V France thread

[todd]

16 minutes ago, Exiled ICT said:

The tactics from Clarke have been good I think. We all know the personnel are nowhere near a full strength side, but we’ve looked composed on the ball at times and had the right ideas at times. We’ve not just sat everyone behind the ball and have tried to get men forward when we can.

I thought against Croatia and even England at times that the midfield was completely overrun and lacking, with sitting too deep at times. Tonight we’ve pushed up and tried to press and gain the ball back higher up. A bit more bravery at times and we could have created more chances.

This might form a bit of a blueprint of how we setup against bigger teams next year with a better balance between stopping the opposition and trying to get forward to hurt them when we can.

Possession not far off 50/50.  I think with the shackles off we felt we could have a go.  Ultimately it didn't pay off, scorewise, but I do think it showed we're just not all about defending against these top teams

[Scot1]

Never saw the game due to work, watched the highlights when I got home. Very happy to see young Billy get his 1st goal. 
Was a little disappointed we started with the back 3/5, think we need to be braver and start experimenting with a back 4.

[Diamond Scot]

Very impressed with how our largely 2nd string side played tonight. Brave on the ball and clearly well drilled. 

One thing they must we must take away from these games though is that we cannot continue to give big players for big teams the opportunity to buy free kicks and penalties. Was the same with Haaland in Norway. Theres no point debating whether it was soft etc after the event. The best defenders are smarter in these situations, we need to learn. When they put their hands on you its because they want you to return the favour and then they go down. No ref is going to not give them the foul when its a smaller nation against a big nation.

Clarke has seen things he likes and things we need to work on so the last 3 games will prove invaluable.

[adamntg]

1 hour ago, Clyde1998 said:

Thuram hits the bar now.

Seemed to be interfering with play as much as Hendry did for our disallowed goal in Spain, tbf.

Did you not notice it was one of the big teams that scored? 😶

And they’re at home as well. 

[Toepoke]

I think Brown must start in Tbilisi. His time has come.

 

[Bobby Russell's Lovechild]

It was a weird feeling at the end of that match. I've completely ignored the score because I thought we played really well in really quite an open game. A few years back we'd have camped out in our own half for the 90, but we took it too the French last night, with a second string side. With, at least, our first choice defence, I think it would have been a lot closer. 48% possession and 520 passes to their 580 shows how well we competed. Brown also showed he could be a good option upfront too. I am surprisingly pretty pleased with that performance

[vanderark14]

8 or 9 changes to the usual starting 11 means the result is meaningless to me. if a few of the 2nd string did well, thats a bonus going into the next matches

Despite qualifying I would like to see us go for it v Georgie and Norway to maintain momentum and finish the group on 21 points. I assume if we finish on 7 wins and 1 loss this would be up there as on of our best qualifying groups ever. 

 

[er yir macaroon]

Jacob Brown looked good as a main striker, decent touch and a bit of pace. I thought Kenny McLean was our best player on the night, brave on the ball with an assured touch. We were sloppy at set pieces, for and against. That would kill us at a finals.

[Exiled ICT]

2 hours ago, Bobby Russell's Lovechild said:

It was a weird feeling at the end of that match. I've completely ignored the score because I thought we played really well in really quite an open game. A few years back we'd have camped out in our own half for the 90, but we took it too the French last night, with a second string side. With, at least, our first choice defence, I think it would have been a lot closer. 48% possession and 520 passes to their 580 shows how well we competed. Brown also showed he could be a good option upfront too. I am surprisingly pretty pleased with that performance

I thought they played well, and the most attacking I've seen against a top side for a while. It was good to see how well McTominay and Gilmour were on the ball, especially under pressure. I thought those 2 in the middle of the park were always showing for the ball and offered an out ball throughout the game.

On the ball we weren't afraid to pass it out from the back and play our game which was nice to see, often against the bigger sides we've frozen up a bit and not played our natural game. The biggest issue I had with the England game was that we didn't play our usual game and seemed a bit in awe of the bigger team. That was not an issue last night which was good to see.

I think it was beneficial for Clarke to have an understanding of a system that seemed a better balance of attack and defence than we've seen previously, and slotting in the first choice players offers hope that we can compete against some of the bigger sides.

[Eassy]

Similar to what most have said I thought we were actually really good last night despite the score, they picked a team that would start a World Cup final and we rotated. 

