England Squad - Do we have anything to fear?

[Ally Bongo]

The expectation is over the top - Yes we do have plenty to fear for the England and Spain games

Our front line is nowhere near being in any way comparable to England's and neither is our midfield - and it will be a miracle if we dont get a chasing away to Spain like most other teams

Reality check please

[todd]

8 minutes ago, Ally Bongo said:

The expectation is over the top - Yes we do have plenty to fear for the England and Spain games

Our front line is nowhere near being in any way comparable to England's and neither is our midfield - and it will be a miracle if we dont get a chasing away to Spain like most other teams

Reality check please

And the equilibrium is restored

[Texas Pete]

3 hours ago, Ally Bongo said:

The expectation is over the top - Yes we do have plenty to fear for the England and Spain games

Our front line is nowhere near being in any way comparable to England's and neither is our midfield - and it will be a miracle if we dont get a chasing away to Spain like most other teams

Reality check please

Aye the 2 late goals in Norway seem to have made some people think we are invincible. 

Friday night will be a tough shift. Dykes and McTominay potentially withdrawing won’t help.

We should have enough about us to beat Cyprus but it’s not a forgone conclusion. 

As for England and Spain, both will be heavy favourites to win. I’ll be pleasantly surprised if we get any better than a draw against England and a defeat in Spain. 

[Caledonian Craig]

4 minutes ago, Texas Pete said:

Aye the 2 late goals in Norway seem to have made some people think we are invincible. 

Friday night will be a tough shift. Dykes and McTominay potentially withdrawing won’t help.

We should have enough about us to beat Cyprus but it’s not a forgone conclusion. 

As for England and Spain, both will be heavy favourites to win. I’ll be pleasantly surprised if we get any better than a draw against England and a defeat in Spain. 

Thinking you are invincible is, in my opinion, a great thing if the players also have it. It says they are confident in whatever challenge is put in front of them - even top teams. It also rubs off in the brand of football they are playing. I'd sooner be surfing the wave of positivity than wallowing in self-doubt and living in fear of playing any half decent team.

[glasgow jock]

12 hours ago, Marky said:

Can I just check something?

Are we now so good that it’s become cool and de rigueur to say we don’t give a shit about playing against England? 
As for it being a friendly, I’m 57 and barring 6 matches, every time we’ve played them in my lifetime it’s been a friendly. Didn’t seem to matter back in the 70s. 

I'm a year older than you Marky. . . . . . . . . I can only think of / remember 4 non friendly games against them in my lifetime

1 game Euro 96

2 legged play-off 1999

1 game Euro 20 (21)

I'm stuck after that ??

[SteveMcD]

19 minutes ago, glasgow jock said:

I'm a year older than you Marky. . . . . . . . . I can only think of / remember 4 non friendly games against them in my lifetime

1 game Euro 96

2 legged play-off 1999

1 game Euro 20 (21)

I'm stuck after that ??

2 qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup. Got gubbed in London, and the home game was the Leigh Grifftihs game.

[glasgow jock]

10 minutes ago, SteveMcD said:

2 qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup. Got gubbed in London, and the home game was the Leigh Grifftihs game.

Ah right - indeed

Forgot they where qualifiers !!

 

[Orraloon]

9 minutes ago, glasgow jock said:

Ah right - indeed

Forgot they where qualifiers !!

 

The Home Internationals weren't friendlies, IMO. We took them more seriously than the Euro qualifiers back in the day. That only changed when Jock Stein eventually convinced folk that the Euros were important. 

For a long time I would have been happy to bring back the Home Internationals, as they were much better than friendlies. Not now though. The Nations League is far, far better than either friendlies or the Home Internationals. 

[scotlad]

12 hours ago, Ally Bongo said:

The expectation is over the top - Yes we do have plenty to fear for the England and Spain games

Our front line is nowhere near being in any way comparable to England's and neither is our midfield - and it will be a miracle if we dont get a chasing away to Spain like most other teams

Reality check please

I hadn't realised until I checked earlier but in their last game (which was a home game, tbf) they beat Macedonia 7-0 - and Macedonia are no mugs these days.

We are a lot better now than we have been for a long, long time but we're still a side who give other teams chances, and England have guys who'll take chances if they're presented with them.

However, as long as we at the very least give them a game and avoid a tanking (because friendly or not, if that happened there would be repercussions) I'm not really bothered - providing, of course, we beat Cyprus the Friday before!

