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Starting 11 v Belgium


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Kelly
O'Donnell - Mulgrew - McKenna - Robertson
McTominay - Shinnie - Armstrong
Forrest - Burke - Fraser

Might as well give Kelly a game for me. Marshall didn't particularly impress me against Cyprus.
Same back 4 as they did ok and consistency will help.
3 center mids with more defensive capability than Saturday.
Pace on the break with the front 3, Forrest and Fraser have defensive duties obviously.

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53 minutes ago, andyD said:

Kelly
O'Donnell - Mulgrew - McKenna - Robertson
McTominay - Shinnie - Armstrong
Forrest - Burke - Fraser

Might as well give Kelly a game for me. Marshall didn't particularly impress me against Cyprus.
Same back 4 as they did ok and consistency will help.
3 center mids with more defensive capability than Saturday.
Pace on the break with the front 3, Forrest and Fraser have defensive duties obviously.

What did Marshall do wrong? He saved us from conceding more than one goal actually. As for Shinnie, after his haplessness v Kazakhstan he should be punted. I'd take McLean in the position you have Shinnie - he doesn't give the ball away too easily, going by the Cyprus game.

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59 minutes ago, andyD said:

Kelly
O'Donnell - Mulgrew - McKenna - Robertson
McTominay - Shinnie - Armstrong
Forrest - Burke - Fraser

Might as well give Kelly a game for me. Marshall didn't particularly impress me against Cyprus.
Same back 4 as they did ok and consistency will help.
3 center mids with more defensive capability than Saturday.
Pace on the break with the front 3, Forrest and Fraser have defensive duties obviously.

'Might as well'? This isn't a friendly, it's the no.1 team in the rankings. For a first cap, a dodgy debut could  hinder a promising keeper's career.

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3 minutes ago, Third Lanark said:

What did Marshall do wrong? He saved us from conceding more than one goal actually. As for Shinnie, after his haplessness v Kazakhstan he should be punted. I'd take McLean in the position you have Shinnie - he doesn't give the ball away too easily, going by the Cyprus game.

I thought McLean was really poor defensively against Cyprus.

He ignores his man letting them clean thru once, followed by him turning around and complaining that someone wasn't marking his man (!?). Then he just jogged to pressure the ball carrier, leaving the central defenders 2v2 when he could (and should) have got there, again resulting in a chance they should have done better with. That's not good enough. I can forgive Fraser being caught once by his man getting a run on him round the outside, but if you're the 6 and that's 100% of your job, then you can't have that lack of effort and awareness, and give away several chances.

Shinnie had a bad game at left back, sure. He's looked good when he's had cameos in the middle tho, and he's got the discipline to do that job. I kind of expect McLean to play, given that he got the full 90 at the weekend, but it seems like he's just not good enough to me. I hope to be surprised, but i expect us to ship goals because of him.

As for Marshall..
As he does in the league for Hull, his distribution put us in trouble. Sending that ball to McGinn that he then foolishly tried to pirouette out of. That ball should never go there, but Marshall often seems like he just wants to get the ball out as soon as possible, and does so even it it's the wrong ball. Marshall seems to just think whether he can get the ball to the player, not what will happen when it get there. McGinn should have done better with it, but the ball shouldn't have gone to him in the first place.
Maybe I'm being harsh, but I want him to come for the cross at the goal. It's pretty central on the edge of the 6 yard box. From that range you're not going to stop anything being on your line, you don't have time to react, you should be able to come and punch it away tho. If their 5'10" guy can head it while standing on the edge of the 6 yard box, then I dread to imagine the joy Lukaku will have in the air.

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12 minutes ago, Third Lanark said:

'Might as well'? This isn't a friendly, it's the no.1 team in the rankings. For a first cap, a dodgy debut could  hinder a promising keeper's career.

Aye, part of me thought to put Marshall in just because it doesn't matter if Marshall takes 5 goals. He is what he is, and he's well used to it at Hull having picked it out the net 60 times this season for them.

But, I don't rate Bain and I want us to take something from the game, even if it's just a good performance from a keeper. I'd put faith in Kelly. If he ships goals, that's fine as we all expect that to happen anyway. But he might make some solid saves and that'll give him confidence.

Obviously it depends on the type of guy Kelly is, and I don't know enough about him as a person to say whether it's a good idea or not. But playing Marshall or Bain seems like a waste of time to me.

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1 minute ago, Squirrelhumper said:

They took the same number of goals off Cyprus as we did.

Switzerland beat them 5-2 not long ago and they looked pretty average against England.  

Whilst there is no doubt Belgium have some terrific players, we shouldn't be going into it thinking we've already lost.

I think I'd go with the following -

Marshall

O'Donnell     McKenna     Mulgrew     Robertson

McTominay

Armstrong          McGinn

Forrest               Burke               Fraser

 

The midfield three is the trickiest call.  I'd have McTominay in as I feel he'd do the best job of covering the full-backs when they get forward, and he seems to excel in the big matches for Man Utd.  McGinn would be best for making things difficult for the Belgium midfielders, and Armstrong could do well in this game.  

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21 minutes ago, PASTA Mick said:

Switzerland beat them 5-2 not long ago and they looked pretty average against England.  

Whilst there is no doubt Belgium have some terrific players, we shouldn't be going into it thinking we've already lost.

