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18 minutes ago, 0Neils40yarder said:

Armenia are the worst team I've seen playing at this level, they were utterly woeful. At least the likes of San Marino, appear to have a game plan.

While, the 3 Centre backs were fine, we can hardly say they were tested. Armstrong, Christie and McGinn were incredibly wasteful while Adams performance just screams out how badly we really need to find a decent striker.

Ralston was the absolute stand out performer and has made a great case for keeping hold of the Jersey.

 

How ROI got beat off that mob is an utter mystery

I think McGinn was more unlucky than wasteful. Christie and Armstrong both could have been better, but they were heavily involved and Armstrong did get an assist and hit the post.

I agree with Adams though. He should have been all over this game. Total missed opportunity for him to increase his tally. I always think Adams does well when he gets lots of time to pick his spot. When he has to make quick fire decisions, he tends to fluff them. Maybe I'm being too harsh on him.

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1 minute ago, mccaughey85 said:

Interesting that ppl want to drop hanley and cooper because of tonight. Armenia wouldnt even test raith rovers defence based on tonight. The difference tonight was that we hadvthe energy and drive to get a result and dominate. The players were simply terrible on wednesday and need to take the flak for letting the fans and clarke down.

Same every time  we either win or lose, player x and y need dropping or permanent starters depending on the result. 

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3 minutes ago, ParisInAKilt said:

Same every time  we either win or lose, player x and y need dropping or permanent starters depending on the result. 

I could understand it if we had played a decent side tonight but lets be honest armenia were brutal. They barely made it out of their half. Hanley and cooper would of coasted tonight imo. Saying that i would like to see hendry and mckenna get more chances as they will probably be important players in the near future.

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4 minutes ago, ceudmilefailte said:

Sorry to disagree but I would say he was responsible for at least a couple of the times Armenia got into forward positions. 

He’s the only player I would replace. 

Hanley and Cooper are far better in the middle of a back three as they have both proved in recent games against decent opposition. 

I’d stick with the same 3 centre backs that played tonight. 
It looks like right wing back is now between either Ralston or Patterson. O’Donnell may find it difficult to get into future squads. 
Hopefully McTominay is no longer considered for Right Centre Half.
 

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20 minutes ago, ParisInAKilt said:

Hard to take too much away from that performance wise because Armenia were so bad but good to get a win. 

Like to have seen some subs on 10 or 15 minutes earlier. 

100% this, it was far too late for any of them to really get going. 

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All in all a decent enough bounce back from last week. They were always going to set up with their defence packed but we found a way to break them down. Plenty of chances to make it more comfortable but failed to take them. 

Ralston put in a great performance and has shown he can be trusted. McKenna and Souttar were solid enough but if truth be told they weren't really tested.

Let's hope we can continue to build some momentum on Saturday. I always fear these local derbies though.

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1 hour ago, Scot1 said:

I thought Hendry was solid in the middle of the 3, liked the look of our back 3 tonight. 

I would not be surprised if Clarke reverted to the same back three he used against Ukraine. They got a rest today as did one or two others but I think they're still his first picks. Possibly McKenna might be in, I think his distribution is a bit better than Cooper's and he presents a goal threat. Ralston was impressive tonight and may also have done enough to have earned a starting place against the Irish. 

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1 hour ago, 0Neils40yarder said:

Armenia are the worst team I've seen playing at this level, they were utterly woeful. At least the likes of San Marino, appear to have a game plan.

 

You could see why Norway managed to put 9 past them.

Our lack of finesse in the final third was laid bare yet again, we should've racked up the goals tonight  

 

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Any see Clarke's post match comments regarding Ralston.

Basically said in code that he new we would have lots of possession and that Ralston was pretty used to that sort of thing playing for Celtic against Ross County and the likes.

Fits in a bit with one or two posters on here's theories as to why he gets dropped for Celtics harder games.

Honestly don't think he has seen much in  Stewart that suggests he is an international class striker in training, surely in what was a dead rubber before half time he would have got at least 20 minutes.

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6 minutes ago, Hertsscot said:

I would not be surprised if Clarke reverted to the same back three he used against Ukraine. They got a rest today as did one or two others but I think they're still his first picks. Possibly McKenna might be in, I think his distribution is a bit better than Cooper's and he presents a goal threat. Ralston was impressive tonight and may also have done enough to have earned a starting place against the Irish. 

