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Match Thread


ParisInAKilt

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I could see why Fletcher didn't play. We didn't need two holding midfielders.

Also don't see Morrison as a creative midfielder. More of a box to box type midfielder.

Any more displays like today and Broonie will be the one of the three to drop out. Awful today in context if the game. Seemed lacking in energy. Could be that end of season form will dictate who plays in midfield in Dublin.

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Brown was poor, happy for fletch getting a hattrick and will hopefully settle him for the next few goals, he actually had a very good game the last 30 mins.

Banan came on and caused lots of problems and was an absolute class act.

Wasn't a pretty game, pulled a pure riddy when they scored and thought we would make it especially hard for ourselves but at the end of the day it's 3 points and a good win. Can't ask for anything more than that.

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to be fair, you don't come across teams like gibraltar very often, so new territory for strachan.

games against teams like these will prove nothing really, for anyone playing them, and they will benefit no-one. got the points, scraped a few goals and thats it really.

onwards to dublin (where i think we need to win - and can).

That's very true and I was delighted to see his original, attacking line-up with Robertson & Hutton as 2 of 3 "defenders" although it didn't work and in fairness he changed it.

Still surprised DF didn't play.

Ritchie has been ok but still can't see how guys like GMS didn't even make the squad and others like Russell deserved a shot ahead of Ritchie too.

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Any more displays like today and Broonie will be the one of the three to drop out. Awful today in context if the game. Seemed lacking in energy. Could be that end of season form will dictate who plays in midfield in Dublin.

Brown will play in Dublin. Poor today but isolated performance I'm sure

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Any more displays like today and Broonie will be the one of the three to drop out. Awful today in context if the game. Seemed lacking in energy. Could be that end of season form will dictate who plays in midfield in Dublin.

In hindsight it just wasn't his type of match. He almost looked bored throughout and leggy. Improved a bit in the second half but overall was below par as many were. Fletcher was man of the match for me - not just because of the hat-trick and lets not forget he was unlucky not to get a fourth. Bannan made a good impression when he came on playing the pass of the match.

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In hindsight it just wasn't his type of match. He almost looked bored throughout and leggy. Improved a bit in the second half but overall was below par as many were. Fletcher was man of the match for me - not just because of the hat-trick and lets not forget he was unlucky not to get a fourth. Bannan made a good impression when he came on playing the pass of the match.

Dare I say only BB is capable of playing such a pass

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Yes all that bad stuff and we won 6-1. Doesn't that alone tell you something?

I'd agree with much of what you say in regards of performances but really did you expect anything else against a team set up to frustrate and defend?

I did actually. I expected us to dominate possession and look professional doing so. I expected us to show good first touch and passing. I expected us to show some patience trying to break them down. I expected us to be fitter and faster.

I expected all of the above. Sure, Im not going to lose sleep over it and I wouldn't have lost sleep had some of the above never materialised. As it happens, none of the above happened. Passing was sh*te. Possession was erratic and disjointed. We showed little patience. Some of our best players looked like they were chasing players at times and Scott Brown got outpaced several times over 10 yards. Three goals at least were absolute gifts from the Gibraltar defence - I won't be boasting we scored 6 goals when two goals were penalties.

Fair enough, we won. Of course Im happy. But the score isn't the most important thing. If we want to make the finals and we want to step up a level in international football, performances like today aren't good enough. At the risk of being overly negative, there's only about 4 players in that team who are first picks. Any keeper, Brown (and he f*cked up today), Darren Fletcher and Naismith. That's a serious problem IMO. It should be nearer 7/8 at least who are certain starts. We should be consolidating our starting XI and system, not raising doubts and having players play their way out of contention. We've been patting ourselves on the back about our numerous options in midfield and yet, our midfield was absolutely diabolical today.

As I said, happy we won but I feel it's a step back in terms of team/squad progression. A better team would have caused major problems today and it offered no useful preparation ahead of the next qualifier.

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At the risk of being overly negative, there's only about 4 players in that team who are first picks. Any keeper, Brown (and he f*cked up today), Darren Fletcher and Naismith. That's a serious problem IMO. It should be nearer 7/8 at least who are certain starts.

Considering Darren Fletcher isn't even a certain starter, you're already wrong.

