Gordon Strachan

[ProudScot]

Mediocre teams qualify for tournaments regularly because they have a go - Northern Ireland is the perfect example. Man for man their squad is poorer than ours. however, they play positvely, attack, score goals and have a go at teams aswell as blooding Youngsters.

The same can be said for many other teams also.

[wanderer]

6 minutes ago, ProudScot said:

Mediocre teams qualify for tournaments regularly because they have a go - Northern Ireland is the perfect example. Man for man their squad is poorer than ours. however, they play positvely, attack, score goals and have a go at teams aswell as blooding Youngsters.

The same can be said for many other teams also.

While true, Northern Ireland also got a group that we would have ripped their arm off to get (I think we would have been in their group at the expense of Finland).

[ProudScot]

6 minutes ago, wanderer said:

While true, Northern Ireland also got a group that we would have ripped their arm off to get (I think we would have been in their group at the expense of Finland).

I'm sure we would have struggled in that group too.

It's time we started realising it's our style and how we are set up that is all wrong - We aren't hard done by with groups every time!

[bossman4]

33 minutes ago, ProudScot said:

Mediocre teams qualify for tournaments regularly because they have a go - Northern Ireland is the perfect example. Man for man their squad is poorer than ours. however, they play positvely, attack, score goals and have a go at teams aswell as blooding Youngsters.

The same can be said for many other teams also.

Wouldn't exactly say NI play attacking football, they built their team in the qualifiers around a 4-5-1 when they had Greece, Hungary and Romania away in the first 4 games, which they took 6 points from. What they did do over the later part of the campaign was develop into a 3-5-2 as other players emerged (McNair from United being one)

They remind me very much of us back in 98, solid defensive unit with one or two guys up top who could get goals. Will be interesting to see how they do, personally I think they will come undone as they haven't really had a real test yet like an Italy or Germany. Their group was shockingly bad, Romania finished second scoring 11 goals.

Edited June 1, 2016 by bossman4

[JECK]

1 hour ago, bossman4 said:

Wouldn't exactly say NI play attacking football, they built their team in the qualifiers around a 4-5-1 when they had Greece, Hungary and Romania away in the first 4 games, which they took 6 points from. What they did do over the later part of the campaign was develop into a 3-5-2 as other players emerged (McNair from United being one)

They remind me very much of us back in 98, solid defensive unit with one or two guys up top who could get goals. Will be interesting to see how they do, personally I think they will come undone as they haven't really had a real test yet like an Italy or Germany. Their group was shockingly bad, Romania finished second scoring 11 goals.

Ha beat me to it. Was going to say the exact same. They have been brought up a lot recently and in this thread obviously while weve struggled and I am highly dubious of their current position. I can only see 2 heavy defeats for them and a narrowish one versus Ukraine. They didn't have to face top players that could hurt them in their qualifying group.

Back to my original point this morning I see no one has mentioned which players will be able to hurt England and Slovakia 

[bossman4]

8 minutes ago, JECK said:

Ha beat me to it. Was going to say the exact same. They have been brought up a lot recently and in this thread obviously while weve struggled and I am highly dubious of their current position. I can only see 2 heavy defeats for them and a narrowish one versus Ukraine. They didn't have to face top players that could hurt them in their qualifying group.

Back to my original point this morning I see no one has mentioned which players will be able to hurt England and Slovakia 

Their last defeat was to us in March 2015, since then they have only played two top 30 sides (Romania in a qualifier and Wales in a friendly)

In answer to your other point, Snodgrass would be about it.

[Orraloon]

10 hours ago, deecie said:

Aye, it was pish winning games under Smith & McLeish.

If Strachan was judged on qualifiers rather than in friendlies he'd already be sacked.

Exactly. Last campaign we won a grand total of 4 games, two of those were against Gibraltar. Strachan's record is not any better than Burley or Levien and worse than Vogts. 

[bossman4]

37 minutes ago, Orraloon said:

Exactly. Last campaign we won a grand total of 4 games, two of those were against Gibraltar. Strachan's record is not any better than Burley or Levien and worse than Vogts. 

