Netherlands V Scotland Match Thread

[Diego10]

Sitter aside, i thought Shankland made us look a more threatening side.  He isn't going to chase long balls down which placed an emphasis on us passing the ball into the final third and helped us keep possession.  His link up play was  very good.

For 70 minutes that was a very good performance.  The last 15 was a shambles as we went chaotic and out of shape 

I'm not sure Clarke knows what to do with Ferguson

 

 

[Lion Rampant]

4 minutes ago, Diego10 said:

Sitter aside, i thought Shankland made us look a more threatening side.  He isn't going to chase long balls down which placed an emphasis on us passing the ball into the final third and helped us keep possession.  His link up play was  very good.

For 70 minutes that was a very good performance.  The last 15 was a shambles as we went chaotic and out of shape 

I'm not sure Clarke knows what to do with Ferguson

 

 

I thought Shankland did really well and if he puts that chance away then the entire conversation would be different. 

I trust Clarke to find the solution with Ferguson. He did it with Tierney and Robertson, got the best out of McTominay and I think he'll do the same with Ferguson. 

He's clearly trying to get us playing football on the front foot even away to a team like that. Did the same home v England, it's going to take time. It might not come off and he's going to have to compromise and maybe be more pragmatic but it's clear he's not willing to just settle. 

[Diego10]

3 minutes ago, Lion Rampant said:

I trust Clarke to find the solution with Ferguson. He did it with Tierney and Robertson, got the best out of McTominay and I think he'll do the same with Ferguson. 

Aye, wasn't meaning he won't get it right but atm it's like he feels he should use him but hasn't worked out what he is good for yet.

He just seems very uninvolved when he comes on atm.  But going into the last Euros he was playing big Scott at CH and now look at him

[Dave78]

40 minutes ago, scotlad said:

Clarke learned a thing or two about some of his players tonight.

Totally agree. That's the point of friendlies of course, and why this game was very useful.

 

29 minutes ago, Diego10 said:

I'm not sure Clarke knows what to do with Ferguson

I think he does. Keep him on the bench and let him compete with McGinn.... for now. I expect him to start against NI

[Yr Alban]

Trying to think of something positive. I guess that if we’re going to fail to take our chances and lose badly, better to do it in a warm-up game.

[Dave78]

1 minute ago, Yr Alban said:

Trying to think of something positive.

It's part of the plan to lure our opponents into a false sense of security

 

[RDFH64]

44 minutes ago, Diego10 said:

Sitter aside, i thought Shankland made us look a more threatening side.  He isn't going to chase long balls down which placed an emphasis on us passing the ball into the final third and helped us keep possession.  His link up play was  very good.

For 70 minutes that was a very good performance.  The last 15 was a shambles as we went chaotic and out of shape 

I'm not sure Clarke knows what to do with Ferguson

 

 

His movement was very poor, it’s totally different waiting for a deflection or mistake in a game against the likes of Ross county, Motherwell or Aberdeen to score a goal, against players like Van Dyke & Ake you need to work harder to create time & space to get a shot on goal. 

[Tartan blood]

53 minutes ago, Diego10 said:

Sitter aside, i thought Shankland made us look a more threatening side.  He isn't going to chase long balls down which placed an emphasis on us passing the ball into the final third and helped us keep possession.  His link up play was  very good.

For 70 minutes that was a very good performance.  The last 15 was a shambles as we went chaotic and out of shape 

I'm not sure Clarke knows what to do with Ferguson

 

 

The "surprise" Clarke referred to pre-match was obviously the Christie/Shankland partnership. I can see the logic. Christie's movement and tenacity takes the pressure off Shankland and allows him to focus on what he does best. Against weaker opposition it'll probably work. 

It did mean McTominay and McGinn were marginally deeper tonight, though. Which is possibly not a wise sacrifice, considering they are our most clinical players at the moment.

