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PASTA Mick

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About PASTA Mick

  • Birthday September 24

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  1. Forrest should be in the finals squad. Griffiths won't be anywhere near it.
  2. There are 4 games between the top 4 in September. Each of the 4 play 2 of the others. Its a big month. Whilst Denmark are storming ahead, I wouldn't bet on them winning all 10 matches. We need to make sure we get any points they drop.
  3. Looking at my initial predictions, I clearly underrated Denmark. 25 March 2021 Israel v Denmark - Draw Moldova v Faroe Islands - Draw Scotland v Austria - Draw 28 March 2021 Denmark v Moldova -Denmark win Austria v Faroe Islands - Austria win Israel v Scotland - Draw 31 March 2021 Austria v Denmark - Draw Moldovia v Israel - Israel win Scotland v Faroe Islands - Scotland win Looking to September - 1 September 2021 Denmark v Scotland - Denmark win Faroe Islands v Israel - Israel win Moldova v Austria - Austria win 4 September 2021 Faroe Islands v Denmark - Denmark win Israel v Austria - draw Scotland v Moldova - Scotland win 7 September 2021 Austria v Scotland - Austria win Denmark v Israel - Denmark win Faroe Islands v Moldova - Faroe Islands win Which would leave it looking like this - Denmark - 18 pts (Moldova (A), Austria (H); Faroes (H), Scotland (A)). Austria - 11 pts (Faroes (A), Denmark (A); Israel (H), Moldova (H)). Scotland - 8 pts (Israel (H), Faroes (A); Moldova (A), Denmark (H)). Israel - 8 pts (Scotland (A), Moldova (H); Austria (A), Faroes (H)). Faroes - 4 pts (Austria (H), Scotland (H); Denmark (A), Israel (A)). Moldova - 1 pt (Denmark (H), Israel (A); Scotland (H), Austria (A)).
  4. It doesn't look too bad... Marshall McTominay Cooper Tierney Fraser Jack Gilmour Robertson McGinn Adams Dykes Bench to change it: Forrest, Armstrong, McGregor, Christie, McLean, Turnbull, Gauld, McBurnie, Nisbet, Griffiths?
  5. That would be a very good outcome in my opinion. We'd still be in with a shout regardless of the results in the other games and then have a run of Israel (H), Faroes (A) and Moldova (A) before taking on Denmark at home in the last match.
  6. 3-5-2 with KT and SM in defence is far more attacking than 4-4-2.
  7. It is so frustrating that we didn't qualify for the u21 finals this time. One win from our last 2 matches and we'd have made it - just like the first time in the Nations League, but we bottled it. We took 4 points off Croatia and we took 4 points off Czech Rep. We lost twice to Greece which cost us, along with a home draw against Lithuania. The Czechs have been eliminated from the finals, finishing third behind Spain and Italy, but above hosts Slovenia. Croatia play England today. A point would put them into the next round but they can still sneak through even if they lose. What an experience that would have been for the squad!
  8. You make good points and I did try and think about the level those players were at during that campaign. I have also picked the squad that had our best result between 1998 and November 2020. It would be interesting to see peoples best XI of all the players since 2000. I think only KT and Robertson would appear regularly in peoples lists from the current squad, but others have the potential to achieve far more than players like McFadden and Fletcher did for us. I think we'd have reached Euro 2008 if it had as many teams as Euro 2016 and Euro 2020 has had.
