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Slovakia v Scotland


Burj_Alba

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2 minutes ago, mccaughey85 said:

I think most would be happy to see burke and griffiths given chances ahead of mcburnie. I certainly would. I would probably give shankland and Nisbet chances ahead of mcburnie so theres four options off the bat. 

They'd be happy for 45 minutes I'd say. That is my point here. A missed chance or lack of chances created and we'd get the same as McBurnie got yesterday. It is just some fans' way. They cannot look beyond that. The players who run out onto that pitch all give their best. People choose to ignore pertinent facts about McBurnie in that he is not a prolific goalscorer and he is in a poor run of form for a club struggling badly so confidence is bound to be low too. I challenge anyone here to excel in those circumstances.

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4 minutes ago, Rolling hIlls said:

Only kidding.  I have always liked Naismith as he is aggresive, good in the air and can score.  But getting on a bit and injury prone now.  I thought McBurnie showed a bit of improvement yesterday though.  He needs to learn to shoot rather than pass.  Don't think I have ever seen Griffiths pass a ball in his life.  When he gets the ball his first thought is shooting.  McBurnie needs to think like that.  

Griffiths has 99 career assists on top of 228 goals. I think you need to watch more of Griffiths and you will see he's an excellent player who is technically talented and can link up well with other players. Once he's fully fit he should be starting games for us imo. 

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3 minutes ago, Caledonian Craig said:

They'd be happy for 45 minutes I'd say. That is my point here. A missed chance or lack of chances created and we'd get the same as McBurnie got yesterday. It is just some fans' way. They cannot look beyond that. The players who run out onto that pitch all give their best. People choose to ignore pertinent facts about McBurnie in that he is not a prolific goalscorer and he is in a poor run of form for a club struggling badly so confidence is bound to be low too. I challenge anyone here to excel in those circumstances.

Nah, mcburnie has been given chance after chance and it's been poor performances from him time after time. Burke has been average or even quite poor for Scotland but at least he looks like he can control a ball and he's not had alot of chances recently in this new system. I think ppl would be happy to see burke, shankland and Nisbet be given a few games to prove themselves. You are making excuses for mcburnie but he's been terrible from the very start of his Scotland career, infact he was terrible in the u21 games I used to watch. He's just not a very good footballer and if he has low confidence it's due to him being terrible for so long in a Scotland shirt. Mcburnie will most likely drop to championship football next season and he will remain there for most of his career. It sounds like I am hating mcburnie but it's not, i am happy to keep him in around the squad but it's clear to see his gametime should be kept to a minimum and theres about 4 strikers ahead of him. Why Clarke keeps persisting with him is annoying and it nearly cost us the play off game against Serbia. 

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2 minutes ago, mccaughey85 said:

Griffiths has 99 career assists on top of 228 goals. I think you need to watch more of Griffiths and you will see he's an excellent player who is technically talented and can link up well with other players. Once he's fully fit he should be starting games for us imo. 

Don't know why u are assuming I don't like Griffiths?  He is a natural goalscorer and I have supported him on here as I would any Scotland player.  But although you would play him from the start his managers don't.  There must be a reason?  I would always play 2 up front and Griffiths would be one of them.  I got sick of watching Kenny Miller as the lone cowboy up front in those tactics.  He will not have long left in this mortal world for the amount of running about he had to do. 2 up front for me.  The game is about scoring and not about passing when you are a forward.  Griffiths has that as we all know, just like Kris Boyd.  But just like Boyd the managers don't seem to play them in the big games.

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1 minute ago, Rolling hIlls said:

Don't know why u are assuming I don't like Griffiths?  He is a natural goalscorer and I have supported him on here as I would any Scotland player.  But although you would play him from the start his managers don't.  There must be a reason?  I would always play 2 up front and Griffiths would be one of them.  I got sick of watching Kenny Miller as the lone cowboy up front in those tactics.  He will not have long left in this mortal world for the amount of running about he had to do. 2 up front for me.  The game is about scoring and not about passing when you are a forward.  Griffiths has that as we all know, just like Kris Boyd.  But just like Boyd the managers don't seem to play them in the big games.

