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Our "big players"


Squirrelhumper

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57 minutes ago, andyD said:

So.. this is either 100% misleading, or you just didn't notice.

We marked up man to man every set piece, with the same people marking the same people. It was clearly something that Clarke had gone thru before the game, giving everyone their assignment.

O'Donnell's man was Dendoncker. If you watch the corner immediately before he's right with Dendoncker in the area. During this play, Dendonker has drifted deeper and is outside the area, you can see him to the right of the ref in the 1st pic. So O'Donnell is in the right place to pick him up if he makes a run, close him if he gets the ball or to pick up a loose ball from a clearing header if the ball goes into the area. O'Donnell is 100% in the right place doing exactly what he should be doing.

Editted because I misread your post.

I can't see what Dendocker is doing out of the picture, but I would say if he is retreating and clearly not involved in the attack, then O'Donnell should be turning back and looking for the next danger. In a man to man situation against Belgium, we really want to be doubling up as much as possible. If I were him I'd have tracked back, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that he was keeping tabs on someone else

Edited by Tartan blood
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37 minutes ago, mccaughey85 said:

Yeh I didn't mind his actual points he made, but he would manage to turn every discussion into them which was frustrating. 

He was also a patrionising arsehole, if truth be told. I don't doubt that more would be happy to engage with him if he had any decent ability to interact with people.

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35 minutes ago, Tartan blood said:

Editted because I misread your post.

I can't see what Dendocker is doing out of the picture, but I would say if he is retreating and clearly not involved in the attack, then O'Donnell should be turning back and looking for the next danger. In a man to man situation against Belgium, we really want to be doubling up as much as possible. If I were him I'd have tracked back, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that he was keeping tabs on someone else

It's all very well and good until the ball gets played to the edge of the box and there's somebody there with no Scotland player within 10 yards of him. A solid benefit of man to man is the ability to pinpoint who isn't doing their job right (or who is matched up poorly). Of all the things to blame O'Donnell for, this isn't one of them.

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21 minutes ago, Tartan_McCole said:

It's all very well and good until the ball gets played to the edge of the box and there's somebody there with no Scotland player within 10 yards of him. A solid benefit of man to man is the ability to pinpoint who isn't doing their job right (or who is matched up poorly). Of all the things to blame O'Donnell for, this isn't one of them.

I wasn't actually blaming O'Donnell. It's definitely McLean's fault for losing his man for this goal.

I was more referring to O'Donnell's general propensity to be too far up the pitch, and this was just an example of that. I actually like O'Donnell and, against teams where we will have more of the ball, he could be an asset with his forays forward.

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5 hours ago, andyD said:

Cooper was on Vertongen, and yeah, horribly positioned and Vertongen would almost certainly have scored if Vermaelen hadn't..

scoBel2Start.png

scoBel2End.png

At least everyone else knows where their man is.. McLean's just happy that at some point he was stood near Vermaelen. ffs.

 

Ah I'm getting my Ver's mixed up! McLean though lost his man and didn't track back on a number of occasions. He was drafted in to make us more solid in Midfield and did not take any responsibility defwnsively. Let himself down big time in these games. We actually miss a solid anchor man in Midfield, someone who just likes to defend can put a foot in. I'm not sure on Ryan Jack I would say he is actually a similar player to Kenny McLean. John Fleck is a defensive midfielder now maybe deserves a chance or perhaps a promotion for Ross McCrorie. We need some just to cover our attacking players and make tackles in there

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Put simply we have to stop shipping goals and the only option we have (given that our defenders are not going to drastically improve) is to bolster the midfield and stop selecting players who can't defend.  McGregor and Mc:Lean are fine players but they are defensively poor and cannot even justifty their selection by their ability to hurst quality opposition - they can't!  International football requires a lot more than just looking tidy in possession in uncontested areas of the park.

One solution would be to move Mulgrew from centre back to defensive midfield, partnering McTominay (who's too young and inexperienced to screen the back four by himself) and have Christie as the box to box player.  I'm pretty sure if we did this we'd look a helluva lot tighter and might, just might, get a clean sheet from time to time.

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33 minutes ago, henry george said:

Put simply we have to stop shipping goals and the only option we have (given that our defenders are not going to drastically improve) is to bolster the midfield and stop selecting players who can't defend.  McGregor and Mc:Lean are fine players but they are defensively poor and cannot even justifty their selection by their ability to hurst quality opposition - they can't!  International football requires a lot more than just looking tidy in possession in uncontested areas of the park.

One solution would be to move Mulgrew from centre back to defensive midfield, partnering McTominay (who's too young and inexperienced to screen the back four by himself) and have Christie as the box to box player.  I'm pretty sure if we did this we'd look a helluva lot tighter and might, just might, get a clean sheet from time to time.

Fantastic idea and in fact Strachan moving Mulgrew to CM was inspired at the time. I'm hesitant to sacrifice a Midfielder for Mulgrew, but against teams like Belgium it would have been invaluable. Assuming we don't have another CB injury crisis, then I don't see why not.