I don't think he will play McTominay or Copper in the positions they played against the Ukraine although he could easily bring Copper or Hanley back to play in the middle. 

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Its always difficult to judge a player on games like tonight. Ralston looked good but he has looked good all season against lesser teams, its against equal or better teams where he has looked lost.

People saying Hendry was solid. He got pushed off the ball when they really should have scored. 

All 3 centre halves moved the ball so slowly it was painful and that simply doesnt cut it against better teams. Every single time they received the ball it was a touch to control it, then a look up to see what pass to play, then a slow pass. Say what you want about McTomminay but the 1st thing he did when he came on was recieve a pass, touch and fired the ball out wide all in the 1 motion. Gilmours another who does it. They already have the picture in their head even before receiving the ball.

If the opposition had anything abkut them tonight we could easily have been in trouble. 

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Disappointing to only get the two goals against a team who look only a grade above San Marino etc. Mind you I thought the VAR farce flattened the crowd, the energy, everything. The second half really suffered.

 

It's my first experience of being at a VAR game and I have no hesitation in proclaiming VAR to be a great steaming pile of badger jobbies.

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Just in and I quite enjoyed it apart from getting soaked twice.

Obvious pluses were, we dominated, we created and won more comfortably than the result suggests. We also blooded a new player in Ralston who was excellent.

For me other than the fact we should have scored more the biggest gripes were (a) Clarke again too slow to bring on fresh legs (b) I’m still not seeing anything from Hickey worth getting too excited about and (c) yet again the manager has missed a chance to blood a new goalkeeper.

My other concern would be I get distinct Georgia away vibes from this mob who will enjoy the slower tempo that 30 degree heat will bring in Yerevan.

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4 hours ago, 0Neils40yarder said:

Armenia are the worst team I've seen playing at this level, they were utterly woeful. At least the likes of San Marino, appear to have a game plan.

While, the 3 Centre backs were fine, we can hardly say they were tested. Armstrong, Christie and McGinn were incredibly wasteful while Adams performance just screams out how badly we really need to find a decent striker.

Ralston was the absolute stand out performer and has made a great case for keeping hold of the Jersey.

 

How ROI got beat off that mob is an utter mystery

No way are they worse than San Marino.

They don’t travel well, and they have really poor wing-backs, but they have a backing of good results against good sides over a number of years, they were in with a genuine shout of a World Cup play-off until the last few games.

I think we were very professional tonight and performed well, disappointed not to score a few more goals though, reminded me of the Moldova game.

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Armenia were very poor and it was a very comfortable 2-0. We played much of the second half in 3rd gear and should have steamrolled them and won by a bigger margin. Ralston was decent but felt Patterson looked more at ease and natural when he came on. Adams movement was very good but didn't get the passes when making a yard or two of space. We should have adopted a more shoot on sight approach as their keeper didn't look to comfortable (much like the Ukraine keeper last week), would have liked to have tested him more.

As others have mentioned, fresh legs should have been brought on sooner as the game seemed to fizzle out not long after half time.  We seemed too pedestrian that you could see where the ball was going to be passed to next which made it easier for Armenia to shut down the space. 

All in all a well deserved win and hope we go for the win in the next two away games as the 6 points are ours if we turn up and play the way we can.

Great crowd tonight given the Scotrail shambles.

 

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7 hours ago, Diamond Scot said:

Its always difficult to judge a player on games like tonight. Ralston looked good but he has looked good all season against lesser teams, its against equal or better teams where he has looked lost.

People saying Hendry was solid. He got pushed off the ball when they really should have scored. 

All 3 centre halves moved the ball so slowly it was painful and that simply doesnt cut it against better teams. Every single time they received the ball it was a touch to control it, then a look up to see what pass to play, then a slow pass. Say what you want about McTomminay but the 1st thing he did when he came on was recieve a pass, touch and fired the ball out wide all in the 1 motion. Gilmours another who does it. They already have the picture in their head even before receiving the ball.

If the opposition had anything abkut them tonight we could easily have been in trouble. 

You’ve always got a good take on it Diamond Scot and I like reading your views.

