Michael

Oops, yeah both games will be on Tues 12th then. I saw on another website it had Norway v Georgia on Mon 11th for some reason.. I should have checked the official website

Norway play Georgia on Mon 11th Sept. Scotland v England is on Tues 12th. Lots of fans are assuming matches are on same night. As Sco v Eng is friendly I guess the match waz not restricted to be on 11th

I don't agree with view that we were lucky. It wasn't most free-flowung football ever, but performance roughly what I expected. A draw probably fair result on balance of play. Norway were hardly any better than us and did not create many chances despite higher possession. We defended well. Desire, belief, and poor defending from Norway won it for us in the end.

I think we are playing ok. I'm happy with performance. Could go either way, but the longer the match is goalless suits Scotland. We don't need to and shouldn't take game to Norway. Counter at right time is right approach

My 6 year old son wants the 2020 version of the Scotland top. (He doesn't want the new one). I'm struggling to find somewhere that sells it. Any ideas?

A win v Ukraine at home and two draws more than acceptable for me. It would mean we top group and are second seeds for euro 2024 qualifying.

I haven't read all the thread, so others may have made this point. For me the problem was Hickey playing on right. A natural right footer O 'Donnell or Ralston should have played there. I know he has played there for his club, but only a handful of times. He may be two- footed, but clearly much more comfortable on left, as left foot is strongest foot. It was very frustrating watching Ukraine able to press Hickey back, as he was reluctant or unable to play ball up the wing on his weaker foot. We very much missed Patterson, but O'Donnell would have been a better option there than Hickey. Hopefully Clarke won't make that mistake again.

Jack's form has been decent in my view. Of more concern is his fitness. He rarely does more than 60 or 70 minutes before being subbed. I think he is likely to be used from bench for semi final and final (if we get through).

Agree completely. It is perfectly reasonable for Ukraine to have matches to prepare. Especially as their league is shutdown. I don't understand any anger towards Ukraine FA.

Poland at home should be a good test. Will be interesting how they approach it, as I think their play-off final is 5 days later.

Having the opportunity for Clarke to try something different. Slight changes. Is definitely a positive. Of course we would all liked to have had the competitive game(s), but need to accept current situation. Personally I will go to the friendly game. If SFA structure the prices right then I can see it being a sell out.

Lots of differing views. But I think we would all agree that a decision on March 24th game is needed, one way or another. I thought we would hear today of the game being postponed until June (my preference). The fact there is still no announcement means no decision yet.

I agree. If the war had been ongoing for a few months, then it would be more reasonable to expect game to go ahead in March. It has only started. No one knows with any certainty what the situation in Ukraine will be like in June. My guess is that it will be the same as now. Ukraine FA will probably get a squad together from abroad. I have no complaints with game being postponed until June.

Exactly

Poland and Sweden have not pulled out. They have refused to play Russia which the SFA (and UEFA and FIFA of course) should fully support. Poland shares a border with Ukraine. Were Ukraine to become a puppet-state of Putin's Russia there would be a direct threat to Poland. We would be saying exactly the same in Poland's position. Of course it is not the Russian people's fault, nor their footballers. But the Russia football team represents the country and Putin, whether they like it or not. Whatever the wrongs before (and there are a lot - awarding Russia and Qatar world cup for a start) sport absolutely has to stand up now in support of Ukraine. Some sports are doing the right thing - I hope football follows suit.

It is a great idea. Ukraine should be given as much time as possible, to have a chance at qualifying.

FIFA will get more and more pressure on them to throw Russia out of the World Cup. Comments a couple of days ago from Infantino suggest FIFA want to be "neutral", which is ridiculous. Hopefully other FAs follow the Polish FAs lead.

Christie should come in for Adams up front. I would be surprised if there are any changes in midfield, as it is working so well at the moment. Unless there are injuries mcginn, McGregor and Gilmour is our best midfield. The big decision will be in defence. Hanley will come in. Then it is a choice of Hendry or McTominay. It is harsh to drop either, but I would go with McTominay. He offers more going forward for me.

I think Fraser, McGregor and Armstrong are at different stages of fitness. From reports McGregor will play tomorrow and/or Sunday. My guess is McGregor will start against Israel with McTominay in defence. If not fit to start, McT can move to midfield. From what I see Fraser has been fit to be in Newcastle squad for a couple of weeks at least. He is not starting but I wouldn't expect him to start against Israel either. Armstrong is the one that surprised me. Clarke must think he will get some minutes for Southampton. The squad size seems fine to me for 2 games. Slightly surprised there is no cover at left back/left wing back but otherwise it looks ok.

It's McGinn, with McGregor and Gilmour for me. As others have said McGregor has been playing well for us, and his partnership with Gilmour works. I doubt Clarke will change the midfield unless there are injuries. McTominay in the back 3 in my opinion.

Agree with this. I think O'Donnell is better defensively and will start against Austria. My worry for Austria game is that we will sit back too much. Austria will be fired up as they need to win. Hopefully we don't have a slow start again. On the other hand if we score first there will be huge pressure on Austria. Lose against us and they are effectively out of reckoning for 2nd spot.

Denmark (a) - I have low expectations of a positive result. Denmark are a level above us at the moment. It is possible that we could get a draw (with a Wembley type performance) but more likely the Danes will win. Denmark could win all games in group. Moldova (h) - I expect a relatively straightforward win. Moldova are poor from what I have seen. Hope for good performance and some goals, but really any win will do. Austria (a) - the key game. Austria are favourites and will expect to win. They are higher in rankings, and had a better Euros than us. But their team is not significantly better than ours. If we set up correctly, play well in counter attack we could get a draw or win. A draw is a decent result and keeps us in contention for 2nd. Losing to Austria would clearly be disappointing but not necessarily a disaster. We would be looking for favour from Israel and probably point(s) against Denmark at home too.

I agree. I am confident with group b we will get the result(s) we want. Belgium will beat Finland and Denmark will beat Russia. And we don't need both of these results, only one. Group c is more unpredictable. It may end up a draw but could also be a win for either Austria or Ukraine. It is difficult and risky to play for draw, especially for Austria who are currently in 3rd, so I think both will be going for win.

I would go for: Marshall O'Donnell McTominay Hanley Tierney Robertson Gilmour McGregor McGinn Dykes Adams

I agree. I'm disappointed with the result but not the performance. I'm trying to avoid the negativity. I believe we can still qualify. Most likely we will need to get 3pts against Croatia and hope results go our way. If we managed to get 4 pts (possible but will need two huge performances and a bit of luck) this will almost certainly be enough.