Texas Pete

Not a chance. Spain are heavy favourites to win the group with every bookie in the UK.

Aye it’s ridiculous really. Whether we like it or not England are one of the best sides in the world. We can generally compete with them and have a great record against them considering the difference in size of our countries and the number of players playing at a high level they can choose from but we need to play well against them to compete and we didn’t play well last night. I for one would rather have a bad performance against England in a friendly than go to Spain or Georgia and put in a stinker. We haven’t turned into a bad team overnight and I trust Clarke to get us in a good position to compete with Spain, Georgia and Norway over the next couple of months to get the points we need to qualify. If we do that last night’s performance will be quickly forgotten.

Fair enough. I think a lot of supporters are wary of going there because of what has happened in the past but the players and Clarke won’t be. It’s just another match in the group.

😂 It’s more the temperature in November I’m worried about. I clearly haven’t thought this through.

We’ll see what happens but I’d be happy with 4 points from our last 2. 6 would be brilliant and, in my opinion, unlikely. Whether it’s very unlikely or not is obviously debatable but Georgia is not an easy place for us to go (although I do think we will win there for a change) and Norway are a good team. Very unlikely is probably a bit harsh but just because we have won our first 5 games doesn’t mean we are suddenly one of the best teams in the world who will beat all comers. A lot will come down to whether we need anything from our final game. If it’s a dead rubber (which hopefully it will be) it will probably be a drab affair. If we need something from the game it will be very nervy.

What a charming chap.

Do you not know how to quote someone? Are you just hoping I’ll read your posts if you mention my name? Stats mean hee haw mate. We arguably have 3 of our 5 most difficult games to come over the next 2 months. We could realistically lose all 3 of them. I personally doubt that will happen but it’s very possible. I haven’t once stated that, if we qualify, we won’t be in pot 2. I have said that we will need to do very well in our last few games to achieve that and it’s going to be very difficult. By no means is it anywhere near the certainty you and your “some people” appear to believe. Hopefully we can get the points we need to win the group but I’d say that was unlikely given Spain are hitting a bit of form and they will want to give us a right going over after our win at Hampden. If we lose by 2 or more goals in Seville I suspect getting into pot 2 will be a struggle but if we do perform well in our final 2 games there’s a good chance we can be the best runner up and make it into pot 2.

Yeah I have similar thoughts. I can’t see us getting anything in Spain although anything is possible. I do think we’ll either draw or win in Georgia and then draw our last match. I’m not really basing this on anything other than a gut feeling and as someone else has said, past experience. We never, and I mean NEVER, do anything the easy way. This could be the time to do just that and I hope we do win our last 3 (or at least our last 2) but if we do win the group do I’ll take your place in the naked run round Hampden.

You don’t need to mention me in every post mate but it’s good to know I have an admirer. I couldn’t give a flying fuck what “some people” are saying. Unless they are genuine soothsayers they don’t know what’s going to happen. None of us do.

Pressure? Or, if we have already qualified, taking our foot off the gas? I am not saying there’s no chance we can win or last 2 matches, or even our last 3, but in my opinion it’s unlikely to happen. I would love to be proved wrong.

Your prediction is very unlikely to come true but whatever makes you happy. I do hope you are right but the sad fact is we will probably lose by at least 2 goals in Spain and we probably won’t win our last 2 games. Even if we do lose by one goal I doubt very much that we will finish on the same points as Spain. I fully expect them to end the campaign on 21 points. My prediction is we will finish second in the group with 17-19 points. 17 points will likely not be enough for us to be in pot 2 but 19 points would give us a great chance. If we do manage 21 points then pot 2 will almost be guaranteed. I would say it’s no better than 50/50 that we will be in pot 2 and pot 1 is really quite slim. My opinion is no more valid than yours but I do think you are being very optimistic to say the least.

I’m not upset mate. Just confused. How you can look at the current situation and assume we will be pot 2 minimum is beyond me. We will very likely lose in Spain and if this is by 2 goals or more we will very likely finish second in the group at best. If we do finish second we will probably need to take at least 4 points from our last 2 games to have a shot at pot 2. Very possible but far from guaranteed. We haven’t even qualified yet.

What You’re Proposing sounds like Fun Fun Fun but at the end of the day we’re still Living on an Island with the English.

Yes. Close the thread.

I don’t agree that they specifically raised their game because they were playing us. I doubt they have anything against us. They may have had good games against us (but in all honesty I would say that was because we were shite and no other reason) but that doesn’t mean they are going to play well in November. We have improved since 2007 and 2015 and on all available evidence Georgia have not. If we control the game and do not allow them to play well we should win. Easier said than done of course but our last 2 visits there should have zero bearing on our next game there. In our current squad only Andy Robertson played in 2015 and obviously nobody played in 2007. Nobody should have a fear of going there and if we beat them we can finally put the hoodoo to bed.

In my experience at least 50% (probably higher among football supporters) of people are total fannies and being a Scotland supporter doesn’t change this.

Why would Georgia raise their game against us? Our struggles in Tbilisi have been of our own making. We were complacent in 2007 and we were too negative in 2015. If we go there with the right attitude we should beat them. Georgia have been poor any time I have seen them this year and they were lucky to draw with Norway.

Absolutely. Let’s just get there with as many points and possible and the seedings will take care of themselves.

😂 I’m all for optimism and we could easily end up in pot 1 or 2 but some folk are assuming this is guaranteed. We haven’t even qualified yet ffs.

This is already done.

Maybe it seems like 7? 24 years is a long time without a win against that mob. Let’s hope for a win tonight and we can forget all about that.

I have no problem with GSTK being booed as the full version is offensive to Scots. As far as I am aware no other anthem on earth is offensive to us so I don’t get why some people think it’s fine to boo any old anthem. I was just wondering why Face from the A Team was hoping GSTK wasn’t going to be booed tonight when it 100% will be. He might as well hope for every single Scotland fan to turn up sober tonight.

What on earth are you talking about? You are acting like we have already taken something in Spain (or have only lost by one goal). Even if we do manage to take something in Spain we are not guaranteed to finish on equal points with them. If Spain give us a right good doing over there we could easily lose our last 2 games or maybe pick up a point or 2. Thankfully we should already have done enough to qualify even if we lose our last 3 games. Maybe save your “wows” until we actually qualify and we know what pot we are in?

It happens every time. Why would tonight be any different? There are idiots who boo every anthem and not just GSTK.

If you go to the home games and away games sections you can offer your tickets there.