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


Big Ramy 1314

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It's not all doom and gloom, we will have to beat the Croatians which is unlikely but we have beaten them twice the last time we played them. We then might get through with the best placed 3rd spot. It's a long shot but it's not impossible. We created plenty v the Czechs so we know we can make chances. Croatia looked quite poor v England as well. 

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1 minute ago, mccaughey85 said:

It's not all doom and gloom, we will have to beat the Croatians which is unlikely but we have beaten them twice the last time we played them. We might get the best placed 3rd spot. It's a long shot but it's not impossible. We created plenty v the Czechs so we know we can make chances. Croatia looked quite poor v England as well. 

Yes and to me the Croats were very disappointing against England. Fully agree with Shearer who said they looked toothless in attack. Modric is the key for them though. If they get him in the game then we could be in trouble. Another thing to watch is that they picked up three bookings V England so players walking a tightrope of a ban.

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2 minutes ago, Caledonian Craig said:

Yes and to me the Croats were very disappointing against England. Fully agree with Shearer who said they looked toothless in attack. Modric is the key for them though. If they get him in the game then we could be in trouble. Another thing to watch is that they picked up three bookings V England so players walking a tightrope of a ban.

I think beating the Croats is our best bet of getting through, even if we don't get through it would boost our confidence and pride for the remaining wc qualifiers. It's a tough ask but I didn't think we played badly against the Czechs, we just made a couple of silly errors and couldn't take the countless chances we created. Clarke needs to learn from this and start adams and drop o donnell for forrest or fraser, or maybe even Patterson. Going to be tough but far stranger things have happened than us beating the Croatians. Especially when you consider we beat them twice in row the last time we played them. Yesterday was a harsh blow but we are far from out yet. 

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6 minutes ago, Caledonian Craig said:

Yes and to me the Croats were very disappointing against England. Fully agree with Shearer who said they looked toothless in attack. Modric is the key for them though. If they get him in the game then we could be in trouble. Another thing to watch is that they picked up three bookings V England so players walking a tightrope of a ban.

They may be toothless in attack but so are we. And depending on how Fridays results go we could be needing 3+ goals against them.  They only lost one goal to England. I am not at all positive for us to get out this group  , I think yesterday was a must win. 

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1 minute ago, mccaughey85 said:

I think beating the Croats is our best bet of getting through, even if we don't get through it would boost our confidence and pride for the remaining wc qualifiers. It's a tough ask but I didn't think we played badly against the Czechs, we just made a couple of silly errors and couldn't take the countless chances we created. Clarke needs to learn from this and start adams and drop o donnell for forrest or fraser, or maybe even Patterson. Going to be tough but far stranger things have happened than us beating the Croatians. Especially when you consider we beat them twice in row the last time we played them. Yesterday was a harsh blow but we are far from out yet. 

I fully agree. Gilmour must start. He is a player the England side know about and respect and fear. We also need a more dynamic right wing-back for this game and either Forrest or Patterson should start there. Adams has more quality than Dykes so he must start up top.

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1 minute ago, TDYER63 said:

They may be toothless in attack but so are we. And depending on how Fridays results go we could be needing 3+ goals against them.  They only lost one goal to England. I am not at all positive for us to get out this group  , I think yesterday was a must win. 

Indeed. I get that but negativity is not going to get us through.

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2 hours ago, Caledonian Craig said:

Well f*** me it must be the first time ever I have heard a player being castrated by so many for having a shot at goal.

Sorry to be an annoying pedant, but don’t you mean ‘castigated?’

As pish as we were yesterday I think it’s a bit extreme to chop the players bollocks off as punishment.

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For what it’s worth, after watching England on Sunday and us yesterday I wouldn’t be surprised if they beat us 3 or 4 nil.

Maybe we haven’t progressed that much since Belgium & Russia humped us, maybe it’s just that we haven’t played anyone at that level since. Israel, Austria, Serbia, etc. are teams we can match on a good day. Yesterday was not a good day. If we get 4 points from the next two games it will be the greatest achievement in our history.

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3 minutes ago, The Black Bra said:

If we get 4 points from the next two games it will be the greatest achievement in our history.

I think that's fair comment.

We've generally been pretty poor since qualification (though one gets castigated, if not castrated, for 'negativity' from some for pointing this out). We struggle to score and it only needs a daft mistake or two (like yesterday) to finish you off if you don't score.

Can we score against England? Can we keep them out if we can't keep Czechia out? If it all comes down to beating Croatia can we beat them by enough goals to drown out the deficit we're carrying from Czechia/England?

No, negativity won't help us qaulify. Nor will groundless, relentless optimism. Realism will help us appreciate where we are, though.

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Yesterday was tough but the best thing we and the players can do is just go out and enjoy the next 2 games because there is no guarantee we will get to another tournament soon. If we get the results brilliant, if not then we look to clear out deadwood and move forward in the wc qualifiers with guys like gilmour, turnbull and Patterson starting games. 

