Time for a little bit of realism: - Page 2 - TA specific - Tartan Army Message Board Jump to content

Time for a little bit of realism:


Taylor1996

Recommended Posts

6 hours ago, Taylor1996 said:

It took two years for people to get on board with my three at the back thing... As brief as it was.

It'll probably take the majority two years to realize that the opening thread is gospel.

Dickovism will take time too.  Hang on in there with your ideas m8. 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 hours ago, Taylor1996 said:

People can talk about systems, tactics, formations. People can talk about sacking Steve Clarke and hope that we replace him with a high quality manager who can motivate players and bring out the every drop of their talent.

None of it matters.

Steve Clarke isn't a bad manager. He's been assistant manager to Mourinho, Dalglish, Gullit. He got WBA their best ever EPL league finish. He knows football. We could have Jurgen Klopp or Pep Guardiola in charge and we'd still labour to beat a Czech league select team. It doesn't matter about tactics and managers. For all intents and purposes, our strongest team is akin to an SPL/English Championship side.

For arguments sake, let's just say that the SPL is the same standard as the English Championship.

Championship/SPL: 7 players. (I'll only count Cooper as an EPL player when he actually plays a minute in the EPL) started on Monday.

Looking at things like that, is it really a surprise that our players look like a bunch of frightened kittens when they face foreign-based players, no matter how talented the foreign players are? Just over a year ago it took us 74 minutes to get our second goal against San Marino.

By club standards, we're bottom half of the table English Championship/SPL.

What do we expect from our players? Passion. We always get passion. What you saw on Friday and Monday is what average players showing passion looks like.

Now, if you're asking for creativity, football intelligence, organized defending, good passing, defence splitting passing and fabulous finishing. Don't hold your breath.

We have no right to expect to beat anyone. And I literally mean anyone. The SFA and all of the Scottish clubs have neglected youth development, for decades. Thankfully, we now have some sort of structure in play, by way of the performance schools, but I'll still be a couple more years before we see the fruits of that work.

In the meantime, for the foreseeable future, expect us to struggle against everyone, because guess what. We're minnows.

Respectfully disagree with most of this.

We've shown in the past a team with a lower standard of players can beat world class teams with the right system, Walter Smith and McLeish Mk1 were proof of that.

I'm not saying Steve Clarke is a bad manager but I'm just not sure he's up to motivating this squad.  Clarke only realistically had top 6 to achieve with Killie, no one expected him to top or separate the old firm, qualification is a total different kettle of fish.  Also loads of different coaches have worked under those guys and people like Sir Alex, how many of his assistants have went on to great success after learning from arguably the greatest manager of all time? Guardiola and Klopp are well known to be inspirational in the dressing room and they're success shows that.

We've also seen that shitebag managers (Burley, Levein, Strachan) can set us back years by not accepting their own failures and laying the blame solely at the players feet

I do agree we're missing a creative spark type player like McFadden or Dalgleish etc.  If you look at our squad and how they play for their clubs, none of them are known for doing anything special so a Scotland squad performance ends up being like a painting by numbers.  Robotic and completely devoid of any creativity.

There's a stigma with playing for Scotland and IMO the media up here are to blame and some sections of the fans!  Rather than talk the team up and give the impression we're behind them they constantly focus on past failures, it's no wonder our players play scared.  Christ look at the treatment McBurnie is getting right now ffs!  In saying that however, too many players don't seem to have the balls to stand up and prove those people wrong, they hide every time!

Completely disagree with your last statement though, we have no right to expect to beat anyone in the top 2 seeding categories for qualifiers I'll admit, but we should be competing with our own level and always be expected to beat the ones in the seeding categories below us.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, kwhitelaw said:

Respectfully disagree with most of this.

We've shown in the past a team with a lower standard of players can beat world class teams with the right system, Walter Smith and McLeish Mk1 were proof of that.

I'm not saying Steve Clarke is a bad manager but I'm just not sure he's up to motivating this squad.  Clarke only realistically had top 6 to achieve with Killie, no one expected him to top or separate the old firm, qualification is a total different kettle of fish.  Also loads of different coaches have worked under those guys and people like Sir Alex, how many of his assistants have went on to great success after learning from arguably the greatest manager of all time? Guardiola and Klopp are well known to be inspirational in the dressing room and they're success shows that.

