Team v Lithuania

[McDange]

If we don't qualify and Strachan walks / gets punted - that's not the solution. That will be 20 years without a major tournament for the men's team. The problem lies much deeper than the manager. Whole SFA needs a restructure. It'll be a sickener to have Euro 2020 games at Hampden with Scotland nowhere to be seen. 

[Alan]

When people say "needs a restructure" its such an empty remark.  No detail.  Nothing positive.  A recurring theme when talking about football in Scotland.

[norsefox]

2 minutes ago, Alan said:

When people say "needs a restructure" its such an empty remark.  No detail.  Nothing positive.  A recurring theme when talking about football in Scotland.

We like discussions and papers but refuse take advice from anyone who has actually achieved something - "what the hell do the Dutch* know?"

*replace Dutch with German, Belgian, Icelandic etc as appropriate

[er yir macaroon]

17 minutes ago, norsefox said:

We like discussions and papers but refuse take advice from anyone who has actually achieved something - "what the hell do the Dutch* know?"

*replace Dutch with German, Belgian, Icelandic etc as appropriate

There's already been a highly publicised restructure. Whether it has worked won't be known for another 3 or 4 years. 

Edited September 1, 2017 by er yir macaroon

[killiefaetheferry]

All 6 Celtic players start, with Mulgrew, Berra, Phillips, Robertson, and McArthur.

[Malcolm]

8 minutes ago, killiefaetheferry said:

All 6 Celtic players start, with Mulgrew, Berra, Phillips, Robertson, and McArthur.

Oh no....  forest...  time to step up and be counted.

[DoonTheSlope]

1 hour ago, Alan said:

When people say "needs a restructure" its such an empty remark.  No detail.  Nothing positive.  A recurring theme when talking about football in Scotland.

It makes a nice change from having endless debates about grassroots in Scotland 

[er yir macaroon]

Good team. I hope the real Phillips turns up.

[slasher]

Good selection from the manager and good tactics. Other than a couple of slack moments from McArthur everyone has done very well. We can only chuck it away now.........but we are good at that!

[ErsatzThistle]

7 hours ago, norsefox said:

We like discussions and papers but refuse take advice from anyone who has actually achieved something - "what the hell do the Dutch* know?"

*replace Dutch with German, Belgian, Icelandic etc as appropriate

In Scotland we still have a very conservative outlook on football. There are still a surprising amount of people who think "we invented this bloody game, we don't need any lectures from Johnny Foreigner."

Too many youth teams packed with tall, heavy players who posses zero ball control skills and appalling personal fitness.

And then there's the traditional "win at all costs" approach, which I define as "punt it up the park - snap that wee bastards legs - stop arsing about with the ball and just blooter it". It's got to go.

We also need to promote swimming, cycling and tennis as alternatives that will supplement fitness rather than just plain old boring running and golf.

I also wonder how many people have considered this. How many kids (past and present) have been forced by peer pressure into playing football and even becoming a professional when their heart really wasn't into it ? Kids should be playing a sport because they genuinely want to and not because their dad is using them to fulfil their own faded dreams. I really do think that there have been a lot of guys forced into the game who never really wanted to in the first place.

[EddardStark]

Very pleased with that performance. Probably the best 90 mins we have had for a few years. I genuinely think we can win the next three games but its Malta first and we need a few goals. 

[bossman4]

Excellent performance, amazed at how good it was. We can defo win the 3 games if we continue to play like that.

Brown is on booking away from a suspension, does anyone else think they missed a trick him not taking a late booking last night and missing Malta rather than a Slovenia/Slovakia?

[wanderer]

Best all round performance in a number of years (it's results and performances like that what makes me willing to give Strachan another campaign).

Still a bit suspect in defence where any other night we might have been punished.

Good performance from the midfield, though felt McArthur started poor, but got better as the game went on, while Phillips started great and got less involved as the game went on.

Would have been good to see Griffiths get a goal, but he put himself about well last night and shirt is clearly his for the next few years.

If said before the campaign started that we would have picked up 4 points v Lithuania, while not perfect, it would have probably been what most people expected.

[Caledonian Craig]

12 minutes ago, wanderer said:

Best all round performance in a number of years (it's results and performances like that what makes me willing to give Strachan another campaign).

Still a bit suspect in defence where any other night we might have been punished.

Good performance from the midfield, though felt McArthur started poor, but got better as the game went on, while Phillips started great and got less involved as the game went on.

Would have been good to see Griffiths get a goal, but he put himself about well last night and shirt is clearly his for the next few years.

If said before the campaign started that we would have picked up 4 points v Lithuania, while not perfect, it would have probably been what most people expected.

I think our defence (still mighty shaky) is being protected far better as we play a pressing game further up the pitch. Especially, with quicker, younger full-backs now in the side pressing and Griffiths and Armstrong who play a pressing game. Before that we had slower full-backs such as Whittaker who never played that pressing game.

[wanderer]

46 minutes ago, Caledonian Craig said:

I think our defence (still mighty shaky) is being protected far better as we play a pressing game further up the pitch. Especially, with quicker, younger full-backs now in the side pressing and Griffiths and Armstrong who play a pressing game. Before that we had slower full-backs such as Whittaker who never played that pressing game.

Yep, when Strachan first got the job he did a q&a at Hampden, and that was the style of play he wanted to see Scotland playing, but we just simply did not have the players to do that.

Think another factor last night was the plastic pitch, as there was a lot of stray/miss-placed passes/bounce of the ball that a number of players struggled with.