Scotland V Israel/Faroes. Official double match thread.

[Mikey1874]

Just now, Montgomery Brewster said:

Faroes - 114 in fifa rankings . Israel - 80th

 

folk need to keep that in mind. As soon as we come up against the portugals Sweden’s and Swiss In the play offs we will be found out on that performance tonight 

 

Italy and Spain could be in play offs. 

[Jambo 4 Ever]

26 minutes ago, milky_26 said:

get callum paterson in the squad

This

[John Findlay]

4 minutes ago, Montgomery Brewster said:

Faroes - 114 in fifa rankings . Israel - 80th

 

folk need to keep that in mind. As soon as we come up against the portugals Sweden’s and Swiss In the play offs we will be found out on that performance tonight 

I have and never will pay attention to these rankings, to me personally they mean F'all.

[Jeff]

Chris Kane or Tony Watt

[Bob Loblaw]

5 minutes ago, Montgomery Brewster said:

Faroes - 114 in fifa rankings . Israel - 80th

 

folk need to keep that in mind. As soon as we come up against the portugals Sweden’s and Swiss In the play offs we will be found out on that performance tonight 

What about away performances against Austria, England and Serbia?

 

We struggle to break teams down at times, but we have a game plan that can get us results against better teams as well.

 

It's been a long time since we finished runners up in a WC qualifying group, if we do it, it's a good achievement that we should be happy with. Especially with it following up qualification for the Euros. Clarke has improved us a hell of a lot since he took over, we are going in the right direction. 

[Jambo 4 Ever]

1 minute ago, Jeff said:

Chris Kane or Tony Watt

Paterson is better 

[Fraggle]

15 minutes ago, ri Alban said:

I does. I think he means if they win, and we win.

 

We've Denmark at a full Hampden. We'll win that.

We're not beating the Danes the way they are playing just now, and on a Monday night too. To stand any chance it needed to be a Saturday as it makes a huge difference to the crowd and atmosphere. 

[ri Alban]

Just now, Fraggle said:

We're not beating the Danes the way they are playing just now, and on a Monday night too. To stand any chance it needed to be a Saturday as it makes a huge difference to the crowd and atmosphere. 

How?! Do we need keep the noise Doon.

[Tazio]

I’ve just read that before tonight’s match where he didn’t score Harry Kane had scored in his previous 15 major tournament qualifiers. 

[Doc Rob]

2 minutes ago, ri Alban said:

How?! Do we need keep the noise Doon.

Presumably the crowd will be less wrecked.

[ri Alban]

Just now, Doc Rob said:

Presumably the crowd will be less wrecked.

Want to bet.  it'll be party time.

 

 

We'll have already secured 2nd 🤞 and Denmark will play their reserves for the rest of the campaign.

 

[chrystaf]

25 minutes ago, ri Alban said:

Astroturf should be a no no at international level. And i must admit, the Faroe islands have improved, a lot .

Totally agree.  How those above allow plastic pitches at this level is unbelievable. 

[VALDOS']

I really don't care how how we get the wins, giving us a chance of going to a world cup is all that we ask. 

It would be stunning to pull off back to back tournaments after 2 decades of failure.

[5-1Jambo]

1 hour ago, Bob Loblaw said:

What about away performances against Austria, England and Serbia?

 

We struggle to break teams down at times, but we have a game plan that can get us results against better teams as well.

 

It's been a long time since we finished runners up in a WC qualifying group, if we do it, it's a good achievement that we should be happy with. Especially with it following up qualification for the Euros. Clarke has improved us a hell of a lot since he took over, we are going in the right direction. 

Agreed. You could argue that Scotland are like Hearts were last season. Found it difficult to break teams down that just sit in and try and hit on the break. But we always played better when teams had a go. Scotland are getting the job done. 

[Hackney Hearts]

2 hours ago, Francis Albert said:

Tje population of the Faroes is less than 50000. Less than 1 per cent of Scotland's. 

What would be a walk in the park for Scotland?/

 

53,000 (Dunfermline, roughly) - but it's not all about population, is it? The Faroes have a similar FIFA ranking to India, whose population is 1.38 billion.

 

 

[Kiwidoug]

1 hour ago, chrystaf said:

Totally agree.  How those above allow plastic pitches at this level is unbelievable. 

