Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Tonight...

Scotland will need a lot of luck to beat Holland. If we sit back and invite the Dutch to attack, we could end up in real trouble, so I hope hitting Holland on the break isn't the main tactic. We need someone to cause them a few problems, give them something to think about, but it's hard to see where that's going to come from tonight, given that McFadden is supended. My prediction, sadly, is a Holland win. Unless we manage to raise Archie Gemmill from the dead... (not that Archie is literally dead, you understand, in case anyone gets alarmed) Perhaps George Burley is working on that even now.

5 comments:

Matt Merritt said...

I remember being allowed to stay up and watch that game (mercifully I'd been sent to bed at halftime in the Peru match, and I can't remember watching the Iran game). Archie Gemmill was something of a hero of mine, because although he played for Forest at the time, he looked rather like my dad!

But I really hope they do it tonight. Like you I think McFadden will be badly missed, but the thing they have going for them is that when Holland have a bad day, they tend to have a really bad day. If Scotland attack them from the off and score early, it could be very interesting.

Rob said...

Holland have said they're going to field their strongest team. This will be to Scotland's advantage if they do, as the first team Dutch players aren't likely to risk getting involved in the cut-and-thrust of a game that means nothing to them. The real problem will be if they bring on a few second-choice attackers, players who are playing for a place in the World Cup squad.

Desmond Swords said...

10 nil to Holland

Desmond Swords said...

Oh, Ive just read you got beat. Hurrah for Holland. I was right, 1 0 - at home - ha ha ha. Glorious failures: the socttish soccer team are very good at that. It's what they do best: Fail.

ha ha ha

Only joking. I support Southport mate.

Rob said...

Yup, glorious failure. Of course, Scotland played very well, better than in any other game of the campaign. They hit the woodwork twice, had a goal chalked off for an arguable offside etc, although the Dutch were hard done by at the other end too, of course.

The damage was done earlier in the campaign. I suspect George Burley's days as manager are drawing to a sudden end. He can’t even blame it on not having enough quality players any more, as they showed last night that they can play very well when they feel like it.