Scotland Today

[Beanie]

We need a separate thread of our own I think.

Not a thread for moaning or anything, because I think just about everyone agrees we haven't much to moan about tonight(although there will always be those that will boo at the final whistle...what was all that about?)

I'll let crowie set the tone:

Originally Posted by crowie

As for Scotland, well we were lucky today. Lucky that the boy Kutzov didn't have his shooting boots on as we could have lost 4 or 5. Rather bizarrely Gordon didn't have a save to make that I can remember yet they missed about 5 great chances, just through poor finishing.

Don't know quite what went wrong, some probably expected too much and I am gutted that we lost but we lost with a bit of effort, although thats not really a consolation. We sort of lost our shape, which is the one thing that has been good about our side in the last handful of games, in the the 2nd half and resorted to lumping high balls to Lee McCulloch (poor mans Peter Crouch!) with Miller spending a fair bit of the 2nd half wide. Miller did have a couple of one on ones with the keeper, one where he blasted over, one where the keeper was out on him quick and he didn't really have it under control. Can't really have a go at him as he has done it in the last few games, he is at least getting in these positions but he is still not a striker who will take these chances every time they come along.

We were basically done by a very nippy striker and an excellent display from Hleb floating about. The pair of them gave us problems all afternoon with intelligent passes and runs. Christain Dailly looked a bit lost in the midfield holding role and should probably have picked up Hleb more to stop him doing as much damage as he did.

Going behind was the worst option and Italy away apart its the first time we have, every other time we have taken the lead. It makes it a totally different game chasing it and we don't have the game plan or players as yet to do that. That will be the next thing that Smith has to have a go at getting an answer to but he has done a good job so far.

Still, as this campaign draws to an end I have to say I am much more optimistic than when it started. If we get ahead we're not easy to break down, we still have a fair bit of confidence about the side and we have a manager who is taking us forward. Roll on the Euro 2008 qualifiers

As for the game itself and what went wrong...I think you mentioned it by saying what a good game Hleb had and Dailly's shortcomings. These games, whatever the odds, are always tight affairs that hinge on one or two key battles, and I think that's one we lost badly in the first half which made the difference.

As for the rest of the game, it was fairly even...and as much as we were a little unfortunate at times as mentioned Belarus also let us off a bit.

But onto the positives: One for me was to once again see the effort, pride, and ultimately dejection of the tartan army matched by the players on the park.

During the game you could see the desire in players like Fletch, Pressley, Dailly and Miller, even if their feet didn't quite do the business...I guess thats all we ask.

Under Berti players to a certain extent were so unhappy that playing for Scotland was almost a burden, but today they really wanted that, it just didn't go our way.

One specific positive for me was Maloney today...a direct, exciting player willing to try things, and hopefully he'll get a bit more first team football so that we can really use him. A full game v Slovenia now would be good to see.

Looking to the future, its quite positive. Weir is 35 and Wednesday will perhaps be his last game - but he's been a cracking guy for us and with Webster coming through we're not too badly off there.

The rest of the guys are of an age where for the next qualification campaign we'll have Ferguson who should still be at the top of his game, and other important players like Gordon and Fletcher who should improve a lot over the next year or two.

After the start we had, atleast we can now hold our heads high, and I hope that the positive feeling which swamped the nation over this last few weeks doesn't end with the results today, and I don't think it will. A few good friendly showings and we can go at the Euro 2008 qualifiers with real purpose, a settled team, and the backing of the best set of fans around.



(PS Resist the urge Zonks )

[slick]

Well i aint going to repeat myself but to sum a few things up, 12 months ago you were in dire straights in fact a laughing stock.

Walter turned up and from no where gave u a chance of qualifying, thank ure lucky stars he did as you's have had @ least a couple of games to get passionate about and enjoy.

If Berty would have still been @ the helm you would have been out months ago, you know urselves u had no chance of doing it but @ least Walter gave you hope and games you thought has passed you by.

In the end you nearly went to the wire which is a miracle in itself, well done Walter and the joy u brought to the Scots othrwise we'd have sour grapes on here sooner than now

Nah stick with Smithy and you'ze will be fine , i just wish we had someone similar @ Englands helm.