I played in a Mercantile summer midweek league in Edinburgh and Saughton prison played unofficial games on their pitch which was just brutal.

For the record we heard that they had beaten a Hearts X1 7-1 in their last game.  Somewhat dispirited, they edged past us 11-0.

[Fraggle]

1 hour ago, ri Alban said:

How?! Do we need keep the noise Doon.

Always felt Saturday games the crowds at Hampden were that bit more up for it, had a day out on it, and afterwards. Not been to many midweek games where its been as good in terms of atmosphere, probably cause loads of folk have work the next day, need to worry about getting away sharp to get public transport home. If the Denmark game had been a Saturday it would have been the Italy game from 08 all over imo (hopefully with a more positive scoreline), big game, big result needed against a better team, but the atmosphere (which for that game was utterly phenomenal) drives the Scotland players on and knocks the opposition off their stride. Sadly, I don't think we will get that level of atmosphere for a Monday night game, which will make it easier for a Denmark team with a formidable qualifying campaign record who could be looking for a clean sweep. 

[Pasquale for King]

2 hours ago, Barack said:

Crowd started lobbing stuff. Including at Lewandowski when he asked them to stop.

Well it was the Albanian fans throwing the missiles, Lewandowski was unlikely to pacify them. 
It’s happening all over just now, someone hit an Israeli scorer on Saturday with a pie ffs 😆. 

[Section Q]

9 hours ago, Hackney Hearts said:

 

53,000 (Dunfermline, roughly) - but it's not all about population, is it? The Faroes have a similar FIFA ranking to India, whose population is 1.38 billion.

 

 

This.

China v India would hardly be an el classico...😁

[Heres Rixxy]

5 hours ago, ri Alban said:

That'll do. Austria will beat Israel, so Scotland guaranteed a play off. Just need to be seeded by beating Moldova.

 

Our results against Moldova don't count in the 2nd placed teams tables as all results against 6th ranked teams are excluded. We might need a couple of results in other groups to go our way, and potentially need a point against the Danes. Our GD is already likely to land us in the unseeded spots if we lose.

 

[A_A wehatethehibs]

2 hours ago, Heres Rixxy said:

 

Our results against Moldova don't count in the 2nd placed teams tables as all results against 6th ranked teams are excluded. We might need a couple of results in other groups to go our way, and potentially need a point against the Danes. Our GD is already likely to land us in the unseeded spots if we lose.

 

 

Listen if we can beat the Faroes we can take on any of these sides and get the W, fully confident.

 

The league table doesn't lie we are a better side than Spain, Poland, Croatia etc 

[Jambo 4 Ever]

1 hour ago, A_A wehatethehibs said:

 

Listen if we can beat the Faroes we can take on any of these sides and get the W, fully confident.

 

The league table doesn't lie we are a better side than Spain, Poland, Croatia etc 

Croatia have more points 

this isn’t very i

up to date 

[Thomaso]

9 hours ago, ri Alban said:

I does. I think he means if they win, and we win.

 

We've Denmark at a full Hampden. We'll win that.

👍

[manaliveits105]

2 hours ago, A_A wehatethehibs said:

 

Listen if we can beat the Faroes we can take on any of these sides and get the W, fully confident.

 

The league table doesn't lie we are a better side than Spain, Poland, Croatia etc 

Spain just beat the European champions and should have taken something from France who beat Belgium - no thanks 

[graygo]

1 hour ago, Jambo 4 Ever said:

Croatia have more points 

this isn’t very i

up to date 

 

You missed the bit where he said that results against the 6th place teams are disregarded, Croatia have 6 points against Cyprus 

[EIEIO]

Denmark also beat The Faroes 1-0 away from home. Don't know what their performance was like but nobody has beat them easily the way Moldova have been.

Austria away was a good performance , Israel we were good going forward but shit defensively it would be great to take something from the Denmark game but if we beat Moldova it might not matter.

Edited October 13, 2021 by EIEIO
Spelling

[Bindy Badgy]

9 hours ago, Hackney Hearts said:

 

53,000 (Dunfermline, roughly) - but it's not all about population, is it? The Faroes have a similar FIFA ranking to India, whose population is 1.38 billion.

