Beyond The Last Man @BeyondTLM

Retro world football writing and nostalgia. Part of The Guardian Sports Network. Sister account @Brut_Football beyondthelastman.com Craig McCracken Joined July 2012

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Beyond The Last Man @BeyondTLM

3 days ago

@ademir2z @c0eseph So what would your solution be?

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Beyond The Last Man @BeyondTLM

3 days ago

@ademir2z @c0eseph They played openly v the USA and got battered so what sort of team would they be if they did not alter their game to play to their strengths as they really have very few players of any great quality. It seems such a weird hill to die on here.

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Beyond The Last Man @BeyondTLM

4 days ago

@ademir2z @c0eseph Ok then, what about the 3 European Cup Finals I mentioned - and they are just high-profile examples of something that has happened countless times.

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Beyond The Last Man @BeyondTLM

4 days ago

@ademir2z @c0eseph ...but they play high up and are decent at hemming opponents in, like Barcelona in 2010. Japan are quite progressive usually but they got boxed in last night for the entire 2nd half because Brazil did the same thing.

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Beyond The Last Man @BeyondTLM

4 days ago

@ademir2z @c0eseph Not sure of the relevance. Over 90 minutes in a particular game they chose to play that way tactically to further their chances of getting their desired result. Paraguay did exactly that last night. And it's a bit more complicated anyway as GER might not be great.... 1/2

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Beyond The Last Man @BeyondTLM

4 days ago

This reminds me of the time that the Duckworths added stone cladding to their house on Coronation Street.

Rapid Response 47 @RapidResponse47

4 days ago

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Beyond The Last Man @BeyondTLM

4 days ago

@ademir2z @c0eseph Well a famous example was Inter at Barcelona in 2010, however if you want to encompass teams generally just playing for penalty kicks then you could start with the European Cup Finals of 86, 88 and 91.

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Beyond The Last Man @BeyondTLM

4 days ago

@ademir2z I disagree that it's any worse than it was in the 70s and 80s for example, actually it's better now because of offside law changes + keeper handling rule changes which make it harder for the defending teams. Whatever, it's a challenge and GER were not good enough to overcome it

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Beyond The Last Man @BeyondTLM

a week ago

I mean, starting off in talking up Scotland's capabilities by offering an example of a player who had a good season in Europe's 20th strongest League is hardly encouraging anyone to read the rest.

John Walker @johnwalker_1986

a week ago

Scotland: "Players aren't good enough "🤣 The worst argument to appear in the hangover of this campaign & that we can't play football, it's coaching & style, 100%! Scott McKenna - LCB - Double winner in Croatia - Voted in Team of the Year All this in a country that we

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Beyond The Last Man @BeyondTLM

a week ago

@Joel_CP_70 @El_Vim_Fuego All those tournament appearances and never advanced out of the group. ROI have only won 3 World Cup games in their history and they have advanced several times.

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Beyond The Last Man @BeyondTLM

a week ago

The one common theme that unites all Scotland tournament teams ever is that how they perform is always less than the sum of its parts, regardless of whether those parts are good, bad or mostly indifferent.

Henry Winter @henrywinter

a week ago

When Scotland went to the World Cup 40 years ago, they had defenders of the quality of Miller and McLeish, Narey and Gough, and they even left Hansen behind. What’s happened to art of defending in Scotland, barring some exceptional full-backs like Robertson and Tierney? 1/2

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Beyond The Last Man @BeyondTLM

a week ago

@pugtastrophe I don't know about that so much. I remember we were at least defensively organised and grimly made it difficult for the Dutch and Germans to score, but not impossible of course. The slightly more stylish win v the CIS was somewhat meaningless though, like v the Dutch in 78.

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Beyond The Last Man @BeyondTLM

a week ago

@Joel_CP_70 @El_Vim_Fuego That's irrelevant though. There are many nations here with unknown players who play at lower levels than Scotland's squad, yet have offered something remotely positive to the competition.

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Beyond The Last Man @BeyondTLM

a week ago

@El_Vim_Fuego @Joel_CP_70 Expectation levels shift dependant on the players we have but there is perpetual underachievement anyway.

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Beyond The Last Man @BeyondTLM

a week ago

@chalkontheboots Emblematic of there being way too many nations here and the dilution of quality.

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Beyond The Last Man @BeyondTLM

a week ago

For all the commentary team desperately hold on to the notion of Scotland qualification for the knock-out stages is still in the balance, the truth is that a team as bereft of the basics as this one deserve nothing more than to be on the way home as soon as possible.

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Beyond The Last Man @BeyondTLM

a week ago

It feels that Ghana have had an Ayew playing for them since the Berlin Wall was still standing.

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Beyond The Last Man @BeyondTLM

2 weeks ago

Why is Roberto Martinez so meek when it comes to selecting or even just subbing Ronaldo? International football is inherently conservative, but he is neutering an otherwise highly mobile team by doggedly playing this static monolith up front himself.