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Posted

What's even more distressing is that I'm reading "the same players will have to pick themselves up and go again" & "there's nobody else coming through"

If he doesn't start to give some of the stand out players in Scotland a chance, we'll soon be looking at ten tournaments without qualification.

He absolutely has to broaden his horizons from the English Premiership / championship and Celtic..

Posted

Strachan should be binned. Ok Martin O'Neill has the two turncoats McCarthy and McGeady but he reached the play-offs despite only taking one point off Scotland. Really impressive management overall with a limited team.

I thought Strachan was an excellent appointment but if he can't motivate the team to deliver a shot on target against a p*ss-poor Georgia team in our campaign-defining match then what's the point in him carrying on?

This idea that it's all down to a lack of good players being available is a cop-out. Greece won the Euros without a single quality player. Northern Ireland won their group. Finishing fourth in this group was abject failure and dressing it up as anything less just says we're happy to never qualify as long as we produce a few good results here and there.

Posted

I'll come to Strachan's defence for arguments sake.

Coming into the job, he followed Craig Levein who'd had some fights with key members of the squad and it was pretty obvious that the squad were not playing for him. Draws against Serbia, Macedonia and defeats to Wales and Belgium under Levein meant that we were pretty far out of it so the focus moved onto getting a decent squad together to fight this campaign and he had a year to do it. Grant Hanley and Russell Martin were identified as a superior centre back pairing to what we had (and they definitely were). Ikechi Anya was given his first call up. The goalkeeping situation was often inconsistent as Gordon wasn't really on the scene and McGregor was having a torrid time with constant injuries so Marshall was given the nod as he brought consistency to the back 4. Andy Robertson was given a shot. Snodgrass was given more regular starts and was seen as an important player. Bannan continued to have a key role and showed promise.

I know every international manager will call up new players and have their own favourites and that's not the point I'm trying to make here. Strachan brought in many players and it didn't work initially (we kept losing) but eventually, he turned things round and we were looking in a very good situation by the time the Euro campaign come around with a squad that seemed as balanced as possible and for the most part, they were all in good form. Certain players didn't work out for whatever reason (Robertson showed defensive vulnerabilities, Snodgrass with a bad injury and Bannan with a lack of a long term club side) but we had at least formed a spine that was pretty effective.

The campaign started in Dortmund and we lost narrowly away to Germany. We played very well in that game with Ikechi Anya showing his danger on the break (with a great ball through from Steven Fletcher) and the team as a whole were very good. The next game at home to Georgia was tough (they frustrated Ireland away from home too) but we got the points and looked comfortable in the end. Poland away was a very tough fixture (they'd beaten Germany in their previous match) and despite going behind and looking the much weaker side, we come back to take the lead and took a draw (which I thought was a very good sign). Ireland at home was a must win and we played superbly to match the occasion and took the points. 2014 was a very good year and we all entered 2015 pretty happy in the group of players that were representing us and most of the signs looked positive.

Gibraltar is obviously the write off game so we couldn't really tell must from that (but Steven Fletcher bagged a hat-trick) but our second game come away against Ireland (who had previously drawn to Poland and Germany) and was a very big game for the Irish with many of them viewing it as a must win. There was a big decision to make at centre back (with Hanley injured) and left back (with Whitakker and Robertson having suffered long term injuries) and he got it correct at centre back bringing in Mulgrew and gave Forsyth a shot at left back. Forsyth didn't play very well and was a weak link for most of the game and you could see tiredness in quite a few in the team (the same goes for Ireland though). We went behind and rescued a point and although there was a bit of fatigue about the squad, they were all going into the summer and there wasn't anything that seemed that fundamentally wrong. The draw was not a disaster (many actually hailed it as a good point) and we were still on track.

