I hope so. Will you be rooting for England in our match?
Scotland Euro 2024 Squad and Discussion
- Thread starter SilentWitness
- Start date
Hahahaha.
I've just backed ye to make the quarter finals. This is the death knell of any chance ye have of scoring a goal, sorry.
Id be surprised if Clarke gets another campaign.
I’m far from his biggest fan. We only qualified because everyone does.
Id be moving to a 4231 looking at our squad. RB always going to be a worry but we struggle to get forward in the 541.
Get McTominay near Adams for flick ons. The defence isn’t great but none of the CB options are inspiring.
Gunn
McCrorie - Hendry - Tierney - Robertson
Gilmour - McGinn
Forrest - McTominay - Christie
Adams
[/CENTER]McCrorie - Hendry - Tierney - Robertson
Gilmour - McGinn
Forrest - McTominay - Christie
Adams
I dunno. I think we had a strong qualifying campaign and he's done well to get us to where we are at but it's time to replace him too. A bit of a budget Southgate in that regard.
Shankland and Gilmour need to be starting the next game.
You get someone like Moyes in and it will be similar style.
Not sure if there's a standout young Scottish coach coming through or go down the foreign route.
I mean Scotland's best area of the pitch by a long way is central/advanced midfield and it was like a league 2 side v Man. City tonight. German midfield is a total world class unit.
They have to give it a go v Swiss and Hungary and see what happens. Both are solid and well drilled but you can create chances v them.
I think the core problem is the quality of our players, we simply dont have any of the required quality and thats a function of our grassroots football. Its been helter skelter for 40 years now while the rest of the world has moved on and the focus has been on technique and skill elsewhere. We did well in qualifying but lets also not kid ourselves and forget we had a big lump of luck during that campaign a number of times.
Its a bit like the whole England manager thing too, Ive been listening to England fans blaming England managers for 45 years now, its coming up to 58 years since England last won something and its always the managers fault.
The heart of Scotlands problem is not the manager, its the quality of players we produce. When i was a kid we had players in all the top teams who were stand out players in the top English division, today we dont have any standout players in the top teams. Until Scotland fans collectively stop blaming the managers and demand from the SFA that we produce the most technically gifted kids and youth players we will continue to fail (and continue to blame managers)
Has Gilmour massively dropped off, I don't understand why he didn't start given he's been playing every week for Brighton who had a steady season. McGregor over him who is solid but was badly exposed in possession against this level of quality proves the point.
It doesnt prove anything.
How many Scotland players will be starters in the top 4 in England or top 2 anywhere else. Not only that but how many would be the standout players in any of those teams. Absolutely none. There was a time when we did have the top teams with Scotland players who were the key standout players.
We have slipped a long long way in the quality of players we produce.
We have journeymen footballers making up our National team and the depth past the best 16 of them drops away horrifically.
Stop blaming the manager every year and start demanding the SFA produce junior and youth programs that produce quality players
BTW im a huge fan of Gilmour and do not understand why he didnt start but Gilmour starting wouldnt have got us a win or even a draw
Jack Hendrie and Anthony Ralston have no business being at the euros.
This will be Clarke’s last campaign and McInnes will replace him. Nothing surer.
I meant though he's a technically proficient player (by recent Scottish standards) yet was overlooked in favour of workhorses like McGregor and Christie. Maybe that was just tactical due to Germany's quality, we'll see for Tuesday match.
I think the globalization of premier league and decline of SPL means it's a pipe dream to think they'll ever be standard produced in 70s-80s for top sides. It's the same with Republic of Ireland and Wales again now Bale and Ramsey have retired.
Scotland do have a core of top level players in Robertson, Tierney (a regular for a CL side this season), McTominay and McGinn. All regulars in CL/Europa teams and Gilmour is still young enough to get back up to that level. Lewis Ferguson also would be CL regular but for injury. Hickey is good aswell.
Problem is it's all concentrated in one area and the keeper, CBs and CF are very poor compared to what Scotland generally had in the 90s.
Agreed. Sack the SFA, IMO. They refuse to invest in grassroots and rely heavily on family lines. It's fecking annoying.
Because tactically he got it completely wrong and he hasn't got the nous to address that. We made ourselves look far worse than we are and them look far better than they are.
