Scotland v Moldova

[daviebee]

According to the BBC website we had 16 attempts, 10 from inside the box last night.

Over the last 5 games we've had 62 attempts and 2 goals!

[Third Lanark]

11 hours ago, daviebee said:

Israel scored 9 in their last 2 matches. Have we scored 9 in the last 2 years?

Sorry but Israel are a far better team than us and I wouldn't be shocked if they beat Denmark. A front 3 of Zahravi, Dabbur and Solomon is better than anything we have, plus they have that Abadi guy at Celtic who will likely be on the bench. Just heard Austria will be missing Sabitzer, on of the their best players, but even if we beat them, they are no longer our challengers for second.

[Third Lanark]

5 minutes ago, Scot1 said:

We’ve conceded 5 goals in 5 games in this group, the best defensive record apart from Denmark. Last nights backline would be my 1st choice lineup. I think it’s in midfield that we are lacking defensively, perhaps when McTominay is fit and playing again that will help alleviate the problem. 

Agree. McTom and McGinn either side of Gilmour gives us the right sort of balance. Ask yourself why England, with their array of front three talent, still feel the need to back them up with 2 basically sitting defensive midfielders.

[Caledonian Craig]

1 minute ago, Third Lanark said:

Sorry but Israel are a far better team than us and I wouldn't be shocked if they beat Denmark. A front 3 of Zahravi, Dabbur and Solomon is better than anything we have, plus they have that Abadi guy at Celtic who will likely be on the bench. Just heard Austria will be missing Sabitzer, on of the their best players, but even if we beat them, they are no longer our challengers for second.

Yes the crux of the matter is hard for Scotland fans to take. Israel are more clinical in front of goal than us and they have a tighter defence - check out every match in the group so far. Stats do not lie.

[Guest Scot1]

1 minute ago, Third Lanark said:

Sorry but Israel are a far better team than us and I wouldn't be shocked if they beat Denmark. A front 3 of Zahravi, Dabbur and Solomon is better than anything we have, plus they have that Abadi guy at Celtic who will likely be on the bench. Just heard Austria will be missing Sabitzer, on of the their best players, but even if we beat them, they are no longer our challengers for second.

They aren’t a “far” better team than us, we’ve played them numerous times lately and they’ve all been close games. On a positive note, we’ve now added Gilmour and Patterson into the team/squad. So we have strengthened in personnel since we last played them.

[Guest Scot1]

2 minutes ago, Caledonian Craig said:

Yes the crux of the matter is hard for Scotland fans to take. Israel are more clinical in front of goal than us and they have a tighter defence - check out every match in the group so far. Stats do not lie.

Israel have conceded 6 against our 5. They’ve score more than us. And they’ve probably got a more settled team. We are still constantly changing personnel in various positions. 

[Guest Scot1]

4 minutes ago, Third Lanark said:

Agree. McTom and McGinn either side of Gilmour gives us the right sort of balance. Ask yourself why England, with their array of front three talent, still feel the need to back them up with 2 basically sitting defensive midfielders.

It would be interesting to see how a midfield of McGinn, McTominay and Gilmour performs. On paper it looks strong and pretty balanced.

[Guest Scot1]

10 minutes ago, Third Lanark said:

Agree. McTom and McGinn either side of Gilmour gives us the right sort of balance. Ask yourself why England, with their array of front three talent, still feel the need to back them up with 2 basically sitting defensive midfielders.

England don’t have a player like Gilmour or I’m sure Southgate would drop one of the sitting midfielders. It’s the one piece of the jigsaw England don’t have, a Paul Scholes type of player who can control the tempo of a game. England would love to have Gilmour.

They also lack striking options, someone other then Harry Kane with pace, a Michael Owens type of centre forward.

Edited September 5, 2021 by Scot1

[thplinth]

Based on that last night we are definitely going to really struggle in Moldova.

'Fortunately' I suspect by the time it rolls around it will be a dead rubber game and no one will really care anymore.

