Should Strachan be given another campaign?

[bonny78]

shall we get Vogts back?

[norsefox]

4 hours ago, bonny78 said:

the home match v Georgia we battered them.    

I've gone and looked out my username and password simply to respond to this nonsense.

'Battering' a team is not achieved by winning 1-0 with next to no shots on target and playing at the slowest possible tempo.  Should I point out that it the goal was an OG from a shot that wasn't even on target?!  We had 3 of those in the campaign actually.

We really were decidedly average.  The only time I remember us hitting a high gear was in the home match against Poland for around 20 minutes or so.  The rest of the time we dithered, no more so than in Tbilisi, which really was quite shocking in how slow, lethargic and generally uncaring the team appeared to be.

Better teams come and play us at 100mph.  When we play minnows and small teams we attempt to pass slowly around them.  

I must be missing something...

Edited May 18, 2016 by norsefox

[scotlad]

On 16/05/2016 at 0:12 PM, bossman4 said:

Think the 'clicking' thing is an interesting comment  and agree there, that and a kind draw goes a long way. We clicked in 2006, on paper we should never have done as well in that group as we did. Clicking and a kind draw is what happened to Northern Ireland this time, just clicked got a great start and got very lucky that their top seeded team completely and utterly imploded.

Don't necessarily agree that we don't have the players capable to competing, I think we do, we can compete (matches vs ROI and Poland prove that) what we don't have are the players or the mentality to take us that extra step that the two teams above seemed to have. I suppose part of me is hoping that what happened in the later stages of the last campaign maybe helps drive us one this time.

Sorry, I could have been clearer.  Yes, we have players capable of competing reasonably well against other also-ran teams but not against teams who are regularly vying for qualification - like we used to.

I haven't seen a great deal of Northern Ireland but their results suggest they have clicked in a big way.  I was channel-hopping between our game and one of their recent games, at home to Hungary.  They were a goal down and one of their players (I think it was Steven Davis) had been sent off.  Game over?  No, they hung in there and ended up forcing an equaliser in injury time.  I reckon if Scotland had been in that position Hungary would have gone on to win the game comfortably.

[Bannannan]

4 hours ago, bonny78 said:

the home match v Georgia we battered them.    

[bossman4]

12 minutes ago, scotlad said:

Sorry, I could have been clearer.  Yes, we have players capable of competing reasonably well against other also-ran teams but not against teams who are regularly vying for qualification - like we used to.

I haven't seen a great deal of Northern Ireland but their results suggest they have clicked in a big way.  I was channel-hopping between our game and one of their recent games, at home to Hungary.  They were a goal down and one of their players (I think it was Steven Davis) had been sent off.  Game over?  No, they hung in there and ended up forcing an equaliser in injury time.  I reckon if Scotland had been in that position Hungary would have gone on to win the game comfortably.

I think had we finished 4th in thay group it would be a different story for Strachan. Northern Ireland though will completly bomb after this and go back to their regular decent result here and there then loose to pot a 6 side somewhere. A number of their experienced players will retire and the ones coming through now aren't playing anywhere near the same level.

Ironically a number of them over here wanted rid of Michael O'Neill after the world cup campaign when they lost in Luxembourg, only a decent performance vs Portugal and a win v Russia in the last couple of games saved him.

[bonny78]

9 hours ago, norsefox said:

I've gone and looked out my username and password simply to respond to this nonsense.

'Battering' a team is not achieved by winning 1-0 with next to no shots on target and playing at the slowest possible tempo.  Should I point out that it the goal was an OG from a shot that wasn't even on target?!  We had 3 of those in the campaign actually.

We really were decidedly average.  The only time I remember us hitting a high gear was in the home match against Poland for around 20 minutes or so.  The rest of the time we dithered, no more so than in Tbilisi, which really was quite shocking in how slow, lethargic and generally uncaring the team appeared to be.

Better teams come and play us at 100mph.  When we play minnows and small teams we attempt to pass slowly around them.  

I must be missing something...

one way traffic v georgia at home though.

[Floreat Ultonia]

Afternoon all, NI fan in peace.

@Scotlad- thanks for the compliment, we (NI) certainly 'clicked'  in the current qualifiers. Not just as a one off but in nine games out of 10.

Four of the teams in our quali group this time (Hungary, Romania and Finland) did better in the 2014 series than everyone in your group bar the Germans. So while you can make a case that having the World Champs and an in-form Lewandowski rather than an entire Greece squad on crack made yours the most difficult, it's hardly self-evident.

It was Chris Baird that was correctly sent off against Hungary..

@Bossman- speculating how Scotland  would have done in a different group/ parallel universe is pointless. Our guys stepped up a level in game after game, yours couldn't

You're right, our record in the decades since 1986 is poor, and between 2009 and 2014 pathetic- three wins in 42 matches. So while we'll probably lose five or six retiring this summer, those guys were all around in the two previous dismal campaigns. We don't expect to win the group in 2018 qualifying.

I was one of those suggesting Mike O'Neil should walk after we were thrashed in Luxembourg, although not for that alone- couldn't beat them at home either where a particularly rubbish Laugherty got called offside 13 times

.

 

 

[Brassrubber]

After watching the cup final none of those players should be anywhere near a full international squad

[Paulo2576]

5 minutes ago, Brassrubber said:

After watching the cup final none of those players should be anywhere near a full international squad

I disagree. McGinn impresses me more and more every time I see him. Wallace and McKay didn't do much it is true but I don't think there is any doubt that Mckay has talent, pace and goalscoring ability. Surely it is what we all want to see - our prospects getting called up at a young age. Im happy he is in the squad.

[ceudmilefailte]

6 hours ago, Paulo2576 said:

I disagree. McGinn impresses me more and more every time I see him. Wallace and McKay didn't do much it is true but I don't think there is any doubt that Mckay has talent, pace and goalscoring ability. Surely it is what we all want to see - our prospects getting called up at a young age. Im happy he is in the squad.

Hope he turns out class, but so far all he has shown is that he is better than the mediocrity on the pitch along side him or up against him. As for Wallace and Mckay you really need to stand out on a stage like that

[Paulo2576]

12 minutes ago, ceudmilefailte said:

Hope he turns out class, but so far all he has shown is that he is better than the mediocrity on the pitch along side him or up against him. As for Wallace and Mckay you really need to stand out on a stage like that

you could argue Mckay produced it in the semi against celtic. No-one does it in every big game.

[ceudmilefailte]

2 minutes ago, Paulo2576 said:

you could argue Mckay produced it in the semi against celtic. No-one does it in every big game.

You could counter that argument with Celtic are mediocre.