Tag: Sky Sports

Weekend review: Albania 0 – 4 Celtic, sorry Scotland. What the hell just happened?

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I took this game in on Saturday evening from the Electric Bar in Motherwell. Not my local but my other half’s who hails from that part of the country. So not dissimilar a setting to Tirana then where the game was taking place.

It proved to be an apt name though as Scotland produced a free-flowing performance, devoid of suicidal defending and where the referee Vladislav Bezborodov actually showed he had a pair and made the rights calls.

Albania tried some neat passing at the back but Ryan Christie was having none of it and stepped in to feed Ryan Christie who charged into the box before curling it past Etrir Berisha in the Albanian goal to make it 1-0 after a mere 14 mins.

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Alex McLeish tries to make sense of that he’s looking at. 

Usually, it would be all downhill from there for the national team but then the Albanian captain, the wonderfully named Mergim Mavraj, stepped up and wrote his name into Scottish football folklore with a fabulous one-two. The first one was a challenge over the ball on James Forrest and the second was an unnecessary headbutt on Ryan Christie. He got a yellow card for each one resulting in an early bath. Did Christie milk it? Probably. But every other nation on God’s green earth does it so for me he was just being streetwise.

From there Scotland took full advantage. An Armstrong free kick on the edge of the box was needlessly handled by striker Rey Manaj and resulted in a penalty which one-time Celtic target Steven Fletcher duly dispatched on the stroke of half-time and Scotland were now really in dreamland.

I, on the other hand, had to depart to the function room next door to join in the 50th birthday celebrations for Elaine – a woman I’d never met before and didn’t actually get to meet during – but was able to get back through under the pretense of needing some fresh air to witness most of the second half which featured a dominant Scotland display that included two more goals both of which were executed by James Forrest.

The first came after the Celtic winger was released through by teammate Ryan Christie before squeezing it past Berisha and the second was a wonderful goal. Christie found Fraser out on the right wing with a beautiful pass from midfield and the Bournemouth man fed Forrest in the box who knocked it up with his right foot past substitute Kastriot Dermaku before buying it past Berisha again with his left.

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Wee Jamesy scores a belter.

There should have been more and substitute Scott McTominay should have done better with an effort from the edge of the box that clipped the bar though replays showed a wicked bobble just before it got to him.

The pub was actually eerily quiet during that second period. Most people sat, pint in hand with their jaw agape wondering what the hell was going on and when they would awaken from their slumber as only a dream state could explain what they were witnessing on the TV screens before them.

All that aside Callum McGregor was magnificent in the holding role that he has also really stood out in for Celtic recently and is a perfect example of playing a guy in a position where he is playing well in for his club and hey presto….it works for the national team as well.

I’m no fan of Big Eck and think he’s made a bit of a pig’s ear of the Scotland job thus far considering the position the national team were in when he took over but some nights it just clicks and Saturday was one of those nights.

Scotland can now win their group if they beat Israel on Tuesday. The Israeli’s have proven to be a  far more capable outfit than hapless Albania and have far better players, especially in the forward positions, but are also renowned for not performing and the momentum is definitely with Scotland as well as the home advantage.

The contribution from the Celtic players was immense with Christie pivotal in three of the four goals and being smart enough to react to Mavraj’s stupidity as opposed to standing his ground and likely getting a yellow himself. McGregor ran the show and Forrest continued the free-scoring form that has seen him bag 26 goals for the Hoops in the last 18 months.

Injuries aside I’d image the exact same team will take to the field on Tuesday night in the group decider. But then again with Big Alex at the helm……..

 

International round-up: Scotland 1 – 3 Portugal. Nothing to see here.

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Another international match under Alex McLeish and another defeat.

The reason I bother with these international reviews is because our players generally feature pretty significantly in proceedings.

For this one, Kieran Tierney was allowed to drop out due to a ‘loading issue’ which is bullshit football ‘tech-speak’ for him being tired due to the number of games he’s played so far this season.

No doubt Brendan’s been on the phone and requested that he be rested as opposed to being played out of position in a pointless friendly.

