Well that was interesting wasn't it?? NOT. Scotland were hammered last night as Sweden showed us the art of attacking football from midfield. Sweden also had star player Zlatan Ibrahimovic making his international comeback with a performance that shows why Barca paid all that money for him.
The game was only 4 minutes old when the Barca star opened the scoring with a tap in from 5 yards , Scotland could then have been 2 behind when Allan Mcgregor fumbled a drive by Toivonen before making a world class save to deny Elmander's follow up. Scotland's best chance in the 1st half fell to Charlie Adam as the Swedish keeper dropped a Mcfadden cross but Adam couldn't get enough on the ball to poke it home.
Sweden went 2 up in 39 minutes when FC Twente playmaker Bajrami beat Mcgregor at the second attempt after ghosting past Broadfoot and finsihing with top corner strike. At half time Scotland had not been in the game , 2-0 was certainly a fair result.
As the 2nd half got underway Scotland still couldn't keep the ball , any move was breaking down as the Swede's pressed the ball with their 4-3-2-1 formation. Scotland then conceded a weak 3rd goal as Ibrahimovic crossed from Sweden's left and PSV forward Toivonen rose above Berra to nod it home.
Scotland's best chance of the 2nd half fell to Kris Boyd as he made the Sweden keeper make a smart save after being put through by Darren Fletcher. As the game neared it end McGregor was again called into action by the impressive Toivonen.
This game has surely gave the manager and the fans more questions than answers , i still don't understand why Kenneth played when he was only brought in as a replacement. This is not having a go at the Utd stopper but if he was a late replacement then surely Levein was planning to play someone else in defence with Berra. Wallace never had his best game as he was exposed many times , will Steven Whitaker now come in vs Lithuania??. Our most creative player was Mcfadden but like many id like him to star for Scotland as the 2nd Striker , With Dorrans sure to return to the left flank when we start our EURO 2012 qualifiers then Mcfadden would be perfect foil in a free role to provide the support for Kenny Miller up front.
Overall the result wasn't the best , yes we were missing players but the Scotland fans expected better than what we watched last night. A performance like that in Lithuania will put us in big trouble. Levein and his players must step up to the plate now.....THE LITHUANIA GAME IS IN 3 WEEKS.
Better news last night was that the Scotland U21 team grabbed a last minute 1-1 draw vs Sweden at St Mirren Park. David Wotherspoon cancelling out a 16th minute strike by Sweden's Avdic.
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