We've also seen that shitebag managers (Burley, Levein, Strachan) can set us back years by not accepting their own failures and laying the blame solely at the players feet

I do agree we're missing a creative spark type player like McFadden or Dalgleish etc.  If you look at our squad and how they play for their clubs, none of them are known for doing anything special so a Scotland squad performance ends up being like a painting by numbers.  Robotic and completely devoid of any creativity.

There's a stigma with playing for Scotland and IMO the media up here are to blame and some sections of the fans!  Rather than talk the team up and give the impression we're behind them they constantly focus on past failures, it's no wonder our players play scared.  Christ look at the treatment McBurnie is getting right now ffs!  In saying that however, too many players don't seem to have the balls to stand up and prove those people wrong, they hide every time!

Completely disagree with your last statement though, we have no right to expect to beat anyone in the top 2 seeding categories for qualifiers I'll admit, but we should be competing with our own level and always be expected to beat the ones in the seeding categories below us.

Concerning players hiding, one of the things that impressed me was Dykes backed up fighting talk about wanting to win by showing it on the pitch. I really think he will be a talisman for us. A bit of Aussie self-belief would do us no harm - it’s only when they requisition your sofa with an open end date that they become a problem.

Edited by er yir macaroon
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, er yir macaroon said:

Concerning players hiding, one of the things that impressed me was Dykes backed up fighting talk about wanting to win by showing it on the pitch. I really think he will be a talisman for us. A bit of Aussie self-belief would do us no harm - it’s only when they requisition your sofa with an open end date that they become a problem.

Nigel Quashie was a bit like that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, kwhitelaw said:

Respectfully disagree with most of this.

We've shown in the past a team with a lower standard of players can beat world class teams with the right system, Walter Smith and McLeish Mk1 were proof of that.

I'm not saying Steve Clarke is a bad manager but I'm just not sure he's up to motivating this squad.  Clarke only realistically had top 6 to achieve with Killie, no one expected him to top or separate the old firm, qualification is a total different kettle of fish.  Also loads of different coaches have worked under those guys and people like Sir Alex, how many of his assistants have went on to great success after learning from arguably the greatest manager of all time? Guardiola and Klopp are well known to be inspirational in the dressing room and they're success shows that.

We've also seen that shitebag managers (Burley, Levein, Strachan) can set us back years by not accepting their own failures and laying the blame solely at the players feet

I do agree we're missing a creative spark type player like McFadden or Dalgleish etc.  If you look at our squad and how they play for their clubs, none of them are known for doing anything special so a Scotland squad performance ends up being like a painting by numbers.  Robotic and completely devoid of any creativity.

There's a stigma with playing for Scotland and IMO the media up here are to blame and some sections of the fans!  Rather than talk the team up and give the impression we're behind them they constantly focus on past failures, it's no wonder our players play scared.  Christ look at the treatment McBurnie is getting right now ffs!  In saying that however, too many players don't seem to have the balls to stand up and prove those people wrong, they hide every time!

Completely disagree with your last statement though, we have no right to expect to beat anyone in the top 2 seeding categories for qualifiers I'll admit, but we should be competing with our own level and always be expected to beat the ones in the seeding categories below us.

Very good reply: insightful, respectful and on topic.

Thank you!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 hours ago, er yir macaroon said:

Concerning players hiding, one of the things that impressed me was Dykes backed up fighting talk about wanting to win by showing it on the pitch. I really think he will be a talisman for us. A bit of Aussie self-belief would do us no harm - it’s only when they requisition your sofa with an open end date that they become a problem.

Yeah I agree, Dykes so far has been a pleasant surprise in these two matches!  I really hope he has a good run in the Championship this year and carries that over for us! 

I've no issue with McBurnie but it just doesn't seem to be clicking with him with Scotland for whatever reason and can see Dykes moving above him in the pecking order

 

17 hours ago, Taylor1996 said:

Very good reply: insightful, respectful and on topic.

Thank you!

Nae bother! 👍

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...


×
×
  • Create New...