General Football - Weird Results And Other Things Worth Sharing

[TRVMP 3861]

In the Soviet days, Dinamo were giants, played in front of tens of thousands, won continental competitions. Now they play in front of a few hundred. What happened? Surely not everyoje in Tbilisi totally lost interest in football after Communism fell. 

[capitanus 3404]

Willem II laid down to the Harry Dunn's as expected.  

[TRVMP 3861]

Aaron Hickey debuts for Bologna. Their regular left-back is suspended. A couple of misplaced passes here and there and he got skinned by Gervinho once but for the most part he looks extremely comfortable, covering a ton of ground, positioning well, really energetic, giving Karaboh a tough time, had a decent cross earlier... frankly he's playing far better for than is Matteo Darmian, his counterpart at left-back for Parma.

Can we have some young players who aren't left-backs next?

edit: I've only watched Hickey once before this but I'm astonished at his confidence and composure. Wants the ball constantly, moving into space but adjusting to the defensive phase with little difficulty... Parma are really, really bad, so I don't want to be too premature here, but as both Robertson and Tierney have made defensive errors tonight, they should both be dropped permanently and Hickey should be made captain and inducted to the Hall of Fame.

Bologna fans on Facebook losing it over him as well, they're duly impressed.

Edited September 28, 2020 by TRVMP

[TRVMP 3861]

Hickey subbed off with ten minutes to go. Very good debut. A solid 7.7 in FM2020 terms.

[Hej 217]

I managed to catch a bit of the match, and he was very, very impressive from what I seen. Not phased by the occasion at all. Looked comfortable in position, and took up lots of interesting positions, quite infield near the Parma box. Almost like an inverted full back at times.

 

I'd certainly have him in the Scotland squad before Greg Taylor. Think he could easily play right-back too, seems comfortable with both feet.

[TRVMP 3861]

Just got around to watching the Everton-West Ham highlights. Richarlison is looking great, but Calvert-Lewin cost, what, 1.5m? And he's absolutely dominant this season. Everton are a joy to watch. They must be spending big to try to be respectable again but, in fairness, it's working out for them.

[TRVMP 3861]

Everton are fucking amazing. I'm not even a fan. (I'm just a fan, Alan!) Just brilliant to watch.

[hayfever 6]

On 9/29/2020 at 9:40 PM, Hej said:

I managed to catch a bit of the match, and he was very, very impressive from what I seen. Not phased by the occasion at all. Looked comfortable in position, and took up lots of interesting positions, quite infield near the Parma box. Almost like an inverted full back at times.

 

I'd certainly have him in the Scotland squad before Greg Taylor. Think he could easily play right-back too, seems comfortable with both feet.

That's what I was going to suggest, perhaps the long-term right-back solution? Can only be a good thing that he's playing in a league and country that will properly educate him on tactics and how to be a defender...

[TRVMP 3861]

Slovakia made O'Donnell look like Dani Alves tonight so he will have RWB locked down for the next game. (We'll be three at the back again.)

See if McGinn's first touch wasn't so heavy, he'd be a top four EPL player. Thought he was absolutely immense tonight. 

 

[Hej 217]

20 hours ago, TRVMP said:

Slovakia made O'Donnell look like Dani Alves tonight so he will have RWB locked down for the next game. (We'll be three at the back again.)

See if McGinn's first touch wasn't so heavy, he'd be a top four EPL player. Thought he was absolutely immense tonight. 

 

2nd half we played really well.

5 atb looked an omnishambles for the first Israel game, but we're definitely growing into it. McTominay also really growing into that RCB role, thought he was outstanding on Thursday and last night

 

O'Donnell is a strange player. He looks absolutely fucking guff and a total bombscare anytime the ball is near him, but I'm still struggling to think of a single terrible mistake he's made in any of his 15 caps. Makes the most of his extremely limited ability to put in solid performances most matches. A poor man's Branislav Ivanovic circa 2015.

[TRVMP 3861]

7 hours ago, Hej said:

2nd half we played really well.

5 atb looked an omnishambles for the first Israel game, but we're definitely growing into it. McTominay also really growing into that RCB role, thought he was outstanding on Thursday and last night

 

O'Donnell is a strange player. He looks absolutely fucking guff and a total bombscare anytime the ball is near him, but I'm still struggling to think of a single terrible mistake he's made in any of his 15 caps. Makes the most of his extremely limited ability to put in solid performances most matches. A poor man's Branislav Ivanovic circa 2015.

McTominay was very solid, and of course Considine had a dream debut. Clarke's plans are really starting to come together. Trying not to be too overenthusiastic, as the quality of the opposition hasn't been great, but we're looking pretty solid these days and we're nicking the odd goal.

I have nothing against O'Donnell at all, but you're right, his limitations are extremely clear - yet somehow he doesn't sell the jerseys. Fair to say that we all hoped guys like Palmer would have come along better, but if O'Donnell is picked and keeps on giving 100%, we can't ask for much more.

[hayfever 6]

We've been crying out for Scotland to be hard-to-beat and better at grinding out results, and this triple header might be the turning point. Serbia are the favourites but their home form has been sketchy recently. 

