Czech Republic 1 Scotland 0

[alex74]

Fletcher is a play breaker, not a play maker. Thats what he should be doing.ok we will see on tue he done a good job against liktenstein

[Littlest Hobo]

New low reached by Levien. ****ing shocking tacticts!:grr:

Losing is one thing, losing in that manner really is sad but hey as long as the fans who had the money to follow Scotland over therre knew that the players tried their best then hey great eh?:rolleyes:

[blackpoolhibs]

ok we will see on tue he done a good job against liktenstein

Fletcher gets a game every week for Man United. The reason he does this is because he works his bollox off chasing/harrying the opposition for 90 minutes. And while doing that he creates space and time for those who are a bit better at distributing the ball forward or wide. Playing for Scotland we have some people like you, who expect him to do that and more, why?

Maybe we should just drop him, and start with 10 men, that will work eh.

[matty_f]

Levein's tactics were shocking. After the last 2 dismal games, his ability to manage the Scottish side should really be getting called into question. Berti Vogts or Burley would have been hounded for setting up with a 4-6-0 formation.

[basehibby]

What with our mediocre team and ridiculous tartan army, we must be the laughing stock of World football.

Away and bile yer heid ya sweetie rustling spoil sport :bitchy::rolleyes::taxi

[basehibby]

Fair Point DH. I just dont get the all we had to do was turn up with a striker (Miller for the most cries) and we would have won the game. I dont think the tactics were so wrong but we failed to defend a bog standard corner to get beaten. A point would have been a result in my book we only differ in the way we should have gone about getting it.
Bring on the Spaniards!!! I'm out.

Nobody is saying that - the truth is that if we'd played even ONE striker we might have had a cat in hell's chance of scoring and hence taking something from the game. Going 4-6-0 was just asking the Czecks to come onto us relentlessly which is exactly what they did and, unsurprisingly, over the course of the 90mins Scotland conceded.

Levein is dragging an admittedly mediocre Scotland side down to the level of Litchenstein and San Marino - that is not only embarassing but also completely unnecessary.

[--------]

Nobody is saying that - the truth is that if we'd played even ONE striker we might have had a cat in hell's chance of scoring and hence taking something from the game. Going 4-6-0 was just asking the Czecks to come onto us relentlessly which is exactly what they did and, unsurprisingly, over the course of the 90mins Scotland conceded.

Levein is dragging an admittedly mediocre Scotland side down to the level of Litchenstein and San Marino - that is not only embarassing but also completely unnecessary.


4-6-0 only works if you have a front 6 with the talent to make and take chances. In Scotland's case we need at least one player up front with the pace and/or the touch to cause the opposing defence problems. In other words, a 4-5-1.

If you don't have someone like that - let's say, Kenny Miller or Derek Riordan - in the team, the opposition can simply press and press and press regardless throughout the game - you have no way of relieving the pressure even for a few moments, since any clearance out of defence simply comes straight back to you.

You play the entire game on your own half, maybe even your own last third, and sooner or later the opposition pressure pays off. And you lose.

This isn't rocket science, actually. Just common sense.

I didn't watch the game (better things to do) but from this thread I'd be pretty well certain that it panned out exactly as above. Potter hasn't a clue.

[ekhibee]

Hello fellow Hibby's,

I'm going to try and not be too negative in my first post on .net.
I thought that the few times we did venture forward last night that we looked dangerous and that the Cech's where there for the taking.
Yes they are still a very good side but they are no world beaters by any means, they're not blessed with quite so many technically gifted player's these day's, but still Harry friggin Potter tried to shut up shop and failed miserably!
I just want to know why he set up like this?
In his post match interview he said that his formation and tactics worked for 70mins, well, all I thought his tactics achieved was to put us on the rack before the inevitable.

What is it with Scotland manager's who think that we're good enough to defend for 90mins, why do they seriously overestimate our defensive capability's and underestimate our attacking ability?:rolleyes:

One last point,IMO Potter will end up ruing his decision to constantly over look Deek as well, because we will probably only get one or two chances against the Spaniards and they might only be set-pieces, so to leave out the best free-kick taker in Scotland is just madness!

Good luck to Scotland for Tuesday anyway and to the U21's for Monday, I'll be down at ER cheering them on to victory.
Totally agree Hibee Daz, and that's what was so frustrating about Potter's tactics, if we'd been even a little more adventurous the Czechs were pretty average at the back, and all round aren't anywhere near the team they were, although you should always respect them. And the BBC interview after the game with Levein was lukewarm to say the least, with the interviewer being very careful not to say anything criticising the team set-up, probably considering how ratty Levein had been when questioned in an earlier press conference by Chick Young. I don't always agree with OF players being picked over players from other teams, but in this case I thought Levein got it wrong, however he'll never admit it. And his sarcastic remark when the interviewer suggested that he could have used a more attacking formation didn't help his case at all. Just my opinion of course, but to me he's not interested in taking the game to the other team, he's focussing on what HE was good at as a player, defending tight,without making the most of the good players that are available in other areas of the team. That said, he doesn't like McFadden, Riordan or Maloney, all good players who in my opinion should be in any current Scotland squad considering the limited resources available. Sorry, but even if by some miracle we get a result against the World and European champions on Tuesday, I'll never change my mind about him, don't like him and never have, but like you, I obviously wish all the Scotland teams all the best in the forthcoming internationals.

[alex74]

Fletcher gets a game every week for Man United. The reason he does this is because he works his bollox off chasing/harrying the opposition for 90 minutes. And while doing that he creates space and time for those who are a bit better at distributing the ball forward or wide. Playing for Scotland we have some people like you, who expect him to do that and more, why?

Maybe we should just drop him, and start with 10 men, that will work eh.its scotland we are talking about not your hero colin nish :bye:

[blackpoolhibs]

its scotland we are talking about not your hero colin nish :bye:

You must have fallen from the very top of the thick tree? Never mind there are doctors in most towns these days.

[lapsedhibee]

I heard Peter Houston on the tellybox today promising that against Spain, at Hampden, Scotland would attack "because we always attack at Hampden". If them's not the words of a master tactician, finely tuning a game plan to suit the individual vagaries of the opposition, I don't know what are.

He then went on to explain that Scotland did attack on Friday, but just "in a different way" to the way they will attack on Tuesday.

I'm beginning to think I might belong to the 95% of fans who don't understand real football people. Or do Levein and Houston just talk pish? :dunno:

[alex74]

You must have fallen from the very top of the thick tree? Never mind there are doctors in most towns these days.MUPPET:asshole:

[blackpoolhibs]

MUPPET:asshole:

:faf::faf:

[alex74]

:violin:
:faf::faf:

[Baldy Foghorn]

ok we will see on tue he done a good job against liktenstein

is this a new Country??:confused:

[Albion Hibs]

Cannae argue with any of that :agree:

Seems we've a manager who did ok with Hertz, bombed it a bit down south, did ok with DUtd and then drafted in ex Hearts coach Peter Houston along with ex Hearts player and failed Airdrie manager Kenny Black. Truth is that the team off the park is as pish as the team on it :grr:

Potters biggest problem is he only has the players that are available, as much as it pains me to say it he is decent manager, but only though his ability to build a team. He has a certain style, generally giants with a bit of pace in certain areas, he just does not have that at his disposal.

Harry - go with the players that are on form, stop picking OF players just becuase walter wants the boys in the shop window.

[HibbyAndy]

Craig Levein was on SSN about half an hour ago saying he thought we were 'very aggresive' in Czech Republic :wtf:

:confused: