Latest / Scots With A Mic / Opposition Analysis: Denmark + Greece w/ Toke Theilade & Stephen Kountourou (Hellas Footy)

Transcript

Opposition Analysis: Denmark + Greece w/ Toke Theilade & Stephen Kountourou (Hellas Footy) · Scots With A Mic

• 0:04
  Welcome to the Noise. Listen to the passion in Hamden.
• 0:07
  Park, it's John again. It's John again.
• 0:16
  The great done by Dalfish Chancellor, one for Scotland.
• 0:28
  Hello and welcome back to the Scots with the Mic Podcast.
• 0:32
  I'm your host James Scott and I'm absolutely delighted to have
• 0:35
  you all back along again listening.
• 0:38
  What an episode we've got in store for you today.
• 0:40
  Scotland are back in action on Saturday night coming and it's
• 0:44
  the final international break of the year and the stakes could
• 0:49
  not be any higher. A place at next year's World Cup
• 0:52
  is well within our grasp and only two games stand in our way
• 0:56
  between that, the ultimate prize featuring a tournament for the
• 1:01
  first time in 20 years. It's been a long, long time out
• 1:05
  in the cold for Scotland. Obviously €2.00 get to be there,
• 1:08
  but the World Cup is just that next level above and there's a
• 1:11
  guy who's only, I'm only 28, so I was out.
• 1:15
  I think I was 11 months old when the last World Cup took place,
• 1:18
  so no memories for me. For many fans who did have been
• 1:22
  to previous World Cups, it's a destined memory now.
• 1:25
  Another man who was even born back when the last World Cup in
• 1:29
  90, just a twinkle in his dad's eye is Fen Crocker, who's
• 1:32
  joining me on the podcast today. Fen how much would you like to
• 1:36
  see Scotland that World Cup? Oh, I mean, it's an absolute
• 1:40
  dream, as you said. I mean, yeah, like you said, I
• 1:42
  wasn't even born. We don't need to dwell on that
• 1:44
  too much. But yeah, I'd be there obviously
• 1:48
  if we qualified to anything, I could be to be traveling about
• 1:52
  Mexico, US, Canada, wherever it is, we'll be there and I'm sure
• 1:55
  thousands will be as well. So yeah, let's get there first
• 1:57
  and then we can start planning our flights and booking our
• 2:00
  overpriced flights. Oh yeah, I know that's that's
• 2:03
  one thing is going nothing painful it, but that'll be a
• 2:06
  good headache to have when, if if if it comes round.
• 2:09
  So today's episode is another opposition analysis style
• 2:14
  episode. We've done 2 before 1 was back
• 2:17
  before the Denmark game. We had talk title on to discuss
• 2:20
  things from Danish perspective. And then in October we had on
• 2:24
  Stephen Conturu from the Hellas football podcast.
• 2:27
  Both were very popular episodes got great feedback on them.
• 2:31
  So we're on we're running that back, we're doing it again and
• 2:34
  both of our previous guests are gladly coming back on to discuss
• 2:39
  the final two games. So we'll get to hear what the
• 2:42
  news is from their camps, the gossip, the vibes.
• 2:44
  Hey, everyone's feeling about the games, Finn, before we jump
• 2:48
  into the call with them, Steve Clark released his squad on
• 2:51
  Monday for the games. So we might as well just take a
• 2:54
  moment to run through that and, you know, just share our
• 2:58
  thoughts on that. I mean just.
• 3:00
  Before we do, I mean, it's great to see you wearing the Scotland
• 3:04
  top on the day of release. Yes, Sir, it's got along in line
• 3:07
  this morning. At 7:00 AM.
• 3:09
  Not, not quite, not that bad long sleeve version I went for.
• 3:13
  It's because I went, I went to here's what happened.
• 3:15
  I finished work and I was like, I'm going up to the US, live in
• 3:18
  Edinburgh, right in the centre. And I went up to the GED at the
• 3:21
  Saint James and I was, I'm just going up for a look.
• 3:23
  I mean, and I'll take the dog with me because that means I
• 3:25
  won't be able to go and try it on.
• 3:27
  So. But you better believe that I
• 3:29
  was in the changing rooms with the dog trying on the top and it
• 3:32
  just, it just felt a little bit too good.
• 3:34
  So yeah, me as yeah, I was, yeah, that's how I'm doing bad.
• 3:40
  So I went straight. There was, there wasn't much
• 3:43
  long sleeve versions left to be fair.
• 3:44
  So I kind of swayed my think and I was like that. £85 then the
• 3:47
  drain. 80 but then supporters club discount to go down to 68
• 3:52
  so but once I get that one I didn't.
• 3:54
  Even know there was a Sports Club discount.
• 3:56
  Yeah, you. Get 15% off Yeah, I'm doing
• 3:58
  that. I'm advertising for the Sports
• 3:59
  Club. Yeah, Yep, 15% off Scotland full
• 4:01
  price stuff, but I'll be back up over 80 once I get Mask mcdorman
• 4:06
  #4 on the back, so yeah. I think it does look better with
• 4:11
  the numbers on it. Yeah, I was looking at it today
• 4:13
  actually, and I was almost buying it, but I resisted.
• 4:16
  So. What's nice, even the long
• 4:18
  sleeve version, you don't can't really see it on the short
• 4:20
  sleeve version, but the Saltire pattern through the bass Navy,
• 4:25
  it goes right down his sleeves. It is really nice.
• 4:27
  Obviously this is only an audio so people won't be able to see,
• 4:30
  but on your your right arm there there's a just a gaping space
• 4:35
  for the World Cup badge. I know someone was messaging me
• 4:38
  that they're like, what's the space for?
• 4:39
  I was like, that's where the patches go mate.
• 4:40
  That's rein in a little bit. We're not there yet yeah, the
• 4:48
  squad. So I think we'll go front to
• 4:50
  back first striking departments looking pretty healthy.
• 4:54
  Kieran Bowie drops out and we're both fans of Kieran.
• 4:57
  But and comes Shankland, top goal scorer in the Premier
• 5:00
  League, the Scottish Premiership, even.
• 5:04
  I mean, it's. Good to see him in here.
• 5:06
  I thought, I think a lot of fans were going out from when he got
• 5:09
  into the squad kind of just before year 2024.
• 5:11
  I think it was he, you know, he got a few games before the EUR,
• 5:15
  like that one against Netherlands.
• 5:16
  And I think in that game he missed a big chance.
• 5:18
  And that's when kind of Steve Clark made-up his mind that he
• 5:21
  wasn't going to play him. So it's been a long time coming
• 5:24
  from I think he's it's good to have him back in the squads.
• 5:26
  And obviously, like you mentioned, I think 2 names that
• 5:29
  are glaringly missing from from the striking department, Karen
• 5:31
  Bowie and Tommy Conway, Karen Barry more so, but you know,
• 5:36
  it's just about who's in form. Lawrence Shanklin's in form, and
• 5:38
  he's always going to pick Jay Adams and and one of the next.
• 5:43
  Yeah, she got his goal again at the weekend against Pisa, didn't
• 5:46
  he? So yeah, could see him, could
• 5:49
  see him in Forum at least coming into the midfield.
• 5:52
  Nothing changes there. Obviously Luis Ferguson and Ryan
• 5:56
  Cresty will be returning from suspension, having missed the
• 5:59
  game at home against Belarus. So midfield's as strong as you
• 6:01
  could hope for. You look at the defense, we've
• 6:03
  got 3 left backs and three right backs.
• 6:06
  What's your thinking there? Yeah, I was supposed to say that
• 6:09
  usually I we kind of take four or five, so quite surprising.
• 6:15
  Good to meet like in there. There's usually a hint of like
• 6:17
  what formation he's going to go with.
• 6:19
  In the past, if you like, yeah, you know the extra fill backs
• 6:22
  been signaling towards A5 at the back.
• 6:26
  Yeah, so I think we could see a return of Kieran Tierney maybe
• 6:29
  playing at left centre back, something along those lines.
• 6:33
  Or I mean, he did say, though, you did all that Kin and Hacky
• 6:37
  have struggled with injury. And like in the Denmark camp,
• 6:40
  remember he did use the maximum players.
• 6:43
  You get caught there because he said we're going to be away from
• 6:45
  home in Denmark. We're not coming back to
• 6:47
  Scotland. I just want to have guys out
• 6:49
  there in case we do get injuries and all before the Greece game,
• 6:52
  the training camps in Turkey. It might just be because he's
• 6:56
  going you know what to our fullbacks are have been
• 6:58
  struggling with injury over the last month.
• 7:00
  Maybe just let's make sure we utilize all the squad positions
• 7:04
  we can. So we're not getting someone to
• 7:06
  fly five hours over to Turkey to join on the training and it adds
• 7:10
  an extra day to getting them into the squad sort of thing.
• 7:13
  So and then. Yeah, yeah.
• 7:15
  I mean you, you've taken one extra than the last camp.
• 7:18
  I think it is only three keepers, not As for that he went
• 7:22
  for a couple of times last few years.
• 7:26
  That was some something. But no, it's it's I think it's
• 7:29
  just for for cover in case that does flare up again, because
• 7:33
  obviously Aaron Hickey hasn't been training much with
• 7:36
  Brentford first team, but he's obviously at that stage where he
• 7:41
  is fit enough to make the trip and to hopefully play.
• 7:45
  Maybe that's not in the griefs game and he's saving them for
• 7:47
  the Denmark game at home and that's why he's taking an extra
• 7:50
  man. We'll we'll just have to wait
• 7:51
  and see. But I was happy to see Aaron
• 7:53
  Hickey and and guaranteeing his name is both in there.
• 7:55
  No, definitely. Karen Tierney looked like a good
• 7:57
  option from right back as well when he came on against Belarus.
• 8:00
  Yeah. And he was definitely a lot
• 8:02
  better than Anthony Austin was. Looking at the keepers.
• 8:05
  Max Johnson's injured as well. Oh yeah, he's done hamstrung.
• 8:08
  He could be a while, could he? Not sure I mean.
• 8:11
  Hopefully that's not another Iron Hickey situation where he's
• 8:13
  out for 12 months after a six week injury.
• 8:16
  No, definitely not. And then the goalkeepers.
• 8:19
  Angus Gunn, first choice, probably usually first team
• 8:23
  first name on the team sheet for us just because he's, you know,
• 8:25
  he is the keeper point at highest level damaged his knee
• 8:28
  ligaments and training. So Gordon and Kelly, the two
• 8:32
  usual guys, but Scott Bean comes in.
