romanticscot

Thats even better, if we finish 3rd or above in our Nations League we are seeded 1st for the WC qualifiers.

I have chewing over the implications of the Nations League and might have the wrong understanding. If there are 10 UEFA qualification groups for the World Cup again, and the Nations League determines seeding for the draw, we are at worst guaranteed to be seeded 2nd (1-10 are seeded first, and then 11-20 are seeded 2nd). This would mean all those who finish 1st and 2nd and the top 2 3rd places teams are seeded in pot 1. If World Cup qualification groups were to be drawn today, we would have one of the following in our group as the top seeds. Spain, Croatia, Italy, Netherlands, Denmark, Portugal, Belgium, Hungary, Switzerland and Germany. We would avoid France, Poland, Israel, Bosnia & H, Austria, Serbia, England, Wales and Czech Republic as they would be in pot 2 with us. So much to change, but the point is we must treat the Nations League seriously as finishing a strong 3rd could mean we are seeded in Pot 1, and 2nd guarantee's that we are.

I find his situation heartbreaking and I'm not even the guy battling with the injuries. Could you imagine how he is feeling right now. On his day, he is one of the World's best in his position but to be hindered with so much setbacks. I can't see him playing beyond 30, it's so tragic.

I feel we need different options in attack when we need to change it up. I feel if we need to defend a lead, we have players in the bank to help that out but in attack we don't have a Shaun Maloney, or Ben Doak to come and present something else. The MLS season starts in March so timing might not be great for him, June is too late to bring new faces in.

So that's four friendlies pre-tournament - 2 in March and 2 in June so if any new faces are to show March is the time to do it. I would like Shankland to be given more minutes, Hardie called up and/or Tommy Conway. I also want to get over the drama that will come with Ryan Fraser so let's get that out the way, as IMO he should definitely be back in the squad. Dominic Hyam and Josh Doig also in there. I can't escape Ryan Gauld, call him up and give him a chance. If it were me in charge, the squad for the March games would be 26 players at least, anything less is a missed opportunity.

This is really disappointing for Stewart but reading what Russell Martin said, I would feel a lot of encouragement from my Manager and will look to repay that once this injury(s) are behind me.

The Germany one is very nice, it would appear those triangles on the sides for us a given along with the type of collar.

Other than the Umbro sleeves I really like the 96 one.

I love it

Nice, I shall check it out.

I would love it if Anthony Gordon decided to declare for us.

Well, compared the last EURO draw I am optimistic. Germany, playing the hosts which is exciting, they will have a ton of pressure on them and struggling. Hungary, are a great team but so that will be hard maybe the hardest in terms of what we want to get from the game and then there is Switzerland, who if their qualification is anything to go by are below us in terms of ability. We can definitely compete in this group and that's massive.

Goal just now for Jacob Brown, and well taken.

We just did a mock draw....and our group wasn't great. England, Austria, Scotland, Italy

I am likely not bringing anything new to this discussion. When we started the campaign with 2 wins and Norway starting with 1 point it was a massive swing in our favor. Tierney's breaking run on the left against Spain is one of my favorite Scotland goals ever. I have a massive grin watching that to this day. At that point it felt good to me that we had some buffer, I was prepared for a draw against Norway, who were far better than us when we played them, but we snatched the win - again the feel-good factor was at 11. We were three for three, and I might regret this later but the 3 points away to Cyprus were almost a certainty. We went into the summer on 12 points, Norway on 4 and Spain on 3 - it clearly was not an accurate reflection on Spain who played far less, but I took comfort that they looked at the league and when their fixtures came around, they would have been determined to take care of their business. I had a quiet thought that topping the group was a possibility. September, another win for us and then it was getting the napkin out thinking what the minimum points was we needed to get qualification assured, also looking at Norway who needed MAXIMUM points in their last 3 we seemed destined to make it to Germany, it would have taken multiple "Iwelumos" for us to mess up this chance. What was strange over the last three matches, rather than looking at other groups for playoff chances, my brain cycles were taken up looking at other groups thinking what the plausible outcomes were and the permutations for our pot. What made the difference? I think the addition of Gunn was massive along with finding a trusted defender in Porteous - a pleasant surprise. McTominay enjoying his football, clearly him and Clarke have a great relationship. We had a few breaks go our way, Norway dropping early points and us going on a 5-game stream of wins. Also being a pot 2 team, which may have taken us 20 years to get back to this position shows how important it is. Scotland bucket list for the next few years - make the 2nd round next Summer in Germany and.......qualify for the World Cup in my backyard in 2026.

Jed Steer is who I am thinking of, I don't know his caliber. I was confusing reality with Football Manager regarding the MLS connection .

Isn't there an American keeper with Scottish connections or a Scottish keeper playing in MLS, I've been looking but I can find who I was thinking of.

I had to look this up https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/players/?pid=30428&lid=1 His Scotland career came in waves, 14-16 and then 19-21 with the last few years being his best for us. HIs early few, in 2004 and then again in 2009 were painful.

That's the massive take away, in two games we let in 5 goals and it shows first of all our squad is not very deep and how much of a difference those 4 players make....not that we doubted that. McKenna needs a move in January. I want to be fair to Clark, I remember the days of David Marshall when we were letting in 3 or 4 goals and he matured many years later.

Isn't Lewis Morgan a winger? Ryan Fraser...I know..I know but he is a winger and Ryan Gauld can play as a left winger.

Until the shot, I forgot he was even on the park. Communication is poor at the back and we can all see what's going on at the left hand side.

We are playing against arguably the best Striker in the World with a makeshift defense and keeper. They show up wanting to play and it could be dicey, they have scored almost as many goals as we have. I call that respect not fear but you may disagree.

I agree. We should take care of Georgia and then it will be what attitude Norway turn up in. We are at home, let's not kid ourselves in that first match we were terrible and now we are without half of our best back line - no Hickey/Tierney/Robertson or Gunn. We can count our blessings that we are already qualified, could you imagine how we would be feeling otherwise?

I cannot find any update more recent than 7 days ago regarding Angus Gunn, anyone have any news on his scan?

If Mcburnie goes on a hot streak, then I would debate him being called up but not at the expense of Dykes or Adams unless they were injured. Right now, this season, McBurnie has one goal and one assist so there is no debate for me. What folks did in the past good or bad doesn't have a basis for or against them being called up. Brining up scenarios where a few years ago in the Championship Player X got 12 goals, right now player Y only got 7, and conclude X is better than Y. There are so many variables such as the team they play with and opposition they played against then there is the job we need them to do or us. At the time I was desperate for Jordan Rhodes to get a fair shake but to have got the best results from him would have meant to change almost everything behind him expect maybe the keeper.