[86glebestreet]

1 hour ago, Caledonian Craig said:

To me it is clear we rely a heck of a lot on the Robertson/Tierney partnership when that is not in place our defence ships goals. We saw that in the few games when they were out where we leaked goals and as soon as Tierney went off we went from 1-0 down and well in the game to 4-0 down. That is no coincedence. We need to learn to organise the defence far better when Tierney or Robertson are out.

A real disappointing scoreline which flattered Netherlands as for two thirds of the game we were the better side. We have to dust ourselves down and tighten up at the back and start finding the net on Tuesday. We really need a win to end this bad run and build confidence.

I think he took tierney off so he doesn’t over do it and get injured again, come the euros he will play the 90 minutes 

[Diamond Scot]

Reading the vast majority of the comments on here and I feel like I watched a different game from most tonight.

Yes we got beat 4 nil however we dominated the 1st half and more than held our own until they scored the 2nd and subs came on.

Shankland played decent against a really good defence. He linked play well, should have scored the 1 on 1 but hit the ball so hardly totally fluffed his lines.

Tierney is key to how we play. We limited the Netherlands to attempt at goal in the 1st half on their turf. All whilst creating several chances ourselves. Some of our passing play was top quality.

We were off it in the final 3rd tonight, not clinical enough but id hope that will be different come the euros.

Patterson looked like a player devoid of confidence. Not once did he look to take it past the full back, even with loads of space to run at them. Worryingly that is likely to have been coached out of him at Everton. He could do with a move to somewhere like Germany. Needs to get back to Alan Hutton type attacking.

Gilmour was superb. Strange that McTom was playing deeper with Christie further forward when logic would suggest them switching however Clarke did say he was going to try some things.

None of the subs did well.

[tjm007]

43 minutes ago, Yr Alban said:

Trying to think of something positive. I guess that if we’re going to fail to take our chances and lose badly, better to do it in a warm-up game.

6 games without a win - we won’t be complacent going into the tournament.

[slasher]

14 minutes ago, Diamond Scot said:

Reading the vast majority of the comments on here and I feel like I watched a different game from most tonight.

AGREED

Yes we got beat 4 nil however we dominated the 1st half and more than held our own until they scored the 2nd and subs came on.

AGREED

Shankland played decent against a really good defence. He linked play well, should have scored the 1 on 1 but hit the ball so hardly totally fluffed his lines.

BIZARRE TAKE. HIS JOB IS TO SCORE, HE DIDNT

Tierney is key to how we play. We limited the Netherlands to attempt at goal in the 1st half on their turf. All whilst creating several chances ourselves. Some of our passing play was top quality.

AGREED

We were off it in the final 3rd tonight, not clinical enough but id hope that will be different come the euros.

IT HAS TO BE

Patterson looked like a player devoid of confidence. Not once did he look to take it past the full back, even with loads of space to run at them. Worryingly that is likely to have been coached out of him at Everton. He could do with a move to somewhere like Germany. Needs to get back to Alan Hutton type attacking.

HE’S JUST NOT THAT GOOD. HICKEY IS BETTER

Gilmour was superb. Strange that McTom was playing deeper with Christie further forward when logic would suggest them switching however Clarke did say he was going to try some things.

SCOTT MCT & MCGINN WERE NOT AT THEIR BEST TONIGHT

None of the subs did well.

SOUTTAR WAS CATASROPHIC!

 

[Diamond Scot]

3 minutes ago, slasher said:

 

Shanklands main job is to score goals but it wasnt his only job. He linked play well, occupied the defenders and held the ball up well. He did drift in and out of the game a little which would be my only concern. He missed a good chance but that happens. If we have a chance like that against Germany then I know which player id want it to fall to.

Patterson isnt a patch on Hickey however previously he did offer something different going forward. On tonights showing that element, almost willful abandon going forward wasnt there which was his main strength. Take that away and he is a concern. He is very similar to Hutton in many ways. When Hutton moved to England, gradually he became more conservative which ruined him. Hutton 2007 (Italy) was his best version. Patterson could do with looking at Frimpong. By all means tighten up defensively but his strengths are direct attacking. Lose that and lose everything.

