BucksburnDandy

If all our options are fit and presuming Griffiths isn't up to speed: Shagger; Tierney, Bates, McKenna, Robertson; Armstrong, McGregor; Forrest, Christie, Fraser; Fletcher If Callum McGregor and Ryan Christie are out: Shagger; Tierney, Bates, McKenna, Robertson; McGinn; McTominay; Forrest, Armstrong, Fraser; Fletcher. If McGinn is injured, push Armstrong back and bring Snodgrass in behind the striker. Stick with the 4-2-3-1 and close to the team from the last two Nations League games who did well and played some excellent football. Key thing is retain the pace of the side.

At club level when you have a lot of time to train up to playing 3 at the back, it may well work for the players Scotland have. If Scotland were a club side, maybe they would have every day at training to learn the system. But the national side doesn't have endless amounts of time and the players looked far more comfortable playing 4 at the back. I was in Haifa, we were a shambles defensively that night, with SOD and Robertson both being caught numerous times too high exposing our back three to pacey Israeli wide players. Indeed it was how Souttar ended up being cautioned twice and thus being dismissed. I'm not against 3 at the back, it worked against England last campaign, but for me, the formation needs to be horses for courses. Against Albania and Israel, we were a good enough team to play four at the back and it's no coincidence that when we reverted to that, we got two better results than the games we played 3 at the back. Against inferior teams, 4 at the back works better for us. Against better teams, 3 at the back may have merit but we need to find a better right wing back than SOD to play it. Personally I also don't agree with comparisons to Craig Brown teams of near 20 years ago. He had players far superior and thus far more able to adapt than Alex McLeish has. Comparing chalk with cheese

Doing superbly well at a poor level. Needs to step up into either the Scottish Premiership or English Championship before he will be considered, I would imagine.

All the very best to Leigh Griffiths. Gave us 5 minutes of ridiculous joy at Hampden a year past June. I hope that with time, support and help, he can find himself in a happier, more healthy place.

Looks like we've traded this for England having a run at the 2030 World Cup. Very disappointing. I will never understand why we feel the need to undermine our own footballing independence in order to maintain good relations with the English FA. Fuck them. We should be looking after ourselves and no one else. Hopefully in some magical way, Scotland deny England at the World Cup and Team GB don't qualify.

Back on topic, good night for Scott McKenna scoring the winner at Ibrox. Leigh Griffiths had a penalty saved at Fir Park while Kieran Tierney, despite basically admitting suffering from burn out, was played again by Rodgers. His form has suffered this season as you can see he is knackered. By contrast, magnificent finish by Ryan Christie. Greg Stewart continuing to catch the eye for Killie

First one for me was the South Africa friendly at Pittodrie. Wouldn't have thought big Eck would be manager now! My dad was never really into Scotland so had to wait a long time to get to a first game.

Yes I was there. Came down from Aberdeen for it. Home and in bed at 1, up at 6 to take the dog out with a spring in my step after an enjoyable Hampden night.

Delighted to win last night and ultimately it is a big result in terms of trying to qualify. It seems our management team grasped what a great chance this Nations League is to qualify, which too many "football people" haven't realised at all (Willie Miller on Sportsound last night for one). Firstly the positives: 1) We look very entertaining going forward in this formation. The quality of passing and the ingenuity in tight areas to open up the Israelis at times last night was superb. Stick like this and we're going to score plenty 2) The formation. It's clearly what suits our personnel best and what we look most comfortable in. The Kieran Tierney conundrum has a simple answer now, for the good of the team, right back 3) The realisation nearly a year into his time from Alex McLeish that Stuart Armstrong makes a huge difference to us. Armstrong's direct running and smart passing really does set the tempo for how we play and what we create. We have been a dreadful side without him 4) The emergence of McKenna, Bates and Christie. All young lads, all stepping up to the plate in this double header superbly well. Couple that with Forrest and Fraser showing up more prominently, things look a little brighter 5) Winning the group, securing a playoff berth and ultimately being two games from a major championship. A few small negatives: 1) The two goals lost were absolutely dreadful. That they were nearly identical is not acceptable. Both should have been closed by the sitting midfielders. I'll cut Callum McGregor some slack given how new he is in there but we can't keep losing cheap goals like that 2) Paterson at right back is a bombscare 3) Diving in with the subs immediately after the Israeli second goal. While Shinnie was exactly what we needed at that point, Phillips was not and ultimately did little to hold the ball up at all. A minute or two to gather thoughts may not have been a bad thing. 4) The attendance, dreadful All in all though a good night for the few that turned out.

The task is perfectly plain and the reward massive. Huge game for us, biggest in a decade with a real shot at qualification. Hope the fans turn out in good spirits even if the numbers aren't there. Be fantastic to end up the best ranked team in our division also given the doom and gloom (justified) of recent times.

