Match Rant

[Goozay]

Apologies for the long post – on the slow train from London to Glasgow and still pretty irked from Friday night’s performance.

I’m hoping that writing this all down will be cathartic and I’ll wake up tomorrow morning raring to go for the Germany game!

Shot-shy

The most damning statistic from Friday night was zero shots on target. I strongly disagree when Strachan said we didn’t deserve to lose the game – if you turn up in Georgia and don’t even force their keeper to make a save you can’t expect to come away with any points.

Maloney, Brown and Morrison are all decent strikers of the ball from open play so should have been encouraged to have a pop from range, particularly when you’re expecting the opposition to sit back and try and stifle your attack.

By all means look to pass if someone is in a better position to score, but if there’s nothing on and we’re struggling to break them down – SHOOT! Morrison at Wembley and Maloney against Georgia at Ibrox and away in Dublin found the net by doing just that.

After 20 minutes when we hadn’t created a chance or forced a save I could feel the Scotland fans in the ground starting to get deflated and could see the Georgian players growing in confidence as they rightly asked: “Is that all Scotland have got?”

Brown-Morrison

Both Scott Brown and James Morrison had stinkers on Friday night. I’d expect Brown to dictate the pace of a game like this and “boss” the midfield. He was far from that. And Morrison was absolutely criminal with possession – giving the ball away throughout the game while under no real pressure. In direct contrast to how he plays for West Brom.

We have competition for those positions so I don’t expect Morrison to start there tomorrow night. Darren Fletcher should be above Morrison in the pecking order as a consequence of Friday and Mulgrew has done well when put in beside Brown for Scotland in the past. Even though McArthur has yet to take his club form into Scotland games I’d still have him ahead of Morrison at the moment – he was just so poor on Friday night.

I don’t expect Strachan to drop his captain but if Scott Brown starts on Monday night he can count himself fortunate.

Anya-Robertson

Just like they did against Georgia at Ibrox last year both Anya and Robertson showed little understanding and simply got in each other’s way. Individually they are both great options for us but they must learn to play together. If the opposition’s defence are doubling-up on Anya because they fear his pace that should give Robertson extra room to exploit. It should be a strength for us and its not.

Strachan needs to get the pair of them on the training ground and give them a better understanding of their respective roles and how they can complement each other going forward. That work should have started after the Georgia home game last year so it’s pretty uninspiring to see that same problem again.

Maloney’s dead balls

I know Maloney has been the poster boy of this campaign due to the goals he’s scored but I’m just not a fan of his corners. They’re too high, too slow and too easy to defend. It’s the same with his free kicks from the wings.

We lacked a goal-threat on Friday night partly because our comers and crosses from free-kicks just aren’t dangerous enough.

[scot scotland scottish]

"After 20 minutes when we hadnt created a chance or forced a save I could feel the Scotland fans in the ground starting to get deflated and could see the Georgian players growing in confidence as they rightly asked: Is that all Scotland have got?"

It was at that point when Georgia then strung about 50 passes together (during which no Scotland player put them under any pressure). I thought we were decent enough before then and I strongly feel that that passage of play was a pivotal point in the match

Good post and I agree with all of it. Hope your journey home isn't too tiring

Edited September 6, 2015 by scot scotland scottish

[Willie Miller's tache]

Spot on post although I'm not sure who should take dead balls instead of Maloney. Robertson perhaps, with the wee man hovering just outside the box to take a defender out of the marking?

I had a bad feeling about this one when our taxi drew up next to the team coach in heavy traffic on the way to the stadium at 6.15. I'm no expert but I would've expected a team of professional footballers to leave for the stadium much earlier so as to avoid sitting in a coach so soon to ko. Amateurish and worst possible pre-match preparation in my opinion.

I also query the wisdom in the team flying home straight after the game rather than getting a night's sleep in Tbilisi. Appreciate the Germany game is only on Monday and the need to get home ASAP but their body clocks must be shot to pieces after effectively missing a night's sleep. Not sure what other squads do in this situation. Wales looked flat tonight after their return from Cyprus.

Ach well, it seems the Dutch camp have bigger problems than us at the mo (although they'll prob still qualify via the play offs)

Other than that, I'm bang up for this Germany game!

[fringo]

Spot on post although I'm not sure who should take dead balls instead of Maloney. Robertson perhaps, with the wee man hovering just outside the box to take a defender out of the marking?

I had a bad feeling about this one when our taxi drew up next to the team coach in heavy traffic on the way to the stadium at 6.15. I'm no expert but I would've expected a team of professional footballers to leave for the stadium much earlier so as to avoid sitting in a coach so soon to ko. Amateurish and worst possible pre-match preparation in my opinion.

I also query the wisdom in the team flying home straight after the game rather than getting a night's sleep in Tbilisi. Appreciate the Germany game is only on Monday and the need to get home ASAP but their body clocks must be shot to pieces after effectively missing a night's sleep. Not sure what other squads do in this situation. Wales looked flat tonight after their return from Cyprus.

Ach well, it seems the Dutch camp have bigger problems than us at the mo (although they'll prob still qualify via the play offs)

Other than that, I'm bang up for this Germany game!

Mulgrew's not bad. Morrison is ok too (I think).

[Willie Miller's tache]

Yep, I was hoping he took that free kick near the end instead but I prefer him in the box for corners because of his height

[fringo]

Yep, I was hoping he took that free kick near the end instead but I prefer him in the box for corners because of his height

I was thinking the same.