[Texas Pete]

10 hours ago, Caledonian Craig said:

Thinking you are invincible is, in my opinion, a great thing if the players also have it. It says they are confident in whatever challenge is put in front of them - even top teams. It also rubs off in the brand of football they are playing. I'd sooner be surfing the wave of positivity than wallowing in self-doubt and living in fear of playing any half decent team.

There’s a fine line between confidence and complacency. I have no problem with some of our supporters thinking we are invincible but I certainly wouldn’t want our players to start believing it. 

Our players should have confidence going into every match but that doesn’t mean they should turn up and assume we are going to win. If they start doing that we will be in trouble. 

We are on a great run at the moment but things can change very quickly in international football. 

 

[thesaint]

7 minutes ago, Texas Pete said:

There’s a fine line between confidence and complacency. I have no problem with some of our supporters thinking we are invincible but I certainly wouldn’t want our players to start believing it. 

Our players should have confidence going into every match but that doesn’t mean they should turn up and assume we are going to win. If they start doing that we will be in trouble. 

We are on a great run at the moment but things can change very quickly in international football. 

 

100% correct.Confidence is great but turning up just expecting to win would be a recipe for disaster.Would however be pretty sure Steve Clarke would put the kibosh on that sort of attitude.A hard shift will be required to get a result in Cyprus and i fully expect that's what we will put in.

[mccaughey85]

Not that bothered about this match. Just as long as we get the result against cyprus then its all good. 

[Squirrelhumper]

I went into every game when SC was Killie manager with a genuine belief we could get a win. 

We generally did. Picked up points in Glasgow more often than we dropped them. 

[Caledonian Craig]

Lets remember the last Euros too. We went to Wembley and got a highly-deserved draw and came close to a win. Nobody can deny we have improved since then quite a bit. Have England?

[Dillinger]

See Alexander Arnold and Grealish out for them

[Ally Bongo]

19 hours ago, Caledonian Craig said:

Lets remember the last Euros too. We went to Wembley and got a highly-deserved draw and came close to a win. Nobody can deny we have improved since then quite a bit. Have England?

England constantly qualify for World Cup & European Championship Finals with ease and reach the latter stages 

We dont

[ceudmilefailte]

58 minutes ago, Ally Bongo said:

England constantly qualify for World Cup & European Championship Finals with ease and reach the latter stages 

We dont

Never quite get the relevance of recent qualification records, how far back do you go? 

Different squads different times. 

England are very strong favourites but have been for decades against us. This to me is the closest we have been to them since 1999 

[mccaughey85]

On 9/3/2023 at 10:12 PM, Ally Bongo said:

The expectation is over the top - Yes we do have plenty to fear for the England and Spain games

Our front line is nowhere near being in any way comparable to England's and neither is our midfield - and it will be a miracle if we dont get a chasing away to Spain like most other teams

Reality check please

After the cyprus game we have england spain and France. I just hope we dont get beat off all three as that would put a real downer on our recent good form.

We should really have chosen a minnow to play against instead of France imo. 

[Ally Bongo]

19 minutes ago, ceudmilefailte said:

Never quite get the relevance of recent qualification records, how far back do you go? 

Different squads different times. 

England are very strong favourites but have been for decades against us. This to me is the closest we have been to them since 1999 

The relevance is consistency over an extended period - they have it and it's still yet to proved whether we do

 

[ParisInAKilt]

Nothing to fear but they’ve a superior squad. Hopefully we’ll go into the game with a win in Cyprus and give them a game. 

[Caledonian Craig]

1 hour ago, Ally Bongo said:

The relevance is consistency over an extended period - they have it and it's still yet to proved whether we do

 

No it really is not. We have been dealt tougher draws than England so you cannot judge on qualification records. If we had been drawn in the same groups then yes it is relevant as it would be England that had knocked us out. 

Form is far more relevant when the same teams have played each other. The two most recent games against England has ended in draws in matches we could have won. Since then we have improved a heck of a lot that is not up for debate.

Nobody is denying England have a stronger squad but other factors come into football matches such as the way teams are set-up, the coaches pitted against each other and the tactics they employ and the players mentality, desire and togetherness.

[Ally Bongo]

1 hour ago, Caledonian Craig said:

No it really is not. We have been dealt tougher draws than England so you cannot judge on qualification records. If we had been drawn in the same groups then yes it is relevant as it would be England that had knocked us out. 