Austria are better than us and Israel are better than Austria so those two games will decide it. 

If by some miracle we beat them both (extremely unlikely) then going to Moldova would be a different prospect and we should win.

We seem to lack confidence and play in fear. I'd rather go down swinging if that is the way it will be.

[Guest Scot1]

19 minutes ago, Third Lanark said:

Sorry but Israel are a far better team than us and I wouldn't be shocked if they beat Denmark. A front 3 of Zahravi, Dabbur and Solomon is better than anything we have, plus they have that Abadi guy at Celtic who will likely be on the bench. Just heard Austria will be missing Sabitzer, on of the their best players, but even if we beat them, they are no longer our challengers for second.

That’s good news that Sabitzer will miss the game on Tuesday. 
He has just joined Bayern Munich this summer.

Edited September 5, 2021 by Scot1

[daviebee]

14 minutes ago, Scot1 said:

England don’t have a player like Gilmour or I’m sure Southgate would drop one of the sitting midfielders. It’s the one piece of the jigsaw England don’t have, a Paul Scholes type of player who can control the tempo of a game. England would love to have Gilmour.

They also lack striking options, someone other then Harry Kane with pace, a Michael Owens type of centre forward.

I wish we suffered from their lack of striking options!

[Caledonian Craig]

58 minutes ago, ceudmilefailte said:

Every one is taking two more wins against the minnows for granted. At the current rate of scoring it really is far from given. 

Well if we don't get the two wins in those matches we do not deserve to be qualifying anyway so there can be no complaints.

[Guest Scot1]

2 minutes ago, daviebee said:

I wish we suffered from their lack of striking options!

They needed someone with pace against the Italians. Kane was the type of centre forward the Italian Centre Halves prefer to play against. 

Edited September 5, 2021 by Scot1

[Orraloon]

42 minutes ago, Scot1 said:

Let’s see what happens in Vienna first, if we don’t get some kind of result against the Austrians then 2nd place looks unlikely. Let’s see if the players can raise their game.

Aye, if we don't take a point in Austria then it's all over. We might be able to catch Israel if they are one or two points ahead but we won't be able to overtake both of them if they are both 2 points ahead of us. I hope he goes out to try to win the game as Austria's confidence must have taken a dent after that game last night. I just hope he doesn't try to park the bus, we are not well enough organised to do that properly.

 

[Orraloon]

36 minutes ago, Third Lanark said:

I know. May I remind you that a famous Scottish manager had a fatal heart attack actually while watching Scotland?

And Souness was right next to him when it happened. 

[Guest Scot1]

1 minute ago, Orraloon said:

Aye, if we don't take a point in Austria then it's all over. We might be able to catch Israel if they are one or two points ahead but we won't be able to overtake both of them if they are both 2 points ahead of us. I hope he goes out to try to win the game as Austria's confidence must have taken a dent after that game last night. I just hope he doesn't try to park the bus, we are not well enough organised to do that properly.

 

I’d basically start yesterday’s team, if they are all fit and available. If he starts O’Donnell, he’s making a big mistake.

[Third Lanark]

27 minutes ago, Scot1 said:

They aren’t a “far” better team than us, we’ve played them numerous times lately and they’ve all been close games. On a positive note, we’ve now added Gilmour and Patterson into the team/squad. So we have strengthened in personnel since we last played them.

That's why I come on to this board - to get an optimism boost.

[Orraloon]

34 minutes ago, daviebee said:

According to the BBC website we had 16 attempts, 10 from inside the box last night.

Over the last 5 games we've had 62 attempts and 2 goals!

Wow, didn't realise it was that bad. It's a team of sports psychologists we need not coaches. 

[Guest Scot1]

3 minutes ago, Orraloon said:

Wow, didn't realise it was that bad. It's a team of sports psychologists we need not coaches. 

A bit more patience. The goals will come, Last nights team , and when fit, the addition of McTominay for Christie, there’s goals in that team

[vanderark14]

5 minutes ago, Orraloon said:

Wow, didn't realise it was that bad. It's a team of sports psychologists we need not coaches. 