Without McGinn, Robertson, Tierney, Hickey and McGregor I’d say it was a right good effort. Ferguson, McLean, Patterson and McKenna I thought looked comfortable.

One thing we’re missing is just that player who can take the ball in the final third and beat a man, somebody with a bit of pace and trickery.

[BryanBlessed]

I'm not convinced a friendly against France was a particularly good idea especially as we put out an understrength side. There is no way some of those players are getting anywhere near the starting 11 at the Euros. 

I thought McTominay and Gilmour looked good and Jacob Brown looked better than Adams has looked for a while. I admit I was confused why he was always called up but he's won me over with that performance now and has made a case for starting against Georgia.

Patterson,Hendry and Cooper were both off it in my opinion even though you have to cut them some slack being up against Mbappé.  It's hard to believe there was ever a debate about RWB as it's clear Hickey is the far superior player.

With the benefit of hindsight, t might have been better to play a minnow just to celebrate qualification as, the players most likely had a big party (deservedly) on Sunday which has been alluded to.

[BryanBlessed]

7 minutes ago, Eassy said:

Similar to what most have said I thought we were actually really good last night despite the score, they picked a team that would start a World Cup final and we rotated. 

Without McGinn, Robertson, Tierney, Hickey and McGregor I’d say it was a right good effort. Ferguson, McLean, Patterson and McKenna I thought looked comfortable.

One thing we’re missing is just that player who can take the ball in the final third and beat a man, somebody with a bit of pace and trickery.

This is true but this is also what France do and then they pick you off.

[BryanBlessed]

2 hours ago, vanderark14 said:

8 or 9 changes to the usual starting 11 means the result is meaningless to me. if a few of the 2nd string did well, thats a bonus going into the next matches

Despite qualifying I would like to see us go for it v Georgie and Norway to maintain momentum and finish the group on 21 points. I assume if we finish on 7 wins and 1 loss this would be up there as on of our best qualifying groups ever. 

 

Agreed. Although some changes were imposed, there were players starting who clearly aren't going to get much gametime at the Euros so I saw it as a bit of a pointless exercise.

If some caps were a reward for turning up to so many squads why organise the friendly against a top team?

[Caledonian Craig]

12 minutes ago, BryanBlessed said:

I'm not convinced a friendly against France was a particularly good idea especially as we put out an understrength side. There is no way some of those players are getting anywhere near the starting 11 at the Euros. 

 

With the benefit of hindsight, t might have been better to play a minnow just to celebrate qualification as, the players most likely had a big party (deservedly) on Sunday which has been alluded to.

It was a very good idea actually. Test yourself against the very best there is and learn what you can from them. Also learn what players can cope (or not) against such world class players. Learn from mistakes and look to eradicate them from their game. Give players the real taste of top level international level. Get the team playing against the calibre of teams we will have to face next summer.

A friendly against minnows offers none of that. We don't need confidence-boosters when we are on a run of wins in back-to-back qualifying campaigns. We need to test ourselves against the best teams. Those advocating us playing minnows is akin to thinking preparing for a major tournament should mean we play cannon fodder teams are wrong. It is like asking a driver to prepare for a season in F1 by having a go on a skidpan and hope that suffices.

[BryanBlessed]

4 minutes ago, Caledonian Craig said:

It was a very good idea actually. Test yourself against the very best there is and learn what you can from them. Also learn what players can cope (or not) against such world class players. Learn from mistakes and look to eradicate them from their game. Give players the real taste of top level international level. Get the team playing against the calibre of teams we will have to face next summer.

A friendly against minnows offers none of that. We don't need confidence-boosters when we are on a run of wins in back-to-back qualifying campaigns. We need to test ourselves against the best teams. Those advocating us playing minnows is akin to thinking preparing for a major tournament should mean we play cannon fodder teams are wrong. It is like asking a driver to prepare for a season in F1 by having a go on a skidpan and hope that suffices.

Usually I'd agree but not under these circumstances. OK, the SFA didn't know at the time that we'd qualify two days before the match and that the players would probably have a late one.

My main gripe is if it's about testing ourselves, why did we put out a team with several players who will almost certainly be late subs at best at the Euros.  If you want to test yourselves, you put out your strongest team available.

