I wonder who had been at the club a long time who had written him off?
Spain captain Rodri criticised Scotland's "rubbish" approach to football after his team were on the end of a Hampden defeat in the Euro 2024 qualifiers.The Manchester City player accused Scotland of time-wasting and provocation after Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay hit a double to earn Scotland a 2-0 victory and a first win over Spain in 39 years.Spain had not been beaten in Euro qualifying since 2014, when they were beaten 2-1 by Slovakia ahead of the 2016 tournament in France.They had won 34 of their last 38 European qualifying matches, with three draws, but at Hampden Park they looked unsettled.Rodri skippered a side featuring eight changes from their previous game, and he criticised the way Scotland went about their work."We did many good things to win," he said on Viaplay. "We conceded easy goals - this is football, if you concede easy goals you are penalised."It's the way they play, but for me it's rubbish, always wasting time, provoking you, always they fall. For me, this is not football. The referee has to take on this, but he says nothing."We will learn for the next time. We want to go for duels, for battles - we always fight, but this is not about fighting. It's about wasting time - four, five players on the floor, but this depends on the referee, not on us."Today we did many good things, but what's important is the goal, and we didn't score."David Garcia, who was making his Spain debut, also blamed the results on the length of the pitch at Hampden.He told Marca: "We already saw that the grass was too long, and that cost us. We can't make excuses for that, we have to look at ourselves and fix what we did wrong today."
Not Cutts?
I thought it wasn't great against Spurs in the first half as well. It is about confidence and belief for both the players and the fans, that much is now obvious. What is also obvious from that interview is that there is a chasm between the likes of Gerrard and Emery, the latter is a coach, the former an ex player almost "having a go at it". Perhaps this is why the likes of him and Lampard will never be successful?
Some interesting quotes from McGinn in that. I wonder who he is referring to when he mentions long-term people at the club questioning his quality. Also, a bit surprised and disappointed that he feels so sensitive about people questioning his worth to the Villa. He had been out of form for a long time and in fairness he seems to acknowledge that but his ultimate conclusion is that the scrutiny and criticism wasn't warranted.