Austria v Scotland match thread

[thesaint]

1 hour ago, slasher said:

We've been good going forward but we've been too open at the other end. Holding midfielders and wing backs need to be more compact. A more controlled performance in the 2nd half hopefully. 

Armstrong grating on my nerves a bit with his carelessness not for the first time but Adams has been very good 👍

Looked quite promising going forward, especially early doors. However, the defending all night was really really poor. Against a team with more clinical finishers we could have lost five easily. Maybe not such a bad thing to realise we still have work to do at the back. 

[Caledonian Craig]

Defensively we were the poorest we have been for a few games. Considering we had a defence that has been solid in recent times I'd maybe put it down to our weakened midfield. Attacking-wise we were very good and we did not lose so at least the unbeaten run grows. It shows how we have improved though that we come away with draws against Poland and away to Austria and are disappointed.

[gkm_vancouver]

39 minutes ago, Scot1 said:

Cooper is the same height as Hanley? We’re coming up against guys that are 6ft 4 and taller. We have a good, pacy, tall Centre Half, who’s playing on the right of the 3. Switch them around. Hanley can play there, no problem. Or bring in Souttar, but get Hendry or even McKenna in the middle. 
Id push McGinn up off our CF, he is a real threat in and around the opposition penalty box. Can hold the ball up, with fouls etc. Put McTominay or Jack in beside Gilmour and McGregor. 

Fine, that's your opinion but I don't agree with it. Cooper and Souttar may well have featured barring injury. Clarke also still likes to play McTominay in a back 3 so don't think your option will be used.

[ProudScot]

Call me an O’Donnell hater if you want but the first goal comes from a cross down his side & his header for the second goal putting it right into the danger area was mega pish. 

Would have been much better to see Ralston coming off the bench and actually having a right side we can attack down instead of the hamstrung Situation we are faced with every time O’Donnell steps onto the park. 

[Barney Rubble]

23 minutes ago, ProudScot said:

Call me an O’Donnell hater if you want but the first goal comes from a cross down his side & his header for the second goal putting it right into the danger area was mega pish. 

Would have been much better to see Ralston coming off the bench and actually having a right side we can attack down instead of the hamstrung Situation we are faced with every time O’Donnell steps onto the park. 

^^^

O'Donnell hater. The rubbish he has to take from his own support is breathtaking in its predictability.

Those crosses has been coming in all game from both sides - and particularly second half - even when the megagalactic phenomenon that is Nathan Patterson was on the park. It just so happens that the newly introduced substitute outfoxed Hanley to get a good header away.

As for the second, have a look at the number of defenders that failed to close the shot down. There's nothing Gordon could do there. Would you have preferred if SO'D hadn't headed the ball?

That we blew a two goal lead against Austria is a collective responsibility.

Get off Stephen O'Donnell's back.

Edited March 29, 2022 by Barney Rubble

[TartanSpice]

Ball retention was a big issue for the most part. I think everyone gave the ball away extremely cheaply at one time and it was nothing to do with Austria carrying out some fantastic press. Squad depth is perhaps not quite as good as we'd have hoped. 😕

Just have to take the positives from these two draws against higher ranked sides. I'll happily take those now if it means we're peaking when we need to get the two wins. But as mentioned earlier, the inability to hold onto leads is concerning going into the play-offs. A similar issue almost meant we came a cropped in qualifying for the Euros. Getting a lead and seeing a game out will be vital for our qualification hopes, especially away from home.

Keeping Gilmour and McGregor fit is going to be important for these play-offs.

[Caledonian Craig]

A lot of kneejerk reactions around. We drew 2-2 against a team ranked above us. We started with Jack Hendry, Ryan Jack, Stuart Armstrong and Lewis Ferguson who are not first picks for us. And then we had the steady flow of substitutions to disjoint things further. It is a result that keeps our unbeaten run going and no doubt Clarke will be scrutinizing the defensive errors but I put it down to a combination things including us having an off-night.

[Diamond Scot]

8 hours ago, Barney Rubble said:

^^^

O'Donnell hater. The rubbish he has to take from his own support is breathtaking in its predictability.

Those crosses has been coming in all game from both sides - and particularly second half - even when the megagalactic phenomenon that is Nathan Patterson was on the park. It just so happens that the newly introduced substitute outfoxed Hanley to get a good header away.

As for the second, have a look at the number of defenders that failed to close the shot down. There's nothing Gordon could do there. Would you have preferred if SO'D hadn't headed the ball?

