Belgium Match Thread (07/09/2018)

[Barney Rubble]

8 hours ago, vanderark14 said:

 I didn't realise you were the board police now you sanctimonious prick. 

I'd stay off the non ta section from now on if this has got you all hot under the collar

you're right, I should have made it clearer and happy to apologise to you since you didn't have  go like the twat above you.

😀

I'll be in Tel Aviv and Shkodra for the games, so let me know where you are and I will buy you a pint with pleasure as a fellow TA man

As it happens, I'll also be in your town in SE England for most of next week, so we can even have a chat before the games.

Let me know if you fancy it VDA

[vanderark14]

Just now, Barney Rubble said:

😀

I'll be in Tel Aviv and Shkodra for the games, so let me know where you are and I will buy you a pint with pleasure as a fellow TA man

As it happens, I'll also be in your town in SE England for most of next week, so we can even have a chat before the games.

Let me know if you fancy it VDA

Not a problem barney. Message me when you arrive and if I’m at home I’ll meet you.

 

[Barney Rubble]

1 minute ago, vanderark14 said:

Not a problem barney. Message me when you arrive and if I’m at home I’ll meet you.

 

Fair play to you - will do if circumstances permit!!

[vanderark14]

Just now, Barney Rubble said:

Fair play to you - will do if circumstances permit!!

Message me where you will be. If I’m local enough I’ll meet for a pint. I could do with some proper drinking company, not the southern softy type you get down here 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[borojock]

57 minutes ago, RenfrewBlue said:

Playing direct requires a target man striker that we just don't have. That would have made little or no difference last night. 

Direct doesn't necessarily have to be long balls up to a target man 

[Texas Pete]

10 hours ago, Doric said:

Yes spot on. Unbeaten in 2017 making progress and the SFA get rid of Strachan and probably our chances of qualifying gone.

How are our chances of qualifying gone? We haven’t even started our Nations League campaign yet, never mind the qualifiers. 

If Strachan was still in charge, Barry Bannan, Snodgrass, Hanley and Morrison would probably have been starting last night and we’d have lost just as heavily.

Our record in friendlies has been shite for years so I wouldn’t read too much into last night’s result. If we fail to beat Albania on Monday then I agree things will look quite grim but I’m confident we’ll get a good result. 

Edited September 8, 2018 by Texas Pete

[Lairdyfaeinverclyde]

1 hour ago, Texas Pete said:

I’m not really sure how McLeish was to blame last night. Dodgy defending and daft errors cost us. What would you have done differently?

Ultimately, the manager will be judged on his record in competitive games. Since he hasn’t played any yet, maybe it’s a bit early to write him off? Just a thought. 

So if we win all 4 Nations League games and secure (probably at home in the first tie) a playoff next year, you’ll still be calling for McLeish to be replaced? 

Can't predict what will happen in the upcoming games but yes i would still want a change, preferably sooner than later,, as silly as it sounds. Hopefully i'm made to eat my words.

[mrniaboc]

3 minutes ago, Texas Pete said:

How are our chances of qualifying gone? We haven’t even started our Nations League campaign yet, never mind the qualifiers. 

If Strachan was still in charge, Barry Bannan, Snodgrass, Hanley and Morrison would probably have been playing last night and we’d have lost just as heavily.

Our record in friendlies has been shite for years so I wouldn’t read too much into last night’s result. If we fail to beat Albania on Monday then I agree things will look quite grim but I’m confident we’ll get a good result. 

I couldn't agree more. Last night meant nothing more than we aren't great at planning friendlies. 

If we don't win on Monday we can start to worry, but let's burn that bridge when we get to it, and chill the fuck out until then. 

2-0 win on Monday and all is forgotten. 

[Barney Rubble]

1 minute ago, mrniaboc said:

2-0 win on Monday and all is forgotten. 

Yep - except I have no idea where on earth we will get two from.

