BucksburnDandy

I'm not against 3-5-2/3-4-3 if you have the players capable of playing it. Brown had three good centre backs in Calderwood, Hendry and Boyd while Dailly and Burley were very comfortable at wing back both defensively and attacking while Lambert in the middle of midfield was the progressive player. At present we barely have two competent centre backs, we might have one player comfortable at wing back in Tierney and the midfield last night wasn't progressive in their play. That could be fixed by Armstrong and Fleck but the first two issues won't be resolved with this current crop of players. If you analyse the goals scored in November, of the five, four came from wide areas - three from crosses into the box and one from a winger cutting inside. It has been a hallmark of our attacking play since Gordon Strachan took over as manager. This shows the benefits of having two wide players on either side of our team. As I have stated before on this board a number of times, I like 3-5-2 if you have the players to play it but too many of our players are not comfortable with it due to tactical unawareness generally. We can bang on about football 20 years ago but our players back then were smarter tactically and the game was a lot less complicated than it is today. Insulting people who disagree with you as insane is not the way to create good debate so maybe best to tone that down if you want people to engage in a balanced way as I have tried to. TAMB isn't Twitter, we have a generally passionate but sensible class of poster who have varied views on how to play football. Engaging them like that is what creates the best debate.

Safe to say Clarke made an absolute rip roaring arse of it tonight. And we got a McLeish in Israel type performance. We are not capable of playing 3-5-2 or the variation of it we played tonight: 1) We barely have any competent centre backs 2) None of our players are capable of playing wing back effectively 3) It stunts our attacking players and stops their effectiveness No one needed to see tonight's game to know that, we learned it two years back. So why did our management team think that it was a sensible plan? Gordon Strachan and Malky MacKay (yes Malky, you read it right) both came up with effective answers for Robertson and Tierney - Robertson is left back and Tierney either plays right back or left centre back in a back 4. It doesn't need to be overcomplicated if you want both to play. Not that it excuses the players who once again gave the "we don't give a toss" performance that we have been served up so often since the start of 2018. Callum McGregor is hopeless for Scotland, Strachan was correct not to play him. He contributes very little positive to our play. Forrest is another who is an imposter. Both are grand for thumping Hamilton Accies but they are very limited. McGinn wasn't match fit, McTominay is not a centre back as shown quite often tonight, Jack was OK but nothing more. Andy Robertson is very limited positionally, unable to play anywhere else but left back. It has to be said his performances for Scotland since the start of 2018 have been nothing short of shite, consistently shite. Greg Taylor has been better, quite comfortably so. Fair play to Lyndon Dykes who worked hard for no return, Ryan Christie who tried a lot but didn't get much payout, Scott McKenna and Kieran Tierney who both played fine. Ultimately Clarke really does need to look at himself tonight, question why he moved away from 4-2-3-1 and also question his faith in certain players who more often than not fail to perform. Perhaps also reflect on what Strachan or MacKay did with Robertson and Tierney. Our fans are drifting away into disinterest generally and stuff like tonight cannot be tolerated.

Hopefully that's him finished with us. James McCarthy tried to pull a fast one with Ireland earlier this week. Ireland made him go over to get checked by their medical team and lo and behold who was training like a dream yesterday but the bold James McCarthy. Time the SFA grew a set of balls and started making "injured" players get checked out.

Thanks lads or lasses. Much appreciated

Listened to it yesterday, fascinating interview and superb work teasing out so much detail. Caldwell came across very well. Well worth a listen folks.

Right now we are not overly in a position to be turning down a winger given we have Fraser, Forrest and Christie then not much behind that (Johnston might come good but who knows). Not that I would be delighted by it but we need as much depth of squad as we can get.

I've just today caught up with the Sweden game from Italia 90. A big moment as a nation and a deserved victory. Having been born in 1992, it's sad to say that the last World Cup win for our country wasn't even in my lifetime. What I would say is that I noticed a massive drop off in the quality levels of the players between 86 and 90. Particularly in terms of style of play. Which I guess goes to show just how much we should have done better in 74, 78, 82 and 86. On the side of positivity, although our football wasn't great, the performance against Sweden was a proper display of hard graft and honest players. McLeish (what a pass for Aitken for the second goal) and Levein did quite well, Johnston and Fleck led the line superbly well with very poor service and Paul McStay was superb when he came on. Very sad to reflect that both Ray Wilkins and Billy Bremner left us so young. Fantastic to see a young Dougie Donnelly in Genoa. Final question, who was the host in the studio, John?

In the last decade, I'd plump for: Scotland 1-0 ROI - superb from start to finish that night Scotland 1-0 Slovakia - should have been out of sight in this game long before we scored a late winner Lithuania 0-3 Scotland - possibly the most complete performance of the decade, albeit against a mediocre team (who took a point from Glasgow) Albania 0-4 Scotland - similar to the Lithuania game Croatia 0-1 Scotland and Scotland 2-0 Croatia - total dead robbers for us but the only really "big" team that we have beaten competitively since France in 2007

I was going to post my thoughts but I wholeheartedly echo both of these posts. Fair play to you @AndyDD and @Barney Rubble

It will all depend on who is available at the time however I would myself play the following: Marshall; Palmer, Cooper, Tierney, Robertson; McTominay, McGregor; Christie, McGinn, Fraser; Griffiths. Obviously there are some assumptions there based on availability of Griffiths and our EPL contingent. It is also very harsh on Taylor (who has looked better than Robertson based on their respective performances this campaign), Jack (who seemed to gel well with McGregor) and Naismith. Forrest flatters to deceive too often for my liking.