That we blew a two goal lead against Austria is a collective responsibility.

Get off Stephen O'Donnell's back.

Im far from being an Odonnell critic but you have to be reasonable when it comes to analysing. Odonnell isnt under any real pressure and should have put the header out wide. Every player is taught not to put the ball back into the danger area when clearing. 

Yes, McGinn could have done better but by that stage its already last ditch.

Odonnell is a solid known quantity at RWB. He should be phased out of the squad over the next year. Patterson is first choice. Perhaps Hickey can play there aswell.

[thplinth]

Stopped watching friendlies years ago due to the level of substitutions (on both sides). It is a meaningless game to begin with but that just reduces it further. Don't really think you can read much into them either as a result.

 

[Tartan blood]

9 hours ago, TartanSpice said:

Ball retention was a big issue for the most part. I think everyone gave the ball away extremely cheaply at one time and it was nothing to do with Austria carrying out some fantastic press. Squad depth is perhaps not quite as good as we'd have hoped. 😕

Just have to take the positives from these two draws against higher ranked sides. I'll happily take those now if it means we're peaking when we need to get the two wins. But as mentioned earlier, the inability to hold onto leads is concerning going into the play-offs. A similar issue almost meant we came a cropped in qualifying for the Euros. Getting a lead and seeing a game out will be vital for our qualification hopes, especially away from home.

Keeping Gilmour and McGregor fit is going to be important for these play-offs.

I think your last, and first sentence is my biggest takeaway from last night. No disrespect to Jack or Ferguson, but they just aren't as comfortable at holding onto the ball and making the right pass. I think Jack will come in use in games where we maybe need extra defensive cover from midfield, but last night we really needed someone to just take the ball and keep it. But friendlies are for experimenting in, and maybe Clarke knows a Ferguson/Jack duo doesn't work now. 

It's also not a coincidence that we lost the 2 goals after making umpteen substitutions. I always give the team the benefit of the doubt after we do that. It would never happen in a competitive match.

[glasgow jock]

I think Stuart Armstrong is a cracking player, however in a Scotland shirt he is generally poor & constantly loses possession of the ball.

Good member of the squad, but no longer a starter for me ??

[ProudScot]

20 minutes ago, glasgow jock said:

I think Stuart Armstrong is a cracking player, however in a Scotland shirt he is generally poor & constantly loses possession of the ball.

Good member of the squad, but no longer a starter for me ??

Agree. He’s pish in a Scotland shirt

[The Black Bra]

Be interesting to see how Christie and Fraser compare in the Premiership next year if, as expected, Bournemouth go up.

[Tartan blood]

1 hour ago, glasgow jock said:

I think Stuart Armstrong is a cracking player, however in a Scotland shirt he is generally poor & constantly loses possession of the ball.

Good member of the squad, but no longer a starter for me ??

I think Armstrong is one Man of the Match performance away from being considered a first 11 player. Same goes for McTominay (as a midfielder). Both have bags of talent, and, in any other period this century, they'd have been guaranteed starters. 

If we continue with 2 attacking mids behind 1 striker, then I think in June it'll be a 3 way battle between Christie, Fraser and Armstong for the other spot alongside McGinn.

[daviebee]

Quite a few positives and negatives from last night.  McGinn's goal though - FFS if that had been 1970's Brazil we'd never have heard the end of it.  Absolutely brilliant.

[Tartan blood]

38 minutes ago, daviebee said:

Quite a few positives and negatives from last night.  McGinn's goal though - FFS if that had been 1970's Brazil we'd never have heard the end of it.  Absolutely brilliant.

1 goal away from being in our top 10 goalscorers of all time.

Craig Gordon now in top 10 appearances of all time.

[gaz7]

2 hours ago, glasgow jock said:

I think Stuart Armstrong is a cracking player, however in a Scotland shirt he is generally poor & constantly loses possession of the ball.

Good member of the squad, but no longer a starter for me ??

Think thats a bit  harsh. He loses ball more than others maybe because he tries to go forward all the time.

He had some good runs with the ball last night going on wee 20/30 yard runs .Was involved in mcginns goal also put one on a plate earlier for mcginn with a nice 1-2. had a shot that was ok well over after bursting through. I could go on and feel he is better than christie in that position at the moment.

Fraser might be ok in there as well or even turnbull when back or lowry looks promising?

Felt for Jack a bit last night as he was out of position slightly on left of midfield 2 presumably to help ferguson be in a more natural position. We missed gilmour and macgregor for their ability to keep ball and pass to their team mates.