I'll be in a small group on this board but I am encouraged by those stats. It's something the squad can work with and improve on

 

[thplinth]

Personally I think we have to win in Austria at this point to give ourselves a real chance of second.

Not just for the points (which would likely send us second as Israel play Denmark at home next) we need a 'big' win like that for the next game after against Israel.

Then of course we cant drop a single point against Faroe or Moldova (both away) and interestingly the final home game against Denmark will very likely be played when Denmark have long since qualified and might not be up for risking injuries etc in what to them would be a meaningless game. We might have a chance of something there under these circumstances.

Beat Austria away and then see what happens... (I am shaking my head at myself as I type this. 😀 )

[Guest Scot1]

1 minute ago, thplinth said:

Personally I think we have to win in Austria at this point to give ourselves a real chance of second.

Not just for the points (which would likely send us second as Israel play Denmark at home next) we need a 'big' win like that for the next game after against Israel.

Then of course we cant drop a single point against Faroe or Moldova (both away) and interestingly the final home game against Denmark will very likely be played when Denmark have long since qualified and might not be up for risking injuries etc in what to them would be a meaningless game. We might have a chance of something there under these circumstances.

Beat Austria away and then see what happens... (I am shaking my head at myself as I type this. 😀 )

Tuesday night is a huge game, it may well be the pivotal game in the campaign. Hearing that Austria will be missing Sabitzer is a bit of good news.

[Guest Scot1]

Thinking about it, perhaps the only change I’d maybe make would be Fraser for Nisbet, just for his pace and he’s got a “not bad” scoring record for Scotland, 4 goals in 21 games.

But if he started with Nisbet I’d be ok with that, thought he was ok yesterday considering he’s been self-isolating for 10 days. Was involved in some nice passages of play, but didn’t look at his sharpest, which is to be expected.

Edited September 5, 2021 by Scot1

[Orraloon]

6 minutes ago, vanderark14 said:

I'll be in a small group on this board but I am encouraged by those stats. It's something the squad can work with and improve on

 

I'd be more encouraged if I saw some evidence that we are trying to work on it. Just one example is Robbo's miss. Almost exactly the same as he did against Czech Rep. How many times does he need to do that before somebody sits him down and tells he doesn't need to blast the ball when he is in that position? He has got enough forward momentum just from his run, he doesn't need to try to add any more by trying to blast a shot away. All he needs is a decent connection and direct the ball either side of the goalie. Do they not sit down after games and go though what went well and what went wrong? Are they just too nice to mention it in case they upset their captain? I just don't know what's going on inside their heads. This is just very basic stuff. It must be a mental thing, they should have the skills to do it.

[Caledonian Craig]

4 minutes ago, thplinth said:

Personally I think we have to win in Austria at this point to give ourselves a real chance of second.

Not just for the points (which would likely send us second as Israel play Denmark at home next) we need a 'big' win like that for the next game after against Israel.

Then of course we cant drop a single point against Faroe or Moldova (both away) and interestingly the final home game against Denmark will very likely be played when Denmark have long since qualified and might not be up for risking injuries etc in what to them would be a meaningless game. We might have a chance of something there under these circumstances.

Beat Austria away and then see what happens... (I am shaking my head at myself as I type this. 😀 )

Yes I largely agree with this. Either way we need four points out of our next two games at minimum. A draw in Vienna and a win V Israel at Hampden would have the sort of bonus of keeping Austria in with an outside chance of qualifying and they still have to play Israel at home in the penultimate match. I'd sooner see Israel having to get a result against a motivated rather than de-motivated Austria side. A win in Vienna and draw at Hampden V Israel would probably leave us a point ahead of Israel going into the last three fixtures so would be in our own hands. Dream scenario would be to win both matches and we'd most likely be four points clear of third placed Israel/Austria with three games left V Faroe Islands and Moldova (A) and Denmark (H).