*** Scotland Euro 2020 (2021) Thread ( merged) ***

[Nookie Bear]

52 minutes ago, Nelly Terraces said:

 

 

I live less than 5 minutes from Meggetland & 10 from Harrison Park. Regularly watch kids/youth games there & it's honestly totally depressing. There doesn't seem to be any change in coaching or the way the game is played since I was a kid in the 70s/80s. It's all hoof it up the park 'getting stuck in' and coaches/parents shouting at the kids from the sidelines - why do they need to shout at youngsters ffs, it's not helping them in any way & there's no emphasis on technical ability whatsoever.  

 

One of the best things that could happen to Scottish football would be to ban parents from watching kids games. 
 

These kids will be watching top level football on the TV  every day and want to play like their heroes, not just good it like their dad did when he played for an amateur team in the 1970s
 

Also, I read about one major club (maybe even Barca) who regularly let the kids play without any intervention, even from the coaches, because it encourages the kids to think for themselves. Micromanaging kids at any sport is always going to fail. 
 

 

[OldGorgie]

8 hours ago, The Mighty Thor said:

What have we got? Clarke - straight off the Largs conveyor belt implementing the doctrine of Roxburgh & Brown. John Carver - who has done....errr...**** all. 

 

We have a nucleus of young players who should be playing for Scotland for years to come but we have a coaching infrastructure who would rather give a 36 year old a last run out. That's what needs to change. It's what's needed to change after every tournament failure in my lifetime.

Good post Highlighting the key problem- The SFA and its archaic infrastructure. Long past it’s sell by date and with oafs like Petrie in charge it’s hardly like to change.

[The Treasurer]

In answer to all the replies to my earlier post, yes we were entitled to celebrate a good and, let's be honest, unexpected result, but the fans and media were reacting like it was job done because we hadn't been hammered by an average England team. It gave us a chance to stay in the competition which we ultimately blew 

[JimmyCant]

11 minutes ago, Nookie Bear said:

One of the best things that could happen to Scottish football would be to ban parents from watching kids games. 
 

These kids will be watching top level football on the TV  every day and want to play like their heroes, not just good it like their dad did when he played for an amateur team in the 1970s
 

Also, I read about one major club (maybe even Barca) who regularly let the kids play without any intervention, even from the coaches, because it encourages the kids to think for themselves. Micromanaging kids at any sport is always going to fail. 
 

 

I had my laddie at Tynecastle BC a few years back. A well respected former Player took the coaching. The coaching itself was brilliant IMO. All about touch, pass and move, looking up, keeping the ball. All the good modern stuff we should be teaching. Then when you watched a game the whole ethos was chucked out the window. It was back to front as quickly as possible. The bigger lads who were never going to make it, dominated the games and were often picked ahead of the more slight but more talented boys. It was all about winning.

 

My laddie was being watched by Celtic and Aberdeen as a 12/13 year old. By the time he was 15 he was so pissed off by how football was being played and the whole culture at that level he just packed it in. 

[Nelly Terraces]

37 minutes ago, Pasquale for King said:

It’s the same rules as in England, hence Mount and Chilwell isolating. Just to save cash I think. 

Yeah mate, but as far as I can see the whole Scots Govt approach has been very negative,I mean the whole thing about the fan park with getting the fun police in the shape of Humza Yousaf & Jason Leitch down there the day it opened to reinforce the message about not doing this, that the other was indicative of it to me. Anyway,all done now & UEFA aren't going to look favourably on Scotland for future events, we can be assured of that.

11 minutes ago, Nookie Bear said:

One of the best things that could happen to Scottish football would be to ban parents from watching kids games. 
 

These kids will be watching top level football on the TV  every day and want to play like their heroes, not just good it like their dad did when he played for an amateur team in the 1970s
 

Also, I read about one major club (maybe even Barca) who regularly let the kids play without any intervention, even from the coaches, because it encourages the kids to think for themselves. Micromanaging kids at any sport is always going to fail. 
 

