Handsome22Devil

Iceland is a brilliant story but it contains absolutely no relevance to us sadly - the stuff they have (pitches and trained coaches) comes from a willingness to invest which simply doesn't exist in Scotland. After all this time, we have how many indoor pitches? Look at the reaction to the Murrays trying to build the tennis academy - not on our doorstep, thanks - it's just not going to happen.

Strachan's time is up - only question for me is whether he goes after Slovakia or hangs on for the throw of the dice that is England away as clearly jammying a win there would buy him considerable credit - as managers virtually never recover from this type of pressure. It's not actually buggering the campaign that will get him sacked (I never thought we'd get to Russia, and don't remember or know anyone who did, regardless of coach so blaming him for that seems ridiculous) but all the other things added up...the team selections, the future development (though he does deserve credit for throwing in Burke) the favourites and the banished, the needlessly antagonising the media etc. I definitely think it's a shame - out of the last three managers, Strachan was by far the best and the only one who gave us even a hint of going somewhere but it's done. The draw in Ireland wasn't what turned the tide (from that position in the group we should never have finished fourth and a tenner on the Georgia-Scotland/Ireland-Germany disaster double that caused it would have put a big dent in your next away trip) but the pathetic performance which didn't even look for the win was. There's been a tendency on here recently to flat out state draws away aren't good enough which is, quite frankly, nonsense for a team of our ability. But going out and looking for draws rather than looking to win - even if you end up with a draw - sums up the attitude problem which leads to difficulties elsewhere. It's too passive, too shy and too lacking in confidence to ever be successful. The Dublin effort was the start of unravelling good work of the two years before (and there was plenty of good work the two years before, though that is easily now forgotten or ignored) and led us to where we are now. For all that, I can't bring myself to join the lynch mob this time...I just don't get wound up about it any more when there's absolutely nothing to suggest it making any difference. The pub/online arguments about Hanley or Berra, McArthur or Fletcher, Martin or anyone etc are all good fun but let's not kid ourselves getting these right or wrong is the difference between winning or losing (Forrest and Griffiths main contributions when coming on last night were missing two gimmies). After 20 years of being shite it's not one coach or other that's the problem and regardless of who is appointed I'd put good money on us being at this stage of the cycle again three years from now.

There's no doubt Slovakia, for an international team, are pretty limited - however, so are we. We should definitely be going over there looking to win but a draw would not be a disaster. There's a world of difference between going away from home and emerging with decent draw having tried to win (Poland last campaign) and going home with a draw having not even looked for three points (Ireland).

Looked hungry and willing to try things but maybe a bit too overeager at times which led to some silly mistakes...but for what is essentially still a kid making a big step up, a very promising display.

Good second half. Snodgrass did very well and a couple of other solid performances as well. We've often struggled and not got results in tricky matches so regardless of how we got there, 5-1 away from home is to be commended. However... Snodgrass or not, the merits - or otherwise - of our forward line is like arguing about where to put the deckchairs on the Titanic with our defence being what it is. The full-backs might develop enough in time to be okay, just, but our centre backs simply aren't good enough. And I don't blame Strachan for picking Martin/Hanley, they are the best of a very bad lot. Unless we find two new centre backs from somewhere, we won't be in Russia even if we solve all our other problems.

Think we'll win 1-0 but it won't be pretty. Goal with a deflection or a set piece.

That's awful, what were they thinking publishing that? Whatever work experience kid made it shouldn't bother turning up on Monday.