• 8:35
  That's quite a I mean it seems to ruffle the few folks
• 8:37
  feathers, but I don't know who else they would expect to be
• 8:40
  called then. I mean it's a bit a headache to
• 8:42
  who might start. Now personally, I think it'll
• 8:44
  probably be Craig Gordon just because when Clark has these
• 8:47
  packing orders in his head, when one guy comes in, he very rarely
• 8:51
  jumps up the pick in order that he usually slides in at the
• 8:53
  bottom. So I don't think, I mean Scott
• 8:56
  Bean's obviously been in good form for Folk, but I don't think
• 8:58
  we'll see him. I think it will be Craig despite
• 9:00
  his lucky game time, which is pretty worrying.
• 9:04
  Yeah, I mean, Scott Bean's really the only starting keeper
• 9:06
  at the moment. Got the squad.
• 9:09
  Obviously it was really bad to see Angus got not in squad, but
• 9:15
  I think it will be great when it starts.
• 9:17
  Obviously he's got the experience of starting for
• 9:20
  Scotland for so many times, so many caps.
• 9:23
  Yeah. And I think he can be called
• 9:24
  upon in these in these big moments like he has shown in the
• 9:28
  past, and hopefully he can produce some some more big
• 9:30
  performances. And you know what?
• 9:32
  Angus gone when he came in to the September camp.
• 9:35
  I think people maybe forget he wasn't playing much and he came
• 9:38
  and he had a great camp. You know, he played very well
• 9:40
  for US against Denmark away and then Belous away.
• 9:44
  So and there's no reason Kate couldn't come in and play well.
• 9:47
  But he is a different situation from his farm longer.
• 9:51
  He's gone without the sort of regular game time.
• 9:53
  So let's just wait and see what comes from that.
• 9:56
  I'm sure Paul, maybe we might touch and again throughout the
• 9:58
  episodes. But yes, we've got 2 guests
• 10:02
  waiting in the wings and now, so we're just going to drop into
• 10:04
  the call with them now. Gentlemen, welcome to the
• 10:07
  podcast. Thanks for coming back you on.
• 10:10
  I'll just get you both to introduce yourself once again.
• 10:12
  I know we've maybe got some repeat listeners, but there
• 10:14
  might be some new people that have joined us for this one.
• 10:17
  So just introduce yourselves and tell us what you're all about.
• 10:21
  Yeah. So let me start.
• 10:23
  My name is Togathy Late. I'm Danish football writer.
• 10:27
  It is in chief at Windfall Park dot DK and yeah, covering
• 10:31
  everything Danish football. I assume everybody who's
• 10:34
  listening to this podcast Remember Me, But yeah, always
• 10:38
  good with another introduction, right?
• 10:40
  Yeah, no, definitely. And Steven, obviously you're
• 10:43
  from the Health Football Podcast.
• 10:46
  Yes, certainly. I'm, I'm Stephen Contura from
• 10:48
  the LS Football Podcast. We host a weekly podcast every,
• 10:51
  well, every week. That's why it's a weekly
• 10:53
  podcast, I guess, talking about everything Greek football from
• 10:56
  the Super League, Greek national team, Greek, Greek clubs in
• 10:59
  Europe, Greek players playing abroad.
• 11:03
  And yeah, we, we, I write regularly for them as well about
• 11:07
  Olympiagos team. I support the Greek national
• 11:09
  team. Any other things that interest
• 11:10
  me? So I mean, obviously talk,
• 11:14
  you're a you're a Bromby fan, so we'll talk to you for one quick
• 11:18
  second. But one thing you've got Lewis
• 11:20
  Banks on your books right now. Is he someone you think Scotland
• 11:23
  could be corner in the near future?
• 11:27
  Well, I mean you're the Scotland experts, but I can say from
• 11:30
  having watched him well these couple of months, he joined
• 11:33
  Boundary in August that he is really, really good.
• 11:37
  He got bit of mixed reviews when we signed him in Coventry.
• 11:42
  A lot of the experts I spoke with said he was a little bit
• 11:45
  questionable in his defensive skills, but that it was very
• 11:49
  good offensively, very good passing.
• 11:51
  But from what I have seen in the in these months, I mean, he is
• 11:54
  excellent, almost everything really good technical player,
• 11:58
  really good on the ball, very good in the build up play.
• 12:00
  But also his defensive work has been has been outstanding.
• 12:04
  I mean, I understand that Danish football is the Super League is
• 12:08
  not Championship or Premier League where CA where he's
• 12:10
  played before. But I think he he he has a
• 12:13
  really big future. And and yeah, I could, I mean, I
• 12:17
  remember Scott McKenna who played in Copenhagen and in my
• 12:21
  mind he wasn't anything special, at least when he was in Denmark.
• 12:23
  And I think Binks is, is twice the player that he was at least
• 12:28
  when he was at Copenhagen. So yeah, I I would love to see
• 12:31
  him play for Scotland, I'd love to see him play national team
• 12:35
  football. I think it's fair to say that it
• 12:37
  probably won't happen for England.
• 12:38
  So yeah, I think he can definitely impact the impact the
• 12:43
  Scottish team and he is a really good player and he's still
• 12:46
  young, so he can go far I think. Yeah, well, good to hear.
• 12:49
  The center back isn't exactly somewhere per.
• 12:52
  It's not as strong as a midfield, should I say.
• 12:54
  I think a midfield is probably the strongest area that pitch
• 12:56
  for us. So I mean, but we'll get into
• 12:58
  the podcast now talking about the two games coming up.
• 13:01
  But I'm a little bit reflection first because I mean, if the
• 13:05
  customer mined back to December last year when the draw was
• 13:08
  made, we knew we'd potentially between playing Denmark in the
• 13:12
  final game, we obviously knew Geese would definitely be in our
• 13:14
  group. I'll come you first talk when
• 13:18
  the potential fest fixtures were released and we knew this was
• 13:20
  going to be the game to close the group.
• 13:23
  Are you surprised by the level of significance it's gotten?
• 13:26
  You know how it's on, it could potentially be a cup final.
• 13:30
  I was kind of hoping that the Greek, Greece would take points
• 13:34
  from you, so it was a little bit more settled before this last
• 13:38
  match, I mean. It could be, we never know.
• 13:41
  Of course, yeah, yeah, we of course we were recording this
• 13:43
  way before any of the matches. But no, I think it was it was a
• 13:47
  bit, it was it, it was predictable.
• 13:50
  I also said in the first episode that in my mind, Scotland was
• 13:54
  was the second best team in the group And, and I think that that
• 13:57
  has been proven to be true. So yeah, really, really
• 14:01
  interesting with this last match.
• 14:03
  It's a shame that it's been played in, in Glasgow and not in
• 14:06
  Copenhagen because I think that does give Scotland the upper end
• 14:09
  and, and maybe slight favouritism as well going into
• 14:15
  this match. But yeah, if, if Greece, if
• 14:17
  Greece takes some points for you, it would look good for
• 14:20
  Denmark. And of course, our two big
• 14:21
  victories against Belarus means that unless something crazy
• 14:25
  happens in your match that a draw will be enough for us,
• 14:27
  which of course is that's a big advantage.
• 14:29
  So I'm still pretty confident and, and, and I think we can be
• 14:32
  very happy with, with this whole qualification as a whole.
• 14:35
  But yeah, a lot, a lot rise in this last match in in Glasgow
• 14:39
  for sure. Yeah.
• 14:41
  I mean, you just touched on the fans there.
• 14:43
  How big a influence do you think the the crowd at hand in could?
• 14:46
  Because obviously you've seen it before and the last World Cup
• 14:49
  qualification campaign, how the crowd kind of roared us on.
• 14:52
  Obviously we didn't qualify directly, but we got that
• 14:55
  playoff spot. That match was obviously
• 14:57
  important for us securing the home playoff.
• 14:59
  So you've obviously seen it before.
• 15:01
  How big a impact you think they could have?
• 15:03
  I think it could be huge. I mean I've been to Hampton Park
• 15:06
  myself once. That was for a club match, of
• 15:09
  course, but I mean, I saw that being full and and I can only
• 15:13
  imagine if instead of being half, half Celtic ranges, if
• 15:17
  it's 100% or 95% Scottish people supporting the team, that that
• 15:22
  can be very, very loud stadium. And that's something I can only
• 15:25
  imagine really pushes the team forward.
• 15:27
  So yeah, I think that would be that would be a huge factor.
• 15:31
  Of course, our players have also tried to play in Champions
• 15:34
  League at big stadiums against fierce crowds and everything.
• 15:37
  But yeah, I would definitely have preferred that match to be
• 15:40
  at home. And, and I think Scottish fans,
• 15:43
  national team fans are some of the best in Europe.
• 15:45
  So yeah, it's it's definitely not the the the most fun place
• 15:48
  to play such an important match. Yeah, and just out of interest,
• 15:52
  what club game was that? Did you say the Celtic?
• 15:53
  Rangers. Yeah, it was the cup final,
• 15:56
  League Cup final in December last last year.
• 15:59
  Celtic, Rangers, Celtic won in down to shoot out, if I'm going
• 16:03
  correctly, yeah. Yeah, that's certainly would
• 16:05
  have been an atmosphere of that one, Stephen.
• 16:08
  I mean, a slightly different conversation we're having.
• 16:11
  If you just the way the group's gone for Greece, not going to
• 16:14
  plan at all. I mean, how hard is it for you
• 16:18
  to believe or even like how hard does it be to take that, this
• 16:22
  game against us in Athens from your perspective as a dead
• 16:24
  rubber? Because I mean, I didn't for me,
• 16:27
  again, look at the facts just going forward from the start of
• 16:31
  the group. That match in Athens looked like
• 16:33
  it was. I thought it'd be almost like a
• 16:35
  knockout tie. Yes.
• 16:39
  And it's like you said, it's a complete dead rubber now.
• 16:41
  I mean for this international break, this is just another
• 16:46
  transition period for Greece. We've brought a couple of
• 16:48
  younger players to be called up to the national team, not as
• 16:52
  many as I think people expected, but Nekdarius Triantis is in
• 16:57
  from midfield. He's playing in MLS right now.
• 16:59
  Babis Gustulasi recently joined Brighton from Olibiagos, our
• 17:03
  record sale from an Olibiagos perspective.
• 17:06
  He scored against Manchester United a couple of weeks ago.
• 17:09
  So it's going to be interesting to see what Ivan Jovanovic
• 17:11
  tries. Like I said, I, I, I don't,
• 17:13
  we're not, I don't. I mean, we're never going to
• 17:16
  play an opponent and not try to win, but because this game
• 17:20
  essentially means nothing other than, you know, maybe somehow
• 17:23
  the slight, slight possibility that Belarus might match us for
• 17:26
  points. You never know, Maybe you should
• 17:28
  have got someone from Belarus on this podcast, you know, the only
• 17:31
  three points behind us. But yeah, I, I think, I think
• 17:35
  that's what we have to try and do now.
