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Starting 11 v Belgium


romanticscot

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16 minutes ago, Squirrelhumper said:

Our fans are fucking pathetic.

Nation of losers.

That is ridiculously harsh.

We get mauled by Kazakhstan, we sneak a win against San Marino and Cyprus and you expect our fans to be choc-filled with optimism?

Take Robertson, Tierney, McTominay and Fraser out of the equation and we'd have be ranked in triple digits.

The SFA are pathetic losers, the Scottish clubs are, too. The fans are the only thing we have.

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25 minutes ago, The_Dark_Knight said:

That is ridiculously harsh.

We get mauled by Kazakhstan, we sneak a win against San Marino and Cyprus and you expect our fans to be choc-filled with optimism?

Take Robertson, Tierney, McTominay and Fraser out of the equation and we'd have be ranked in triple digits.

The SFA are pathetic losers, the Scottish clubs are, too. The fans are the only thing we have.

The same Belgium that beat the mighty Cyprus 2-0 a couple of months back yet our fans are hoping for a 3-0 defeat?

Nothing harsh with saying that is pathetic.

McTominay can't even get in the team BTW and as for ranking in triple digits - wise up.

 

Edited by Squirrelhumper
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8 hours ago, The_Dark_Knight said:

After this match I'd make Liam Kelly the number one. I wouldn't do it in this match because it could ruin him, as Belgium will probably score 5+. Also, Marshall is more experienced.

He's better than Bain, Marshall and Alan MacGregor. It's only a matter of time till he's playing in the EPL.

Liam Kelly is not good enough.... hence why he isn’t in the squad. Neither is Bain for that matter. 

Marshall is the best keeper available to us. Losing McGregor was a big blow!

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2 hours ago, Squirrelhumper said:

Wise up.

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

I'm trying to be as wise as possible. I'll watch them and give them my full support as always tonight, hoping for a miracle. I just don't expect it to happen. 

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2 hours ago, Squirrelhumper said:

Our fans are fucking pathetic.

Nation of losers.

I strongly disagree with this statement, but I understand why you said it. I don't agree people should be happy with any loss, despite the quality of the opposition. However, there's a difference between being unhappy and absolutely humiliated. 

I think our fans have shown they are anything but pathetic. One of the most loyal supports of any national team despite decades of frustration and failure. That takes great mental toughness. 

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Belgium also lost to Switzerland heavily and struggled to beat an inexperienced Iceland at home, so there is hope for us tonight. 

I probably put it in haste saying is take 2-0 Belgium, rather silly. I hope to god I'm wrong and I like Clarke and the young players, but I fear we'll get a hammering tonight. 

I'm concerned about our slack defending more than anything. Yes, McLeish has a lot to answer for in Astana but that was 3 going on 5 against a team who had only beaten Andorra in their last 12 games. 

Then again, even in dark times in the past under Levein we nearly managed to take something from Spain. Also, those shock 1-0 wins over France are there for inspiration too. 

Cyprus looked quite decent in spells, so I'm hoping they can grab a point in Moscow. Seems unlikely but realistically I think this is our best hope tonight of positive results from our perspective in the group. 

Again I don't want Scotland to lose, but we have a huge task tonight.

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Belgium have been starting matches well recently.  Of the 8 goals they've scored in the first 3 matches, 5 were between the 10th and 20th minute.  We really need to be switched on from the start.

As always, we need our best players to play well and our weaker players to play above themselves.

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1 hour ago, mrniaboc said:

I strongly disagree with this statement, but I understand why you said it. I don't agree people should be happy with any loss, despite the quality of the opposition. However, there's a difference between being unhappy and absolutely humiliated. 

I think our fans have shown they are anything but pathetic. One of the most loyal supports of any national team despite decades of frustration and failure. That takes great mental toughness. 

Naw, it disnae.

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It is going to have to be 4-5-1 So I would drop Fraser for Armstrong and play Burke alone. Fraser is great but we need a strong defence tonight and packed midfield so Armstrong better for me to get us forward when we can. 

Marshall. 

O’Donnell McKenna Mulgrew Robbo

McGinn McTominay McGregor McLean   Armstrong

Burke

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27 minutes ago, weekevie04 said:

Belgium also lost to Switzerland heavily and struggled to beat an inexperienced Iceland at home, so there is hope for us tonight. 

I probably put it in haste saying is take 2-0 Belgium, rather silly. I hope to god I'm wrong and I like Clarke and the young players, but I fear we'll get a hammering tonight. 

I'm concerned about our slack defending more than anything. Yes, McLeish has a lot to answer for in Astana but that was 3 going on 5 against a team who had only beaten Andorra in their last 12 games. 

Then again, even in dark times in the past under Levein we nearly managed to take something from Spain. Also, those shock 1-0 wins over France are there for inspiration too. 

Cyprus looked quite decent in spells, so I'm hoping they can grab a point in Moscow. Seems unlikely but realistically I think this is our best hope tonight of positive results from our perspective in the group. 

Again I don't want Scotland to lose, but we have a huge task tonight.

I think that is a possibility. We are in need of wee break ............or two.

 

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1 minute ago, Jacques Hunt said:

It is going to have to be 4-5-1 So I would drop Fraser for Armstrong and play Burke alone. Fraser is great but we need a strong defence tonight and packed midfield so Armstrong better for me to get us forward when we can. 