Unless Andy Robertson is being refashioned as the messiah and he drives Elvis' Rolls Royce.

[mrniaboc]

1 minute ago, Barney Rubble said:

Yep - except I have no idea where on earth we will get two from.

Unless Andy Robertson is being refashioned as the messiah and he drives Elvis' Rolls Royce.

Hahaha, Robbo for the brace. Easy. 

I'm not too worried. If you told me any player in our squad scored a goal against Albania I wouldn't shit my pants. 

[borojock]

39 minutes ago, Texas Pete said:

Should we just have kept Strachan for the next 20 years then until someone you rate became available and wanted the job?

Strachan had his shot and ultimately didn’t do what he was hired to do. He certainly wasn’t a disaster but it was his questionable decisions and stubbornness, not his back room staff, that cost us. 

I don't want to stretch this debate out too long as its completely pointless as we have a new manager and i know we should be backing him

However to answer the questions personally if I was the head of the SFA I would have kept Strachan i would have made 2 changes. I would have asked him to change his backroom team to bring a freshness and different perspective and to help him change and bring new ideas and players in & i would have brought in a board of advisors of experienced and successful scottish managers (a bit like the director of football position) who after each round of fixtures would sit down with him and discuss some of his decision making and offered their advice in a consultative manner to offer different perspectives which he could go away and consider. I feel this would have reduced his stubbornness and opened up his horizons    

The last qualifier we had one really bad result (not performance but result) Lithuania at home. If we had won that we would have been in the qualifiers. Yes the nature of the away loss's to England and Slovakia was bad but the result wasnt a surprise as we were away to 2 better ranked teams. The last 6 competitive games was won 4 drew 2. That's momentum we were progressing under him. 

Yes there were some things which he did that i didnt agree with like keeping the same players in the squad who were match fit or on form

If you look at Michael O'Neil or Gary Speed's  first 10 results it started off very slowly and poor and i think neither of those managers would have retained there jobs if they were Scotland manager and had the same start - there is something to be said of consistency of manager

However as i said at the start the debate and argument is mute as we are where we are   

[Texas Pete]

9 minutes ago, Barney Rubble said:

Yep - except I have no idea where on earth we will get two from.

Unless Andy Robertson is being refashioned as the messiah and he drives Elvis' Rolls Royce.

If Griffiths can score 2 against England and one against Slovenia he can get amongst the goals against Albania. 

Armstrong,  McGregor and McGinn offer a threat as well and Robertson can chip in with goals as well. 

Albania are a poor team. Ok so we aren’t great either but we’re at home and I’ll be very surprised if we don’t score at least 2 goals. Whether this will be enough to win the game or not remains to be seen.  

[Barney Rubble]

OK - I'll declare an interest here. I've been earning my corn for the last ten years in the Western Balkans - seven of those in Albania. So I've had plenty of opportunities to witness Albania first hand.

Under no circumstances are Albania a poor team. Qualified for EURO 2016 and won a game (Hey! when did we last do that?...........oh wait,,,,). Christian Panucci World Cup Winner is their coach. 

These guys will be well organised and difficult to break down on Monday.

I'll take 1-0 right now because that's the most important thing. Anything else is a bonus.

[Texas Pete]

19 minutes ago, borojock said:

I don't want to stretch this debate out too long as its completely pointless as we have a new manager and i know we should be backing him

However to answer the questions personally if I was the head of the SFA I would have kept Strachan i would have made 2 changes. I would have asked him to change his backroom team to bring a freshness and different perspective and to help him change and bring new ideas and players in & i would have brought in a board of advisors of experienced and successful scottish managers (a bit like the director of football position) who after each round of fixtures would sit down with him and discuss some of his decision making and offered their advice in a consultative manner to offer different perspectives which he could go away and consider. I feel this would have reduced his stubbornness and opened up his horizons    

The last qualifier we had one really bad result (not performance but result) Lithuania at home. If we had won that we would have been in the qualifiers. Yes the nature of the away loss's to England and Slovakia was bad but the result wasnt a surprise as we were away to 2 better ranked teams. The last 6 competitive games was won 4 drew 2. That's momentum we were progressing under him. 

