SCOTLAND MGR RX FOR WC SUCCESS: BIG SCOT MEN +BIG SCOT WOMEN

[Bell]

http://www.espnfc.com/scotland/story/32 ... n-strachan


The likes of Ikechi Anya, Griffiths, Andy Robertson, Kieran Tierney and Barry Bannan were up against bigger opponents and Strachan claimed that had taken its toll, at the Stozice Stadium in Ljubljana and elsewhere.
"Genetically we are behind,'' he said. "In the last campaign we were the second smallest, apart from Spain.
"We had to pick a team to combat the height and strength at set-plays. Genetically we have to work at things, maybe we get big women and men together and see what we can do.

[nemi2002]

He is referring to his country as the Ghana of Europe height wise

[Eaglezbeak]

http://www.espnfc.com/scotland/story/32 ... n-strachan


The likes of Ikechi Anya, Griffiths, Andy Robertson, Kieran Tierney and Barry Bannan were up against bigger opponents and Strachan claimed that had taken its toll, at the Stozice Stadium in Ljubljana and elsewhere.
"Genetically we are behind,'' he said. "In the last campaign we were the second smallest, apart from Spain.
"We had to pick a team to combat the height and strength at set-plays. Genetically we have to work at things, maybe we get big women and men together and see what we can do.

I guess that blows that theory out of the water,if the Spainish are even smaller in comparison and consistently qualify to major tournaments and have won two Euros and a World Cup of recent then maybe just maybe Scotland just weren't good enough and the manager if he remains needs to work harder in finding what works other than blaming size!

[oloye]

http://www.espnfc.com/scotland/story/32 ... n-strachan


The likes of Ikechi Anya, Griffiths, Andy Robertson, Kieran Tierney and Barry Bannan were up against bigger opponents and Strachan claimed that had taken its toll, at the Stozice Stadium in Ljubljana and elsewhere.
"Genetically we are behind,'' he said. "In the last campaign we were the second smallest, apart from Spain.
"We had to pick a team to combat the height and strength at set-plays. Genetically we have to work at things, maybe we get big women and men together and see what we can do.

Good old Strachan at his best....i miss his interview back when he was managing a clubside.

[oloye]

Can we help Scotland out with big women!

[Tbite]

http://www.espnfc.com/scotland/story/32 ... n-strachan


The likes of Ikechi Anya, Griffiths, Andy Robertson, Kieran Tierney and Barry Bannan were up against bigger opponents and Strachan claimed that had taken its toll, at the Stozice Stadium in Ljubljana and elsewhere.
"Genetically we are behind,'' he said. "In the last campaign we were the second smallest, apart from Spain.
"We had to pick a team to combat the height and strength at set-plays. Genetically we have to work at things, maybe we get big women and men together and see what we can do.

I guess that blows that theory out of the water,if the Spainish are even smaller in comparison and consistently qualify to major tournaments and have won two Euros and a World Cup of recent then maybe just maybe Scotland just weren't good enough and the manager if he remains needs to work harder in finding what works other than blaming size!

Spain were a different type of team. But generally in football you do not want to be the size of Spain physically. There are so many ways to play football, each with different physical attributes, but if we were to intersect all the different ways, I doubt you would arrive at diminutive players. Furthermore, I doubt that is where football is heading, a modern reality. Look at Germany, they have a lot of technical attributes, but they do have physicality.

Obviously being small has its advantages, you have a lower centre of gravity which can help with dribbling, it could possibly help with balance and it could help with agility. But I think overall it is better to be a bit bigger. Yes the world's best player is a small lad, yes one of the EPL's best headers of the ball in recent times was Tim Cahill, a small lad...so I will emphasize that football has so many quirks.

BUT, generally it is better to be a bit bigger IMO.

Or perhaps to be more objective, we should run the analysis per position. I think in the backline having big players is a must, in the more forward positions, there are tradeoffs between big and small, in the midfield you might do well with a mixture. In Goal, you really want height. Enyeama as great as he is, might have been even better with a bit more height. I saw Agbim in the CHAN in 2014, for just about every penalty he dove the right way, his reach was poor, and even Agbim is taller than Enyeama. Obviously we can continue the argument, positioning can compensate..but this is all about generalizations.

[guest83]

I brought this up in a topic a while ago. Nigeria has an abundance of physical specimens of footballers. Yet I don't see many of them in the SE. I would like to see the SE get more ugly in the way of playing. Like in the good old days.

[01bakana]

Can we help Scotland out with big women!

Egbon, I see what you did there O!!

[Eaglezbeak]

I brought this up in a topic a while ago. Nigeria has an abundance of physical specimens of footballers. Yet I don't see many of them in the SE. I would like to see the SE get more ugly in the way of playing. Like in the good old days.

In a 21 man squad Nigeria should have space cater for the physical side of the game.