mrniaboc

Yup. Sprained ankle. Hopefully he'll be back soon!

Harper completely missing from Malaga team tonight. Since he's started most of their games this season I guess he must be injured?

To be fair the credit for that should go to big Nick Capernicus. Also, a team in the best league in world football is sinking that low at the moment, so why shouldn't we at least consider it?

Lots of gossip around Bates this week. Everton, Arsenal, Leicester, Crystal Palace, and Bayern Munich all reportedly tracking him. I'm sure they are tracking hundreds of players, and we can't really read much into this, but it looks like those who said Bates might be owed a pint from me if he beats Harper into the squad.

Do we actually have that decent a pool of centre halves now? I mean Souttar will be out for the next two matches, and we've been starting Charlie Mulgrew. If McKenna or Mulgrew pick up an injury things start to look real ropey. Sounds like Cooper really isn't an option, I just find it fascinating how a player can look so good on paper but not be that good in real life. I guess I should watch the Leeds match this weekend!

Starts for Morgan and Christie for Celtic against RB Leipzig tonight. Sounds like they are both playing well so far! KT captaining.

OK, I thought it might be worth starting a new thread for this argument... what's the deal with Liam Cooper? I have not been able to watch a Leeds game yet this season, so I have not seem him play, but here are the stats: 1) Captain of the Championship-leading side 2) Centre back 3) 5/12 clean sheets so far this season 4) 3 goals so far this season 5) 27 years old 6) Currently rated as the 2nd top player in the entire Championship by whoscored.com Normally, someone that looks like this on paper would be a nailed-on call up for our squad, especially considering our lack of depth, leadership, and experience at the back. However, from what I read on here it sounds like he's actually an absolute disaster. So what are the big problems in his game that the stats are hiding?

It's not heretical, and I don't think you should be lambasted for asking the question, but I also think you shouldn't be surprised that the answer is simply that Robbo has been tested week in week out in the best league in the world, and all the way to the final of the Champions League, and has passed with flying colours. Until KT is tested like that, how could you possibly justify his inclusion over Robbo? Every single week I check the gossip coloums searching with hope for a story that suggests he's gonna leave Celtic and join a team at the top of European football. I really want it to happen, but if he doesn't then that's what he wants and that's what's important in his life. But until he changes his mind, it's got to be Robbo for me.

Yeah, I'd have to say it really depends on the players you have an how they like to play. It's meaningless to highlight an arbitrary team that are doing well with 3 at the back and say that's the solution for Scotland. Liverpool play four at the back and they are leading arguably the best league in the world. They have our captain playing at left back where he's comfortable, and is rated by various different metrics as one of the best players in the league. Someone on here said the issue is we're playing 3 at the back to try and fit our two best players into the same team by playing them both out of position, and when you put it like that it sounds so dumb. Doesn't it make sense for our players to play where they do week in week out for their clubs, in the positions that their expertise in playing has led them to the top of their game and a call-up to the national team?

And he just scored to put them 3-2 up.

Every time I see this thread come back to the top of my unread list the title pisses me of a little bit more. I'm proud to say I'm member of the Tartan Army, and most of my life my experiences have shown me they are one of the best groups of football fans in the world, with a true love for their team and respect for the game no matter whether the days are dark or light. To say they deserve bad times is out of line. It's the kind of sick thing a victim of abuse might wrongly believe. "I've done something to deserve this". No, you haven't! If there's anything the TA deserve it's for their devotion to be rewarded with a huge day in the sun for the Scotland national team.

Oh Jesus. That one decision is seared into my memory. Was behind the goal watching the Italian lad run up to our man and push him to the ground. Ref blows his whistle. The crowd cheer for what must be an obvious Scotland free kick. Ref points the other way! Excuse me? Italy free kick on the edge of the box. Goal. Fuck. Off.

This is one of the most sensible posts I've read since last Thursday night. We've been a lot better with an equal calibre of players in the recent past. We can still beat Albania and Israel if we get the team playing the right tactics. The players are good enough for that. From some of the posts you'd think our squad was made up entirely of Kirk Broadfeet.

I try to remain optimistic when possible. It's tough at the moment, but here are the two things I keep saying to myself: 1) we still have a really good chance of topping this group, which put us in a guaranteed Euro playoff. 2) that playoff will not take place for a long time, which could give us a chance to sort things out a bit.

I totally understand the sentiment of the op and the agreeing comments to follow, but I also think it's slightly unfair to blame the TA as being complicit for two reasons: 1) The TA isn't really an organised army with a single missions and well-defined orders. It would be almost impossible to get all people who want the Scotland team to win to protest and rise up against the SFA. 2) When it comes down to it we're there to support a team of Scottish lads who are gonna take the pitch and try their hardest to win a game of football for us, themselves, and their country. I can guarantee the SFA are not in their minds at that point in time, and it's hard not to give those lads our support. They need us, and we need them. That's why we do what we do!

A lot of you probably already saw this list on BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45832167 I can't believe Georgia 2007 isn't on there. Has to be my worst 90 mins as a Scotland fan. The contrast against the good feeling about the team was so drastic. The Israel match was nothing like that. Plus I even bought the god damn maroon strip. Returned it immediately.

The 5-0 game was one of my earliest memories of a Scotland game. Tomorrow could be worse if we're not careful. Thank fuck Ronaldo isn't playing! It would be embarrassing to have to explain to other teams we can't play them because all our nets are burst and someone took all the match balls home.

0-1 (Morgan). Great start!

THE REVOLUTION WILL BE TELEVISED... on Sky Sports

Harper starting up front again for Malaga right now. Go on lad, bang in a couple of goals and give us something positive to think about as we head to the pub tonight! PS: I love that Spanish league matches can start at 4pm on a Friday 'cause you know they've all fucked off from work already.

Haha definitely pub time!

I understand that point, but I for one do not moan about the lack of talent our players have because I truly believe we do have a bunch of talented players. Obviously not talented enough to take on the big teams, but easily talented enough to beat a large amount of teams and qualify for the Euros. I think we need to find the right person to get the best out of them, and I refuse to believe that football has changed so much in the last few years that suddenly there are no Scots who understand the game. There certainly seem to be a few on here...

Uh oh! The McLeish debate is eating all the threads now! I'd love to see a start for Gilmour this evening. He'll be closing in on Christian Dailly's U21 appearance record in a couple of years... if he's not in the senior squad before then.

I found this statement a little surprising. It was only 6 years ago that 7 of the 20 clubs in the English Premier League (arguably the best football league in the world) were managed by Scots (in fact possibly all Glaswegians?). So I think we're still able to produce good managers. Doesn't mean we shouldn't expand our horizons, but let's not make arbitrary statements about no-one from our country being good enough.

It's extra embarrassing to watch this nonsense in English pubs. I really wish we could stop being the butt of the British football joke and start to regain some fucking respect!