Tartan Chris

Didn't Mackay play Matt Phillips (remember him) as a lone striker v Holland in that one friendly he got? (thank god he didn't randomly win that as SFA would've probably given him the job full time).

Nah nowhere near as fast. He's someone who's lively around the forward area and gets on the end of knock downs and gets goals so I'd probably say he's similar in how he plays to Steven Naismith when he had that good scoring run at Everton a few years back.

He plays for the same team as Stuart Armstrong and scored a goal live on BBC one all of two days ago and his general profile is a fair bit higher than likes of Shankland given the league he plays in. Also scored v Man. City last week. Mixed feelings on this one actually. I'd have prefered for him to declare sometime in last year given Clarke's been chasing him for ages so not huge on just joining the party with the euros three months away now. From seeing him play a fair bit he's much better playing off a targetman or main striker aswell as he had good success with that at Birmingham and took a while to get going at Southampton but he's now doing o.k playing off Danny Ings. Not sure it will work if Clarke just plays him as main CF but him and Dykes together in a two would be interesting. Not sure if that would happen though if everyone is fit. Good to have him on board but let's hope he's not one of these that cry off constantly once the euros are over. Worth remembering aswell this time last year McBurnie was scoring 7-8 for mid table prem club but that hasn't translated into anything close for NT and he's in big danger of missing out on the final 23 for euros now imo.

Was annoying Levein in his wisdom decided to fall out with Fletcher between 2009-12 when he was in good form at Burnley and Wolves. Think he hit double figures in those three seasons. Came back into the fold finally 2 games before Levein was finally put out of his misery. Since then injuries and loss of motivation have meant his international career has fizzled out but still pretty decent in the championship, started off well for Stoke.

Happened a few times in world football, Boatengs played against each other in Germany-Ghana at 2010 world cup although Kevin Prince is half brother. Souttar is on rise now after finally breaking through at Stoke after years on the fringes so frustrating but this is at least the most solid base of CBs for a few years that Clarke has structured so he'd just be another decent option to have in the pool. Would I trade Souttar for Lyndon Dykes if he'd just declared for Australia. Nah and I doubt Scotland would have been at the euros if both players had played for the country they were born in.

Yep. Have to be solid at the start and get a few draws at least to stay in touch. Potential to be like 2018 qualifers, adrift at halfway stage before late charge is just too late to get 2nd.

Sabitzer and Alaba are very good. Arnautovic winding down in China now so won't be as sharp as previous years. Some solid players in other position but you wouldn't say they're a huge upgrade on a full strength Scotland squad whereas Denmark have better CBs for instance and Eriksen. Can remember Austria being in the Wales and ROI group for last world cup and they were a fair bit off top 2, Wales took 4 points off them. Austria only drew at home to Georgia and won 1-0 in Moldova so they won't be confident of getting 6 points off Israel either.

I agree with the first part. However the last near miss in regular qualifying was obviously 2006-07 and started with Faroes at home and Lithuania away. Started with 6 points while Italy only somehow drew at home to Lithuania and then lost away to France so already had a 5 point lead over Italy although of course they pulled it back. Get 5 points early on ahead of Danes or more likely Austria and that's a very strong early position to be in I think. I always remember Wales somehow wrangled getting Andorra as their first and last game in the 2016 qualfiers. So they had a 3 point banker to get off the mark (which they very nearly didn't win) and then insurance for last game if they needed that but they qualified game before. Would be pretty happy to have Faroes and Moldova in first two and last two but I doubt that will be possible.

March 2022 is supposed to be the play offs but I'm surprised they're not in June 2022 (unles I've missed another obvious thing happening that month) as World cup is still pretty much 6 months away at that point so same as just finishing everything off in November before a summer world cup. South America still has to play 14 more qualifying games by March 2022 somehow so I'm not convinced all the other qualification zones can complete their groups by that month so can see it stretching into summer 2022.

20 points is usually enough for play offs I think. 12 points is a must from the lowest two teams then 4 points v Israel and same v Austria would be formula for 2nd imo. To win group need win v Denmark and 23 points could be enough if they lose in Austria and draw in Israel. Playing the long game aswell....this group offers a cracking chance of breaking into pot 2 for the next euros draw. Important at least to start qualifying consistantly for euros now and that would put team in very strong position. For World cup draws don't think being in pot 2 or 3 makes a huge different. Will still very likely get a major team from pot 1 (not this time for once) and don't think there was much difference in quality between pots 2 and 3.