Sorry mate but that was an embarrassment from start to finish whoever the collective of players were and I most definitely will partially blame the manager for some of it because tactically we were shocking and exposed ourselves. We have some low quality players, granted but we also have some high quality players. Both sets of them put in dire performances tonight.
I don't think anyone expected to win, or even draw but you'd definitely expect to put in a better fight and performance.
I agree with your sentiment regarding investment but tonight was about more than just that.
Regardless of the gap in quality, the margin and nature of the defeat last night was on Clarke. His shape, selection and in-game response were all woeful. A tactical disaster class.
Completely agree.
If buts and maybes.
Key was to hold out for as long as possible with dogged, well disciplined defending and compact shape.
Lasted 10 mins and the keeper was massively at fault….had a full glove on that and didn’t stop it. Against partisan crowd that then set the tone. It was always going to be one way traffic after that.
2nd goal broke the defensive line easily as press too slow. 3rd goal and tackle reckless and game over.
The Germans movement was too much for the level of most of those Scottish players. As others have said, it’s levels.
Key was to hold out for as long as possible with dogged, well disciplined defending and compact shape.
Lasted 10 mins and the keeper was massively at fault….had a full glove on that and didn’t stop it. Against partisan crowd that then set the tone. It was always going to be one way traffic after that.
2nd goal broke the defensive line easily as press too slow. 3rd goal and tackle reckless and game over.
The Germans movement was too much for the level of most of those Scottish players. As others have said, it’s levels.
I think it’s very generous to just say “it’s levels”. You see teams of different levels playing better than that every week.
Scotland have Prem/Championship players. You’ve got to get more out of them.
Scotland have Prem/Championship players. You’ve got to get more out of them.
Yep. He hasn't managed to get a tune out if this squad since the qualification rounds. Its the same players but, he's done nothing to evolve this team or change it up. Playing hoofball to Adam's isn't going to work on any level.
100% . At international level you can achieve a bit with a handful of good players.
Not that it really mattered in the end, but is McTominay usually on free kicks? Just a really odd decision which completely nullifies one of your only threats.
Starting him in a midfield two as well. Any United fan would tell you he's useless there. Get him behind the striker and put Gilmour in the middle.
Starting him in a midfield two as well. Any United fan would tell you he's useless there. Get him behind the striker and put Gilmour in the middle.
Gilmour has to start the next game.
Tierney should be at right back/wing back. He's done fine there before and is better than the players we've brought who actually play that position.
Tierney should be at right back/wing back. He's done fine there before and is better than the players we've brought who actually play that position.
This Scotland team really isn't that much different to Wales in the last Euros with many championship players and Bale and Ramsey on the way down. They got 4 points off Swiss and Turkey and qualified.
Even in 2016 Wales had Hal Robson Kanu scoring that iconic goal v Belgium and he'd just been released by mid table championship Reading. Can't remember if Vokes was even in the premier league either.
If Wales can do it in major tournaments....why can't Scotland?
Not only that but teams like Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, and Austria are teams that have showed up to the tournament and played. Are those squads really any better than Scotland's?
I dunno, they probably do a better job with their manager hire while we tend to hire Scottish ones who haven't really coached outside the UK.
Would be nice if McTominay wasn't our most dangerous player (no disrespect to him either. He played pretty good today). It worked today but, it's still not a great long term solution.
I'd not be opposed to playing Shankland with McT as a second striker. Just go out with a bang.
So would I mate. Apologies troops, wanted to post in here earlier but been a rough week recovering from the stag do
shame it started with the shocking performance last Friday but hey ho!Far better last night but still came away disappointed in the end. Worldie of a finish but shocking play before that, from both Hanley and Ralston. Also think some of our better players have just not played well enough either, like McGregor & McGinn. Adams a lot better though and McT well, think my love for him is well known at this point. But we just need a greater goal threat, no idea where that comes from. Absolute nightmare for Tierney
I do think after the Euros, whoever is in charge (been hearing much chat about Moyes) needs to be ruthless and have a clear out.I look back at tournaments and we always seem to play our best in the second game.
1990 - lose to Costa Rica in the first game, mostly due to dropping the brilliant partnership of Mo Johnston and Ally McCoist, to slug long balls up to McInally. Then we steam over a strong Sweden in the second game, winning 2-1.
