I think we play some ok stuff at times, and a couple of solid centre halves would make give us a fair shout of the play offs. Unfortunately we just don't have them.
A few years back it was the opposite, decent enough defence and no scoring enough, now we can seem to score but not keep them out.
We really have no CB options whatsoever that are good options. Which is why I find it hard to be too critical of Strachan. Yes I disagree with some decisions he makes but it's the same with any manager club or country.
Ultimately in the last campaign we scored a decent amount of goals: only 2 less than Germany and 3 more than Ireland. We just couldn't keep them out at the other end. That and one awful performance against Georgia, where if we had even squeaked a 1-0 we'd have been in the play offs.
The big tests will be three away games against Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia. We'll probably have to win two out of three as well as all the home games. I'd take a draw in Slovakia right now. They look organised and difficult to beat. The other two should be beatable (but so were Georgia) if we are organised and hold our nerve but again, with our defence there are no guarantees.
I though Paterson and Robertson were good going forward but poor defensively. Neither of them were closing wingers down quick enough, and a better team will punish that. It didn't help that they were having to tuck in a lot more than they should because the CBs weren't tracking properly. For their goal neither CB was picking up a man and were staring at the ball. LB is not an issue though as Tierney and Wallace are both decent players and I'd be happy with any of the 3 playing, Robertson has had better games defensively as well and I doubt they'll push forward as much against better teams, we have Shinnie in reserve too. RB has been an issue for a while. Paterson might not be the finished article but it's only his 2nd cap and he's 21, he still looks better than Hutton or Whittaker. Keep him in, let him get experience, it's not like anyone better is coming along in a hurry.
Nice score line last night and looked good at times going forward. Snodgrass, Ritchie and Burke dragged us through. Fletcher sat in and did ok, Bannan was decent but I'd still rather have McArthur when fit.
There was a lot of luck last night though. 1st goal was a fluke, on another day a ref could have called a foul in the build up to the 2nd, 3rd was a joke pen, 4th was decent and 5th was a rebound. 4 of those goals could easily not have happened, not to mention one of the worst red cards I've ever seen. I think we deserved to win and were the better team, but the scoreline did flatter us and on another day we could have been trudging off after a 1-1 draw thinking its over already. Still it's very rare we get the rub of the green, so I'll gladly take it.
On a positive Malta weren't that bad and could certainly take points of Lithuania or Slovenia at home. The are well organised and have pace up front to break. I don't see them doing a San Marino/Gibraltar and losing every game heavily.
What did we learn..
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posted on 5/9/16
I think we play some ok stuff at times, and a couple of solid centre halves would make give us a fair shout of the play offs. Unfortunately we just don't have them.
A few years back it was the opposite, decent enough defence and no scoring enough, now we can seem to score but not keep them out.
We really have no CB options whatsoever that are good options. Which is why I find it hard to be too critical of Strachan. Yes I disagree with some decisions he makes but it's the same with any manager club or country.
Ultimately in the last campaign we scored a decent amount of goals: only 2 less than Germany and 3 more than Ireland. We just couldn't keep them out at the other end. That and one awful performance against Georgia, where if we had even squeaked a 1-0 we'd have been in the play offs.
The big tests will be three away games against Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia. We'll probably have to win two out of three as well as all the home games. I'd take a draw in Slovakia right now. They look organised and difficult to beat. The other two should be beatable (but so were Georgia) if we are organised and hold our nerve but again, with our defence there are no guarantees.
I though Paterson and Robertson were good going forward but poor defensively. Neither of them were closing wingers down quick enough, and a better team will punish that. It didn't help that they were having to tuck in a lot more than they should because the CBs weren't tracking properly. For their goal neither CB was picking up a man and were staring at the ball. LB is not an issue though as Tierney and Wallace are both decent players and I'd be happy with any of the 3 playing, Robertson has had better games defensively as well and I doubt they'll push forward as much against better teams, we have Shinnie in reserve too. RB has been an issue for a while. Paterson might not be the finished article but it's only his 2nd cap and he's 21, he still looks better than Hutton or Whittaker. Keep him in, let him get experience, it's not like anyone better is coming along in a hurry.
Nice score line last night and looked good at times going forward. Snodgrass, Ritchie and Burke dragged us through. Fletcher sat in and did ok, Bannan was decent but I'd still rather have McArthur when fit.
There was a lot of luck last night though. 1st goal was a fluke, on another day a ref could have called a foul in the build up to the 2nd, 3rd was a joke pen, 4th was decent and 5th was a rebound. 4 of those goals could easily not have happened, not to mention one of the worst red cards I've ever seen. I think we deserved to win and were the better team, but the scoreline did flatter us and on another day we could have been trudging off after a 1-1 draw thinking its over already. Still it's very rare we get the rub of the green, so I'll gladly take it.
On a positive Malta weren't that bad and could certainly take points of Lithuania or Slovenia at home. The are well organised and have pace up front to break. I don't see them doing a San Marino/Gibraltar and losing every game heavily.
posted on 5/9/16
Comment deleted by Site Moderator
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