 

I think they should be able to watch. But just keep their traps shut while doing so. The coaches are just as bad. I know it's a cliche, but i think you're right, there's more than a hint of living their own teenage football dreams through young kids. It's just sad & pathetic. Wouldn't mind so much if what they were teaching them was how to keep the ball on the deck & be able to pass & move but alot of what I see is 'getting it up to the big man (or Boy!)' style stuff.  

[Thomaso]

The Scotland players do not get the concept of ‘pass and move’…..with them it was ‘pass and stand still’! 🤷‍♂️

[Pasquale for King]

41 minutes ago, gregzy2k7 said:

He would have taken one of those chances against england for sure imo, we need more players like griffiths up front, not enough quality in the final 3rd for me.

Definitely. 

[Pasquale for King]

11 minutes ago, Nelly Terraces said:

Yeah mate, but as far as I can see the whole Scots Govt approach has been very negative,I mean the whole thing about the fan park with getting the fun police in the shape of Humza Yousaf & Jason Leitch down there the day it opened to reinforce the message about not doing this, that the other was indicative of it to me. Anyway,all done now & UEFA aren't going to look favourably on Scotland for future events, we can be assured of that.

I think they should be able to watch. But just keep their traps shut while doing so. The coaches are just as bad. I know it's a cliche, but i think you're right, there's more than a hint of living their own teenage football dreams through young kids. It's just sad & pathetic. Wouldn't mind so much if what they were teaching them was how to keep the ball on the deck & be able to pass & move but alot of what I see is 'getting it up to the big man (or Boy!)' style stuff.  

From the videos I’ve seen their advice didn’t make much difference. As it was mentioned earlier on the low crowd at Hampden for the Croatia v Czechs wouldn't have helped either. They will never get another chance to play two home games in a tournament, and they ****ed it. 
In the grand scheme of things I’m happy enough with what the SG did, there’s more important things than allowing unvaccinated pissed up youngsters to sit outside and watch that shit. 

[Pasquale for King]

42 minutes ago, Nookie Bear said:

One of the best things that could happen to Scottish football would be to ban parents from watching kids games. 
 

These kids will be watching top level football on the TV  every day and want to play like their heroes, not just good it like their dad did when he played for an amateur team in the 1970s
 

Also, I read about one major club (maybe even Barca) who regularly let the kids play without any intervention, even from the coaches, because it encourages the kids to think for themselves. Micromanaging kids at any sport is always going to fail. 
 

 

Spot on. 

[Spitonastranger]

1 hour ago, Morgan said:

You’d know all about worthless opinions, going by this one.

 

 

You started it all with your opinion 😃😊🙃

[Morgan]

4 minutes ago, Spitonastranger said:

You started it all with your opinion 😃😊🙃

Which, of course, I am perfectly entitled to do so.

[stirlo]

The Croats had done their homework on the key to beating Scotland: pressure on the Scotland defenders, they pass it back to Marshall, long punt up the park, possession back with the Croats. Easy. 

 

Souness was spot on with his analysis last night. How the manager didn't change things at half time is genuinely perplexing. It may have been 1-1 but for much of the first half we couldn't get near the ball. Unsurprisingly, with no change of tactics, that pattern continued into the second half.

[henryheart]

1 hour ago, Nookie Bear said:

One of the best things that could happen to Scottish football would be to ban parents from watching kids games. 
 

These kids will be watching top level football on the TV  every day and want to play like their heroes, not just good it like their dad did when he played for an amateur team in the 1970s
 

Also, I read about one major club (maybe even Barca) who regularly let the kids play without any intervention, even from the coaches, because it encourages the kids to think for themselves. Micromanaging kids at any sport is always going to fail. 
 

 

 

I agree. When I played school football in the late 60's to mid 70's it was very, very rare for parents to attend. Other than being told what position we were playing, which never really changed, we were never told what to do - we just got on with it and sorted it out amongst ourselves. Things have been going belly up for well over 30 years though. I remember playing regularly in the 90's at the same time as a boys club was training, and I could see what was going on. These were young boys, primary school age, and all they did was run - short sprints, longer stamina exercises. For Pete's sake - at that age I was fit as a fiddle and could run all day, as could everyone else. Fitness training with kids is just a waste of time - give them the ball! 

