BucksburnDandy

Always got to want good players to stay with us and certainly Cairney is a good player. However bizarrely he's not yet got that competitive cap. Tough to judge on so few appearances but he didn't stand out in either of the friendlies that he has played. If he stays and gets his chance, we really need to see the sort of performances that Stuart Armstrong has been producing. While England are well within their rights to go for him, this new aggressive approach that they have to approaching dual nationals not tied down is very poor. The whole Declan Rice debacle is not really fair on such a young lad who will have all sorts of pressures. He had been well looked after through the Irish age groups. Fingers crossed Cairney rejects the approach and has a fruitful future with us.

Really pleased overall after last night. The performance was good and while not getting carried away, we should be pleased with our efforts. I was very sceptical of the team that McLeish picked but fair play, he got it bang on outside Kevin McDonald. Naismith was bright and worked hard to being others into play. McGregor was very bright and while not everything came off, the things that did come off were excellent. Armstrong was excellent when he came on and just brought that extra intelligent play around the edge of the box that we needed. McGinn pressed high up the park and did the pressing work that we needed. I was unconvinced about SOD before the game but he did well. Souttar as well looked assured so both of those were pleasing. The only real worry is Kevin McDonald. I just don't think he's up to international football. Too slow, too ponderous and ultimately gets exposed against better opposition. Great start to the section. Put me in a superb mood today.

Correct. Sacking Strachan was the right thing to do as he had failed and his genetic comments were indefensible. But the SFA fucked up as normal with the age it took to get Michael O'Neill then the utter fucking sop by some on the board to give the Scotland manager's job second priority to changing the boardroom structure. That's absolutely shambolic. If McLeish doesn't win this group, he needs emptied.

Sportsound tonight mentioning around 16,000 sold for Albania on Monday. Deary me

A really tough choice moving ahead to Monday. At the moment, I'd be looking at: McGregor; SOD, Souttar, KT, Robertson; Armstrong, McGinn/McTominay; Forrest, McGregor, Fraser; Griffiths. Long run, KT would go to right back with McKenna in the centre. Strachan had the Tierney and Robertson conundrum pretty spot on.

So what did I take from tonight: The formation just doesn't work. It attracts far too much pressure onto us, and with players likely to make errors, that's bordering on suicidal as a team. Strachan got it right, 4-2-3-1 is our best shape given the need to attack quickly and transition from defence to attack quickly. A few of the senior players are past their sell by date and need to be moved on. Mulgrew is too error prone and doesn't engage his opponents at all - too slow to react. Gordon is quite error prone sadly. McDonald, meh, doesn't move the ball quickly enough. We need to move Ryan Fraser up the park. He's absolutely wasted at right wing back. In a 4-2-3-1, a left wing or right wing position would bring a huge amount out of the lad. Gordon Strachan maybe had it bang on with Tierney at right back. It's certainly not fashionable to admit it but we looked a lot less shaky with KT playing at right back. The newer players need to step up to the mark, fast. McGinn and Jack had some awful errors. We need to cut this propensity to make cheap errors from our game. The choice of opponent was utterly negligent from the Scottish FA. A non European team of a similar standard to us was a no brainer but nope, not the SFA. A really tough choice moving ahead to Monday. At the moment, I'd be looking at: McGregor; SOD, Souttar, KT, Robertson; Armstrong, McGinn/McTominay; Forrest, McGregor, Fraser; Griffiths. Long run, KT would go to right back with McKenna in the centre.

My only slight disagreement was Kevin McDonald, thought he was awful in the Costa Rica game, I'd have like to have seen Ryan Jack in the squad. Suspect if McArthur was available, he'd have been ahead of McDonald. Bar that, very happy with the squad. Glad Scott McTominay hasn't had his head turned by English advances, unlike what Declan Rice has had after playing for Ireland.

Great chance for McGinn or McTominay to make the sitting midfield role their own. Sad to see McArthur not want to be considered though.

The importance of qualifying is massive. The money from making a major tournament would make a huge difference to the funding of elite youth football in this country. 22 years of financial starvation has left us here.

Have to admit I am not a fan of Grant Hanley either. Far too slow and cumbersome for my liking. Doesn't read a game well enough to make up for it at international level.

Nothing for me yet.

That's what they are trying to do but QP standing hard on £6 million and the SFA only willing to cough up £2 million. Longer that stand off continues, the closer we get to moving to Murrayfield.

Some articles from Dominic McKay's interview in the morning papers: https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/scotland/rugby-will-always-have-first-dibs-on-murrayfield-says-sru-boss-1-4787679 http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/16590152.the-srus-pursuit-of-international-football-for-murrayfield-has-been-generations-in-the-making/ https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/sport/football/3099602/sfa-hampden-murrayfield-dominic-mckay-40m-scottish-football-scottish-rugby-chief/ Sadly, the longer this goes on, the more I think the SFA will move to Murrayfield. The SRU have clearly put together a strong case and with the problems of buying and maintaining Hampden, I can easily see the SFA just deciding to go to Murrayfield for less hassle than rebuilding and maintaining Hampden. Wouldn't be my choice but I can see why some members of the SFA board favour it. For me, we would be the poor relation to rugby and the stadium just isn't all that, a lack of indoor facilities, poor sight lines in the lower tiers and 3 stands still a long way from the pitch.

