Caledonian Craig

Onwards and upwards Andy. It would be some achievement to win Queens for a fourth time.

Point here is Romania aren't even a one man team and is why I'd much sooner draw them. Pretty logical choice for dream draw for me - looked far from top seeders when drawing against Northern Ireland whilst Wales were beating Belgium in the same round of fixtures.

It happens at every club in football. It is called wanting as much money as you can get for players you are selling. EVERY club from the lowest form on non-league clubs to Real Madrid do it.

Exactly. I mean come on if you were putting an advert in the paper trying to sell your car would you write: Loads of owners, covered in rust, thirsty engine and spongy breaks. Of course not. You bum the thing up to elevate the price or concentrate on the strong points.

I agree. Basically, Poland are where they are due to their win over Germany. However in their other crunch matches so far they have drawn at home to us and drawn away to Ireland so they are not on a different level to us. When put under pressure they are susceptible.

Troicki beats Isner in straight sets and will play Murray in the SF tomorrow.

Maybe not. Viktor Troicki took the first set on a tie break and leads 1-0 in the second set.

Murray wins in three sets and looks likely he will face John Isner is the SF tomorrow.

A tricky QF for Murray against Gilles Muller. The Luxembourg player was really playing superb and took the first set 6-3. Serving big, volleying well and hitting big ground strokes. Murray dug in and put his foot down in the second set tie breaker to take that. They are into the third set and Murray has an early break in the set so looking good for Murray now.

Great. Lets hope he is in form and decent shape by the time our next round of fixtures are here.

Double post.

Wait and see Marky. What is more likely? Germany fouling up and going throufh the play-offs or Poland fouling up and being dragged back into play-offs. Certainly the latter if you take into account the fixtures they have left compared to Poland AND taking into account Germany's proven track record in such matters as qualification. Of course both may end up qualifying by right but my basic point is that if you gave me money to bet on one of those two cocking qualification up it would always be on Poland. Facts from 14 years ago I cannot remember to minute details but point is Germany have that failure is not acceptable engrained into their psyche whilst Poland don't hence have a look at each of their qualification records.

Perhaps but I am 100% confident they won't be qualifying via the play-offs. They will either win the group or finish second and for that to happen you need to look where their points are going to come from and so they'll beat Georgia at home and in the rest of their games I'd say it is more likely they will draw V us at Hampden or v Ireland in Dublin than losing at home to Poland. If we look closely at Poland's form so far the reason they are where they are is their win over Germany but in their other crunch games they have failed to beat us in Poland and yourselves in Dublin so they are evidently prone to dropping points in key matches. That is why Green_Tide_Rising I'd not rule you out going into the last fixture knowing if you beat Poland you pip them to a play-off spot.

fanatyk - Germany don't do qualification cock-ups. And they don't do play-offs. It is inbred into them and even when they have not their best sides they have ALWAYS qualified by right without fuss. Their track record at qualification I'd say is the best in world football so to expect/predict/say Germany are going to lose here or draw there - in my eyes is clutching at straws.

And I meant Gibraltar not Georgia.

But may I point out you have more games that a slip up is likely in. Georgia at home you will win however the remaining three games you have are all pressure matches. Germany (away) and we all know Germany don't do play-offs so I expect no slip-ups from here on in from them, Scotland (away) and considering how the earlier fixture went there is no guarantee of a win here for you either. You finish with Ireland (home) and if you have screwed up in previous matches to this stage then Ireland quite easily could be arriving in Poland knowing a win in Poland is enough to get them at least a play-off. This isn't over by a long shot but I suspect Polish fans realise this.

Exactly and those of us world-wise know that Germany don't do balls-ups in qualifying campaigns. In qualifying for tournaments, whatever the squad and whoever the manager, Germany are world champions at tournament qualification. Poland don't even come close so would say if people are hoping/expecting a collapse from Germany or Poland then it can only happen to Poland.

Yes I'd agree with that.

A straight sets win for Andy over Verdasco and he goes through to the QFs where he will play Gilles Muller who beat Dimitrov today. If Andy is in any semblance of form he will win Queens now for the 4th time.

Perhaps on the grounds of what happened the last time we played them compared to say Croatia (a mighty difference between those two sets of results we obtained). Not saying I'd take Germany etc before them but wouldn't scramble to draw them is my point. Romania is the dream draw from that pot - they looked far from special V Northern Ireland.

Well before you go wanting Wales for they are on a good run of form which you presume will run out and then not wanting Belgium because of their supposed greatness I suggest you take a look at the respective group table. Wales beat them the other night and I watched the game and was disappointed in Belgium. They remind me of Netherlands of ten or fifteen years ago - great individual players but a teamful of mavericks who have not gelled as a team. The difference between Wales and Belgium is big talent-wise I am not arguing with that but spirit-wise and organisation -wise Wales are better at present. Also there is this awful local derby crap which puts me off getting Wales as well. Don't get me wrong I am not saying Wales are sudden world beaters but just not the dream draw some seem to think it would be.

Exactly girvan. I don't see any set of results coming about that won't keep the group open with the remaking two fixtures to come. Four teams will still be in the hunt but at present I would sooner be in our shoes with our fixtures to come than Ireland. It is up to us to take advantage of that.

This post was chiefly in response to The BoysInGreen saying 'in recent years' he had seen no evidence we can cope under pressure. I did initially point out as you say that is irrelevant as we have new players and manager but offered them as examples.

Okay Marky but basic point remains where we do have form at tail end of group and more pertinent - form against higher seeded teams which are the sort of matches we have coming up. We have beaten France, Ukraine and Croatia in recent years as well as drawn with Germany and Czech Republic. This indicates that we cannot be ruled out of picking up at least a point from matches against Poland and Germany meaning even if the nightmare scenario happens and we lose in Georgia we could still be in contention come the last fixture.

Yes for a couple of reasons. Belgium didn't look all they are talked up to be V Wales the other night and Wales look set to finish above them in that group. As for Croatia (beat them home and away in the last campaign but don't remind me how we done against Wales).