[Gizmo]

1 hour ago, Martin_T said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Clarke

 

Clarke's managerial record, the impressive spell at Killie aside, he had a losing record at West Brom and Reading and has only won 9 of 24 games as Scotland manager.

 

I'm probably in a small minority, but I don't rate him, I think he sets out to draw each game and plays dull and pragmatic football.

It felt like he was continuing his Killie form with us, but seems I'm in a minority (I am annoyed we didn't at least try to change things against Croatia - felt like we went out with a bit of whimper in the end - it was obvious they had targeted our game for 3 points to get them through from the start of the group).

Who could we get in, though? I'd love a top manager with the arrogance to demand the best from our EPL players, but the SFA want to pay peanuts.    

[vegas-voss]

4 hours ago, Pasquale for King said:

I think they will struggle in the next few games and he will be gone. 

I think Clarke will get plenty leeway.Been far worse than him bumbled along.Honestlty think Clarke does his best with what he has got , yes there is the odd managerial mistake but we are essentially the Killie of international football and I don't see how anybody who saw Killie under Clarke thought Scotland would be any different.

[Pasquale for King]

30 minutes ago, vegas-voss said:

I think Clarke will get plenty leeway.Been far worse than him bumbled along.Honestlty think Clarke does his best with what he has got , yes there is the odd managerial mistake but we are essentially the Killie of international football and I don't see how anybody who saw Killie under Clarke thought Scotland would be any different.

Personally I was hoping with better players he might play better football but he’s a average manager and a dinosaur,Killie tactics clearly don’t work at this level. 
If they get beaten off Denmark and Austria and can’t qualify let’s see how much leeway he gets from the weegie press who seem to dictate whether a manager gets sacked. 
 

[CJGJ]

After all that 3 points might have been enough

 

There will be an element of frustration but just not good enough overall.

 

Hope abounds for the future as there are promising signs but we need to kick start a World Cup qualifying campaign

 

Draws with Israel and Austria mean a couple of wins would be important and of course fixtures against Denmark home and away as well as Austria away would seem to indicate we'll need a result against the odds along the way to make the top 2 in the group

Wins against the Faroes, Moldova and Israel (home) are simply put 100% required to give us a realistic chance

September 2021 will be a key month with fixtures against Denmark away 1/9, Moldova home 4/9 and Austria away 7/9.

 

Remember: in the UEFA region only the top team from each of the 10 groups qualify automatically for the World Cup, with three teams also qualifying via the playoffs if they finish as group runners up or as one of the two best teams in the Nations League who didn’t make it into the top two of their group.

Qualifying will begin in March 2021 and run until March 2022.

Edited June 23, 2021 by CJGJ

[CJGJ]

World Cup qualifying initially remains largely the same, with ten group winners advancing directly to the finals in Qatar. The format of the play-offs has evolved, though, and will now consist of two knockout rounds from which three teams qualify. It will involve the ten group runners-up plus the best two UEFA Nations League group winners (based on their overall UEFA Nations League rankings) who did not directly qualify or reach the play-offs.

[The Treasurer]

22 minutes ago, CJGJ said:

World Cup qualifying initially remains largely the same, with ten group winners advancing directly to the finals in Qatar. The format of the play-offs has evolved, though, and will now consist of two knockout rounds from which three teams qualify. It will involve the ten group runners-up plus the best two UEFA Nations League group winners (based on their overall UEFA Nations League rankings) who did not directly qualify or reach the play-offs.

Have we not already closed that back door by f'ing about with team selection in the early stages of the Nations league games 

[Pans Jambo]

4 hours ago, Martin_T said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Clarke

 

Clarke's managerial record, the impressive spell at Killie aside, he had a losing record at West Brom and Reading and has only won 9 of 24 games as Scotland manager.