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51 minutes ago, Tartan blood said:

Fantastic idea and in fact Strachan moving Mulgrew to CM was inspired at the time. I'm hesitant to sacrifice a Midfielder for Mulgrew, but against teams like Belgium it would have been invaluable. Assuming we don't have another CB injury crisis, then I don't see why not.

Why Mulgrew and not Tierney?

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19 minutes ago, er yir macaroon said:

Why Mulgrew and not Tierney?

Personally I think Tierney should be played Right Back. I trust him more than any other player to defend. Yes, it subdues his attacking threat, but if we are resorting to playing Mulgrew in Midfield to shelter the defence, then Tierney needs to be part of the 4 at the back.

Plus, Mulgrew can get more involved in the distribution, which I think is an attribute of his which is underrated

                            Marshall

Tierney    McKenna Hanley(?) Robertson

                        Mulgrew

I'd feel a lot more at ease seeing that back 5 and know the rest of our midfield can express themselves

 

Edited by Tartan blood
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Guest ElChris04

As a Celtic supporter I agree with Mcgregor, he plays CDM for us and does a tidy job against low quality teams. But he’s never a CDM in EL / Scotland games. He’s a cam and I’m sure everyone remembers he played CAM in our invincible season for Celtic where he was best at. 

 

Moving on i done a post earlier on 10 players I’d like drafted into the team including the likes of Griff,KT,Gilmour, Henderson,Hornby etc 

 

here’s my ideal team 

Marshall 

Tierney-Soutter-Cooper-Robertson 

Fleck-Henderson 

Forrest-Christie-Johnston 

Griffiths

 

dropping Fraser is probably the most questionable choice but for me when it comes to Skill and composure I feel Mikey is suitable more in that department. If Fraser is on form come the next set of games then absolutely he starts, but if Mikey is still performing then he goes ahead of him for me.

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18 minutes ago, ElChris04 said:

As a Celtic supporter I agree with Mcgregor, he plays CDM for us and does a tidy job against low quality teams. But he’s never a CDM in EL / Scotland games. He’s a cam and I’m sure everyone remembers he played CAM in our invincible season for Celtic where he was best at. 

 

Moving on i done a post earlier on 10 players I’d like drafted into the team including the likes of Griff,KT,Gilmour, Henderson,Hornby etc 

 

here’s my ideal team 

Marshall 

Tierney-Soutter-Cooper-Robertson 

Fleck-Henderson 

Forrest-Christie-Johnston 

Griffiths

 

dropping Fraser is probably the most questionable choice but for me when it comes to Skill and composure I feel Mikey is suitable more in that department. If Fraser is on form come the next set of games then absolutely he starts, but if Mikey is still performing then he goes ahead of him for me.

You talk a lot of sense usually but that team is utter madness

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Guest ElChris04
8 minutes ago, vanderark14 said:

You talk a lot of sense usually but that team is utter madness

I don’t see how it is? 

We’re crying out for Johnstone’s creativity, McLean has never done a job at CDM. McTominay has been underwhelming. And as explained McGregor isn’t a CDM. Fleck and Henderson both are and have being doing it at club level. Henderson is playing in Italy and has been doing a fine job. I’d put a lot of money on he’s far superior to the likes of McTominay and McLean. Fleck is a very reliable player and fits our shape well. Cooper deserves another chance. I have no faith in the likes of Mulgrew, Hanley over Soutter. 

 

Where we are at, at the moment I say nothing mental about this team. As the players I’ve mentioned who aren’t in the team haven’t exactly done the best job..

Edited by ElChris04
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You want to drop Fraser, the 2nd most creative player in the EPL for a young player who has struggled in bigger games. That's madness 

If you were to drop any of the two wingers it would be Forrest because hes been shite for scotland, the nations league excluded

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Guest ElChris04
22 minutes ago, vanderark14 said:

You want to drop Fraser, the 2nd most creative player in the EPL for a young player who has struggled in bigger games. That's madness 

If you were to drop any of the two wingers it would be Forrest because hes been shite for scotland, the nations league excluded

I already explained my reason behind dropping Fraser. I even said if he was to start over Johnston then that’s absolutely fine if he’s in form but Johnstone can take on and beat players and it’s something we’ve been missing, but again I already mentioned if Fraser was to start then faith enough, I presume you hadn’t have read the bottle paragraph on my last post 

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What do you think of Tierney in the left sided defensive midfield along with McTominay and try Soutar at right back who from my brief research yesterday has played there before. With a better back 4, then we can get more attacking play from Robertson who appears to be told to hold back, when he goes forward then Tierney covers at left back. 

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3 hours ago, henry george said:

Put simply we have to stop shipping goals and the only option we have (given that our defenders are not going to drastically improve) is to bolster the midfield and stop selecting players who can't defend.  McGregor and Mc:Lean are fine players but they are defensively poor and cannot even justifty their selection by their ability to hurst quality opposition - they can't!  International football requires a lot more than just looking tidy in possession in uncontested areas of the park.

