mccaughey85

Dembele with another goal for Blackpool yesterday. That's 7 goals and 11 assists in the league this season. He's only just turned 21 as well. Probably a good chance he ends up playing for us or the ivory coast if he keeps progressing. Not exactly very keen on him after all his switching between England and Scotland but we do tend to lack attacking wingers with pace and flair so I could maybe see him being a useful addition in the future if he turns into a decent player.

It's not that incredible when you consider his main position that he's played his whole career has been attacking midfield. Saying that I think Clarke needs to consider him for central or defensive midfield sooner rather than later as it's clear he can play that role well.

Conway's two goals. Surprised there isn't more excitement regarding him. He's probably got 50/50 chance of becoming an established epl striker in the future. Something we usually lack in our squad.

His club form has always been hit or miss. End of the day he is a average championship striker who wouldn't get picked normally but has done pretty well for clarke in the chances he got. He's definitely not a guaranteed starter but he's certainly earned his place in our squad regardless of club form. I agree though that he needs to show a bit more in a Scotland shirt as recently he hasn't done much. I would give either shankland or Adams the starting position for the euro matches especially if they do well in the two upcoming friendlies.

Ooft dykes is taking a slagging on here. Surprising consider what he did against Norway away and all the other important goals and assists he's scored. He's been poor for his club but the guys been pretty good for us overall considering he's a average championship striker.

Handful of decent performances? I think I remember 1 game where he played ok. The rest he was absolutely honking. Couldn't control or pass a ball. There's a reason Clarke doesn't pick our only epl scoring striker. Normally we are crying out for epl strikers but mcburnie doesn't get picked. There's a reason for that.

Let's recall Olly burke and have two ollys up front for the euros.

Tbf Adams has a goal every 158mins which is pretty good. I think the fact he's slumming it in the championship is why ppl feel he isn't doing well plus he isnt starting every game due to his uncertain future at saints. He's still very much an important member of the team/squad. I think shankland deserves some more chances. Maybe a confidence boosting goal against either Finland or Gibraltar will set him up for the euros. I dont mind trying Ferguson or mctominay upfront if it's in a pair but on their own I don't think would work. One thing's for sure is we need to give fergie more chances.

Yeh he never missed much clear chances but he did look poor regarding his touch and ability. He honestly looked like he has never played football before when he played for us. I think it's quite telling that Clarke refuses to pick a guy who is scoring in the epl. I don't want to go overboard with how bad he was in a Scotland shirt as I have said it countless times and I actually don't mind the lad as person. I don't mind him getting another chance but he will have to perform alot better in the small chances he gets. Wether Clarke gives him that chance is another question. If theres an injury or 2 then he will probably be in line to be called up.

No hatred from me, I just feel his performances were that bad that I didnt want him getting picked but I think he deserves another chance. He's scored enough this season in the epl for a terrible team that I think he maybe deserves another shot but I wouldn't be giving him any starts. He would have to show that he can play well off the bench or in the limited gametime he gets. I think thats fair as he performed so poorly for for Scotland in the chances he got. Even the u21s games I watched he was terrible in. I think the conversation with fleck didn't help things either. Ppl didn't like his attitude there despite him always turning up.

Hardly any of our players have started this weekend. What happened to them?

Lol is 'retarded' a banned word now. It's gunna be tough to have a conversation with anyone if we start banning words like retarded.

As much as I have slagged him for his Scotland performances I do think if he scores 3 or 4 more goals this season then he deserves a call up. He maybe even warrants a call up based on current form.

Mcburnie with a goal. Let's get him back in lol.

Lol Billy Dodds and Gordon durie. That just illustrates my point about how poor our striking options were. Craig brown did a pretty good job when you consider how weak we were in some areas. We missed McAllister for sure and mccoist really should have went but his career was starting to fade pretty bad at that point.

We were a good team but still very much short of quality attacking players and very limited in other areas as well. Going to a world cup with Donnelly, booth, Jackson and Gallacher(only decent striker)as your strikers is brutal. Dunno where you got this idea that we were tipped to qualify. I remember Martin o Neill slating our team before one of our games and saying we would be lucky to do anything. I would say the majority of football fans from other countries probably thought we had a less than 50 percent chance of qualifying. Alot of the older generation of Scotland fans were cautious due to how weak our squad was compared to the 70s and 80s. I remember my grandad always slating the standard of player we had available in 90s and described our squads as average at best.

We are a country that has never been out of the group stages in 11 major tournaments that we have qualified for and you think getting out of the groups should be expected. Why? What are you basing that expectation on? We have some decent players but our squad is very weak in certain areas. I am not suggesting that qualifying is the ultimate pinnacle but it's pretty close. Expecting much more than that is delusional based on our history and squad strength. Thats not to say I don't think we can make it out the groups but it's definitely less than a 50 percent chance imo.

Where is this delusional nonsense coming from. We never qualified for a tournament for 22 years and have never been out of the group stages when we did. Qualifying is pretty much the pinnacle. Anything after that is unprecedented for us.