Leigh Griffiths, of course, hasn’t featured in the last two internationals now as he tries to improve his fitness. Of course, we know the real reason is that he can’t stand Big Eck and his banal ongoing decision to choose Johnny Russell and Steven Naismith up front ahead of him.

Craig Gordon was back in after being fairly dropped for the on form Allan McGregor and also back in the line-up was James Forrest, ludicrously not started against Israel after scoring four times for us the weekend before, and ex-Celt Stuart Armstrong. Callum McGregor also got his latest cap. Jack Hendry also got a start which was purely due to Charlie Mulgrew and John Souttar being unavailable.

On the whole, it was much better performance though ultimately another bad result as the ruthless Portuguese punished every error from Scotland, proving that even without the scandal-plagued Ronaldo why they are rated number seven in the world rankings.

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Just another day at the office.

Portugal’s goals came in the following order:

  • HĂ©lder Costa (43′minutes),
  • Macedo Lopes (74′minutes),
  • TuĂ© Na Bangna (84′minutes)

Costa’s was a tap-in after an Andy Robertson mistake but the other two were fabulous goals. A great header from Lopes after a floated cross to the edge of the box and a peach from Banga just inside the box subsequent to skinning Graeme Shinnie.

Stevie Naismith posted a consultation at the death resulting from a beautiful back-heel from another ex-Celt Gary Mackay-Steven which set him up for a tap-in.

Scott McKenna had missed a stick-on opportunity to equalise earlier with a diving header that went inches past.

All of the Celtic players did okay with the exception being Jack Hendry who continues to look way out of his depth when faced with any opposition remotely resembling quality.

For McLeish, the 4-4-2 formation with an actual left back playing in position worked better and with the recalls of Forrest and Armstrong there was a lot more vibrancy to the team but the same old errors continue to be punished. Rather like Celtic in Europe Scotland look completely incapable of keeping the back door shut for 90 mins.

Anyway, Big Eck staggers onto the doubleheader with Albania and Israel next month after this sorry weekend brought his record to two wins and six losses. Willie Miller remained optimistic that his friend could pull it off in the Sportscene studios last night obviously completely oblivious to what has occurred so far under his former central defensive partner.

International round-up: Israel 2 – 1 Scotland. Absolute garbage!

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The big adventure continued under Alex McLeish last night and took the national team plus about 1500 weary souls to the cavernous and mostly empty Sammy Ofer Stadium in Haifa, Israel for the latest instalment of the UEFA Nations League.

There they were subjected to some of the worst football we’ve seen from a Scotland national team in a long, long time.

Now that really is saying something.

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The face of the Scotland national team.

Getting beaten by World Cup qualifiers such as Costa Rica, Peru, Mexico and hammered by the second best national team in the world in Belgium is one thing but Israel are rated 96 in the FIFA rankings and had one win in ten coming into this.

They have some very good players at their disposal such as former Celtic midfielder Beram Kayal, now with Brighton in the EPL, as well as the prolific Red Bull Salzburg striker Munas Dabbur who we know all about after his shenanigans a week ago last night against us in the Europa League.

But the fact remains that they seldom if indeed ever pull it together at national team level until they met Scotland of course.

Scotland were rubbish from the get-go. The nonsense of trying to deploy both Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney down the same flank continues and nullifies the abilities of both. That aside it appeared to be five at the back with a deep-lying midfield and the two strikers completely cut off.

Scotland never pressed the ball at all until going behind in the second half and generally sat deep allowing the Israeli team to ping the ball about in front of them like a classic Brazil team and build both momentum and confidence.

A gift was handed out in the 23rd minute when Peretz needlessly barged Naismith to the ground in the box. Charlie Mulgrew subsequently stepped up and converted and you thought that might actually breathe some life into the Scotland performance but instead, it seemed to fire up the hosts who proceeded to subject the Scottish goal to wave after wave of attack for the remainder of the game.

Peretz made up for his earlier misdemeanour by equalising on 54 minutes which was long overdue and after Souttar walked for a second yellow – his first was mindless and second came from his mistake – there was only going to ever be one outcome and it happened when a hopelessly out of position Tierney scored an OG he’d like to forget with about of a quarter of an hour left.

