No pussy footing please.

[emmjayfox]

It will be interesting to see how many reporters are still treating potter with kid gloves today.

[HibeeMG]

There's this one for a start. Not much comment by Bill Leckie but the headline says it all.

http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scot...O-regrets.html

[emmjayfox]

SOME teams go away from home and park the bus.

But last night, Scotland let the tyres down, tore out the starter motor and threw the keys down the stank just in case.

Twenty minutes in, a colleague turned to me and said: "Is there anything in the rules that would stop Petr Cech having a book sent on?"

Which just about summed us up as an attacking force.

I'm not about to cane Craig Levein for that. He came here and did what he thought was right, which was to match the Czech formation, stifle it and hope for a draw.

No doubt there will be plenty out there jumping up and down with indignation about that, huffing and puffing about the ignominy of our national team going into a huge match without a striker.

And there's no doubt a part of me's left wondering what might have happened had we thought more about how to win the game than how not to lose it. Maybe we gave the Czechs too much respect.

Let's not kid ourselves that a formation lost us the points here, though.

It wasn't a system that pinned us back on our own 18-yard line in that second half, the Czechs did.

It wasn't a system that cost us the crucial goal, a centre-half's header did.

That goal had been coming for 20 minutes - and the fact is that when the heat was on, when the Czechs had their tails up and we were defending for our lives, having a lone striker hanging around the centre circle would only have made a difference for as long as he could have held up the latest punted clearance against four defenders.

In other words, the ball would have kept on coming back at us anyway. So it's a red herring to suggest that going 4-5-1 instead of 4-6-0 or 4-2-4-0 or whatever you want to call it would have made that much of a difference.

And anyway, what are we suddenly - moral guardians of the beautiful game?

Have I slept through the last few years and missed us sweeping across Europe playing stylish, winning football?

Was it just a bad dream that our last six away trips before this had seen no wins, no goals for and 15 against?

Sorry, but anyone who has a pop about Levein's methods here last night needs a reality check.

He could have come here the way George Burley would have, sending out an expansive 4-3-3 to try and win friends and been three down inside half an hour.

But the reason he's IN the job is that Scotland under Burley were an easy touch. He had no concept of how far we are behind the world in technical ability and what it takes to level the playing field.

Levein knows. He doesn't kid himself on that we can somehow defy the changing times.

He knows that it's not enough any more to simply run around kissing the badge and playing at being Bobby Braveheart.

This Czech team might be a pale shadow of its classy predecessors, but we're still not good enough to go toe-to-toe with them. So our gaffer did what he felt he had to do by parking that bus.

The only real question this morning has to be whether the result would have been any different had he taken the handbrake off.

For me, the answer is: Probably not.

In fact, if we're honest we'll be thanking our stars for some heroic last-ditch defending and a tremendous display of goalkeeping that we didn't end up losing three or four.

There was barely a man in the ranks who didn't hurl himself in front of a point-blank shot at some point or other. In that respect, we couldn't have done more than we did to write a blank Czech.

As for Allan McGregor's performance?

Top drawer.

Here was a guy who had every reason to throw a sickie yesterday morning.

Risking the wrath of his club gaffer by travelling despite a thigh injury, his week thrown into chaos by the ridiculous timing of an SFA disciplinary probe, he could easily have declared himself unfit for battle.

Instead, he hurled himself into the fray quite magnificently, with each flying stop looking better than the last. This was the night a guy who not so long ago was a Tartan Army hate figure truly arrived as a fans' favourite.

Though let's face it, anything those punters got to cheer was better than nothing. They came here in such numbers, were so loud and so proud - and there's no doubt they deserved better than they got in return.

But wasn't that always the way following Scotland on the road?

Haven't we been through this sort of pain time and again, whether the motto's attack and be damned or they shall not pass?

The only difference this time was that when the punters sang about walking a million miles for one of our goals, they might still have needed a telescope to see it.

[Hibbyradge]

Lecki's "Parked the bus" article has made me feel very guilty.

[HibeeMG]

I'll not quote that last article but just wanted to say ...... what a load o pish!

The fact that the author doesn't see what a difference a striker holding the ball up for even just a few seconds would make proves that he doesn't know what he's talking about and therefore I read the rest with disdain.

