Netherlands warm up game.

[Texas Pete]

21 minutes ago, Third Lanark said:

Hansen was world class: the dilemma of McLeish and Miller (great club duo) v. Hansen and one of them was akin to the Tierney/Robbie dilemma, only we never solved it. You have to remember that also, back then, there was great antipathy to the so-called 'anglos' which we don't seem to get now.

Yeah I know how good Hansen was for Liverpool but I’m not sure how often he replicated that for Scotland. The same could be said for a lot of people over the years. 

I do know that Hansen didn’t get as many caps as a player if his class should have but yeah the McLeish and Miller partnership would explain that. 

[Texas Pete]

16 minutes ago, Third Lanark said:

All being well, a draw might just suit both of us.

Here comes the “a draw against England will never suit us” brigade. 

[Texas Pete]

3 hours ago, ThistleWhistle said:

Think Clarke having a month with them is a big wild card for us. If he turns us into a sexier version Kilmarnock then we could hopefully surprise a few. 

No fear was a massive take from last night. 

I’m not sure how much of an advantage it will be since most of the other squads will be spending the same amount of time together but it certainly won’t do us any harm. 

[Texas Pete]

3 hours ago, DAVIDB46 said:

Thought we played pretty well last night, however would not have dykes anywhere near a starting place, he isn’t of the quality required at this level .

he looked like he was hauling a tow truck at times last night and he isn’t any better than mcburnie to be honest .

I have seen Dykes play a lot better for us to be fair to him. He wasn’t great last night but  that doesn’t mean he can’t go a job for us. 

[Tartan blood]

4 minutes ago, Malcolm said:

Tierney may well now be playing himself in to a move to a top club, ie bayern, barca, juve, man city.  
 

im not sure that mcginn, armstrong, mctominay will be the midfield. All three are box to box.  I would imagine that next year gilmour will be holding with two from the other three.

It would not surprise me if Tierney ended up in the team of the tournament. I think a few of our boys will end up with deserved big moves after the Euros.

I thought Gilmour looked class in his very brief spell last night. I honestly think it is worth the risk of playing Gilmour ahead of McGregor, if that is the only other option. Armstrong and McGinn are both capable in that role too, but their attacking prowess is wasted there.

[romanticscot]

9 minutes ago, Texas Pete said:

I’m not sure how much of an advantage it will be since most of the other squads will be spending the same amount of time together but it certainly won’t do us any harm. 

I agree with the sentiment that the extended time will do us wonders. I said in games gone last, especially in the context of Israel that they never saw the best of us, I wouldn't say we are on par with a Holland or a Spain but I do believe we can play far better than what we have at any point other than the 90 against Serbia consistently over the last two years. I think we are away to see the best version of ourselves. Autobots roll out 

[Texas Pete]

2 minutes ago, romanticscot said:

I agree with the sentiment that the extended time will do us wonders. I said in games gone last, especially in the context of Israel that they never saw the best of us, I wouldn't say we are on par with a Holland or a Spain but I do believe we can play far better than what we have at any point other than the 90 against Serbia consistently over the last two years. I think we are away to see the best version of ourselves. Autobots roll out 

Agreed but won’t the other teams also benefit from the extended time together? It’s all relative surely? 

Unless Clarke is the best coach of course.......

 

 

 

 

 

[ThistleWhistle]

16 minutes ago, Texas Pete said:

I’m not sure how much of an advantage it will be since most of the other squads will be spending the same amount of time together but it certainly won’t do us any harm. 

For me how Clarke wants to play, particularly around pressing, was apparent last night and must be almost impossible to instil in normal international windows. Not so sure the others are as reliant  on instilling a 'sum of the parts' type mentality. 

The other three head coaches don't seem to have much success at club level whilst Clarke was a key cog for Chelsea for a lengthy spell.  I think he potentially can get more out the month than the others particularly with England seemingly focused on  getting key players fit.

[Tartan blood]

10 minutes ago, romanticscot said:

I agree with the sentiment that the extended time will do us wonders. I said in games gone last, especially in the context of Israel that they never saw the best of us, I wouldn't say we are on par with a Holland or a Spain but I do believe we can play far better than what we have at any point other than the 90 against Serbia consistently over the last two years. I think we are away to see the best version of ourselves. Autobots roll out 

It's exactly what we've missed for 2 decades. Strachan and others always talked about creating a club dynamic, but that was pretty much impossible to do when you only have a few days of training together before months of separation.