 

I'm probably in a small minority, but I don't rate him, I think he sets out to draw each game and plays dull and pragmatic football.

This. Only takes teams 10 minutes to sus us out in a game then we are done. 

[jack D and coke]

11 hours ago, Japan Jambo said:

 

I do think we need to reflect but putting another manager up against the wall with a blindfold won't solve anything. We need a bit of introspection with regard to our mentality; all I hear today is proud, proud, proud - why? what of? we struggled to get there, stood up for one game and squandered two games with home advantage. We have a real talent for over-celebrating minor victories and papering over losses, the 'unlucky' chat really boiled my piss.

This. I loathe that “proud” when really we’ve been extremely poor barring the game we all kind of knew we’d turn up. 
It’s easy to look back and say Clarke should’ve done this or that but there’s such a nagging feeling he’s messed this up. 
Strange selections and poor tactics. 
 

[jack D and coke]

2 hours ago, vegas-voss said:

I think Clarke will get plenty leeway.Been far worse than him bumbled along.Honestlty think Clarke does his best with what he has got , yes there is the odd managerial mistake but we are essentially the Killie of international football and I don't see how anybody who saw Killie under Clarke thought Scotland would be any different.

There was some tactical naivety though no? It was clear they singled out our right hand side and O’Donnell and we subdued McTominay to compensate. For Stephen O’Donnell?? Why not be bold and use Paterson and maybe Forrest to give the right hand side some pace? Paterson looked better in that ten minutes that O’Donnell did in nearly 3 games. 
The game kept breaking down at Dykes especially second half and he withdrew Adams?! The midfield needed some extra energy why not Turnbull second half and where the hell did McKenna come from? He started the tournament with Hendry and Cooper who then never played again🤷🏽‍♂️
I was fairly pleased when Clarke got the gig but he’s cost us here imo. 
Hugely frustrating stuff. 

Edited June 23, 2021 by jack D and coke

[S Form]

1 hour ago, CJGJ said:

After all that 3 points might have been enough

 

There will be an element of frustration but just not good enough overall.

 

Hope abounds for the future as there are promising signs but we need to kick start a World Cup qualifying campaign

 

Draws with Israel and Austria mean a couple of wins would be important and of course fixtures against Denmark home and away as well as Austria away would seem to indicate we'll need a result against the odds along the way to make the top 2 in the group

Wins against the Faroes, Moldova and Israel (home) are simply put 100% required to give us a realistic chance

September 2021 will be a key month with fixtures against Denmark away 1/9, Moldova home 4/9 and Austria away 7/9.

 

Remember: in the UEFA region only the top team from each of the 10 groups qualify automatically for the World Cup, with three teams also qualifying via the playoffs if they finish as group runners up or as one of the two best teams in the Nations League who didn’t make it into the top two of their group.

Qualifying will begin in March 2021 and run until March 2022.

There is not a hope in hell of us qualifying for the World Cup. We will be beaten in both Denmark and Austria and that will be it done and dusted.

[jambopilms]

It's probably been mentioned but Souness said we were like a team from the past, hoof up to the big man and win second balls. We are the only team in the tournament to do it.

Edited June 23, 2021 by jambopilms

[Kiwidoug]

There's no doubting Clarke's passion.  And he was particularly unlucky to lose Gilmour but that's football.

 

I just suspect the pool of talent he has to choose from isn't good enough to compete at the top level.

[Japan Jambo]

11 minutes ago, Kiwidoug said:

There's no doubting Clarke's passion.  And he was particularly unlucky to lose Gilmour but that's football.

 

I just suspect the pool of talent he has to choose from isn't good enough to compete at the top level.

 

Worth noting though that Gilmour didn't start the first game, if it hadn't been such a car crash would he have got a shout for the England game? Not so sure myself.

[jack D and coke]

11 minutes ago, Kiwidoug said:

There's no doubting Clarke's passion.  And he was particularly unlucky to lose Gilmour but that's football.

 

I just suspect the pool of talent he has to choose from isn't good enough to compete at the top level.