Yes there were some things which he did that i didnt agree with like keeping the same players in the squad who were match fit or on form

If you look at Michael O'Neil or Gary Speed's  first 10 results it started off very slowly and poor and i think neither of those managers would have retained there jobs if they were Scotland manager and had the same start - there is something to be said of consistency of manager

However as i said at the start the debate and argument is mute as we are where we are   

Strachan had 2 full campaigns to get us to at least a playoff and he didn’t manage it. 

I would go as far as to say that we got quite close to a playoff in both campaigns despite Strachan and not because of him. 

Everyone and their granny was telling him to play Griffiths for months and refused to do it. He finally does it and Griffiths scores a couple of goals and all of a sudden Strachan is a genius?

Georgia away and Lithuania at home were two of the worst performances I have EVER seen from a Scotland team. Far, far worse than last night. 

McLeish wasn’t my first (or even fifth) choice to replace Strachan but he’s in the job now and we just need to accept it. For now anyway. 

[Bobby Russell's Lovechild]

1 minute ago, Texas Pete said:

Strachan had 2 full campaigns to get us to at least a playoff and he didn’t manage it. 

I would go as far as to say that we got quite close to a playoff in both campaigns despite Strachan and not because of him. 

Everyone and their granny was telling him to play Griffiths for months and refused to do it. He finally does it and Griffiths scores a couple of goals and all of a sudden Strachan is a genius?

Georgia away and Lithuania at home were two of the worst performances I have EVER seen from a Scotland team. Far, far worse than last night. 

McLeish wasn’t my first (or even fifth) choice to replace Strachan but he’s in the job now and we just need to accept it. For now anyway. 

Also Strachan never had a plan b. That and constantly playing his favourites were his downfall. One thing no one can argue with is McLeish is giving younger and new players a chance. 

 

[Texas Pete]

6 minutes ago, Barney Rubble said:

OK - I'll declare an interest here. I've been earning my corn for the last ten years in the Western Balkans - seven of those in Albania. So I've had plenty of opportunities to witness Albania first hand.

Under no circumstances are Albania a poor team. Qualified for EURO 2016 and won a game (Hey! when did we last do that?...........oh wait,,,,). Christian Panucci World Cup Winner is their coach. 

These guys will be well organised and difficult to break down on Monday.

I'll take 1-0 right now because that's the most important thing. Anything else is a bonus.

They are a poor team in comparison to Belgium. 

Thry are certainly no better than Scotland and most folk on here seems to think we are a poor team. They obviously have a better qualifying record than us recently but it really wasn’t difficult to qualify for Euro 2016 for most European teams who weren’t completely shite at the time. Almost half of Europe were there. 

2-1 Scotland. Get a score on it. You’ll thank me later. 

[scotlad]

19 minutes ago, Texas Pete said:

If Griffiths can score 2 against England and one against Slovenia he can get amongst the goals against Albania. 

Armstrong,  McGregor and McGinn offer a threat as well and Robertson can chip in with goals as well. 

Albania are a poor team. Ok so we aren’t great either but we’re at home and I’ll be very surprised if we don’t score at least 2 goals. Whether this will be enough to win the game or not remains to be seen.  

Albania are no mugs.  Half their defence play in Serie A and they've guys who play in Germany and Spain too. 

They're poor compared to Belgium (most teams in the world are at the moment, tbf) and we should be able to win if we approach the game properly, but I don't expect it to be comfortable.

[Texas Pete]

Just now, scotlad said:

Albania are no mugs.  Half their defence play in Serie A and they've guys who play in Germany and Spain too. 

They're poor compared to Belgium (most teams in the world are at the moment, tbf) and we should be able to win if we approach the game properly, but I don't expect it to be comfortable.