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2 minutes ago, mccaughey85 said:

Yesterday was tough but the best thing we and the players can do is just go out and enjoy the next 2 games because there is no guarantee we will get to another tournament soon. If we get the results brilliant, if not then we look to clear out deadwood and move forward in the wc qualifiers with guys like gilmour, turnbull and Patterson starting games. 

Spot on again.

These three games are an acid test as to who is up to performing at major tournaments. We may not get much out of it results-wise but it will show us who truly belongs at international level and are worth persevering with and those that are not. We have younger players chomping at the bit to play for us and we need to look to integrate them into the team pronto.

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4 minutes ago, Caledonian Craig said:

Indeed. I get that but negativity is not going to get us through.

I know Craig, and believe me I so desperately want to be wrong. There is always the chance of an upset and I cling to that hope, as I think that will be the only way to get through. 
The team seem to be able to hold it together better than they did . The second goal yesterday was a total succour punch and it was possible we could have collapsed  , but we kept at it and didn’t concede any more . Had it stayed at 0-1 we may very well have equalised. 
But I just worry at our lack of firepower and we have few options upfront. 

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1 minute ago, TDYER63 said:

I know Craig, and believe me I so desperately want to be wrong. There is always the chance of an upset and I cling to that hope, as I think that will be the only way to get through. 
The team seem to be able to hold it together better than they did . The second goal yesterday was a total succour punch and it was possible we could have collapsed  , but we kept at it and didn’t concede any more . Had it stayed at 0-1 we may very well have equalised. 
But I just worry at our lack of firepower and we have few options upfront. 

There are pertinent things to remember from yesterday amidst all this disappointment. We had our best/most influential player out through injury late-on, we still did create chances and had more shots on goal than them and the goals we conceded came at bad times. Our side has got where it is without having that true class up front by getting goals from other areas like defence or midfield. Sadly, that did not happen yesterday.

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1 hour ago, Scot1 said:

Ok mate, why don’t you pop into your local university and tell them their statistics department is nonsense, tit

Statistics department? As in Mathematics and statistics? Not sure how that relates to football in any way.

Stats can be spun any way the user wants. For example the high number of chances created would suggest good performances from our midfielders yesterday but that simply isnt correct.

Dykes hit the target with his effort in the 2nd half. Thats a shot on target stat which is a positive but in reality it isnt because he should have scored.

Information is only useful when interpreted by a professional who knows what they are talking about. 

Simply saying X player has more assists than Y player therefore he is better is nonsence. As I said above, Gilmour has zero goals and zero assists in his professional career to date. So why is everybody wanting him in the team when he statistically contributes nothing to the goals total?

Not sure where the tit comment came from but knock yourself out.

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2 hours ago, Mox said:

They can both be to blame, it doesn't have to be one or the other.

Marshall and Hendry are not to blame for the defeat. Robertson has come out and publicly said in an interview that Marshall was told to come out of his area as back up to the back line and help clear any balls that get sent through and/or past the back line - note that SOD was way out of position at this point with no real cover. Good to see Robbo defend his players and shows squad unity which can still help us if we are to get anything out of this tourney. Clarke ultimately takes any blame for the defeat and I'm sure he know that.

FYI I have witnessed Gordon playing for Hearts where he was lobbed from the half way line and actually fell on his arse when the ball went over him into the net - so he has history also.

1 hour ago, gaz7 said:

Biggest mistake by clarke was not playing forrest or patterson instead of odonnell. With tierney out that took one of our main attacking threats away and cooper doesnt stray far from his position. With either of 2 mentioned playing they want to attack and would have gave czech more to worry about. In saying that remember we had 19 attempts and it is annoying even people on here looking for scapegoats. Every single goal scored anywhere is someones fault and. I also felt armstrong was better than mcginn and mctominay as was christie better than mcginn but mctominay and mcginn get a free pass due to who they play for and previous contributions. I know at half time you would not have taken mcginn of as Clarke would have got slaughtered but christie contributed more than him in 1st half and by taking mcginn off putting christie in his position and adams on might have been diferent. All what ifs and maybes and we will never know. Gilmour and either patterson/forrest has to start v England. Build our team around wee Billy and we can progress,keep playing midfielders who arent particularly good at passing or seeing where to pass and we will always be like we are.

Some truth in that. Biggest mistake I think was being set up to punt long balls up to Dykes (in the most difficult national team tournament) and effectively skip the midfield. I seem to remember McLeish saying blame me for telling the team to pass the ball out - when we got gubbed by Belguim/Russia. Dilemma is that Dykes needs a partner up front to be effective. If we do that we lose a midfielder. Getting that balance is critical and missing Tierney makes it even more difficult to achieve. The answer seems to be staring us in the face as we have all said is to play Gilmour who is not afraid to command the midfield and allow McGinn/McTominay/Adams/Christie/Fraser/whoever to play their natural midfield game and create more quality chances for our forwards to convert.

