[0762]

Yep! The words "playing fast and loose" come to mind. Gilmour apparently asymptomatic with COVID. And 2 x England players, Mount and Chilwell, having to self-isolate as a precaution. No surprise as it was definitely evident there was close contact after the game at Wembley.
I also notice there is a new Euro footie record at Hampden Park tomorrow where the assigned UEFA ref will be an Argentinian named Rafalini (?) - a non-Euro ref being used as part of a referee exchange agreement. I just hope he disnae spoil Scotland's chances with some diabolically bad decision that affects the outcome of this crucial match.

[hibeejim21]

Croatian manager definitely not happy. I guess he finds it very hard to believe England can have two close contacts with a Scotland player but Scotland can't have any.
They are remaining at their camp in Croatia and flying out to each game.

As it stands a win for either Belgium or Denmark tonight means any kind of win takes us through tomorrow.

[0762]

Wins for both of them Jim, 0-2 and 1-4 respectively. Now we know what is required. But can we do it??? Now I fear a dreaded draw!! Fingers crossed - gotta remain positive!!

[St Charles Owl]

Croatian manager definitely not happy. I guess he finds it very hard to believe England can have two close contacts with a Scotland player but Scotland can't have any.
They are remaining at their camp in Croatia and flying out to each game.

As it stands a win for either Belgium or Denmark tonight means any kind of win takes us through tomorrow.

It does seem a strange decision to force two of England's players to isolate when surely the entire Scotland squad will have had more chance of exposure??

[ritchiebaby]

I don't think there's any degree of force involved, SCO, it seems to be "Guidance", but I certainly agree with your point. An eminently sensible decision taken by England.

[St Charles Owl]

I don't think there's any degree of force involved, SCO, it seems to be "Guidance", but I certainly agree with your point. An eminently sensible decision taken by England.

Yes, I see that all the reporting on this has removed the word "forced" from their stories!! This photo of Clarke as Gilmour came off in the England game would suggest that he should be isolating at the very least if the same precautions are to be taken by all. Spain had the same issue just before the tournament and the whole squad had to isolate and train independently.

[hibeejim21]

I think there is leeway with outdoor contact SCO. Mount and Chilwell both had contact in the tunnel with Gilmour and afterwards. They are isolating as a precaution not a request from PHE.
No way do I believe that he didnt have any contact with the other Scotland players though. His instagram showed him playing table tennis with squad members - then pic got took down.

When fleck came down with it before the warm up games half a dozen players had to isolate.

[hibeejim21]

Reverted back to our performance v the Czechs ....maybe even worse. Once again Stevie has questions to answer I feel.

He got the team and tactics wrong again IMO. Armstrong isn't a good enough passer of the ball at this level, isn't even a like for like change for Gilmour and Dykes is a complete dumpling and got the 90 mins again. O'donnell reverted to type after a good showing v England and got done for the first goal. Why would you spend so long sitting off a team like Croatia ? Modric absolutely strolled it out there, great range of passing.

McGregor scored a fine goal to get us back involved, but Clarke should have changed it at H/T when it was so obvious the Croatians had way too much space and time on the ball.

McGinn had the chance at 1-1 but we fell out the game afterwards. We had already rode our luck big time by that point and the Croatians more than deserved their 2 second half goals.

There has been some progress, and Clarke has made us respectable again but until we can do better in the final quarter we will struggle to make the next step forward.

[0762]

As said in one of my previous threads - I've seen this movie before!! IMO Scotland noticeably "flat", lacking energy and nothing near the intensity or dynamism played on the Wembley pitch - lotsa players just off the level required plus our big players didn't turn up tonight! The manager needed to "freshen up" this team and agreed his starting line up was highly questionable. Note when England played Croatia they won the match by nullifying the Croatia midfield play and Phillips was England's MOTM because he broke up their strong team ethic in that area. Scotland did nothing like that tonight and I would've expected Clarke to "change it" after about 20 mins!!! It was very clear that the midfield area, the critical area where this match was gonna be decided, was not good enough - it was clearly unbalanced with Armstrong "not at the races" - I thought he was "mince" tonight and would've "hooked" him after about 20-25mins!! CHANGE IT FFS!! The manager did nowt. Also Gilmour hugely missed as we all feared!! Very unlucky losing Hanley, one of our best defenders, to injury. Re "battling the midfield area", was it not more appropriate to move McTominay into that mid role and slot Cooper, a more mobile defender, in behind him!!?? Also O'Donnell's position clearly targeted by the Croatian manager throughout this match!!!??? I wonder why????? Again, his position was a huge concern after the first 20-25 mins. Their tactics were significantly different than v England and they eventually came out deserved winners with far more quality than Scotland. I think they will still be a good draw for a decent 3rd placed group team as I can't emphasise enough how poor a starting team this Scotland team was esp v an ageing team that still has a lotta class and better control of a football. IMO this was definitely an opportunity lost. We move on. But questions rightly raised re Clarke and his decision-making and using his squad players properly!! What did Clarke say at HT after fighting back to a fortunate 1-1 draw!!?? Anyway, he has a nucleus of decent players who will hopefully progress positively to another level together with the best younger players. But there is still a lotta work TBD and we most definitely need to find that elusive prolific striker(s), an individual who I think would've given Scotland a certain Euro quali slot after observing about 8-9 scoring opps with just one goal to show for all the hard graft.

[ritchiebaby]

Clarke's devotion to Dykes just amazes me. And surely Turnbull or Forrest would have been worth a try-out. Another disappointing night, but we're bound to be getting used to it by now.