Euro 2024, day ten
Ok, this was not a great day for brilliant football.
I might shift up the format of these a bit as the narrative flow of two games at once dictates, but right now it’s as we were. Let’s get into it.
Scotland 0-1 Hungary
I did not have fun watching this one.
Scotland stuck with the broad shape and approach Steve Clarke has used pretty much non stop for years now. They spent a lot of time passing around the back with no real idea how to progress the ball into dangerous areas. 58% possession, four shots, all in the second half. It’s just crap. I mean look at those thick arrows between the centre backs and midfielders.
Which is worse from that graphic?
That centre back Grant Hanley made the most passes? That goalkeeper Angus Gunn had the most xGChain? That the same player had the most progressive passing made and received, and that it was pint sized patient passing midfielder Billy Gilour? Or that Scott McKenna was the most central player in the passing network?
The answer is that they are all awful. I can’t find any positives here. Scotland never had any idea how to generate anything resembling an attack. They instead relied on individuals, and these just aren’t a particularly impressive group of attackers in terms of quality. I genuinely felt Scotland played some reasonable stuff at the Euros three years ago, and were hard done by to get knocked out in the group stages. I do not think that this time. This was just dreadful, and one can’t reasonably complain about Scotland getting knocked out.
Hungary did not exactly play liquid football here, but it was enough. They got their goal from launching a quick counter after defending a corner, with the kinds of basic decisions about when to play the pass and where that Scotland got wrong all tournament. Ah, well.
Switzerland 1-1 Germany
Hmm. Should we have more questions about Germany?