' David Marshall's Brilliance Ensured '

Scotland players let Gordon Strachan down against Italy -


David Marshall brilliance ensured the damage was not worse.

By Liam McLeod


BBC Scotland at the Ta'Qali Stadium, Malta

Monday 30th May 2016


Scotland's starting side had five players from Premier League teams, two from the Scottish Premiership and four from the English Championship
Scotland midfielder James McArthur felt the players let manager Gordon Strachan down as they lost 1-0 to Italy in Malta.

Graziano Pelle scored the only goal, but a combination of Italian profligacy and David Marshall brilliance ensured the damage was not worse.

"Everyone's let the manager and the fans down," McArthur told BBC Scotland.

"There's a lot of fans travelled here and we've not performed anywhere near where we should be."

Scotland offered little as an attacking force and struggled to keep possession as the Italians dominated the 90 minutes.

Pelle finally broke the deadlock after 57 minutes with a curling shot past goalkeeper Marshall.

"We came up against a side that has top-quality players and we didn't perform," continued McArthur.

"We need to analyse it and see where we could have done better.

"They're top-quality players, very well organised and they opened us up at times which is to be expected but I think we made it a bit too easy for them."


Crystal Palace midfielder McArthur admits the team will have to improve by some distance if they are to compete with European Championship hosts France when they meet in Metz on Saturday.

While Italy are 16-1 shots to win this summer's tournament, the French are favourites on home soil and will be keen to fine tune preparations against a Scotland side that was held at arm's length by their opponents in Malta.

"We're going to have to play the best we've played in a long, long time to create a shock," McArthur added.

"We'll have to play a lot better than we did [against Italy].

"The most disappointing thing was losing in the manner we did. We obviously hung in there and kept it down to 1-0, but we weren't near the level we wanted to be at."

Analysis - Ex-Scotland striker Steven Thompson:

"France will be a different kettle of fish. If Scotland play like we did [against Italy], we could take a spanking off France.

"There has to be an improvement in performance levels. I think the players need to be braver and take more responsibility on the ball.

"It is difficult because you are playing against players that are better than you, and you are under pressure."

David Marshall has admitted Scotland couldn't lay a glove on classy Italy in Malta on Sunday night.


Marshall pulled off a magnificent double save in the sixth minute described by Italian goalkeeping legend Walter Zenga as 'world class' Marshall.

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I honestly can't believe it when some criticise Marshall. He is simply a world class GK. We are lucky to have him and even luckier that he wants to be here.

I honestly can't believe it when some criticise Marshall. He is simply a world class GK. We are lucky to have him and even luckier that he wants to be here.

Spot on, Marshall's made a few mistakes,but some fans forget he's only human.

[quote="GrangeEndStar"]I honestly can't believe it when some criticise Marshall. He is simply a world class GK. We are lucky to have him and even luckier that he wants to be here.[/quote. That's all well and good but be honest is goals to game ratio is absolute shit

I honestly can't believe it when some criticise Marshall. He is simply a world class GK. We are lucky to have him and even luckier that he wants to be here.[/quote. That's all well and good but be honest is goals to game ratio is absolute shit

it baffles me how you could judge Marshall on that stat as the defence and midfield have to be up for it Aswell.if you want to judge using stats look at his average saves per game or even watch his best saves on YouTube

I honestly can't believe it when some criticise Marshall. He is simply a world class GK. We are lucky to have him and even luckier that he wants to be here.[/quote. That's all well and good but be honest is goals to game ratio is absolute shit

it baffles me how you could judge Marshall on that stat as the defence and midfield have to be up for it Aswell.if you want to judge using stats look at his average saves per game or even watch his best saves on YouTube

I think he might have been taking the piss mate...

All players make mistakes as they are all human and I think some supporters are very harsh however Marshal might have made 6 mistakes all season but he will make more saves than that in one game his goal stopping is amazing

People who say he's lost it are ludicrous

I honestly can't believe it when some criticise Marshall. He is simply a world class GK. We are lucky to have him and even luckier that he wants to be here.[/quote. That's all well and good but be honest is goals to game ratio is absolute shit

it baffles me how you could judge Marshall on that stat as the defence and midfield have to be up for it Aswell.if you want to judge using stats look at his average saves per game or even watch his best saves on YouTube

WHOOOSH!

He doesn't score much though, does he?

They really rate him up here. Dependable and solid.

His competitior for the Scotland #1 shirt is McGregor from Hull but he's injured a lot so Strachan prefers Marshall.

I saw some on the Scotland Italy game, Scotland outclassed in every department apart from in goal where Marshy was superb. His double save was amazing.

I honestly can't believe it when some criticise Marshall. He is simply a world class GK. We are lucky to have him and even luckier that he wants to be here.

World Class shot stopper - but not GK, other areas of his game are poor such as distribution