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At a point where it is now well nigh impossible to qualify from our Euro group, all Scotland can do is try to win this match v the no1 rated international team in the world. IMO the boys need a miracle at Hampden Park but I don't think it is gonna happen with the players who are currently available! Both Hazard brothers will be missing from the Belgium side but the task to beat them will still be formidable. The 3 pts would actually be invaluable and suddenly create an interest in the group but that is just wishful thinking on my part!
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Two sublime assists from De Bruyne and Belgium lead 2-0 after just 23 mins. Clinical finishing and play from them so far, Scotland have done ok but not created much in the way of chances.
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Clarke seems to have opted to have a go tonight and left our defence exposed to some of the best players in the world..... Why were we not playing on the counter?
Robertson has been absolutely horrific and should never have been made captain, mctominay shows how badly Man Utd have fallen when he gets a game, and don't get me started on the defence.
Deary Me.
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FT 0-4 and humiliated in the process by a vg side without the Hazard brothers!! He didn't change that defence after that dodgy defence v Russia!!? Why? Every defensive position was potentially worthy of being changed! We are so easy to score against!! Robertson shouldn't be actually playing based on his performances in the last three group matches - defensively crap!! At the moment, my view is that we should never have got rid of wee Strachan and really should've left him alone to get on with it because it was gonna take a lotta time to progress esp with average international players. That view has not changed TBF!!
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10-09-2019, 07:30
(This post was last modified: 10-09-2019, 07:31 by hibeejim21.)
I've got no idea why Clarke chose to rip up the team like he did last night. Wasn't the time to do it., Below Cyprus and Kazakhstan in the group FFS
Robertson is a good player but his marauding style doesn't work with Scotland, we don't have Virgil van dyke behind him to cover. Liam Cooper is 28 and hasn't played a top-flight game since 2010. O'Donnell isn't good enough, and Mulgrew is on the way out. We have a decent pool of midfielders but poor defenders and nothing up top, been that way for years now.
But be in no mistake everything wrong with the game in Scotland rests with 2 or 3 generations of SFA "administrators" with the "lodge" mentality who could not manage their way out of a paper bag.
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10-09-2019, 13:04
(This post was last modified: 10-09-2019, 13:08 by 0762.)
Oh aye! Absolutely! The management of this farce has been not nothing short of total negligence and a lack of control and proper footie "nous"! I have a couple footie contacts in The Netherlands and have been interested in watching how the KNVB addressed rebuilding a Dutch team "in transition" since their "fall from grace" from the world footie stage. The management of it compared with a useless SFA is "night n day" TBF!!!! The KNVB effectively managed a new group of young players with VVD set up as "the rock" of the team and told to learn how to play international footie alongside a few experienced international players like Blind plus it would not happen overnight - the rest is history as they continue to strengthen but they did change a couple of managers in the process. Our SFA haven't got anywhere near this progressive plan to eventually come to fruition. Reflecting back to my previous comment re wee Strachan, the SFA should have "stuck by him" in spite of the pressure from media and some Scottish fans and just stick with stability and evolving a team of fairly average Scot international players. There were small signs of progress under Strachan and he established a footie club culture that the players appreciated but, as usual, we wanted some kinda success "at all cost" - not gonna happen. YOU ARE ONLY AS GOOD AS THE PLAYERS WHO ARE AVAILABLE TO PLAY FOR SCOTLAND AND ANOTHER MAJOR FACTOR IS WE HAVE NEVER HAD A WORLD CLASS PLAYER "COMING THROUGH THE RANKS" IN YEARS!!! THAT WOULD'VE HELPED US GREATLY!!