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Next stop Vienna and oh how I'd like to see Scotland register a win to scupper Austria's World Cup hopes in this group (note they still have a chance to reach a "back door" play-off final match). However, we don't score goals and I suspect Steve Clarke will play a "tight game" against them, even though they lost five goals to Israel in a bizarre match that saw every Israeli shot on goal converted and against previous goal stats for Israel that show they don't score that many goals. I reckon Clarke will make changes for this match. Keep the middle of the defence as it is, but I think O'Donnell will replace Paterson. Up top, he'll keep Dykes as his "target man" with Adams alongside him. I must say that Dykes is becoming a "tough watch" in these games. I just hope he improves a tad compared to previous games. I see Clarke going for a 0-1 win due to the fact we scorn goal opps and don't have a prolific striker, not for a long time! IMO a draw wouldn't be the "end of the world" when one studies our remaining fixtures in this group. I also see our final match v Denmark at Hampden Park providing a poss valuable 3 pts due to Denmark arriving in Glasgow as confirmed group winners and their manager fielding his "second string" as nowt to play for any more.
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Make or break time coming up.
A draw in Vienna and beat Israel in Glasgow and we should be in a great position for a play off spot. Easy to say mind.
Until we find ourselves a regular goalscorer at this level we are going to be up against it.
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From the BBC website - "In Scotland's past five fixtures - three games at Euro 2020 and World Cup qualifiers against Denmark and Moldova - they have scored just two goals from 62 attempts. In the 10 matches Scotland have played this year, they have racked up a total of 123 shots - an average of 12.3 per game. But Clarke's men have only hit the back of the net with 12 of those efforts, meaning it takes an average of at least 10 attempts for Scotland to hit the back of the net."
I know it's not any great consolation, but Austria is one of the few teams that are worse than us! But even when they get hammered, they can still score twice. The last time we scored twice was 7 games ago against Netherlands. Time to do it again.
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Cabbage is still good for you
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Over the last couple of years only Denmark,Romania and Poland have got results v Austria in Vienna in competitive games.
Austria were also unlucky v Italy in the euros. I think they are a decent side.
Israel are also growing internationally, their front 3 are a match for anyone increasingly.
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Well, well, well. Austria are indeed just as wasteful as we are. Great performance from the Scots and fully deserved the win to put us second in the group. Lucky with the goal as it was a terrible penalty shot, but might be our lifeline .
Cabbage is still good for you
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FT in Vienna and a massive result for Scotland - 0-1 and we leap into 2nd place after Denmark hammer Israel 5-0 in Copenhagen, a perfect night for Scotland. So we have a huge "cup final" at Hampden Park to seal 2nd place v Israel, but one negative aspect to note is Grant Hanley, IMO our best central defender, suspended for this match. Tonight's result has given the boys a massive lift and hopefully there will be a huge shift in momentum with the players knowing what is at stake in front of a huge expectant Tartan Army. It could be a "nail biter" though.
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Well Well Well..... That will do nicely as they say.
Tremendous defensive shift from Scotland, we defended as a team really well. Special praise for the back 3 of Hendry/Hanley/Tierney who were solid all night and Mcgregor and Gilmour looks a decent partnership in the centre. Mcdonnell did very well too, if only he had a final ball.....
Fair play to Stevie, his cautious game plan came good tonight. Its in our own hands now.
However, lose this game tomorrow and the WC campaign is over for another long period. I just hope the players realise that serious fact as well as the Tartan Army and "show up" with real passion and commitment plus focus for the full 90 mins.
