by far the most balanced and sensible poster on here, but your letting yourself down with your incessant campaign against Darren fletcher. Overall I think he was our best player over those 2 games but that of course is open to debate, but most people have acknowledged he at least did ok. You were pretty vocal before these games about what you thought of him and it comes across like a witch hunt on your part.