Paid Members hallicks Posted June 24 Paid Members Posted June 24 9 minutes ago, TheBurningRed said: We must’ve been watching a different Madueke. I thought he was dreadful last night. I think it felt like an improvement when he moved to the left as Gordon was so poor before him. Even if his dribbling was ineffective from the right, at least he was able to get on the ball. Gordon might as well have not bothered. There was one instance in the first half when Madueke went for the byline instead of cutting inside and it was one of the few times in the whole match it felt something might happen. Quote
Members SuperBacon Posted June 24 Author Members Posted June 24 I like Gordon, I think he's decent but he has been woeful in the last two games, start Rashford on the left in my opinion. Also Djed Spence isn't a left back, I really wish managers would realise this. The only benefit of him playing on the left is him coming inside, but then you need Rice and/or Anderson (I felt this pairing didn't work last night) to push up and that didn't happen, so then he's just occupying the same space which isn't ideal. Play him at right back. Quote
Members SuperBacon Posted June 25 Author Members Posted June 25 Feel sorry for the Scottish fans, but my word Steve Clarke is such an absolute prick isn't he? Never realised what a miserable, rude arsehole he is until the last two games and the interviews after. Great to see Neymar on the pitch as well. Quote
Paid Members I Bent My Wookie Posted June 25 Paid Members Posted June 25 He's intolerable. Anyone celebrating him signing that new deal needs their heritage revoking. Horrid performance again, no drive, very little at the top end of the park, potentially gonna get spanked by Mexico on the way out if somehow there's 4 worse teams than us in 3rd. Quote
westlondonmist Posted June 25 Posted June 25 I can't stand Clarke. Hype because we qualified for tournaments, he's had a hell of an advantage with Euros with 24 teams and World Cup with 48. I think he's a really shit manager, imagine being 3 nil down with 10 minutes to go and putting a defender and a CM on, waiting tíl the 92nd minute to put a striker on. He tried to play defensive, didn't really know how, shoehorns players into position. Scotland has such a negative attitude to football. Just happy to be there attitude, and expecting to fail. It's at the clubs too. The results around us aren't going our way, not that we deserve to go through. Quote
Paid Members Lorne Malvo Posted June 25 Paid Members Posted June 25 I've been loving this World Cup so far but this 3rd place bollocks is doing my head in already. Teams playing all three of their group games and still not knowing if they're through or not just makes the whole thing overly convoluted and messy for me. Quote
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted June 25 Paid Members Posted June 25 No mention of the best moment of the World Cup so far - Ochoa getting subbed on for Mexico in front of his home fans. Lovely moment, got the reception he deserved. Quote
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted June 25 Paid Members Posted June 25 47 minutes ago, Lorne Malvo said: I've been loving this World Cup so far but this 3rd place bollocks is doing my head in already. Teams playing all three of their group games and still not knowing if they're through or not just makes the whole thing overly convoluted and messy for me. I don't really mind it. It's how the World Cup was for the first few I saw. I don't like the head to head stuff though. Knowing Haiti couldn't finish 3rd even when they were winning last night ruins it. Means teams like Tunisia, Jordan and Panama don't even get a go at it in the last game to pull something off. It's the same as the Euros but is naff. Quote
Members SuperBacon Posted June 25 Author Members Posted June 25 8 minutes ago, tiger_rick said: I don't like the head to head stuff though This is, and always has been, utter shite, and a terrible way of settling things. It should be goal difference, if that's the same, then goals scored, and if that's the same, they should settle it how I once won an U10s school tournament, and that is of course, on corners (because the organisers were fannies and didn't think kids could handle pens. Game was gone even then!) Quote
westlondonmist Posted June 25 Posted June 25 1 hour ago, Lorne Malvo said: I've been loving this World Cup so far but this 3rd place bollocks is doing my head in already. Teams playing all three of their group games and still not knowing if they're through or not just makes the whole thing overly convoluted and messy for me. There were quite a few world cups with 24 teams and now standard at the Euros. There are cases where it kind of works because the difference between second and third can be head to head or goal difference. But it unfortunately also allow teams to try and shithouse their way through. Still think 64 teams would be better though with 32 in the Euros. Quote