I said if he's fit I would play him from the start. He's not been fit this season and thats why his managers haven't started him. 

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5 minutes ago, Rolling hIlls said:

Don't know why u are assuming I don't like Griffiths?  He is a natural goalscorer and I have supported him on here as I would any Scotland player.  But although you would play him from the start his managers don't.  There must be a reason?  I would always play 2 up front and Griffiths would be one of them.  I got sick of watching Kenny Miller as the lone cowboy up front in those tactics.  He will not have long left in this mortal world for the amount of running about he had to do. 2 up front for me.  The game is about scoring and not about passing when you are a forward.  Griffiths has that as we all know, just like Kris Boyd.  But just like Boyd the managers don't seem to play them in the big games.

Griffiths isn’t fit and certainly not match sharp. He’s fine for 15 minutes, but he needs to get in shape for June. 

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It's up to griffiths as far as I'm concerned to show the manager that he should be no2 or competing with dykes for first place. Not really mcburnies fault that he's the best next option in the managers eyes. 

If we go into the Euros with dykes still firing and griffiths back towards his best then I would be happy with that. 

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3 minutes ago, mccaughey85 said:

Nah, mcburnie has been given chance after chance and it's been poor performances from him time after time. Burke has been average or even quite poor for Scotland but at least he looks like he can control a ball and he's not had alot of chances recently in this new system. I think ppl would be happy to see burke, shankland and Nisbet be given a few games to prove themselves. You are making excuses for mcburnie but he's been terrible from the very start of his Scotland career, infact he was terrible in the u21 games I used to watch. He's just not a very good footballer and if he has low confidence it's due to him being terrible for so long in a Scotland shirt. Mcburnie will most likely drop to championship football next season and he will remain there for most of his career. It sounds like I am hating mcburnie but it's not, i am happy to keep him in around the squad but it's clear to see his gametime should be kept to a minimum and theres about 4 strikers ahead of him. Why Clarke keeps persisting with him is annoying and it nearly cost us the play off game against Serbia. 

That is stretching it a bit saying he's been poor every time. He did well coming on and holding up the ball to run down the clock in recent matches V Czechs and Slovakia and with more luck could have grabbed a couple of goals. And sorry but can you please explain what happen to your mantra that you have to be good to play in the EPL/Serie A, La Liga etc? Plus why on earth did Sheffield United splash out so much money on him if he is so crap? 

Just to clarify I am not making him out to be our next Kenny Miller or Joe Jordan and I'd like to see us look at other options, which are very limited I must add, but fans go from the sublime to the ridiculous with regards to him with people saying 'how did he become a professional footballer' and calling him utter crap. I don't think he's international quality just now....no but I am certainly not going to go overboard with the derision towards him. It really did make for hysterical and comical reading yesterday.

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1 minute ago, Caledonian Craig said:

That is stretching it a bit saying he's been poor every time. He did well coming on and holding up the ball to run down the clock in recent matches V Czechs and Slovakia and with more luck could have grabbed a couple of goals. And sorry but can you please explain what happen to your mantra that you have to be good to play in the EPL/Serie A, La Liga etc? Plus why on earth did Sheffield United splash out so much money on him if he is so crap? 

Just to clarify I am not making him out to be our next Kenny Miller or Joe Jordan and I'd like to see us look at other options, which are very limited I must add, but fans go from the sublime to the ridiculous with regards to him with people saying 'how did he become a professional footballer' and calling him utter crap. I don't think he's international quality just now....no but I am certainly not going to go overboard with the derision towards him. It really did make for hysterical and comical reading yesterday.

Sorry but running into the corner flag and wasting time is not enough. I stand by what I said, he's been brutally bad everytime he's played. When I say bad i genuinely can't believe he made it to the level he has. It's crazy that you are sticking up for his performances. He looks like he's never seen a football in most of our games. He can't control a ball and can't do the basics that I would expect from a Highland footballer. 

