Scotland vs Slovakia - Match Thread [11/10/2020] - Page 6 - TA specific - Tartan Army Message Board Jump to content

Scotland vs Slovakia - Match Thread [11/10/2020]


Clyde1998

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Just now, wee-toon-red said:

The difference Ryan Fraser makes to the team is stark. His pace and running in the channels gives the team an out ball that it just doesn’t have without him. For that reason, he should be playing every single game for as long as he shows the commitment that he has this week.

Yeh I agree, it's good to have speed at international level and fraser and burke are the only two we have who have elite level pace. We need to make the most out of those two. 

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I will eat my words Considine played well. So did O’Donnell.

Would happily see Considine start again - his distribution is poor but he is solid.

Couid be worth another start this week and then who knows, he’s probably worth a squad place.

Gallagher was good too. 

Words fully eaten. 

Edited by ProudScot
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1 hour ago, JandC said:

Much better tonight against a better side but need to get more service to the forwards.

I know Serbia will be tough but Norway had another great win with Haaland getting a hat-trick so bit of a blessing we didn’t get them!

Setbis lost at home to Hungary tonight

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Very content with tonight both in terms of result and performance.

Yes it isn't pretty to watch at times but the 3-5-2 is the way forward for us just now. Our defence looks way more solid just now and unlike when McLeish gave it a half arsed try, Clarke drills and briefs the players down to the finest detail on how to play it. 2 goals lost in 4 games compared to the 19 we lost in the 8 non-San Marino games of last year.

Better than that, the second half performance was actually reasonably decent. We looked a threat going forward with Fraser and SOD linking well for the goal and Robertson linking a bit better when McGregor came on too. Dykes really did well in his hold up play and McGinn was much more like his usual self. Well taken finish by Dykes who looks to be a very good find for us. Fraser was superb tonight, very good performance from him and looks to finally enjoy playing for Scotland. Even enjoyed McBurnie tonight who did well, was unlucky with his header and managed the game out superbly in injury time.

The three centre halves deserve credit tonight too. McTominay really is growing very nicely into that position, and he did well stepping out tonight. Gallagher again strolled it as did Considine, whose many European games for Aberdeen shone through tonight with the ease of which he slotted in there.

For once it is nice to have the better of the Irish in-laws watching their team try to play nice stuff and winning no games while we shitfest our way to wins.

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7 minutes ago, ErsatzThistle said:

Callum Paterson has a mighty huge arse on him right now. Drop those burgers and hit the treadmill lad !

Can’t say I noticed his arse but to each his own.

He’s definitely not match fit but that will soon be fixed if he gets a run in the Wednesday team. 

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Have to say that was a well-drilled win.

The defence looks solid, two clean sheets now and McTominey is growing in that role with every performance. Gallagher is very good too, I don't know how good he is against top class opposition but against sides around our level-ish Israel, Slovakia and hopefully Czech Republic on Wednesday, he looks cool, content and excellent distribution of the ball. If only he kent how to heider a ball - he gets up very well for the corners and had a few open ones in the last three matches.

Robertson was excellent again. Driving runs, winning the ball, and pushing on, with some excellent crosses as well. Confidence and being on a roll are a lot to be desired, and imagine the lowest ebb for many of these lads and including the captain was those hammerings back-to-back against Belgium and Russia. His last two games, have been very good.

O'Donnell played very well. I'm delighted for him, as I don't think he's good enough, but seems a great wee dude and loves playing for his country (going by the way he belts out F.O.S) I'd love him to go to the Euros as a squad player for us, he's truly living all our dreams.

Fraser is a key player, and very good. His diving annoys me though. I know its a part of the game, and he wins his fair share of fouls through it, but he's also had free kicks given against him for it in both games, but I am really enjoying his driving runs and passes in to the box.

I didn't think Dykes was too great up to the goal. He did alright, but very happy he scored, I think he has to be fancied as first choice over McBurnie for that type of role. McBurnie probably played his best game for us tonight, and that's really saying something about him - he's ideal for what he did tonight, holding on to a late one goal lead and not relying on him to score or create anything, just fannying about wasting time and winning corners or throw ins for us.

