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Spain Vs. Scotland


Jaggernaut
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Wish the commentator would stop mentioning THAT penalty (as he calls it) at Hampden. We failed there because we had a poor start and the crap ref didn't give them a penalty they should hvae had anyway. It's what Scotland failed to do earlier that's putting us out, not duff referees or diving players.

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Wish the commentator would stop mentioning THAT penalty (as he calls it) at Hampden. We failed there because we had a poor start and the crap ref didn't give them a penalty they should hvae had anyway. It's what Scotland failed to do earlier that's putting us out, not duff referees or diving players.

Commentator is crap, always has been, they dont make commentators like they used to do!!!

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How many passes without a Scotland player touching the ball before Spain scored (their first?): Sixty? Seventy?

 

Just watched the start again. I made it 45 passes before the ball was blootered out for a throw-in on 2.08 mins. There were there another 8 passes before they lost possession on 2.30 mins. Got fed up oounting after a while but 20, 30 and 40 pass moves weren't uncommon - especially in the first half. Think their first goal came after 45 passes. They took a free kick on 4.30 mins and scored on 5.41 mins without losing possession.

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Just watched the start again. I made it 45 passes before the ball was blootered out for a throw-in on 2.08 mins. There were there another 8 passes before they lost possession on 2.30 mins. Got fed up oounting after a while but 20, 30 and 40 pass moves weren't uncommon - especially in the first half. Think their first goal came after 45 passes. They took a free kick on 4.30 mins and scored on 5.41 mins without losing possession.

:thumbsup2:

 

I expect us to do likewise at San Starko on Saturday.

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Wish the commentator would stop mentioning THAT penalty (as he calls it) at Hampden. We failed there because we had a poor start and the crap ref didn't give them a penalty they should hvae had anyway. It's what Scotland failed to do earlier that's putting us out, not duff referees or diving players.

 

Absolutely correct. How did Levein manage to survive after the debacle in Prague?

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Absolutely correct. How did Levein manage to survive after the debacle in Prague?

 

Too early to sack him after so many recent changes to the Scotland manager. (At least that's the way the SFA will have seen it). I think his job is safe up to first few games of the next WC quaifier now. Let's hope he improves - does seem to be picking more attacking players recently albeit midfield rather than forwards.

 

He doesn't of course have much choice with the dearth of good players outside the midfield area. Some ten years back when the loss of TV revenue really hit clubs SPL teams cut back on duff foreigners and started blooding young players. This led to guys like MacFadden coming to the fore - and later other young players breaking through - and this attracted interest in England with players being signed for the Championship and even young kids being picked up directly by top English clubs (e.g. Bannan).

 

However looking around the SPL now, they seem to be slipping back to teams filled with older second rate non-Scots with young players getting less of a look in. Someone posted on a forum I was on recently that they were at a Kilmarnock v Motherwell game this season and there were only 6 Scots on the pitch. And these are two teams that had a reputation for bringing on young players.

 

This is a little worrying to me: the Scotland team has definitely improved of late but there are still obvioous weak areas. I don't see how we can continue to improve in future if we've gone back to old habits of not giving youngsters a chance to develop. Only hope I can see is that with success of players like Bannan, Adam and Dorrans, English teams will be on the look out for young Scots boys and pick them up before the SPL can ruin them.

Edited by Mr Bunny
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Last night's result was hardly a surprise, but this qualifying campaign was a missed opportunity to make the play-offs (from which we might have had a chance against Ireland, Monetengro, Estonia etc). The Czech Republic are nowhere near the team they once were, Lithuania were poor and Lichenstein should be cannon fodder. We were too negative early on away at Lithuania and the Czechs, and Levein has to take the blame for that - instead he is still blaming the ref from three games ago, ignoring the stonewall penalty Adam should have conceded in that game.

 

I accept that he won't be sacked and won't quit, but the idea that three one-goal wins, two of which were against Lichenstein (no disrespect intended), marks any kind of improvement is either nonsense or a rather sad indictment on the state of our game.