  9. I do agree that we were stronger in the past. I think you need to pick one squad to compare to this one. The Euro 2008 campaign squad was good - how would you compare the two? This was the initial squad for the Lithuania (H) and France (A) double header - Goalkeepers: Craig Gordon (Sunderland), David Marshall (Norwich City), Allan McGregor (Rangers) Defenders: Graham Alexander (Preston), Russell Anderson (Sunderland), Gary Caldwell (Celtic), Alan Hutton (Rangers), Jay McEveley (Derby County), Stephen McManus (Celtic), Gary Naysmith (Sheffield United), David Weir (Rangers). Midfielders: Scott Brown (Celtic), Barry Ferguson (Rangers), Darren Fletcher (Manchester United), Paul Hartley (Celtic), Lee McCulloch (Rangers), Stephen Pearson (Derby County), Barry Robson (Dundee United), Gary Teale (Derby County). Forwards: Craig Beattie (West Brom), Kris Boyd (Rangers), James McFadden (Everton), Shaun Maloney (Aston Villa), Kenny Miller (Celtic), Garry O’Connor (Birmingham City). I've highlighted the ones that I think would get in a combined squad. However, we do have more players playing at the top end of the table in England now. Far more Celtic and rangers (RIP) players back then.
  10. The decision to appoint McLeish was a disaster that we all saw coming. It set us back years! But, we've gone from losing 4-0 to Belgium and Russia; and 3-0 to Kazakhstan and Belgium in a single campaign to being harder to beat, and able to compete with teams that I would say have slightly stronger squads. Making Euro 2020 was so important and Clarke has to take a lot of the credit. I just wish we'd got over the line in the Nations League because that play-off insurance would be so useful to us. One issue Clarke had to solve was finding a way to get our best players on the pitch at the same time. We has largely managed that. I think he was far too loyal to some players that were part of the November squad and it has been costly this month. The next big issue for Clarke is goal scoring. He knows it and that is why he brought Adams in. He's a bit unlucky that Griffiths, Burke, McBurnie and Dykes are all out of form. Shankland and Nisbit are in better form but unproven over a long period of time at the top level. Forrest is also a loss, no matter what folk say on here. I'm not sure there is anyone in the under 21s to get too excited about, although I'm not writing Hornby off just yet. If your forwards aren't scoring, you need your midfielders to help out. McGinn has done that. I personally think getting the best out of Fraser is key to us going forward - I think he is superb despite this indifferent club form. Christie and McGregor have had tough seasons too. If Clarke takes anything away from this campaign, I hope it is that he realises that international squads need to keep evolving. Gauld, Turnbull and Gilmour could have made a difference - even if they just put pressure on players that aren't playing well but are still getting called up.
  11. Faroes results since start of 2020 W 3-2 v Malta W 1-0 v Andorra L 4-0 v Denmark D 1-1 v Latvia W 2-0 v Andorra L 2-1 v Lithuania D 1-1 v Latvia D 1-1 v Malta D 1-1 v Moldova L 3-1 v Austria P 10, W 3, D 4, L 3. The do tend to score goals, although their opposition has been mainly teams of a similar level. I expect a tight game and the longer it is 0-0 the more nervous we will be. We really do need to start the game strongly. My XI would be - Marshall Tierney Hanley Hendry Robertson McTominay McGregor Armstrong McGinn Fraser Adams
  12. 5 matches without a win 😪
  13. We had a chance to put Israel right out of it. We've also not played well enough in either match to suggest we will easily win on Wednesday.
  14. Looking at my initial predictions - 25 March 2021 Israel v Denmark - Draw Moldova v Faroe Islands - Draw Scotland v Austria - Draw 28 March 2021 Denmark v Moldova -Denmark win Austria v Faroe Islands - Austria win Israel v Scotland - Draw 31 March 2021 Austria v Denmark - Draw Moldovia v Israel - Israel win Scotland v Faroe Islands - Scotland win I'm not sure what the best result is for us in the Austria v Denmark game. Probably anything other than an Austria win? Looking further ahead - 1 September 2021 Denmark v Scotland Faroe Islands v Israel Moldova v Austria 4 September 2021 Faroe Islands v Denmark Israel v Austria Scotland v Moldova 7 September 2021 Austria v Scotland Denmark v Israel Faroe Islands v Moldova We've easy got the toughest fixtures of the 4 teams with away matches against the top 2 seeds.
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