[slasher]

31 minutes ago, Diamond Scot said:

Shanklands main job is to score goals but it wasnt his only job. He linked play well, occupied the defenders and held the ball up well. He did drift in and out of the game a little which would be my only concern. He missed a good chance but that happens. If we have a chance like that against Germany then I know which player id want it to fall to.

Patterson isnt a patch on Hickey however previously he did offer something different going forward. On tonights showing that element, almost willful abandon going forward wasnt there which was his main strength. Take that away and he is a concern. He is very similar to Hutton in many ways. When Hutton moved to England, gradually he became more conservative which ruined him. Hutton 2007 (Italy) was his best version. Patterson could do with looking at Frimpong. By all means tighten up defensively but his strengths are direct attacking. Lose that and lose everything.

I don’t think Shankland did badly but we need more mobility than he offers. He had a one on one and a maybe half chance. Hit the target with one and score the other then he gives the manager a problem. He didn’t so he remains an option off the bench nothing more.

Pattersons lack of defensive ability wasn’t even really tested tonight, he caused his own problems. At this point he’s not in the running to start any games or even come off the bench. Up to him to change that.

Edited March 23 by slasher

[Caledonian Craig]

5 hours ago, 86glebestreet said:

I think he took tierney off so he doesn’t over do it and get injured again, come the euros he will play the 90 minutes 

Yes that is most likely but we need to be more secure defensively when we do not have Tierney/Robertson on the pitch. When we lose that partnership our attackibg threat losing one of its most potent weapons and defensively we open up.

[EddardStark]

Last nights performance reminded me of when I used to sit exams. Some questions I did really well on and others I totally bombed. Our defending was the latter. I’m not panicking though. We have a few more friendlies  to go.
 

We did sone stuff really well. Shanklands chance was key but I’m confident he will score on Tuesday given the chance. 

[Diego10]

8 hours ago, Tartan blood said:

The "surprise" Clarke referred to pre-match was obviously the Christie/Shankland partnership. I can see the logic. Christie's movement and tenacity takes the pressure off Shankland and allows him to focus on what he does best. Against weaker opposition it'll probably work. 

It did mean McTominay and McGinn were marginally deeper tonight, though. Which is possibly not a wise sacrifice, considering they are our most clinical players at the moment.

Tbf, both McGinn and McTominay still got chances they should do better with.  Shankland's chance was the clearest and one you'd expect him to take 9/10 but we manufactured good chances most of the night.  

I would wager Clarke will have been very happy with how the set-up worked till the subs and that includes Shankland's contribution

[BryanBlessed]

I've calmed down now and can probably be more objective.

Shankland did OK and I'd be tempted to give him more minutes against NI. He should have scored but it wasn't that bad a miss.  The problem for me was Robertson forgetting how to cross and Patterson forgetting how to play football.

Souttar is a much better player than he showed last night but he's probably not a good replacement at LCB. I'd still have him on the plane

McGinn was off it for much of the game and that's not the first time.

KT didn't have that attacking edge but he played well otherwise.

The big positive has to be Gilmour. He's well on his way to being world class in my opinion.

 

 

 

 

[daviebee]

8 hours ago, Diamond Scot said:

Reading the vast majority of the comments on here and I feel like I watched a different game from most tonight.

Yes we got beat 4 nil however we dominated the 1st half and more than held our own until they scored the 2nd and subs came on.

Shankland played decent against a really good defence. He linked play well, should have scored the 1 on 1 but hit the ball so hardly totally fluffed his lines.

Tierney is key to how we play. We limited the Netherlands to attempt at goal in the 1st half on their turf. All whilst creating several chances ourselves. Some of our passing play was top quality.

We were off it in the final 3rd tonight, not clinical enough but id hope that will be different come the euros.

Patterson looked like a player devoid of confidence. Not once did he look to take it past the full back, even with loads of space to run at them. Worryingly that is likely to have been coached out of him at Everton. He could do with a move to somewhere like Germany. Needs to get back to Alan Hutton type attacking.