39 minutes ago, Scot1 said:

19 chances of which 11 are blocked, 3 shot wide, 5 on target

Czechs, 10 chances, 7 on target, 3 off target, 0 blocked

i think it’s clear we didn’t create enough good quality, clear chances, the Czechs did. Marshal was forced to make more, better saves 

 

Was even worse at half time. We increased number of efforts after half time but were forced on us because we went behind twice. Quality may have improved if we had played more of a formation that allowed McGinn, Fraser to shoot more rather than Hendry and if Adams had been on earlier as he created a lot of good moves at speed our chances would have been more convertible. Their Goalie probably only had one real save.

18 minutes ago, Scot1 said:

That’s what I saw. The way people were talking it was if we were working their keeper and forcing him to make save after save. Didn’t happen, the vast majority of our chances were “blocked” by a defender. Which brings up the question of intellect/brains, decision making. Yesterday I saw plenty of players, blasting the ball straight at a Czech player from close range knowing full well that ball isn’t going past the defender, bewildering 

And also what tactics Clarke set out and did they act to them? But probably expected because we went 2 behind and had to at least try to score. Tierney/Gilmour would almost certainly make a difference

11 minutes ago, JECK said:

We just weren’t good enough on the day from decision making (including management)to quality on the pitch. They were better than us on the day. That’s the stark reality. Just comes down to fine margins in tournament football and we didn’t have the answers. 

Spot on. Big question is can Clarke & team do enough to avoid a hiding on Friday? The prospect of a Grealish, Foden or even a 17 year old Bellingham (who  BTW Clarke, Southgate was not afraid to field him when they were only 1-0 up on  Sunday against Croatia) up against some of our defenders fills me with total dread. If I were to put forward an analogy of a game of Celebrity Football Mastermind, it would be like us putting Jimmy Krankie up against Stephen Hawking:blink:.

I'm sure we all want a result on Friday but so far are not convinced we got it in us - let's hope so.🙏🙏

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So deflated after yesterdays performance.It was really great to see so many kids across the country being excited to watch Scotland.Also,a long time since i have seen so many Scotland shirts being worn around the pubs etc.It just felt as if the air had been let out our balloon almost instantly.Even if we had managed a draw it would have kept the buzz around the country,but that result and performance  put an end to the feelgood factor almost instantly.Of course,i am always hopefull that we can produce something special,but fear that a great chance to really get kids proud to support Scotland has fallen at the first hurdle.Rather tamely at that.

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4 minutes ago, thesaint said:

So deflated after yesterdays performance.It was really great to see so many kids across the country being excited to watch Scotland.Also,a long time since i have seen so many Scotland shirts being worn around the pubs etc.It just felt as if the air had been let out our balloon almost instantly.Even if we had managed a draw it would have kept the buzz around the country,but that result and performance  put an end to the feelgood factor almost instantly.Of course,i am always hopefull that we can produce something special,but fear that a great chance to really get kids proud to support Scotland has fallen at the first hurdle.Rather tamely at that.

Yeh it was really painful and must of put alot of young kids off supporting the national team or even having a interest in it. A draw would at least of kept us ticking over. Going to be a tough watch over the next games if we dont up our performance levels. 

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1 hour ago, Malcolm said:

Highly likely we will be out by the weekend and the Croatia match will not matter, possibly for both sides.

Bloody hell. What's the point. Lose 1 game and we are out. Your needing to pack the football in.

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16 minutes ago, thesaint said:

So deflated after yesterdays performance.It was really great to see so many kids across the country being excited to watch Scotland.Also,a long time since i have seen so many Scotland shirts being worn around the pubs etc.It just felt as if the air had been let out our balloon almost instantly.Even if we had managed a draw it would have kept the buzz around the country,but that result and performance  put an end to the feelgood factor almost instantly.Of course,i am always hopefull that we can produce something special,but fear that a great chance to really get kids proud to support Scotland has fallen at the first hurdle.Rather tamely at that.

Absolutely agree and feel exactly the same way. A total anti-climax in the end and we are pretty much out now already.

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Left the hebrides bar yesterday after the second. Been there too many times. A lot of young guys were on here at the weekend  excited.  Well now you know what it is like to be a Scotland supporter. It is fucking tough. I am not negative but we are out after one game. No cunt up front that is a natural scorer. Clarke should have gone for it with nothing to lose. Gilmour, Patterson and turnbull. He went far too defensive.

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2 hours ago, Malcolm said:

Highly likely we will be out by the weekend and the Croatia match will not matter, possibly for both sides.

We might be needing a 4 goal victory over Croatia and other results to go our way. But I don't think we will be mathematically out before kick off?

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7 minutes ago, Orraloon said:

We might be needing a 4 goal victory over Croatia and other results to go our way. But I don't think we will be mathematically out before kick off?

We can't be.  Worst we can be (points-wise) going into the Croatia game is 3 behind.  Granted, we could have a mountain of goals to claw back but nobody will be officially out before that game.

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5 minutes ago, in5omniac said:

We can't be.  Worst we can be (points-wise) going into the Croatia game is 3 behind.  Granted, we could have a mountain of goals to claw back but nobody will be officially out before that game.

I assume you mean that nobody in our group will be out. At least 3 teams will be out before we kick a baw. So at least we won't be the first team out of the competition. Might be the 4th team out though.:lol:

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