Israel V Scotland

[er yir macaroon]

It has occurred to me that had Christie been playing in the left midfield position he would have blocked that cross for the second Austria goal (unlikely McGregor who seemed to think it was someone else’s problem). He is physical enough to handle the role and it enables a different partner for the main striker. Remember also his two brilliant assists from that area of the pitch away versus Albania.

McTominay, Christie, McGinn with Fraser, Dykes in front. Christie and McGinn can swap roles periodically within a match. 

Edited March 28, 2021 by er yir macaroon

[bazmidd]

1 hour ago, PASTA Mick said:

I'd be happy with that!

Did you see Denmark's first goal against them? It was almost identical to one we scored at Hampden a while back against them, striker pulls their centre half out of position wins the header flicks it on runner from deep gets on it beats his man for pace and scores.

[Third Lanark]

11 hours ago, Toepoke said:

We beat the Czechs just a few months ago. Rode our luck a bit but a win's a win.

 

And you know as well as I do that it was in effect their third team.

[PASTA Mick]

17 minutes ago, bazmidd said:

Did you see Denmark's first goal against them? It was almost identical to one we scored at Hampden a while back against them, striker pulls their centre half out of position wins the header flicks it on runner from deep gets on it beats his man for pace and scores.

Yeah, and our best performance against them was with Fletcher up front and Forrest, Fraser and Christie behind. They couldn't handle any of them. 

[Orraloon]

10 minutes ago, PASTA Mick said:

Yeah, and our best performance against them was with Fletcher up front and Forrest, Fraser and Christie behind. They couldn't handle any of them. 

And McLeish as manager. 

[DAVIDB46]

27 minutes ago, PASTA Mick said:

Yeah, and our best performance against them was with Fletcher up front and Forrest, Fraser and Christie behind. They couldn't handle any of them. 

I don’t remember any point us beating them comfortably 

[er yir macaroon]

36 minutes ago, bazmidd said:

Did you see Denmark's first goal against them? It was almost identical to one we scored at Hampden a while back against them, striker pulls their centre half out of position wins the header flicks it on runner from deep gets on it beats his man for pace and scores.

At least no one’s beating Hendry for pace. 

[Toepoke]

51 minutes ago, Third Lanark said:

And you know as well as I do that it was in effect their third team.

Not in the game at Hampden it wasn't. 

[Orraloon]

8 minutes ago, Toepoke said:

Not in the game at Hampden it wasn't. 

OK, 2nd team.

[Tartan blood]

I think today is going to be an incredibly valuable gauge of our progress. We have 5 recent games to compare the standards. We know them well, and they know us well. So we won't be able to put any result down to unpredictability. (Barring another shocking referee display)

In a one off game, anyone can beat anyone. But 4 times out of 5 it'll be the better team that wins. Well this'll now be our 6th(?). So we should be demonstrating that we are the better team. We might not score much, but we damn well should be dominating proceedings.

[ProudScot]

It’s semi worrying Clarke saying this isn’t a must win. 

If we want to make the play offs it’s entirely a must win tonight. 

[Caledonian Craig]

5 minutes ago, ProudScot said:

It’s semi worrying Clarke saying this isn’t a must win. 

If we want to make the play offs it’s entirely a must win tonight. 

Yes it is not an ideal mindset to be going in with. Perhaps it is just his way of trying to take a bit of pressure off of the players? Who knows?

[Orraloon]

10 minutes ago, ProudScot said:

It’s semi worrying Clarke saying this isn’t a must win. 

If we want to make the play offs it’s entirely a must win tonight. 

Managers are very reluctant to say a game is a "must win", unless it's the last game of the campaign or if they don't win they go out. It's just another example of reporters asking stupid questions. What happen if we don't win it? Does that mean he thinks the rest of the games won't be worth bothering about? In which case he might as well he might as well just pack it in and give somebody else a chance. Refusing to say it's a "must win" doesn't mean they won't be trying their hardest to win it.

[Marky]

15 minutes ago, ProudScot said:

It’s semi worrying Clarke saying this isn’t a must win. 

If we want to make the play offs it’s entirely a must win tonight. 

I doubt he really thinks that. We know what we mean when we say it, but for a team manager to say the second game of a qualifying group was a must win would be a bit silly. Not to mention setting yourself up for a fall. I reckon he’d be saying the same if it was the Faroes game. Mainly because despite what we might think, it really isn’t a must win.

There’s no such thing as a must win game, other than of course one that is literally a must win. 

