Scotland vs Czech Republic match thread🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿.

[ThistleWhistle]

1 minute ago, mccaughey85 said:

He didn't do much wrong but he is very limited and doesn't provide much attacking threat, I think forrest or fraser would be much better against teams like the Czech rep. 

I genuinely feel a bit sorry for him as he's pretty limited and has to cover the right hand side himself - Robertson just about can do it but expecting SOD to do it especially when he's getting double teamed.

[Third Lanark]

Just now, exile said:

Corners have to be one of the best opportunities for a team toiling to score from open play. You can't predict where or when you'll get a free kick, but you can often trade in a hard won attacking position for a corner. We should have a plan B and a plan C.

Yes that seems to have been lacking. I thought we had enough tall players but we were outjumped consistently.

[mccaughey85]

2 minutes ago, exile said:

Have we reached our level? We just didn't have the class for the final strike.

Positives: Robertson, Che Adams, Nisbet. McGinn.

The best we can hope is that we go to Wembley like in 1999. When we were written off, but at least won the game.

Well I think on paper we should be able to draw or beat the Czechs at home so I think we have underperformed today. 

Reality is we are starting players who play for qpr, Derby and motherwell and there's always going to be limitations on what we can do with guys who play in the second tier of English football but under the right management and at home we should be getting a draw or win today. 

It's the other 2 games that our expectations should be low. 

[Mazda]

14 minutes ago, Tartan Chris said:

Yeah I ment Marshall rather than Hendry when typing that, crazy he was about 40 yards up the pitch when play was just over the halfway line.

Could understand more if it was a corner or set piece.

Just saw their goalscorer saying on interview he was watching  Marshall do this in 1st half so was looking for a repeat of the madness.

[Toepoke]

19 minutes ago, Templeton_Peck said:

Wtf ??

That's f**kin' awful goalkeeping!

 

[Burj_Alba]

3 minutes ago, ThistleWhistle said:

I genuinely feel a bit sorry for him as he's pretty limited and has to cover the right hand side himself - Robertson just about can do it but expecting SOD to do it especially when he's getting double teamed.

Think that's it TW. Teams pinpoint O'Donnell as  a weakness, especially when Tierney is also playing left hand side.

He also should have been quicker to close the right back down for the first goal.

Sadly O'Donnell isn't good enough at this level and although there is 100% effort in every game you need a bit more.

[mccaughey85]

Tbf i didn't think we played terrible, we had plenty of chances and we created plenty of opportunities but our finishing was poor and the czechs have a quality striker who took his chances. 

Sadly its pretty much over for us as there is little chance we beat Croatia or England. 

 

[Burj_Alba]

See what Schick said about the goal.

On his second wonder goal, he says: "I saw him [off his line], I checked in the first half when this situation would come. I was checking where he was standing."

Funny I have never seen Marshall doing this before, instructions from the manager? 

[mccaughey85]

1 minute ago, Burj_Alba said:

Think that's it TW. Teams pinpoint O'Donnell as  a weakness, especially when Tierney is also playing left hand side.

He also should have been quicker to close the right back down for the first goal.

Sadly O'Donnell isn't good enough at this level and although there is 100% effort in every game you need a bit more.

I think forrest or fraser has to be given that rwb spot for now with Patterson eventually becoming the regular. 

[dandydunn]

8 minutes ago, mccaughey85 said:

Well I think on paper we should be able to draw or beat the Czechs at home so I think we have underperformed today. 

Reality is we are starting players who play for qpr, Derby and motherwell and there's always going to be limitations on what we can do with guys who play in the second tier of English football but under the right management and at home we should be getting a draw or win today. 

It's the other 2 games that our expectations should be low. 

We also started with players from Liverpool & Man Utd. They started with a player from Bristol City. Your point is completely irrelevant I’m afraid. 

[exile]

4 minutes ago, mccaughey85 said:

Well I think on paper we should be able to draw or beat the Czechs at home so I think we have underperformed today. 

Reality is we are starting players who play for qpr, Derby and motherwell and there's always going to be limitations on what we can do with guys who play in the second tier of English football but under the right management and at home we should be getting a draw or win today. 

It's the other 2 games that our expectations should be low. 

I see what you mean though it's probably a bit academic about whether we over-achieved to get here and then just 'found our level' now we're here, rather than under-performing.

No offence to West Ham, Burnley or Bristol City but I wouldn't say they were all 'out of our league'... it was not over-optimistic to seek a win at home today or avoid defeat.

[Third Lanark]

If Tierney had been carrying an injury why did he play the whole game against Luxembourg? And why was he not wrapped in cotton wool last week?

[ThistleWhistle]

7 minutes ago, Burj_Alba said:

Think that's it TW. Teams pinpoint O'Donnell as  a weakness, especially when Tierney is also playing left hand side.

He also should have been quicker to close the right back down for the first goal.

Sadly O'Donnell isn't good enough at this level and although there is 100% effort in every game you need a bit more.

That was something else that baffled me - how did we get in such a mess our right back ended up over on the left closing that down?  