• 17:36
  We have they, they have to show that the preparation now for the
• 17:39
  Nations League, League A and for EUR 2028 is the priority.
• 17:44
  And and so Jovanovic is going to be looking at that, I think over
• 17:48
  these next two games, you know, and it's a good opportunity in
• 17:50
  that regard, I guess, because we're playing against Scotland,
• 17:53
  who in the still in the recent past we have beaten.
• 17:56
  But, you know, it's it's an opportunity for some of these
• 18:00
  players to try again and show what they're really made of,
• 18:03
  even if it doesn't mean qualifying for the World Cup.
• 18:06
  And then there's Belarus as well, which maybe we'll give
• 18:09
  them a bit of an ego booster smash if, if, if they do manage
• 18:12
  to do that again, like they did in the first game of the of the
• 18:15
  qualifiers. It's just hard to, like you
• 18:17
  said, it's it's hard to really pinpoint this game against
• 18:20
  Scotland because we, we expect to do at least if we were third
• 18:25
  going into this game, we expect to still be in this
• 18:28
  mathematically. And we just capitulated so badly
• 18:31
  in the last three games. You know, the, the mental
• 18:34
  fragility of this team was, was very evident in all three of
• 18:37
  those games that we that we played, you know, both games
• 18:40
  against Denmark and against you guys at Hampden Park.
• 18:42
  It was just, yeah, hugely disappointing.
• 18:45
  And just considering the talented team we have, there's
• 18:49
  still obviously loads of hope. There's still loads of time.
• 18:51
  But this was a big blow. And we expected, I don't, there
• 18:54
  wasn't an expectation to qualify.
• 18:56
  There was a hope, but there was at least an expectation that we
• 18:59
  would compete for far longer than we did.
• 19:00
  And to go out like this in a rather a whimper to be, if I'm
• 19:04
  being quite honest is is very disappointing.
• 19:07
  Yeah, because I mean, I mean, although talk is he's said
• 19:12
  looking in the group, you felt Scotland with a team to watch
• 19:14
  and not as much Greece. But for me and Fen and Scotland
• 19:17
  fans and I'm sure many other Scotland fans, the talk was very
• 19:20
  much about Geese. It was you know, we've been
• 19:22
  given a a pretty hard challenge at you guys and pot being the
• 19:28
  pot to team, probably a team we didn't want to be up against
• 19:31
  Kevin how the playoff had gone in March.
• 19:33
  And you know, I think I'd say I mean final pro likely reminisce.
• 19:37
  I'm I'm just surprised we're here at this point.
• 19:41
  But you know, like I said, we could spin out effectively.
• 19:44
  Or they are. Well, to be fair, to take our,
• 19:46
  our record against Denmark is pretty bad, so maybe that's
• 19:50
  where he was coming from. But yeah, I, I expected us to
• 19:53
  compete with you guys for a second and maybe push Denmark.
• 19:56
  You know, Denmark on paper were the weakest team that we could
• 19:59
  have got in Part 1 and well, that's obviously not.
• 20:03
  It's really reflective of Denmark's quality because you
• 20:06
  knew Denmark would be difficult. We thought there was an
• 20:08
  opportunity, but we, this team, weren't ready at this point in
• 20:12
  time and they might be ready later down the line, we hope.
• 20:15
  Yeah, you mentioned there obviously it's kind of a
• 20:18
  transition period still. How do you view these games?
• 20:22
  Obviously you said there it's about building towards Europe,
• 20:25
  2028 and the Nation's League. How do you think the players
• 20:28
  will will be viewing this game as well?
• 20:30
  Because obviously you can see sometimes when there's a dead
• 20:32
  robber game, you know, players are more relaxed, there's less
• 20:35
  pressure and they play better. And on the flip side of that,
• 20:38
  sometimes they don't care as much, obviously, and you can
• 20:41
  play really badly. And obviously with this game
• 20:43
  being such of such magnitude to Scotland and, and the World Cup
• 20:47
  hopes, it's really intriguing for me.
• 20:50
  And obviously a lot of Scotland has as well how Greece will
• 20:53
  approach this game, whether they will give minutes to to to the
• 20:57
  younger guys to kind of give them that experience going
• 20:59
  forward, or if they will, you know, maybe look for revenge and
• 21:03
  and try and at least go out with a with with a good note on this,
• 21:06
  on this qualification campaign. That's what we want to see.
• 21:09
  At the end of the day, it's not a, you know, everyone's going to
• 21:11
  be bittersweet even if we do somehow win at the at the Athens
• 21:16
  Olympics. Oh, no, Gyorikos Kare Skagi
• 21:18
  Stadium. But it it, you know, at the end
• 21:20
  of the day, that's what they have to show.
• 21:22
  They have to show some some mental fortitude.
• 21:24
  They have to show improvement. Yes, the pressure's off for
• 21:26
  qualifying, but this is like, like I said, this is now
• 21:29
  preparation for the EUR, the Nations League too, because it's
• 21:32
  going to be incredibly difficult to even stay in the Nations
• 21:34
  League. But if they want to show
• 21:37
  themselves to and what they're capable of, that's what they
• 21:39
  have to do. There are a couple of absentees
• 21:41
  as well, Gonsanto, Unos, Mavro Banos is missing.
• 21:44
  So it'll be an interesting one to see whether Bunny Otis, Red
• 21:48
  Sauce starts instead or just double checking the squad now
• 21:51
  actually, who is it? Janis Mihalidis from Bark might
• 21:56
  get the opportunity as well. And obviously Baka and Dasos
• 21:59
  Bakasetas is out as well. He has been injured.
• 22:01
  So maybe that's partially why he's not only just recently come
• 22:04
  back. So there's a couple of
• 22:07
  interesting names missing from that team that are a bit more
• 22:09
  experienced. So it's an opportunity for
• 22:12
  younger players, slash players with less caps to get that
• 22:15
  opportunity to play. So we'll have to see it.
• 22:18
  Like I said, it's, it's all about preparation for us now and
• 22:21
  pressures off. But in the sense of long term,
• 22:25
  I, I want to see, I want to see a much more improved performance
• 22:27
  than we did in October. Yeah.
• 22:30
  I mean you, you mentioned you, you support Olympiacos, but the
• 22:34
  Greek team's already kind of got that revenge over the Scottish
• 22:36
  team. Unfortunately, I was in Athens
• 22:38
  for the Ike Athens game versus Aberdeen where we we were
• 22:41
  thrashed 6 nil. So that that was great to see.
• 22:47
  It was not a good name for Scottish footballer at all.
• 22:52
  Yeah, I mean, we'll we'll touch more on the squads from each
• 22:54
  year and a wee second, but just again look back to the games of
• 22:57
  past us because we got the previews from you both, but we
• 23:00
  didn't get the reaction that 31V for Scotland and Hamden.
• 23:06
  Steven, I remember Mesh, you know, we messaging you a wee bit
• 23:09
  about that. But I mean, how did how did you
• 23:12
  view that defeat? I mean, you talked about
• 23:14
  complete compatulation of the team.
• 23:16
  What's the mood been like in the Greek camp in the aftermath of
• 23:19
  that? Oh, hugely disappointing.
• 23:23
  I mean the the way we went in front after playing really well
• 23:27
  for the first hour, we were excellent.
• 23:28
  In fact, you know, we should have scored very early on in
• 23:31
  that game against Scotland and it was nice to see Gustad to see
• 23:36
  Mikas get his first goal, I think professional goal ever,
• 23:39
  which is weird to say. I know he's a left back, but I
• 23:41
  would have expected him to scored elsewhere in in
• 23:44
  professional football. But he he dedicated that goal to
• 23:48
  the George Bolduc who passed away last year, which was nice.
• 23:51
  But then unfortunately a few minutes later, that's when
• 23:53
  Scotland took the opportunity and equalised from kind of us
• 23:56
  maybe relaxing a bit after we'd taken the lead and it just
• 23:59
  snowballed from there. We didn't deal with your crosses
• 24:01
  well enough in the box. We were pretty tragic.
• 24:03
  And then Constantinos Solagis had a bit of a poor evening in
• 24:09
  goal. It's been a bit more
• 24:10
  inconsistent this season, unfortunately.
• 24:12
  And you know, as as an Olympiagos fan, I, I've seen a
• 24:15
  lot of fans who aren't supporters of Olympiagos heavily
• 24:17
  criticize him for his performances with Greece and
• 24:21
  with Olympiagos. And he was dropped for the next
• 24:24
  game against Denmark. But I, I, you know, he's not the
• 24:27
  main reason why we lost that game.
• 24:29
  The entire team kind of just mentally fell apart in a, in an
• 24:32
  important fixture that we, I, my opinion, needed to get at least
• 24:37
  a draw, preferably win because we were competing, we were
• 24:39
  competing with, we were competing with you for 2nd
• 24:42
  place. So yeah, it, it, it dropped the
• 24:44
  mood. And then it meant we had to go
• 24:45
  and absolutely get a win in Copenhagen.
• 24:48
  And I think, I know, if I recall, I don't think that
• 24:51
  happened. You know, I think, I think we
• 24:52
  might have lost that game quite, quite badly.
• 24:55
  Yeah, I think that most people in Hamden are keeping a very
• 24:58
  close eye on that game as much as well.
• 25:00
  I was going to say, as much as they were keeping an eye on the
• 25:02
  game, there was a cover in front of them.
• 25:04
  But to be honest, it wasn't much a performance from Scotland in
• 25:06
  that game either. Like you said, you guys
• 25:09
  dominated most of that game. It just seemed to be over the
• 25:11
  course was two games. Scotland played absolutely
• 25:13
  fantastically for 30 minutes and it was a 30 minutes where we got
• 25:16
  the three goals against you. But a month before that our
• 25:20
  performances were much better talk.
• 25:22
  We came to Copenhagen on match day one.
• 25:25
  You said you were expecting a good performance from Scotland.
• 25:28
  Did you? Did you foresee Copenhagen draw
• 25:30
  in the far Copenhagen, Denmark draw in the first game at home
• 25:34
  like that? No, that was very, very
• 25:36
  disappointing, I say. I think also it was well, I
• 25:40
  mean, obviously since with the results, but the worst game
• 25:44
  Denmark has played this qualification, I think, I think
• 25:48
  squabbling managed to make it very difficult for us.