Form is far more relevant when the same teams have played each other. The two most recent games against England has ended in draws in matches we could have won. Since then we have improved a heck of a lot that is not up for debate.

Nobody is denying England have a stronger squad but other factors come into football matches such as the way teams are set-up, the coaches pitted against each other and the tactics they employ and the players mentality, desire and togetherness.

2018 WC Qualifications we were in the same group and they hammered us at Wembley and strolled through the 2-2 game at Hampden

You get easier qualifiying groups by having consistently good results resulting in better seeding despite McGlashan ranting about it

As someone has already said we were 4 minutes away in Oslo for this conversation being moot

[Caledonian Craig]

33 minutes ago, Ally Bongo said:

2018 WC Qualifications we were in the same group and they hammered us at Wembley and strolled through the 2-2 game at Hampden

You get easier qualifiying groups by having consistently good results resulting in better seeding despite McGlashan ranting about it

As someone has already said we were 4 minutes away in Oslo for this conversation being moot

You are dipping back five years for WC qualifier when we had a vastly poorer side and a different manager.

On your second point yes you do but as we all know this current Scotland side has now qualified for the last Euros, only missed out on the last World Cup in the play-offs and look well set to qualify for the next Euros.

Why? The Norway game would not detract the fact of recent wins in crunch matches against higher ranked teams such as Spain, Denmark and Ukraine that the current side has managed. Also the Norway match only demonstrates the current sides different mindset. Scotland sides of the past guaranteed would have went into their shell and felt sorry for themselves going 1-0 down to a penalty and would probably gone on to lose by 2-0 etc. But this side has steel. It steadied itself and stayed in the match and our first goal contained a build up of 10+ passes - quite unusual for a Scotland side. Having equalised all Scotland sides I can remember would have shut up shop and said a draw will do. Not this side. They pressed on and got a well-worked winner in stifling hot conditions at the end of a long, hard season may I point out.so lets not downplay the Norway match.

Edited September 5, 2023 by Caledonian Craig

[todd]

28 minutes ago, Caledonian Craig said:

You are dipping back five years for WC qualifier when we had a vastly poorer side and a different manager.

On your second point yes you do but as we all know this current Scotland side has now qualified for the last Euros, only missed out on the last World Cup in the play-offs and look well set to qualify for the next Euros.

Why? The Norway game would not detract the fact of recent wins in crunch matches against higher ranked teams such as Spain, Denmark and Ukraine that the current side has managed. Also the Norway match only demonstrates the current sides different mindset. Scotland sides of the past guaranteed would have went into their shell and felt sorry for themselves going 1-0 down to a penalty and would probably gone on to lose by 2-0 etc. But this side has steel. It steadied itself and stayed in the match and our first goal contained a build up of 10+ passes - quite unusual for a Scotland side. Having equalised all Scotland sides I can remember would have shut up shop and said a draw will do. Not this side. They pressed on and got a well-worked winner in stifling hot conditions at the end of a long, hard season may I point out.so lets not downplay the Norway match.

31 passes leading up to our first goal, unbelievably.

Edited September 5, 2023 by todd

[BraveheartGordon]

On 9/5/2023 at 4:37 PM, Caledonian Craig said:

You are dipping back five years for WC qualifier when we had a vastly poorer side and a different manager.

On your second point yes you do but as we all know this current Scotland side has now qualified for the last Euros, only missed out on the last World Cup in the play-offs and look well set to qualify for the next Euros.

Why? The Norway game would not detract the fact of recent wins in crunch matches against higher ranked teams such as Spain, Denmark and Ukraine that the current side has managed. Also the Norway match only demonstrates the current sides different mindset. Scotland sides of the past guaranteed would have went into their shell and felt sorry for themselves going 1-0 down to a penalty and would probably gone on to lose by 2-0 etc. But this side has steel. It steadied itself and stayed in the match and our first goal contained a build up of 10+ passes - quite unusual for a Scotland side. Having equalised all Scotland sides I can remember would have shut up shop and said a draw will do. Not this side. They pressed on and got a well-worked winner in stifling hot conditions at the end of a long, hard season may I point out.so lets not downplay the Norway match.

This Scotland team has something, the first Scotland team in my life that don’t accept “glorious failure” a Scotland team that demands winning and never ever thinks they’re out of a game, I love this group of players and manager.

 

let’s do the business on Friday and give England a go.