Ok I don't disagree, the quality of players isn't as good as say Switzerland or Crotia who are comparable in population. But it's better than say the likes of Bosnia and Serbia. It's definitely not as bad as though 3 showings showed. Under a good manager they coud've done at least tried to play football. I'm not saying they could've gone far in the tournament, but what they did serve up.. was horrendous.
Scotland Euro 2024 Squad and Discussion
- Thread starter SilentWitness
- Start date
Ok I don't disagree, the quality of players isn't as good as say Switzerland or Crotia who are comparable in population. But it's better than say the likes of Bosnia and Serbia. It's definitely not as bad as though 3 showings showed. Under a good manager they coud've done at least tried to play football. I'm not saying they could've gone far in the tournament, but what they did serve up.. was horrendous.
I think the most important coaches in Scotland are the coaches of the kids from age 5 to 14. Thats who we as a footballing nation need to prioritise in terms of resources and education. Build it and they will come would work for us. Create the very best technically gifted we can and the coaches at youth level and above will have to improve to keep up.
3 different stories on the BBC website, like Scotland going out was a shock 
I'm with you on this. Grassroots. We can mock the, what is it St George's academy in England. But, it is starting to produce some quality coaches and quality players. It opened 12 years ago. The English team is genuinely held back by a crap manager. Scotland is held back because we're shite at everything football.
Clarke definitely effed us here with shocking tactics but, the caliber of player is woeful. Why can't we produce a genuine striker. Shankland is not the answer.
Absolutely bloody shocking performance. Turning that in when a win was needed, unforgiveable. Aye we should have had a penalty but so what, got what we deserved. Barely any shots or even chances created, with dreadful squad management and tactics.
I'm grateful to Clarke getting us to two tournaments, I hadn't seen that for 20 years. But we need to move on. The style of play is dreadful. Other nations who are around the same bracket as us play far better football and the players look like they are actually coached. Get someone new in who is actually gonna try and win games. And some players should have played their last games for Scotland last night as well.
I'm grateful to Clarke getting us to two tournaments, I hadn't seen that for 20 years. But we need to move on. The style of play is dreadful. Other nations who are around the same bracket as us play far better football and the players look like they are actually coached. Get someone new in who is actually gonna try and win games. And some players should have played their last games for Scotland last night as well.
As an Ireland fan I despair at the structure of football in Ireland and can't see us getting back to qualifying for major tournaments again.
Considering the amount if people playing football in Scotland and the tradition and relatively decent structure the quality of players, while way ahead of us, is not where it should be. Better is possible.
That said, there are enough premier league quality players for that team to do better. And you can blame Clarke but through all three games, nobody stood up to drive the team in any meaningful way.
So I think the 'blame' can be spread around evenly enough.
Considering the amount if people playing football in Scotland and the tradition and relatively decent structure the quality of players, while way ahead of us, is not where it should be. Better is possible.
That said, there are enough premier league quality players for that team to do better. And you can blame Clarke but through all three games, nobody stood up to drive the team in any meaningful way.
So I think the 'blame' can be spread around evenly enough.
Why start Che Adams 3 games in a row when he offers feck all?
Why can’t we beat the first man in set pieces?
Why wasn’t Shankland used more?
Why is our defence absolutely clueless in how to defend - most notably Ralston?
Why is McTominay taking corners?
Shambles from start to finish. Players and coaching staff should be ashamed they’ve given the fantastic fans that. Absolutely deplorable. Shite tactics, shite football, shite players.
It’s a sad state of affairs that these guys are the best footballers in the country yet we’ve got a number of championship players, a Saudi league player and a CB who is ‘unattached’! SFA is killing Scottish football and it’s not changing anytime soon.
Why can’t we beat the first man in set pieces?
Why wasn’t Shankland used more?
Why is our defence absolutely clueless in how to defend - most notably Ralston?
Why is McTominay taking corners?
Shambles from start to finish. Players and coaching staff should be ashamed they’ve given the fantastic fans that. Absolutely deplorable. Shite tactics, shite football, shite players.
It’s a sad state of affairs that these guys are the best footballers in the country yet we’ve got a number of championship players, a Saudi league player and a CB who is ‘unattached’! SFA is killing Scottish football and it’s not changing anytime soon.
Serbia have Vlahovic, Mitrovic, Tadic, Milenkovic-Savic, Kostic, Milenkovic, the other Milenkovic-Slavic in goal
Seems way better than Scotlands squad
Looking at Scotland's team they look closer to the Swiss than to Hungary.
I know they never do well in major tournaments but this is an underachievement. Should have gotten at least 3rd.