• 25:50
  Very good defensively, managed to do all the small things that
• 25:55
  makes a game very difficult. But it was also a game where
• 25:58
  they might look super, super uninspiring, like they weren't
• 26:02
  ready at all for this tournament.
• 26:04
  Of course, the whole Christian Eriksen not having a club, not
• 26:07
  being called up took some attention in the in the build up
• 26:11
  to that match. But we have gotten a lot better
• 26:14
  since then. Played really well in Greece
• 26:17
  also, And I'm sure you'll agree with me here, Stephen, that it
• 26:21
  was a little bit lucky. There were some very, very
• 26:24
  unnecessary goals given away by the the Greek defence.
• 26:27
  And, and I think I mean, after that it was two games against
• 26:32
  Belarus. So I still feel like we haven't
• 26:34
  really been tested that much, but yeah, it's it's been looking
• 26:39
  much better. So I would say I wouldn't base
• 26:42
  too much on what happened in the first match because we are
• 26:45
  definitely in a better state right now.
• 26:47
  Ericsson is back. He's playing a better football
• 26:49
  in Walsburg as well. So yeah, things are looking
• 26:53
  better. But yeah, I would agree with
• 26:55
  you, Scotland, definitely. They look good in that first
• 26:58
  match. And I was pretty worried after
• 27:00
  that one that this group was not going to be, I don't want to say
• 27:04
  easy, but that it was going to be much harder than than I
• 27:08
  expected it to be at least. Because, yeah, as as I mean, you
• 27:12
  also all know that Denmark, I mean, for all the Part 1 team,
• 27:16
  Denmark is of course is obviously the worst ones.
• 27:19
  And, and we are pretty, we are very, very fortunate.
• 27:23
  But having this great seeding and we want to do everything we
• 27:26
  can to keep to keep it because once you go into Part 1, it's,
• 27:30
  it's, it's insane how much easier qualifying is once you
• 27:33
  don't have to get past Spain or France or Belgium, every
• 27:37
  qualification. And it's really, that's also why
• 27:39
  we take Nations League and all of these other things so
• 27:42
  seriously because it is just, it's almost a cheap code being
• 27:46
  in in Part 1. And it's definitely something.
• 27:48
  It's even harder. It's even harder when you're in
• 27:50
  pot free talk. Can't imagine.
• 27:53
  Yeah, I've been there too, don't worry.
• 27:57
  Yeah, we were extremely close to it wasn't qualification, but
• 28:01
  obviously Euro qualification. We were so close to getting that
• 28:04
  pot one spot for the actual tournament when we were in
• 28:07
  Spain's group, obviously beat them at home.
• 28:09
  We're leading away and had a goal taken off for absolutely
• 28:12
  nothing, if you've not seen that as.
• 28:14
  Very dubious VR decisions. I was I was front.
• 28:17
  I was in the front row at the the stadium, Estadio de Cartusia
• 28:22
  and and Savelle. And I've I've never seen
• 28:25
  celebrations like that then turn into such Disney.
• 28:29
  But God, yeah, why do we keep we keep bringing that up and it's
• 28:32
  such a horrible memory. Yeah, I know it was it sneaks
• 28:37
  in, but obviously not better. I mean, OK, well, I mean, I
• 28:43
  guess I'll ask you this, Stephen, because I before we
• 28:46
  talk about we'll get into the squad in a second, but I just
• 28:49
  want to ask him, what do you think is is it is the geek in
• 28:52
  terms of the geek camp? Is it deflated or is there an
• 28:56
  element of he's been a bit vengeful?
• 28:59
  Because I I wouldn't feel, I wouldn't be surprised if he felt
• 29:04
  hard done by like you said, like annoyed the how the game at
• 29:07
  Hamden played out. Do you?
• 29:08
  Would you like to get revenge and stop us topping the grip and
• 29:12
  playing your part in that? That's not necessarily been the
• 29:15
  rhetoric from from the media. And I mean, the fans are
• 29:19
  obviously pissed off, but I think the fans are kind of, I, I
• 29:22
  mean, I'm sure this is normal from a lot of kind of respective
• 29:25
  club teams, national team fans, but they all love to point at
• 29:27
  certain players, scapegoat them this, that and the other.
• 29:29
  So it's the blame is very much gone on the players and, and a
• 29:33
  bit on Ivan Jovanovic as well. Some people have even called for
• 29:36
  him to be sacked. But he was given the full
• 29:37
  support of the of the Greek cafe.
• 29:40
  And you know, he, he, his contract runs until I believe
• 29:45
  that after the Euro 2028 qualifiers.
• 29:47
  So, you know, he's him for the long haul.
• 29:48
  And I I personally believe that he should at least kind of stay
• 29:52
  until the Nations League campaign is done and dusted
• 29:54
  because if I know it's going to be difficult.
• 29:56
  But if if he does perform the way he has done and the Greece
• 29:59
  show no fight and there is mental fragility, I wouldn't be
• 30:02
  surprised if he is sacked. If we get relegated to Nation
• 30:04
  League B, if we go down fighting, then I think that he
• 30:07
  might be kept on. But we'll have to see.
• 30:10
  Yeah, there's. Definitely a way to get beat.
• 30:13
  Yes, absolutely. Especially like I said, it's
• 30:15
  going to be incredibly difficult the the nation league game, even
• 30:19
  the, you know, part three teams that are above us because we're
• 30:22
  in part 4. It's going to be hugely tough to
• 30:24
  stay in that in the in the First Division.
• 30:28
  But in terms of the Greek players themselves that I'm sure
• 30:31
  they'll have some determination. They'll want to prove what of
• 30:34
  what, like I said, prove what they're capable of because
• 30:36
  that's not the Greece team we've come to know the last year and
• 30:39
  Ivanovich before the qualifiers began, you know, we've had, I
• 30:44
  know we lost to England at home in at the Olympic Stadium and we
• 30:47
  lost to Scotland in the first leg of the Nations League play
• 30:49
  offs. But that didn't feel the same
• 30:52
  way of how and how we were defeated compared to these
• 30:56
  qualifiers. And so that they need to stamp
• 30:58
  that out as soon as possible because if that continues, it's
• 31:02
  just going to spiral and get worse and worse and worse.
• 31:04
  And, and Turk made a good point, like we Greece, take the Nations
• 31:07
  League hugely seriously. I mean, we're, we're actually
• 31:10
  the second, we have the second best record of any team in the
• 31:12
  Nations League behind Portugal. That's how well we how much
• 31:15
  we've taken it seriously because we've gone all the way from
• 31:17
  Nations League C all the way up to Nations League A and our so
• 31:20
  our record is really, really good ever since the Nations
• 31:22
  League came about. Yeah, we, we, we've done the
• 31:25
  same thing. We were started in, we started
• 31:27
  in League C as well. We went all the way up to League
• 31:29
  A and then unfortunately, as you'd know very well, obviously
• 31:34
  got relegated last time to to League B.
• 31:36
  So good luck with staying in. We actually got quite fortunate,
• 31:39
  I think with with our part with our group.
• 31:42
  Obviously had some tough teams like Portugal and Croatia, but
• 31:44
  to get Poland in there was a blessing that we didn't
• 31:46
  capitalize on. How was the kind of feel around
• 31:50
  the camp going into these qualifiers?
• 31:51
  Because I think with a lot of fans, especially from Scotland
• 31:55
  side side of things, at least there was kind of this
• 32:00
  assumption that it would be just another one of those campaigns
• 32:03
  where we don't make it because our form going into this was
• 32:08
  abysmal. Obviously I'd lost to Iceland
• 32:10
  and a friendly, our form was really not good.
• 32:13
  So there was kind of a lot of calls actually to to Sak Steve
• 32:16
  Clark at the time around the, the qualifiers starting.
• 32:19
  And on the flip side of things, obviously from at least my side
• 32:23
  of view and James's view as well as I've heard when, when that
• 32:27
  group came out, I actually thought Greece was maybe the
• 32:31
  strongest team. Obviously we know Denmark's
• 32:32
  qualy qualifying for I don't even know how many tournaments
• 32:36
  in a row now. But obviously with that, with
• 32:38
  that Greece team looking so good at Hampton, when we were all
• 32:41
  there, we we kind of thought it might be might be Greece's time.
• 32:45
  We hope so too. And we, we also hope that after
• 32:48
  miss just missing out on EUR 2024 in the playoff final, we
• 32:52
  hope that that would kind of give the more experienced
• 32:55
  players that sort of learning curve where they could take that
• 32:59
  and help the younger players progress further.
• 33:02
  There wasn't an, like I said, there wasn't an expectation, but
• 33:06
  there was hope with the way in which we we'd been playing in
• 33:09
  the Nations League, the way in which we'd been playing in our
• 33:12
  friendlies as well, and the team that we've assembled where we
• 33:14
  felt like we finally have depth in areas and just such high
• 33:18
  quality, such high potential. But you know, this is, this is
• 33:23
  reflective of Greece even before we've we've had such a talented
• 33:28
  squad in the last 12 years. That's six tournaments in a row
• 33:30
  now we've missed. That's really damning.
• 33:32
  If we miss a well, even if we, yeah, if we miss EUR 2028, that
• 33:38
  will equal and beat our longest record of not qualifying for a
• 33:42
  major tournament between because we when we first qualified for a
• 33:45
  major tournament in 1980, there was a long gap between the next
• 33:48
  one in 1994 when we qualified for the World Cup.
• 33:51
  That if we don't qualify for the EUR now that will beat the
• 33:56
  record if I'm not mistaken. So we this is now more like now
• 34:01
  or never for this for this Grease team.
• 34:04
  Well, we know everything. We can talk to you at length
• 34:06
  about being out in the cold for a while.
• 34:08
  Because I first got on that was what, 20 years?
• 34:11
  I'm forgetting numbers 19. 88 to 2020 or 2021 if you can't go
• 34:16
  with as well. Well, yeah, so yeah, no, but we
• 34:18
  know, we know the feeling. It's not a good one.
• 34:21
  Coming onto the squads. We'll go into game first.
• 34:23
  We'll start with Greece. You mentioned potential injuries
• 34:27
  back Asetus avenger. They've also got down here
• 34:31
  marvel panel big messes you feel or again in a game.
• 34:36
  You may be looking to change things up.
• 34:37
  Maybe not so much because I can see you've also got a man that
• 34:41
  mania have high B will be familiar with as nectar
• 34:46
  Triantis. Yes, that is not right.
• 34:50
  Yeah. He's in for the first time, so I
• 34:52
  mean, talk us through it. What's your thoughts on overall
• 34:55
  selection? Well, like I said, I I'm hopeful
• 34:59
  that Jovanovic gives these players a go.