Paid Members Jazzy G Posted June 25 Paid Members Posted June 25 Scotland were made to look mediocre by a Brazil side that phoned it in. At one point I asked a friend who was watching along with me whether Brazil's shots on goal will be higher than Scotland's possession. On the bright side they've managed to avoid Germany in the next round. Quote
Paid Members SpiritOfTheForest Posted June 26 Paid Members Posted June 26 (edited) Seeing every single one of the possible permutations get ticked off one by one as not happening does at least provide the maximum pain that comes with supporting Scotland though. We needed 4 of a possible 9 things to happen and right now every one of them has failed. South Korea should definitely beat South Africa, right? Sorry mate, 3-0. Okay Ecuador vs Germany....we need a Germany win, that seems like the likeliest outcome! 2-1 Ecuador win it. Japan to beat Sweden by 4 goals. Hmm that seems a bit of an ask but Japan have been a great side so far....1-1 Then last night: USA to avoid defeat to Turkey while Australia beat Paraguay. USA lose. The Aussies draw. In the last 40 hours or so, our odds of qualification have plummeted from 48% to 5%. It's excruciating and I've just about made my peace with the fact it's done. If you don't laugh, you'll cry. Won't be much longer till we are officially put out of our misery. Steve Clarke has done well in getting us to tournaments and breaking that duck but when we get there we have been an embarrassment. 4 goals across 9 games. Opinion seemed mixed after the Haiti game with some being happy with any win and others being concerned that we only boosted the goal difference by 1. It seems that second half of sitting off has indeed come back to bite us. Rotten, eye-bleeding, football terrorism from a squad containing several quality players. The midfield in particular has been ruined by the dour, miserable tactics. I do think it is a bit pish that the teams playing last have an advantage over those playing earlier. In that, teams playing Saturday will know exactly what they need to qualify whereas with us going earlier it was all rather uncertain. Edited June 26 by SpiritOfTheForest Quote
Paid Members Carbomb Posted June 26 Paid Members Posted June 26 (edited) One of the things I found particularly frustrating about that Brazil game was the lack of conviction till later, when it was too late, because Scotland might have been able to get a bit more than they did, to help them qualify. If they'd started sooner, it might even have been possible for them to edge a win. Brazil are good, but they don't exactly seem ironclad at the back, and McTominay's efforts really strongly suggested that, if Scotland had just said "fuck it", and had a bit more of a go than they did (because, let's face it, being defensive wasn't exactly working either), they might have been able to batter the door down with sheer numbers and percentages. McGinn, Tierney, Gannon-Doak, Shankland, and Ferguson were also up for it, and you could see that in the later stages. Sure, they may not have had the overall superior quality, but there were individual moments where it seemed like they could beat them in skill, and then bully their way up to goal to make up for the rest of it. Edited June 26 by Carbomb Stuart McCall Quote
Members SuperBacon Posted June 26 Author Members Posted June 26 Scotland have been pretty terrible in every game, including the first one against Haiti. When you consider there have been teams who have really had a go at "bigger" teams, their performances have been inexcusable. They don't deserve to go through (but then 3rd going through is terrible and always will be) If you're going to go to your first World Cup, where there is a really strong chance of you going home early, why would you not have a go? Correct me if I'm wrong, but Ross Stewart hasn't seen a single minute of this World Cup. If Steve Clarke can tell me that Shankland and Dykes are better strikers than him, then fair play, but they're not and he should've given him a go. Anyway, this made me happy from the highlights last night. The Japanese, a great bunch of lads. Also, GOAT Tim Vickerys daily videos have been superb. Quote
Fog Dude Posted June 26 Posted June 26 9 hours ago, SpiritOfTheForest said: South Korea should definitely beat South Africa, right? Sorry mate, 3-0. In the last 40 hours or so, our odds of qualification have plummeted from 48% to 5%. [...] I do think it is a bit pish that the teams playing last have an advantage over those playing earlier. In that, teams playing Saturday will know exactly what they need to qualify whereas with us going earlier it was all rather uncertain. I think you've hallucinated two extra goals for South Africa there. But yeah, those last two stats are definitely linked. I'm afraid I don't think Scotland deserve to go through based on performances alone, but the fact they were disadvantaged by randomly having been drawn into Group C as opposed to, say, Group K absolutely stinks. Another rethink of the format needed before 2030 I reckon. Quote
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