Steve Clarke - What did O'Donnell do wrong?

AndyWebsterLoyal said:
It's one thing not to throw him under the bus and it's another to actively say he did what was asked of him and imply he played well if you analyse his performance.
Click to expand...

I know what you mean but he still needs to get his morale up for the next few days until the England and Croatia games are out the way.

I don’t think Clarke defends O’Donnell quite as stringently if the Czech game was just your standard qualifier.
 
The Clarke football system. Defend, defend, defend. Ok if we don’t score as the overall stats are more important than the defeat.
 
Just because he might not have done much wrong doesnt mean there is not better options Clarke ya fuckin steamer!!

Patterson is a much more equipped player to produce at that level than Odonnell ever will be, play the kid and reap the rewards ya clown.
 
hes just not very good - so doing nothing "wrong" still doesnt make him good.

thats like me playing a decent game of football and doing nothing wrong when there are 4 better players on the bench than me .. who again may do nothing wrong, but are better players.

Clarke is a dinosaur and doesn't know how to play to win games - its all about defending / containment.
 
1. Didn’t get out to stop the cross for the first goal
2. Tackled himself numerous times
3. Tackled Christie
4. Shat himself numerous times in possession under little pressure. Resulting in him turning around and passing to Marshall, who inevitably goes long.
5. Offers nothing going forward, 99% of his second touches are either a tackle or a pass back to the keeper, actually negates the world class left wing back in our team by making us very predictably one sided.

I don’t mind if it’s Patterson that plays there, he has only played a few senior games after all. But you can’t play a 532 and have a wing back that doesn’t offer any width. And playing Christie up top to negate that - a left footer who’s only trick is to cut inside and hit it - just shows how little concern Clarke has with being an attacking threat.
 
TimzRFudz said:
Reads rather strongly like no Nathan on Friday then.

Suits me. I can see us being torn a new one on Friday night. Would rather Rangers players weren’t the ones taking pelters after it.
Click to expand...
There’s not a hope in hell this miserable looking jakey was ever thinking about starting either Patterson or Gilmour against England no matter how bad his first choice starters performed.
 
iaatpies said:
Armstrong isnt a guy to play off a main striker and neither Patterson nor Gilmour should be thrown into the likes of the England game. Fraser and Adams up top would be a better option and I'd have McGinn and McTominay with Gauld in front of them. It's criminal that Ryan Gauld isnt in the squad. If you want to protect Patterson then Armstrong plays as right wingback because he's better going forward than O'Donnell even if he isnt going to be the best defensively. Patterson and Gilmour are players who will grow into roles as they continue to develop.
Click to expand...
I'd be surprised if Clarke even knows where Gauld plays :D

the fact he's put players not performing (Christie, McGregor) into a squad over somebody who did perform in a much stronger league just shows how poor a manager he is. 9 goals and 7 assists for a team that got relegated over a dismal Celtic team where his "favourites" play
 
Neither here nor there though is it Clarke.

Patterson possess more ability and is an attacking threat going forward.

Patterson is the better player, play your strongest 11.

It’s not really that difficult.
 
As someone pointed out on here, probably the worst player to take to the pitch in the history of the tournament and looked every inch of it.

Clarke is a dinosaur who runs an old pals act.
 
  • Like
Reactions: R-M
YoungGer97 said:
McLaughlin

Hanley Cooper Tierney
Patterson Robertson

McTominay Gilmour
McGinn

Armstrong
Adams

​
A good manager makes this team a regular feature at tournaments, probably gets them into the knockout rounds fairly handily and has them playing a decent brand of football. There's absolutely no excuses. Many other countries have just the same problems and actually do better with less capable squads.
Click to expand...

That’s the team he needs to go with to stand any chance.
 
1872 said:
Blinkered nonsense. It means he'll play against England. Even fans of other teams are questioning why Patterson isn't starting.
Click to expand...
I dont want Rangers players anywhere near the starting lineup on Friday. IMO it could get messy and guess who they would point the finger at.
 
Where to start with that really.
Can understand a manager not wanting to further damage a players’ confidence, but to suggest he did nothing wrong is ridiculous and does nothing for his credibility.
 
uneasydaz said:
Looks like he will play against England

https://twitter.com/x/status/1405110231923924993
Click to expand...
He tackled Christie on the edge of their box ffs then back heeled the ball out of play. Then there was the multiple times he never controlled a short pass and lost possession. Wtf is the point in getting to a tournament for a clown of a manager to play dross just because they done a job sometime.
 
