Israel v Scotland

So here we are, after the euphoria of Serbia we could be miserable in Israel.

I fully expect the Czech’s to beat their next door neighbours from Slovakia which means we have to beat Israel to win this group... as you know doubt expect, I cannot see that happening.

We have lost & drawn in our last two matches in Israel & I have seen nothing to suggest we can improve on that. Which will mean a case of same old same old from Scotland for this NL campaign, doing well against the team we should struggle against (6 points out of 6 against the Czechs) & only breaking even at best against the so called lesser sides (Slovakia only had 1 point until they beat us).

Hope I’m wrong & that Dykes gets the winner, just can’t see it.

So far it is panning out even worse than I expected, I thought we’d get to half time level.

I thought Dykes had scored with his header as it looked like Rocky was flat footed but it was straight at him.

Good goal by Israel but it again exposed McTominay’s lack of defensive nous.

And a completely underwhelming second half. Clarke really hasn’t got a clue (anyone who takes Dykes off & puts McBurnie on) & I suspect we will be well beaten 3 times in the Euros.

I didn’t notice Big Dec getting an injury which makes me question that substitution as well.

I thought that in the last two games the opposition sat in a bit and allowing us a lot of the ball and just needing one little error on our part to score. The Israel goal was a good one and the tactic paid off. Slovakia got lucky with the deflected goal but they all count.
It would have been nice to have topped the group but I am relatively pleased with the performances.
In the Euros it will be more of a cup tie situation with both teams looking to win. Whether or not that will benefit us remains to be seen but there should be more space in and around the box for our guys to get shots in.
This time last week I'd have settled for what actually panned out so it's not all bad.

To be fair to the team, they exceeded my expectations for the week by qualifying for the Euros as I was certainly not expecting that & Serbia thrashing Russia last night is evidence of why I wasn’t expecting to qualify.

I expected us to lose in Slovakia & draw in Israel though so those two games panned out worse than I expected.

Point I was making though is that we haven’t really progressed that much under Clarke; the 9 game unbeaten run flatters to deceive cos we didn’t really play anyone of a particularly high standing in the game & struggled against teams we ought to be beating. The home win over Czech Rep & beating Serbia on pens were the only 2 results of note. Winning in Czech Rep was against their “reserves” & we got lucky cos they outplayed us for most of that match.
You can only beat who you are playing but the opposition really wasn’t that strong for those 9 games.

Also, while Big Dec & Dykes have been welcome additions to the squad (not just saying that cos they are ex-Livi boys, they have been the two most impressive performers), they are offset by McBurnie & McTominey (the former should not be in the squad & the latter should not be in the defence & I wouldn’t have him as a first choice in midfield either).

I think where Clarke falls down is his substitutions, they always weaken the team, and what exactly McBurnie brings to the table i just fail to see. I'd much prefer he'd let Dykes get the full 90 mins, even a fatigued Dykes gives us more than a fresh McBurnie, esp when adding another striker to play off him later in the game. I'd also prefer to see Nisbet, or even Shankland, coming on as a sub instead of an unfit Griffiths, until Griffiths is getting starts for Celtic he shouldn't be in the team.

On the game, first half we dominated and should've been at least a goal up before half time, we had 2 golden opportunities to feed in Dykes but chose the wrong option, Christie totally ignored Dykes holding his run for about 3 seconds, where he'd have been right through on goal, and instead had a shot from outside the box, and McGinn had Dykes bursting a gut running up to support him, just needing a pass behind the last defender to be in on goal, but decided to keep going himself and shooting straight at the keeper. Maybe they're used to McBurnie playing and ignoring the useless haddie, but if i were Dykes i'd be shouting at them to give him the ball, and in the post match analysis Clarke should be telling them the same.

Until Clarke clears out McBurnie then i really can't see us progressing any further, we don't have a strong enough pool of strikers and he needs to bring more in, Nesbit is the glaringly obv choice. Hopefully he finishes the season strong for Hibs and forces Clarke to pay attention to how well he's doing.

Yeah, Dykes does a power of work winning headers & holding it up & bringing others into play but when he busts a gut to get into a decent position the overrated likes of Christie either ignore him & shoot (occasionally getting lucky) or they cross the ball either hitting first defender or hitting it into space that no one is remotely close to.

Provan then bleats on about how they have every right to shoot from there (not if there’s a better option they don’t) or they have picked the right pass (not if it misses everyone they haven’t) - yesterday O’Donnell took a shot on from a difficult angle instead of firing it across goal to Dykes at the back post & Provan used the first comment & someone (McGregor, McGinn or Christie, can’t remember now) had a good run & then looked up and passed the ball behind every Scotland player in the box to a defender & Provan came up with the second comment... eejit.