[0762]

Germany win 5-1 and a brutal lesson for Scotland tonight. Reality has indeed set in as feared by many Scotland fans incl myself. Germany outstanding and a huge gulf in class!! Scotland extremely poor with mistakes galore, lotsa players off the pace of the game, some invisible and huge questions raised re the goalkeeper, Angus Gunn!! Has this goalie finally been found out in a serious game that mattered!!!? Ralston's position quickly "found out" by Germany, Porteous red-carded and an idiot - Gundogan lucky not to have a broken leg!! The first Germany goal set the tone of this match with Gunn at fault - not an out n out "howler", but save the shot and prove you are a top international goalie son!!! Failed the "acid test"!! Scotland's A game wouldn't have been good enough v Germany anyway. However, this was not an acceptable level of performance at all esp in front of a fabulous Scotland support that deserved better than this non-performance - note: not a single shot on the Germany goal!!? We move on, but a massive post-mortem should take place after this sham. And hopefully a positive reaction to follow v Switzerland in Cologne. My biggest concern before this match ever began was the fact lots of these Scotland players have seen the back end of a long, hard football season. These players collectively raising their game to a decent level in three consecutive Euro group matches was gonna be a huge challenge in my humble opinion. That concern confirmed tonight although a lotta Scottish footie fans (coupled to the ridiculous "over the top" media/bbc coverage) tend to mistakenly think these players are as "fresh as daisies" and ready to go.
Steve Clarke's post-match comment: "We're a better team than that!! Keep the faith"!! Fingers crossed there is a huge improvement in performance and team selection.

[ritchiebaby]

We were outthought, outfought and outclassed tonight. 4 points was the target and still is. Even 6 is possible to top the Group!

Judging by tonight's game, any points at all will be welcomed. To achieve anything against Switzerland on Wednesday, we'll need to be a hundred times better and a hundred times more committed. Still, we'll probably have no chance after Wednesday and then batter Hungary when it's too late. It's what Scotland do.

[hibeejim21]

That was xxxx pitiful.

Tactics were all wrong and we paid the price early on. Most of that was on Clarke.

Gunn chucked 2 goals in and his kicking was pish.

Porteous challenge was horrendous. Idiot, and we all know he has that in him.

Ralston nowhere near good enough positionally.

Midfield non existent and way too narrow.

Germany played like a very good European club side with a good manager and they will take some stopping.

Big improvement required on wednesday and the goal difference already potentially a problem.

[hibeejim21]

A much more spirited performance and a deserved 1-1 draw with switzerland. A win v Hungary in the final game could be enough to see us through.

We lack the quality needed at this level though, our defenders aren't comfortable on the ball, and we lack a natural goalscorer. However we made it competitive and a draw was probably a fair result at the end of the day.

Mctominay was everywhere for us and did a shift defensively as well, Mcginn virtually anonymous. Gunn made a couple of smart stops.

Tierney's injury is a blow, i'd hope we would move to a flat back 4 (which would help ralston) but i'm not sure clarke will.

Onwards to sunday.....And what a support we have by the way. They deserve some good fortune.

[ritchiebaby]

What a letdown, yet again.

We never really offered anything positive until it was far too late. We should have had a penalty, but we didn't deserve anything from the game. Far too negative from Clarke - the possession and passing stats were very impressive in the first twenty minutes, but it was all in our own half or going backwards. And the subs were brought on far too late - has Nick Montgomery got a backroom job for Scotland? Just not good enough I'm afraid.

Qualifying for the Finals is about our limit, and has been for some time.