GeckoBear29 said:
You think Clarke is going to play him?!
Click to expand...
I don’t think BG will get a start v England, Clarke will stick in McGregor, Christie, Forrest or Turnbull to play with McGinn/ McTominay & Armstrong. I expect our MF to get the run around from Eng.
only then will consider Slotting BG in the middle and release McGinn to play a ‘10’.
 
Ronaldo removed the two bottles of Coke and replaced them with water sounds like Clarke has replaced the Coke with bottles of Glens vodka.
 
If Patterson isn’t playing he has to go with Forrest surely. At least he can attack with purpose
 
If Clarke can't see he's a shite player and doesn't deserve to be playing at international level,then it tells you everything you need to know about him as a manager.
 
All I kept hearing in the build up was that he’s never let us down. Picking players on that basis will never get us anywhere. Clarke is a negative twat.
 
He has to defend his player but that just reads as desperate
We won't see Patterson on Friday and that's probably the best thing for his development as getting hammered whilst playing with that shit then getting the blame since he is the only Rangers player in the team would do him no good
Let Clarke continue on his misguided campaign to right all the perceived sectarian slights he suffered by picking a team of Celts, ex Celts and wannabe Celts and enjoy watching them get stuffed without a token protestant to blame
 
That's just pathetic from Clarke and its extremely selective to say that they didn't attack much down their left so he didn't do anything wrong.

He should maybe go back and watch the first goal and see who it was that allowed the guy to get the cross in unchallenged.
 
O’Donnell was conspicuously bad. He’s done better in previous games and I can understand Clarke’s unwillingness to throw him under the bus but he’s a mid-table SPFL clogger. With the move to a back three, there’s even less of a case for persisting with him. It’s not just about Rangers fans wanting Patterson to get a game, though he’s clearly a major upgrade. I’d rather Forest started than O’Donnell.
 
Managers at the World Cups and Euros have always had to be willing to make changes. There's no time for players to find their feet or letting teams gel, it's get in whoever can do a job and is currently on form. Scottish managers routinely let sentimentality get in the way, and Clarke is proving to be among the worst offenders.

I fancied Patterson could make life difficult for the English left side, whether against right-footed Trippier or another player who'll now be coming in for their first game of the Euros and potentially needing a half to settle.

Best Scotland team in two generations, full of key players for top English teams, and we're settling for the usual "we tried hard and aren't our fans funny" shite.
 
JayDee said:
I didn't say that. Like I did say, it might not be the best thing for Patterson himself for him to play in this game. I expect Scotland to lose, perhaps heavily, no matter who Clarke picks. It could damage young Patterson's confidence if he's on the wrong end of a hiding. He should play in other Scotland games in the future.
Click to expand...

Stephen O'Donnell has made an entire career out of playing for teams who lose heavily
 
I’m very much of the view that it was the other Steve who done wrong , the same one uttering pishhh about a player who clearly had a very tough game of it .

not the only one of course but an obvious one

Steve Clarke you are deluding yourself
 
What did he do wrong...nothing if you don't count the two goals, him falling on his Chunt, tackling his own player.

He played a part in both goals for me.

1st goal. As a fullback. You stop the cross. You don't do a poofy wee pirouette with yer hands tucked behind your back. You get your face in front of it and take the hit.

2nd goal. The reason big stupid heed Hendry shot and never passed was because he, like every other player didn't want to pass the ball to a useless fecking Motherwell player. He's literally so bad, no Chunt wants to pass to him. Like passing your lighter to Guy Fawkes and asking him to look after Parliament.
 
iaatpies said:
We don't.

Patterson may well become a very good rightback in the fullness of time. Right now he isnt ready for the England game, although he could have coped against the Czechs just fine. The only other player for that position is Stephen O'Donnell as the other right sided options arent defensively sound. A big difference from our left side where we've got Robertson as first choice and Tierney very capable of playing there.

Middle of the park? Gilmour may be the dynamic, attacking midfielder we need but who do we have around him? A combination of guys with the same kind if skillsets - lots of energy, a bit of dig but a lack of composure and football intelligence. It makes the omission of Ryan Gauld on the back of a very good season in Portugal even more frustrating because he could have given the Scottish midfield something different.

