Disappointment at Bari

By: Ian Rose | March 28th, 2007

Gary Naismith

Well, it’s over. Scotland has just lost 2-0 to Italy. Not an altogether terrible result - probably the result most people expected, but I am a bit disappointed in the way we went about it. As I explained in my last post, there were a couple of things we really had to avoid doing. One was fouling too much and giving up too many set pieces. We did avoid any penalties, which was good. In fact, Scotland rarely concedes a penalty these days. But, we did foul 20 times and 14 in the first half, giving up a lot of possession. We also had to sub in earlier. Once again, just like in the Georgia match, we changed our lineup with 10-15 minutes to go. Against Georgia, it was just barely enough time. Against Italy, it was too late. This is the first match I’ve seen in a while with a 4-5-1 formation, and I have to say I’m not fond of it. It really depends, I think, on having a good winger in as one of your pressing midfielders, and on having an excellent single striker. Our best pure winger, Chris Burke, was out of the match, and our lone striker was Kenny Miller, about whom I have not withheld my opinions. He has just simply not stepped up. Our defense played well, even without Steven Pressley, who I thought would be back for this match. Craig Gordon played very well in keeper, holding off an Italian rampage just after the half (6 shots in 10 minutes, all saved). Gordon is just getting better, but he needs some help. Now that I’ve seen it in action, I have to say I think the 4-5-1 is wrong for Scotland. It allows us no chance at scoring, as long as Kenny Miller remains the lone striker. I would have preferred Kris Boyd there, but even then, I think a 4-4-2 is a better overall set. This is a disappointing loss, if only because a win or draw would have been so exciting, but hopes remain strong for a Scottish qualification - we’re just going to feel a bit more pressure. At least we showed our fans something worth watching, whereas most of my English friends turned the channel and watched our match when they were 0-0 at the half with ANDORRA.