Can remember watching the home game v them in a bar in Greece in 2006 (was at Celtic Park for some reason). Thought it would be usual mass struggle and 2-1 win but make it look ridiculously easy and seem to score from every attack, was 6 or 7 nil in the end IIRC. Away match was a bit more of a struggle but still professional 2-0 away win.

There's more depth to that one, Slovenia and Cyprus would be much harder to get 12 points off compared to Moldova and Faroes. Surprised Russia were pot 3 considering their form over last 2 years. Interesting looking at the other home nations. No chance for Northern Ireland in with Italy and Swiss and given the state ROI are in I can't see them doing much v Portugal and our old friends Serbia who seem more motivated to make world cups. Wales in decent group but you'd rather have Danes as the top seed than Belgium which they have. England drew arguably toughest pot 2 team so of course Uefa then gives them San Marino AND Andorra in the same group.🤣

They actually won that group didn't they so must've got better results v Sweden. Had some good players around that time with likes of Herzog and Toni Polster. Same nowadays with Alaba and Arnautovic but you'd settle for them from pot 2 certainly compared to a couple of others.

Was a 2-0 win.

Yep, were in the 1998 qualifiers with Sweden, Belarus and Estonia.

Drew 1-1 there in last days of Vogts I think in 2006 qualifiers. Realistically have to take 6 points off them to have any chance of 2nd, Faroes aswell. Hopefully will play them away in normal season, can see loads of call offs if that's a June 2021 game.

Well in terms of dream groups that must be near the top surely? Denmark arguably weakest pot 1 team and Austria near bottom of pot 2 seeds. Can't complain at that at all. Yes it's annoying/boring getting Israel so straight away that will be dangerous games due to the lack of wins v them in recent times. Hopefully they can also take points off Austria at least. Would still have Danes as favourites to win the group due to their historical record and plenty of good players but it's obviously NID like having a Spain or France in the group. And no excuses not to have a good go at finishing 2nd.

Quite a few teams can't draw each other by looks of it.....also trying to cut travel down. Prohibited clashes: For political reasons, matches between following pairs of teams are considered prohibited clashes, unable to be drawn into the same group: Kosovo / Bosnia, Kosovo / Serbia, Kosovo / Russia and Russia / Ukraine. Winter venues:A maximum of two teams whose venues are identified as having high or medium risk of severe winter conditions can be placed in each group: Belarus, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Russia, Ukraine. The two "hard winter venues" (Faroe Islands and Iceland) generally cannot host games in March or November, and therefore cannot be drawn together; the others shall play as few home matches as possible in March and November. Excessive travel:A maximum of one pair of teams identified with excessive travel distance in relation to other countries can be placed in each group: Azerbaijan: with Iceland, Gibraltar, Portugal. Iceland: with Armenia, Cyprus, Georgia, Israel. Kazakhstan: with England, France, Gibraltar, Iceland, Malta, Northern Ireland, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Spain, Wales.

Not involved again in Reims match today.

Burke still makes some silly runs, just dosen't read the game at all well still which is worry for his future development as he's not a wee laddie anymore. Think Alaves had right idea playing him out wide but he was in and out and only tended to start the away games when Alaves wouldn't have much possesion. Think his best fit would be in a 4-4-2 team but very few play that now, Burnley is one so that might've been a better fit for him.

Got to say I'm amazed at the amount of starts Oli Burke has had for them considering he hasn't done a huge amount in last two years. Still don't think upfront is best place for him, would rather see him out wide but Sheffield system dosen't really allow that.

It's on the BBC website I think. Can randomly remember the 2010 one in South Africa as McLeish f***ed off to Birmingham a few days later. Made sure he waited until he got his free holiday to South Africa first though!

He got in last season as Kante was injured for a period of time just before lockdown so think that's the main thing to look out for although Kante's been back to his best this season.

He's been on the bench a few times for Reims so not like he's totally frozen out. Just needs to get on in a game, score a goal and then should get a run of starts given they're near the bottom.

Great news that. I know Chelsea are stacked in midfield but Lampard showed last season he rates him highly and Barkley has at least gone out on loan. Should get plenty of minutes for them over xmas and I'd be shocked if he dosen't make the euros squad, will probably be in for the March games ahead of Kenny McClean who appears the most vulnerable regular midfielder currently.