My worry has always been if Israel can work us out all three of these will and will be far more dangerous with it.  

[Toepoke]

2 minutes ago, Third Lanark said:

If Tierney had been carrying an injury why did he play the whole game against Luxembourg? And why was he not wrapped in cotton wool last week?

Seems to have been injured in training. Massive miss today as was expected.

 

[ThistleWhistle]

5 minutes ago, dandydunn said:

We also started with players from Liverpool & Man Utd. They started with a player from Bristol City. Your point is completely irrelevant I’m afraid. 

Two I think from Bristol City - they played 4 at the back with their CB and keeper in their team.  

[Blantyre_Braveheart]

4 minutes ago, Third Lanark said:

If Tierney had been carrying an injury why did he play the whole game against Luxembourg? And why was he not wrapped in cotton wool last week?

Even if he was fit and fine playing an injury prone player (who's just back from injury) for 2 90 minute friendlies just seems bizarre. Same with Robertson playing most of both games.

Felt stupid.

[Burj_Alba]

1 minute ago, Toepoke said:

Seems to have been injured in training. Massive miss today as was expected.

 

Not just defensively. Just bringing the ball out and and giving us another option, Cooper and Hanley did Ok but they are nowhere near the quality of Tierney.

Bet the Czechs saw the teamsheet and got a massive lift.

[gkm_vancouver]

52 minutes ago, Burj_Alba said:

top quote of the day mate, not a high barrier since about 2.40 admittedly.

Seen the stats? 57% possession, (18-9 shots on target for us. ) They just did much more with the ball.

What to give for a striker like Schick

Check the stats at half time 6 or 7 shots only one on target. These stats changed only after we went two down and had to do better. It's same old story - only start really playing well when we go behind and when it is basically too late. 

[mccaughey85]

4 minutes ago, dandydunn said:

We also started with players from Liverpool & Man Utd. They started with a player from Bristol City. Your point is completely irrelevant I’m afraid. 

Yes but most of their players play in top leagues. As I said on paper we should probably be at least drawing with the Czechs at home but the Czechs play well as a team and have a decent standard of player for the most part. 

It's relevant what level players play at. If your expecting good results against England and Croatia with guys who play second tier in England and average spl players then you are going to get a shock. 

Our best chance was getting a result today as we have a similar standard of squad as the czechs. 

[Toepoke]

Our biggest weakness came back to bite us, converting possession in the final third into goals.

Until we can sort that out we are getting nowhere. 

 

[Caledonian Craig]

The difference between the two sides was that they had a truly class striker up front in Schick and we didn't. We created a good few chances but did not take them. I said before the game we had to be more clinical in front of goal - we weren't. Dykes should have scored in the second half and there were other moments our luck was out in hitting the bar and deflected shot going just over. It just wasn't our day and it was a big blow with Tierney not playing.

The second goal was the killer and it was a horrific moment from Marshall sadly. Where do we go from here? Well it would be a monumental effort to go to Wembley and get a result leaving us having to beat Croatia and even then that might not be enough. Sore one to take today.

[Caledonian Craig]

Just now, Toepoke said:

Our biggest weakness came back to bite us, converting possession in the final third into goals.

Until we can sort that out we are getting nowhere. 

 

Spot on and our other big weakness being too slow to pick up and close down attacking players around our penalty area. It has cost us lots of goals lately.

[mccaughey85]

9 minutes ago, exile said:

I see what you mean though it's probably a bit academic about whether we over-achieved to get here and then just 'found our level' now we're here, rather than under-performing.

No offence to West Ham, Burnley or Bristol City but I wouldn't say they were all 'out of our league'... it was not over-optimistic to seek a win at home today or avoid defeat.

Yeh we should be able to beat the czechs at home with the team/squad we have. That to me says that we haven't reached our ceiling/level. I think our level should be getting 1 win in our group. That's our limitations imo. 

[Burj_Alba]

Best case scenario now is the Czechs beat Croatia so we come down to a head to head for third place if we lose at Wembley. Then a victory will put us in the lap of the gods for a third place qualification.

Sorry but I don't want to throw away the optimism we had before the match. Thought we were a bag of nerves in the first half and some players temperament needs to be reassessed.

[mccaughey85]

2 minutes ago, Caledonian Craig said:

The difference between the two sides was that they had a truly class striker up front in Schick and we didn't. We created a good few chances but did not take them. I said before the game we had to be more clinical in front of goal - we weren't. Dykes should have scored in the second half and there were other moments our luck was out in hitting the bar and deflected shot going just over. It just wasn't our day and it was a big blow with Tierney not playing.

The second goal was the killer and it was a horrific moment from Marshall sadly. Where do we go from here? Well it would be a monumental effort to go to Wembley and get a result leaving us having to beat Croatia and even then that might not be enough. Sore one to take today.

I actually felt we played well in spells and we created some excellent chances. I think a draw would of been a fair result but the czechs have a class striker in schick and he was the difference. 

The stats show we had more shots and possession. Not that it really matters Tbf.