Georgia away was the let down but the team and squad selection was pretty much in line with expectations. The squad though were showing signs of tiredness. Brown was not having a good start with Celtic and didn't look quite right. Mulgrew, like Brown, was a pretty key player in the squad and was clearly struggling with tiredness and had recorded injury problems. Other members of the squad (i.e. Morrison and Naismith) had hit poor club form. All this combined with an 8 hour flight time (in a plane with poor seating according to Pat Nevin), a 36C kick off temperature and new management from the Georgians took it's toll and is the moment the campaign collapsed. The team lines though were logical. Despite the issues, Fletcher had been our most effective forward by far and I find it pretty unlikely that Griffiths who had shown himself ineffective as leading the line alone for Scotland would have changed things. The team on the pitch had earned their place there (internationally and at a club level when you considered the alternatives) and there weren't many others that were staking their claim who would have drastically changed the issues facing the team that day. The players let the manager down in many ways but I sort of think a perfect storm brewed for this one. I reject the notion that this was due to Strachan being insufficient in motivation as A) That had never shown at a previous point in his campaign and B ) The players were clearly struggling with the mental and physical intensities involved at club level which was out-with the managers control and only apparent in hindsight.

Germany arrived and we gave them a game but fell short as they chased a win that they really needed. Poland at home was frustrating in the end but we were depending on other teams results at that point and it was quite a steep challenge.

The point I'm trying to make by following that all through is that we were in it until the end. When you're in a campaign and fighting on, you aren't in a position to make the radical sort of change that the fans demand. OK Griffiths is in good form in the Scottish league but then bringing him in is at the expense of a forward who has done well for us in a campaign that is going steady and playing him means he will be playing a different style than what he is used to. That's the sort of decision which may work out one or two times but much more often than not, it's not going to work immediately when in success and any manager who is going to make those sorts of changes when we're still competing is not going to be respected by any squad. Campaigns aren't hindered by consistency, they NEED it.

I think our failure under Strachan has been down to three things:

  • An awful draw (look at the other groups and compare them with ours. Germany, Ireland and Poland (who were artificially rated lower due to not playing 2012 qualifiers) all in the same group is very unlucky. Germany also played Ireland at a time when it wasn't really that important for them and it allowed Ireland to sneak a shock win.
  • Not converting the draws into wins. Strachan's responsibility here but we should have been looking to win one of either Poland or Ireland away (obviously hindsight is great).
  • Fitness and form issues all coming together at the start of this season.

This is now the time where he actually has the freedom to experiment and try to bring in a new spine and new squad players. He's shown intention in bringing in young guys into the squad before for experience and I'm pretty confident he (more than anyone else) will know what needs to be done. I'm pretty confident that he will go down this route as he's shown a huge tendency towards calling up younger players (but you would never know that going by most fans!) which is evidenced by his squad selections (just go and look through them all and try to argue against them while considering what players were injured at the time).

If his heart is still in the job and he's going to get the full backing of the SFA, I'm happy with him to continue. He demonstrated sensible management in preparation for this campaign so that gives me belief that he'll do it for the next one. Ireland's freak result over Germany (who were utter sh**e that game) reversed or a victory over Georgia (if that 'keeper didn't make the wondersave from Maloney, I think we would have won that game) would have had us in a winnable play off. The margins are very tight and I don't think he's disgraced himself

Edited by harry94
Posted

I'll come to Strachan's defence for arguments sake.

Coming into the job, he followed Craig Levein who'd had some fights with key members of the squad and it was pretty obvious that the squad were not playing for him. Draws against Serbia, Macedonia and defeats to Wales and Belgium under Levein meant that we were pretty far out of it so the focus moved onto getting a decent squad together to fight this campaign and he had a year to do it. Grant Hanley and Russell Martin were identified as a superior centre back pairing to what we had (and they definitely were). Ikechi Anya was given his first call up. The goalkeeping situation was often inconsistent as Gordon wasn't really on the scene and McGregor was having a torrid time with constant injuries so Marshall was given the nod as he brought consistency to the back 4. Andy Robertson was given a shot. Snodgrass was given more regular starts and was seen as an important player. Bannan continued to have a key role and showed promise.