 

 

 

India and Faroes probably have the same number of people playing football! I spent three months in India. Saw loads of kids playing cricket and none playing football.

[Bindy Badgy]

3 minutes ago, EIEIO said:

Denmark also beat The Faroes 1-0 away from home. Don't know what there performance was like but nobody has beat them easily the way Moldova have been.

Austria away was a good performance , Israel we were good going forward but shit defensively it would be great to take something from the Denmark game but if we beat Moldova it might not matter.

 

A point against Denmark might increase our chances of being seeded? It's good luck that we're playing them at home at a point where they have already wrapped up qualification.

[EIEIO]

1 minute ago, Bindy Badgy said:

 

A point against Denmark might increase our chances of being seeded? It's good luck that we're playing them at home at a point where they have already wrapped up qualification.

It might do depending on the results in other groups, if it does and we are up for it a draw or a.win at home is not an impossible task. They are a good side but not a great one.

[Maroon Sailor]

12 minutes ago, Bindy Badgy said:

 

A point against Denmark might increase our chances of being seeded? It's good luck that we're playing them at home at a point where they have already wrapped up qualification.

 

Probably need a point due to GD though I haven't checked who the other teams have to play

[A_A wehatethehibs]

38 minutes ago, manaliveits105 said:

Spain just beat the European champions and should have taken something from France who beat Belgium - no thanks 

Was a bit tongue in cheek mate but I’ll say this. The best Scotland team in my lifetime beat France home and away when they were European champions, World Cup finalists, and world #1 team, but we lost to Ukraine and ****ing Georgia.

 

If I could hand pick a team from the playoffs Scotland have the best chance against, it would probably be Spain or Portugal. 
 

Ive been watching Scotland too long to think Ukraine, Norway or Romania is any easier of a game for us than Spain. Those are harder games for Scotland. We’d have as much chance of beating Spain as we would Romania TBQH mate so am not even fussed about seeding. 
 

All that matters to me, beat Moldova, and we’re in the playoffs without needing to take anything off Denmark. See if we need even a point off Denmark we will lose and be out the playoffs imo. So Moldova 0 - 1 Scotland, dreamland, bite your hand off right now for that 

[Darren]

54 minutes ago, Bindy Badgy said:

 

A point against Denmark might increase our chances of being seeded? It's good luck that we're playing them at home at a point where they have already wrapped up qualification.

I think that's good planning rather than good luck.

 

30 minutes ago, A_A wehatethehibs said:

If I could hand pick a team from the playoffs Scotland have the best chance against, it would probably be Spain or Portugal. 
 

Ive been watching Scotland too long to think Ukraine, Norway or Romania is any easier of a game for us than Spain. Those are harder games for Scotland. We’d have as much chance of beating Spain as we would Romania TBQH mate so am not even fussed about seeding. 

We have a much, much better record against mid-level teams than we do against top tier teams (obviously). This is just idiotic.

[A_A wehatethehibs]

4 minutes ago, Darren said:

I think that's good planning rather than good luck.

 

We have a much, much better record against mid-level teams than we do against top tier teams (obviously). This is just idiotic.

Was that the case in the euros mate? We played 1 top tier team and 2 mid level teams what were the results?
 

We make harder work of it against teams we’re expected to beat. Just my view, get in the playoffs is all that matters and the draw will be what it is.

 

Whatever team we play, will be the best team and hardest game we have faced, whether it’s portugal with Ronaldo if we’re unseeded or Norway with Haaland if we’re seeded. Or any other teams who’ll all be packed with Bundesliga and Serie A players no doubt. 
 

So it’s just about getting our name in the hat and if we’re seeded, that’s a bonus, you get a slim chance of a lucky draw maybe a draw against Wales coming through the nations league, which tbf would be the game I would love to see the most (I think it is possible if we’re seeded?). Scotland vs Wales for a place at the WC, tasty

[davemclaren]

1 hour ago, Bindy Badgy said:

 

India and Faroes probably have the same number of people playing football! I spent three months in India. Saw loads of kids playing cricket and none playing football.

Football is very popular in Bengal. 

[Cruyff]

1 hour ago, EIEIO said:

Denmark also beat The Faroes 1-0 away from home. Don't know what their performance was like but nobody has beat them easily the way Moldova have been.

Austria away was a good performance , Israel we were good going forward but shit defensively it would be great to take something from the Denmark game but if we beat Moldova it might not matter.

Yup, Faroes have improved, they are difficult to break down. We didn't play well but we won, that's all that matters. Plenty good sides will do similarly there with the way they defend and frustrate, especially on that pitch. 

[A_A wehatethehibs]

5 minutes ago, Cruyff said:

Yup, Faroes have improved, they are difficult to break down. We didn't play well but we won, that's all that matters. Plenty good sides will do similarly there with the way they defend and frustrate, especially on that pitch. 

Yep there was def a few classic plastic pitch tactics, skidding the ball for a dodgy bounce from keepers kicks from hands etc, which will catch out a lot of European teams that never play on a surface like that. Thankfully no surprises we had enough players and a manager who know what that’s about.

Edited October 13, 2021 by A_A wehatethehibs

[Sarah O]

It's coming home 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 

[John Findlay]

19 minutes ago, A_A wehatethehibs said:

Yep there was def a few classic plastic pitch tactics, skidding the ball for a dodgy bounce from keepers kicks from hands etc, which will catch out a lot of European teams that never play on a surface like that. Thankfully no surprises we had enough players and a manager who know what that’s about.

We certainly have a manager who knows about playing on astroturf surfaces.

Not many players that do.

Edited October 13, 2021 by John Findlay

[Boris]

38 minutes ago, A_A wehatethehibs said:

 

So it’s just about getting our name in the hat and if we’re seeded, that’s a bonus, you get a slim chance of a lucky draw maybe a draw against Wales coming through the nations league, which tbf would be the game I would love to see the most (I think it is possible if we’re seeded?). Scotland vs Wales for a place at the WC, tasty

 

As long as we do our usual!

 

 

 

Edited October 13, 2021 by Boris

[Malinga the Swinga]

Portugal need to beat Serbia at home or draw/beat Rep of Ireland in Dublin and then draw with Serbia to win group. That is likely.

Spain beat Sweden in Spain and they'll win the group.

Croatia beat Russia at home and they win group with Russia second.

Switzerland beat Italy and they will win group.

Wales could overtake Czechs and be second but will need something from Belgium at home.

Plenty of things could change yet, so no point worrying. Just win next two games and see who we get.

[A_A wehatethehibs]

23 minutes ago, John Findlay said:

We certainly have a manager who knows about playing on astroturf surfaces.

Not many players that do.

Match winner Dykes for example, and anyone else who’s played in the spfl McGinn,  Tierney, mcgregor, Christie, Gordon etc all played plenty away games on astroturf pitches. And the squad trains at Oriam as well. But think that pitch will be a big reason their home record has improved so much, other squads won’t be as prepared for it as us. 

Edited October 13, 2021 by A_A wehatethehibs

[Darren]

24 minutes ago, A_A wehatethehibs said:

Was that the case in the euros mate? We played 1 top tier team and 2 mid level teams what were the results?
 

We make harder work of it against teams we’re expected to beat. Just my view, get in the playoffs is all that matters and the draw will be what it is.

 

Whatever team we play, will be the best team and hardest game we have faced, whether it’s portugal with Ronaldo if we’re unseeded or Norway with Haaland if we’re seeded. Or any other teams who’ll all be packed with Bundesliga and Serie A players no doubt. 
 

So it’s just about getting our name in the hat and if we’re seeded, that’s a bonus, you get a slim chance of a lucky draw maybe a draw against Wales coming through the nations league, which tbf would be the game I would love to see the most (I think it is possible if we’re seeded?). Scotland vs Wales for a place at the WC, tasty

Scotland qualified for the Euros by virtue of having to beat zero elite sides. It's not a coincidence that was the case and we made our first finals appearance since 1998. Our previous play-off attempts were defeats by top tier teams (England, Holland).

 

Grabbing a point at Wembley during the Euros was great but I wouldn't expect us to have beaten any of them because they're all higher ranked. It was reasonable to think we had a good chance against the Czechs. We'd beaten them two times previously. But it wasn't to be. Croatia are the only elite team we've beaten in ages but I wasn't especially confident of winning against them at the Euros.