All of a sudden i'm reasonably confident we can go there and match them.

Ironically, perhaps nobody in the ground to get nervous or annoyed has helped the team find their groove (he says, assuming we aren't about to get a shoeing from the Czechs)

Edited October 13, 2020 by hayfever

[TONofmemories 1573]

FWIW, i thought we were excellent on Thursday, second half especially. 

Whole back-line was superb and i'm extremely chuffed for Big Andy - I can boogie - Consodine. Guys a gent and a model pro. 

McTominay really growing into that role and i thought his distribution was excellent on Thursday. 

Ryan Fraser must start for Scotland whenever he's fit. 

Lydon Dykes btw; what a pler. Worked his arse off all night. 

Loved the absolute shitehousery from McBurnie. He gets a hard time, but he's got ability. 

There's the basis of a plan starting to formulate and if that's what it takes to get us to a finals, then so be it. 

Our best performance under SC. Absolutely. 

[GiGi 1102]

Also worth noting that Israel look better than Slovakia in most respects based on this week. Slovakia are pretty shite other than the flagging, half retired Hamsik (who is absolutely still a pler).

Not taking anything away from Clarke though. Thursday was a boring watch but our defence have been untroubled in both games. Can  definitely build from that.

[Hej 217]

7 minutes ago, GiGi said:

Also worth noting that Israel look better than Slovakia in most respects based on this week. Slovakia are pretty shite other than the flagging, half retired Hamsik (who is absolutely still a pler).

Not taking anything away from Clarke though. Thursday was a boring watch but our defence have been untroubled in both games. Can  definitely build from that.

 

I think Israel are pretty underrated tbh. Don't think they're anywhere near as bad as people in Scotland have been making out. People looking way too much into the world rankings. 4 or 5 of their players would comfortably make our first XI.

[GiGi 1102]

24 minutes ago, Hej said:

I think Israel are pretty underrated tbh. Don't think they're anywhere near as bad as people in Scotland have been making out. People looking way too much into the world rankings. 4 or 5 of their players would comfortably make our first XI.

I reckon so as well. Their squad are much better technicians than Slovakia anyway. We couldn't get the ball off Israel at times on Thursday then we did more or less the same thing to Slovakia. Don't think there's much between them and the Czechs.

[Hej 217]

John McGinn has looked genuinely world class tonight. The Czechs can't get anywhere near him when he's had the ball. 

[TRVMP 3861]

Just now, Hej said:

John McGinn has looked genuinely world class tonight. The Czechs can't get anywhere near him when he's had the ball. 

I said after the last game, he's inches away from being a genuine top-class player. His positioning is absolutely top-notch. He's active all over the pitch. His long passing is superb. He really has almost everything in his toolbox. 

[Hej 217]

7 minutes ago, TRVMP said:

I said after the last game, he's inches away from being a genuine top-class player. His positioning is absolutely top-notch. He's active all over the pitch. His long passing is superb. He really has almost everything in his toolbox. 

It's the wee turns and flicks he's been doing just as it looks like he's about to get dispossessed for me that's been particularly impressive. He's had the Czech midfield on strings. Very intelligent player. 

 

I used to slate him in his early Scotland days too. He's come a long way. 

Edited October 14, 2020 by Hej

[TRVMP 3861]

1 minute ago, Hej said:

It's the wee turns and flicks he's been doing just as it looks like he's about to get dispossessed for me that's been particularly impressive. He's had the Czech midfield on strings. Very intelligent player. 

Even that block on our goalline shows his innate ability. That wasn't his man to mark, but there he was.

[TRVMP 3861]

Soucek's miss 

[TRVMP 3861]

That'll ding dang do.

Clarke, what a manager.

Edited October 14, 2020 by TRVMP

[hayfever 6]

2 hours ago, TRVMP said:

I said after the last game, he's inches away from being a genuine top-class player. His positioning is absolutely top-notch. He's active all over the pitch. His long passing is superb. He really has almost everything in his toolbox. 

I used to work with a Villa fan and he absolutely adores him, great wee player. We've been crying out for Scotland to be hard to beat and able to grind out results, long may this continue. Tonight a decent dress rehearsal for playing Serbia where we're bound to be penned in at times.

[TRVMP 3861]

For those awake, the Apertura Final in Nicaragua is online for free viewing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nICGoNb8gmw

I've been watching a few games from this league (as they tend to be the only games on at this time of night and they're all free in high quality) and... well, put it this way: fans of the Scottish Championship won't feel too far from home.

[Cet Homme Charmant 577]

Despite being a pretty keen football fan in general, I only have a passing interest in the major European leagues. For some reason I watch far more games from the likes of the Norwegian Eliteserien (watching Stabaek hump Aalesund 4-0 as I type, although my 'team' is Bodo/Glimt who surprisingly are romping the league, although they lost their first game of the season away at Molde yesterday) and the Danish Superliga, than I do La Liga, the Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and English Premiership. Don't know why really, possibly because being a Ton fan I can relate more to the teams in these leagues than I can to the likes of Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, PSG or Manchester City. Anyone else have an unfathomable affiliation to wee diddy teams or leagues outside Scotland?