Attacking wide players? The whole reason we're playing 3-5-2 is because at a national level we don't have anybody who can play the wide roles in the same way that the Rangers front 3 do. Fraser and Adams would be a better front pairing than Dykes and Adams for their movement, but who would that 3rd attacker be in a modern 4-3-3 formation?

Scotland have competent players clustered around the same few positions and gaps in the squad that restrict how the team can play.
Click to expand...

Tierney was seen to be good enough to get thrown into important world cup qualifiers when he was 19/20 - against Slovakia, Slovenia & Lithuania out of position at right back (Patterson's natural position!), and at LCB against England a few days after turning 20.

WIthout the width that attacking wide players can offer, someone like Patterson is needed as a natural foil to Robertson on the other side who provides that width. Players are only ever ready when they actually play - at 19 Patterson should be playing if he's better than the alternative options, which he is. I agree with you that Gauld should be in the squad, but we also have plenty of options for the middle. If Clarke wants to shoehorn McTominay in at RCB where he can provide some ballplaying ability from the back (much like Tierney on the left), Scotland could be ambitious and go with a team like:

Not Marshall
McTominay Cooper Tierney
Patterson McGinn Gilmour Fleck Robertson
Fraser
Adams​

With only one recognised true CB it could be dangerous, though with 3 CB formation you really need the players there to be capable on the ball to add attacking threat - and would be very ambitious/stupid to try against England for the first time, but for me that is the right mixture of technical and capable players that you'd be excited to go to games to watch play.
 
A1bertz said:
What did he do wrong...nothing if you don't count the two goals, him falling on his Chunt, tackling his own player.

He played a part in both goals for me.

1st goal. As a fullback. You stop the cross. You don't do a poofy wee pirouette with yer hands tucked behind your back. You get your face in front of it and take the hit.

2nd goal. The reason big stupid heed Hendry shot and never passed was because he, like every other player didn't want to pass the ball to a useless fecking Motherwell player. He's literally so bad, no Chunt wants to pass to him. Like passing your lighter to Guy Fawkes and asking him to look after Parliament.
Click to expand...
The breakaway in the second half with Armstrong, he took a look and saw it was O’Donnell on his right and that made up his mind to shoot.
 
unbelievablewalter said:
Stephen O'Donnell has made an entire career out of playing for teams who lose heavily
Click to expand...
Slagged because he plays for motherwell but that’s the best team he’s ever actually played for!

I’ve no clue how good or bad a player Palmer is but surely he has to be better than SOD when he’s played most his career in the championship.
 
TimzRFudz said:
Reads rather strongly like no Nathan on Friday then.

Suits me. I can see us being torn a new one on Friday night. Would rather Rangers players weren’t the ones taking pelters after it.
Click to expand...
Nathan will probably get a game in the dead rubber next week.

If he does then hopefully he has a brilliant game which ‘should’ lead to more questions.
 
unbelievablewalter said:
Tierney was seen to be good enough to get thrown into important world cup qualifiers when he was 19/20 - against Slovakia, Slovenia & Lithuania out of position at right back (Patterson's natural position!), and at LCB against England a few days after turning 20.

WIthout the width that attacking wide players can offer, someone like Patterson is needed as a natural foil to Robertson on the other side who provides that width. Players are only ever ready when they actually play - at 19 Patterson should be playing if he's better than the alternative options, which he is. I agree with you that Gauld should be in the squad, but we also have plenty of options for the middle. If Clarke wants to shoehorn McTominay in at RCB where he can provide some ballplaying ability from the back (much like Tierney on the left), Scotland could be ambitious and go with a team like:

Not Marshall
McTominay Cooper Tierney
Patterson McGinn Gilmour Fleck Robertson
Fraser
Adams​

With only one recognised true CB it could be dangerous, though with 3 CB formation you really need the players there to be capable on the ball to add attacking threat - and would be very ambitious/stupid to try against England for the first time, but for me that is the right mixture of technical and capable players that you'd be excited to go to games to watch play.
Click to expand...
It will be an all out defensive borefest on Friday.
Mentality will be let's try and backs to the wall a draw so we can kid on we are still in contention for the last game.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Latest posts

Back
Top