That solitary striker would have given our defence and midfield some time to reorganise and either prepare for the next wave of attack or 'god forbid' actually set up an attack ourselves.

Putting that one body further up the field also would make sure that one or two of their players had one eye on defence. As it was they could stroll around knowing there wasn't much coming back.

So it wasn't a case of putting another number on a formation or us being the guardians of the beautiful game. It was plain old fashioned tactics.

I may being naive (or I'm not one of those 'football people') but both the Scotland manager and our last Hibs boss seemed to have lost sight of what I believe to be tactics 101.

It cost Yogi his job. Levein will get a lot longer.

[vla_di_vla]

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SOME teams go away from home and park the bus.

But last night, Scotland let the tyres down, tore out the starter motor and threw the keys down the stank just in case.

Twenty minutes in, a colleague turned to me and said: "Is there anything in the rules that would stop Petr Cech having a book sent on?"

Which just about summed us up as an attacking force.

I'm not about to cane Craig Levein for that. He came here and did what he thought was right, which was to match the Czech formation, stifle it and hope for a draw.

No doubt there will be plenty out there jumping up and down with indignation about that, huffing and puffing about the ignominy of our national team going into a huge match without a striker.

And there's no doubt a part of me's left wondering what might have happened had we thought more about how to win the game than how not to lose it. Maybe we gave the Czechs too much respect.

Let's not kid ourselves that a formation lost us the points here, though.

It wasn't a system that pinned us back on our own 18-yard line in that second half, the Czechs did.

It wasn't a system that cost us the crucial goal, a centre-half's header did.

That goal had been coming for 20 minutes - and the fact is that when the heat was on, when the Czechs had their tails up and we were defending for our lives, having a lone striker hanging around the centre circle would only have made a difference for as long as he could have held up the latest punted clearance against four defenders.

In other words, the ball would have kept on coming back at us anyway. So it's a red herring to suggest that going 4-5-1 instead of 4-6-0 or 4-2-4-0 or whatever you want to call it would have made that much of a difference.

And anyway, what are we suddenly - moral guardians of the beautiful game?

Have I slept through the last few years and missed us sweeping across Europe playing stylish, winning football?

Was it just a bad dream that our last six away trips before this had seen no wins, no goals for and 15 against?

Sorry, but anyone who has a pop about Levein's methods here last night needs a reality check.

He could have come here the way George Burley would have, sending out an expansive 4-3-3 to try and win friends and been three down inside half an hour.

But the reason he's IN the job is that Scotland under Burley were an easy touch. He had no concept of how far we are behind the world in technical ability and what it takes to level the playing field.

Levein knows. He doesn't kid himself on that we can somehow defy the changing times.

He knows that it's not enough any more to simply run around kissing the badge and playing at being Bobby Braveheart.

This Czech team might be a pale shadow of its classy predecessors, but we're still not good enough to go toe-to-toe with them. So our gaffer did what he felt he had to do by parking that bus.

The only real question this morning has to be whether the result would have been any different had he taken the handbrake off.

For me, the answer is: Probably not.

In fact, if we're honest we'll be thanking our stars for some heroic last-ditch defending and a tremendous display of goalkeeping that we didn't end up losing three or four.

There was barely a man in the ranks who didn't hurl himself in front of a point-blank shot at some point or other. In that respect, we couldn't have done more than we did to write a blank Czech.

As for Allan McGregor's performance?

Top drawer.

Here was a guy who had every reason to throw a sickie yesterday morning.

Risking the wrath of his club gaffer by travelling despite a thigh injury, his week thrown into chaos by the ridiculous timing of an SFA disciplinary probe, he could easily have declared himself unfit for battle.

Instead, he hurled himself into the fray quite magnificently, with each flying stop looking better than the last. This was the night a guy who not so long ago was a Tartan Army hate figure truly arrived as a fans' favourite.

Though let's face it, anything those punters got to cheer was better than nothing. They came here in such numbers, were so loud and so proud - and there's no doubt they deserved better than they got in return.

But wasn't that always the way following Scotland on the road?

Haven't we been through this sort of pain time and again, whether the motto's attack and be damned or they shall not pass?