Anya, R.Martin, Hanley, S.Fletcher, Hutton and Robertson are all first picks, as well.

Obviously we welcome competition, which we have an abundance of in midfield. Snodgrass and Mulgrew are 2 others that could end up in the first 11.

Sorry, but you area being too negative. Of course we weren't going to be at our best today, because we didn't need to. The same as Germany didn't need to.

I mean, we could have played electric, liquid football and hammered them 15-0, but, as you say, where is the benefit in that?

Fletcher got much needed goals. That's the main positive today. Lighten up and enjoy the goals

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3 points, 6 goals - job done. Apart from not keeping a clean sheet I would have happily accepted that before kick off.

The performance was absolutely pish poor though. I'm not sure any Scotland player would get pass marks (Marshall maybe) but I think Maloney deserves a special mention. He must have passed the ball to Gibraltar players more often than the entire Gibraltar team did.

Another clean sheet for Gordon Greer will keep him happy - ish?

When we go into the final game needed 3 points to qualify, the nature of this performance will be forgotten and we can confidently expect to go through in style with a 10 - 0 victory.

Highlight of the day was when the two folk almost took off out of the stadium on the runaway Vauxhall blimp. That was first class pre match entertainment. :lol:

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I'd agree re lighten up.

Were we poor individually and as a team ? Yes

Did we score 6 goals ( 2 more than word champions) ? Yes

ffs were Scotland, we don't do easy. And basing our prospects on a unique game like this is just daft. We learned nothing that would impact on future games.

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To be fair, Germany, Poland and Ireland have all played them nobody has scored more than seven. IIRC Germany only scored four. They are, however, a team that someone, somewhere down the line, will utterly destroy, scoring well into double figures against them.

Three points.

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Considering Darren Fletcher isn't even a certain starter, you're already wrong.

Anya, R.Martin, Hanley, S.Fletcher, Hutton and Robertson are all first picks, as well.

Of course, my post is just my opinion. I hope it's allowed. ;)

IMO, Darren Fletcher is a first pick, certaining until Murgrew gets back to full fitness and back to form. There's no way we're going to leave Fletcher on the bench against better teams - sure, I can see the logic on why he was left out today but it hardly worked or made a difference. Games from here on in will be far harder and we'll be reverting back to our normal system.

Fair enough, Im being somewhat harsh. But there's no excusing that performance today, even if we did score 6 goals. We cannot afford to be caught cold in any of the remaining games so players need to up their game.

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Of course, my post is just my opinion. I hope it's allowed. ;)

IMO, Darren Fletcher is a first pick, certaining until Murgrew gets back to full fitness and back to form. There's no way we're going to leave Fletcher on the bench against better teams - sure, I can see the logic on why he was left out today but it hardly worked or made a difference. Games from here on in will be far harder and we'll be reverting back to our normal system.

Fair enough, Im being somewhat harsh. But there's no excusing that performance today, even if we did score 6 goals. We cannot afford to be caught cold in any of the remaining games so players need to up their game.

I'd agree. Against all other team apart from Gib, DF is needed to hold and control midfield and defence.

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Poor performance,but as has been said,we won and that's priority number 1. At times,I didn't think they were as bad as I expected.

We never do things easy and I actually burst out laughing when they scored.

They had to score their first goal eventually and it was a nap that it was going to be against us.

But we won,so onto Dublin.

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The pivotal games are Rep next and the Poles at home. Strachan made some bizarre selections during this double header and despite two wins his pricklyness at the end suggests he knows their was more questions that answers. I would rather see Gordon restored in goal With Fletcher for Morrison and Gms/Forrest for the Bournemouth man. Also, the box to box energy of Armstrong could yet prove invaluable.

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I learnt something a long time ago - this forum is the king of knee-jerk and massive exaggeration.

Think that's football fans in general

Reading the guardians comments for the Ireland game "why did Keane start ahead of Long" is a general theme, when after their game against us it was the exact opposite.

The phrase you're only as good as your last game seems to be a common theme.

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Cant remember the last time we actually properly hammered really inferior opposition so 6-1 is more than par. Lets get things into perspective here. The best Wales team in years where nine minutes away from drawing 1-1 in Andorra last Sept.

Good all round performance last night.

Edited by EddardStark
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