I have never said you have to good to play epl or la liga. I do however believe you have to be a good player to play your whole career at that level. That's not to say there are exceptions to the rule. You do get 1 or 2 players who play most of their career in the epl who are shit. For some reason you keep on bringing up this lie to suit your argument. 

EPL clubs have more money than sense and can splash out stupid money on potential strikers like mcburnie. Sheff United will of hoped for mcburnie to turn into a good striker in the same way west brom hoped burke would turn into a star. 

Ppl are not being harsh on mcburnie and I certainly have no ill will towards the guy but I honestly have not seen a player who plays at the level he does be so terrible that he can't control or pass a ball. He's diabolically slow and can't win any knockdowns or flick ons. The drastic change in our performance level when he came on against Serbia was clear to see. It was so bad it nearly cost us the match. We went from dominating a decent side to looking absolutely terrible. 

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11 minutes ago, mccaughey85 said:

Sorry but running into the corner flag and wasting time is not enough. I stand by what I said, he's been brutally bad everytime he's played. When I say bad i genuinely can't believe he made it to the level he has. It's crazy that you are sticking up for his performances. He looks like he's never seen a football in most of our games. He can't control a ball and can't do the basics that I would expect from a Highland footballer. 

I have never said you have to good to play epl or la liga. I do however believe you have to be a good player to play your whole career at that level. That's not to say there are exceptions to the rule. You do get 1 or 2 players who play most of their career in the epl who are shit. For some reason you keep on bringing up this lie to suit your argument. 

EPL clubs have more money than sense and can splash out stupid money on potential strikers like mcburnie. Sheff United will of hoped for mcburnie to turn into a good striker in the same way west brom hoped burke would turn into a star. 

Ppl are not being harsh on mcburnie and I certainly have no ill will towards the guy but I honestly have not seen a player who plays at the level he does be so terrible that he can't control or pass a ball. He's diabolically slow and can't win any knockdowns or flick ons. The drastic change in our performance level when he came on against Serbia was clear to see. It was so bad it nearly cost us the match. We went from dominating a decent side to looking absolutely terrible. 

This is a fair summary of McBurnie well said

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People are having too high expectations on him - definitely. The fact is we are mighty thin on the ground up front. Dykes is being seen as the big answer six games into his career with us that's how much we are struggling for strikers. Griffiths is nowhere near match sharp/fit to start a game for us but may be an option to give him the first 45 on Wednesday. Burke and Shankland - mark my words - the same will happen with them. Put them in the hot seat if Dykes is out and they'd become the new scapegoats to earn the wrath of fans. Then what? Nisbet or Hornby ?(who is not playing club football at present) then who? 

For so long now our goal threats have come from attacking midfielders. Look at who has scored the goals for us in the last couple of years and the majority have come from Forrest, McGinn and Christie. I see that as continuing in the lead up to the Euros and probably beyond until we can unearth a real hitman in attack.

Edited by Caledonian Craig
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16 minutes ago, Caledonian Craig said:

People are having too high expectations on him - definitely. The fact is we are mighty thin on the ground up front. Dykes is being seen as the big answer six games into his career with us that's how much we are struggling for strikers. Griffiths is nowhere near match sharp/fit to start a game for us but may be an option to give him the first 45 on Wednesday. Burke and Shankland - mark my words - the same will happen with them. Put them in the hot seat if Dykes is out and they'd become the new scapegoats to earn the wrath of fans. Then what? Nisbet or Hornby ?(who is not playing club football at present) then who? 

For so long now our goal threats have come from attacking midfielders. Look at who has scored the goals for us in the last couple of years and the majority have come from Forrest, McGinn and Christie. I see that as continuing in the lead up to the Euros and probably beyond until we can unearth a real hitman in attack.

