Scotland U21 v Greece U21

[Marky]

2 hours ago, gonzohiggy said:

Only looked dangerous when middleton came on which was too late. 

I wouldn’t say Scotland looked dangerous when Middleton came on, I’d say Middleton looked dangerous when he came on. There was never another attacker getting anywhere close to his deliveries. 

[Rscot]

2 hours ago, gonzohiggy said:

Extremely poor performance with a lot of average players not helped by strange tactics. Only looked dangerous when middleton came on which was too late. 

Gilmour was decent and I quite liked the centre half Johnston, apart from that very average. 

That u21 squad have a handful of players who have full international potential - Gilmour, mikey Johnston, Porteous (already in), the other Johnston when he starts playing at a decent first team level and at a push middleton. 

The rest of them just look like most Scottish player we've produced in the last 20 years - not good enough 

I thought Lewis Ferguson looked good at times. But it was starting to look like the “usual” Scotland, nothing much where it matters, in the final 1/3. Did we even make their goalkeeper make a save? I can’t remember the Greek keeper having to do any work.

Edited November 16, 2019 by Rscot

[gonzohiggy]

4 minutes ago, Rscot said:

I thought Lewis Ferguson look good at times. But it was starting to look like the “usual” Scotland, nothing much where it matters, in the final 1/3. Did we even make their goalkeeper make a save? I can’t remember the Greek keeper having to do any work.

He was solid enough but he didn't really do anything of note. Not really sure what sort of midfielder he is? 

[Rscot]

4 minutes ago, gonzohiggy said:

He was solid enough but he didn't really do anything of note. Not really sure what sort of midfielder he is? 

Can’t say I’ve seen enough of him to pass an opinion, but perhaps he is playing too deep. Maybe he would be more effective playing closer to Hornby. He does seem to have a bit of technique and cleverness that could open up opposition defences. 

[Rscot]

16 minutes ago, Marky said:

I wouldn’t say Scotland looked dangerous when Middleton came on, I’d say Middleton looked dangerous when he came on. There was never another attacker getting anywhere close to his deliveries. 

I don’t know why we didn’t put on a 2nd CF as soon as Greece went down to 10 men and go for the jugular. It was about winning 3 points last night, not an exhibition match.

[ceudmilefailte]

42 minutes ago, Rscot said:

I thought Lewis Ferguson looked good at times. But it was starting to look like the “usual” Scotland, nothing much where it matters, in the final 1/3. Did we even make their goalkeeper make a save? I can’t remember the Greek keeper having to do any work.

Thought the Greek keeper was excellent, his positioning made our balls into the box turn into nothing that was why he never had to make any saves. Honestly think without his ability to read the game we would have had three or four chances, probably have scored one and this would be a totally different thread.

It's shows the standard we and about 20 other teams are when we require defensive disorganisation  to score. The big countries and the over performers normally have one player who can score without the oppositions aid. Those that don't have a player like that have defences organised to ensure few errors. On the basis of last nights game we should be aiming for the latter.

[weekevie04]

I thought Scotland had a decent first half and a bit of a poor second. Some of the players do look good. Campbell, Ferguson stood out and natural ability and skill on both of them. Just lack a killer instinct upfront.

He's still young and so on, but I fail to see what the fuss about Hornby is. Yes, he works hard and runs after everything ; but he looks in the four games I've seen of him as a bit of a carthorse - one touch too many , trying to be too fancy rather than the easy thing , and a tad ball greedy and for a striker, he has failed to hit a decent shot at the goalie.

The group is obviously very open considering we beat Croatia and got a point in Prague, but we'll be needing to win a lot of matches to have any hope of qualifying. And what a shame, and very Scottish to take 4pts from Prague and Croatia yet 1 from Greek and Lithuanian guests at home.

 

[scotlad]

16 hours ago, Marky said:

That is one honkin U21 side.

Ive seen Gilmour play 3 or 4 times now and I’ve yet to see what all the fuss is about.

In fairness to him, he's still only 18 and playing against opponents who are two or three years older.  I actually thought he looks a talent (and obviously so did the Greek midfielder who kept kicking him and eventually got sent off) but I think last night shows he's not quite ready for the step up just yet.

It was a sore one, losing to a last minute goal like that, but the team as a whole looked too timid.  Apart from the offside goal and Hornby's shot in the second half I don't remember the Greeks being stretched much at all.  Gemmill really is as uninspiring a coach as it is possible to imagine, but I wouldn't be surprised if he gets promoted to coaching the senior team one day.

The biggest plus, for me, was George Johnston's performance.  Hopefully he can keep on improving and one day we might, once again, have a centre half who can cut it at international level.

[adamntg]

On 11/15/2019 at 10:50 PM, Rscot said:

We must have the lowest collective IQ of any Football Association on earth. 
Im really getting p@ssed listening to these ex players, journalists and commentators who try as hard as possible avoid controversy at all costs. Is there anyone left connected to Scottish football that has a personality, that will speak their own mind? Love him or hate him at least Roy Keane would say what he thought of the Irish FA.

Gordon Strachan. 

[ErsatzThistle]

Seems to me that those criticising Gilmour are faulting him for not winning games single handed. 

[The_Dark_Knight]

I find it funny, the u21s have gone three matches without scoring.

We started the match against Croatia in a 4-3-3. Croatia went a goal up. When we came out at half time we went to 3-5-2... And we ended up winning 1:2.

No one remember that? No. Thought not.

https://www.tamb.net/forum/index.php?/topic/14228-scotland-u21-vs-san-marino-u21/&do=findComment&comment=537648

Edited November 18, 2019 by The_Dark_Knight