BraveheartGordon Posted November 21, 2018 Share Posted November 21, 2018 Something that crossed my mind tonight and Saturday is that our creative players in this team such as Forrest, Armstrong, Fraser, Christie etc have all been fearless on the ball and their first thought is to drive at players or play aggressive forward passes and it’s honestly been really fun to watch. Under Strachan a lot of these players would be on the park but their first thought was to play a 5 yard sideways pass instead of being brave on the ball. My common memory of Forrest previously was him taking a touch forward and either winning a throw in or passing it back down the line to the full-back and look how direct he is now. Driving with it every time he gets the ball and showing composure, aggression and confidence. I wonder if James McFadden’s coaching influence has had this effect on the team because this was exactly how he played. The sheer gallusness of the attacking players the last few games has been terrific. I’ve rarely enjoyed watching Scotland as much as the last 2 games and I hope our attacking players keep this mindset. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacques Hunt Posted November 21, 2018 Share Posted November 21, 2018 I have for a long time wanted us to attack more from midfield and as you say, drive at defences. It was great to see Fraser, Christie Armstrong and Forrest do this with such conviction and I think Fletcher was key in this with his superb hold up play and general hard work. Fletcher was brilliant last night. All this has to be tempered given standard of opposition in last two games but long may it continue. We have others who can do this too; McGinn, GMS and Phillips for Example. Cue criticism of Phillips but I rate him and want him in squad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas Pete Posted November 21, 2018 Share Posted November 21, 2018 23 minutes ago, Jacques Hunt said: I have for a long time wanted us to attack more from midfield and as you say, drive at defences. It was great to see Fraser, Christie Armstrong and Forrest do this with such conviction and I think Fletcher was key in this with his superb hold up play and general hard work. Fletcher was brilliant last night. All this has to be tempered given standard of opposition in last two games but long may it continue. We have others who can do this too; McGinn, GMS and Phillips for Example. Cue criticism of Phillips but I rate him and want him in squad. Everyone is talking about the standard of opposition and rightly so I suppose as we don’t want to get carried away but Albania away is exactly the sort of game we normally make an arse of. Albania are ranked higher than Georgia and Israel are similar if not a bit better than Lithuania. Cutting out out the silly draws and defeats to this level of team is half the battle when it comes to qualifying. We obviously still have work to do given our performance in Haifa and the sloppy goals we gave away last night but the fact that McLeish appears to have learned from his mistakes in Israel (albeit his hand was forced for some changes) is encouraging. If we can take full points against the teams from the lower pots next year we will have at least 12 or 18 points to build on and if we can take anything from the pot 1 and 2 teams we will have a good chance of qualifying without the need of a playoff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacques Hunt Posted November 21, 2018 Share Posted November 21, 2018 44 minutes ago, Texas Pete said: Everyone is talking about the standard of opposition and rightly so I suppose as we don’t want to get carried away but Albania away is exactly the sort of game we normally make an arse of. Albania are ranked higher than Georgia and Israel are similar if not a bit better than Lithuania. Cutting out out the silly draws and defeats to this level of team is half the battle when it comes to qualifying. We obviously still have work to do given our performance in Haifa and the sloppy goals we gave away last night but the fact that McLeish appears to have learned from his mistakes in Israel (albeit his hand was forced for some changes) is encouraging. If we can take full points against the teams from the lower pots next year we will have at least 12 or 18 points to build on and if we can take anything from the pot 1 and 2 teams we will have a good chance of qualifying without the need of a playoff. Another positive is the belief that winning can instil in the young players. After Israel away debacle when team arrived into country late I was really concerned and I believe similar circumstances preceded Albania away game so I was fearful but all ends well. did not realise Albania. We’re higher ranked than Georgia and agree we MUST stop going to such away games- often on back of encouraging win- and play shite. Hopefully these last two games where we attacked and scored gives players more belief. Was biting nails at the end last night and thought we were going to do a Scotland and. Concede a late goal. Nearly did, ever grateful to Shagger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euan2020 Posted November 21, 2018 Share Posted November 