Burke never got a hard time and his performances have been average to poor. His performances were however massively better than mcburnies which is testament to how terrible mcburnie has been in a Scotland shirt. 

Our expectations are low regarding strikers and I don't expect burke, shankland and Nisbet to be amazing. What I do expect is that they might control a ball and at least do the occasional thing right. They also have not had many chances recently since we went on our good run. I think the fans acknowledge that burke and shankland won't be brilliant but we also acknowledge that they would do better than McBurnie. If after a few games they produce mcburnie level performances then we accept it and try and make the best out of the rubbish we have. 

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2 minutes ago, mccaughey85 said:

Burke never got a hard time and his performances have been average to poor. His performances were however massively better than mcburnies which is testament to how terrible mcburnie has been in a Scotland shirt. 

Our expectations are low regarding strikers and I don't expect burke, shankland and Nisbet to be amazing. What I do expect is that they might control a ball and at least do the occasional thing right. They also have not had many chances recently since we went on our good run. I think the fans acknowledge that burke and shankland won't be brilliant but we also acknowledge that they would do better than McBurnie. If after a few games they produce mcburnie level performances then we accept it and try and make the best out of the rubbish we have. 

Yes that is fair enough. Its grim but it is where we are as far as striking options go and there is no hidden candidate out there screaming out for selection or impressing. And it needn't be all doom and gloom as the majority of our goals come from attacking midfielders which has served us well.

The Nations League has been great for us but the only downside is that it lessens friendlies where we can experiment and look at other options.

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6 hours ago, Burj_Alba said:

This is my view. Just one regulation goal from him and who knows? Would he really have tried to take three touches with that one on one with the keeper ( Armstrong's pass) with Sheff U? Seen him score club goals with more difficult headers than the one yesterday.

Think if he had scored before yesterday then Clarke would have hooked him late on, he looked knackered. 

Clarke obviously rates him and will give him as many chances as possible. 

I think it's more a case of Clarke rating the system and like it or not McBurnie and Dykes are the only two players we have that fit into it.

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3 hours ago, er yir macaroon said:

I’d really like the Scottish management team to concentrate on getting something from Oliver Burke. He’s the wild card player in the squad who could potentially be a match winner in otherwise stuffy games such as the one yesterday. I think he is a credible alternative to McBurnie when Dykes is unavailable. He’s got an immense leap on him for a start.

I would also be very interested to see (at least for 25 min) if he could be the one in receipt of the flick ons from Dykes. In theory at least, a combination of Dykes and Burke could be a fearsome prospect for opposition defenders. They are both powerful and quick, Burke exceptionally quick. Burke is also best when running into open spaces rather than receiving it tight on the wing. We need to at least use him otherwise why is he in the squad?

So we could think about Burke and Christie (when Dykes unavailable) and Dykes and Burke (for 25 minutes of a game). 

That's a very interesting theory and I can see where you are coming from. Unfortunately every time I've seen him he seems to lack the game intelligence to play the role you suggest. Pace seems to be his main asset. But you're right - what's he in the squad for? Must be a reason he hasn't played much for Sheff. U.

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3 hours ago, Caledonian Craig said:

They'd be happy for 45 minutes I'd say. That is my point here. A missed chance or lack of chances created and we'd get the same as McBurnie got yesterday. It is just some fans' way. They cannot look beyond that. The players who run out onto that pitch all give their best. People choose to ignore pertinent facts about McBurnie in that he is not a prolific goalscorer and he is in a poor run of form for a club struggling badly so confidence is bound to be low too. I challenge anyone here to excel in those circumstances.

Gallagher and O'Donnell just came off a horsing from Celtic and they were exceptional against Serbia, especially the former.

Folk say he needs the monkey off his back but FFS he was presented with a clear shot at goal right in front of the keeper!  Didn't have to beat any defenders or work for it at all - he just had to shoot.  I don't think we can afford the luxury of persisting with someone like that any longer.

