Caledonian Craig Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 The reason why Eck is going with this formation I reckon is it suits our best players as in Tierney and Robertson. Both are far too attacking just to play as holding full-backs. At least as wing-backs it gives them license to attack more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slasher Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 2 minutes ago, Hertsscot said: Maybe he just wanted to experiment. Phillips has played up the middle before and he'd seen what McBurnie could do in the first game Maybe, although I would've thought as one of only two strikers in the squad Cummings in particular might have expected a bit more game time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hertsscot Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 Just now, slasher said: Maybe, although I would've thought as one of only two strikers in the squad Cummings in particular might have expected a bit more game time Agreed, give them 15 minutes or so to make an impression. Not 3 mins into extra time, what's the point of that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caledonian Craig Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 Good exercise those two games have been. McKenna has been the stand-out and tonight's midfield trio showed they can work well together. Also Hendry done himself no harm tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BucksburnDandy Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 A good win tonight and importantly a performance with personnel much more suited to a high intensity style of play. While I still felt we looked a bit uncomfortable in the formation we settled into it a bit better in the second half. Encouragingly I feel we got answers to the conundrums of the back three, midfield and right wing back. At the back, Ted was man of the match, outstanding. Hendry showed a maturity beyond his years. Both were good readers of the game and physically battled very well. Mulgrew meanwhile looked disappointing for the second game in succession and is questionable moving forward. KT could well replace Mulgrew and if so, it would be deserved. At right wing back, Fraser did really well. He was defensively pretty sound, more sound than Paterson. Going forward while he wasn't as good as normal, his ball for the cross shows that he has quality when it matters. A much more assured display than "Dr Funk" and that should assure him of a place ahead of CP in the pecking order. The middle three of McGinn, Armstrong and McGregor was exactly the high energy, intense, assured combination that we need. McGinn was a lot more judicious in his tackling than before until the final 10 minutes and had a good night. Armstrong is just a class act in there and has to be a first choice. McGregor did a lot of off the ball work, tidy in possession and carried the ball well. McTominay v McGinn will be the one real battle moving forward, not a bad battle to have. While Phillips did well tonight, he's not a natural striker. Perhaps dropping Forrest for Griffiths and having Phillips doing the work around him pulling wide would work well. What I will say is Phillips showed a work rate and quality I haven't seen from him in a Scotland shirt before. Overall a good bit more encouragement than Friday, a step towards a starting team. Importantly plenty of youth there and also a good mix of home based and Anglo based players. Not the finished article but a good bit closer to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmishBoy Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 Felt it was a comfortable performance and provided some optimism after a poor display on Friday. Phillips had his best game in a Scotland shirt; held the ball up well and was a nice finish for the goal. The midfield three of Armstrong, McGinn & McGregor were very good and I would like to see more of this. Two young lads at centre back played really well and with Tierney being able to move in there, it is potentially quite exciting. Thought Fraser was a bit wasted playing where he was & once again Forrest was fairly anonymous. Would have liked to have seen one of the keepers get time, but McGregor pulled off a couple of good saves. Overall there's certainly room for improvement but also much to be cautiously optimistic about, even though that was a poor Hungary side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hertsscot Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 Different type of midfield tonight compared to Friday, lot more energy. Friday's team even on paper looked too static and lacking in energy (Cairney, McDonald, Ritchie). No real defensive sitting midfielders tonight, is that the way forward or horses for courses? Seems to have been some positives come out of this, particularly amongst the newcomers: McKenna is a real contender for a central defensive position, McTominay has decided for us (he may or may nt beceome a regualr fixture but if he'd chosen England we would never know), McBurnie may offer a bit more competition and depth up front Also McGregor and Armstrong can add a bit of energy to a midfield lacking Scot Brown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanderark14 Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 3 minutes ago, BucksburnDandy said: A good win tonight and