Lol fair enough I had it on my head that they were for some reason.

Not to mention McLeish fucked off the first time after less than a year in the job. Shamelessly used the job as stepping stone, something Clarke hasn't done. Ppl need to appreciate everything Clarke has done and the fact he's been loyal enough to stick around rather than pissing off at the first opportunity.

That's because alot of Scotland fans get carried away and become delusional like you are doing right now. Most of the experienced Scotland fans who had followed Scotland for years knew that we were not remotely guaranteed to get out of the groups. They had seen Scotland fail at major tournaments with much better squads and it was always a case of if trying to get a results against Morocco and norway. We arrogantly thought it was a poor group but Morocco were African champions and Norway were a decent side. The hope was a win and draw coupled with a bit of good luck would see us through. Having experienced euro 96 and WC 98 I know that any Scotland fan expecting us to get out the groups needs a reality check. We can do it but it's not a certainty or even a 50/50. Also I have never been upbeat about our group. I think it's deceptively tougher than what ppl think and we will need a good bit of luck to get out of it.

There's a big difference in believing in yourself and being delusional. It's not a weak mentality to be able to make a good analysis on our chances of doing well at the euros. Our history at major tournaments factored in with squad strength and current form will tell you that expecting us to get out of the groups is not likely. Regardless of FIFA rankings Ukraine are a good side and have achieved far more than us in the last 10/15 years. We will be doing well if we can have a 50/50 record against them. They are a strong side and are capable of beating us at home which is sadly what happened in the play offs. Also our squad isn't hugely better now than previous ones from the last 20 years. We still rely on guys who play English championship and often line up with 3 English championship players. Clarke has managed to get the best out of guys like dykes and porteous who play for average championship sides. It's Clarke thats the main difference and few bad results in meaningless games shouldn't change that fact.

Depends what you mean by 'expected'. The expectation level in 98 was that we had a 50/50 chance. Obviously you had some eternal optimists who always think we will make it out the groups but your level headed fans knew it was roughly 50/50. I wasn't old enough to remember the 70s and 80s but we had amazing squads back then so it was a given that fans expected to do well at tournaments. Don't know where you are getting this idea that alot of ppl will be expecting us to get out of our group this year. Our chances of making it out of the this group is probably less than 30 percent. I base that on the fact we have never been out the group stages and our recent results have been poor albeit against top level opposition. I might have put us at 40 percent (or more) before our recent run of games but we have looked poor and I think we are in a tougher group than most ppl think. Either way I just want to enjoy that we are going and Clarke has delivered what every manager since craig brown couldn't. If he fucks it up in Germany then I won't be too critical and he can leave with his head held high knowing he at least broke the curse of not qualifying for 22 long years.

You do realise we never qualified for a tournament for 22 years. Thats more than 2 decades!! Theres roughly 210 teams in the FIFA rankings and Ukraine are currently 24th. Thats 10 places above us. In recent times they have qualified for major tournaments consistently and even done reasonably well at some of them. Over the last 15 or so years Ukraine have been a level or 2 above us and you expecting us to consistently beat them at home 90 percent of the time is not realistic. They are good international side who have proven themselves to be better than us in recent years. Switzerland are not our equal. Take a look at their squad. It's clearly stronger than ours and Switzerland have been excellent at qualifying for major tournaments over the last 15 years. We will do very well to get a draw out of that match. Obviously I want a win but Switzerland like Ukraine are a good international team. Hungary would probably be our best bet of getting a win. Their squad is very average on paper and I would maybe say we have a slightly better squad than them. Saying that they must be a good side who play well as a team or else they wouldn't have qualified and they have beaten England(twice)and Germany and countless other decent sides over the last 3 or more years. I cant imagine the optimism we would have had we beaten England 4 nil and beaten Germany in the last 2 years. You would be expecting us to win the euros easily. Nothing needs to said about having to face Germany in Germany. Recent form has been relatively poor for the Germans but they have a squad full of world class players and are playing on home turf. We will be lucky to get anything from that match. Anyways I am not sure where the anger for Clarke is coming from. He has gotten our country to a major tournament and we have a reasonable chance at making it out of the groups for the first time . What more do you want?

Nobody expects Rotherham or Ipswich to win the fa cup or the epl. Everyone with half a brain knows that. The countries that have reached the latter stages of tournaments tended to have much better squads than us. Theres been one or two anomalies like Greece or Wales who maybe didn't have squads that were much stronger than ours but expecting that to definitely happen is unrealistic. My hope is we get out the groups. If any Scotland fan wants or expects more than that then you are being delusional. We have never been out of the groups of a major tournament. Why do you expect anything more based on history? It would be like expecting hearts or Hibs to win the league next season or for Brentford to win the epl. We have a manager who has achieved what no one else could in the last 20 years and ppl are complaining over a few friendly results against mostly top opposition. Clarke has earned his right to take us to Germany and he if fails spectacularly then I will thank him for at least getting us there in the first place and he can move on having at least made the Scotland job a more desirable prospect for future managers.