Superb win tonight. Really pleased with the result and performance. The nonsense about the system not mattering is absolute bollocks. We looked a lot more comfortable in 4-2-3-1 as we have for a number of years now. Restoring Stuart Armstrong to the midfield helps us move the ball more quickly and positively, as Armstrong is brave on the ball and sets a high tempo that breaks down poorer teams. Fraser and Forrest were outstanding out wide, absolutely outstanding. They exploited the spaces between wing backs and left and right centre backs all night to great effect. Christie made a solid performance once again. Fletcher did well and although Griffiths will likely always be first choice, Fletcher showed why he was started ahead of McBurnie. Only thing to change would be to restore KT at right back when he returns as Paterson looked uncomfortable there at times tonight.

Well that went well with KT pulling out. Looks like Paterson to right back and Steven Fletcher in up front.

I'd play: Shagger; KT, Bates, McKenna, Robbo; Armstrong, McGregor; Forrest, Christie, Fraser; Paterson.

Blessings in disguise in my view. Both don't look good enough for international football. Hopefully forces McLeish into a more cohesive side built around moving the ball around quickly, like Strachan nailed in 2017

That'd be my line up. I know Armstrong hasn't played much for Southampton but he's vital to the way we play and we've missed him badly in Haifa and the first half at Hampden v Albania. Get 3-5-2 and Kevin McDonald in the fucking bin McLeish.

Wish some others had that attitude. Too many far too quick to call off. Ritchie being the prime, but not the only, example

Shagger; KT, McKenna, Mulgrew, Robertson; McGregor, McGinn; Snodgrass/Forrest, Armstrong, Fraser; Griffiths/S.Fletcher (yes I know, not a massive fan either but McBurnie has looked well off the pace). 4-2-3-1, McGregor in the sitting role given how well he has done for Celtic there. Back to the more trusted formations, try to be bright and sharp on the attacking front, attack with pace. KT to right back for the good of the team. So most of this will be the opposite to what McLeish does. Sub 20,000 v Israel.

It really is a sign of how far we have slipped that as a relatively newer fan to this, I'd happily take a 3-0 pumping off Morocco or a 1-0 by Costa Rica to even experience a major tournament. Anyway, Israel was a very low moment, a pathetic performance topped off by managerial incompetence, players pulling out left, right and centre and a defeat by an absolutely terrible team. Georgia in 2015 was every bit as much a car crash on the pitch. Threw the whole campaign away that night. On both the above occasions, I had the feeling we were going to be as bad as we proved to be. It just seems to be our mentality to use the heat to not turn up on the park. The 3-0 thumping in Trnava was a truly depressing night. The home draw to Macedonia under Levein and home draw to Lithuania under Strachan were both absolutely grim nights. It's often a chore watching the team and we are losing fans by the plenty the longer this sub standard nonsense on the park continues.

Always disappointing to lose a player. McArthur like so many of his era and the era before never really threatened to get us to a major tournament. Ultimately an international career that will barely be remembered. The concerning thing is the number of players making themselves unavailable in this manager's time in charge. Pretty worrying.

Fantastic work @borojock - I wouldn't use the stat for anything other than being interested in it, but that is surprising we are currently quite low in terms of players being born elsewhere. For our squad, KT, Scott McTominay and Oli McBurnie are the non Scottish born Scots. Th likes of Chris Martin and Matt Ritchie appear to be phased out while Cairney and Phillips are injured. Even with Cairney and Phillips included, it would only be 21% of the squad, which is quite low in comparison to our Celtic cousins.

He could indeed and I would be pleased if he does. At the moment he is struggling with the different style to the international game. A sitting midfielder will likely be needed in qualification next year so we need McTominay to make a breakthrough, McDonald to adapt and improve or McArthur to come back into the fold.

I would disagree, I think McDonald looked poor and was rightly taken off both times. Agree on McTominay, needs to play more football sadly.

Fair enough. Still doesn't take away from my point that I do not think he's mobile enough on the ball or good enough tracking midfield runners to play. At the moment, with McArthur out, Brown retired and McTominay not playing, we are lacking quality in the sitting midfield role.

Given that he's now been dropped by Fulham, I'd question if be is good enough for the EPL. Regardless of this, he has not been good enough in his Scotland appearances so far. His movement of the ball is too slow which takes away from our style based on quick transitions from defence to attack. He hasn't been effective defensively at tracking central midfield runners. I'm not against a sitting midfielder. In the current system it could be highly effective. However McDonald doesn't look capable of playing the high intensity style of play that we've looked to play since the start of Gordon Strachan's time in charge.

At present I would go: Shagger; Souttar, McKenna, KT; SOD, Armstrong, McGinn, McGregor, Robertson; Fraser; Griffiths/Naismith. McDonald isn't good enough for international football. Mulgrewproving quite error prone. Formation not my favoured one but the result last time justifies it and McLeish in using it