I'd play 4-2-3-1 for the Albania game: Gordon; Tierney, Souttar, Mulgrew, Robertson; Armstrong, McGinn; Forrest, McGregor, Fraser; Griffiths. Unlikely that team will be put out but I think that is the best team to go out and attack the game with pace and energy.

Yeah, I prefer to not take our chance, let's just treat it as top or bust and at least then we have the right mentality. Footballers love an excuse to underperform.

Bang on. This is absolutely vital. Win the mini league and the insurance policy is there for next year. Fail to and we can kiss goodbye to Euro 2020, as we would be in Pot 4 and it's going to take a miracle to qualify from there. Harsh as it sounds, fail to win this mini-league and McLeish should be let go. It's vital that we reach these Euros for the financial and on park good of the game in this country. It has been starved of finances and success for far too long. Time to put it right, no excuses.

Yeah the single ticket policy for members for these games is quite surprising. They're not going to be huge crowds at all so I'd have thought the SSC would have been trying to encourage big crowds

Good prices for the Nations League games, so fair credit for that. I won't bother with the friendlies as they are friendly matches that involve spending plenty on travel, food etc. Even if I stayed round Glasgow, I likely wouldn't bother paying that for a friendly.

Shinnie has been performing like that in midfield for the past couple of years. Was probably our best player last night. McKenna did his national prospects no harm, Devlin has started alright so far. Lewis Ferguson will be the one to watch. His talent at Accies was superb, continued these first two games. If he continues to improve and work hard, he'll be knocking on the door. Presently he should be knocking on the door for a 21s call up.

Yes, Swansea have contacted Aberdeen declaring their interest, and I would imagine so long as they receive fair money, Aberdeen wouldn't stand in McKenna's way. But £2 million isn't going to cut it, Hull tried around that figure four times in January and got told to bolt each time.

Hi Davy, Fraser Wallace here (someone has to be Bucksburn Dandy). Can I reduce my booking to 2 people, and go on the bus to Tirana Airport post match please? 4:30am flight on the Sunday morning to catch for us I'm afraid. Thanks, Fraser

As much as it pains me to put up a link to this particular paper, Stephen McGowan seems to be the leading journalist with this http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-5984237/Murrayfield-cost-Scottish-FA-twice-Hampden.html If the deal stays as it is then Hampden is cheaper. However the SFA have demanded QP sell up, else they will leave for Murrayfield. Some board members are for Murrayfield to avoid maintenance costs and use bigger capacity most likely for Old Firm games. For me, as it stands I don't like either stadium particularly. Murrayfield was dreadful for football with a shallow rake behind the goals in the lower tier and vast expanses of grass meaning it was hard to see the action. Hampden has similar faults behind the goals too. Both as it stands are poor options for spectators. However I look at the Welsh example. They moved to a rugby stadium and left within 10 years. Their example is one we should be very wary of. As much as having the national stadium in the capital is a normal thing, I don't feel Murrayfield is an attractive option. As previously mentioned it is poor for football fans, parking is grim and it is not going to be a big improvement to an already poor experience. Ideally we would rebuild Hampden or do what the Irish did with building the Aviva making it fit to host both sports, in a central location in the capital. What is everyone's thoughts on the above link and the best way forward?

For sure, I think these comments were more a warning shot. Lack of commitment will result in dropping out. I suspect this was a last chance for certain players like Ritchie and Fraser who call off with minimal things. You look at their attitudes compared to Robertson who offered to come out for the Mexico game.

Totally understandable. Why I would disagree would be the two big things you mention there around organisation and financial stability - Rangers will not have either of those for the foreseeable future. The club is a shambles. I was speaking to one of their full time youth coaches about two months back now, and he was pretty uncompromising in describing the shambles that the club is in overall. Gerrard will improve the on-field side of it but so long as they remain so disorganised off the park, I can't see them pulling massively away from Hibs and Aberdeen or closing on Celtic.

Alan Tate had played for Swansea for years and was previously captain there. Sorry to say it but your view of the strength of Rangers is quite outdated given that they have been inferior to Aberdeen and quite a long way off Celtic. At the moment Rangers are a similar quality level to Hibs and Aberdeen. Given the money that the bigger teams in League One can pay, it's no surprise that lads like McGeouch choose to go down there. On McInnes, he is limited but all the Bristol City fans I have spoken to have said he literally had no chance given the budget was cut by 75% months after he kept them up then by 75% again the following season. Ultimately different players suit different leagues.