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I think we need a bit of perspective here. McBurnie has a lot of talent, and, in fact, I think yesterday was arguably his best game in a Scotland shirt. He at least proved to me that he is worthy of a squad place.

However, if you look at virtually any other top 50 ranked team in the world, do you think they would continue with a striker that has scored 0 and assisted 0 goals in 15+ games? His Sheffield Utd stats are grim reading as well, so it's not like he just isn't replicating his club form. Regardless of what you think of his talent, the stats don't merit a starting berth (at the moment)

International football is ruthless and we can't keep coddling people that simply aren't producing. 

 

Edited by Tartan blood
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The work rate from Slovakia was incredible.  Never seen a team try and close down like that.  Scotland struggled to cope with that yesterday.  The way of the modern game.  Don't agree with all the criticism of McBurnie.  I was praying for him to score and give an Ian Ferguson two fingered salute to the TA who won't back a Scotland player.

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16 hours ago, McTeeko said:

Shankland has struggled this season due to being in a pish United side that create fuck all. They’ve drawn four of their last five games 0-0. Absolutely no creativity. 

The same could be said for McBurnie for Sheff Utd but at a much higher level.

Ive not actually formed a view on Shankland. Was just highlighting what people were saying about him last year. The expectation was that he would continue to score goals at a higher level. Whatever the reason being, so far this hasnt held up.

McBurnie hasnt been great for us but he is still worthy of a squad place until somebody does better.

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2 hours ago, Tartan blood said:

I think we need a bit of perspective here. McBurnie has a lot of talent, and, in fact, I think yesterday was arguably his best game in a Scotland shirt. He at least proved to me that he is worthy of a squad place.

However, if you look at virtually any other top 50 ranked team in the world, do you think they would continue with a striker that has scored 0 and assisted 0 goals in 15+ games? His Sheffield Utd stats are grim reading as well, so it's not like he just isn't replicating his club form. Regardless of what you think of his talent, the stats don't merit a starting berth (at the moment)

International football is ruthless and we can't keep coddling people that simply aren't producing. 

 

McBurnie wouldn’t have started yesterday if Dykes hadn’t been suspended (at least if it had been a must win game). He is a back up player at best and I doubt he’ll feature much in the qualifiers or the European Championship Finals (still feels good saying that!) if Dykes and Griffiths are fit.

The fact that Clarke’s preferred pairing up front in a 3-5-2 is Dykes and Fraser says a lot about where he places McBurnie in the pecking order. 

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1 minute ago, Diamond Scot said:

The same could be said for McBurnie for Sheff Utd but at a much higher level.

Ive not actually formed a view on Shankland. Was just highlighting what people were saying about him last year. The expectation was that he would continue to score goals at a higher level. Whatever the reason being, so far this hasnt held up.

McBurnie hasnt been great for us but he is still worthy of a squad place until somebody does better.

That's the crux of the matter. We are not blessed with a vast array of talented strikers. The players in our squad are the best available to us. I have heard nobody offering up alternatives other than Kevin Nisbet.

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36 minutes ago, Texas Pete said:

McBurnie wouldn’t have started yesterday if Dykes hadn’t been suspended (at least if it had been a must win game). He is a back up player at best and I doubt he’ll feature much in the qualifiers or the European Championship Finals (still feels good saying that!) if Dykes and Griffiths are fit.

The fact that Clarke’s preferred pairing up front in a 3-5-2 is Dykes and Fraser says a lot about where he places McBurnie in the pecking order. 

After the last two games I'm not sure Fraser is ahead of Christie. I'm not sure why we have so many strikers in the squad when two of our best options up front are really midfielders.

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44 minutes ago, Caledonian Craig said:

That's the crux of the matter. We are not blessed with a vast array of talented strikers. The players in our squad are the best available to us. I have heard nobody offering up alternatives other than Kevin Nisbet.

It's the same debate when Oli Burke came on the scene

Eventually all realised despite the price tag the performances didn't merit, certainly, starts

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