• 35:01
  Diane, this is a really intriguing midfielder and he's
• 35:05
  doing really, really well in MLS.
• 35:06
  He's not really a more of an attacking player, but he's
• 35:08
  scoring some ridiculous goals when we when we've seen it on
• 35:13
  social media and Bobby scores Stoolas in.
• 35:16
  I mean, he's such a talented player.
• 35:18
  Of course, Stoolas, I mean, the, the money that Brighton spent on
• 35:22
  him to take him to, to out of Olipiagos.
• 35:25
  I we didn't expect such a big fee.
• 35:27
  And apparently we even turned down a €40 million offer for
• 35:31
  other talented midfielder Christos Mouzaki.
• 35:33
  This who's in the Greece squad as well.
• 35:35
  So thank goodness he didn't tell both of them in the same window.
• 35:37
  That would have been devastated. But yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm excited
• 35:41
  to see both of them play. Hopefully they do get
• 35:43
  opportunities because like I said, this is the perfect time
• 35:45
  to do so considering pressures off in terms of qualifying Mavra
• 35:50
  Banos from being missed, I think under normal circumstances would
• 35:54
  be a shame. But his club form has started to
• 35:56
  leak into his national team form, which hadn't happened
• 35:59
  beforehand. So even though he hasn't been
• 36:02
  that great at West Ham, he was always able to consistently find
• 36:04
  his form for Greece. And so at that point I wasn't
• 36:07
  really, it didn't really matter to me how badly he played at
• 36:10
  West Ham, but now it really does.
• 36:12
  And for Baca Sethas, I mean, he's always been a A when he's
• 36:16
  ever since he was made captain, he's been a good leader off the
• 36:18
  pitch. He hasn't really done anything I
• 36:21
  think that badly wrong. But like I said, from what I
• 36:25
  recall, I think he's out injured or he's come back, but he's not
• 36:29
  quite fully fit yet. So that's why he's not been
• 36:30
  included. But Mavra Banos wasn't injured.
• 36:33
  So that is an interesting one. That's the more intriguing one
• 36:36
  to not have be called up because as far as I'm aware he's fit and
• 36:40
  so maybe something's happened. I don't know, don't want to
• 36:43
  speculate. But yeah, if if he misses these
• 36:47
  fixtures, it's not necessarily the end of the world.
• 36:51
  Fair enough. I mean, I mean, when you talk
• 36:53
  about experiment and changing things up a bit, as a Scotland
• 36:56
  fan, I think I'd far prefer to be up against the Greek side
• 37:00
  that's, you know, trying to work things out a bit and maybe not
• 37:03
  sticking with a trade and tested method that's won your games
• 37:06
  with four Finn. I don't know if you've got
• 37:09
  something you're wanting to come in on about that.
• 37:12
  No, yeah, from my point of view, I hope that they're testing a
• 37:17
  completely new squad. I hope they start a squad of 15
• 37:19
  year olds, obviously get get at least a point.
• 37:24
  Obviously it'd be ideal to win out in Greece, but I think a
• 37:28
  point is is the bare minimum, hopefully to at least get that
• 37:32
  back to Hamden with the possibility of qualification
• 37:35
  with a win. And March after that we come
• 37:39
  back to Hamden, let you say Denmark.
• 37:42
  Talk about changes in your squad as well.
• 37:45
  I'm going to butcher the pronunciation here.
• 37:47
  The left back is your human male, male, male.
• 37:54
  Oh, I was close. I was close.
• 37:55
  Dolberg School, Olsen, all three out injured guys have started
• 38:01
  for you as well. Big messes.
• 38:05
  Mostly I would say melee is the big miss.
• 38:08
  He is a really, really good defender.
• 38:11
  Can play both fullbacks actually he's he's right legged so better
• 38:15
  on the right side, but he's been playing a lot on on the left
• 38:18
  side. Often preferred over Doggo as
• 38:21
  well because he's simply better at defending than Doggo is.
• 38:25
  When we are playing with only four at the back, we need a full
• 38:28
  back that can defend, where Doggo can do a lot of things,
• 38:31
  but defending is not really one of them.
• 38:34
  So he is a, he's a big myth. Of course, not having him in.
• 38:39
  That has been the big story of the Danish team is that we have
• 38:43
  called out Nicholas Naze from Stuttgart, which is it's, it's
• 38:48
  one that has people surprised, very, very surprised because
• 38:51
  he's a natural, natural midfielder, central midfielder.
• 38:54
  But apparently he has been playing a little bit on the left
• 38:59
  back so they called him up, thought he was the best choice
• 39:01
  for left back. He's played 35 matches in the
• 39:06
  last Four Seasons for Stuttgart because he's just been injured
• 39:08
  all the time. I think he played eight matches
• 39:12
  something last season. Nobody really knows him in
• 39:15
  Denmark. It's he's 25 years old, almost
• 39:18
  26. He's not a big talent anymore.
• 39:20
  I mean, he was good when he was young, but it's it's very, very
• 39:24
  surprising. Even his younger brother is has
• 39:26
  won two consecutive young playoff the month awards in the
• 39:30
  Danish league. So he's not even the best Nazi
• 39:32
  brother of of them. So it's it's it's nobody had
• 39:35
  predicted he would be on the on the national team this time.
• 39:38
  It's it's it's a big surprise. I don't think he will start
• 39:41
  though. I think they probably end up
• 39:43
  playing either last month Christmas or Patrick Tolko on
• 39:46
  the left. But if we get an injury, if
• 39:48
  we're unlucky, he will be thrown for the he'll be thrown in and
• 39:52
  and I think that could get ugly. I I really don't see him having
• 39:55
  the level or the fitness to be playing in such a such an
• 39:58
  important match now. Yeah, you also mentioned goals
• 40:02
  and and and Dolpur. Both of them are more little bit
• 40:05
  more depth players. Dolpur has started some matches
• 40:08
  disqualification but. With the with the form Rasmus
• 40:11
  Hoyland is in for Napoli this season.
• 40:13
  Of course, Dalbez nowhere near the optimal lineup, but we are
• 40:18
  bit weak if Hoyland doesn't start because William Mosula
• 40:21
  from Newcastle is also doubtful he might not make the squad.
• 40:26
  He was out this Champions League week for Newcastle against
• 40:29
  Bilbeo and it's not certain that you'll be ready for the national
• 40:32
  team. So if he is also doubtful and
• 40:35
  and by the way, he hasn't played much for Newcastle, obviously he
• 40:38
  still has hasn't made his debut for the national team either.
• 40:40
  So behind Hoyeland we are very weak.
• 40:43
  We have Jonas Wynn from Mossberg, but he's not a true #9
• 40:47
  he's more as a deep line striker.
• 40:49
  So I would say that our depth is, is weakened.
• 40:52
  Our starting line up is it's fine apart from the left back,
• 40:56
  maybe a bit weak, but our depth is definitely not what what we
• 41:00
  had hoped for. Yeah, I remember Mailer
• 41:03
  obviously in the €2020.00 if I'm not mistaken being absolutely
• 41:07
  incredible, one of the best boys in tournament.
• 41:09
  Do you think obviously you mentioned that the depth is the
• 41:12
  the main thing that you're worried more about, but do you
• 41:14
  think that there is any weaknesses that you you're maybe
• 41:19
  you think there there is that Scotland can exploit?
• 41:21
  Or on the flip side, is there any players in particular in the
• 41:24
  Scotland squad that you are maybe thinking?
• 41:27
  Focus on them, double team them, make sure he doesn't get the
• 41:30
  ball. I would say that one issue we've
• 41:33
  had is that most of our defenders have been on the
• 41:36
  national team for quite a long time, but we've been forced to
• 41:39
  switch out a lot, do a lot of substitution from match to match
• 41:43
  due to injuries. And Les Christensen has been
• 41:46
  injured most of this season for Barcelona for example.
• 41:49
  So there are some question marks about around some of the better
• 41:52
  players and their match fitness. They haven't played as much as
• 41:56
  we would want them to and and even in this qualification, they
• 42:01
  haven't played together as much as we want them to because
• 42:03
  especially defensively, you want your centre back to play the
• 42:06
  same two guys all the time. So they get really, really close
• 42:10
  to each other. But we haven't really gotten
• 42:12
  that. We've had to switch around on
• 42:14
  the on the on the left, on the right back and of course now on
• 42:16
  the left back. So I think there could be some
• 42:20
  some of those small relations you only get by playing together
• 42:24
  for a lot of matches that could be amazing a little bit.
• 42:26
  I think that's something Scotland can can exploit.
• 42:30
  We are pretty good physically, but of course I always fear
• 42:33
  Robertson has really good crosses and everything.
• 42:36
  But I think we can bring in either Vistaco or your Humanis
• 42:41
  and they are they can win most headers.
• 42:43
  But yeah, I saw in the first match that you definitely have
• 42:46
  some strong strikers. They're strong in the box.
• 42:48
  And if you are allowed to, to throw in the to, to, to have a
• 42:53
  lot of crosses and, and, and attackers like that, I think
• 42:56
  that could get could get dangerous also.
• 42:59
  I think our yeah, I feel after these two matches, especially in
• 43:06
  the second game, I assume you're going to beat Belarus and do
• 43:09
  that pretty comfortably. So we're not going to be, we're
• 43:12
  not going to be too rough before the other match here.
• 43:14
  But we do have some players that don't get as much playing time
• 43:18
  as we want or have been injured. So maybe in the second, maybe in
• 43:21
  the second match towards the end, guys like Hoyland, guys
• 43:25
  like Christensen, Erickson who've either been injured and
• 43:29
  alcohol from Arsenal, who's either been injured or just
• 43:31
  sitting on the bench. They might like a few
• 43:34
  percentages which you only get by playing 90 minutes almost
• 43:37
  every week. And yeah, too many of our
• 43:39
  players haven't done that. That would be my my main
• 43:42
  concern. I mean, well, it certainly
• 43:45
  sounds like both. You aren't as happy with your
• 43:48
  squads as you could be, or at least you know, there could be
• 43:51
  more, you could be more players aren't involved.
• 43:54
  That could be our experience or whatever, things like that.
• 43:58
  I think me and Fenner, we're not across the board.
• 44:02
  The squad is the Scotland squad. Midfield is looking very strong.
• 44:07
  We're not messing anybody. They're the goalkeeping
• 44:10
  departments not looking good as such.