McGregor has been excellent of late for Celtic and I thought his game on Thursday was superb too, he came on and he's back to his best, IMO. Some fantastic wee touches, runs, skillful bits of play.

Considine did well. Well done. A weird age and cap for him, but he did very well. His distribution is honking though, but he made some excellent tackles and looked very composed.

Overall, fairly good. We look a lot harder to beat. They struggled to create anything and they are no mugs, they are a decently average side so that has to be a bonus. We had some nice moments in the second half, but I just don't see where the goals are going to come from. Great balls in and some silky work but it always seems to break down at the vital moment or in the box.

I really hope we see Porteous, McRorie, Shankland on Wednesday. We will be playing the hardest side of the three - but they may well have a reverse squad again going by their media, and how their Covid tests go.

Can't complain really on the back of that. It wasn't great, but it was sturdy enough and we won. Not exactly pretty, but we are now seven games undefeated which is quite unbelievable considering how downbeat many (including myself) have been at some of the recent performances.

Fair dues to Clarke too, for sticking with his conviction and the new system. We definitely look a lot tidier at the back under it, and we did leak goals too easily before now ; but does it come at the cost of playing exciting football and creating good goals - which were beginning to happen under Strachan.

A minor complaint is he's too slow to change things, again late subs ; but its worked for now so maybe that's me nitpicking, but I really want to see Shankland given a start rather than 20 mins here or there.

Anyhoos, well done to the team and the gaffer. Let's see how Wednesday goes, and going by the social media and interviews, there's certainly a team spirit and buzz going around the players. Loved reading McGinn, Robbo, Gallagher's tweets and photos of the side after Thursday night!

Roll on Wed nicht.

Edited by weekevie04
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1 hour ago, ErsatzThistle said:

[b]Craig Brown Mk. II ?[\b]

A much, much better second half. I slagged Fraser off earlier on but in the second half he played a lot better and was more positive.

Dykes has been a good addition. Thank feck he picked us. 

Robertson's last two games have been pretty good, an improvement in form for him.

Fair play to big Considine. I was worried he'd be a bag of nerves and fuck up but he kept calm and did what he had to do without any fuss.

Is Declan Gallagher our lucky charm ? We haven't lost a game in which he's played.

I was thinking the same thing too. The last couple of games have been reminiscent of the stuffy but efficient mid to late '90s Scotland teams - and I like it.

How many times over the recent past have we watched enviously as Wales and the Irelands have ground their way to play-offs and to qualification?  Give me turgid 1-0 wins over glorious (and not so glorious) failure any day!

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10 minutes ago, scotlad said:

I was thinking the same thing too. The last couple of games have been reminiscent of the stuffy but efficient mid to late '90s Scotland teams - and I like it.

How many times over the recent past have we watched enviously as Wales and the Irelands have ground their way to play-offs and to qualification?  Give me turgid 1-0 wins over glorious (and not so glorious) failure any day!

I totally agree. An inglorious triumph will do just fine. 

However, I don't think we necessarily need to settle for that, even with this formation. I think everyone is focussing a bit too much on the 1 shot on target. We created dozens of chances. We just weren't striking with the sharp end of the sword.

We are also forgetting that we are missing some of our most potent players. I guarantee we'd have had far more shots on target with Christie and Griffiths playing. We'd also have created more with Fraser starting against Israel, and being able to call on Armstrong and Burke for sparks when the flame goes out.

Though we looked solid at the back, we will be even stronger with Tierney and McKenna reinstated, which in turn gives even more freedom to our attackers.

We're hitting form at the right time, creating camaraderie in the dressing room, and seem to have found a system that has a good balance. I'm quite excited to see how we do with everyone available at the same time.

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11 minutes ago, Tartan blood said:

I totally agree. An inglorious triumph will do just fine. 

However, I don't think we necessarily need to settle for that, even with this formation. I think everyone is focussing a bit too much on the 1 shot on target. We created dozens of chances. We just weren't striking with the sharp end of the sword.

