Time to get your coat then....
THe morning after the night before. So where did it all go wrong? Wrong team, wrong tactics, wrong substitutions. Wrong manager.
Wrong team - Levein has alienated our best striker Steven Fletcher. Playing well for Wolves and bangin goals in. Some would argue he's made himself unavailable. But he did what the rest of us did and criticised the ridiculous 4-6-0 formation in Czech Rep. This should have been sorted long ago. Additionally, Chris Commons may not have been at his fittest but his exclusion was ridiculous. One of Celtics best performers last year, a real goal threat and great at taking players on.
Wrong Tactics - A must win game and we play one up top. 4-1-4-1 FFS I said it before the game. If you play one up you will not pressurise the opposition defence, not create enough chances and can't play a compact game in their end of the park. We had 1 shot on target inthe 1st half. 1 goal granted. But it says it all. Similar in 2nd half. They had a rookie keeper and we put no pressure on him at all. There was no attacking threat in our midfield. 1 player to link midfield to attack We had a very flat 4 across midfield with Adam in behind midfield. WTF is that all about ?. Why does he continually play Adam in a holding role and suppress his attacking ability ? He scored 18goals from midfield with Blackpool. But Latrine decides to nullify that threat by playing him deep. The balance was totally wrong. If your gonna play 1 up make it 4-3-2-1. 1 striker with the likes of Naismith and Commons just behind with a midfield of Fletcher, Adams and Morrison. Preferably it must be two up. 2 premiership striker in S.Fletcher and Goodwillie playing in front of a mid 4 of D.Fletcher, Adam, Morrison, Naismith. This gives the correct balance of attack and defence from midfield. Even a diamond of Fletcher to break up play, with Adam and Morrison in front and Naismith in the hole to link with Goodie and S.Fletcher. We simply must stop lining up to nullify the opposition and start playing to our strenghts. All the attacking potential in the squad was either left on the bench or left behind altogether. And for that Levein is culpable. A total bottle merchant unwilling to go for it from the 1st whistle.
Wrong Substitutions - Why take Naismith off ? Miller could have done with some help. Goodwillie never left the bench. What is your fascination with ex-DU players ? Cowie and Robson ffs ? two champiosnhip players when we had two EPL player in Goodie and Bannan on the bench. The biggest indictment was that from the 60th minute onwards we could ALL see the wheel nuts loosening. Latrine allowed them to come off and de-rail our campaign a full 18 MINUTES later by not making the necessary changes in midfield to freshen up midfield. We were under pressure and needed a change in there. Latrine effed up big style by not freshening it up. The next biggest indictment was the subsitution of experienced left back Bardsley rookie Wilson who isnt even a LB ffs at a crucial time in the match. And we all know how that went with Wilson sticking a leg in where he shouldnt have. While the ref was conned, an experienced pro wouldnt have put a foot out. The keeper had it covered.
Wrong Manager - A reactionary manager. THe best group of players we've had in a decade. THey're wasted on him. He never sets up up with our best 11 to win a game. He sets us up, first and foremost, with the opposition in mind and how to stop them. Smacks of small-minded inferiority complex. He says he has confidence in his team. His team selections and tactics tell us other wise. He was won nothing as manager. Yet he manages EPL players from the likes of Liverpool, Villa, Sunderland, Wigan and Wolves. He is unable to instill that winning mentality or draw on experience to offer advice. Levein doesnt inspire confidence. He saps it. I have no doubt he will play one up against Lithuania also on Tue in another must win game. He still refuses to admit he was wrong in Prague with his 4-6-0. This says it all aboutt he guy. He says he didnt know the players at that time. So whose fault is that Levein ? The fans knew you had a good team. You failed miserably through lack of knowledge of your team. You failed to capitalise in Lithuania when we were on top by sticking with 1 up when we could all see a 2nd striker would win it for us. You stumbled across our better players thru no choice due to injuries un the 2nd half against Spain. You almost humiliated us against Lichenstein. Again we played 1 up FFS. And now you've done it again against the Czechs at Hampden. Quite possibly the worst Czech team for a long long time. But you've found your scape-goat - the referee. Many will fall for your deflection and finger pointing. But most of us know who is to blame fo our failure.
You said you'll be judged on results. The results are in.....now get you coat Levein
Levein:I will be judged by Scotland Results
posted on 4/9/11
DB, to be fair you blindly defend the clown.
I noticed a post by you last night. Where you said he was better than Burley.
To my surprise I read today that 5 points from 5 games is Scotland's worst results in qualifications in 20 years.
So, maybe, DB you should watch the games again and tell us what Avril/HarryPotter/the eejit is doing that is better than Burley.
Oh aye, we beat NI reserves in a friendly.
The man proved he's a clown with 6-4-0.
DB tell me how you win games without strikers and I will become a blind supporter of Levine, like you.
posted on 4/9/11
Can't remember when Cowie played for Dundee United...