We lack some real quality, a Bale or something. He won the game with Turkey with the pass to Ramsay and that run along the touchline. 
I still feel Clarke could’ve left sentiment behind and threw some caution to the wind. I don’t think most people would’ve criticised him if he’d went with Paterson, Turnbull and Gilmour etc. Personally I’d have welcomed it. 
He also made some weird decisions, starting with Hendry/Cooper then not playing them again. 
Wales got to the semis the last time with that eejit Chris Coleman ffs

[jambo_74]

8 minutes ago, jambopilms said:

It's probably been mentioned but Souness said we were like a team from the past, good up to the big man and win second balls. We are the only team in the tournament to do it.

Noticed that comment by Souness, couldn't agree more. The notion that we could somehow bypass the Croatian midfield and penetrate the defence with long ball football is quite frankly absurd. Why would we, having played reasonably good football against both the Czech Republic and England revert to such an archaic tactical template. We looked fairly comfortable playing out and hitting the left wing in both of those matches, yet we barely got either Robertson or Tierney beyond the midfield in the match against the Croats.

 

Scottish football needs to be bulldozered and rebuilt from the ground up. Everything about us is so 20th century, from the stadium which is falling apart and represents us quite well really, right through to the standards set at club level across the country.

 

I remember Henry McLeish being invited to review the game and offer new approaches which would hopefully modernise and strengthen our teams both domestically and on the international stage. The report when completed either went into a drawer somewhere or straight into the waste paper bin. 

 

If we want to change it, we need to address the coaching deficiencies at all levels of the game. Look at the best teams in the world and adopt their approaches, from technical skills through to eating habits. It all needs to be changed, all of it, or we can start counting the days, all 8395 of them until we reach another World Cup or European Championships.

[benny]

Started watching a youth game primary level last week.

All the so called coach did was shout keep your shape in the 10 mins i watched.

Left shaking my head.

[Japan Jambo]

10 minutes ago, jambo_74 said:

Noticed that comment by Souness, couldn't agree more. The notion that we could somehow bypass the Croatian midfield and penetrate the defence with long ball football is quite frankly absurd. Why would we, having played reasonably good football against both the Czech Republic and England revert to such an archaic tactical template. We looked fairly comfortable playing out and hitting the left wing in both of those matches, yet we barely got either Robertson or Tierney beyond the midfield in the match against the Croats.

 

Scottish football needs to be bulldozered and rebuilt from the ground up. Everything about us is so 20th century, from the stadium which is falling apart and represents us quite well really, right through to the standards set at club level across the country.

 

I remember Henry McLeish being invited to review the game and offer new approaches which would hopefully modernise and strengthen our teams both domestically and on the international stage. The report when completed either went into a drawer somewhere or straight into the waste paper bin. 

 

If we want to change it, we need to address the coaching deficiencies at all levels of the game. Look at the best teams in the world and adopt their approaches, from technical skills through to eating habits. It all needs to be changed, all of it, or we can start counting the days, all 8395 of them until we reach another World Cup or European Championships.

 

You only have to watch what happens when a coach from out with Scotland lands - hounded by press and punditry before a ball is kicked. 

[jack D and coke]

7 minutes ago, benny said:

Started watching a youth game primary level last week.

All the so called coach did was shout keep your shape in the 10 mins i watched.

Left shaking my head.

It’s hard to dig out people that give up their time but our coaching is chronic. 
It needs huge investment as kids don’t really play street football or even as much as I did in the 80’s. Something we just don’t have the resources to do. 
The big 4 countries in Europe are pulling away from the rest. It’s money. 

[jack D and coke]

Just now, Japan Jambo said:

 

You only have to watch what happens when a coach from out with Scotland lands - hounded by press and punditry before a ball is kicked. 

Not if he lands at either of the uglies. That’s allowed. 

[Diadora Van Basten]

We have to be braver on the ball. Croatia complete 30 passes in a move that ends with a goal kick. We take the goal kick and give it straight back to them.

 

Our formation is designed to allow Robertson and Tiernay to play in the same team but without the ball there is no point.

