Scotland squad v Czech Republic/Spain

[metlika 0]

I can see a formation of 10 in the next match.

[Guest Buzz]

I honestly cannot believe Levein played that formation tonight.

 

When Roma invented the 4-6-0, they had two holding midfielders, a central playmaker, two wingers (one a converted forward in the form of Mirko Vucinic, who excelled) and Francesco Totti as an attacking midfielder.

 

Spalletti had his team control the game by keeping possession, and making use of Totti dropping deep and taking the defenders with him to allow either De Rossi or Pizarro to break through with the two wingers, creating space behind the defence. Of course, this also helped with the fact that Totti was an extremely gifted player.

 

Now, there are a few reasons why this system cannot work with Scotland.

 

First of all, I'm not sure if any of you saw the possession statistics towards the end of the second half, but it was 60-40 in favour of the Czechs. This shows that our midfielders were simply not effective enough in breaking down the Czechs, but also did not keep the ball well enough. In a 4-6-0, possession is king, and when have Scotland ever treated possession like that?

 

Second of all, we lined up with Caldwell as our centre-half. Caldwell is a centre-back, and an unfit one at that.

 

And lastly, we had one defensive midfielder in Caldwell, one box-to-box midfielder in Fletcher (despite him being a natural defensive midfielder...), two shuttlers in Naismith and Morrison, and two wide players in Dorrans and Mackie. It's no coincidence that we had very few shots on target, even Roma had a focal point for their attack. We had utterly nothing.

 

Perhaps a better formation would have been something along the lines of...

 

------------------Adam--------------------

Naismith---------Morrison------------Dorrans

----------Fletcher--------Caldwell----------

 

In this case, we have our two holding midfielders to break up the play, two wide players, one player in the middle with a lot of energy and pace, and Adam who is the ONLY creative central midfielder this country possesses of any worth.

 

Of course, that's if he really wanted to play a six man midfield.

 

A shocking tactical error from Levein, and if he doesn't learn from it he's going to end up being every bit as bad as Burley and Vogts.

Edited October 8, 2010 by Buzz
Included possible formation

[metlika 0]

Mackie isn't a wide man he is actually a striker but he was being utilised as a winger in this match and wasn't effective like most players. Levein probably thought Miller wouldn't have been an effective winger, however this isn't the point the tactic was flawed, wrong players were also used.

 

Also how long is Fletcher going to be a passenger before he gets dropped?

 

Rubin played this formation against Barca and got a draw iirc. They probably utilised their squad in the correct manner with using wingers/strikers, holding players and some creative force which we did not have today.

 

We should not be using this formation against the Czech's though. Against the Spaniards away then probably it would have been wise, but we could not string 3 or 4 passes together tonight and dribbling from the full back positions didn't happen or the wings. We allowed the Czech's to look better than they actually were.

[Guest Buzz]

Mackie isn't a wide man he is actually a striker but he was being utilised as a winger in this match and wasn't effective like most players. Levein probably thought Miller wouldn't have been an effective winger, however this isn't the point the tactic was flawed, wrong players were also used.

 

Also how long is Fletcher going to be a passenger before he gets dropped?

 

Rubin played this formation against Barca and got a draw iirc. They probably utilised their squad in the correct manner with using wingers/strikers, holding players and some creative force which we did not have today.

 

We should not be using this formation against the Czech's though. Against the Spaniards away then probably it would have been wise, but we could not string 3 or 4 passes together tonight and dribbling from the full back positions didn't happen or the wings. We allowed the Czech's to look better than they actually were.

 

It would be suicide against the Spaniards.

 

A key element of 4-6-0 is ball retention. Can we really be expected to retain the ball against a team as fantastic as Spain?

 

This game needs something different. It needs Wattenaccio.

[metlika 0]

It would be suicide against the Spaniards.

 

A key element of 4-6-0 is ball retention. Can we really be expected to retain the ball against a team as fantastic as Spain?

 

This game needs something different. It needs Wattenaccio.

 

We probably need to kick the Spaniards like the Dutch, won't do much to affect them. Formation of 5-5-0 or 6-4-0?

[Guest Buzz]

I'm thinking of a revolutionary new tactic for this one!

 

All Levein needs is to call up an extra eight keepers..

 

[Gribz 745]

My doubts about Levein are proved right. I blame the SFA though for appointing an average SPL manager for the national job. Levein is just becoming more of an arrogant tosser with every interview I listen to.

 

McGregor - 3 top drawer saves and easily merited No.1 jersey.

Hutton - Most dangerous attacker.

Whittaker - Was running a close line after 2nd booking.

Weir - Some quality tackles and interceptions, would have been at least 3-0 if he wasnt playing.

McManus - played ok.

Caldwell - Baffling

Fletcher - Mr "I play for Man Utd" was an Imposter again. Its ok fitting into fast attack minded play when you have world class, quality and skill around you every week.

Dorrans - few nice touches.

Morrison - Not much to comment about.

Naismith - Playing the form of his life in a 4-3-3 was pulled to a left midfielder and didnt make an impact.

Mackie - Nothing to comment about.

 

Have to say that game was screaming out for Barry ferguson to be out there and put his foot on the ball in the centre of midfield. It was far too scrappy. Dorrans and hutton were the only 2 who wanted to play the ball on the deck.

 

I dont mind losing to a better team when we have a go but to play nobody upfront is probably the worst decision Ive ever seen from a Scotland manager. Even Vogts and Burley would have had someone upfront...ok it might have been Dobie or Kevin Kyle which wouldnt trouble Elgin City's defence but at least they would have had the imagination to play someone upfront.

 

The worst thing about it is:

a) the media seem to think everything was rosey before this match and that we had a chance as we had 4 pts from Lithuania (hardly world beaters) and Liechenstein (part timers from a village) and yet the win was in the 97th minute....

and

b) Levein will be there until at least the end of this campaign as the SFA dont have balls, guts or the idea to bite the bullet and go find a proper manager. Someone like Keegan with a bit of ambition in his play should have been approached.

[calscot 0]

Yes, what it needed was our tactics against Bursaspor. That's when we seen that Wattenachio is actually quite flexible.

 

The main trouble with our tactics last night was that there was no out for the team when in possession that a strikers would've provided. At half time their manager had Sussed Levein's tactics and realised they could press forward everyone at will without fear I'd being punished on the break. The simple counter to this would have been to put up a target man and punt the ball over the top of the opposition at every opportunity. Then they would be unwilling to risk pressing so far forward. Simple.

[ian1964 10,578]

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.

 

 

Read more: http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/3172545/We-parked-bus-then-we-hurled-keys-down-the-drain.html#ixzz11q5xFd4v

[ascender 352]

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

 

I'm not so sure of that. A 4-5-1 would be more familiar to the players, give the team someone to aim for up front and also be more flexible when it came to becoming more attack-minded and getting the wide midfielders in to the game.

 

We over-rated the Czechs, that's the only explanation imo. But it seems to be a common theme in this campaign.

 

Levein set us out to be defensive, but to do that, you have to be incredibly well organised if you're going to hold out for 90 minutes. Its another little piece of evidence that Smith doesn't get the credit he deserves for just how well we played in the CL this season. Its not that simple to defend well for 90 minutes and also have the ability to snatch something at the other end.