I know every international manager will call up new players and have their own favourites and that's not the point I'm trying to make here. Strachan brought in many players and it didn't work initially (we kept losing) but eventually, he turned things round and we were looking in a very good situation by the time the Euro campaign come around with a squad that seemed as balanced as possible and for the most part, they were all in good form. Certain players didn't work out for whatever reason (Robertson showed defensive vulnerabilities, Snodgrass with a bad injury and Bannan with a lack of a long term club side) but we had at least formed a spine that was pretty effective.

The campaign started in Dortmund and we lost narrowly away to Germany. We played very well in that game with Ikechi Anya showing his danger on the break (with a great ball through from Steven Fletcher) and the team as a whole were very good. The next game at home to Georgia was tough (they frustrated Ireland away from home too) but we got the points and looked comfortable in the end. Poland away was a very tough fixture (they'd beaten Germany in their previous match) and despite going behind and looking the much weaker side, we come back to take the lead and took a draw (which I thought was a very good sign). Ireland at home was a must win and we played superbly to match the occasion and took the points. 2014 was a very good year and we all entered 2015 pretty happy in the group of players that were representing us and most of the signs looked positive.

Gibraltar is obviously the write off game so we couldn't really tell must from that (but Steven Fletcher bagged a hat-trick) but our second game come away against Ireland (who had previously drawn to Poland and Germany) and was a very big game for the Irish with many of them viewing it as a must win. There was a big decision to make at centre back (with Hanley injured) and left back (with Whitakker and Robertson having suffered long term injuries) and he got it correct at centre back bringing in Mulgrew and gave Forsyth a shot at left back. Forsyth didn't play very well and was a weak link for most of the game and you could see tiredness in quite a few in the team (the same goes for Ireland though). We went behind and rescued a point and although there was a bit of fatigue about the squad, they were all going into the summer and there wasn't anything that seemed that fundamentally wrong. The draw was not a disaster (many actually hailed it as a good point) and we were still on track.

Georgia away was the let down but the team and squad selection was pretty much in line with expectations. The squad though were showing signs of tiredness. Brown was not having a good start with Celtic and didn't look quite right. Mulgrew, like Brown, was a pretty key player in the squad and was clearly struggling with tiredness and had recorded injury problems. Other members of the squad (i.e. Morrison and Naismith) had hit poor club form. All this combined with an 8 hour flight time (in a plane with poor seating according to Pat Nevin), a 36C kick off temperature and new management from the Georgians took it's toll and is the moment the campaign collapsed. The team lines though were logical. Despite the issues, Fletcher had been our most effective forward by far and I find it pretty unlikely that Griffiths who had shown himself ineffective as leading the line alone for Scotland would have changed things. The team on the pitch had earned their place there (internationally and at a club level when you considered the alternatives) and there weren't many others that were staking their claim who would have drastically changed the issues facing the team that day. The players let the manager down in many ways but I sort of think a perfect storm brewed for this one. I reject the notion that this was due to Strachan being insufficient in motivation as A) That had never shown at a previous point in his campaign and B ) The players were clearly struggling with the mental and physical intensities involved at club level which was out-with the managers control and only apparent in hindsight.

Germany arrived and we gave them a game but fell short as they chased a win that they really needed. Poland at home was frustrating in the end but we were depending on other teams results at that point and it was quite a steep challenge.

The point I'm trying to make by following that all through is that we were in it until the end. When you're in a campaign and fighting on, you aren't in a position to make the radical sort of change that the fans demand. OK Griffiths is in good form in the Scottish league but then bringing him in is at the expense of a forward who has done well for us in a campaign that is going steady and playing him means he will be playing a different style than what he is used to. That's the sort of decision which may work out one or two times but much more often than not, it's not going to work immediately when in success and any manager who is going to make those sorts of changes when we're still competing is not going to be respected by any squad. Campaigns aren't hindered by consistency, they NEED it.

