Caledonian Craig

Agreed Fletcher has not scored the goals but there is far more to his game than that as was clearly evident V Ireland as showed after he went off and by how much he was missed last night. As for Martin he has had his chances and has not taken them and is still to show me he has what he takes. Stevie May and Johnny Russell did more in their brief appearance than Martin has done in about four appearances.

Does respect not beget respect though? Last year Flower of Scotland was booed at Wembley so that is not respect so respect not due here.

I put more stock in the fact that too many of our key players were to put in a poor display. Did fatigue play its part? Maybe mentally but for the first half hour we matched them but as soon as we went behind it was always going to be tough especially with out our No.1 striker Fletcher. We put in our poorest display for over a year whilst England (who are a better side) put in their best display by all accounts for about a year hence the result.

More to the point - losing sloppy goals. The goals we conceded in Germany were sloppy and likewise last night. Don't just blame the central defenders as Robertson and Brown were culpable last night.

Remember he has no experience at top flight level and is young so those factors alone can anyone really slate him when he hasn't been culpible for us conceding loads of goals in key matches. He has been pretty consistent if unspectacular.

Fingers crossed he can make it. We need options up front.

So has he played in any of their Europa League matches?

Well it looks like you are. He never let us down V Poland or Ireland (more important games as well). Also remember he is perhaps third choice right-back for us.

Steve Fletcher is first pick for us up front - no two ways about it. Watch how we lodt our way when he went off V Ireland of his importance to us and how nothing stuck up front without him being there. So if he is injured who are the options? Chris Martin has been given ample opportunity and hopefully the fact he was hooked at half-time displays that Strachan had seen enough and will look elsewhere in the future. Nothing against him personally but he lacks mobility and pace and his lay offs aren't great. Time to look elsewhere. Stevie May looked more lively and much more pacier up front and was making some good runs and would like to see more of him certainly over Martin anyway. Johnny Russell impressed me when he came on with pace and ability to take players on but realise he is not a bone fide striker. Still would definitely like to see more of him now. Jordan Rhodes - well I am not convinced he is the answer and he is now not in great form. Maybe give him another chance in a friendly but for some reason Strachan really seems to want to avoid him like the plague. Tony Watt - I don't know enough about him to be honest. A lot of people here seem to rate him. How is he doing this season? Many games? Many goals? Perhaps worth a look.

I would agree with much of that except that passion can only take you so far. I believe the heart and spirit was there but fitness level and more importantly performance levels let our key players down.

Again I'd agree. I do think it was clear a few of our key players under-performed which didn't help. I watched Broon set England through on goal by giving the ball away and Naismith looked lost without Fletcher. No complaints about the result though and as you say it serves as a wake-up call. We have improved a lot in the past year but we still have some way to go.

Spot on. I cannot disagree with any of that.

I would say no just now. If it is only in a friendly capacity then no. I say this because if that defeat last night had been in the same manner against a Norway, a Belgium or Russia for example we'd now be shrugging our shoulders saying it was only a friendly but because it is England it could impact on the fans and players far more. We are seeing that in how so many of our players are now being slated and changes being called for when I feel there is no real need to panic. I have no gripes playing England if a cup were at stake like the old Stanley Rous Cup but it would be better playing it as a stand alone game away from qualifying dates.

Yes I cannot argue with that Auld Reekie.

Simple - we played below ourselves and they played perhaps their best game for some time hence the result we got. For us to get a result we were always going to have to have good performances throughout our side but last night the opposite happened. Brown had a stinker, Mulgrew ineffectual, Naismith was poor as were others. No way you will beat a half-decent international side like that.

He looks like a real star for the future - well he is now as well. Patchy performance last night though but battled away well and got better in the second half where he often linked up well with Russell.

We were very poor. And reading views elsewhere England put on their best performance in a while so we got the result we had. We didn't do too bad for the first quarter of the match but conceded a soft goal. We then lost our way and we are not set up well for chasing games when Fletcher is not there - that was obvious last night. We then conceded another soft goal early in the second half and it was game over. We made changes and that did give us a better shape or more life. We snatched a well-worked goal but in keeping with the night conceded a third soft goal immediately. Too many poor performances in blue and you cannot do that against a half-decent international side - it will cost you.

Alright - fair enough. However, Martin hasn't impressed in all the games I have seen him in for us whereas others that had stinkers for us last night have excelled for us in many games such as Brown, Naismith and Mulgrew. They have shown they can live at international level but Martin hasn't hence my remark.

I agree. However, pre-match apparently (my big brother told me) Strachan on Sky before the match said so many of the first team were desperate to play and he felt he couldn't drop them after they had done so well. I'd have preferred fresh legs like Bannan, Russell, May and even Greer starting. A defeat like we had at the end wouldn't have felt so bad and the fresher legs and perhaps better options in some areas may have prevented such a loss.

Look we played crap (collectively) as a team last night. There should be no scapegoats here as even stalwarts such as Broon and Naismith had stinkers. It was a bad day at the office and wasn't helped by us missing Fletcher up front and having Martin in as a replacement.

I wouldn't have any knee-jerk reactions over what happened last night. We did not too bad up until they scored after half an hour and without Fletcher we were not well equipped to go chasing the game with Martin on the pitch. We then conceded a bad second goal at the start of the second half and it was game over. We made changes and looked better for it but in short we played below ourselves whilst England didn't so there was only going to be one winner here.

Agree on everything there Graham. Good post.

I liked what I saw from Johnny Russell and Stevie May and they should now be above Martin in the pecking order.

It is simple. To beat England we were always going to need the whole team playing to a decent standard and it just did not happen last night. Brown had a stinker, Mulgrew looked lost, Martin was totally ineffectual, Naismith was poor and we conceded soft goals at bad times.

The only player I would bin is Chris Martin as he is yet to impress. Whittaker and Hanley have had a number of good games for us so let's not go OTT on the back of a match when so many of our players were sub-par by our recent standards. I mean Brown had a stinker as well so should we bin him? Of course not. A bad day at the office that is all.