There seems to be a large portion of fans here harping on about Steve Fletcher and why Rhodes and Griffiths haven't had a chance but our goalscoring rate is not what cost us in this campaign.
Ireland reached the play-offs scoring fewer goals than us but the key is their defence has been more secure.
We led against Poland home and away but our defence couldn't shut things out. Against Germany we scored in both games and were to let points slip again down to the defence. We couldn't even shut out Georgia in Tblisi. We scored in nine of the ten games (can't remember the last campaign we scored in so many matches in a campaign.
The defence cost us with failing to clear their lines and statuesque defending. That needs addressing.