I think our failure under Strachan has been down to three things:

  • An awful draw (look at the other groups and compare them with ours. Germany, Ireland and Poland (who were artificially rated lower due to not playing 2012 qualifiers) all in the same group is very unlucky. Germany also played Ireland at a time when it wasn't really that important for them and it allowed Ireland to sneak a shock win.
  • Not converting the draws into wins. Strachan's responsibility here but we should have been looking to win one of either Poland or Ireland away (obviously hindsight is great).
  • Fitness and form issues all coming together at the start of this season.

This is now the time where he actually has the freedom to experiment and try to bring in a new spine and new squad players. He's shown intention in bringing in young guys into the squad before for experience and I'm pretty confident he (more than anyone else) will know what needs to be done. I'm pretty confident that he will go down this route as he's shown a huge tendency towards calling up younger players (but you would never know that going by most fans!) which is evidenced by his squad selections (just go and look through them all and try to argue against them while considering what players were injured at the time).

If his heart is still in the job and he's going to get the full backing of the SFA, I'm happy with him to continue. He demonstrated sensible management in preparation for this campaign so that gives me belief that he'll do it for the next one. Ireland's freak result over Germany (who were utter sh**e that game) reversed or a victory over Georgia (if that 'keeper didn't make the wondersave from Maloney, I think we would have won that game) would have had us in a winnable play off. The margins are very tight and I don't think he's disgraced himself

As ever Harry, a well thought out argument, which I pretty much agree with, taking a more negative view, who the hell would we get to replace Strachan, there's not exactly a plethora of top managers clamouring for the job. While I'm gutted we fecked it up (as usual) as you say, very narrow margins, the Georgia game really does  feel like a kick in the spuds though.  :angry:

Posted

I really don't get the calls for Griffiths to have been used more. He's been pretty ineffective in previous international games and although he's scoring goals, it's not exactly against the best opposition. Georgia were always going to sit deep and be hard to break down. Without the space in behind, I don't think Griffiths has a good enough all round game (like bringing others into the game, holding it up) to be useful in that situation. All about opinions I suppose but I think Harry has summed it up well for me in the above post.

Posted

I really don't get the calls for Griffiths to have been used more. He's been pretty ineffective in previous international games and although he's scoring goals, it's not exactly against the best opposition. Georgia were always going to sit deep and be hard to break down. Without the space in behind, I don't think Griffiths has a good enough all round game (like bringing others into the game, holding it up) to be useful in that situation. All about opinions I suppose but I think Harry has summed it up well for me in the above post.

Its all speculation and I agree that Griffiths would probably struggle as a lone striker.

Probably a good think Scotland didn't qualify, I couldn't afford to go and support Scotland AND Dundee in Europe next year.  :ph34r:

Edited because I don't know my loan's from my lone's.  :slaphead:

Posted

Its all speculation and I agree that Griffiths would probably struggle as a lone striker.

Probably a good think Scotland didn't qualify, I couldn't afford to go and support Scotland AND Dundee in Europe next year. :ph34r:

Edited because I don't know my loan's from my lone's. :slaphead:

The situation actually reminds me a bit of the Miller/Boyd debate from a few years ago. Kris Boyd was banging them in at club level but never got a sniff at international level, and the truth is that he was never really cut out for that level because of his style of play. Miller was the better suited forward because of his all round game, even if he wasn't as good a goal scorer.

You're right about following both in Europe, give me a Dee away trip (or two!) over Scotland anyday!

Posted

Strachan's the only game in town, there's noboday else

Havent you guys read the Sunday Post?

Strachan has apparently *promised* we're going to make the World Cup finals.

It'll stick in a few folks craw if we qualify.

I'm quite happy that he's staying on, as there's absolutely nobody else with his experience   

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