[zonker84]

I'm not just going to blindly critisise Beanie

Scotland have improved, that much is clear from the results against Norway and Italy. But have they improved enough to qualify for major tournaments? Let's be honest, this isn't the strongest group by any means. Norway and Slovenia are both teams who were much better a few years ago. Even Italy perhaps aren't quite the force they were a few years ago, although they're still a top team of course.

Scotland's FIFA ranking isn't great and they may well end up finishing 5th in this group as well. This is not going to help them when the qualifying draw is made for Euro 2008. You're going to get a minimum of 2 good teams in the group, possibly even 3 or 4 if the draw is unkind. Will Scotland qualify? You've got to finish in the top 2 in a group containing several good teams. Even finishing second can see you face a team like Holland in a play-off, and we all know what happened there last time.

Without knowing who they're going to get drawn against, I wouldn't even give Scotland a 10% chance of appearing at Euro 2008. They just don't look like scoring enough goals at the top level, and effort and organisation only get you so far these days. Even the weakest teams are organised these days and don't make it easy. Scotland need something extra, which they don't have and don't look like having any time soon. They need the next Dalglish or Law to appear from somewhere, but that doesn't look likely any time soon

Sorry

[crowie]

As I said in the other thread, Smith has got us playing with more confidence and organisation. However yesterdays game proved one thing at least - we don't have the players or plan to chase a game yet if we go behind.

Slick also mentioned in the other thread that he though the defence was poor. It was and thats a surprise based on the previous performances. I have always said that when we were at our lowest point we had to concentrate on stopping the other teams scoring first of all to ensure we didn't lose the game. From there the 0-0's could turn into nicked 1-0's or 2-1's here and there. Belarus, or rather two players, took our defence apart easier than anyone has done in the last 6 games and that was a disappointment. Pressley was all over the shop in the first half and Weir, lacking pace, didn't enjoy someone pressing right up on him every time he had the ball. I think its time for Webster to become one of the first choice centre halves now, not sure who should go along side him.

As Zonker said, this wasn't the hardest group about, we could have been in one with Czechs, Holland and Romania, or Denmark, Turkey, Ukraine and Greece. I wouldn't fancy our chances against any of those 7.

And it is becoming harder and harder for a country like us to qualify. The smaller nations are coming up, and in many cases passing, our level.

Look at the WC groups.

Slovakia could be in the play offs, Israel lead their group with Switzerland right in it too. Latvia and Estonia have 15 and 14pts, Poland lead Englands group, Serbia lead Spains group, Bosnia are a point behind Spain.

Again, would I fancy Scotland strongly against of those 8 sides - answer has to be no. On our day we can put in good displays such as Norway away and Italy at home but on our day we can have displays like yesterday.

There's 15 sides who could all be very difficult opponents and thats not even looking at the top seeds in the Euro 2008 draw, no doubts its going to be very hard to qualify. And if we don't we get a worse seeding for the next competition, its a vicious circle and it will take a superb achievement to get us out of it.

My one major disappointment from our group is that Norway are making the play offs. And they are pretty pish IMO. They even struggled v Moldova yesterday and I would rate Belarus and Slovenia ahead of them. Even Italy have not looked superb against us in two games.

Aye, roll on the Euro 2008 draw

[Beanie]

Sure, but its all about context.

After the mess we were in just a few months ago, we're hardly likely to have turned full circle into a group of worldbeaters are we?

But the recent progress is enough to merit atleast some optimism for the future - and with a decent manager, the backing of the fans, and the desire back with the players we at the very least have the foundations in place to improve further.

[christianu]

Scotland?



















Load of Old Bollocks

[MickeyPaul]

Our defence is far, far too slow for this level. Daid Weir is an absolute nightmare to have in your side (yes, I'm still laying into poor David ) as is Pressley at times as they are simply too slow. And I'm talking SLLLOOOOOOOW. They were so bad at times against Belarus it became almost entertaining in itself, watching their arms reach out in desperation as they tried to claw back the Belarus players. If you want to dominate a game the defence has to push up but for us it's suicidal when there is so little pace there.

And we were back doing what I thought Walter had managed to finally sort: the players were just standing there. Gaping. Looking. Watching. Waiting. FFS! Move into space and look for a pass. I haven't seen any other team on earth at any level do what the Scotland side does. They just bloody stand there and watch as a teammate runs left and right looking to make a pass. Drives me barmy that does and there must be a reason why Scotland do it more than anyone else. Even San Marino pass and move ffs.