I think I'd go with the following -

Marshall

O'Donnell     McKenna     Mulgrew     Robertson

McTominay

Armstrong          McGinn

Forrest               Burke               Fraser

 

The midfield three is the trickiest call.  I'd have McTominay in as I feel he'd do the best job of covering the full-backs when they get forward, and he seems to excel in the big matches for Man Utd.  McGinn would be best for making things difficult for the Belgium midfielders, and Armstrong could do well in this game.  

That looks more like a team to beat Cyprus rather than a team to avoid losing to Belgium.

Starting to think some thing along the lines of 

                                                                         Marshall

                                                 Donnell     McKenna     Mulgrew     Robertson

                                              McGinn McTominay  McLean   McGregor Fraser

                                                                                Burke   

        Putting a lot of faith in Mclean but defensive midfield is were he plays despite his good goals scored and assists record last season. Mctominay has been playing more on the right of Midfield and I thought McGregor looked ok on the left. Could switch McTominay for Mclean I guess

Basically more of a 4-5-1 than the 4-3-2-1 we have been playing simply because it is Belgium.

I don't think two wingers against Belgium is a very good plan so I reckon Forrest should be left out for the more defensive McGinn.

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4 hours ago, andyD said:

I thought McLean was really poor defensively against Cyprus.

He ignores his man letting them clean thru once, followed by him turning around and complaining that someone wasn't marking his man (!?). Then he just jogged to pressure the ball carrier, leaving the central defenders 2v2 when he could (and should) have got there, again resulting in a chance they should have done better with. That's not good enough. I can forgive Fraser being caught once by his man getting a run on him round the outside, but if you're the 6 and that's 100% of your job, then you can't have that lack of effort and awareness, and give away several chances.

Shinnie had a bad game at left back, sure. He's looked good when he's had cameos in the middle tho, and he's got the discipline to do that job. I kind of expect McLean to play, given that he got the full 90 at the weekend, but it seems like he's just not good enough to me. I hope to be surprised, but i expect us to ship goals because of him.

As for Marshall..
As he does in the league for Hull, his distribution put us in trouble. Sending that ball to McGinn that he then foolishly tried to pirouette out of. That ball should never go there, but Marshall often seems like he just wants to get the ball out as soon as possible, and does so even it it's the wrong ball. Marshall seems to just think whether he can get the ball to the player, not what will happen when it get there. McGinn should have done better with it, but the ball shouldn't have gone to him in the first place.
Maybe I'm being harsh, but I want him to come for the cross at the goal. It's pretty central on the edge of the 6 yard box. From that range you're not going to stop anything being on your line, you don't have time to react, you should be able to come and punch it away tho. If their 5'10" guy can head it while standing on the edge of the 6 yard box, then I dread to imagine the joy Lukaku will have in the air.

Do agree that Kelly's distribution is better; he's a modern keeper in that sense.

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Feeling a bit optimistic about getting something tomorrow night. I can see Clarke getting the team well drilled and organised to try frustrate Belgium. McGinn & McGregor both looked like they were running on empty against Cyprus. Not sure about playing two out and out wingers either so I'd probably go with

 

                                             Marshall
O'Donnell                  Mulgrew     McKenna          Robertson
Cairney    McTominay     Armstrong        McLean      Fraser

                                              Burke

 

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                                Marshall

O'donnell.     mulgrew.     Mckenna.      Robbo

                               Mclean

                    Mctominay. Mcginn

     Forrest.                                              Fraser

                                  Burke

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51 minutes ago, Templeton_Peck said:

                                Marshall

O'donnell.     mulgrew.     Mckenna.      Robbo

                               Mclean

                    Mctominay. Mcginn

     Forrest.                                              Fraser

                                  Burke

I just cannot see McGregor not starting. He was outstanding on Saturday, and in most games for Scotland he looks likes he loves playing in the shirt and tries his socks off. I think McGinn will lose his place to him and the rest of your lineup will be correct. 

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57 minutes ago, mrniaboc said:

I just cannot see McGregor not starting. He was outstanding on Saturday, and in most games for Scotland he looks likes he loves playing in the shirt and tries his socks off. I think McGinn will lose his place to him and the rest of your lineup will be correct. 

Don't understand how people can leave him out  and play Armstrong or Shinnie ahead of him, or even worse both of them ahead of him in the same team.

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12 minutes ago, robbo cop said:

doubt we will go with two wingers for an away game v Belgium, so possibly Armstrong for Forrest.

They both work hard defensively, effectively making it 5 in midfield. If they are replaced with players with less pace it gives the opposition even more confidence to swarm forward, so they might stay in the team. Will be interesting.

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I would likely go with: Marshall; O'Donnell, Mulgrew, McKenna, Robertson; Forrest, Armstrong/McGregor, McTominay, McLean, Fraser; Burke.

 

The reason for my debate over Armstrong and McGregor was that McGregor just looked absolutely knackered in the latter stages of the game on Saturday. 68 games so far this season (according to Tom English on the BBC website) is absolutely crazy and bound to have had an impact.

 

Outside that, rest of the team probably picks itself. I imagine there will be plenty shouts for McGinn but we could do with some defensive discipline in this game.

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15 hours ago, mrniaboc said:

If we manage to keep the scoreline under 3-0 to Belgium tomorrow night it will be a very good effort. I'm an optimist and I can't even see a way we will do better than losing by a couple of goals.

Wise up.

Be as well just giving up playing if that's our attitude.

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