21, 2018 3 minutes ago, Jacques Hunt said: Another positive is the belief that winning can instil in the young players. After Israel away debacle when team arrived into country late I was really concerned and I believe similar circumstances preceded Albania away game so I was fearful but all ends well. did not realise Albania. We’re higher ranked than Georgia and agree we MUST stop going to such away games- often on back of encouraging win- and play shite. Hopefully these last two games where we attacked and scored gives players more belief. Was biting nails at the end last night and thought we were going to do a Scotland and. Concede a late goal. Nearly did, ever grateful to Shagger. Albania were at the Euro's - although think there was an awarded result that helped get them there due to conflict with Serbia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas Pete Posted November 21, 2018 Share Posted November 21, 2018 18 minutes ago, Jacques Hunt said: Another positive is the belief that winning can instil in the young players. After Israel away debacle when team arrived into country late I was really concerned and I believe similar circumstances preceded Albania away game so I was fearful but all ends well. did not realise Albania. We’re higher ranked than Georgia and agree we MUST stop going to such away games- often on back of encouraging win- and play shite. Hopefully these last two games where we attacked and scored gives players more belief. Was biting nails at the end last night and thought we were going to do a Scotland and. Concede a late goal. Nearly did, ever grateful to Shagger. Albania are ranked 60th and Georgia are ranked 92nd. That will change this month though I would guess as Albania lost to us and Georgia won their NL group. I think Georgia were about 130th when they beat us in 2015. Shows you what a pile of pish the world rankings are though. Israel are 91st and appear to be much better than Albania. Mind you, Albania beat Wales last night so maybe we just made them look really bad. They did beat Israel at home as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exile Posted November 21, 2018 Share Posted November 21, 2018 (edited) 19 hours ago, BraveheartGordon said: Something that crossed my mind tonight and Saturday is that our creative players in this team such as Forrest, Armstrong, Fraser, Christie etc have all been fearless on the ball and their first thought is to drive at players or play aggressive forward passes and it’s honestly been really fun to watch. Under Strachan a lot of these players would be on the park but their first thought was to play a 5 yard sideways pass instead of being brave on the ball. My common memory of Forrest previously was him taking a touch forward and either winning a throw in or passing it back down the line to the full-back and look how direct he is now. Driving with it every time he gets the ball and showing composure, aggression and confidence. I wonder if James McFadden’s coaching influence has had this effect on the team because this was exactly how he played. The sheer gallusness of the attacking players the last few games has been terrific. I’ve rarely enjoyed watching Scotland as much as the last 2 games and I hope our attacking players keep this mindset. Interesting. I hadn't thought of linking it to Faddy's influence. But it would be great if it was true, cos there was only one Faddy, but there could be any number of Faddy disciples. My thought on another thread was that while we used to have just Faddy, it's a pleasure to see more than one of these guys driving forward, where you believe any one of them could create a chance, turn a game. And yes I know it's lesser opposition, but we already played our fair share of tough sides in friendlies, we are due a few sparkling performances against lower-ranked opposition to build confidence. Edited November 21, 2018 by exile Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BraveheartGordon Posted November 22, 2018 Author Share Posted November 22, 2018 7 hours ago, Texas Pete said: Albania are ranked 60th and Georgia are ranked 92nd. That will change this month though I would guess as Albania lost to us and Georgia won their NL group. I think Georgia were about 130th when they beat us in 2015. Shows you what a pile of pish the world rankings are though. Israel are 91st and appear to be much better than Albania. Mind you, Albania beat Wales last night so maybe we just made them look really bad. They did beat Israel at home as well. A lot of people commenting on the strength of the opposition forget Albania achieved something we only dream of and qualified for Euro 2016 when it’s been 20 years for us. Strong results for me apart from the bizarre debacle (hopefully an anomaly) in Haifa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chripper Posted November 22, 2018 Share Posted November 22, 2018 (edited) As much as I adore Faddy, I wouldn't put it down to him. Unless it was his idea to play Fraser and Forrest as inside forwards. If you watch Fraser for Bournemouth, he's never tether to the byline. He's given the license to roam and he does his best work when he drifts into the