The only difference this time was that when the punters sang about walking a million miles for one of our goals, they might still have needed a telescope to see it.

If this is what we need to do to compete then we would be aswell not entering any future competitions. It won't be long before we are thrown out of this one anyway for bringing the game into disrepute. It's been a long time since i got excited about a Scotland game and having heard the line up I decided I would need to put some money on the Czechs just to keep me interested. God knows what he's planning next week but i for one won't be watching

[heretoday]

Levein took a gamble and it didn't come off.

[Jim44]

If those totally embarrassing tactics couldn't hold back a poor Czech team, what sort of humiliating annihilation are the Spaniards going to inflict on us? I wonder what the players felt deep down having to go out without any chance whatsoever of winning the game and almost certain to lose? When you look at the quality of that Czech team and compare it to how Scotland have might done if we had played with a conventional line-up, surely our players will have lost respect for the balloon who's in charge of them and, indeed, have every right to feel angry about the situation.

[Steve-O]

I'm watching New Zealand v Honduras (1-0 NZ at half time) and I swear I think New Zealand would beat us in our current state.

It actually can't be too far off New Zealand overtaking us in the FIFA rankings and that would be nothing short of a disgrace.

[3pm]

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I'm watching New Zealand v Honduras (1-0 NZ at half time) and I swear I think New Zealand would beat us in our current state.

It actually can't be too far off New Zealand overtaking us in the FIFA rankings and that would be nothing short of a disgrace.

The rankings are a pile of nonsense.

[vla_di_vla]

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If those totally embarrassing tactics couldn't hold back a poor Czech team, what sort of humiliating annihilation are the Spaniards going to inflict on us? I wonder what the players felt deep down having to go out without any chance whatsoever of winning the game and almost certain to lose? When you look at the quality of that Czech team and compare it to how Scotland have might done if we had played with a conventional line-up, surely our players will have lost respect for the balloon who's in charge of them and, indeed, have every right to feel angry about the situation.

You're right and the tragedy is Levein actually has a decent squad of players to pick from at the moment, probably as good as it's been in recent times but he's just decided that we can't compete so we won't bother trying to win games. It's so frustrating

[Steve-O]

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The rankings are a pile of nonsense.

Well, since NZ would probably beat Scotland now, and Scotland are still higher, then you're probably right...

[3pm]

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Well, since NZ would probably beat Scotland now, and Scotland are still higher, then you're probably right...

How many of the NZ XI still play at home?

[Steve-O]

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How many of the NZ XI still play at home?

4 that are playing tonight, usually one other too but he's injured.

There's only one professional team and a small number of semi-professional teams so not likely to be a huge amount. If you take 'home' to mean Australia as well then you can add a couple more to the numbers above.

Not sure what your are getting at though...?

Honduras just scored 1-1.

[3pm]

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4 that are playing tonight, usually one other too but he's injured.

There's only one professional team and a small number of semi-professional teams so not likely to be a huge amount. If you take 'home' to mean Australia as well then you can add a couple more to the numbers above.

Not sure what your are getting at though...?

Honduras just scored 1-1.

Nothing really. Sometimes I think these lads (NZ) are a bit better because they take a gamble and move out their comfort zone and helps them improve. I am not sure if Scottish guys are willing to broaden their horizons which means they maybe don't utilise their full potential.

Not a lot of thought in it as I say.

[Steve-O]

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Nothing really. Sometimes I think these lads (NZ) are a bit better because they take a gamble and move out their comfort zone and helps them improve. I am not sure if Scottish guys are willing to broaden their horizons which means they maybe don't utilise their full potential.

Not a lot of thought in it as I say.

Could be onto something there. They basically move away from here because they HAVE to in order for their career to get to the next level. In Scotland, players think their career is moving to the 'next level' when they travel 45 minutes to the west

[Steve-O]

Shane Smeltz just missed a penalty in the 92nd minute

FT 1-1.

[HenryMonk]

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If this is what we need to do to compete then we would be aswell not entering any future competitions. It won't be long before we are thrown out of this one anyway for bringing the game into disrepute. It's been a long time since i got excited about a Scotland game and having heard the line up I decided I would need to put some money on the Czechs just to keep me interested. God knows what he's planning next week but i for one won't be watching

instead of a 1-4-6-0 he'll try 3-4-4-0

embrassed tobe a scot living down south.