 

Also seems to be a crazy amount of people coming back from London with COVID.

 

[Japan Jambo]

4 minutes ago, jack D and coke said:

Not if he lands at either of the uglies. That’s allowed. 

 

Lot of gnashing of teeth initially but they did get with the program when he was anointed. Guess that's what the threat of an access bar does for you!! Bet he gets pilloried like Le Guen, Stendel and Alessio if he doesn't get a fast start.

[sadj]

1 minute ago, Diadora Van Basten said:

We have to be braver on the ball. Croatia complete 30 passes in a move that ends with a goal kick. We take the goal kick and give it straight back to them.

 

Our formation is designed to allow Robertson and Tiernay to play in the same team but without the ball there is no point.

 

Also seems to be a crazy amount of people coming back from London with COVID.

 

Clarke is a very pragmatic negative manager defence first and try to get a goal , very similar to Levein imo. Thing is when he lets them play they play well. He needs to get rid of this loyalty pish though. There was players playing who really shouldn’t have. Tierney was poor last night too , blocked off Robertson two or three times but our whole set up seems to be to to and help them both get picked

[Japan Jambo]

5 minutes ago, Diadora Van Basten said:

We have to be braver on the ball. Croatia complete 30 passes in a move that ends with a goal kick. We take the goal kick and give it straight back to them.

 

Our formation is designed to allow Robertson and Tiernay to play in the same team but without the ball there is no point.

 

Also seems to be a crazy amount of people coming back from London with COVID.

 

 

Rampant around the schools down here. Pretty low vaccination rates too. Think the tartan army were having social distancing issues already though mind.

Edited June 23, 2021 by Japan Jambo

[Diadora Van Basten]

5 hours ago, Nookie Bear said:

One of the best things that could happen to Scottish football would be to ban parents from watching kids games. 

 

 

My sons team have been sectioning off so both teams parents are away from players, coaches and the other teams parents. We basically stand a bit back from the corner flag and I have to say I think it works well.

[Rudy T]

We lack quality in some key areas;

 

Right wing back, maybe Patterson can solve that? Team looked unbalanced with O’Donnell getting a nose bleed every time he crossed the half way line.

 

Central defence, Tierney and McTominay are good enough but Hanley/Cooper/McKenna just aren’t at their level and that’s a key position to let those two get forward

 

Forwards, Dykes is terrible in terms of tournament quality, Adams is ok but I doubt he’d be first pick in any other team at the competition.

 

Clarke got things wrong but ultimately we were too weak in key areas to cope with the real quality we came up against. These teams have players to exploit those weaknesses. 
 

The positives are we do have the core of a good team (certainly one that can compete at group level) if we can find a goal scorer it would make a huge difference. The lad Paterson might solve right wing back, Turnbull is a player who could develop into a game changer and I think Jack Hendry might also develop into a top class player if he stays away from Celtic.

[jambo_74]

7 minutes ago, Japan Jambo said:

 

You only have to watch what happens when a coach from out with Scotland lands - hounded by press and punditry before a ball is kicked. 

I know, it' so parochial and insular. Learn from the best, stop thinking we have the historic right to ignore current trends. I don't know where that attitude comes from, I certainly don't agree with it, but it's undoubtedly prevalent in Scottish football.

[Diadora Van Basten]

I think Clarke had the option of going 4-2-3-1 against the Czech Republic and Croatia which would have matched their formation and never took it. 
 

I think once Tiernay was not available v Czech Republic we should have changed to 4-2-3-1 as most of the players are more comfortable in this position.

 

Against Croatia once it became clear that they were dominating midfield we should have changed to 4-2-3-1 as England played this against them and Croatia struggled.

[Nookie Bear]

3 minutes ago, Diadora Van Basten said:

My sons team have been sectioning off so both teams parents are away from players, coaches and the other teams parents. We basically stand a bit back from the corner flag and I have to say I think it works well.

That’s interesting that it’s recognised as an issue and action taken. 
 