I don’t think it will be comfortable either. 

We are in the same group as Albania for a reason - we are of a similar standard. I certainly don’t expect us to win in Albania (although didn’t Israel pump them 3-0 in the last campaign?) but we are the home team on Monday and will be surprised if we lose, although not shocked. A draw is a real possibility. 

I am confident we’ll win though. 

[Texas Pete]

14 minutes ago, Bobby Russell's Lovechild said:

Also Strachan never had a plan b. That and constantly playing his favourites were his downfall. One thing no one can argue with is McLeish is giving younger and new players a chance. 

 

That’s probably how McLeish got the job. I’m guessing he said he’d go with younger players in his interview. 

The current squad is quite young. He brought in a couple of older guys due to injuries but the average age must be pretty low compared to Strachan’s squads. 

[TDYER63]

3 hours ago, Texas Pete said:

Let’s just win on Monday and we’ll all be feeling better about things. 

If I had a penny for every time I’ve read these words on here  I would have the money to get us a decent manager 🙁

1 hour ago, Texas Pete said:

2-1 Scotland. Get a score on it. You’ll thank me later. 

Walking by Wiliam Hills last night and a large poster in their window offering 13-1 on a 1-0 Scotland win for last nights game. I know next to nothing about betting , would you not expect higher odds than that ? Who the fook in their right mind thought Belgium would come here and not score, never mind get beat ? 

[Texas Pete]

10 hours ago, Caledonian Craig said:

I am not sure about the formation either but there are those that think this formation is the only way to get Tierney and Robertson into the side. I am not sure it was the formation that cost us goals - more the sloppy errors cost us. I get the impression as well that Griffiths needs a strike partner - someone to feed off or play in. He was far too isolated last night.

The thing that i most depressing for me is that no matter when/if McLeish goes it is the same incompetent fuckwits doing the hiring. I await the next manager being another dud.

Tierney could play at right back or a centre half in a back 4. He could also play left mid I suppose.

I think the formation we played last night will actually be Ok against Albania though. It just wasn’t ideal against one of the best teams in the world who can tear any defence a new arse.

McLeish had to try it if that’s what he had in mind for Albania although he had hinted that he’ll change the formation for Monday. 

[Texas Pete]

49 minutes ago, TDYER63 said:

If I had a penny for every time I’ve read these words on here  I would have the money to get us a decent manager 🙁

Walking by Wiliam Hills last night and a large poster in their window offering 13-1 on a 1-0 Scotland win for last nights game. I know next to nothing about betting , would you not expect higher odds than that ? Who the fook in their right mind thought Belgium would come here and not score, never mind get beat ? 

We very rarely lose at home against similar ranked teams. We don’t always win either but I have a feeling the players will want to prove the doubters wrong after last night. 

13/1 was pretty decent for 1-0 to Scotland. If we were going to fluke a win that would have been the score.

[Orraloon]

Another positive from last night is that we played one of the best teams in the world and they never scored from a chance that they created themselves. We gifted them 4 goals. Cut out the basic mistakes and we could have sneaked a 0-0.

We will hump Albania 1-0. 

[Texas Pete]

3 hours ago, Lairdyfaeinverclyde said:

Can't predict what will happen in the upcoming games but yes i would still want a change, preferably sooner than later,, as silly as it sounds. Hopefully i'm made to eat my words.

Sadly, nae other bastard wanted the job. 

Nobody that was better than McLeish anyway. 

[TDYER63]

20 minutes ago, Texas Pete said:

We very rarely lose at home against similar ranked teams. We don’t always win either but I have a feeling the players will want to prove the doubters wrong after last night. 

13/1 was pretty decent for 1-0 to Scotland. If we were going to fluke a win that would have been the score.

Reminds me why I dont bet. 13/1 for a fluke seems a pretty shit return to me. 

I do agree that  Monday will be better right enough.