Scotland vs Russia [06/09/2019] - Match Thread - Page 5 - TA specific - Tartan Army Message Board Jump to content

Scotland vs Russia [06/09/2019] - Match Thread


Clyde1998

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We are getting a bit like Celtic and the champions league. Come up against dog shit and we win, not always comfortably but usually win, next standard of team is where it starts to fall down....struggling to beat but sometimes do then you come up against the better sides and unless we outperform it’s defeat, even if we win the standard of touch and control is miles away from our opponents. Next it’s the top tier sides and we dream and think we will compete with the top sides but they  absolutely paralyse us.  

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2 hours ago, bigfingers said:

O donnell isn't up to standard 

I’ve said that since his debut, but apparently because he was with the all conquering killie last season, his selection was justified. 

Hes never a footballer, never mind an international one. 

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Just now, macy37 said:

We are getting a bit like Celtic and the champions league. Come up against dog shit and we win, not always comfortably but usually win, next standard of team is where it starts to fall down....struggling to beat but sometimes do then you come up against the better sides and unless we outperform it’s defeat, even if we win the standard of touch and control is miles away from our opponents. Next it’s the top tier sides and we dream and think we will compete with the top sides but they  absolutely paralyse us.  

I don’t think they were totally outclassed in terms of ability. They were nervous and their game fell apart.  A couple of personnel changes and there’ll be an improvement. 

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Was listening to the radio on way back from game and I think Tom English hit the nail on the head..... we are mentally weak, have been for a long time! No doubt there are players with the ability out there, but once Russia started to assert themselves on the game the team completely crumbled. Even Robertson looks a complete shadow of the Liverpool player we see week in week out.

Only when Christie came on did we start to play more on the front foot again. The first 15-20 mins were looking so promising as well.

And am sorry but O’Donnell is so far off the pace at that level, it’s scary. Jack in at right back until Tierney is fit.

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11 minutes ago, er yir macaroon said:

I don’t think they were totally outclassed in terms of ability. They were nervous and their game fell apart.  A couple of personnel changes and there’ll be an improvement. 

I think we were hugely outclassed tonight. They knew which buttons to press and that didn’t just come from their pre-match diligence, that came from seeing what was in front of them as it unfolded. 

We played like a team that has a play-off to rely on.  

The one advantage to this is that we hopefully weed out the shite.  Wasn’t overly impressed by McTominey, I’d start Christie, a ball wining Centre half needs to play with Mulgrew and clearly O’Donnell isn’t anywhere good enough. 

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1 minute ago, ParisInAKilt said:

Singling our individual players is missing the point, as a team we were well beaten, second best all over the park. 

Clarke has a real job on his hand to get us organised and difficult to beat. 

It’s really not. People that aren’t good enough is where the change starts. 

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1 minute ago, runningtings said:

O'Donnell was absolutely honking though, for the last 30 mins Mulgrew stopped passing to him.

I'd get Jack in there for Monday, get McTominay off McLean on, McGinn off Christie in and Phillips in for McBurnie.

O'Donnell has been honkin his entire life

 

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Well what is there to say. A bright start and at the quarter way mark was actually thinking we were quite tight and not giving much away. But then the Russians asserted themselves, and you could see the goal coming a mile off, was surprised it didn't come sooner (and surprised nothing done about it sooner!).

For the middle two thirds of the game it seemed difficult to get the ball. It dawned on me, this is why we weren't giving it away too much - we weren't getting much of it in the first place. 

I was pleased to see Clarke make the substitutions when he did, the first two being given plenty of time. 

But we seemed to be lacking something upfront, always seemed outnumbered and never quite the right person to pass to. Maybe that elusive kind of holding player? Or good opportunistic striker. 

Or probably it's a matter of class, we managed to cut open the Israelis and Albanians and Cypriots (in the end) but it was never going to be that easy against Russia. It was good to see they never gave up (faint praise, I know) attacking right up to injury time. 

At times it didn't feel like a home game (in terms of the way the game went, never really imposed ourselves).

And the crowd was disappointing. For us, there are not too many actually winnable must-win games, when we were in with a chance, and this was one of them. '  

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1 minute ago, ParisInAKilt said:

We weren’t good enough all over the park 

Don’t disagree with that. But there were different levels of individual poor tonight and I think the players feed off of each other. I know I’m singling out O’Donnell but that’s what I saw. Forrest was on a hiding to nothing playing in front of him. 

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2 minutes ago, SMcoolJ said:

Don’t disagree with that. But there were different levels of individual poor tonight and I think the players feed off of each other. I know I’m singling out O’Donnell but that’s what I saw. Forrest was on a hiding to nothing playing in front of him. 

I agree; he’s the first of the 11 that most of us would replace 

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Did nobody else notice that from about the 15 min mark for 10 minutes or so that the Russians were constantly hitting the deck and staying down on a couple of occasions. It totally upset our rhythm and didn't recover from it. 

We are really missing a few characters in the team. Obviously a dominant centre half, but an imposing midfielder who can drive the team on and pull the strings...hopefully Mctominay or Mcginn will grow into this role with experience. We also badly need creativity, every time we get into the final third we pass it sideways..... Christie looked good when he came on. 

We are in a real bad place at the moment. We look worse than average and don't have much that really improves on our starting line up tonight. When was the last time we lost a qualifier at home against a team who isn't one of the 'elite'? The attendances are depressing and will only get worse. 

Terrible terrible time to be a Scotland fan. 

Edited by dezmondo
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I dont think in my life ive ever seen a team shite it so much and go into total retreat mode once scoring a goal.. 

A team with a winning mentality would have went again for a 2nd or 3rd.. Not us.. we will rely on our shit hot defending for 80 mins.  

Lack of fight, belief, leadership, ability and guts. 

Apart from David marshall who was fucking superb. 

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