Caledonian Craig

To a degree I'd agree with that. It is the sensible course to take. Griffiths should not be relied on to be some sort of saviour given his capacity to go mental walkabouts at any time. We need to have players we can rely on and to be there consistently for us. I'd like to think now that Fraser has sorted out his club future he'll be back firing again. I see in his pressers he marks out his aim to establish himself back in the Scotland side.

We could all get out a pen and paper make out lists for independence and for remaining in the union and I am adamant the former would be a far longer list than the latter especially now that there is an incompetent PM at Westminster with a corrupt Tory government. I'd hazard a guess that even your most staunch union would only bolster their list by the same old peddled lies from 2014.

I'd heard differently. His contract was drawing to an end and Bournemouth offered a short-term contract which he declined to sign and then contract ran out. In no way was he obliged to sign a contract he may have deemed an insult.

Why? Because he felt he merited better? He had been a key player for them so surely a full contract should have been offered? If it had then Fraser may have signed it and all the crap thereafter would not have happened.

I am just wondering when the last time was that Scotland got penalties awarded in back-to-back matches. Must have been some time ago.

A bit like us when we went loopy when Don Hutchison (born in Gateshead) scored against England in the play-off match.

And I bet they were asked and accepted. Whereas on list here we have players who have already turned us down. Big difference.

We will agree to disagree. You won't budge and I won't. End of the day there were many EPL players in our squad to only be involved in one of the two games. One was the captain Robertson and other was McTominay who Clarke was trying to shoehorn into being a centre-back.

No it is not. Friday night Scotland played Israel and 72 hours later they were kicking off against the Czech Republic on the Monday. Do the maths - 72 hours = 3 days.

True but there are players there that inclusion of young up and coming players would be the better option.

And this, I believe, is why Wales fair better than us. If they have a teenager at Liverpool or any EPL club even without first team experience they get called up and integrated into the full squad. Some even play and make a mark in the team and their career builds from there. Doesn't happen with us sadly.

Fat Sam?? GTF I would not want him as manager and guess what? He doesn't want it either? Was linked two or three years ago and was quick to rule it out. Thank god.

I'd agree with that. There are always these conspiracy theories which do more harm than good and usually come from media speculation borne out of precious little facts.

Yes but that is not two games in three days. Totally different ask. It follows a pattern too as I pointed out before as in one game only for EPL players Armstrong, McGinn (okay came on as sub last night), McLean, Cooper, Palmer and Fleck. Clarke has had the squad together and assessed fitness levels and obviously worked to a plan with regards team selections. I don't buy the media hype that he was ordered to only play player X once etc.

Yes its daft to expect players to play two games in three days when COVID-19 has totally fucked up pre-season training. Yes Tierney played a month or so ago but it has all been stacatto for him. Get fit for the restart in May for EPL and FA Cup until end of July beginning of August in what was intense stuff as most EPL teams were playing two games a week. Tierney had not played since the beginning of August so around five weeks of lack of match fitness so to expect him to be up to two matches in three days is wishful thinking. Wales stuck with a similar team probably because they have a settled style/formation and more limited resources than us so were more forced into less changes.

Sweet Jesus!! 🙄 It is what you said hasn't been mentioned yet - a manger.

Here is a more apt candidate:-

Can you take your sexual demands elsewhere please?

I'd disagree to a point. Andy Robertson has proven himself at left-back at Liverpool in the EPL and in the Champions League. Kieran Tierney has yet to do that. However, Tierney has more strings to his bow as he does seem to be more versatile wherein he can play in various positions if needs be. I don't see Robertson as being that versatile.

I do agree with the point here in that they were not a local pub team by a long shot. It does not, however, excuse how terrible our performance was. It lacked cohesion, purpose, pace, invention and organisation by comparison.

Definitely. In the last two games in particular we have lacked cohesion and been virtually redundant as an attacking force and have never been in control of either match against opponents that are certainly not better than us. That is terrifying. I can only put that down to two possibilities. Uncertainty with the formation or having patchy match sharpness throughout the squad due to the effect COVID-19 has had on football.

I had heard though that the goalkeeper, centre backs and player just in front of back four all played for the same club so they had no knitting together to do. Not sure if there were any other parts of the team that had connections like that.

It's not a matter of making excuses just pure logic and sensibility. To expect/demand players play two matches in three days despite their physical condition is being daft. The manager has to assess all of this and that is why we saw the changes we did. The pandemic hasn't helped with preparation as seasons and pre-seasons have been totally fucked up but at the end of the day everyone is in the same boat and we still manage to appear less well-prepared than our opponents. Also we do not know if Tierney picked up a little niggle too which made Clarke wary about picking him.

Nah I don't buy it. What must be understood is that for Tierney the season hasn't started yet so he has not reached full fitness where he can be comfortable playing two matches in three days hence the team selection last night where McGinn (in the same boat) also did not play. Also explains why Armstrong only played one of the two games as did McLean. The only one playing in the EPL who played both matches was the skipper Andy Robertson and McTominay who was a pivotal part in this three at the back abhorration...err ...experiment.

The reality of the situation is that Andrew Robertson is playing with far better players in the Liverpool team with a settled system. He plays with players who make runs into the box for his crosses (something alien to our players). That is the harsh reality here. At Liverpool Robertson has quality, well-drilled components to work with whereas for Scotland he does not so obviously we aren't going to get the same quality out of him.