[Big Ed]

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If those totally embarrassing tactics couldn't hold back a poor Czech team, what sort of humiliating annihilation are the Spaniards going to inflict on us? I wonder what the players felt deep down having to go out without any chance whatsoever of winning the game and almost certain to lose? When you look at the quality of that Czech team and compare it to how Scotland have might done if we had played with a conventional line-up, surely our players will have lost respect for the balloon who's in charge of them and, indeed, have every right to feel angry about the situation.

That Czech team were no more than decent, certainly not a patch on their recent sides.
Potter will have seen them/had them watched and decided that we'd employ training ground tactics to stop them scoring and try for a 0-0 draw. I think that that is an absolute disgrace.
Leckie writes about moral guardians but IMHO a Scottish National Team does have an obligation to at least be seen to be trying to score a goal; these players are meant to be the best we've got after all.
In the BBC studio after the game, Collins, Nevin and Hartley could barely contain their disgust at these tactics and I can't blame them.
I think that I would probably have to admit that in the past I had respect for Levein, probably more than most on this site. After last night, that has gone.

[Liberal Hibby]

Isn't the issue actually about the brief Levein has from the SFA? From what I can gather Levein has been charged with qualification for Euro 2012 with the result that all the old lackeys and journeymen are dusted down for one last hurrah in the hope of grabbing an undeserved point away from home and/or a shock victory at Hampden against better opposition.

Instead if he was told not to worry about 2012, but instead to blood a group of promising youngsters with an eye on 2014 or later, then we might see a more expansive game plan and get the beginings of a team that we could be proud of in a few years time. But the suits at Park Gardens have about as much interest in the long term health of the game at the national level as they do in driving out sectarianism at OF matches...

[davym7062]

last nite was a chance to put the czech out the running for 2nd place. CL bottled it and is so far out his depth its untrue.

[IWasThere2016]

Did we have a shot at goal?

[Big Ed]

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Did we have a shot at goal?

Yes. Near the end: Whittaker's piledriver - it just about stayed in the stadium.

[Big Ed]

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last nite was a chance to put the czech out the running for 2nd place. CL bottled it and is so far out his depth its untrue.

It's fair to say that if we'd won, the Czechs would be in all sorts in terms of qualification, but I don't think that he bottled it nor that he's out of his depth.
He alluded to our recent away record and then seemed to suggest that the plan would have worked but for a slip up at defending a corner.
The BBC pundits, Collins in particular, made the point that running around simply defending for 90 minutes is almost impossible, because you get physically and mentally tired and start doing things like not being switched on at set pieces etc.
There are those who would say that the end justifies the means and that a point in Prague would put is in a great position, but I can't agree. It is one thing to try and defend and hit a team on the break; what we witnessed last night was beyond that.

[(((Fergus)))]

See if you play a 4-5-1 does that not mean that they have to leave two defenders back to mark your striker, leaving you to defend with 9 against their 8? To me that sounds more advantageous than 10 v 10.

What have I misunderstood?

[HibeeMG]

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See if you play a 4-5-1 does that not mean that they have to leave two defenders back to mark your striker, leaving you to defend with 9 against their 8? To me that sounds more advantageous than 10 v 10.

What have I misunderstood?

Exactly.

I refer you to my post above. Tactics 101. I've read the book, Levein hasn't!

[Calvin]

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Shane Smeltz just missed a penalty in the 92nd minute

FT 1-1.

He's not Hibs Class then

[ScottB]

Negative nonsense last night.

Northern Ireland got a draw with Italy last night. They didn't play with 10 players in their own ******ing box for 90 minutes, they went out and gave them a game.

Thats the bloody point of football, which clearly Levein and the rest of the 'we just arnae good enough' brigade have forgotten; that if you put your team out and everyone puts in a shift, nobody is unbeatable on the night.

But then we weren't playing Spain, France or Italy last night (remind me, how did we do and how did we line up against the latter two with predominantly the same players?) this was a Czech team in a worse run of form than we are, whose fans had turned against them and stayed away, a team lacking in confidence and on the ropes.