To put a counter perspective on the back 3, I’d say they were awful against Ukraine. Hanley and Cooper are getting to the age where they’re unlikely to improve. I think there’s a good argument they should he next in line to be phased out.

Are McKenna and Souttar better? Definitely can’t tell from the game v Armenia but at least they have the potential to improve. From what I’ve seen over a number of games I don’t think they’re a significant downgrade if at all.

Our defence did have lots of time on the ball last night. That was the big issue against Ukraine. The defence had no time and panicked and launched the ball giving it straight back to Ukraine. And generally being cut apart by Ukraine’s quick passing!

For me I’d like to try McKenna and Souttar ahead in the pecking order and build up some understanding and experience together. Hopefully Tierney is back soon to complete the back 3. If they play a lot of games together hopefully we can make ourselves difficult to beat unlike vs Ukraine.

 

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7 hours ago, ceudmilefailte said:

I don't think he will play McTominay or Copper in the positions they played against the Ukraine although he could easily bring Copper or Hanley back to play in the middle. 

Copper is tarnished after last week.

 

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8 hours ago, Toepoke said:

You could see why Norway managed to put 9 past them.

Our lack of finesse in the final third was laid bare yet again, we should've racked up the goals tonight  

 

Absolutely there were times when a lack of finesse cost us a better scoreline, but for me the biggest reason was that there was far too much “patient” build up play against a team as poor as that. Too much “waiting for an opening” when we should have just been going at them creating our own openings. 
Was very frustrated second half when we consistently got to the final third and passed it backwards again. 

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1 hour ago, breeks_mctavish said:

You’ve always got a good take on it Diamond Scot and I like reading your views.

To put a counter perspective on the back 3, I’d say they were awful against Ukraine. Hanley and Cooper are getting to the age where they’re unlikely to improve. I think there’s a good argument they should he next in line to be phased out.

Are McKenna and Souttar better? Definitely can’t tell from the game v Armenia but at least they have the potential to improve. From what I’ve seen over a number of games I don’t think they’re a significant downgrade if at all.

Our defence did have lots of time on the ball last night. That was the big issue against Ukraine. The defence had no time and panicked and launched the ball giving it straight back to Ukraine. And generally being cut apart by Ukraine’s quick passing!

For me I’d like to try McKenna and Souttar ahead in the pecking order and build up some understanding and experience together. Hopefully Tierney is back soon to complete the back 3. If they play a lot of games together hopefully we can make ourselves difficult to beat unlike vs Ukraine.

 

Hanley and Cooper probably won't get better, but for centre backs, experience is vital. I'm sure Hanley and Cooper can maintain their current level for a couple more years. But it's not like we don't have options now and are hoping they can do a Craig Gordon and live forever.

I think McKenna has the potential to be better than both. We'll know for certain once we see how he does in the EPL in a couple of months. 

If I had to make a prediction, I'd say by 2024 it'll be a back 3 of Tierney, McKenna and Souttar. All 3 are currently 25. That would be a solid partnership that we could keep for 5-7 years. 

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16 minutes ago, Marky said:

Absolutely there were times when a lack of finesse cost us a better scoreline, but for me the biggest reason was that there was far too much “patient” build up play against a team as poor as that. Too much “waiting for an opening” when we should have just been going at them creating our own openings. 
Was very frustrated second half when we consistently got to the final third and passed it backwards again. 

I had to leave before the end in order to catch the train but from what I saw I'd agree. I don't want to take away from a solid performance but felt we were a bit pedestrian at times, passing, switching focus of attacks needs to be crisper if we're to create chances against better teams.

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I was impressed with McKenna's passing last night. I know he wasn't under much pressure, but he looks much better and more composed on the ball than he did a couple of years ago. He seemed very comfortable bringing the ball out of defence. On one occasion in the first half, he was looking to do a Tierney and go bombing off down the wing after he had given Robbo a good pass. The situation was perfect for a fast breakaway but Robbo pulled him back and slowed the game down again. It was a shame because it would have been good to see what McKenna would have done when unleashed down the wing. I would have no hesitation playing him in place of Tierney any time Tierney isn't available. He obviously isn't as good as Tierney but I think he can slot into that position without causing too much disruption to the rest of the team.

Clarke is obviously going to stick to that formation, whether Tierney is available or not, so I think that's the solution to the absent Tierney situations.

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