Strachan has a had a bad summer, very bad in fact, which is incredibly stupid and a real shame after a positive March. Quite frankly this summer Scotland as a team and he as a manager should have been sheltering in a cave around the Euro time. We had a pretty sensible and even-headed debate about his future last October (at least relative to the pain of missing out) but with the tournament here, particularly with the home nation minnows doing well, that's gone out the window.... we're the worst-ever, we'll never qualify again, Strachan is too negative, Strachan is too positive. We're hurting and it's understandable but we're the footballing equivalent of the ex at a wedding who thought they could handle it but have a few drinks and... When the qualifying draw was made, everyone said we had a ridiculously tight group that would be decided by wafer-thin margins. That duly happened and the amount of canny-take-it-ness because we were on the wrong side of that margin is ridiculous. Had we been offered our exact Euro results before the start, we'd have signed up to all of them except Georgia and, possibly, Poland at home (a game in which we were denied a win by an offside goal and a 95th minute scramble). O'Neill and Nawalka did not motivate their sides more against Germany than Strachan did, nor did they produce anything better tactically. Germany missing a dozen chances they would usually score in their sleep in Dublin and Warsaw, and getting kick-started with a jammy deflection at Hampden does not reflect on any brilliance from O'Neill and Nawalka or incompetence from Strachan. Strachan is now being mocked because he said we're better than some of those at the Euros. Better is clearly a stretch but in essence, that we're no worse, is not wrong. The Euros were expanded because the difference between teams 12-16 and 17-24 was tiny, the difference between those 17-24 and us is literally one deflection or a set piece over 90 minutes. We were drawn in a group with the world champions, Poland with the best striker in qualifying and and Ireland side who were basically the same as us. Northern Ireland got Greece who had imploded and a Romania side, who - on the evidence of their last two games, if not the first - are absolutely terrible. Ireland are through in France because rather than playing a full strength Italy side who wanted to win, they got the reserves who had been on le vin since lunch. I also fear unless Strachan calms down after the Euros we're heading for another Levein situation and you can make a strong case that's not the right man anyway (I was 50-50 last October and his recent comments have done anything but convince me). But that being so, consider the case having acknowledged his pros - of which there are months and months of positive games - against the negative - his innate conservatism and desire to tinker - and make the argument beyond the petulantly simplistic 'we're not at the Euros, we should sack the coach'. I'm off back to my cave until the next two weeks of this misery are over.

I'm also looking for two tickets for a pair of stragglers once people's shifts start getting changed, grannies dying etc.

Strachan is loved by the media - most other managers would be under severe pressure for taking five points from the last five games to blow the position we'd got into at half-way. I think Strachan himself will choose to step away. If he goes now, dignity is still intact and he can probably get a Championship gig easily enough. The World Cup is much harder to qualify for than the Euros so if he stays he's likely going to have failed twice with us and the shine from the post-Levein spell will have been long forgotten. Whether it's the best thing for the team is another matter of course. We clearly have issues that go way beyond the manager.

You can clearly say if, if, if and come up with various scenarios but fact is we're in a great position to finish at least third. We'll beat Gibraltar so four points from Georgia, Poland and Germany puts us nine clear of Ireland. Given we have the head-to-head, they'd need 10 to catch us - effectively four points from their own matches with Germany and Poland and there's little to suggest they're good enough to do that. I actually think we'll have a real wobble in September - draw in Georgia, lose to Germany but win the last two in October. And whether we're second or third will come down to Poland v Ireland on the last day.

Does anyone have links for streams to get BBC Scotland from abroad?

I don't like Flower of Scotland as an anthem.

I never understand why we don't call him up - football is a squad game, are our options really that strong up front we have no room for a natural scorer? So what he if he doesn't fit into the system in certain matches, he's just what we need in others. It's then up to the manager to keep everyone motivated, if not exactly happy with the rotation situation, and delivering. Ultimately it's a results business so at the minute it's hard to criticise Strachan - but if we labour against Gibraltar or, even worse, fail to find a goal needed to win or draw against Ireland in June despite dominating for long spells, excluding Rhodes will seem a serious mistake.

I jumped the gun and assumed it would be in Scotland when he said it was in the UK but he didn't actually specify, so it could be an 'away' day for us to somewhere else...dunno if they have enough fans in London to make that worthwhile though I guess four or five of them could buy enough tickets to sell out a smaller ground there with their pocket change!

Qatar coach Djamal Belmadi has just said at the Asian Cup that the side have a UK training camp in June and a confirmed friendly v Scotland.

Agree completely. Poland deserve praise for the result but it wasn't an especially impressive performance - had they played genuinely well, Germany wouldn't have had eight or nine 100% chances to miss. Germany having an off day in front of goal was nothing to do with Poland, an identical performance from Poland would usually bring a 4-1 thrashing rather than 2-0 win so there's no reason for us to be crapping ourselves now. If we play badly in Warsaw on Tuesday, there's a good chance we'll lose but given our form there's no reason to think we won't keep playing well. And should that happen, I reckon we'll get at least a draw.

