Albania vs Scotland - Match Thread [17/11/2018] - Page 9 - TA specific - Tartan Army Message Board Jump to content

Albania vs Scotland - Match Thread [17/11/2018]


Clyde1998

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13 minutes ago, Orraloon said:

Oh aye, so they can. Just as well we humped Albania.

That 4 nil win today could be the difference of being a home team in the first play off game.  The final is a random draw though..as opposed to a predictable draw :) 

I am getting ahead of myself but Serbia are looking like they could be the 4th worst group C winners - I did that quickly so there could be mistakes.  

Edited by romanticscot
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21 minutes ago, stocky said:

Israel won 7-0 tonight in their friendly.. v Guatemala   but still 7 goals....   

 

 

 

I wouldn’t worry too much about this as Guatemala are shite and they probably didn’t take their best players to Israel and (as we know to our cost) it’s not an easy place to go.

Having said that, the main thing that concerns me is Israel are far better than most people thought. 

Good thing is I don’t think they travel particularly well. They lost in Albania FFS. If Albania can beat them at home then do can we. 

Can they perform on a wet night in Glasgow in November? Doubt it. 

Edited by Texas Pete
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1 hour ago, Kirk said:

Been traveling so missed it, but much needed win. 3 questions, what happened for the red? Was Forrest actually good? And what were we like as a whole?  

1) Albanian skipper put the nut in Christie (who went down like errr Ryan Christie but it was a definite red card offence).

2) Yes. Had to happen eventually. 

3) Impressive. The system suited the players and Fletcher's finesse with his back to goal has been a feature that's been lacking from Scotland recently. 

 

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3 hours ago, Orraloon said:

What did they say on sportsound?

We need to win on Tuesday. Any win will do. 

Anything other than a win and Israel win the group.

 

Not quite right I don't think? A 3-2,4-3 or higher would see Israel top the group on away goals I assume?

Still. It's in our hands to be exactly where we want to be.

Very confident we will beat them at Hampden.

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3 hours ago, Orraloon said:

What did they say on sportsound?

We need to win on Tuesday. Any win will do. 

Anything other than a win and Israel win the group.

 

Not quite right I don't think? A 3-2,4-3 or higher would see Israel top the group on away goals I assume?

Still. It's in our hands to be exactly where we want to be.

Very confident we will beat them at Hampden.

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17 minutes ago, saintydave said:

Not quite right I don't think? A 3-2,4-3 or higher would see Israel top the group on away goals I assume?

Still. It's in our hands to be exactly where we want to be.

Very confident we will beat them at Hampden.

Eh?

You know we won tonight don’t you? 

If we win on Tuesday we’ll be on 9 points with Israel on 6. If Israel win they’ll have 9 and we’ll have 6. If we draw Israel will top the group on head to head  

I’ve said this elsewhere but the ignorance of the permutations of our group is ridiculous. 

Edited by Texas Pete
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5 hours ago, romanticscot said:

Lets just settle this for everyone, regardless on what you read or hear anywhere, Tuesday is MUST win for us to top the group, qualify for the Euro 2020 play off, most likely be seeded in the League C play off AND deep breath get promoted to the UEFA Nations League 2020-21 ..League B and get increased prize money for the League C win.

There is allot at stake, but we can handle it. 

A win can also have a positive impact on our WC22 qualifying pot as the draw is in the summer and we only have 3 more matches to gain FIFA ranking points. 

This is our most important match since Italy, in my opinion. 

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8 minutes ago, Toepoke said:

We've had games since where victory would take us closer to qualifying.  In Slovenia last year for example.

 

That would have taken us to a and play-off was a certainly an important match. However, this match can - 

1. Take us to a Euro 2020 second chance play-off, against low ranked teams.

2. See us gain promotion in the Nations League.

3. Impact our Euro 2020 qualifying pot (although the win last night has already helped with regards to being pot 3 rather than pot 4).

4. Impact our World Cup 2022 qualifying pot.

This game is huge. 

Edited by PASTA Mick
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2 hours ago, PASTA Mick said:

This is our most important match since Italy, in my opinion. 

Possibly. You could argue that a couple of other matches are as important as this (such as the Czech Republic home game in 2011 or in Slovenia last year). Regardless, this is a gigantic game for us, as it will take a degree of pressure off of the qualifying campaign knowing that we have the backup of the play-off secured should we managed to beat Israel - particularly if we got someone who won't have the backup of the play-offs from Pot 2; all the pressure will be on them in the games against us.

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16 minutes ago, Caledonian Craig said:

Yes I remember that under Strachan when we had a heavily stacked core of Celtic players in midfield the club understanding they had helped them perform as a well-oiled unit. I think the same happened last night I felt. For Tuesday I'd go with the same starting line-up.

Definitely keep the same 11, assuming all are fit. If they get the result then I'd keep them as the starting 11 going forward too. Again assuming all are fit and performing at club level. 

The ones that called off without turning up can GTF. 

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19 minutes ago, Caledonian Craig said:

Yes I remember that under Strachan when we had a heavily stacked core of Celtic players in midfield the club understanding they had helped them perform as a well-oiled unit. I think the same happened last night I felt. For Tuesday I'd go with the same starting line-up.

Yes the same starting line-up would be a good starting point, though always with the look-out for if anything isn't working on the night. I felt we benefited from Fletcher's presence, part of the blend of youth and experience, taking some pressure off the younger guys, and a cool head to take the penalty. Thought McTominay had a good chance which just went over but feel next time he'll surely bury it.

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9 hours ago, Texas Pete said:

I’m sure Norway can also get 9 points. 

Our goal difference is far better than Finland’s or Norway’s GD though so they would both need to score a shit load in their last games to finish above us if we all win our last games. 

Finland and Norway both play their last games before we do, so at least we will know before our kick off exactly what we need to do. 

Pretty sure any victory for us will be enough? I hope.:unsure:

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Just seen the highlights. Cracking finish by Fraser and good to see Forrest finally play like he does for Celtic in a Scotland shirt.

I remember seeing an article a few years back about how the 3 Ryans were the future of scottish football; Christie, Fraser & Gauld. Good to see 2 of them playing well at least.

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Last night could not have gone any better. I think that it actually helped that we got call-offs as it forced McLeish's hand and hopefully showed him the way forward. We saw players playing last night that showed they can do a good job for us that would not have got a look in. Players like Ryan Christie and David Bates coped well and Fletcher showed he can still do a job for us. Also Forrest got a monkey off his back with his goals and hopefully they are the first of many Scotland goals for him. Ryan Fraser as well was coming in for stick on here (not from me) for pulling out of squads but he showed he can be a valuable asset to us. Also it showed that we are far more comfortable as a unit with 4-4-2 or 4-5-1 rather than 3-5-1. Bring on Tuesday night and lets hope we can keep the bandwagon moving.

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