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John Souttar is the only shocked man on the pitch.

Allan McGregor made save after save and Israel hit the bar when they should have scored and 2-1 flattered Scotland. Despite that Callum McGregor had a few chances to actually pull something out of the fire but shanked them both which was a continuation of his finishing against Albania.

Disjointed, disorganised, fatigued and ultimately dispirited just about sums up Scotland last night as they made it five defeats from seven under Alex McLeish with a first competitive defeat in 23 months.

Players such as Kevin McDonald and Johnny Russell appear to be getting games for no reason whatsoever. McDonald is playing in a Fulham team that are being trounced most weeks and Johnny Russell is playing in the retirement village that is the MLS at 28 and even then is hardly setting the heather alight.

They now play Portugal at Hampden on Monday night which will likely be attended by ten men and a dog and anyone who thinks Portugal don’t have the potential to destroy Scotland without the presence of the scandal-mired Cristiano Ronaldo are sadly mistaken. Portugal won 3-2 away in Poland last night and even without their talisman, they are a handy outfit rated seventh in the world.

Though a right hammering might not be such a bad thing as it might force the SFA’s hand vis-Ă -vis the ongoing farcical second reign of McLeish which hit a new low last night and considering his inability to make any actual big decisions, implement anything approaching a system and his alienation of some of the countries best players a decision really needs to be made sooner rather than later.

Under the previous manager, Scotland had gone unbeaten in seven – six of them competitive – whilst under Big Eck they have lost five in seven scoring four and conceding ten. Expect that to be even worse after Monday evening.

In the post-match press conference, Alex thought the system was actually working in the first half, that the team had kept possession okay and John Souttar’s red card was harsh. He also said he was about to bring on Scott McKenna for Souttar just before he got his second yellow even though McKenna was already on the pitch having been substituted on for the injured Charlie Mulgrew at half-time………………………………

God help us!

Post-match analysis: Celtic 1 – 0 Aberdeen. Another win and Jim Brogan tribute.

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I didn’t get to see the game.

In fact, I’ve only just seen the highlights.

Aberdeen played well and Gary Mackay-Steven nearly came back to haunt us in the first half with a mazy run where he then typically fluffed his lines when through one on one with the keeper. Good save from Gordon in fairness.

Niall McGinn also had a decent effort from distance whizz just past the post but down at the other end, Edouard was unlucky to see a wonderful effort crack off the post from 25 yards.

He later had to go off after being assaulted on the edge of the box by Scott McKenna though Bobby Madden ludicrously adjusted it to be nothing more than a 50/50 challenge when in reality it was a wild attempt at a WWE style drop-kick from the Aberdeen defender.

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You can clearly see he’s focused purely on the ball.

That aside Celtic were a bit wasteful and Aberdeen remained a threat with Leigh Griffiths having to head one off the line from a corner.

Scott Sinclair came on for French Eddy and conjured up a wonderful goal via a back heeler midway through the second half.

An important three points and it maintains our pretty incredible home record this season of eight wins and one draw from nine matches, with six clean sheets.

It was also vitally important for Scott Sinclair who as we all know has been bang out for form recently which just isn’t acceptable for one of the highest paid players at the club.

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Niall McGinn knows what’s coming.

Before the match, the players dawned black armbands for the second time in the week and observed a minutes applause along with the fans for Jim Brogan.

I was at Jim’s funeral that morning and was disappointed to hear that the club had made no official contact with the family outside of flowers sent to the crematorium where Jim was finally laid to rest after a Requiem Mass at the Cathedral earlier which was attended by many Celtic greats such as Danny McGrain, Davie Hay, John Clark, Dixie Deans and Bobby Lennox to name but a few.

Hopefully, they can resolve that in the coming days and weeks though it’s another example of how disconnected clubs are in the modern day from the people who have played such a pivotal role in their history. Alas……

I was able to stream the game onto my phone and show some of Jim’s family the round of applause just before kick off as well as his picture on the big screens.

Thankfully we got the right result in the end.

It was tough and hard fought but the win was ours. A fitting tribute to Jim.

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