Germany have lifted it a fraction, just missed two good chances. Poland as a team don't impress me but the thought of Lewandowski against our centre backs gives me the fear. If we can stop his supply and force him to go away from our goal just to get the ball I think we'll be fine in Warsaw.

I'm amazed 34,000 turned up at those prices - I'm split between admiration for their loyalty and wishing they hadn't bothered to make a point.

This was mine too...would have been six, stood with my dad on the north terrace. Remember being fascinated by the noise coming from the west end enclosure, Bit of a change from Fir Park!

I've got mine as the old beer commercial said, need one for a tag-a-long.

If that single isn't any good to Emiliano, I'd take it.

After the initial disappointment and embarrassment of Thursday night, I'm actually pretty happy. The road to progress is rarely a straight one and while this ended on a step back, it followed five forward. To have moved within a five-point swing of independence is simply remarkable - it is not just a lunatic movement, as it was when I was a kid (which I hasten to add was not *that* long ago!) but a viable prospect supported by nearly half the country. When you look at the age demographics of how the yes/no vote split, there is massive reason for optimism. By the time of the rematch those currently in the oldest category will be dead - harsh but true - and even a few of the baby-boomers, the luckiest generation in history, will have followed them. Yes cannot take it for granted that those replacing them on the electoral roll will swing the right way but anything approaching 50-50 helps the cause hugely and with further work there is no reason to think it won't continue to be better than that. But, ultimately, the reason for confidence is that Gordon Brown broke the union by promising to rewrite the constitution on the back of a fag packet over a weekend. From that point on the vote simply decided whether it would be a slow death or a quick one. Now if Westminster does produce devo-super max then fair play - that will actually kill complete independence stone dead. It obviously wasn't shouted during the campaign but the number of countries which are, in practice, 100 per cent independent is tiny. What's important is that they get to choose what slices of sovereignty to give away in exchange for whatever...and Scotland as an equal partner in a loose British confederation would probably satisfy the vast majority. However, for the new constitutional arrangement to work, it will require a level of vision, creativity and willingess to compromise that simply doesn't exist in British politics right now. Quite rightly, you cannot offer more power to Scotland without offering some level of autonomy to England. You cannot offer autonomy to England without changing the Barnett formula. It will be impossible to maintain current Scottish spending post-Barnett without giving us control of corporation tax/oil revenues. The RUK will never agree to giving us corporation tax/oil revenues. Now, if the 55 per cent are, as they are suddenly so eager to claim on Facebook, No voters out of British pride rather than fear, then of course it is possible they will duly accept the cuts which brings spending down to a level amount per person in each individual country. But I doubt that - despite is claimed, a huge chunk of the 55 per cent voted no out of fear and uncertainty and a poorer deal from Westminster is only going to make them think they have less to lose in voting Yes next time. We can then turn to the farce of deciding who gets to form the government in Westminster. I actually think Labour will do well in the 2015 election (as ever, when it comes down to them or the Tories, they'll be fine) in Scotland but England will be a different matter. Are we seriously suggesting we could have a UK Labour government, with Scottish MPs, which could sit Tuesdays, Thursdays and every last Friday of the month in Westminster while every other day is a Tory led English government? I can't be arsed listing the possibilities for carnage here but really, it's just not going to work... There may be examples I've not heard of but I don't think it's possible to have an equal federal country when one part of it has a population majority the way England does. England and Scotland are drifting apart - to many the thought of actually splitting this time was unthinkable but that thought will linger for the next 15 years... Nicola Sturgeon, and whoever follows her, must keep working to make the best they can for the people of Scotland under the current arrangements and lessons must be learned from this campaign. It is not a criticism of the Alex Salmond, he played his hand pretty well, but a broader use of the Scottish cabinet would help and as many 'technical' questions as possible should be answered beforehand. The links created through Yes to the Greens and the individual groups supporting the independence cause should be maintained and strengthened - even at the short-term cost of cash or a few votes or seats if it comes to it. It will not be easy but getting this far wasn't easy either. Keep the faith! Oh, and to those with the petted lip talking about us being a region not a country, not wanting to sing FoS, get a grip and get back in the game. No one ever won from being a goal down at half time by refusing to come out for the second half.