One solution would be to move Mulgrew from centre back to defensive midfield, partnering McTominay (who's too young and inexperienced to screen the back four by himself) and have Christie as the box to box player.  I'm pretty sure if we did this we'd look a helluva lot tighter and might, just might, get a clean sheet from time to time.

This is exactly what we are crying out for in there someone who can sit back and basically just defend, pretty much as a 3rd centre back but slightly more advanced. We need to protect that defence. Mulgrew is getting on a bit though and his mobility could be questioned. I'd personally go for McCrorie if he continues to play well for Portsmouth. Every time he did that job for Rangers he played brilliantly. He is actually really good at doing that exact job you are speaking about. 

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On 9/11/2019 at 3:24 PM, Tartan_McCole said:

He was also a patrionising arsehole, if truth be told. I don't doubt that more would be happy to engage with him if he had any decent ability to interact with people.

Agree with this. He became alot more than patronising a few times too.

 

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2 hours ago, Tartan blood said:

Personally I think Tierney should be played Right Back. I trust him more than any other player to defend. Yes, it subdues his attacking threat, but if we are resorting to playing Mulgrew in Midfield to shelter the defence, then Tierney needs to be part of the 4 at the back.

Plus, Mulgrew can get more involved in the distribution, which I think is an attribute of his which is underrated

                            Marshall

Tierney    McKenna Hanley(?) Robertson

                        Mulgrew

I'd feel a lot more at ease seeing that back 5 and know the rest of our midfield can express themselves

 

Mulgrew doesn’t have the legs anymore for midfield. McRorie right back, Tierney midfield.

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10 minutes ago, er yir macaroon said:

Mulgrew doesn’t have the legs anymore for midfield. McRorie right back, Tierney midfield.

That is my one concern. If he isn't as mobile as he used to be, then fair enough, but I've not noticed that in his game, really. 

Doesn't McRorie have experience in Defence Mid? Where as Tierney has never played there. It would make more sense to swap them round and play them in positions they are comfortable in. 

I wouldn't be against playing Souttar right back or Defensive Mid, assuming everyone else is fit.

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49 minutes ago, bazmidd said:

This is exactly what we are crying out for in there someone who can sit back and basically just defend, pretty much as a 3rd centre back but slightly more advanced. We need to protect that defence. Mulgrew is getting on a bit though and his mobility could be questioned. I'd personally go for McCrorie if he continues to play well for Portsmouth. Every time he did that job for Rangers he played brilliantly. He is actually really good at doing that exact job you are speaking about. 

I know I am a bit of a bore with the who scored ratings but decided to look at McRories for the Europa league and they were nothing special. Was surprised to find that they now cover the English 3rd and 4th tiers and according to his ratings he is nothing special for that league. Very very small sample though. Might just look good at Portsmouth because the rest of the team is rubbish.

Who's Scott Fraser?  3 goals and 3 assists for Burton this season.

Central defenders Harry Souttar and Clark Robertson are both in the top 20( you can have Michael Rose  at 21 instead of souttar} . McGlaughlin is one  of the top keepers in fact there is a whole pile of Scottish players in there.  EFL 1 v SPL would make good boxing day TV.

Would appear OPTA think the lower leagues in England are more worthy of coverage than our top flight.

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1 hour ago, ceudmilefailte said:

To be even more depressing McRorie is the 5th worst player in the league out of over 300 although his sending off has a lot to do with the rating.

Jack Grimmer is our best right back in League one

Just for fun, what do you reckon "the stats" say should be our starting XI? Pick whatever formation makes it easiest for you to check.

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On 9/10/2019 at 9:49 AM, Squirrelhumper said:

We all know O'Donnell, Cooper et al are nowhere near good enough but I'm fed up the likes of Robertson, McGregor etc failing to turn up for us.

Robertson is never a captain in a million years. We lose more goals down his side more often than not.

Tierney has to play RB when fit but if Robertson keeps up these levels of performance then I can see him playing LB.

Agree with most of this, guess the issue is who do you give the armband to if not Robertson? Not many leaders in our team. As a Celtic supporter in regards to McGregor I think he plays best when he has a right number 10 infant of him e.g./ Christie or Rogic.  He's a neat and tidy player but as others have mentioned likely not up to elite level.  However he is solid and possession and is confident on the ball never shys away. Vital we have someone like Christie infront of him to link up with as he is completely ineffective against better opposition when the other 2 cms are holding players like mctomminay/mclean.

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19 minutes ago, wee-toon-red said:

Just for fun, what do you reckon "the stats" say should be our starting XI? Pick whatever formation makes it easiest for you to check.

John Mclaughlin gk

Jack Grimmer

Harry Souttar/Michael Rose if your picky 

Clark Robertson

Donald Love -thought he was a left back but don't have one in the league so he's in there

Scott Fraser 

Chris McGuire

Liam kelly 

George Boyd

Paul Coutts

Marc Mcnulty

Ethan Hamilton  on the bench got to give the youngsters a chance

 

Woops did you mean the full team

No stats on the SPL players and you cant really compare EPL with Championship

Reckon my Div one select would have no problems in the SPL

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