In this qualifying section, we're in second by virtue of punching above our weight against the next team ranked above us in Austria (unexpectedly), doing better than Israel (by the skin of our teeth) and so far disposing of the two lowest ranked teams.

I think if you look historically at our records against the likes of Portugal and Spain compared with Norway or Romania, the stats would bear out that we're far more likely to progress against the latter two.

We could also end up playing Austria again so not quite guaranteed to be the hardest game we've faced.

[Ex member of the SaS]

11 hours ago, Pasquale for King said:

Well it was the Albanian fans throwing the missiles, Lewandowski was unlikely to pacify them. 
It’s happening all over just now, someone hit an Israeli scorer on Saturday with a pie ffs 😆. 

With some of the pies in the SPFL that could have been fatal. Pies as hard as the old castle rock!

[A_A wehatethehibs]

28 minutes ago, Darren said:

Scotland qualified for the Euros by virtue of having to beat zero elite sides. It's not a coincidence that was the case and we made our first finals appearance since 1998. Our previous play-off attempts were defeats by top tier teams (England, Holland).

 

Grabbing a point at Wembley during the Euros was great but I wouldn't expect us to have beaten any of them because they're all higher ranked. It was reasonable to think we had a good chance against the Czechs. We'd beaten them two times previously. But it wasn't to be. Croatia are the only elite team we've beaten in ages but I wasn't especially confident of winning against them at the Euros.

In this qualifying section, we're in second by virtue of punching above our weight against the next team ranked above us in Austria (unexpectedly), doing better than Israel (by the skin of our teeth) and so far disposing of the two lowest ranked teams.

I think if you look historically at our records against the likes of Portugal and Spain compared with Norway or Romania, the stats would bear out that we're far more likely to progress against the latter two.

We could also end up playing Austria again so not quite guaranteed to be the hardest game we've faced.

I see you are logical and think that outcomes will follow to a logical conclusion, in terms of who we are more / less likely to beat... You can’t have been following Scotland for too long…  

 

 

[The Old Tolbooth]

I'm calling it, we'll hammer Moldova 0-1 in their back yard and that's us in the play offs, then we'll beat the Czechs (I'd be delighted with them), and meet Serbia again, and beat them too, is that enough, or do we need to win 3 rounds? 🤔

[milky_26]

2 minutes ago, The Old Tolbooth said:

I'm calling it, we'll hammer Moldova 0-1 in their back yard and that's us in the play offs, then we'll beat the Czechs (I'd be delighted with them), and meet Serbia again, and beat them too, is that enough, or do we need to win 3 rounds? 🤔

Just a semi and final, both one legs at the end of march

 

Edit: in your scenario will Serbia beat Norway in their semi?

 

Edited October 13, 2021 by milky_26

[The Old Tolbooth]

1 minute ago, milky_26 said:

Just a semi and final, both one legs at the end of march

Ideal, but knowing our luck we'll get the hardest teams!

[Pasquale for King]

47 minutes ago, Ex member of the SaS said:

With some of the pies in the SPFL that could have been fatal. Pies as hard as the old castle rock!

Only got mince on offer just now in the main stand but I’m sure the crust would be hard 😆. 

[Boab]

I'll hang off pondering the play offs till after the Moldova game.

In true Scottish style, this could still go wrong. 😂

Austria are now out of it and it wouldn't surprise me if Israel take even a win there.

All good though, it wouldn't be us to qualify normally !

[Cruyff]

2 hours ago, A_A wehatethehibs said:

Yep there was def a few classic plastic pitch tactics, skidding the ball for a dodgy bounce from keepers kicks from hands etc, which will catch out a lot of European teams that never play on a surface like that. Thankfully no surprises we had enough players and a manager who know what that’s about.

With their low block it meant that balls played in behind on that pitch will go out of play, even switching play on that surface is difficult. I thought we did well second half by staying patient, keeping the pressure on and not giving up knowing we'd get a chance. It was very professional second half. Showed a strong mentality.

Also, the boys gave everything second half v Israel, so when we're playing a team like the Faroes where they aren't moving out of shape, aren't engaging us, it is very difficult to create the energy and the tempo, everything becomes a bit slow. 

While it was tough going and not great to watch I think you've got to credit us for getting the win and the Faroes for being tactically good and disciplined.