I know they never do well in major tournaments but this is an underachievement. Should have gotten at least 3rd.
The Scotland squad is nowhere near as strong as the Serbia squad which makes his point. They have two strikers who are top quality. Milinkovic Savic would be your best player too.
I do agree though they could still have qualified from the group if they actually looked tactfully drilled. They were the worst team I’ve seen at the competition unfortunately.
When McSauce is one of your set-piece takers, you know it's peak.
Let's be frank, Scotland have shit players and that's the crux of this.
Let's be frank, Scotland have shit players and that's the crux of this.
It's more baffling because he's our biggest goa l threat and is actually good in the air, while probably our tallest outfield player. Why he was taking them...no clue. Entire tournament was a shambles.
The trouble Scotland have is an age old problem, that goes back to William Wallace.
It's all well and good having spirit and fight, but it only gets you so far. Eventually you come up against people with knowledge and talent to get around that.
Their football team is no different, they have a lot of spirit and fight but no talent. What they need to find are a couple of up and coming world class players and it could transform them. Just look what Gareth Bale did for Wales, it doesn't take much.
Until then, they just need to accept the reality that they're never going to be that good to compete. Stick to what they're good at, Whiskey and deep fried Mars Bars.
It's all well and good having spirit and fight, but it only gets you so far. Eventually you come up against people with knowledge and talent to get around that.
Their football team is no different, they have a lot of spirit and fight but no talent. What they need to find are a couple of up and coming world class players and it could transform them. Just look what Gareth Bale did for Wales, it doesn't take much.
Until then, they just need to accept the reality that they're never going to be that good to compete. Stick to what they're good at, Whiskey and deep fried Mars Bars.
High on endeavour, low on talent. It's a good story to report but in reality, they just found their level.
I don’t think Clarke will go. The Scottish FA president and chief executive were both on record over the weekend talking about how wonderful a job he’s doing. They were both clearly giving the vibe of ‘just happy to be here’. The two narratives jumping out have been (a) how great it is to qualify for a major tournament, and (b) how close he is to making history and qualifying from a group stage for the first time. To me, both narratives are basically nonsense. We have clearly benefited from the expansion of the Euros to 24-team tournaments, compared to 16 teams between 1996 and 2012. And qualifying to the last 16 of a 24-team continental tournament is hardly a big deal, when for example we were one of 14 European teams that qualified for the 1998 World Cup, and qualified for a 16-teams Euros in 1996, as well as an 8-team Euros in 1992.
interesting to look at our FIFA ranking over the last 30 years. Clarke has brought us to our first tournaments since 1998, but I reckon it's clear that our best team and best performing manager in that time was under Smith and McLeish from 2006 to 2009 when we went toe-to-toe with 2 World Cup finalists and a quarter-finalist in the 2008 qualifying campaign. Since then it's been Strachan who actually gave us our best rankings even though the talent pool was relatively thin. In the last 5 years Clarke has moved us back up again which is why I think he's generally been a positive influence, at least until this tournament.
interesting to look at our FIFA ranking over the last 30 years. Clarke has brought us to our first tournaments since 1998, but I reckon it's clear that our best team and best performing manager in that time was under Smith and McLeish from 2006 to 2009 when we went toe-to-toe with 2 World Cup finalists and a quarter-finalist in the 2008 qualifying campaign. Since then it's been Strachan who actually gave us our best rankings even though the talent pool was relatively thin. In the last 5 years Clarke has moved us back up again which is why I think he's generally been a positive influence, at least until this tournament.
0.22xg in the game, defensive approach works in qualifying but not in the tournament? For better teams.
To do anything they need better players which has to start at grass roots coaching.
To do anything they need better players which has to start at grass roots coaching.
Yup but I've said it before, that isn't coming. Needs to come from the SFA and it won't. In another post I mentioned you never see kids just kicking a ball around anymore anywhere up here, loads of places don't allow it. And then it is a fortune to rent pitches for an hour or send kids to a team to play etc. So while the coaching might actually be decent, the fundamental issue is accessibility for a lot of young kids. There is no way we can't create a decent team even to a standard of say Slovenia, Slovakia, Serbia, Poland and so on. There needs to be the desire to do so but it won't change any time soon unfortunately.
How's it better than Serbia?
Not a chance, they've got two proper strikers. On that alone Serbia are a more threatening side.
Yeah that was the weirdest thing, McTom is best picking up loose balls in the box, heading in crosses, long range shots, he could be waiting on the edge of the box for a knockdown even. Your best scorer should be in and around the box on set pieces.
Yeah Serbia is better.