Austria have some good players and had nothing to lose last night and it showed with their attacking intent and all in I enjoyed the match although slightly disappointed to lose 2 late goals.

We are continuing to progress and last night was again a lot of positives for me.

[Marky]

We defended poorly all night, but I think the game ended for us when O'Donnell AND Hickey came on. Not because of their defensive performances, but because from that moment on we completely lost any attacking threat we'd had previously. We are always at our best when we are taking the game to the oposition. We're shite at sitting on leads. Even 2-0 leads apparently.

I just don't get bringing O'Donnell on in that game. He's absolutely not the future and to be brutally honest he's not even the present (or at least shouldn't be) unless we are seriously strapped by injuries. That's not to say he hasn't put a shift in for us in the past. As for Hickey, it's obviously VERY early days, but simply based on his two sub appearances, I've seen nothing to suggest he belongs in a Scotland shirt yet. I accept that's a pretty small window to assess him on though.

As for others last night, Armstrong remains the latest in that historical list of Scotland enigma players who are brilliant for their club, but just can't seem to turn it on for Scotland. He was honking again last night. Ferguson was pretty much a waste of a shirt and Jack wasn't effective, but perhaps early days on his comeback.

Best players for me were Gordon, Robertson, Tierney, McGinn, Adams and Hanley (despite his misjudgment for the first goal). The others got pass marks.

[borojock]

Austin McPhee has been an astute recruit from Clarke - from set pieces we have been a lot more clinical

Corner goals against Israel, Denmark, Austria & free kick against Poland 

Good to see the improvement in that area of the game  

[Malcolm]

Defence is where the problem lies.  Won’t always have a top class keeper to help us.  We could really do with the emergence of a top class centre half to stop us relying on playing midfielders and full backs out of position there.

[dan cake]

6 hours ago, thplinth said:

Stopped watching friendlies years ago due to the level of substitutions (on both sides). It is a meaningless game to begin with but that just reduces it further. Don't really think you can read much into them either as a result.

 

Yup, training game with a crowd. Didn’t watch either Scotland game live, Wales on Thursday and Poland game last night 

[slasher]

3 hours ago, Tartan blood said:

I think Armstrong is one Man of the Match performance away from being considered a first 11 player. Same goes for McTominay (as a midfielder). Both have bags of talent, and, in any other period this century, they'd have been guaranteed starters. 

If we continue with 2 attacking mids behind 1 striker, then I think in June it'll be a 3 way battle between Christie, Fraser and Armstong for the other spot alongside McGinn.

Armstrongs ball retention has been his achilles heel all through his career. I said when he left Celtic if he could improve that he'd be top drawer. In short,  he hasn't, the wee flick midway inside his own half last night was a good example. He's a luxury we can't afford imo. 

I'm not a fan of Christie or the attitude of that wee runt Fraser but they'd both be in front of Armstrong for me. 

[Malcolm]

8 minutes ago, slasher said:

Armstrongs ball retention has been his achilles heel all through his career. I said when he left Celtic if he could improve that he'd be top drawer. In short,  he hasn't, the wee flick midway inside his own half last night was a good example. He's a luxury we can't afford imo. 

I'm not a fan of Christie or the attitude of that wee runt Fraser but they'd both be in front of Armstrong for me. 

I think of Armstrong as a different player to Christie or Fraser.  I see him more as a backup to Mcginn.

[Tartan blood]

9 minutes ago, slasher said:

Armstrongs ball retention has been his achilles heel all through his career. I said when he left Celtic if he could improve that he'd be top drawer. In short,  he hasn't, the wee flick midway inside his own half last night was a good example. He's a luxury we can't afford imo. 

I'm not a fan of Christie or the attitude of that wee runt Fraser but they'd both be in front of Armstrong for me. 

I'd probably agree with your assessment of Armstrong, but I stand by my comment that he is one MOTM performance away from changing everyone's mind.

On their day, there isn't much between Christie and Fraser. Both can conjour up magic from nothing. I'm a fan of both, as long as they are on-form/present.

It might not be long before we start talking about Turnbull in the same way though. 

[ceudmilefailte]

1 hour ago, Malcolm said:

Defence is where the problem lies.  Won’t always have a top class keeper to help us.  We could really do with the emergence of a top class centre half to stop us relying on playing midfielders and full backs out of position there.

In a back three Tierney is a top class centre back.