[bazmidd]

I would be very tempted to go with the 4-2-3-1 this game, every game Israel have lost recently has been against sides that play that system. They don't like being pressed or runners in behind. We have the players that can do this, but it's a hard one as the 3 at the back has worked so well for us recently

[ceudmilefailte]

Just now, bazmidd said:

I would be very tempted to go with the 4-2-3-1 this game, every game Israel have lost recently has been against sides that play that system. They don't like being pressed or runners in behind. We have the players that can do this, but it's a hard one as the 3 at the back has worked so well for us recently

Clarke has said he might play a back four in certain games, maybe this will be one of them. Might through Israels game plan out the window.

[Taylor1996]

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/che-adams-scotland-start-beckons-23807277

Great. Didn't take long for Adams to be at the front of the queue for our strikers. He must've been promised to be our number one striker at Euro 2020. That probably what made him decide to play for Scotland. 

In my opinion, Dykes Is our number 1, McBurmie is number 2 (no poop jokes) and you could make a case of Adams being number 3.

Dykes has never let Scotland down. In the previous match, while not having a great match, he still set up two chances, including a great one for Christie.

McBurnie and Adams are at the same level, finishing wise. McBurnie is only ahead because of his service at under 21 level, and full level.

[Caledonian Craig]

1 minute ago, Taylor1996 said:

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/che-adams-scotland-start-beckons-23807277

Great. Didn't take long for Adams to be at the front of the queue for our strikers. He must've been promised to be our number one striker at Euro 2020. That probably what made him decide to play for Scotland. 

In my opinion, Dykes Is our number 1, McBurmie is number 2 (no poop jokes) and you could make a case of Adams being number 3.

Dykes has never let Scotland down. In the previous match, while not having a great match, he still set up two chances, including a great one for Christie.

McBurnie and Adams are at the same level, finishing wise. McBurnie is only ahead because of his service at under 21 level, and full level.

I will say one word ....... PACE.

[Big Ramy 1314]

Come on the Bonnie Scotland..🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[Taylor1996]

36 minutes ago, Caledonian Craig said:

I will say one word ....... PACE.

Ok. That's the one main difference. 

It would be nice to have a natural goalscorer, though.

I still maintain that McTominay is the best finisher we have. With his dribbling, pace, physicality and finishing, it would be interesting to see him up top.

 

[Caledonian Craig]

1 minute ago, Taylor1996 said:

Ok. That's the one main difference. 

It would be nice to have a natural goalscorer, though.

I still maintain that McTominay is the best finisher we have. With his dribbling, pace, physicality and finishing, it would be interesting to see him up top.

 

Pace is the one thing (I've seen and others) that their defence is susceptible to so it is key we get our quickest players in behind their defence - that is not Dykes game.

[Tartan Chris]

Honestly think he needs to fit in Dykes and Adams together as a two tonight. I mean you can still have 3 at the back and 3 centrally, just take out Armstrong for Adams.

Che Adams is more effective playing alongside targetman or other striker. At Birmingham he played alongside striker with similar profile to Dykes and had a 20 goal season that got him prem move and he's started regularly alongside Danny Ings this season.

Feels like an error just to wait to play this v Faroes or later match when likely playing catch up in group. Win tonight and potentially 7 points from first 3 games is pretty good.

Can also see McGregor returning which will push McGinn further forward so other issue given I want two strikers is how to fit Christie in as I thought he was good Friday at keeping hold of the ball in tight spots and creating space with quick turns to get shots away. Always a good player to have in tight away games as he proved in Serbia.

Interesting team selection anyway.

[Big Ramy 1314]

Happy, I will get the match live at home on the cable box I got for Chrisrmas. Ya dancer....🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴

COME ON !!!!!!!!!!!🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[ProudScot]

1 hour ago, Taylor1996 said:

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/che-adams-scotland-start-beckons-23807277

Great. Didn't take long for Adams to be at the front of the queue for our strikers. He must've been promised to be our number one striker at Euro 2020. That probably what made him decide to play for Scotland. 

In my opinion, Dykes Is our number 1, McBurmie is number 2 (no poop jokes) and you could make a case of Adams being number 3.

Dykes has never let Scotland down. In the previous match, while not having a great match, he still set up two chances, including a great one for Christie.

McBurnie and Adams are at the same level, finishing wise. McBurnie is only ahead because of his service at under 21 level, and full level.

Adams is a premiership level striker who plays every week in the premiership & scores goals in the premiership.

McBurnie is a championship level striker who sometimes plays in the premiership and isn’t good enough to score any goals in the premiership. 

[SkyBlueScot]

The thing I remember most about Israel is their right back. He seemed to have Robertson's number every time. However, I can't remember Tierney and Robertson playing together on the left before against them. I like the way it's working out. Teams peg Robertson back which only give Tierney space. Maybe we can start to see them as interchangeable at LB/CB?