Euro 92 - almost hang on against the Dutch in the first game, then are outstanding against Germany but miss a load of chances, concede a freak goal and lose and we go out.
Euro 96 - do hang on for a draw against the Dutch this time, then deserve a draw against England but miss a penalty.
WC 98 - almost hang on against Brazil, play some good free-flowing football against Norway in the 2nd game, drawing 1-1, then crash and burn against Morocco 3-0 in the last game.
Euro 20 - overly defensive player choices in key roles see us lose the first game to Czechs, then give a strong performance to draw with England, before crashing and burning against Croatia in the last game.
I am a bit nervous of the thinking that our best chance for 3 points is the Hungary game. We have been in that boat before in our last two tournaments and crashed out. If it ends up the case that we regret not truly going for it against Switzerland (never mind that shite-baggery against the Germans), then it is a missed opportunity. Good performance last night, but when we were on top we really needed to go for the kill. This pattern of cagey > grow a set > end up 'desperate and out' across the 3 games keeps repeating itself.
1990 - lose to Costa Rica in the first game, mostly due to dropping the brilliant partnership of Mo Johnston and Ally McCoist, to slug long balls up to McInally. Then we steam over a strong Sweden in the second game, winning 2-1.
Euro 92 - almost hang on against the Dutch in the first game, then are outstanding against Germany but miss a load of chances, concede a freak goal and lose and we go out.
Euro 96 - do hang on for a draw against the Dutch this time, then deserve a draw against England but miss a penalty.
WC 98 - almost hang on against Brazil, play some good free-flowing football against Norway in the 2nd game, drawing 1-1, then crash and burn against Morocco 3-0 in the last game.
Euro 20 - overly defensive player choices in key roles see us lose the first game to Czechs, then give a strong performance to draw with England, before crashing and burning against Croatia in the last game.
I am a bit nervous of the thinking that our best chance for 3 points is the Hungary game. We have been in that boat before in our last two tournaments and crashed out. If it ends up the case that we regret not truly going for it against Switzerland (never mind that shite-baggery against the Germans), then it is a missed opportunity. Good performance last night, but when we were on top we really needed to go for the kill. This pattern of cagey > grow a set > end up 'desperate and out' across the 3 games keeps repeating itself.
So would I mate. Apologies troops, wanted to post in here earlier but been a rough week recovering from the stag do
Far better last night but still came away disappointed in the end. Worldie of a finish but shocking play before that, from both Hanley and Ralston. Also think some of our better players have just not played well enough either, like McGregor & McGinn. Adams a lot better though and McT well, think my love for him is well known at this point. But we just need a greater goal threat, no idea where that comes from. Absolute nightmare for Tierney
McGinn is the one I've been most disappointed in. We haven't got the best out of him at all. Hope you had a cracking stag do though.
Yeah, especially given that you could go through with 3 points, I'm disappointed that we didn't go for it more last night and take the risks to get 3 with the chance of getting 0.
So am I mate. I thought the chance was there to get at them more and should have made the subs sooner and pushed further forward. I think the game against Hungary will be bloody hard and I thought that about previous tournaments, where we do not play well at all in the third game. Desperately hoping to be wrong this time around.
McGinn is the one I've been most disappointed in. We haven't got the best out of him at all. Hope you had a cracking stag do though.
He's been very poor mate. Hoping for a big performance in the last group game. Tartan Army have been as phenomenal as always at least.
Thanks man! Stag Do was tremendous, away in Manchester where we watched the Scotland game in Walkabout that was rammed with Scotland fans, got a beer bike around Manchester the next day singing Scotland songs with a fancy dress kilt on, then into the Bierkeller dressed up as a Frauline with all the other lads in lederhosen, seemed appropriate with the Euros
Side point, also met a lad from the Stretford Paddock on the Beer Bike so that was good to chat with him!Thanks man! Stag Do was tremendous, away in Manchester where we watched the Scotland game in Walkabout that was rammed with Scotland fans, got a beer bike around Manchester the next day singing Scotland songs with a fancy dress kilt on, then into the Bierkeller dressed up as a Frauline with all the other lads in lederhosen, seemed appropriate with the Euros
That sounds class.
That sounds class.
Certainly struggling since between the hangover and illness but so worth it