[0762]

Worst match of the Euros 2024 tourney!! However, that pk was a "stonewaller" in a match that Clarke clearly played to just win it in any way he could possibly do it and finally "kill" a quali bogey that has haunted Scotland and Scottish fitba for decades and decades and decades!!!!! That chance came with that diabolical denial of a certain pk where, to anybody who has any doubt re that awful decision - Orban has clearly caught the back of Armstrong's leg and brought him down (you can see it on a slow motion video rerun!!!) - Orban's facial expression of guilt was also a giveaway!!!!!! HE KNEW IT WAS A PENALTY!! We may not have deserved the win, but that was a real shitheid decision with astoundingly no VAR review of the incident!!!! It was the goal we needed and there was always only gonna be one goal in it!! Btw Clarke's tactics/strategy were totally unimpressive with no shots on target AGAIN!! But one can see what he was up to in his typical strategy of killing a game while eventually "nicking it", all going well with the type of strategy he deploys. His post-match attack on an Argentinian referee being used in a Euros tourney a bit odd - "Why is he not a Euro ref as expected" said Clarke??? "He got the big decision wrong"??? Argentinian referee, a British team, ensuring that team is given no advantage like a pk that is actually a "stonewaller", coupled with no VAR review to confirm the leg contact that toppled Stuart Armstrong. Is that what Clarke is implicitly inferring??? We'll never know!! Anyway, the quali bogey irritatingly haunts Scotland and make no mistake - that punchless Hungarian team was there to be beaten tonight by a semi-decent positive attacking side with a solid commitment to win a game much like Belgium yesterday: obviously a far better side than Scotland, but magnificent in the effort and outright commitment to stifle a vg Rumanian team and absolutely "bust a gut" to make sure they were gonna beat them under difficult group circumstances - hugely impressive!!!

[hibeejim21]

The most scotland end to a tournament ever

At the end of the day we didn't deserve to go through, we have been easily the poorest side in the competition and even our better players in that midfield did not turn up. Mcginn was awful, Robertsons performance in the tournament was embarrassing.

It was glaring that Mclean couldn't play in that position and it was no surprise the hungarian winner came down that side (although morgan should have emptied the guy in the build up). We really missed Tierney because he is the only defender we have who can bring the ball out properly.

As much as i think it was a penalty, (and why the xxxx is an Argentinian refereeing our game ?) I'm not sure Armstrong didn't foul him too.

The manager has done well to get us to Germany but no doubt he has lost the plot. His tactics have been awful, way, way too negative and what was he doing with the subs again last night ? I'd have been trying out Conway and Forrest before some of the choices he made. He had Gilmour and Mcgregor sitting in to protect a back 5 in a game we needed to win ffs The former has played about 20 times for Brighton this season but was blowing out his arse in the first half.

Think Stevie might step down now, and i think it might be time for a change.

[Lord Snooty]

Unlucky lads. But we all knew it was going to end this way, didn't we?

As for the penalty, clear as day but....

Did VAR ignore it because he was offside in the first place? He looked offside, but nobody mentioned it.

[Devongone]

Yes I thought he was offside at first sight too AND he wasn't simply getting in front of the Hungarian defender Orban, he had his arm out to block and had a good hold of his shirt. Had he been a racehorse, disqualification would have been inevitable.

It has been good of the Scottish side to distract from England's terrible performances by trying to plumb new depths themselves. How does anyone score in the Scottish Leagues? There appear to be no forwards.

And are there really no footballers of colour in Scotland chasing a place in the team? Looking at that team trot out a Procul Harum song springs to mind. Che Adams must feel as though he caught the wrong bus, but then he used to play for Ilkeston, so he's probably used to feeling out of place on the planet.

Very strange to not be getting any shots when qualification was more than possible .....

[0762]

Unlucky lads. But we all knew it was going to end this way, didn't we?

As for the penalty, clear as day but....

Did VAR ignore it because he was offside in the first place? He looked offside, but nobody mentioned it.

One quick reply on reading your query that Armstrong was possibly offside: I have a video recording of the whole match and have run that incident, frame by frame from McTominay's touch/through pass - STUART ARMSTRONG WAS NOT OFFSIDE! ORBAN'S OUTSTRETCHED LEFT LEG DEFINITELY PLAYED HIM ONSIDE - IT WAS A PERFECT RUNNING MOVEMENT BY HIM TO GET GOAL SIDE OF THE DEFENDER - A DEFINITE PK AND CONTROVERSIALLY DENIED!! Also the "grab shirt" insinuation is a red herring IMO - he briefly grabbed the shirt as he was falling, Orban 100% the main offender with his knee into the back of Armstrong's leg to topple him.