The camraderie and togetherness we'll get from this will be unquantifiably valuable for the next few years. And I think Clarke knows that. I think that could be what made up his mind to bring along Patterson instead of Palmer. Of this 26, I can imagine around 18 or 19 will be involved for the next few years at least.

[romanticscot]

14 minutes ago, Texas Pete said:

Agreed but won’t the other teams also benefit from the extended time together? It’s all relative surely? 

Unless Clarke is the best coach of course.......

 

 

 

 

 

I hear you, I believe it to be untapped potential. Take Belgium as a prime example, they are coached from a young age to play a certain way at all styles, it's very consistent. Let's say their baseline is 93% of their ability, they show up with some extended time together they can hit 95%, us our baseline is maybe 65% of our best - we have weeks of extended coaching together and we show up at 85% of realized potential. This is all theoretical but I think how we play, the composure and consistency will surprise many and then we carry that into the World Cup qualifiers later in the year. 

[Texas Pete]

22 minutes ago, romanticscot said:

I hear you, I believe it to be untapped potential. Take Belgium as a prime example, they are coached from a young age to play a certain way at all styles, it's very consistent. Let's say their baseline is 93% of their ability, they show up with some extended time together they can hit 95%, us our baseline is maybe 65% of our best - we have weeks of extended coaching together and we show up at 85% of realized potential. This is all theoretical but I think how we play, the composure and consistency will surprise many and then we carry that into the World Cup qualifiers later in the year. 

It certainly can’t do any harm. The more time a coach can spend with his players the better.

[Tartan blood]

1 hour ago, romanticscot said:

I hear you, I believe it to be untapped potential. Take Belgium as a prime example, they are coached from a young age to play a certain way at all styles, it's very consistent. Let's say their baseline is 93% of their ability, they show up with some extended time together they can hit 95%, us our baseline is maybe 65% of our best - we have weeks of extended coaching together and we show up at 85% of realized potential. This is all theoretical but I think how we play, the composure and consistency will surprise many and then we carry that into the World Cup qualifiers later in the year. 

I know I just said it isn't quantifiable, but you just did a good job of quantifying it! 😆

It's actually a shame we already played some qualifiers already, because the extra edge we'll gain from this tournament might have been the difference between those 2 draws and 2 wins.

[exile]

10 hours ago, ThistleWhistle said:

Think Clarke having a month with them is a big wild card for us. If he turns us into a sexier version Kilmarnock then we could hopefully surprise a few. 

No fear was a massive take from last night. 

I imagine the current generation must be free of the baggage of the past too, of being compared with previous teams and past failures. I'd imagine they won't be bothered by Scotland's past record of not getting out of group. They have created their own traditions, of winning play offs and penalty shoot outs!

[Squirrelhumper]

12 hours ago, DAVIDB46 said:

Thought we played pretty well last night, however would not have dykes anywhere near a starting place, he isn’t of the quality required at this level .

he looked like he was hauling a tow truck at times last night and he isn’t any better than mcburnie to be honest .

Agreed. 

[mccaughey85]

16 hours ago, DAVIDB46 said:

Thought we played pretty well last night, however would not have dykes anywhere near a starting place, he isn’t of the quality required at this level .

he looked like he was hauling a tow truck at times last night and he isn’t any better than mcburnie to be honest .

i thought dykes looked ok, hes certainly shown so far that he can play well at international level and i am often surprised by how quick he is so i am not sure why you think he was looking slow. also hes been literally ten times better for us than mcburnie has, not sure what you have been watching tbh.

[theabsentee]

22 hours ago, Dave in London said:

Don’t tell any Scotland fans, but this England fan has a mild case of the ‘terror’ about our imminent match up.

All of the planets are aligning...

Rivalry aside, genuinely happy you guys are back on the tournament stage.

 

Really good team too...

Cheers😉👍

[ProudScot]

16 hours ago, DAVIDB46 said:

Thought we played pretty well last night, however would not have dykes anywhere near a starting place, he isn’t of the quality required at this level .

he looked like he was hauling a tow truck at times last night and he isn’t any better than mcburnie to be honest .

