Scotland v Norway

[scottyboy]

Congratulations on qualifying Scotland. An impressive start to a campaign, that I can't remember the great teams of the 70s and early 80s achieving with a few games to spare. Steve Clarke has a decent workmanlike team playing for him. Find it hard to believe Lyndon Dykes has more caps and goals than Steve Archibald , but there yi go. Different eras.

[Digs]

That was a weird game 😂 Not sure on the four at the back, we got roasted down the right hand side for most of the game and all of the goals came from there. I think he’s just using the last two games to try things out though and see what he can do to change things up with different personnel too. It also has to be said, we had several key players missing who will almost certainly start the first game of the tournament (fitness permitting).

Other than that, it was a great night at the game, and I was also especially proud as I had a wee personal interest in it that my son (huge Pars fan too) has been on the staff for the whole campaign, at one point Steve Clark calling him his good luck charm!

He got on the pitch tonight and was part of the celebrations, as the staff are all fully seen as part of the team, and I couldn’t be happier for him. He’s currently living his best life celebrating with the team and the rest of the staff. I don’t think he realizes just how lucky he is given this is his first job out of Uni, but what memories he’s got and it’s an impressive start to any CV:

Job 1 in Football : Qualified for the Euros 😂

[SanguinePar]

That's brilliant @Digs, well done to him and all concerned.

We looked very shaky on that wing, as you said, but I'm confident that when Robertson is back things will improve. I just wish we could play with a 4 with him at LB, we always seem to go with a 5 when he's in the team.

That said, we just qualified, so maybe Clarke knows what he's doing... :-)

[Digs]

1 hour ago, SanguinePar said:

That's brilliant @Digs, well done to him and all concerned.

We looked very shaky on that wing, as you said, but I'm confident that when Robertson is back things will improve. I just wish we could play with a 4 with him at LB, we always seem to go with a 5 when he's in the team.

That said, we just qualified, so maybe Clarke knows what he's doing... :-)

At the game I thought it was Taylor getting done but on watching the game back, not one of the gaols came from his inaction. It was all midfielders. He was getting doubled up on and so had to pick a man and stick with him, but he wasn't getting much help from his wide man. McLean was nowhere near at the start and it only stemmed a bit when they switched over to Armstrong. In fairness, in a 4 playing wide, it's a hard shift as you have to tuck inside as well, and do the doggies up and down to get forward and defend, it isn't easy at all. 

I prefer the 3511 we normally play (despite being someone who sees nothing wrong with an unfashionable 442) and it's actually the same formation the Pars play. It works well if you have the right players although, Clark said after the game last night that we weren't doing well at the start of the his reign so he decided we have to have a core of players, your backbone, who you are going to pick every game no matter what, that you can rely on and who will lead the rest of the team. That's where the squeezing in of both Robertson and Tierney comes in, and I think you have to find a place for both of these players in your team and it's proven they are good enough to adapt. The last two results prove that, and also proves it's our best formation.

He has done a fantastic job with the squad to be fair. The attitude, togetherness, determination and drive, borne out by results like Spain at home and Norway away, weren't there previously, not in the same way at least, and that's why we are getting results.