• 44:14
  That's something that we're just going to have to deal with,
• 44:16
  messing our first choice goalkeeper with our last two
• 44:21
  performances. We obviously started quite well
• 44:24
  in September. Good result in Copenhagen, good
• 44:28
  result awaited Belarus. That's a bananas can for scoring
• 44:31
  in some respects. Maybe stepped over that came
• 44:33
  into the matches last month, only month flair and the
• 44:37
  performances were massively off that.
• 44:39
  Very disappointing from the the Scotland fan perspective when we
• 44:44
  played Belarus at home actually, obviously due to the timings and
• 44:48
  you guys playing after us went to us top of the group.
• 44:52
  And you might not believe this, but Hamden Park, when Filtham
• 44:54
  Wessel went, as we went top of the group, booze rung round the
• 44:58
  stadium because of how disappointed the fans were of
• 45:02
  the performance. It was just so far off.
• 45:05
  So I don't know uncharacteristic even, you know, by what Scotland
• 45:10
  standards. Remember, not at that.
• 45:13
  I mean, I'll come to how Stephen, I'll touch you.
• 45:17
  You obviously know, but more so because you played us last
• 45:20
  month. You saw how pair we were in the
• 45:21
  first half and for parts of the second talk you either of you
• 45:26
  can come on this how actually no talks.
• 45:29
  I've got talk first because he's not how aware we are you of the
• 45:33
  fact that Scotland haven't fans and the media haven't been happy
• 45:37
  with how the last two games have won, haven't been happy with how
• 45:40
  we've performed despite getting the results.
• 45:45
  I'll be honest, there haven't been too much coverage of the
• 45:48
  Scottish team. I mean, we follow the results
• 45:51
  and everything. And I think if people in
• 45:54
  Denmark, football fans in Denmark asked about the Scottish
• 45:57
  team, the main thing they will talk about is how good the Scott
• 45:59
  McDaniel is for for Napoli and that whole rejuvenation there.
• 46:04
  But the actual the Scottish national team and, and how you
• 46:08
  like the atmosphere around that and everything hasn't been too
• 46:12
  much. Of course, there's also so many
• 46:14
  other things going on in the world of football and, and, and
• 46:18
  we have plenty of our own stories.
• 46:20
  So I would say the the general knowledge about the Scottish
• 46:23
  team situation is I think they're waiting, saving all of
• 46:27
  those stories until we we play you.
• 46:29
  And then of course, they were starting to be an experts and,
• 46:32
  and and tell that whole whole story also depends a lot, I'm
• 46:36
  sure on the on your result in in, in Greece, in in the other
• 46:39
  match here. But yeah, I'm I'm a bit
• 46:42
  surprised that there's unhappiness and everything
• 46:45
  because, yeah, I mean, it seems pretty interesting with going
• 46:48
  into this last match. Looks like you've done pretty
• 46:50
  good. Looks like at least at the time
• 46:53
  I can remember football that this is the best the national
• 46:56
  team has been in in some time. At least now you're at the
• 46:59
  tournaments again. So yeah, it surprises me a
• 47:04
  little bit. But I'm sure once the game start
• 47:06
  that that there must be everybody will be behind the
• 47:09
  team and and and that there will be a lot of pressure on on the
• 47:13
  Danish players. Yeah, I mean, we, we know we can
• 47:17
  reach the levels because you've seen it.
• 47:19
  You saw it in Copenhagen. We were, we were very good.
• 47:21
  There was a very organized, compact, resilient performance
• 47:24
  from Scotland. Didn't get a lot of chances, but
• 47:26
  we came away with a no, no draw. A lot can change in a month.
• 47:31
  Stephen, what Scotland team are you expecting to come to Athens
• 47:36
  on Saturday night? Because like you said, you saw
• 47:38
  us hope everywhere at Hamden against you, be it for half an
• 47:42
  hour at the end to manage to make things work.
• 47:45
  Like I've just said there, the Belarus game really wasn't much
• 47:48
  better. 21 is quite a nervous score line to be running up
• 47:52
  against a very lowly ranked side.
• 47:55
  What are your expectations about us coming in?
• 47:58
  Well, firstly, I guess because I live in the UK and I live in
• 48:02
  London, you know, obviously there is a bit more coverage of
• 48:04
  Scotland in here, especially with all the home nations.
• 48:07
  But I, I mean, the way in which Scotland beat us in the end
• 48:11
  didn't surprise me because this is what I've seen Scotland do.
• 48:15
  They, they sucker punch teams after overall, maybe not being
• 48:18
  the better team throughout a game.
• 48:20
  And they'll take an opportunity when it comes and, and get and
• 48:23
  get the win or get the result. And so, well, obviously, maybe
• 48:28
  I'm sure obviously you guys, you know, it's your national team
• 48:32
  and you follow them every time that they play.
• 48:35
  But despite the maybe lacking quality compared to other
• 48:38
  nations of like more other footballing nations, what I
• 48:40
  think you guys do have is mental fortitude.
• 48:43
  And that was reflective of what, of how you managed to beat us
• 48:47
  because we can Greece have like have been well documented even
• 48:51
  in this country, you know, in the UK and in England, when
• 48:54
  Greece beat England at Wembley and when we beat Scotland in the
• 48:58
  in the nation league player final and being a bit more
• 49:01
  coverage because of the kind of more high, high profile
• 49:03
  potential players that are coming through of the quality
• 49:06
  that we have. But the biggest thing that I've
• 49:08
  been saying this whole these whole qualifiers is that we
• 49:11
  lack, we lack the mentality. We lack that that those moments
• 49:15
  where, you know, everyone bands together and focuses and there
• 49:19
  was such a lack of focus and a lack of concentration and
• 49:24
  everyone just dropped. It happened again against
• 49:26
  Denmark. The moment the first goal went
• 49:27
  in, heads dropped completely when we played them in in in
• 49:32
  Copenhagen. And that happened after you went
• 49:35
  two nil up against us. We tried a bit more after you
• 49:38
  equalised, but that was it. And that that's again, I know I
• 49:41
  keep sound like a broken record, but that's something we have to
• 49:43
  work on. So I'd, I'd rather do what we
• 49:47
  did, what Greece used to do under Fernando Santos, where we
• 49:51
  bored the bored the absolute hell out of teams, but always
• 49:54
  got the result. We were a tough team to break
• 49:56
  down. We lacked, we didn't have the
• 49:58
  quality we do now when we qualified for the World Cup in
• 50:01
  2014. But that team when on the, I
• 50:04
  think the longest unbeaten run of any Greece team ever, 17
• 50:07
  games unbeaten. At one point we were eighth in
• 50:09
  the FIFA world rankings. Once when we were champions
• 50:13
  going into Euro 2008 long time ago now and the other time when
• 50:17
  we went into the I think it was EUR 20, the Euro 2012 or EUR
• 50:22
  2014. Oh, sorry, World Cup 2014.
• 50:24
  I can't remember, but I'd, I'd rather see us play terrible
• 50:27
  football there and qualify then attempt to play good football,
• 50:31
  which you know, this team, this current team is capable of
• 50:33
  doing, but lacking the lacking the ideas when when things get
• 50:38
  tough. And so in terms of going back to
• 50:40
  what you said about what I can expect from Scotland in this
• 50:43
  game, I, I expect you guys to be just as ruthless in the moments
• 50:47
  that matter. And I think that you'll, you
• 50:49
  know, it, it, it because you guys, even though you've
• 50:52
  qualified for the playoffs and well, there's no guarantee
• 50:54
  you'll get through those, you still have a chance of finishing
• 50:56
  top of the group. So I fully expect Steve Clarke
• 50:58
  and his players to come and aim to do as much as they can to
• 51:03
  finish, finish top of the group. Whereas like, like I said with
• 51:06
  us, I want to see a response. But at the end of the day, this
• 51:11
  for us, this is about consolidation and preparation.
• 51:15
  Yeah, I mean, you touched on it there as well.
• 51:16
  I think that's one of our strongest attributes.
• 51:19
  Obviously over the last couple of years, we have had the
• 51:21
  resurgence of players like like Tom and a Karen T and Andy
• 51:24
  Robertson have been mainstays in in big teams over the years.
• 51:27
  But I think one of one of the the biggest key attributes to
• 51:31
  our success, if you can call it that, in recent years has been
• 51:34
  the the constant presence of these these kind of key players
• 51:39
  in the squad. Obviously, when Steve Clark took
• 51:43
  over, there wasn't really a plethora of players with a lot
• 51:48
  of experience in the national team.
• 51:50
  A lot of players were under 2020 caps, 15 caps, even 10 caps.
• 51:54
  And over the years, he kind of built this core in in the group
• 51:58
  where you can rely on those players to turn up when it
• 52:01
  matters and also just be there in general and have that
• 52:04
  experience and that and that that no say where they've been
• 52:07
  here before. You know, we've been in the
• 52:09
  playoffs of the World Cup against Ukraine, failed there.
• 52:12
  We've been in the play offs against Serbia for the EUR.
• 52:16
  We qualified there and we obviously qualified directly to
• 52:18
  to Euro 2024. So it's kind of been this, you
• 52:22
  know, at times there's been this resentment maybe to Steve Clark
• 52:26
  in the way he does things, but the results have shown and and
• 52:30
  we're in a position now where we can qualify for the World Cup.
• 52:33
  And then a question for you, T.O.K.
• 52:36
  Obviously in in my lifetime at least, Denmark has from the
• 52:40
  majority of it been a presence at these tournaments.
• 52:44
  Obviously casting further back they've they weren't really
• 52:48
  well, maybe not expected, but they weren't there for every
• 52:51
  tournament. Whereas in recent times as the
• 52:55
  national team has progressed, they've qualified for for a lot
• 52:58
  of tournaments in a row. What kind of has that brung to
• 53:02
  the national team in in a sense of from the fans now?
• 53:06
  Is there an expectation to to at least qualify for these
• 53:10
  tournaments and then see what you can do in these tournaments
• 53:12
  and what pressure does that bring to the players?
• 53:15
  And then lastly, if you did qualify, would you be going to
• 53:19
  the USA? That's a lot of questions.
• 53:23
  Let's let's take it from from the start.
• 53:25
  Yeah. So this is, of course, apart
• 53:28
  from the from the late 80s where we had an amazing team way
• 53:32
  before before I can. Yeah, I was born even it's in my
• 53:37
  lifetime. This is the golden era of, of,
• 53:39
  of the Danish national team. I mean, my, the first tournament
• 53:42
  I can remember was in 98 when we had the Laoco brothers Smigeland
• 53:46
  goal. But I was, I was a kid then.
