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Starting 11 v Belgium


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2 minutes ago, ceudmilefailte said:

I'm always having a go at people seeing what they want to see regarding players.

I don't rate Johnny Russel at all and I thought he contributed absolutely nothing.

Did I miss something?

No.

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I thought SOD did alright tonight but i've grown to accept there's several people on here who will always criticise him. 
Very frustrating that we conceded 2 goals late in each half & 1 that was offside. Better focus and officials and that could have been a valuable point. 
Obviously never happy to lose but can't fault the lads too much tonight. I dread to think what score it would have been with eck still in charge 

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43 minutes ago, Bobby Russell's Lovechild said:

It's been mentioned through the years about what certain countries are doing to produce good players, but no one ever mentions Belgium. 11 million people, fairy average League, but constantly provide good players for the national side

Immigration and migration.

There is a consistency of countries like Belgium, England, Switzerland, France, Germany of large immigrant populations improving their game.  Scotland don't have that.  Our biggest group is Irish!

Migration helps countries in continental Europe as players will move more to other countries and teams.  Scottish players don't travel.  Don't speak other languages.  Miss King Rib Suppers.

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1 minute ago, Alan said:

Immigration and migration.

There is a consistency of countries like Belgium, England, Switzerland, France, Germany of large immigrant populations improving their game.  Scotland don't have that.  Our biggest group is Irish!

Migration helps countries in continental Europe as players will move more to other countries and teams.  Scottish players don't travel.  Don't speak other languages.  Miss King Rib Suppers.

 

They completely ripped up the way they coached youngsters 15 years back

Focussing on technical ability

This generation of players is the result

We continue with our dross proven failure model

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Losing that goal right before half-time was a huge blow. 

There was no doubt that Belgium probably were going to win even if it was 0-0 at half-time, but I think there are some positives to be had from that game. 

Taylor had a very good debut. A daunting one at that against the best team in the world (If you go by the rankings) and did very well. 

We looked very organised. I was a bit dissapointed with Marshall for the second goal, but can't really complain and if its between him and Bain, I'd start Marshall every time. 

We are still a long, long way from being a good side, but we need to give Clarke the time in this campaign and more than likely it'll be the playoffs, these games are great experience/caps for many. We still look rushed on the ball, panic too early, although there were some moments of build up play to work on. McLean - whilst not great for the first goal - can spot a pass and overall has played very well in these last 3 games for Scotland. 

Belgium are unbelievable. Seen the highlights of the Russia game and they had 2 goals chopped off for offside against Cyprus, so 1-0 more than likely flattered Cyprus rather than the Russians. 

The Kazakhstan result has really made this group very hard for us. Who knows though, get Hampden rocking for Russia, and somehow grab a win, then Belgium to come 3 days after that and who knows, blagging it now, but say a 1-1 from that, then we'll see what happens. 

No idea who we'll play in the Playoffs though as Finland are rocking right now and may end up getting the second qualifying spot in their group! Serbia won yesterday after losing to Ukraine, although you'd hope they somehow qualify as an automatic spot. Bulgaria are toiling, so maybe them at Hampden.

Havers galore, but I'd say a 6/10 for Clarke's start. Decent enough but plenty of work to be done.

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Well, what have we learned;

there are signs we can be competitive 

McTominay looks comfortable at this level

McLean did well

Scotland produce the best left backs in the world.

Fraser played well.....

Feck we need a centre half to step up

we need a centre forward

Not sure we are ready to qualify through the groups and need to use it to build the team. Focus on the play offs....be realistic. We have a wee bit of potential.

 

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We need to consider that playing away from home, against World number 1, is not how we would normally play. The tactics, formation and selection will be far different to virtually every other game. 

You could see once Fraser was in LM we were far better going forward. We have the players to compete against weaker teams than Belgium.

What we were trying to avoid was a humiliation. We did that. Now we can focus on continuing our upward trajectory.

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Positives to take from tonight and some good signs despite the score line. Greg Taylor did really well on his debut. McLean and McTominay were solid in midfield.  Thought the final score was harsh. Should definitely have had one goal. Shambles that led to that not going in. 

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25 minutes ago, sandyb said:

Well, what have we learned;

there are signs we can be competitive 

McTominay looks comfortable at this level

McLean did well

Scotland produce the best left backs in the world.

Fraser played well.....

