Marshall 5 - Unconvincing night for the Cardiff keeper. Spilled a few balls early in the game and came charging out from his goalline in a haphazard manner a few times. Positioning wasn't always great either. Did make one tremendous stop from Lewandowski.
Hutton 2 - Horrific. Flogged both goals, offered nothing going forward and generally a bombscare all night.
Greer 6 - Did ok for his first competitive outing for Scotland. Always good to see youth given a chance.
R. Martin 7 - Steady as you like and one of our better performers. Not flashy but has done well when called upon.
Whittaker 4 - Not as bad as Hutton, but not far away from it. If he wasn't checking back on to his right foot all night he was hoofing aimless balls forward, giving away posession.
Brown 7 - Not spectacular but went about his business well. Broke up the play and generally kept posession well, although often it was going back the way or sideways.
Morrison 7 - Similar to Brown, although he also added the set play delivery for the second goal. Decent shift.
Anya 6 - Caused the Poles problems but just lacks that wee bit of quality. Terrific run and pull back for Maloney's goal.
Naismith 5 - Lovely finish for the second goal but had a frustrating night out wide. Seemed a wee bit lost.
Maloney 6 - Had a good first half but fell away in the second period. Tidy finish for the first.
S.Fletcher 7 - Didn't get much in terms of chances but held the ball up and brought others into play well. Lovely pass in the build up to the first goal.
Subs
C.Martin 3 - Did little and couldn't impact the game the way Fletcher did.
D.Fletcher 4 - Again did little although helped keep posession as we saw out the draw.
Strachan 7 - We would have all taken a point before the game and the game plan mostly worked. A clear tactic was to get in behind the full backs with a cross field pass and it paid off with the first goal. Baffling decision to play Whittaker instead of Robertson, and his subs failed to impact the game in the way the Polish subs did.
#POLSCO Player Ratings
posted on 15/10/14
I'm actually fizzing that we didnt win last night to be honest.
Perhaps I am beign way to harsh, but just cant help but feel we handed Poland a draw at the very least on a silver platter by taking off our two most effective attacking players with 20 mins to go, and replacing them with a holding midfielder and a completely inexperienced Championship striker, and we did this when we were 2-1 up, on the front foot and had the initiative.
posted on 15/10/14
the annoying thing was after we went 2-1 up we looked like the only team who were gonna score for 15mins then after they scored they battered us
posted on 15/10/14
I thought we tried to park the bus too early and gave them all the initiative. The fact that we're honking at the back also meant that encouraging them on was always going to result in a goal for them.
Having said that, they made terrific changes and he had to try to do something about the boy that came on that was causing us all sorts of problems.
I don't see it with Chris Martin by the way. He looks a Championship striker.
posted on 15/10/14
Greer 6 - Did ok for his first competitive outing for Scotland. Always good to see youth given a chance.
you having a laugh here? the kant is 33
posted on 15/10/14
posted on 15/10/14
comment by Detective constable NNH - Ivan/Ritchie/Rocket ... (U10730)
posted 8 minutes ago
Greer 6 - Did ok for his first competitive outing for Scotland. Always good to see youth given a chance.
you having a laugh here? the kant is 33
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posted on 15/10/14
2 of the best and 2 of the worst
Certain stand outs last night were for me
Fletcher - superb performance , great control and weight in his lay offs and harrassed and worked the whole time he was on. And that ball for Maloneys goal was superb -
Martin - i thought he was superb as well , made some great tackles , great headers , never got caught for positioning and if you can keep a guy like lewandowski in check then youve done your job
Hutton was awful , after playing so well on saturday too
Whittaker - My heart was in my mouth 1st half when as the ball got crossed he decided to take his eye off it and look for his man . He has alot of short comings as a defender but i could understand not playing Robertson in his place
posted on 15/10/14
I was totally bemused at Whittaker starting. He's just not got it at this level. Constantly gets caught wrong side of his man, and never gets a block on crosses. Not sure how he's any more physical than Robertson. Robertson is better than Whittaker defensively and offensively.
Hutton was poor but to be fair he has played well lately and certainly merited start. Still have no idea why Bardsley isn't in the squad though.
Bardsley at RB and Robertson at LB would be ideal for me.
For once I was disappointed in Strachan. He sat back far too early. Naismith, Maloney and Anya along with Fletcher worked tirelessly pushing their defence back. Once Naismith and Fletch came of they got more freedom to roam forward, we sat deeper and deeper and an equaliser was inevitable. In the end we were lucky just to concede one, second half.
Overall though, a decent result that I would have taken before the game. Disappointing to miss out on 3 points though.
Reckon we can take them at home though.
posted on 15/10/14
Usually hate seeing him in a Scotland jersey but I thought Morrison was our best player last night.
Didn't put a foot wrong the entire match, defended well, linked the midfield to attack better than anyone else and busted a gut to get forward. Also set up the second goal.
posted on 15/10/14
comment by db (U5527)
posted 5 hours, 42 minutes ago
I was totally bemused at Whittaker starting. He's just not got it at this level. Constantly gets caught wrong side of his man, and never gets a block on crosses. Not sure how he's any more physical than Robertson. Robertson is better than Whittaker defensively and offensively.
Hutton was poor but to be fair he has played well lately and certainly merited start. Still have no idea why Bardsley isn't in the squad though.
Bardsley at RB and Robertson at LB would be ideal for me.
For once I was disappointed in Strachan. He sat back far too early. Naismith, Maloney and Anya along with Fletcher worked tirelessly pushing their defence back. Once Naismith and Fletch came of they got more freedom to roam forward, we sat deeper and deeper and an equaliser was inevitable. In the end we were lucky just to concede one, second half.
Overall though, a decent result that I would have taken before the game. Disappointing to miss out on 3 points though.
Reckon we can take them at home though.
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Agree the main reason for our unbeaten run is our focus on attacking being our best policy of defence, it's funny how when we needed to get back in the game we did so quickly with a great move which took only 3 touches to finish with an end product, and then as I hoped we got in front, we needed to keep doing what we did best in keeping possession at that point and biding our time as with our improved passing ability as a team along with Poland's need to get back into the game, we had them where we wanted them, if we had kept playing the same way for another 15 mins or so I am sure we could have caught them again on the break and finished the game off with a third, there would have been no way back for them then, we would have just needed to keep possession which we are much more improved at, maybe the wrong subs, why not give some1 like Burke with his pace a try, he can pass, cross and has pace, skilful and can hit one from 20 yards, we did sit back which has not been in Gordon's mantra until now, although it must have been tempting to think we could see it out as we had handled them pretty well up until then, they had all their chances really after we sat back, but the positive thing was that when we were playing good football and in my opinion controlling the game to the point when the Polish supporters were booing us in possession, it took a poor mistake by Hutton to gift them their first and that apart it was pretty much all us barring a few Polish half chances, only sitting back possibly along with theirs subs making a difference gave them their only real spell of dominance in the game, we just need to make sure we stay in control from now on, not gift any goals and keep being positive and attacking when possible, we could also do with creating more good opportunities/shots on goal, etc, when we dominate possession, as again like against Georgia, but not to the same degree had more of the play away from home against the Poles but only 5 shots to their 19.