I agree that Levein is very defensive-minded and far too often that holds his teams back. As a United fan, he did a great job in the beginning with us as for years we were far too easy to beat and he managed to steady the ship really well. However, when it comes to taking the game to the opposition and games you must win, he is far too cautious for my liking. Yesterday was a must-win game so no surprises for me that he picked the wrong team.
Can anyone remember the last time a Scotland manager picked 2 strikers for a competitve game?? For me yesterday was the day we should have gone for it. It would have been great to have had Steven Fletcher (even though I think Goodwillie will become a far better player, maybe I'm biased...) as Miller was incredibly isolated for most of the match. I can't recall too many occasions where the 2 so-called attacking midfielders (Naismith and Morrison) got into threatening positions. I don't really understand the fascination with Naismith, for me he is nowhere near good enough for international football. And we desperately need to find a more reliable centre back or two!
However, I don't like to see managers being replaced after such a short time so I hope Levein can see the error of his ways and begin to understand that he actually has a few (admittedly not many) players who can get their foot on the ball and take the game to times. I very much doubt it's going to happen though.
posted on 4/9/11
DB, to be fair you blindly defend the clown.
I noticed a post by you last night. Where you said he was better than Burley.
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His team looks far better than Burley. How can you say we are anywhere near the shambles we were under Burley.
If all you look at is cold hard stats then yes Burley maybe got more points but in a far far easier group. I would expect us to get out of the group Burley had, but it was always going to be more luck than skill to get out of this group and anyone expecting it is deluded.
I'm not saying Levein is flawless, far from it, I was one of thousands screaming at Hampden yesterday when he brought on Cowie. I was also screaming at Caldwell the whole game who was hapless as usual.
I know Levein's not perfect, but who's better that will take the job and who we can afford.
People suggesting Moyes etc are in cloud cuckoo land. These managers won't leave the EPL for a long time. Unfortunately about all we can get at the moment, are young managers on the way up or oldies on the road to retirement.
At the moment I'm happy to back Levein, doesn't mean I don't criticise him.
You do seem to have a personal issue with him, calling him childish names doesn't help your arguments. And then you resort calling me names when I disagree with you. That's not a debate.
posted on 4/9/11
Db Billy Davies wwas available and wanted it. A much better option. A guy that took Derby to the EPL. His teams play proper football. The SFA erred giving it to Levein over Davies.
posted on 4/9/11
DB tell me how you win games without strikers and I will become a blind supporter of Levine, like you
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Kenny Miller, Steven Naismith, Charlie Adam, James Morrison. These players are all capable of scoring goals. Apart from Goodwillie (who's scored one goal against League 1 opposition since joining B'burn) who else should we be playing?
Please don't say Steven Fletcher. If he was interested in playing for his country he'd be in the team.
It doesn't seem to do Spain, Brazil, Portugal, Italy etc any harm playing with one striker.
We have an obsession in Scotland that unless we see a 4-4-2 starting lineup we assume it's not an attacking formation which is just nonsense.
Formations don't decide how much you attack, the players picked and how they play do.
The problem yesterday for parts of the game was that we sat to deep seemingly happy with our goal and lacked that bit of confidence to get forward and attack, as when we did attack we looked dangerous. This had nothing to do with the formation but the players bottle and lack of ability to hold on to the ball when it matters.
posted on 4/9/11
We played Adam out of position in holding role. Alone striker with a flat midfield. The evidence was there to see how defended deeper and deeper. You are blind by Levein. Take a cold balanced look at it. Hisctactics wee shocking. The suspected wrong and the substitutions were wrong. Each time we scored we retreated to defend it. We didn't try to add to it. Igbo can't seeceherecit went wrong then that's yourcproblem. For some of us it was patently obvious and wherecthe blame lies. As for S Fletcher the onus is on Levein to pick up the phone and make amends with the lad. But Levein is a bottler who prefers to finger point than face the truth. If he had any kudos we would have seen the last 8 minutes out yesterday retaining posession and frustrating them. But naw. Levein had everyone behinmd the baw at panic stations. It was another in a long line of ridiculous approached.
posted on 5/9/11
Comment Deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 5/9/11
I'm not a huge believer that we need to play 4-4-2 to be attacking. What is true, is that the 4-1-4-1 defensive shape should not be getting used in every game.
Levein is FAR too cautious at home, he has no excuses for not being more attack minded tomorrow.
We should be playing a 4-2-3-1 at home, though due to injuries we probably don't have the players to do this tommorrow :-
McGregor
Hutton
Caldwell
Berra
Bardsley
Fletcher
Adam
Morrison
Dorrans
Mcfadden
Miller
Playing the 4-1-4-1 in EVERY game is so predictable. I've just seen on SSN he says Goodwillie will start tomorrow which surprises me. I thought he'd go Naismith up front on his own!!
Hopefully with that piece of good news we might actually give it a proper go tomorrow!!
posted on 5/9/11
DB, that was cute, what you did there.
I was referring to his infamous 6-4-0 formation.
How many strikers were in that line up?
You keep defending him. Only makes me think you're related to the guy.
posted on 5/9/11
QC.
The clue is in his initials
DB = David Blunkett
As much vision as Levein