Not really, his competitive win rate is 43.75%

Vogts was 38.46%

Burley was 37.5%

Levein was 25%

 

 

[Orraloon]

1 hour ago, bossman4 said:

Not really, his competitive win rate is 43.75%

Vogts was 38.46%

Burley was 37.5%

Levein was 25%

 

 

I would argue that our wins over Croatia (x2) and Macedonia weren't competitive games as we were already out by that time.

[BraveheartGordon]

My frustration is down to him picking his old faces rather than in-form players.

Teams that qualified like Northern Ireland and Wales would bite your hand off for central strikers like Jordan Rhodes and Leigh Griffiths.

Edited June 1, 2016 by BraveheartGordon

[deecie]

17 minutes ago, Orraloon said:

I would argue that our wins over Croatia (x2) and Macedonia weren't competitive games as we were already out by that time.

And 2 were against Gibraltar...

[Jagtag]

11 hours ago, deecie said:

No he hasn't. Both the football and results have been terrible under Strachan, no matter what you think.

The football under Smith was rotten. Defensive crap but after Bertie just not getting humped seemed good. Smith had a chance to attack an average Ukraine team and sat back playing for a draw. Played 1 striker at home to Belarus and lost. We  were rotten away to Belarus and lucky to Draw. Even at Home to France we played for a draw and nicked a goal to win but the football was awful.

[Jagtag]

24 minutes ago, Orraloon said:

I would argue that our wins over Croatia (x2) and Macedonia weren't competitive games as we were already out by that time.

Could understand that if Croatia were out but they needed to win both games and even talked about catching Belgiums goal difference by scoring 6 or 7 against us. 

[Orraloon]

7 minutes ago, deecie said:

And 2 were against Gibraltar...

And, we were already out before we played one of them. So when we get down to basics. under Strachan, we have won three games that have actually mattered and one of them was against Gibraltar. The closer you look the worse it gets.

[norsefox]

Let's forget about Strachan for a second.  Two points:

a ) Surely the current setup is no poorer than any side we've had since 1998, all of which came AT LEAST 3rd until our last two qualifying attempts

b ) Given that our players are not significantly different from those that play for Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland and a half dozen other middling European nations, why do we play with absolutely zero belief, with no penetration, invention, or creation?

Against the Czechs, the Danes, and the Georgians, we won three games 1-0 and created so very very few chances. I'd like to see the Opta stats but I'd hazard a guess that we play a very low tempo with some of the fewest chances created per game of any team (outside the minnows) in Europe.

Edited June 1, 2016 by norsefox

[Sempre]

The thing that annoys me about Strachan is he talks a good game but doesn't put his own words into practice.

He says we can't just throw in kids. He's right, you can't throw in the U21 team. He has to play the odd one or two and gradually blend them in. That's fine, but when the qualifiers starts will we really see McGinn, Tierney, McLean, Paterson or anyone else there, or the "safe" options?

He says the players coming in have to be an improvement on what he has at the moment. Again, he's right.

However, he's picking players that don't fall into either category. They're not young players with big futures, and they're not better than what we have.

I'm talking about Craig Bryson coming off the bench v Italy. What was that for - is he going to be a big player for us in the next campaign? If so who is Bryson an improvement on? Same goes for Steven Whittaker, Gordon Greer and Charlie Mulgrew.

He relies stubbornly on Steven Fletcher when we're crying out for new ideas, and I don't mean Ross McCormack or Chris Martin who, from what I've seen so far, offer exactly the same.

He needs to be braver. Just show a bit of ambition, name a line-up with a mix of youth and experience. Trust Robertson, Tierney or Shinnie for a big game. So often even Robertson is dropped when we play bigger opposition and he goes with Whittaker or, as in Ireland away, Craig Forsyth. Give Griffiths or Rhodes a start. Start them both away to Malta. They could compliment each other and between the two of them make something happen. They're the best two strikers we have. 

But at the moment I struggle to think what Strachan is doing that every other manager since Vogts hasn't done either. Our whole approach is the same as Levein or Burley. Supporting Scotland is tiring. It's predictable. It's the same old story on repeat.

We need someone to actually shake us up. I thought Strachan would be that man but so far he's not done it.