• 53:49
  Then we had a lot of years of of basically what, what the
• 53:53
  Schaffer went through and, and I think what what Greek has Greece
• 53:56
  has went through as well with subpar national team, really
• 54:00
  poor performance. As I remember, we we finally
• 54:02
  qualified for the World Cup in 2010 and we brought a player
• 54:05
  player from the Danish second tier to the tournament.
• 54:08
  And it was just terrible. But yeah, then we obviously we
• 54:12
  had that hero in 2020 or 2021 as it actually was where we went to
• 54:17
  the semi final. And, and I think also that
• 54:19
  tournament, as amazing as it was and I've never seen as much hype
• 54:24
  and togetherness around the Danish team also brought maybe a
• 54:27
  little bit of, or it definitely brought unrealistic expectations
• 54:31
  for the World Cup in, in Qatar. There were people seriously
• 54:34
  talking about that we had a chance of winning it.
• 54:37
  And, and people were talking about, oh, we can go so far.
• 54:40
  And reality was that we looked our team on, on paper, it wasn't
• 54:44
  that good. I mean, it was worse than in
• 54:46
  2021. I think our current team now is
• 54:49
  also worse than in 2021. At that tournament.
• 54:52
  We have so many players who just hit the form of their life going
• 54:55
  into that tournament, the seasons of their life at that,
• 54:58
  around that tournament. And now it's it's not on the
• 55:01
  same level. I mean, it's still good and the
• 55:04
  expectations are still very, very high, but it's it's, it's
• 55:08
  not at the same level. And I think the the team is also
• 55:12
  struggling a little bit that there have been players who
• 55:15
  admitted that they felt, especially going into the last
• 55:17
  World Cup, that expectations, which is unrealistic that and
• 55:21
  they talked them up as well themselves.
• 55:23
  So, so it was not completely the media, the fans thought it was
• 55:26
  also the players who who got caught up in the hype.
• 55:29
  But but yeah, I, I think the expectations are very high from
• 55:34
  the fans. They not only want us to
• 55:35
  qualify, but they also want to see good football, entertaining
• 55:38
  football. And, and that is very tough to
• 55:41
  live up, live up to. But I do think we had a much
• 55:44
  better space than Qatar. We had a much better space than
• 55:46
  in the last qualification for the Euro and, and, and for the
• 55:50
  Euro itself was pretty disappointing for us, even
• 55:53
  though we wouldn't be qualified. I think we are better now,
• 55:57
  playing better, getting more out of the players we have, getting
• 55:59
  more out of the team, the squad. So we are moving in a good
• 56:02
  direction. But I'm not going into the World
• 56:05
  Cup if we qualify. I don't want to jinx anything
• 56:07
  with expectations of us doing anything amazing.
• 56:11
  If we just make it out of the group, I'm happy.
• 56:14
  I think that will be the official goal.
• 56:15
  From there we will see. But yeah, the magic of 2021 is
• 56:20
  is is gone. Regarding if I would go to the
• 56:25
  tournament, depends on where we play the matches.
• 56:28
  I feel like with everything going on politically, I don't
• 56:30
  really want to do have anything to do with the USA at all.
• 56:34
  I don't I don't really want to give them my money.
• 56:37
  Maybe if we end up playing in Mexico, Canada, I would look at
• 56:40
  it. But I mean, I just saw the other
• 56:42
  day now that FIFA have made this Peace Prize that I guess they
• 56:45
  would give to Donald Trump as as to bribe him a little bit.
• 56:50
  So I think I will keep my hands very far away from from that
• 56:53
  tournament. It's a bit too dirty for me.
• 56:55
  Yeah, I think the base camp for me would definitely be Mexico or
• 56:58
  Canada. I'd be hoping and praying that
• 57:00
  our matches would be in Vancouver or or Mexico City.
• 57:04
  Yeah, there's a lot of, there's a lot of Scottish expats,
• 57:07
  there's a lot of Scottish expats in America as well, but there's
• 57:09
  definitely a lot in Canada. And I just feel it could be a
• 57:11
  really good, I feel it could be a really good atmosphere up that
• 57:14
  way. If we were to get games up
• 57:17
  there, especially if I've been playing cards as well, they'd be
• 57:20
  the pot one side and they'd be an easier pot one side.
• 57:22
  So thinking about it tactically, not just what's a good holiday
• 57:26
  and a good pint, I suppose we're getting Steven View we want.
• 57:31
  Yes, I was just going to say that's the biggest, one of the
• 57:34
  biggest shames for Greece, because the biggest load of
• 57:37
  expats in the world outside of Greece is is in the USA.
• 57:40
  And so for for Greek Americans, that would have been.
• 57:42
  Amazing, I see that a lot on Tech Talk.
• 57:44
  One of my. Family's friends is half half
• 57:47
  Greek, half American and he lived in the States for a long
• 57:50
  time as well. It was, it was a shame with the
• 57:52
  Euros in Germany as well, because I think Germany's not as
• 57:55
  much as UKUSA and Australia, but there's a lot of Greeks in
• 57:58
  Germany as well. So that, that was a huge shame
• 58:02
  again, so, you know, it's why hopefully we can qualify for
• 58:07
  the, the, the EUR here, because then there's a load loads of
• 58:10
  Greeks here too. So it'd be nice to and and I'd
• 58:13
  I'd get an opportunity to go see those games as well if if Greece
• 58:16
  qualified for the USA, Fingers crossed.
• 58:18
  I mean, you, I would, I would back you to a fair.
• 58:21
  But I know what, it's funny you say that though, because when
• 58:23
  after the game at Hamden, I got a lot of Greek reactions on my
• 58:28
  timeline and I was surprised by how many of them were American.
• 58:31
  That really caught me off guard. But yeah, like you said, I mean
• 58:35
  like the Scots you get, we get about clearly, I guess we're
• 58:40
  coming towards the end of the podcast, but I've got 2
• 58:42
  protections I want to ask from you.
• 58:44
  So I'll go to you first talk from the match and I'll, I'll,
• 58:48
  I'll do it in a way. So I'm not asking to comment on
• 58:51
  your own games, but the match in Athens, Greece versus Scotland,
• 58:57
  do you expect Scotland to return to Hamden from that match with
• 59:01
  still an opportunity to get first place?
• 59:03
  Or do you think Greece might get something right for the first
• 59:07
  time so far this campaign? No, from what I've seen this
• 59:10
  qualification, I was, I expect Scotland to to get at least a
• 59:16
  point. I mean, I think it doesn't
• 59:18
  really change too much for you. I think a point or or when
• 59:21
  either way you have to to defeat us unless you win with what, 5
• 59:25
  or 6 goals? So I would be very surprised if
• 59:28
  if, if, if you don't, if you're not in it before the last round,
• 59:32
  if you end up losing, that would be surprising for me.
• 59:34
  So yeah, I I definitely have Scotland.
• 59:36
  That's the favorite going into this match.
• 59:38
  Yeah, I think, I mean between me and Fen, I don't know.
• 59:41
  I don't know offend. I've much.
• 59:42
  I spoke to him about this. Yeah, but I've got I do I think.
• 59:45
  I think March has given me confidence.
• 59:48
  I think March has given me a bit of confidence and thinking we
• 59:50
  could maybe get a result with our draw is achievable.
• 59:54
  I just hate the idea of playing for a draw though because it's
• 59:56
  just not the way you go about things really.
• 59:58
  Yeah, I think from my point of view, I've got so many nerves
• 1:00:02
  were in the game on Saturday. I mean all all this talk is
• 1:00:05
  about the game a Hampton against Denmark kind of just assuming
• 1:00:10
  that will. So we're at a point in Greece,
• 1:00:12
  but I think that's harder than just saying that out loud.
• 1:00:17
  I think it's going to be a tough game, but.
• 1:00:19
  It will be. I think, like you made a good
• 1:00:21
  point earlier as well as I think we've seen this with Scotland.
• 1:00:24
  When the pressure's off, sometimes that's when the better
• 1:00:28
  performances come out. And I'm slightly cautious of
• 1:00:31
  that being the case with these because I think, Stephen, you
• 1:00:34
  said that in previous podcast away form had been good for
• 1:00:38
  Greece, home form hadn't been so good because the fans were quite
• 1:00:41
  intense or you know, on the players backs, a lot of the
• 1:00:43
  squads quite young, maybe not quite ready to handle that
• 1:00:47
  pressure. But as no, the pressures off a
• 1:00:49
  bat, like you said, the new process is beginning this
• 1:00:52
  learning curve how they take it going on to the Nations League
• 1:00:55
  and such, I don't know. I'm not.
• 1:00:59
  I'd like to hope we get something, but I'm only saying
• 1:01:01
  that because I've just forked out selling money for flights to
• 1:01:03
  Athens. So let's say that anyway,
• 1:01:07
  Steven, assuming Scotland to get a positive result like in in the
• 1:01:13
  offense, let's say we get a draw.
• 1:01:15
  Who do you expect to top the group?
• 1:01:18
  Sorry boys, it's still going to be the Danes.
• 1:01:22
  So it's a playoff and I'm again in March for Scotland in your in
• 1:01:25
  your books. I think so, yeah, I I just think
• 1:01:28
  Denmark's experience in qualifying for stuff
• 1:01:30
  consistently and it and, and in individual matches where they
• 1:01:34
  can just turn it on when they need to, maybe despite the
• 1:01:37
  quality that Toca was talking about, I just think that
• 1:01:39
  experience will pull them through.
• 1:01:41
  I think it'll they'll get to the the World Cup proper and you
• 1:01:44
  guys, well, unfortunately you have to face the dreaded
• 1:01:46
  playoffs. Hopefully you don't get anyone
• 1:01:48
  too difficult, but there are some tough teams even in the
• 1:01:50
  third part as well. I've seen a few.
• 1:01:51
  Italy, Italy's well, not far pot, but you got you're going to
• 1:01:55
  have to play someone at some point from the top pot or no
• 1:01:57
  likelihood. So no, it's not, it's not the
• 1:02:01
  way we want to go about it. Automatic qualification would by
• 1:02:04
  far be easiest way to go about it.
• 1:02:07
  I mean, like I'm just I've got I've Adidas.
• 1:02:10
  It's Adidas's fault. They've got mentor 8 friends
• 1:02:12
  over the last couple of days releasing these cats early World
• 1:02:15
  Cup quit cat cats. That's what the, you know, the
• 1:02:19
  dominant, it's a World Cup release and then, you know,
• 1:02:22
  Scotland, Ireland and Wales are up there because we're still in
• 1:02:24
  with the run. And I think there's the World
• 1:02:26
  Cup ad there. They've they've done with
• 1:02:28
  Luminium Al Lino, Messi and that.