importantly a performance with personnel much more suited to a high intensity style of play. While I still felt we looked a bit uncomfortable in the formation we settled into it a bit better in the second half. Encouragingly I feel we got answers to the conundrums of the back three, midfield and right wing back. At the back, Ted was man of the match, outstanding. Hendry showed a maturity beyond his years. Both were good readers of the game and physically battled very well. Mulgrew meanwhile looked disappointing for the second game in succession and is questionable moving forward. KT could well replace Mulgrew and if so, it would be deserved. At right wing back, Fraser did really well. He was defensively pretty sound, more sound than Paterson. Going forward while he wasn't as good as normal, his ball for the cross shows that he has quality when it matters. A much more assured display than "Dr Funk" and that should assure him of a place ahead of CP in the pecking order. The middle three of McGinn, Armstrong and McGregor was exactly the high energy, intense, assured combination that we need. McGinn was a lot more judicious in his tackling than before until the final 10 minutes and had a good night. Armstrong is just a class act in there and has to be a first choice. McGregor did a lot of off the ball work, tidy in possession and carried the ball well. McTominay v McGinn will be the one real battle moving forward, not a bad battle to have. While Phillips did well tonight, he's not a natural striker. Perhaps dropping Forrest for Griffiths and having Phillips doing the work around him pulling wide would work well. What I will say is Phillips showed a work rate and quality I haven't seen from him in a Scotland shirt before. Overall a good bit more encouragement than Friday, a step towards a starting team. Importantly plenty of youth there and also a good mix of home based and Anglo based players. Not the finished article but a good bit closer to it. Good post, agree with everything Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas Pete Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 4 minutes ago, Caledonian Craig said: Good exercise those two games have been. McKenna has been the stand-out and tonight's midfield trio showed they can work well together. Also Hendry done himself no harm tonight. I thought almost everyone played well tonight. Forrest did his usual hee haw but I thought Phillips did Ok considering he’s not a centre forward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfingers Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 The centre of the park looked dynamic and exciting. From the players who haven’t featured tonight I would put in Tierney, griffiths and Berra. Difficult to play a 3 at the back when we’ve got players like Forrest and Fraser who aren’t wing backs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
er yir macaroon Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 (edited) 12 minutes ago, BucksburnDandy said: A good win tonight and importantly a performance with personnel much more suited to a high intensity style of play. While I still felt we looked a bit uncomfortable in the formation we settled into it a bit better in the second half. Encouragingly I feel we got answers to the conundrums of the back three, midfield and right wing back. At the back, Ted was man of the match, outstanding. Hendry showed a maturity beyond his years. Both were good readers of the game and physically battled very well. Mulgrew meanwhile looked disappointing for the second game in succession and is questionable moving forward. KT could well replace Mulgrew and if so, it would be deserved. At right wing back, Fraser did really well. He was defensively pretty sound, more sound than Paterson. Going forward while he wasn't as good as normal, his ball for the cross shows that he has quality when it matters. A much more assured display than "Dr Funk" and that should assure him of a place ahead of CP in the pecking order. The middle three of McGinn, Armstrong and McGregor was exactly the high energy, intense, assured combination that we need. McGinn was a lot more judicious in his tackling than before until the final 10 minutes and had a good night. Armstrong is just a class act in there and has to be a first choice. McGregor did a lot of off the ball work, tidy in possession and carried the ball well. McTominay v McGinn will be the one real battle moving forward, not a bad battle to have. While Phillips did well tonight, he's not a natural striker. Perhaps dropping Forrest for Griffiths and having Phillips doing the work around him pulling wide would work well. What I will say is Phillips showed a work rate and quality I haven't seen from him in a Scotland shirt before. Overall a good bit more encouragement than Friday, a step towards a starting team. Importantly plenty of youth there and also a good mix of home based and Anglo based players. Not the finished article but a good bit closer to it. Agree with most of this. It’s hard to say what our best side is. If 3-5-2, the right side is unresolved, but I suppose Griffiths and Phillips upfront. Back three Hendry, McKenna and Tierney but not without risks in terms of experience. I still think McRorie will have a lot to offer in future, either to challenge Hendry in the three or as a right back in a four (even though he is relatively untested there). He’s a cracking player and could play anywhere, much like Tierney. Edited March 27, 2018 by er yir macaroon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hertsscot Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 1 minute ago, bigfingers said: The centre of the park looked dynamic and exciting. From the players who haven’t featured tonight I would put in Tierney, griffiths and Berra. Difficult to play a 3 at the back when we’ve got players like Forrest and Fraser who aren’t wing backs. So our problem would be finding a right wing back? I can't say Fraser is best used there, Paterson is still going to be questionable defensively, Bardsley probably won't go forward as much, Anya? Any other options? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Windae cleaner Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 Lots more drive and determination in the middle of the park tonight, McKenna and Hendry were excellent for such a young pairing. With Tierney and Griffiths coming back the future looks bright. Almost makes you believe that we can qualify for a major tournament again.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toepoke Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 5 minutes ago, Hertsscot said: So our problem would be finding a right wing back? I can't say Fraser is best used there, Paterson is still going to be questionable defensively, Bardsley probably won't go forward as much, Anya? Any other options? Stevie O'Donnell, best right back in the Premiership at the mo... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JECK Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 Mckenna outstanding definitely but I feel McGregors performance has been somewhat glossed over. He spoke a good game before it about wanting to win etc and I thought he was excellent. Not giving the ball away is imperative at this level he was almost perfection tonight in this regard. Great touch in tight areas as well, he promises much.We should build the team around this lad I feel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fringo Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 28 minutes ago, BucksburnDandy said: A good win tonight and importantly a performance with personnel much more suited to a high intensity style of play. While I still felt we looked a bit uncomfortable in the formation we settled into it a bit better in the second half. Encouragingly I feel we got answers to the conundrums of the back three, midfield and right wing back. At the back, Ted was man of the match, outstanding. Hendry showed a maturity beyond his years. Both were good readers of the game and physically battled very well. Mulgrew meanwhile looked disappointing for the second game in succession and is questionable moving forward. KT could well replace Mulgrew and if so, it would be deserved. At right wing back, Fraser did really well. He was defensively pretty sound, more sound than Paterson. Going forward while he wasn't as good as normal, his ball for the cross shows that he has quality when it matters. A much more assured display than "Dr Funk" and that should assure him of a place ahead of CP in the pecking order. The middle three of McGinn, Armstrong and McGregor was exactly the high energy, intense, assured combination that we need. McGinn was a lot more judicious in his tackling than before until the final 10 minutes and had a good night. Armstrong is just a class act in there and has to be a first choice. McGregor did a lot of off the ball work, tidy in possession and carried the ball well. McTominay v McGinn will be the one real battle moving forward, not a bad battle to have. While Phillips did well tonight, he's not a natural striker. Perhaps dropping Forrest for Griffiths and having Phillips doing the work around him pulling wide would work well. What I will say is Phillips showed a work rate and quality I haven't seen from him in a Scotland shirt before. Overall a good bit more encouragement than Friday, a step towards a starting team. Importantly plenty of youth there and also a good mix of home based and Anglo based players. Not the finished article but a good bit closer to it. No competition at the moment. McGinn for now 100%. I thought McTominay was average on Friday but he's only had one cap and very young and spoken highly of for the future. I can't see how he could overthrow McGinn for the next few games at least . As you say though, great problem to have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fringo Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 7 minutes ago, JECK said: Mckenna outstanding definitely but I feel McGregors performance has been somewhat glossed over. He spoke a good game before it about wanting to win etc and I thought he was excellent. Not giving the ball away is imperative at this level he was almost perfection tonight in this regard. Great touch in tight areas as well, he promises much.We should build the team around this lad I feel. Hardly, most people seem to be saying that he along with McGinn and Armstrong should be a starting trio of future Scotland midfields for a time to come. Lots of praise for all 3 and the way they played together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkyBlueScot Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 Some good thoughts above, not only on tonight