[jack D and coke]

11 minutes ago, Rudy T said:

We lack quality in some key areas;

 

Right wing back, maybe Patterson can solve that? Team looked unbalanced with O’Donnell getting a nose bleed every time he crossed the half way line.

 

Central defence, Tierney and McTominay are good enough but Hanley/Cooper/McKenna just aren’t at their level and that’s a key position to let those two get forward

 

Forwards, Dykes is terrible in terms of tournament quality, Adams is ok but I doubt he’d be first pick in any other team at the competition.

 

Clarke got things wrong but ultimately we were too weak in key areas to cope with the real quality we came up against. These teams have players to exploit those weaknesses. 
 

The positives are we do have the core of a good team (certainly one that can compete at group level) if we can find a goal scorer it would make a huge difference. The lad Paterson might solve right wing back, Turnbull is a player who could develop into a game changer and I think Jack Hendry might also develop into a top class player if he stays away from Celtic.

Summed up pretty well. Don’t disagree with any of that. 

[jack D and coke]

This best 3rd place addition has been superb. Great games tonight👌🏼

[Pasquale for King]

Wales to beat England in the semis 😆

[Ex member of the SaS]

10 hours ago, Awbdy Oot said:

 

We had 3 corners in the first 5 minutes in the game I watched.

Corners win games in your world?

[Fozzyonthefence]

50 minutes ago, Rudy T said:

We lack quality in some key areas;

 

Right wing back, maybe Patterson can solve that? Team looked unbalanced with O’Donnell getting a nose bleed every time he crossed the half way line.

 

Central defence, Tierney and McTominay are good enough but Hanley/Cooper/McKenna just aren’t at their level and that’s a key position to let those two get forward

 

Forwards, Dykes is terrible in terms of tournament quality, Adams is ok but I doubt he’d be first pick in any other team at the competition.

 

Clarke got things wrong but ultimately we were too weak in key areas to cope with the real quality we came up against. These teams have players to exploit those weaknesses. 
 

The positives are we do have the core of a good team (certainly one that can compete at group level) if we can find a goal scorer it would make a huge difference. The lad Paterson might solve right wing back, Turnbull is a player who could develop into a game changer and I think Jack Hendry might also develop into a top class player if he stays away from Celtic.

I agree with all of that except no way is McTominay good enough at centre back!  Yet again cost us a goal playing there (first Croatia goal was his fault and a proper centre back would have prevented that), continually got ripped with balls between him and Hanley resulting in 3 one on ones with Marshall, also had a brain fart early on against England when Sterling picked his pocket and should have led to a goal and been at fault for at least one other goal I can remember in earlier games.

 

He’s absolutely gash at centre back, just play him in his best position where he plays week in week out for one of the biggest clubs in the world  ffs.  Can’t believe Clark didn’t change things at half time and push McTominay into midfield where we were being overrun.

[kingantti1874]

England or Germany will have a bye to the final . That side of the draw isn’t that strong 

[Fozzyonthefence]

2 minutes ago, kingantti1874 said:

England or Germany will have a bye to the final . That side of the draw isn’t that strong 

Netherlands will give either of them a good game 

[Morgan]

8 minutes ago, kingantti1874 said:

England or Germany will have a bye to the final . That side of the draw isn’t that strong 

England will win, then lose to Holland, I reckon.

[Pasquale for King]

30 minutes ago, Fozzyonthefence said:

I agree with all of that except no way is McTominay good enough at centre back!  Yet again cost us a goal playing there (first Croatia goal was his fault and a proper centre back would have prevented that), continually got ripped with balls between him and Hanley resulting in 3 one on ones with Marshall, also had a brain fart early on against England when Sterling picked his pocket and should have led to a goal and been at fault for at least one other goal I can remember in earlier games.

 

He’s absolutely gash at centre back, just play him in his best position where he plays week in week out for one of the biggest clubs in the world  ffs.  Can’t believe Clark didn’t change things at half time and push McTominay into midfield where we were being overrun.

Spot on, you could see a few times he’s played there before that he’s no defender.