[JECK]

Reading the above post just reiterates to me that we just don't have enough quality players to pick from. Ok pick griffiths and Rhodes against your malta's fair enough, but that's never going to work against England and Slovakia etc, where the group will be decided.

strachan and all the previous managers have tried numerous things with different players but at the end of the day unless you've got players (eg Bale)to consistently hurt quality opposition your struggling

 

[bossman4]

12 minutes ago, JECK said:

Reading the above post just reiterates to me that we just don't have enough quality players to pick from. Ok pick griffiths and Rhodes against your malta's fair enough, but that's never going to work against England and Slovakia etc, where the group will be decided.

strachan and all the previous managers have tried numerous things with different players but at the end of the day unless you've got players (eg Bale)to consistently hurt quality opposition your struggling

 

Problem is we don't even do that just now.

[scotsgary2]

13 hours ago, Sempre said:

The thing that annoys me about Strachan is he talks a good game but doesn't put his own words into practice.

He says we can't just throw in kids. He's right, you can't throw in the U21 team. He has to play the odd one or two and gradually blend them in. That's fine, but when the qualifiers starts will we really see McGinn, Tierney, McLean, Paterson or anyone else there, or the "safe" options?

He says the players coming in have to be an improvement on what he has at the moment. Again, he's right.

However, he's picking players that don't fall into either category. They're not young players with big futures, and they're not better than what we have.

I'm talking about Craig Bryson coming off the bench v Italy. What was that for - is he going to be a big player for us in the next campaign? If so who is Bryson an improvement on? Same goes for Steven Whittaker, Gordon Greer and Charlie Mulgrew.

He relies stubbornly on Steven Fletcher when we're crying out for new ideas, and I don't mean Ross McCormack or Chris Martin who, from what I've seen so far, offer exactly the same.

He needs to be braver. Just show a bit of ambition, name a line-up with a mix of youth and experience. Trust Robertson, Tierney or Shinnie for a big game. So often even Robertson is dropped when we play bigger opposition and he goes with Whittaker or, as in Ireland away, Craig Forsyth. Give Griffiths or Rhodes a start. Start them both away to Malta. They could compliment each other and between the two of them make something happen. They're the best two strikers we have. 

But at the moment I struggle to think what Strachan is doing that every other manager since Vogts hasn't done either. Our whole approach is the same as Levein or Burley. Supporting Scotland is tiring. It's predictable. It's the same old story on repeat.

We need someone to actually shake us up. I thought Strachan would be that man but so far he's not done it.

True post

[vanderark14]

On 6/1/2016 at 4:27 AM, Shaun said:

Having seen some of the comments on here and the hotline in the Daily Record after Sunday, my simple question is this.

WHAT THE HELL IS EVERYONES PROBLEM WITH STRACHAN!!!?

He is our best manager in a very long time yet, ever since the last campaign, certain people want him GONE which is totally ridiculous, first of all, who will, realistically, replace him.

For me, he gets the WHOLE of the upcoming campaign to get us to a major tournament and I fully believe he can get us there but if not then questions can be asked as to why but if we fail, I sense he will resign anyway, especially if these stupid doubters continue to doubt and slate him.

Rant over, I just find it ludicrous that some moaners want a change!!

 

if he fails for a 2nd time surely this is a reason to doubt him?

think before you type

[ShedTA]

His selections are becoming boring and predictable and on reputation rather than form. It's all heading the same way I am afraid.

[munro7]

On 1 June 2016 at 11:21 PM, Jagtag said:

The football under Smith was rotten. Defensive crap but after Bertie just not getting humped seemed good. Smith had a chance to attack an average Ukraine team and sat back playing for a draw. Played 1 striker at home to Belarus and lost. We  were rotten away to Belarus and lucky to Draw. Even at Home to France we played for a draw and nicked a goal to win but the football was awful.

This all day long.

[Bannannan]

Latest seems to be our players are "scared",maybe not surprising when the manager says every day how rubbish they are.Just a wee bit of positivity might help.

[Ally Bongo]

1 hour ago, Bannannan said:

Latest seems to be our players are "scared",maybe not surprising when the manager says every day how rubbish they are.

Absolute utter shite

All of them are getting paid mega bucks for the job they do

And the manager is right

[JECK]

2 hours ago, Bannannan said:

Latest seems to be our players are "scared",maybe not surprising when the manager says every day how rubbish they are.Just a wee bit of positivity might help.

Again bo!locks - at no point as he said they are rubbish. Has always praised the players and just bemoans we do not have top star quality to enhance the team.