We are also forgetting that we are missing some of our most potent players. I guarantee we'd have had far more shots on target with Christie and Griffiths playing. We'd also have created more with Fraser starting against Israel, and being able to call on Armstrong and Burke for sparks when the flame goes out.

Though we looked solid at the back, we will be even stronger with Tierney and McKenna reinstated, which in turn gives even more freedom to our attackers.

We're hitting form at the right time, creating camaraderie in the dressing room, and seem to have found a system that has a good balance. I'm quite excited to see how we do with everyone available at the same time.

A couple of games with one shot on target isn’t necessarily cause for concern but I think that’s a total of 6 shots on target in 4 matches (plus 30 minutes of extra time).

Let’s not forget that these 4 matches were against Israel, a Czech league 11 and Slovakia who made 9 changes from their playoff match. 

Lots of positives though such as being undefeated in a year, 2 clean sheets in a row, we are still top of our group  and have a playoff final to come next month when we will hopefully have a stronger squad to choose from. 

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5 minutes ago, Texas Pete said:

A couple of games with one shot on target isn’t necessarily cause for concern but I think that’s a total of 6 shots on target in 4 matches (plus 30 minutes of extra time).

Let’s not forget that these 4 matches were against Israel, a Czech league 11 and Slovakia who made 9 changes from their playoff match. 

Lots of positives though such as being undefeated in a year, 2 clean sheets in a row, we are still top of our group  and have a playoff final to come next month when we will hopefully have a stronger squad to choose from. 

Out of context, it looks bad. But most of those games have been burdened by myriad reasons why we aren't able to be at our best. (Call offs, injuries, illness, retirement, covid19 etc etc)

You could easily say the same thing about us. Slovakia and Isreal will be cursing the fact they couldn't beat a severely depleted Scotland team. It works both ways.

The makings of a great team is when you can win ugly and grind out results when you are playing poorly. I'm not getting ahead of myself, but the performances will improve if we can keep getting the points on the board.

Saying that, I thought we played well tonight.

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8 minutes ago, Tartan blood said:

Out of context, it looks bad. But most of those games have been burdened by myriad reasons why we aren't able to be at our best. (Call offs, injuries, illness, retirement, covid19 etc etc)

You could easily say the same thing about us. Slovakia and Isreal will be cursing the fact they couldn't beat a severely depleted Scotland team. It works both ways.

The makings of a great team is when you can win ugly and grind out results when you are playing poorly. I'm not getting ahead of myself, but the performances will improve if we can keep getting the points on the board.

Saying that, I thought we played well tonight.

Can’t disagree mate but the lack of goals is a slight concern. 

As others have said though we have a foundation to build on and hopefully the goals will come. 

The fact that we have come through the playoff semi and have another 3 NL points with the injury/COVID issues we have had is great and hopefully we can pick up another win on Wednesday. 

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3 hours ago, BucksburnDandy said:

Very content with tonight both in terms of result and performance.

Yes it isn't pretty to watch at times but the 3-5-2 is the way forward for us just now. Our defence looks way more solid just now and unlike when McLeish gave it a half arsed try, Clarke drills and briefs the players down to the finest detail on how to play it. 2 goals lost in 4 games compared to the 19 we lost in the 8 non-San Marino games of last year.

Better than that, the second half performance was actually reasonably decent. We looked a threat going forward with Fraser and SOD linking well for the goal and Robertson linking a bit better when McGregor came on too. Dykes really did well in his hold up play and McGinn was much more like his usual self. Well taken finish by Dykes who looks to be a very good find for us. Fraser was superb tonight, very good performance from him and looks to finally enjoy playing for Scotland. Even enjoyed McBurnie tonight who did well, was unlucky with his header and managed the game out superbly in injury time.

The three centre halves deserve credit tonight too. McTominay really is growing very nicely into that position, and he did well stepping out tonight. Gallagher again strolled it as did Considine, whose many European games for Aberdeen shone through tonight with the ease of which he slotted in there.

For once it is nice to have the better of the Irish in-laws watching their team try to play nice stuff and winning no games while we shitfest our way to wins.