For me, even as an Aberdeen fan, McKenna has to go and engage the Kazakh player. It's one of his flaws McKenna is being far too slow to engage players bearing down on the penalty area. Not solely to blame but he really should have engaged.

Just nearly threw up my breakfast at that in particular. Cheers @Squirrelhumper

I would go Tierney and Cooper for the playoffs. McKenna has played his way out of a start for me. Gallagher did fine but ultimately he's not the answer. Well worth his squad place mind you. Palmer has nailed down right back so Tierney would fit in well as a ball playing centre half while Cooper looked reasonable next to the bomb scare Mulgrew.

What a contrast those two halves of football were. The first was Scotland at their worst. An absolutely nothing performance from players who played like they just had to show up to beat Kazakhstan. The goal was entirely preventable if McKenna goes and engages the Kazakh player at the edge of the box. Same goal we lost to Israel at home last year. Second half was superb. Jack, McGregor and McGinn came alive with ample support from Palmer and Taylor who were so bright. Taylor is desperately unlucky that we are strong at left back as he has shown plenty in the last two games to stake a claim to start there. Palmer has nailed right back for me. Some well worked passing and direct running which was Scotland at its best. I had my criticism for John McGinn before September but he has become a different player since playing behind the striker. So effective in arriving late. Ultimately more positives than negatives from tonight but the centre of defence is clearly still an issue moving into March.

Ultimately have to be pleased with the win but it was an unspectacular performance. Palmer and Taylor both played relatively well all things considered. Where I felt we were shaky was at centre half. Neither covered themselves in glory and both looked uncomfortable with each other. To me, they are too similar in terms of attributes. Gallagher isn't an international quality player. McKenna might be but he sorely needs to leave Aberdeen and push on to a bigger club, playing alongside a more experienced partner. In midfield, McGinn is really making himself undroppable and Christie also is making himself undroppable with his contributions. Jack was more like his Aberdeen self than his Rangers self - did quietly ugly work but didn't protect the centre halves anywhere near well enough. McGregor was pretty anonymous again, playing too many games has taken its toll. Positively we dug deep after a setback and that is a positive given where we have been several times in adversity in this campaign. A win against Kazakhstan and things will be more positive heading into the vital, vital March game(s)

I think we are being very harsh on Palmer here. He's not exactly Cafu but right now, he's a passable right back and may well allow Tierney to play centre half given our utter dearth of talent in the centre of defence. Palmer does not offer too much going forward as noted previously but does a reasonable enough defensive job. Right now, he is probably our best option and playing regularly at a comfortably higher level than SOD. Willing to let Palmer start at RB in March.

It is horses for courses for me in terms of system based on what we have available and our opponents. When we have our strongest players all available to us, we play better as a four at the back, allowing for more width further up the park. See Albania away last year and Israel at home as well as Cyprus at home for the positive contributions wide players have made. However, in games against better opposition or where we lose the likes of Fraser, Tierney and Robertson, we should theoretically be more solid playing a 3/5 at the back. We struggled in Israel but I would argue with hindsight that this was down to lax tactical preparation by McLeish and having the wrong team out on the park (Kevin McDonald being the prime example). As such, I'm abstaining from the poll, but with the proviso that I am happy to play either or both dependent on circumstances and availability.

I think Clarke will play the following: Marshall; Palmer, Devlin, McKenna, Taylor; Jack, McGregor; Christie, McGinn, Forrest; Naismith. If I was to go down the road of the same formation, I would likely go: Marshall; Palmer, Devlin, McKenna, Taylor; Armstrong, Jack; Christie, McGinn, Forrest; Naismith. However, I am tempted to give 3-5-2 a shot due to our incompetent defence and real lack of natural wide players available for this double header. I would likely go: Marshall; Devlin, McKenna, Porteous; Forrest, Christie, Jack, Fleck, Taylor; Naismith, McBurnie.

Cyprus 2-1 Scotland Scotland 2-1 Kazakhstan

I would reply but a lot of my thoughts have been covered by @andyD Open to trying 3-5-2, the last chance to try it is these two games but lo and behold our top players have basically all become injured so any experimentation won't happen until we get papped in May next year by a team who is off to Euro 2020.

Naismith should probably captain the side because he is the biggest leader in the squad. You only need to watch him play at Hearts to realise that while Berra has the armband, Naismith is the real captain.

Possibly one of my least favourite Scotland players. Was clearly an Englishman who wanted to further his CV and unlike many born in England who have committed to us fully, you could tell Ritchie had little interest. Unforgivable how he walked out of Slovakia and Slovenia. Good riddance.

We definitely suffer from call offs like Wales and NI did in their wilderness years. When players are feeling knocks, they see a failing national team and think "nah fuck turning up for that". It doesn't help that more often than not, the SFA accept the sob stories from the clubs. As soon as the SFA made turning up more optional under McLeish, we have seen the call off culture creep in. Ultimately it has been endemic over this campaign and unless we get on top of it, this will continue for a long time. The only way we can do it is to call players up and assess them ourselves where dubiety exists.

So rather than be rested with an ankle knock, United played him and now he will be out injured for far longer. Pretty poor management of McTominay there. As usual, Scotland will now lose out.

Very professional performance tonight from the SWNT. Albania were absolutely abject but you can only beat the shite put in front of you. The difference having a stable team and a long term development plan bought into by everyone really is clear to see. If only the men could do that