Slovakia

[The Black Bra]

Before the Euros, there were a lot of people who fancied Slovakia as dark horses. It was mentioned that they'd beaten Spain in the qualifiers and been top of the group for a long time.

After having seen them a few times now really haven't been very impressed. Couldn't believe how negative they were against England yesterday considering they were ghe home team, opening game etc. 

Think we should be going all out for a win when we play them away. Our strengths are in attack, we're poor at the back so there's no point sitting back and trying to be defensive.

Probably getting carried away now but imagine if we had 9 points going into Wembley game?

Definitely getting carried away.....

[Handsome22Devil]

There's no doubt Slovakia, for an international team, are pretty limited - however, so are we.

We should definitely be going over there looking to win but a draw would not be a disaster. There's a world of difference between going away from home and emerging with decent draw having tried to win (Poland last campaign) and going home with a draw having not even looked for three points (Ireland).

[Caledonian Craig]

If things fall right for us we could win over there. In recent years with a similar set of players we have won in Croatia (better than Slovakia) and France and drawn in Poland etc. A result over there is certainly do-able.

[smiler82]

48 minutes ago, The Black Bra said:

Before the Euros, there were a lot of people who fancied Slovakia as dark horses. It was mentioned that they'd beaten Spain in the qualifiers and been top of the group for a long time.

After having seen them a few times now really haven't been very impressed. Couldn't believe how negative they were against England yesterday considering they were ghe home team, opening game etc. 

Think we should be going all out for a win when we play them away. Our strengths are in attack, we're poor at the back so there's no point sitting back and trying to be defensive.

Probably getting carried away now but imagine if we had 9 points going into Wembley game?

Definitely getting carried away.....

Agreed.... They were very poor at the Euro's (at least they got there) and didn't show much against England... However, no matter how poor England were going forward they didn't give Slovakia a second on the ball, so its hard to judge as they will have more time on the ball when they play us.

There is not much between the teams and from what I saw yesterday, its not exactly an intimidating arena to play in - if we get 3 points against Lithuania then we should go and try to win the match

[ScotlandFanMuir]

Think the game being in Trnava could be a good thing for us. The atmosphere was absolutely terrible in their game against England yesterday, they couldn't sell it out against the best team in the group and little to no singing was heard from the home end for 90 minutes. I think in Bratislava they create a better atmosphere.

If they draw their next game in Slovenia while we're putting 5 past Lithuania (ha) then it'd be a great start for us.

[Third Lanark]

25 minutes ago, ScotlandFanMuir said:

Think the game being in Trnava could be a good thing for us. The atmosphere was absolutely terrible in their game against England yesterday, they couldn't sell it out against the best team in the group and little to no singing was heard from the home end for 90 minutes. I think in Bratislava they create a better atmosphere.

If they draw their next game in Slovenia while we're putting 5 past Lithuania (ha) then it'd be a great start for us.

Not sure how better support for them is a good for us. Surely we want a low-key atmosphere? I dont think they will be so defensive v us. Which might suit us on the counter with Snoddy and Burke.

[Caledonian Craig]

1 minute ago, Third Lanark said:

Not sure how better support for them is a good for us. Surely we want a low-key atmosphere? I dont think they will be so defensive v us. Which might suit us on the counter with Snoddy and Burke.

There is no way (since they lost yesterday and we won) that Slovakia will sit-back against us - they must go for the win.

[BremnerLorimerGray]

If you can keep Hamsik quiet you go a long way to getting a result against Slovakia.  They are pretty cumbersome at the back(Skrtel is atrocious), have dodgy keepers and are woefully short of options up front.

Granted we still look poor at the back, but I was impressed with our willingness to go forward last night and our eagerness to get the ball to the front 4 as quickly as possible.  With Paterson in at full back being an improvement going forward and in defence on Hutton, that area is also a potent attacking threat.  I liked Bannan and Fletcher sitting, it looked a more composed set up compared to the last campaign.  

If we continue in the same vein as last night, we will give ourselves a brilliant chance of Qualification.

[scotham]

Will Skrtel get a one game ban for his sending off last night or more? I.e. will he miss our game?

[ScotlandFanMuir]

42 minutes ago, Third Lanark said:

Not sure how better support for them is a good for us. Surely we want a low-key atmosphere? I dont think they will be so defensive v us. Which might suit us on the counter with Snoddy and Burke.

They play in Trnava against us too.

[The Black Bra]

1 hour ago, smiler82 said:

Agreed.... They were very poor at the Euro's (at least they got there) and didn't show much against England... However, no matter how poor England were going forward they didn't give Slovakia a second on the ball, so its hard to judge as they will have more time on the ball when they play us.

There is not much between the teams and from what I saw yesterday, its not exactly an intimidating arena to play in - if we get 3 points against Lithuania then we should go and try to win the match

Don't see why we need to give Slovakia any more time on the ball than England did...

Best to press high up the pitch and keep them as far away from our centre halves as possible.

[killiefaetheferry]

1 hour ago, scotham said:

Will Skrtel get a one game ban for his sending off last night or more? I.e. will he miss our game?

Was only given a second yellow so one game ban. If it had been the straight red it deserved then it would have been at least a 3 game ban. Don't know if there is a review possible but I think that as the ref saw it, his decision stands.

[Rab The Crab]

3 hours ago, The Black Bra said:

Don't see why we need to give Slovakia any more time on the ball than England did...

Best to press high up the pitch and keep them as far away from our centre halves as possible.

With the quality we have going forward and the limitations of our centre halves, I think that has to be our best tactic in most games.

[Jagtag]

On 05/09/2016 at 5:22 PM, Rab The Crab said:

With the quality we have going forward and the limitations of our centre halves, I think that has to be our best tactic in most games.

I think it has been our tactic since Strachan took over. I feel that's why we are able to score so many goals. Unfortunately our defence are letting them in too.