Dykes is vastly superior to McBurnie 

[stirlish]

8 hours ago, Squirrelhumper said:

Agreed. 

But dont you think he just suits Clarke's system?

I mean look what he done for Gary Dicker! 

 

[er yir macaroon]

8 hours ago, ProudScot said:

Dykes is vastly superior to McBurnie 

He was a bit sluggish the other night but the Championship finished quite a while ago. I think he’ll get more minutes v Luxembourg. 

[Third Lanark]

9 hours ago, theabsentee said:

Cheers😉👍

👍

[Texas Pete]

11 hours ago, ProudScot said:

Dykes is vastly superior to McBurnie 

I’m not sure this is true. 

Dykes has certainly played better for Scotland and the fact he has a couple of goals helps but I think they are around a similar standard. They are both English Championship level strikers really and unless either gets a move to a Premiership club in the summer then we’ll get a good comparison next season. 

The way some people go on you’d think Dykes was playing for Barcelona or something. 

[ProudScot]

50 minutes ago, Texas Pete said:

I’m not sure this is true. 

Dykes has certainly played better for Scotland and the fact he has a couple of goals helps but I think they are around a similar standard. They are both English Championship level strikers really and unless either gets a move to a Premiership club in the summer then we’ll get a good comparison next season. 

The way some people go on you’d think Dykes was playing for Barcelona or something. 

Nobody goes on about Dykes at all. 

He’s played well nearly every game for Scotland & has scored a couple of goals. 

McBurnie can’t even control a ball or make a simple pass, let alone look like scoring.

Nobody thinks Dykes is top drawer he’s just blatantly a much better player than McBurnie, based upon performances. 

Edited June 4, 2021 by ProudScot

[Texas Pete]

15 minutes ago, ProudScot said:

Nobody goes on about Dykes at all. 

He’s played well nearly every game for Scotland & has scored a couple of goals. 

McBurnie can’t even control a ball or make a simple pass, let alone look like scoring.

Nobody thinks Dykes is top drawer he’s just blatantly a much better player than McBurnie, based upon performances. 

Some people do. One person in particular.

I have seen McBurnie have some very good games for Sheffield United and Swansea. He is genuinely not a bad player and obviously can control a ball and make simple passes so your statement is blatantly untrue.

McBurnie obviously has issues which may have affected his form and was possibly out of his depth in the EPL and has never really played well for Scotland (all reasons why Dykes should be ahead of him for us) but saying Dykes is vastly superior to McBurnie simply isn’t true in my opinion.

Don’t get me wrong, I prefer Dykes  as a player and he is arguably a better player than McBurnie but sadly he is not vastly superior. 

[Tartan blood]

1 hour ago, Texas Pete said:

Some people do. One person in particular.

I have seen McBurnie have some very good games for Sheffield United and Swansea. He is genuinely not a bad player and obviously can control a ball and make simple passes so your statement is blatantly untrue.

McBurnie obviously has issues which may have affected his form and was possibly out of his depth in the EPL and has never really played well for Scotland (all reasons why Dykes should be ahead of him for us) but saying Dykes is vastly superior to McBurnie simply isn’t true in my opinion.

Don’t get me wrong, I prefer Dykes  as a player and he is arguably a better player than McBurnie but sadly he is not vastly superior. 

When it comes to international football, and especially big tournaments, a major part of that is mentality, not just ability. I agree that, ability-wise, there probably isn't too much between them, but for whatever reason McBurnie hasn't been able to make that step up, which I can only imagine is some sort of mental block. Whereas Dykes seemed to just slot in effortlessly.

Getting that first goal can make such a difference. I do wonder if McBurnie had buried even just one of those chances that hit the post we'd be seeing a different player. 

I'm really glad all 3 of our strikers have at least 1 goal to their name now going into the tournament.

[mccaughey85]

kinda surprised about the negativity regarding certain players performances. seems like dykes, mcgregor, turnbull, forrest had poor games according to some on here and other message boards. i thought they did ok, i have watched scotland teams in the past struggle to string two passes together against top opposition. i thought turnbull was quite good considering it was debut. ppl need to remember it was the netherlands they were playing not some minnows. If we play that way against croatia and england we have a chance of getting a draw or even a win.