middle, same could be said for Forrest. For years Forrest was derided by the Scotland fans because they were expecting Forrest to be an out-and-out winger, when in actuality he's more of an old fashioned inside forward. Edited November 22, 2018 by Chripper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanderark14 Posted November 22, 2018 Share Posted November 22, 2018 1 hour ago, Chripper said: As much as I adore Faddy, I wouldn't put it down to him. Unless it was his idea to play Fraser and Forrest as inside forwards. If you watch Fraser for Bournemouth, he's never tether to the byline. He's given the license to roam and he does his best work when he drifts into the middle, same could be said for Forrest. For years Forrest was derided by the Scotland fans because they were expecting Forrest to be an out-and-out winger, when in actuality he's more of an old fashioned inside forward. you have that completely wrong, all we wanted was the Forrest who played for Celtic because we saw him score goals and tear defences apart, we have that player now and its great to see Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
er yir macaroon Posted November 22, 2018 Share Posted November 22, 2018 2 hours ago, Chripper said: As much as I adore Faddy, I wouldn't put it down to him. Unless it was his idea to play Fraser and Forrest as inside forwards. If you watch Fraser for Bournemouth, he's never tether to the byline. He's given the license to roam and he does his best work when he drifts into the middle, same could be said for Forrest. For years Forrest was derided by the Scotland fans because they were expecting Forrest to be an out-and-out winger, when in actuality he's more of an old fashioned inside forward. The manager tells them where to play. They do both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chripper Posted November 22, 2018 Share Posted November 22, 2018 4 hours ago, vanderark14 said: you have that completely wrong, all we wanted was the Forrest who played for Celtic because we saw him score goals and tear defences apart, we have that player now and its great to see I completely wrong? So, you're saying that he's not better when he drifts inwards? All 5 of his goals for Scotland were scored from central areas. How many times did Forrest receive the ball on the byline and run the ball out of play, in a Scotland shirt? Dozens upon dozens of times, which means that the Scotland managers were asking him to hug the touchline. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanderark14 Posted November 22, 2018 Share Posted November 22, 2018 3 minutes ago, Chripper said: I completely wrong? So, you're saying that he's not better when he drifts inwards? All 5 of his goals for Scotland were scored from central areas. How many times did Forrest receive the ball on the byline and run the ball out of play, in a Scotland shirt? Dozens upon dozens of times, which means that the Scotland managers were asking him to hug the touchline. no, read my message again. I highlighted the part you got wrong Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chripper Posted November 22, 2018 Share Posted November 22, 2018 1 minute ago, vanderark14 said: no, read my message again. I highlighted the part you got wrong Fair enough. Didn't see the highlighted part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tartan_McCole Posted November 22, 2018 Share Posted November 22, 2018 5 hours ago, vanderark14 said: you have that completely wrong, all we wanted was the Forrest who played for Celtic because we saw him score goals and tear defences apart, we have that player now and its great to see To be fair, he's only been scoring goals and tearing defences apart more recently. The Forrest that played for Scotland beforehand was the same inconsistent and infuriating Forrest that played for Deila. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas Pete Posted November 22, 2018 Share Posted November 22, 2018 47 minutes ago, Tartan_McCole said: To be fair, he's only been scoring goals and tearing defences apart more recently. The Forrest that played for Scotland beforehand was the same inconsistent and infuriating Forrest that played for Deila. Aye, I definitely think we’ve got shiny toothed Brenda to thank for bringing Forrest on. He was decent for Celtic before Rodgers managed them but he’s clearly one of their best players now and has brought that form to Scotland as well. I will be interested to see how he performs against better teams in the qualifiers next year. If he can breenge through defences and score goals against pot 1 and pot 2 opposition next year then we could just see something special. Not that we can rely on just one player obviously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goozay Posted November 22, 2018 Share Posted November 22, 2018 Armstrong would run at defences under Strachan, so I wouldn't put it all down to Faddy. That said, McLeish has said during both his tenures that he want his players to be gallus and I can see how having Faddy as assistant coach could be part of that philosophy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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