Gilmour was superb. Strange that McTom was playing deeper with Christie further forward when logic would suggest them switching however Clarke did say he was going to try some things.

None of the subs did well.

That's a pretty fair assessment.  In the cold light of day we were out-Dutching the Dutch in their own stadium and should've been ahead and then it all went to rat crap when he brought the subs on.

If Tierney isn't in that back 3 and/or Gilmour isn't in front of them then SC better find a way of ensuring that the opposition don't go through us like a dose of salts.  The really annoying thing for me is the way we'd been playing some of the best fitba I've ever seen from a Scotland side - composed possession with a purpose - only for the replacements to come on and start running round like heidless chickens.

AND... all that great stuff got played with Patterson having a bit of a nightmare and McGinn having one of his worst performances.  Hickey in on the right and McGinn getting over his off-night and I'd be happy with that starting 11 in June.  From what I saw last night though they'd all need to stay on for the 90 minutes!  No more taking off the sublime talent of Gilmour with still 20 minutes on the clock cos that's just sheer madness.

[BryanBlessed]

We're desperately in need of a win so I think he should have kept Tierney (maybe he needed to come off, though) and Gilmour on the park.

[BryanBlessed]

10 minutes ago, daviebee said:

That's a pretty fair assessment.  In the cold light of day we were out-Dutching the Dutch in their own stadium and should've been ahead and then it all went to rat crap when he brought the subs on.

If Tierney isn't in that back 3 and/or Gilmour isn't in front of them then SC better find a way of ensuring that the opposition don't go through us like a dose of salts.  The really annoying thing for me is the way we'd been playing some of the best fitba I've ever seen from a Scotland side - composed possession with a purpose - only for the replacements to come on and start running round like heidless chickens.

AND... all that great stuff got played with Patterson having a bit of a nightmare and McGinn having one of his worst performances.  Hickey in on the right and McGinn getting over his off-night and I'd be happy with that starting 11 in June.  From what I saw last night though they'd all need to stay on for the 90 minutes!  No more taking off the sublime talent of Gilmour with still 20 minutes on the clock cos that's just sheer madness.

Praying Hickey will be back. Patterson was by far our worst player of those who started

[Och Aye]

9 hours ago, Diamond Scot said:

Reading the vast majority of the comments on here and I feel like I watched a different game from most tonight.

Yes we got beat 4 nil however we dominated the 1st half and more than held our own until they scored the 2nd and subs came on.

Shankland played decent against a really good defence. He linked play well, should have scored the 1 on 1 but hit the ball so hardly totally fluffed his lines.

Tierney is key to how we play. We limited the Netherlands to attempt at goal in the 1st half on their turf. All whilst creating several chances ourselves. Some of our passing play was top quality.

We were off it in the final 3rd tonight, not clinical enough but id hope that will be different come the euros.

Patterson looked like a player devoid of confidence. Not once did he look to take it past the full back, even with loads of space to run at them. Worryingly that is likely to have been coached out of him at Everton. He could do with a move to somewhere like Germany. Needs to get back to Alan Hutton type attacking.

Gilmour was superb. Strange that McTom was playing deeper with Christie further forward when logic would suggest them switching however Clarke did say he was going to try some things.

None of the subs did well.

Spot on. Until the subs came on that's the best footballing performance I've seen from a Scotland team against such a top drawer team.

[Caledonian Craig]

1 minute ago, Och Aye said:

Spot on. Until the subs came on that's the best footballing performance I've seen from a Scotland team against such a top drawer team.

And I have seen us win 2-0 or 3-0 and not play as well such as both games V Cyprus and home against Georgia and home 3-2 win against Israel. We certainly played better than our 2-1 win in Norway too.

[Grim Jim]

While the end result was obviously disappointing, I'm putting it down to making too many defensive subs. Looked lost after that.  I mean the disruption, rather than the individuals being the main problem.

Nowadays I expect us to put one or two of those chances away too, right enough.

[RDFH64]

Refreshing to hear what Koeman said in his after match interview, a very good & honest review of the match. 👏👏👏