Scotland Double Header - Wales/Serbia

Discussion in 'Scotland' started by frasermc, Mar 10, 2013.

  1. frasermc

    frasermc Take your flunky and dangle

    Celtic
    Scotland
    Jul 28, 2006
    Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
    Club:
    Celtic FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Scotland
    http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/scottish_fa_news.cfm?page=1957&newsCategoryID=6&newsID=11488

    Qualification dreams are all but extinguished already but these early games under new boss Gordon Strachan are important markers. Especially considering these will be his first two competitive matches.

    I especially want to see us stuffing Bale & co at Hampden. *by stuff I mean I'll take a 1-0 :ninja:*


    Squad has been chosen for the double header -

    Goalkeepers
    Matt Gilks (Blackpool)
    David Marshall (Cardiff City)
    Allan McGregor (Besiktas)

    Defenders
    Christophe Berra (Wolverhampton Wanderers)
    Gary Caldwell (Wigan Athletic)
    Daniel Fox (Southampton)
    Grant Hanley (Blackburn Rovers)
    Alan Hutton (Real Mallorca)
    Russell Martin (Norwich City)
    Charlie Mulgrew (Celtic)
    Andy Webster (Heart of Midlothian)

    Midfielders
    Charlie Adam (Stoke City)
    Liam Bridcutt (Brighton and Hove Albion)
    Chris Burke (Birmingham City)
    Kris Commons (Celtic)
    Graham Dorrans (West Bromwich Albion)
    James Forrest (Celtic)
    Gary Mackay-Steven (Dundee United)
    James McArthur (Wigan Athletic)
    James Morrison (West Bromwich Albion)
    Robert Snodgrass (Norwich City)

    Forwards
    George Boyd (Hull City)
    Steven Fletcher (Sunderland)
    Ross McCormack (Leeds United)
    Shaun Maloney (Wigan Athletic)
    Kenny Miller (Vancouver Whitecaps)
    Steven Naismith (Everton)
    Jordan Rhodes (Blackburn Rovers)
     
  2. Jamooky

    Jamooky Member+

    Mar 24, 2006
    Cleveland, OH USA
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Who in the world is George Boyd?
     
  3. frasermc

    frasermc Take your flunky and dangle

    Celtic
    Scotland
    Jul 28, 2006
    Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
    Club:
    Celtic FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Scotland
    Don't ask difficult questions!

    I'm still trying to understand why Griffiths can't even make the squad... :confused:
     
  4. frasermc

    frasermc Take your flunky and dangle

    Celtic
    Scotland
    Jul 28, 2006
    Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
    Club:
    Celtic FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Scotland
    Ross McCormack, James Forrest and Danny Fox have all had to withdraw from the squad.

    Steven Whittaker has been added to the squad.
     
  5. frasermc

    frasermc Take your flunky and dangle

    Celtic
    Scotland
    Jul 28, 2006
    Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
    Club:
    Celtic FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Scotland
    That was hard to watch last night. Unfortunately, the current condition of our team means we can't handle losing players such as Fletcher, Morrison and Brown and not suffer greatly for it.

    We're especially short in the holding mid role and at the back, which was in clear evidence last night.

    He may have scored our only goal but Hanley is far from being international class. I would much prefer to see Mulgrew playing in at CB and playing someone such as Paul Dixon at LB.

    And I'm not looking to pick on certain individuals but Kenny Miller has served his time in the national team. This qualification campaign was long gone so surely we should be looking to integrate Jordan Rhodes as much as possible for the next Euro qualifying campaign.
     
  6. Green Monster

    Green Monster Member

    Feb 5, 2013
    Scotland
    Club:
    Celtic FC
    Of the various positions that Mulgrew can play I firmly am of the opinion that LB is his least. He is a much better CB, or even a MF than he is as a LB - but with reason.

    I know he has played a large portion of his career there, when he was first coming through and then at Aberdeen etc. He can get away with being a LB on narrow pitches because there is less room in order to be pulled marginally oout of position and therefore it is much easier to recover and be back where he needs to be.

    On the wider expanses of Hampden (or indeed, Celtic Park), he has gotten caught out on occasion, by drifting and creating space for the opposition to try and potentially exploit. There is a reason that last season when Izzy was out for Celtic for months and months that Ledley was more often played at LB, and on the few occasions that Mulgrew was played there it was usually on smaller pitches. This was not always the case, but it does lend credibility to the theory.
     
  7. frasermc

    frasermc Take your flunky and dangle

    Celtic
    Scotland
    Jul 28, 2006
    Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
    Club:
    Celtic FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Scotland
    We stink. Gordon Strachan has an awful lot of work to do. It's difficult to know where to start the rebuilding.

    We can't look to outscore a team and we can't hope to concede less. It's a horrible catch-22 situation.

    If we surrender possession and territory to the other side in the hopes of keeping a clean sheet we will inevitably concede as we are not good enough defensively.

    If we look to go gung-ho and outscore any opponent we don't have the ability to create enough chances or build up enough pressure to score consistently enough.


    I'm trying to find positives from last night but it isn't easy. Our defending in the first half was decent enough on a difficult pitch but the 2 goals we lost were terrible. Hutton was sleeping for the first and why Marshall didn't come out for the 2nd goal I have no idea.

    And to compound matters more we offer nothing going forward. We have next no creativity and are extremely predictable and laborious when in possession of the ball.

    Difficult times ahead indeed.

    * Got one! I thought George Boyd had a decent international debut all things considered.
     
  8. Borussia

    Borussia Member+

    Jun 5, 2006
    Fürth near Nuremberg
    Club:
    Borussia Mönchengladbach
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
  9. ShaRule

    ShaRule Member

    May 5, 2005
    Belgium - Iran
    Question for you guys, which opponent seemed to be better so far? Croatia, Serbia, wales, macedonia or serbia? And why?

    Edit. Eventhough you haven't played croatia yet.
     
  10. Scottish_Morton

    Jul 7, 2003
    Irvine, Scotland
    Wales, Serbia and Macedonia seem to be on a similar level at the moment from what I've seen. All of these games could have gone either way.

    Belgium were very strong. Haven't played Croatia yet but they also look an excellent side which is capable of getting very important goals. Both would be strong additions to the World Cup, and I wouldn't like to be the team that has to face one of them in a play-off.
     

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