• 1:02:30
  And on the front of the newsstand where the girls can be
• 1:02:33
  all about World Cup, there's a Scotland jersey on the front.
• 1:02:35
  And I think I'm sure you can get bagpipes on radio.
• 1:02:37
  I might just misheard that and put that in there myself.
• 1:02:40
  But it has, weirdly, this marketing campaign has given me
• 1:02:44
  confidence. I don't know where it's come
• 1:02:46
  from, but it's got me up for it. So yeah, I just been in talk.
• 1:02:52
  I mean, I don't, I don't know what you've got any further
• 1:02:55
  thoughts on that? Yeah, I think what would be
• 1:02:57
  really interesting before this last match is also obviously
• 1:03:01
  Denmark will be in a draw will be enough for us because our
• 1:03:04
  goal difference, so I think. Yeah, that's really against us
• 1:03:08
  having we have to win. Exactly.
• 1:03:11
  And and I mean, you did very well in the first match, as we
• 1:03:14
  as we said, but you also sat back a lot.
• 1:03:17
  I mean, I haven't seen Scotland too much when they had to go up
• 1:03:19
  and actually dominate and create the match.
• 1:03:22
  I mean, also in the previous tournaments, I feel like this
• 1:03:25
  strategy was always to sit back, go countless attack the
• 1:03:29
  opponents at the right time. But here really like there's
• 1:03:33
  there's no other matches is if this match you have to win and
• 1:03:37
  it would be interesting when Denmark can be the team that
• 1:03:40
  sits back, wait for the right moment.
• 1:03:43
  I don't think we would go and play defensively apart the boss
• 1:03:45
  or anything, but we definitely don't have to create the match
• 1:03:48
  And and and I think maybe describe his team will lack a
• 1:03:52
  little bit of creativity there. I feel like it's not really a
• 1:03:56
  team that is set up to break down defenses and dominate
• 1:03:58
  matches. And I think that could be a
• 1:04:01
  challenging thing. And that's, that's also why I'm,
• 1:04:04
  I'm more confident before this match, despite all the away and
• 1:04:08
  everything that I think you might struggle going into to a
• 1:04:12
  match like this and, and actually have to create stuff on
• 1:04:15
  your own and not being able to, to play a little bit more
• 1:04:17
  cautious where I think that's your strongest side, at least
• 1:04:20
  from what I've seen. Yeah, because I definitely
• 1:04:23
  think, I definitely think Scotland benefit from situations
• 1:04:27
  where we it's not a must win and you know, we can keep our cards
• 1:04:33
  closer to her chest in that respect because you know,
• 1:04:36
  Denmark can come and they can send and they have the quality
• 1:04:39
  to get us on the break. And I think what you said, we're
• 1:04:41
  not a team that's going to like dominate an attacking sense.
• 1:04:45
  And we were really doing well with Mctominy in that regard in
• 1:04:49
  the 20 year 24 campaign and sensing teams have it was less
• 1:04:55
  of a known quantity at that point especially.
• 1:04:58
  And then an attacking sense where there's no he has, he's a
• 1:05:01
  household name in Italy. You know, he's where as well
• 1:05:04
  documented what he can do. And I think Scotland are now
• 1:05:07
  trying to find a way to get the best out of him when you know,
• 1:05:12
  he's not a surprise package. People know double up on
• 1:05:16
  McDonald, make sure he's the guy you're packing up.
• 1:05:19
  That was a good discussion guys. I'd like to thank you both so
• 1:05:22
  much for coming on. Like I said, two huge games
• 1:05:27
  coming up for Scotland. Can we do it?
• 1:05:29
  Can we get to the World Cup automatic qualification?
• 1:05:32
  That moment at Hampden when a full time whistle goes and the
• 1:05:35
  lead comes off the place would just be sensational because we
• 1:05:37
  didn't get it. He's getting ahead of himself.
• 1:05:40
  Again, then we didn't get it Yep, that's Stephen.
• 1:05:41
  I'm sorry that's that you know, I need to start thinking about
• 1:05:45
  gaming offense more than the one Hamden on Tuesday night.
• 1:05:49
  But yeah, it'd just be incredible to be in that
• 1:05:53
  situation, but not again. Thank you so much both for
• 1:05:57
  coming on again. Because the first two podcasts
• 1:05:59
  were very good, but few people writing in and saying good
• 1:06:02
  things about us and recommending it to other people based on how
• 1:06:07
  good it was. So it's been nice to get you all
• 1:06:09
  along again. It's been it's been quite a
• 1:06:10
  civil chat for, you know, given Steven Stephen might have been
• 1:06:14
  coming here bearing a bit of a grudge against us.
• 1:06:16
  Talk still with our World Cup aspiration is still still on.
• 1:06:21
  So I'd like to thank you both again.
• 1:06:23
  It's been lovely speaking to you, Fenn.
• 1:06:24
  Good as always to talk to you mate.
• 1:06:26
  Glad to have you on the podcast. Help me out with this one.
• 1:06:29
  And well, good luck to Scotland. I'm sure if you're watching and
• 1:06:34
  or you're the games, make sure you're supporting the boys as
• 1:06:37
  much as possible. They'll definitely be needing
• 1:06:39
  it. I've seen some crazy things over
• 1:06:41
  the years at Hamden so I just my rallying cry to the Tartan Army
• 1:06:45
  would be back the team from the first whistle to the last
• 1:06:48
  because Yep, it wasn't good last month.
• 1:06:51
  October was far from ideal. The performances and I think the
• 1:06:54
  booze were the booze were merited in some respect.
• 1:06:58
  I never liked to be myself but that's the way it went.
• 1:07:00
  But the players knew it was bad, the manager and it was bad.
• 1:07:04
  It's behind us now, so if we're going to show up for this
• 1:07:07
  potential 90 minutes a hand and make sure you're given that
• 1:07:09
  you're all for the team because we can achieve something here
• 1:07:11
  potentially. Yeah.
• 1:07:13
  And just before we wrap up, I just want to give the
• 1:07:15
  opportunity for both of you just to say where we everyone
• 1:07:18
  listening can find joblessly of. Course you.
• 1:07:21
  I don't think the vote is closed yet for the Football awards.
• 1:07:24
  It has, yes. It closed couple weeks ago.
• 1:07:26
  Yeah. Yeah, it did.
• 1:07:28
  Yes. We, we, we are nominated in the
• 1:07:30
  Football Content Awards, Hellas Football podcast.
• 1:07:32
  As anyone who did vote for us, we really appreciate your
• 1:07:35
  support and I'll be going there in a few weeks to the finals to
• 1:07:40
  soak it up as as nominees. I'm looking forward to that.
• 1:07:43
  And if you want to find anything that we do at Hellas Football,
• 1:07:46
  it's at Hellas Footy on X on Facebook and on Instagram for
• 1:07:51
  updates on Greek football, the podcast you can find on any
• 1:07:54
  podcast platform you listen to your podcast on, whether that be
• 1:07:57
  Spotify, Apple Music or anything else.
• 1:07:59
  And me personally, you can find me at Steve Konturu.
• 1:08:04
  That's KOUNTOUROU Long surname, as I've said before.
• 1:08:10
  But yeah, it's been lovely. Chang guys and all the best.
• 1:08:13
  You know, Greece may be out, but at least I have Cyprus who are
• 1:08:16
  also out, but they're also fun to watch.
• 1:08:19
  So I've got two teams to to to watch in the international
• 1:08:22
  break. I've already gone.
• 1:08:25
  Followed you now, Steven. So pleasure that'll.
• 1:08:27
  Be your your first new follower. Yeah, yeah, you can.
• 1:08:31
  You can find me at the token T that's T OK E and then the
• 1:08:34
  thelate THEILAD on Twitter or X as it's called now.
• 1:08:41
  And yeah, if you if you feel like you want to read about 1
• 1:08:44
  brilliant Danish or if you want to learn new language, just like
• 1:08:48
  Google Translate, it's it's Bill Ford Park dot DK.
• 1:08:51
  We also have a podcast and yeah, a lot of coverage of of Louis
• 1:08:55
  brings if you want to keep learning more about the
• 1:08:57
  potential new Scottish national team player.
• 1:09:00
  OK, Phil, thanks very much for that, guys.
• 1:09:02
  Obviously, we will tag you both. When we put the socialsness,
• 1:09:07
  hopefully you'll see lots of content about the game and this
• 1:09:09
  podcast across different platforms, Tech talk, Instagram
• 1:09:13
  and X. So keep your eyes peeled for,
• 1:09:17
  well, maybe you've already seen it and that's how you've ended
• 1:09:19
  up listening. So if you have, thanks very
• 1:09:21
  much. Hope you've enjoyed the episode.
• 1:09:23
  I hope you're just as excited as me and Finn are for these two
• 1:09:26
  games. Like I said, two massive games.
• 1:09:29
  One last thing before you go, I'll just ask you if you could,
• 1:09:33
  if you enjoyed the episodes, make sure you go and rate it.
• 1:09:35
  Whatever you listen to your podcasts, no matter what metric
• 1:09:38
  that is for that. I think Spotify, you can rate US
• 1:09:40
  five stars. Things like that goes a long
• 1:09:42
  way. It's much appreciated.
• 1:09:44
  Obviously a lot of work goes into the accounts. 5 big news
• 1:09:47
  recently, obviously transitioned from everything Scotland to
• 1:09:52
  Football Park Scotland, so you'll definitely see hopefully
• 1:09:56
  I it was good we what we did before was really good, but this
• 1:09:59
  will hopefully give us a platform to create bad content,
• 1:10:02
  you know bring more regular. Person set, hopefully soon.
• 1:10:05
  Oh, you. Never know, You never know.
• 1:10:07
  Only studio. You can always dream.
• 1:10:09
  No teasers. No teasers.
• 1:10:10
  Yeah, exactly. But no, hopefully more to come.
• 1:10:13
  We'll definitely catch up with you after these games.
• 1:10:16
  It's quite a tight turn around and I think a few of us will be
• 1:10:18
  busy. I'll know I'll be won't be
• 1:10:20
  available. I'll be in Athens so hopefully
• 1:10:22
  drowning myself and me forcing heroes.
• 1:10:24
  So yeah, definitely. But no.
• 1:10:28
  Then once again, thanks for coming on.
• 1:10:30
  I was good to have. You very much enjoy yourself
• 1:10:32
  while in your Athens. I certainly hope I do.
• 1:10:35
  It's a long way to. Go we all do all right yeah,
• 1:10:38
  there enjoys Well, thank you very much for listening and
• 1:10:42
  we'll see you next time guys. Listen.
• 1:11:00
  To the noise.