[Caledonian Craig]

3 minutes ago, BryanBlessed said:

Usually I'd agree but not under these circumstances. OK, the SFA didn't know at the time that we'd qualify two days before the match and that the players would probably have a late one.

My main gripe is if it's about testing ourselves, why did we put out a team with several players who will almost certainly be late subs at best at the Euros.  If you want to test yourselves, you put out your strongest team available.

Robertson, Tierney and Hickey were all out injured for a start. McTominay, Hendry and possibly Gilmour will most likely be featuring at the Euros and Adams, McKenna, Patterson and McLean have appeared for us in recent games. Also Ferguson got a run out which all of our fans have been screaming out for plus fans were screaming for our back-up keepers to get caps under their belt. Also the rumour was rife that France was going to field a weakened side (which they didn't) so maybe Clarke chose a weakened side on those grounds. But in any case I was in Seville and Porteous was totally spent and cramping so he couldn't play last night obviously so aside from McGinn, McGregor, Dykes and Christie it was a competitive starting line-up so I do not get what you were expecting. I guarantee fans would have been lambasting Clarke today if he'd picked same midfield with no start for Ferguson and Gunn in goal.

[Squirrelhumper]

50 minutes ago, BryanBlessed said:

 

With the benefit of hindsight, t might have been better to play a minnow just to celebrate qualification as, the players most likely had a big party (deservedly) on Sunday which has been alluded to.

Absolutely pointless. Kind of pish Levein used to do to try and make his stats look good. 

We will be playing these sides in the Nation League, what will we learn to prepare for the Euros by playing minnows. 

Absolutely nonsense argument. 

[Caledonian Craig]

1 minute ago, Squirrelhumper said:

Absolutely pointless. Kind of pish Levein used to do to try and make his stats look good. 

We will be playing these sides in the Nation League, what will we learn to prepare for the Euros by playing minnows. 

Absolutely nonsense argument. 

Spot on.

[Squirrelhumper]

Absolutely bonkers the small time mentality some of our fans have. 

To be able to compete with the best, you need to play the best on a regular basis. Not hand pick games cos you might win. 

[BryanBlessed]

McGinn and McGregor are two of our top players. When's the last time McLean started a competitive match for us? Ukraine away in the NL which was a forced change.  I'm not sure Porteous cramping up on Thursday justifies his omission last night but I'll take your word for it. 

[BryanBlessed]

2 minutes ago, Squirrelhumper said:

Absolutely pointless. Kind of pish Levein used to do to try and make his stats look good. 

We will be playing these sides in the Nation League, what will we learn to prepare for the Euros by playing minnows. 

Absolutely nonsense argument. 

I've already explained my reasoning behind my argument and it's based on a very specific set of circumstances.

[BryanBlessed]

And we will be playing the best in the NL to be fair.  If it were up to me, I'd probably bin friendlies anyway.

[Caledonian Craig]

4 minutes ago, BryanBlessed said:

McGinn and McGregor are two of our top players. When's the last time McLean started a competitive match for us? Ukraine away in the NL which was a forced change.  I'm not sure Porteous cramping up on Thursday justifies his omission last night but I'll take your word for it. 

Two players who we are well aware of what they can do. So what if McLean hasn't started a competitive match for us? The fact he scored a crucial winner V Norway shows he is a noteworthy member of the squad and had a good game last night. Porteous getting over cramp or a fresher Cooper to look at to check him over - no brainer.

[BryanBlessed]

1 minute ago, Caledonian Craig said:

Two players who we are well aware of what they can do. So what if McLean hasn't started a competitive match for us? The fact he scored a crucial winner V Norway shows he is a noteworthy member of the squad and had a good game last night. Porteous getting over cramp or a fresher Cooper to look at to check him over - no brainer.

And the keepers actually Either it's to test ourselves against the best or it's to take a look at fringe players. They're mutually exclusive.

McLean scored against Norway, yes but he's not getting anywhere near our strongest starting 11. He's also nearly 32 so he's not going to be getting any better.

[breeks_mctavish]

Any of our squad players may need to get called into action for a Euros game against a big team next summer.  Who knows what will unfold. Playing last night helps them know a bit more what it’s all about. We’re about to play in a Euros and a top league in the Nations League. We’re now not going in cold to those games. Maybe we won’t be good enough but better getting the lessons out the way now 

Edited October 18, 2023 by breeks_mctavish