 

Also, anyone who thinks we have any chance of qualifying from our next World Cup Group is spouting utter drivel. I honestly think we have more chance of finishing last in that group than we do of finishing in the top 2.

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Levein has no one to blame but himself for the way he played against the Czechs away. Loads of teams go and play a match happy to take a draw, no teams go hoping for a draw and setting themselves up in such a way that they cannot score a goal and therefore will be unable to draw if they concede.

 

Scotland have no chance in the WC qualifiers, Wales will come second.

 

Why is it Wales have 2 undeniably world class players in Bale and Ramsey and then of course Bellamy yet Scotland has nobody near that calibre? Wales have as many Premiership/Championship average to nobodies as Scotland but they also have the players who can really make the difference on the big stage, and what is even better is now that Toshack has replaced Speed they are all desperate to play every minute for Wales, making Ramsey captain was a masterstroke by Speed.

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I agree with the comments above. Levein is fortunate to have a few more decent players to choose from than other recent managers, well reasonably good midfielders at any rate. I think we failed to qualify as Levein was too scared, imagine anybody else in the world, anywhere, ever, going to play a game with no strikers, that is criminal and he should have been booted immediately for that. However, he wasn't and we will have to live with it for longer. I don't see Craig Brown's optimism for the next World Cup qualifiers, I think all the teams including Wales could beat us. Oh! well! Roll on 2018 in Quatar!

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Levein has no one to blame but himself for the way he played against the Czechs away. Loads of teams go and play a match happy to take a draw, no teams go hoping for a draw and setting themselves up in such a way that they cannot score a goal and therefore will be unable to draw if they concede.

 

Scotland have no chance in the WC qualifiers, Wales will come second.

 

Why is it Wales have 2 undeniably world class players in Bale and Ramsey and then of course Bellamy yet Scotland has nobody near that calibre? Wales have as many Premiership/Championship average to nobodies as Scotland but they also have the players who can really make the difference on the big stage, and what is even better is now that Toshack has replaced Speed they are all desperate to play every minute for Wales, making Ramsey captain was a masterstroke by Speed.

 

Darren Fletcher?

 

And dont forget we pished all over Wales in the Celtic Cup. We'll be there or thereabouts come then end of the WC qualifiers.

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Levein's tactics against the Czech Republic are attacked as if they were some kind of aberration but this system has been suggested as they way forward (sic) for future. As an example take this article from The Guardian a few years back.

 

As with any system, you need the players to make it work and this is where Scotland (and the other UK countries) fall short. We still seem obsessed with players having a "natural" position whereas other countries focus on highly skilled and intelligent players that can easily adapt to different roles.

 

Andy Roxburgh says in the article that you need six Deco's to make this work - we don't even have any!!

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The fact even diddier nations than us like Montenegro and Estonia made the play offs really grates me, and it seems to happen every campaign with teams like Latvia, Slovenia and so on.

 

It'll only get worse with the next group of qualifiers. Liechtenstein hardly have players like Gareth Bale.

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And dont forget we pished all over Wales in the Celtic Cup. We'll be there or thereabouts come then end of the WC qualifiers.

 

I'm not trying to be rude, but what exactly is this prediction based on? We managed 3 unconvincing (in general) one-goal wins in this group, and they were against two teams who are considerably worse than any of the teams we have in the 2014 qualifiers. As Uberteeb mentions, Wales have the likes of Bale and Ramsey, and they are the team we got from the 6th pot. Belgium are one of the most improved teams in Europe and are some people's prediction to win the group, we will lose in Macedonia, and all this is before we even get to the top two seeds in the group. We have an atrocious record in Eastern Europe, and will more than likely get nothing from Croatia or Serbia away.

 

Levein says we are improving, but then he has to, as if we weren't he would be staring at the exit door. I don't see it, he's clutching at straws. We don't have any decent centre backs and if Miller isn't playing, we don't have a decent lone striker - which is unfortunate, given the 4-5-1 formation.

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