Scotland squad is better/similar to Albania, Georgia, Slovakia and Romania. All those have had more of a go. No chance Scotland would've attacked Italy and Croatia the way Albania have given what we saw in their three games.
Absolutely. Clueless from the manager.
An overall 0.95 xg for the 3 games, averaging 0.31 per game. That's piss poor really and reflects an overly negative set-up. It's more than a quality issue, because in the last year we created a hell of a lot more against:
Holland v Scotland - 1.42 v 1.42
France v Scotland - 1.77 v 1.00
Spain v Scotland - 2.16 v 1.06
Scotland v Spain - 0.88 v 0.79
And then we go from that to:
Germany v Scotland - 2.15 v 0.02
Man, I honestly despair. I’m still shell shocked over last night’s loss. Just another example of how painful it is to be a Scotland fan.
I find it strange how thousands upon thousands of Scotland fans can turn up to Germany for this tournament to support the national team. Yet their grounds at club level remain with thousands upon thousands of empty seats week in week out.
Pretty simple. People are more passionate about their country and their clubs. Some people might not even support a club. I didn’t have a Scottish club until two years ago.
That doesn’t seem to be the norm though, in fact I’d call it very rare and ultimately if they want to see the national team improve they need to go and start supporting their clubs.
https://x.com/WhoScored/status/1804987962373149045 I think this sums it all up.
Scottish football clubs are the best supported per head of population in Europe (along with Albania).
Question for our Scottish posters. Would you take Moyes as a replacement for Clarke?
I've not seen any serious links, just curious about what people's thoughts would be.
I've not seen any serious links, just curious about what people's thoughts would be.
Are they though? Or is it just Rangers and Celtic having high attendances with fans flocking from Ireland, Northern Ireland etc to come and watch them. Don’t think it’s a particularly smart statistic to use when you also consider large portions of Rangers and Celtic match going fans don’t even support the Scotland national football team
Clubs like Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibernian I regularly see playing in grounds that aren’t full up despite coming from large cities and occupying relatively small grounds. These clubs also seem to take poor away followings outside of the derbies.
The Scottish FA couldn't afford him.
Can't speak for other clubs but I attend Hearts games both home and away and we're just about full every week. On the road we usually take several thousand.
Obviously not OF level of support but respectable numbers i'd say.
Serbia has on their squad players who won the under 20 WC in 2015, one thing is saying they usually don't build strong collectives, another thing is to say they don't produce quality players over the years.
That and probably the Euros being enlarged to 24 teams compared with previous managers, without taking the credit of actually qualifying for 2 Euros in a row, next WC it will be 16 UEFA teams, not an easy task.I don’t think Clarke will go. The Scottish FA president and chief executive were both on record over the weekend talking about how wonderful a job he’s doing. They were both clearly giving the vibe of ‘just happy to be here’. The two narratives jumping out have been (a) how great it is to qualify for a major tournament, and (b) how close he is to making history and qualifying from a group stage for the first time. To me, both narratives are basically nonsense. We have clearly benefited from the expansion of the Euros to 24-team tournaments, compared to 16 teams between 1996 and 2012. And qualifying to the last 16 of a 24-team continental tournament is hardly a big deal, when for example we were one of 14 European teams that qualified for the 1998 World Cup, and qualified for a 16-teams Euros in 1996, as well as an 8-team Euros in 1992.
interesting to look at our FIFA ranking over the last 30 years. Clarke has brought us to our first tournaments since 1998, but I reckon it's clear that our best team and best performing manager in that time was under Smith and McLeish from 2006 to 2009 when we went toe-to-toe with 2 World Cup finalists and a quarter-finalist in the 2008 qualifying campaign. Since then it's been Strachan who actually gave us our best rankings even though the talent pool was relatively thin. In the last 5 years Clarke has moved us back up again which is why I think he's generally been a positive influence, at least until this tournament.
Cheer up lads…
Granted Hearts fill up significantly more than Aberdeen/Hibs/Motherwell etc. I went to Hearts Aberdeen in January and there was still a plethora of empty seats though. I usually watch cinch highlights and it’s clear Hearts definitely do not usually take several thousands away. Only to Hibs and probably st mirren because it’s close. Though I acknowledge there’s a dispute with the old firm clubs over away allocations.
But then other aways…
https://www.espn.co.uk/football/match/_/gameId/701935/heart-of-midlothian-kilmarnock
Attendance for Kilmarnock vs Hearts in April in total showing as 6,667 including home and away.
I was at that match in April, I think we had at least a couple of thousand fans there. But I take your point, I've probably overestimated our away support.