To be fair I was trying to avoid being over critical of Angus and Robbie picked up my main point. Against Germany he tried to play out and often put his defenders in trouble and I recall us having the same problem last year. The suggestion appears to be that his previous Clubs tried and failed to improve the distribution side of his game so how will our new Manager react? I suspect he will put system before player.
Marcelino Núñez was on the Chile bench for most of the Copa America Group A match against holders Argentina. He came on late in the game after Argentina had taken the lead, one of few Chilean players to test Emiliano Martinez in the Argentine goal. The final round of matches in Group A sees Chile, currently 3rd in the 4-team group, pitted against Canada, currently in 2nd. To progress into the knock-out stages, Chile need to beat the Canadians, a draw would not be good enough.
Just watched USA V Panama, not much of a game, a little rough at times. Each had a player ejected. Sargent was brought on for the last 4mins so not much to say. As it was an American tv broadcast the commentators seemed more concerned and interested about the US team. Can’t say much either about Cordoba except he looks a big unit on the telly. I think he can handle the championship.
Scotland 0:1 Poland in tonight's Nations League match (7:45pm start). Gunn was beaten by a rasping, swerving shot from 30 yards out, which curled against the inside of the post before rebounding across goal into the net. Don't think Angus can be blamed, just an impossible trajectory on the shot.
Gilmour reduces the deficit at the start of the second half: Scotland 1:2 Poland. Now 20 minutes to go, and the score remains the same. Goal Scotland! McTominey with the equaliser.(75 mins). Scotland can win this.
The Hanley moment happened almost in slow motion, but of course, it needed the preamble of a rousing Scotland comeback to set the scene for its full horror." [BBC] In fairness the replay looks like he got the ball first but he's not selling it to the ref holding his head in his hands afterwards
Terrible attempt by Hanley. Should have just stayed on his feet and the ball would have gone out of play.
Hanley does appear to get a touch on the ball, slightly altering its trajectory leftwards; but for years now, that sort of tackle from behind, bringing down the opponent in the process, has been penalised, irrespective of whether the tackler takes the ball along with the player. The head-holding Hanley knew what he'd done, and what was coming. As Bure says, if he'd just stayed on his feet the ball may have run out of play, or Hanley might have managed to get something on any cross/shot, or Gunn might have saved/blocked it etc. Many penalties given away involve simple miscalculation of the odds; penalties have an xG of 0.76; the probability of the Polish player scoring was reasonably high, but not as high as for the penalty that ensued from the tackle.
Ante Crnac was in the Croatia U21 starting XI for last night's EURO U21 qualifier against the Faroe Islands, from which Croatia emerged 2:1 winners. Three of his team mates were substituted around the 60th minute, including his two fellow forwards, but Ante, playing on the right of the forward three, played on until the 80th minute, when he came off shortly after earning a Yellow Card. Haven't seen any reports or highlights, so no further details at the moment.
Wondered when something would bring up the failures of Hanley and to a lesser extent Gunn & McLean last night. Hanley coming back from injury isn't himself and given he's almost 33 and should not be near the first 16 for us. I even had Leeds fan ask back in 2021-22 why we're still persisting with him a 1st choice starter back then, given his lack of speed & positioning. I'm fully expecting Knapper will be signing a replacement in January and will be disappointed if not. I've also never particularly rated Gunn (since 2021), So'ton sold for a reason and he's barely excelled for us, nor Scotland's various funny exploits. Many years on those 2 positions still remain 2 of the 3 weakest on the pitch
I've often been critical too, especially of his less than accurate kicking BUT, from what I've seen so far this season, I think he is showing improvement. Maybe the change in goalkeeping coach has helped him. He's in the final year of his contract, so we should get an indication soon of how highly the club rate him.
The city trio we involved in Scotland's loss yesterday. McClean provided an assist for McSauce to score the opener, though went off injured midway through the 2nd half. Despite decent defencing by Hanley and McKenna, Gunn gifted an equaliser to Bruno and despite looking shaky pulled off some decent saves, albeit conceding a second to CR7. Await to hear the extent of Kenny's issue
I don't think it accurate to say that Gunn "gifted" the equaliser to Fernandes. His view was seriously obstructed by those in front of him (indeed it surprised me there wasn't a deflection), there was bend on the shot, and while some commentators describe the shot as "scuffed", it appeared well struck and powerful to me. "Might have done better" would be fair, "gifted" the goal is not, IMO. Nor do I think he looked "shaky"; the saves he pulled off could not have been made by a keeper lacking confidence. The second goal resulted from a perfect cross by Neves, helped by Jota's presence which forced Gunn to commit himself before he might otherwise have done. IMO Scotland would have lost by several more goals had Gunn had the poor game you are suggesting.
He was an unused sub for Finland in their 3-0 defeat to Greece. 4 goals in 20 MLS appearances and limited minutes since returning from an injury in August. Looks to have lost his spot to Ben Kjallman, a striker in form in the Polish league.