but over the two games. I agree that Right Wing Back is our biggest conundrum (if we persist with that formation). Not sure Fraser is the answer. However, my stand out over the two games was McGregor. I thought he was superb today, a great performance. We know that Griffiths and Tierney are definites so you start to see an actual team forming with Tierney, Robertson, McKenna, McGinn, Armstrong, McGregor and Griffiths as the ones to build it round. McTominay is still young and should be allowed time to develop and a question is whether you can have McGinn and him in the team together. Is that possible if you then have Armstrong, McGregor and Griffiths ahead? One problem I did notice is that on too many occasions Roberston went forward and there was nobody ahead of him to pass to. If you are going to have wing-backs you need to have midfielder/front men going wide to work with them, not leave the wing-backs to do it alone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkyBlueScot Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 Oh, and I don't think we should be careful not to say "tonight's performance was good, Friday's was poor so we'll just stick with tonight's players.". Cairney is a player I'd like to see a lot more of as I have heard such good things about it. Would like him to get his chance again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fringo Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 2 minutes ago, SkyBlueScot said: Some good thoughts above, not only on tonight but over the two games. I agree that Right Wing Back is our biggest conundrum (if we persist with that formation). Not sure Fraser is the answer. However, my stand out over the two games was McGregor. I thought he was superb today, a great performance. We know that Griffiths and Tierney are definites so you start to see an actual team forming with Tierney, Robertson, McKenna, McGinn, Armstrong, McGregor and Griffiths as the ones to build it round. McTominay is still young and should be allowed time to develop and a question is whether you can have McGinn and him in the team together. Is that possible if you then have Armstrong, McGregor and Griffiths ahead? One problem I did notice is that on too many occasions Roberston went forward and there was nobody ahead of him to pass to. If you are going to have wing-backs you need to have midfielder/front men going wide to work with them, not leave the wing-backs to do it alone. That's sounds quite interesting and promising actually. Regarding Robertson, for all the criticism Ritchie got on here on Friday, I thought he linked really well with Robertson and helped Robertson in his runs forward. As you say, he didn't have that tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fringo Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 4 minutes ago, SkyBlueScot said: Oh, and I don't think we should be careful not to say "tonight's performance was good, Friday's was poor so we'll just stick with tonight's players.". Cairney is a player I'd like to see a lot more of as I have heard such good things about it. Would like him to get his chance again. Same here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfingers Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 I think cairney would have played well in that midfield tonight and not with the mediocrity of kev macdonald and Matt Ritchie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tartan Chris Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 Game that won't live long in the memory. Small steps though. Winning away to the likes of Hungary is the sort of result that in a competitive group would help you get a play off place or automatic with the euros qualifiers. Norn Iron did it in the 2016 qualifiers. Scotland hardly ever seem to win away to pot 3/4 team in the group. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tartan Chris Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 15 minutes ago, bigfingers said: I think cairney would have played well in that midfield tonight and not with the mediocrity of kev macdonald and Matt Ritchie. He plays well enough most weeks with McDonald for his club team. International football is a little different of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clyde1998 Posted March 27, 2018 Author Share Posted March 27, 2018 3 minutes ago, Tartan Chris said: Winning away to the likes of Hungary is the sort of result that in a competitive group would help you get a play off place or automatic with the euros qualifiers. Norn Iron did it in the 2016 qualifiers. Scotland hardly ever seem to win away to pot 3/4 team in the group. Hungary were in the same pot as us for the Nations League, so they'll be the rough standard of team we'll be facing in the Nations League play-offs should we win our group. It's positive that it was a fairly comfortable win, even with a few key players missing from this squad. Our away record over the last few qualifying tournaments has been quite poor, as you say, and that's been a big issue for us. Northern Ireland showed that they can reach major finals and play-offs, and there's no reason we can't. The future is looking quite bright ahead of the Nations League, but we still have three very tough friendlies coming up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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