Levein's 'master plan' was to give this team all the time in the world to keep the ball, pass it about, build confidence and attack us relentlessly, thereby getting their fans on board. Well done Craig, that was a cracking master plan, a plan for giving the Czechs the boost they needed to continue in this qualifying campaign! It's as nonsensical as us rocking up to Ibrox or Parkhead and crying 'well *sniff* they are a bit better *sniff* than us *sniff*' and playing such non football tactics.

It was, simply put for me at least, an utter disgrace. last night Craig put out the message, loud and clear, that he was afraid, that he thought we had so little chance of avoiding a mauling that he took the option one step short of just having everyone stand on the goal line. Just as he was too scared to play an attacking game against the mighty Lichtenstein, just as he was too scared to press on for a goal in Lithuania. That message was sent loud and clear to the fans, loud and clear to the opposition, who must have p*ssed themselves laughing, along with every other country we are due to face, and probably most importantly, to our players, your manager has decided your not good enough, congratulations.

I'd sack him right now for that, frankly.

[easty]

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Negative nonsense last night.

Northern Ireland got a draw with Italy last night. They didn't play with 10 players in their own ******ing box for 90 minutes, they went out and gave them a game.

Thats the bloody point of football, which clearly Levein and the rest of the 'we just arnae good enough' brigade have forgotten; that if you put your team out and everyone puts in a shift, nobody is unbeatable on the night.

But then we weren't playing Spain, France or Italy last night (remind me, how did we do and how did we line up against the latter two with predominantly the same players?) this was a Czech team in a worse run of form than we are, whose fans had turned against them and stayed away, a team lacking in confidence and on the ropes.

Levein's 'master plan' was to give this team all the time in the world to keep the ball, pass it about, build confidence and attack us relentlessly, thereby getting their fans on board. Well done Craig, that was a cracking master plan, a plan for giving the Czechs the boost they needed to continue in this qualifying campaign! It's as nonsensical as us rocking up to Ibrox or Parkhead and crying 'well *sniff* they are a bit better *sniff* than us *sniff*' and playing such non football tactics.

It was, simply put for me at least, an utter disgrace. last night Craig put out the message, loud and clear, that he was afraid, that he thought we had so little chance of avoiding a mauling that he took the option one step short of just having everyone stand on the goal line. Just as he was too scared to play an attacking game against the mighty Lichtenstein, just as he was too scared to press on for a goal in Lithuania. That message was sent loud and clear to the fans, loud and clear to the opposition, who must have p*ssed themselves laughing, along with every other country we are due to face, and probably most importantly, to our players, your manager has decided your not good enough, congratulations.

I'd sack him right now for that, frankly.

I text the exact same thing to my dad before the game last night. I'm embarressed we played without a striker against such an average team (against any team I would be!). You get games like Liverpool vs Havant & Waterlooville in the FA cup a few years ago, and even they wouldnt go with 0 men up front.

I can't believe how much of a dick he sounded after it either, when he got asked if the result showed his tactics were wrong he said something like "yeah cos other tactis always work don't they".

[Hibs On Tour]

CL surprised even me. I thought he'd went potty when he opted to replace KM who is in the form of his life and a player the rest of the squad know inside out with a player unproven at this level who most of the squad wouldn't even recognise in the street but no he managed to top that with the creation of a hitherto unseen formation - 4 > 6 > 0 - the mans a genius clearly!

Unfortunately however CL clearly has never read the big book of obvious things like 'sitting back against better teams will get you gubbed' and 'playing with no strikers is clearly a stupid thing to do'. What next? Keeper and centre-halves at no more than 5'6"? Have our team face our own goal for the duration of the game? Because either of them makes as much sense as that nonsense we were forced to endure last night.

FFS its not rocket science - if you're playing a technically better team you have to go at them - its the only way to have a chance to even things up cos if you sit back and hope for 0-0 they will tear you apart. Lets not kid ourselves if was 1-0 last night - they had two cleared with goal-line challenges, two cracking saves from AM and one just round the post from Bednar late on. 1 going on 5 more like.

Potter clearly has no clue without being able to do his only standard club approach of put a big lump up front and go route 1 to him.

Complete embarassment and disgraceful for all the fans who had made their way over there at least hoping to see us try to compete. They must be feeling betrayed by CL now!