Caledonian Craig

End of the day I cannot see how we can complain at that draw. I mean would you sooner be in Group A with Holland and France? Or Group C with Germany, Czech Republic and Norway? Or Group G with Spain and Italy? Or Group H with Belgium and Bosnia in a five team group? Sorry but the priority was that we avoided Italy and France from Pot 2 which we did and the teams we drew were not in anyone's ones to avoid list I don't think (aside from maybe Lithuania).

If you look at the other groups then give me what we have over Group A,C,D,G AND i.

Could have been worse. England from Pot 1 it could have been worse as could the rest of the group. I would have taken that before hand.

Okay Czech Republic then.

Easiest draw:- Wales or Romania Bosnia SCOTLAND Estonia Moldova Andorra Toughest draw:- Germany France or Italy SCOTLAND Turkey Lithuania Georgia

Cook needs an opening partner prepared to hang around but conversely England need a fast scoring opener as well. Lyth scores quickly but also gets out too quickly and is there a point looking elsewhere as he had the best average as opening batsman in county cricket? The option that springs to mind is Nick Compton as he is more liable to hang around but scores slowly which was a big reason he was axed.

I think it was me that used that term and think you misunderstand. By backwater don't take it as an offence I mean it isn't a club under the microscope from the media and hyped up pressure to perform that goes with it. He'll be able to perform without real pressure or expectation unlike if he had signed for Celtic say or a big EPL club.

All I can say is thank f**k scouts do trawl the lower leagues unearthing crucial stars like Anya, Russell Martin, etc etc etc. in recent years we have had many key players from the lower leagues so best not to knock it eh? Also I could point to a number of players at the so-called 'big clubs' that have flopped for us such as Kris Commons, Charlie Adam etc etc so lets not kid ourselves that the club a player plays for is a guarantee of quality.

Who is overthinking things though? I am okay with most things but do take offence when I get labelled a racist for daring to criticize a player for screwing with Scotland. Those throwing racist tags around are who you should be querying not me.

Sure as hell beats hating players purely depending on what club they play for as happens a lot. If a player screws with Scotland then they'll get my wrath - what is so wrong about that?

Yes you could be right.

Nope definitely not. I believe in no racial prejudice hence Barry Ferguson screwed up and earned my wrath and same has gone for others such as S. Fletcher and Duncan Ferguson etc. I gave them stick because they deserved it and the same goes for Feruz - no matter the creed or colour if they piss me off they get my wrath.

Zahani that is rich coming from you. Merely, because I savaged Feruz for his attitude you dubbed me a racist and now here you are labelling someone else a bigot. It seems it is you who should tone down the insults.

I see what you are saying Parklife but in the main this move is good as it is a quiet backwater club - no real pressure. It is a chance for first team football and if he does well he wont be there long. Put it this way - sooner he is anywhere getting first team football thannplaying at youth levels after all he is 19 and time to show what he can do in first team football.

To me the bottom line is it is now up to him. If he is good enough he will shine and will move on to play at a bigger club in a year. If he flops and fails to impress then obviously he isnt up to it. This will be evident if it had been Brighton or Celtic he had signed for.

Okay fair enough zappafan and apologies to you.

Look Zappafan if you think this move to Brighton is going to kill his career you must have a damn low opinion of him. If he has the talent like we think then he'd friggin' shine if he was playing on the moon. If he is the business he will be at Brighton for no longer than a year before moving on to a bigger club. This is his chance to shine in first team football so lets see how he does.

In short I'd say don't blame Brighton if he fails to impress and take it that we thought he was better than he is.

People here (reading earlier comments) need to ask themselves questions such as:- 1. Was Harper going to get first team football at Real Madrid in say the next two years? I say not. 2. Was Harper going to get first team football straight away at a La Liga club this season? Unlikely. 3. Is Harper likely to get first team football before Xmas at Brighton? Most likely. If Jack Harper is the real deal like we like to think he is then moving to Brighton will be a stepping stone for him to show off his talents and before long a bigger club will come calling and in the meantime he gets first team football. What is wrong in that compared to kicking his heals at youth level at Real Madrid?

Those wishing him to stay in Spain - fair enough. However, if he is to be integrated into the Scotland side in the future he'll have trouble playing the Spanish-style of game in our side.

First and foremost now - he needs first team football which he wasn't going to get at Real Madrid. He has been schooled at one of the very best clubs in the world but it is now time to put that schooling to test. Picture it. Many of us on here feel he is the Real (pardon the pun) deal so if that is the case then he theoretically could catapult himself into our squad if he starts really well at Brighton by the end of the coming season (or perhaps before). But, if he had remained at Real playing at junior levels then we would still be sitting here wondering in a year or maybe even two years time. Not what Scotland need. Best of luck at Brighton to Jack Harper and who knows it could be a brief stay if he impresses.

No if you could watch both matches on split screen you'd see the difference between Murray's ground strokes and Djokovic's today and it is like night and day. Djoko's ground strokes peppered the baselines and Andy's didn't. I am also not ignoring the fact that Roger served better on Friday but also you cannot ignore the fact that Novak's more aggressive game plan got him into Federer's service games, forced pressure and forced errors. It is frustrating as Andy has the tools and the shots to play the same way and get the same results but just does not get aggressive when he needs it most.

I suggest you watch both matches again. Murray against Federer - of course Roger served better but take a look at the rallies. Murray's returns and ground strokes were being rolled in peppering the service line more often than not inviting Federer in to hit winners. Today Novak's returns and ground strokes are the blueprint to success. Hitting hard and deep peppering the baseline and tramlines and forcing Roger out of his comfort zone and that does go someway to impacting the serve putting more pressure on Roger and extracting more errors. It isnt rocket science but pure fact.

Not worded well but really it is what I suspected. Novak hit with aggression peppering the baseline whilst Andy was rolling shots in on the service line. Hence the differing results.