Marshall. 

O’Donnell McKenna Mulgrew Robbo

McGinn McTominay McGregor McLean   Armstrong

Burke

Just for full transparency, you’ve also dropped Forrest 

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Let us look at the facts objectively.

We go into this match with the shock of being thrashed by Kazakhstan still raw. Confidence is going to be thin amongst the squad. That same squad is getting to know their new manager and his way of working and understanding how he wants them to set up and play. All of that on top of the fact we are away from home against one of the very best teams in the world who have quality running deep throughout the squad and of late we have no form of getting results in such matches.

The positive side would be to say it is a fresh start for us with a new manager who has the backing of the fans and has instilled a bit of hope. We have a couple of true international quality players who are on the back of their best seasons of their career in Robertson and Fraser.

The odds are overwhelmingly in favour of a Belgium win. That is not me waving the white flag but merely being honest going by the facts in front of us. I am more interested in how we perform in our first real test under Clarke. Can he instil a bit of backbone and organisation and make us hard to break down and beat? If so that is a plus to take us forward. 

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Guest ElChris04

4-5-1 For Me 

-Bain-

-SOD-Findlay-Mulgrew-Robbo-

-Forrest-McTominay-McGregor-McGinn-Fraser-

-Burke-

we need as many defensive minded men in the centre to try and hold a strong line so Belgium don’t get anywhere near our back four enough to get goal scoring chances and get there own way in the passing of the midfield. McGregor is both attacking and defensive so it works aswell as McGinn, and McTominay is a natural holding midfielder so he goes in. Burke for the counter attack. Aswell as Forrest and Fraser to hold the line and get in the counter. Hoping for a miracle. 

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I reckon we need 4 points from our next four game to get us back into contention, providing 3 of those points come from a win over Russia. 5 or 6 points from those four games would make us favorites for 2nd place. You would think that should be doable considering two of those games are at home. On the negative side, all four games are against teams that are a good bit better than us. One of them is an awfy lot better than us.

This is only going to happen if we get real lucky or Clarke can somehow mold us into a unit that is very hard to score against, and do that very quickly. I saw very little evidence of that on Saturday but he's had another few days with the players since then, and hopefully we have learnt a lot from that Cyprus game.

Even if we lose tonight we still have three games to get those 4 points. My head tells me that it isn't going to happen, because I just don't think our players are good enough. But I need to give myself some hope to convince myself that it's still worthwhile going to the games. They are not quite warm up friendlies for us yet, but if we don't get 4 points from these next four games then the last three games will be.

 

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15 hours ago, robbo cop said:

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

I can understand what you are trying to do but my only problem with that sort of line up is sticking central players in wide positions.....unless you mean for him to sit further in from the right and leave the right hand side of the midfield free? I have seen Armstrong playing wide left for Celtic under Delia, it didn't work at all and nearly finished the lads career before it started. 

We are going to need to defend tonight but we will have some of the ball and I would rather have (hard working) wide players who can tuck in, drop back and double up with the full back rather than players who don't normally perform that role.

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1 minute ago, Dalgety Bay TA said:

I can understand what you are trying to do but my only problem with that sort of line up is sticking central players in wide positions.....unless you mean for him to sit further in from the right and leave the right hand side of the midfield free? I have seen Armstrong playing wide left for Celtic under Delia, it didn't work at all and nearly finished the lads career before it started. 

We are going to need to defend tonight but we will have some of the ball and I would rather have (hard working) wide players who can tuck in, drop back and double up with the full back rather than players who don't normally perform that role.

We need an outball that is more than just Burke .  Otherwise were just inviting too much pressure .  A solid central three and wingers tucking in for me.  Will be interesting to see what Clarke does.

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4 minutes ago, PapofGlencoe said:

We need an outball that is more than just Burke .  Otherwise were just inviting too much pressure .  A solid central three and wingers tucking in for me.  Will be interesting to see what Clarke does.

Never a truer word said!!

He got the winner on Saturday but his game more summed up by his first action of coming on. getting ball, running past a couple of their players and then straight into another Cyprus player. Heidless chicken.

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32 minutes ago, Caledonian Craig said:

Let us look at the facts objectively.

We go into this match with the shock of being thrashed by Kazakhstan still raw. Confidence is going to be thin amongst the squad. That same squad is getting to know their new manager and his way of working and understanding how he wants them to set up and play. All of that on top of the fact we are away from home against one of the very best teams in the world who have quality running deep throughout the squad and of late we have no form of getting results in such matches.

The positive side would be to say it is a fresh start for us with a new manager who has the backing of the fans and has instilled a bit of hope. We have a couple of true international quality players who are on the back of their best seasons of their career in Robertson and Fraser.

The odds are overwhelmingly in favour of a Belgium win. That is not me waving the white flag but merely being honest going by the facts in front of us. I am more interested in how we perform in our first real test under Clarke. Can he instil a bit of backbone and organisation and make us hard to break down and beat? If so that is a plus to take us forward. 

Well said.

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I am not expecting anything from today, it's the two games v Russia that matter most. We ideally need either to beat Russia twice or get 4 points and a draw at one of the games v Belgium. There isn't any pressure fae me for tonight. Hoping to avoid an embarrassing score line. And realistically, I'm looking ahead to the play offs as I cannot see us doing the business against Russia but at least we will try.

Edited by romanticscot
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