Feck we need a centre half to step up

we need a centre forward

Not sure we are ready to qualify through the groups and need to use it to build the team. Focus on the play offs....be realistic. We have a wee bit of potential.

 

I absolutely agree with all this. We don't write off these qualifiers but we can use it to develop a team in preparation for the play-offs which we should be good enough to win.

One thing that occurred to me tonight is that we are starting to build a strong squad with players that can be called on when needed, especially in the midfield.

I agree though that central defence is starting to be a concern.

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39 minutes ago, Alan said:

Immigration and migration.

There is a consistency of countries like Belgium, England, Switzerland, France, Germany of large immigrant populations improving their game.  Scotland don't have that.  Our biggest group is Irish!

Migration helps countries in continental Europe as players will move more to other countries and teams.  Scottish players don't travel.  Don't speak other languages.  Miss King Rib Suppers.

Actually the truth is somewhat different.

Some years back Belgium were struggling to qualify in the same way we are but they actually did something about it.   They made a number of changes to youth development, most notably, they played players at the highest age level they could and looked to move players up where possible and crucially once someone went up a level they never went back down, they either stayed at that level, went up to the next level or were dropped entirely.   That's why the likes of Eden Hazard made his full international debut at 17 and has never played for their U21s.

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1 hour ago, Squirrelhumper said:

Delighted for wee Taylor.

Thought Taylor was brilliant. Given who he was up against, didn't shirk it and will have given a young prospect like him a real shot in the arm

O'Donnell was fine as well

Despite the result, I'll sleep better knowing Clarke is the man. He's got into them already not to panic with the ball and try and play it out instead of hoofing it. And we kept our shape as best we could.

With a fully fit squad and Griff to come back, I can't wait for the Russia game now.

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37 minutes ago, aaid said:

Actually the truth is somewhat different.

Some years back Belgium were struggling to qualify in the same way we are but they actually did something about it.   They made a number of changes to youth development, most notably, they played players at the highest age level they could and looked to move players up where possible and crucially once someone went up a level they never went back down, they either stayed at that level, went up to the next level or were dropped entirely.   That's why the likes of Eden Hazard made his full international debut at 17 and has never played for their U21s.

Also in Belgium young players play for the top clubs regularly at 16/17. 

In Scotland young players just don’t play. 

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2 hours ago, macy37 said:

McKenna found wanting badly this evening. This was never going to be a game we’d get anything unless we had a backs to the wall performance so as much as it’s disappointing at least it wasn’t a rout like it would have been under the drunk. 

Gives me hope that we can build for the play offs.

Aye and McGregor was invisible again, vastly overrated player. As for Forrest, how many touches does he want 8 yards from an open goal.

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Support tonight was terrific, best I've heard at a Scotland away game for a long time. Loads of new songs. Was bouncing pre match, all through the match, and put into the streets afterwards.

Was a lot of new faces tonight - lots of young folk. Spoke to people who said it was their first away game. Going down to zero points likely helped. 

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2 hours ago, infamous said:

Solid performance, some confidence from that. A meaningless tie given we need 4 points in our two matches with Russia. 

I would say we need 6 from 6 against Russia after the Kazakhstan debacle. They won’t drop points to anyone else other than Belgium.

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3 hours ago, RDFH64 said:

Aye and McGregor was invisible again, vastly overrated player. As for Forrest, how many touches does he want 8 yards from an open goal.

Agree about Callum, he hasn’t kicked in since the turn of the year and his performances have gone backwards.

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2 hours ago, macy37 said:

Agree about Callum, he hasn’t kicked in since the turn of the year and his performances have gone backwards.

He’s probably knackered given he’s played 69 games this season.

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5 hours ago, Sempre said:

Support tonight was terrific, best I've heard at a Scotland away game for a long time. Loads of new songs. Was bouncing pre match, all through the match, and put into the streets afterwards.

Was a lot of new faces tonight - lots of young folk. Spoke to people who said it was their first away game. Going down to zero points likely helped. 

Think the change in the points system has alerted folk to the fact that tickets for away games are a lot easier than they thought. I always thought it was a closed shop but have realised otherwise since rejoining the club in the hope of getting tickets for the easier to qualify finals that would be in Scotland.

Support sounded great would be nice to think there would be a need for a large support to go to Cyprus.

8 hours ago, Alan said:

I suported Steve Clarkes appointment but the last 2 games have been utterly dreadful.  Defensive.  Passive.  Weak.  

Not played well but the call off rate is impressive.

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