Bingo.

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If we can play more often like we did in the second half of the that would be great. 

Steve Clarke clearly must have had an encouraging word with Ryan Fraser at half time. In the first half, Fraser was noticeably hesitant and negative, constantly back passing. In the second half he was more confident, positive, playing in passes and crosses and played a key part in our winning goal. That's good man management.

I never ever thought I'd say this but here goes - has Declan Gallagher just become a justified regular pick in the starting XI ? The lad has done well and looks comfortable with his tough role.

Even the Scott McTominay in defence experiment, after an initial false start, does seem to be working !

Edited by ErsatzThistle
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7 hours ago, weekevie04 said:

Have to say that was a well-drilled win.

The defence looks solid, two clean sheets now and McTominey is growing in that role with every performance. Gallagher is very good too, I don't know how good he is against top class opposition but against sides around our level-ish Israel, Slovakia and hopefully Czech Republic on Wednesday, he looks cool, content and excellent distribution of the ball. If only he kent how to heider a ball - he gets up very well for the corners and had a few open ones in the last three matches.

Robertson was excellent again. Driving runs, winning the ball, and pushing on, with some excellent crosses as well. Confidence and being on a roll are a lot to be desired, and imagine the lowest ebb for many of these lads and including the captain was those hammerings back-to-back against Belgium and Russia. His last two games, have been very good.

O'Donnell played very well. I'm delighted for him, as I don't think he's good enough, but seems a great wee dude and loves playing for his country (going by the way he belts out F.O.S) I'd love him to go to the Euros as a squad player for us, he's truly living all our dreams.

Fraser is a key player, and very good. His diving annoys me though. I know its a part of the game, and he wins his fair share of fouls through it, but he's also had free kicks given against him for it in both games, but I am really enjoying his driving runs and passes in to the box.

I didn't think Dykes was too great up to the goal. He did alright, but very happy he scored, I think he has to be fancied as first choice over McBurnie for that type of role. McBurnie probably played his best game for us tonight, and that's really saying something about him - he's ideal for what he did tonight, holding on to a late one goal lead and not relying on him to score or create anything, just fannying about wasting time and winning corners or throw ins for us.

McGregor has been excellent of late for Celtic and I thought his game on Thursday was superb too, he came on and he's back to his best, IMO. Some fantastic wee touches, runs, skillful bits of play.

Considine did well. Well done. A weird age and cap for him, but he did very well. His distribution is honking though, but he made some excellent tackles and looked very composed.

Overall, fairly good. We look a lot harder to beat. They struggled to create anything and they are no mugs, they are a decently average side so that has to be a bonus. We had some nice moments in the second half, but I just don't see where the goals are going to come from. Great balls in and some silky work but it always seems to break down at the vital moment or in the box.

I really hope we see Porteous, McRorie, Shankland on Wednesday. We will be playing the hardest side of the three - but they may well have a reverse squad again going by their media, and how their Covid tests go.

Can't complain really on the back of that. It wasn't great, but it was sturdy enough and we won. Not exactly pretty, but we are now seven games undefeated which is quite unbelievable considering how downbeat many (including myself) have been at some of the recent performances.

Fair dues to Clarke too, for sticking with his conviction and the new system. We definitely look a lot tidier at the back under it, and we did leak goals too easily before now ; but does it come at the cost of playing exciting football and creating good goals - which were beginning to happen under Strachan.

A minor complaint is he's too slow to change things, again late subs ; but its worked for now so maybe that's me nitpicking, but I really want to see Shankland given a start rather than 20 mins here or there.

Anyhoos, well done to the team and the gaffer. Let's see how Wednesday goes, and going by the social media and interviews, there's certainly a team spirit and buzz going around the players. Loved reading McGinn, Robbo, Gallagher's tweets and photos of the side after Thursday night!

Roll on Wed nicht.

Thats a good post. Agree with everything. Confidence from Thursday has made a difference. McGregor did well when he came on, his energy was welcomed. 
Was good to see Considine interviewed after the match , he was clearly delighted and proud to be playing for his country which is heartening. 

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