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True, if we make the play offs then that is mission complete. What is shocking to me is in 8 matches in we have no rythmn, I want to stick by the manager but this is not the first spell of international management for Alex - many things should be familiar for him. Our squad is not that bad at all and yes we have quite a few with less than 8 caps so the squad is young and maybe this will come good but there is only two matches next month with so much on the line. 

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3 minutes ago, hannibal smith said:

Looking ahead to the nations league play offs should we win the group and not qualify through the normal route, it appears according to Wikipedia (I know) that the draw will take place in November 2019 for the games in March 2019 and of the 4 teams in the hat the two with the best record get to play their semi final at home and there will be a toss of the coin following the semi final draw to decide which semi finalist will play at home in the final. 

 

The playoffs are in March 2020. Unless we win our last 2 games we are likely to be away in the first playoff tie should we win our group. 

Two wins would give us 9 points which should be enough for a home playoff. 

We should really be going for it in Albania. I hope McLeish doesn’t play for a draw. 

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8 minutes ago, Texas Pete said:

The playoffs are in March 2020. Unless we win our last 2 games we are likely to be away in the first playoff tie should we win our group. 

Two wins would give us 9 points which should be enough for a home playoff. 

We should really be going for it in Albania. I hope McLeish doesn’t play for a draw. 

Aye sorry I meant March 2020.

 

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3 minutes ago, Texas Pete said:

I thought you probably did but lots of folk still seem to think the playoffs are in June next year at the same time as the Nations League finals. As if that would work. 

One thing i have been trying to get my head around is how they allocate the play off places from the other groups after next years qualification process.

There will be 20 teams qualify through the normal process next year which, say for example, are all 12 teams in League A and 8 teams in League B.

As there is a play off for League A, B, C and D would the 4 League A slots filter down to League B and so on for League C?

So assuming there are no major upsets in the main qualifications the top 8 raked teams in group C are all guaranteed a play off in March 2020 at least?

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27 minutes ago, romanticscot said:

True, if we make the play offs then that is mission complete. What is shocking to me is in 8 matches in we have no rythmn, I want to stick by the manager but this is not the first spell of international management for Alex - many things should be familiar for him. Our squad is not that bad at all and yes we have quite a few with less than 8 caps so the squad is young and maybe this will come good but there is only two matches next month with so much on the line. 

For me it comes down to the Tierney/Robertson situation. McLeish needs to find a solution and he has around 4 weeks to do it. 

Cairney getting fit and Armstrong breaking into the Southampton team would also give us more options in midfield and hopefully Griffiths will get his head out of his arse. 

I actually think we have the makings of a decent team but we definitely need a settled squad and a solution to the LB headache. 

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1 hour ago, hannibal smith said:

Looking ahead to the nations league play offs should we win the group and not qualify through the normal route, it appears according to Wikipedia (I know) that the draw will take place in November 2019 for the games in March 2019 and of the 4 teams in the hat the two with the best record get to play their semi final at home and there will be a toss of the coin following the semi final draw to decide which semi finalist will play at home in the final. 

 

Think u mean November 2018

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18 minutes ago, hannibal smith said:

One thing i have been trying to get my head around is how they allocate the play off places from the other groups after next years qualification process.

There will be 20 teams qualify through the normal process next year which, say for example, are all 12 teams in League A and 8 teams in League B.

As there is a play off for League A, B, C and D would the 4 League A slots filter down to League B and so on for League C?

So assuming there are no major upsets in the main qualifications the top 8 raked teams in group C are all guaranteed a play off in March 2020 at least?

Yes, as long as all League A teams and 8 League B teams qualify through the groups next year. 

A good second place would probably get us into the playoffs but we would likely be playing a league A or B team away from home in the first playoff tie. 

We are currently ranked 5th in League C so if we win at least one more game and finish 2nd we will probably scrape a playoff. 

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On 10/15/2018 at 8:47 AM, hannibal smith said:

No I don’t, the draw for the groups is December 2018, the draw for the play offs is November 2019. 

I was just checking all this out this morning. I’m doing a Scotland trip the first half of next year and after looking at the dates we will have a double header the end of March next year. I’m holding off booking flights until that draw in December once we know what the home and away game will be. I’d like to do both games in March. 

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Just seen this, surely they can't allow this? ,meaning Israel would be fresher going into the last group match?

 

Israel have asked Uefa for special permission not to play a friendly on 17 November ahead of their Nations League decider against Scotlandthree days later because no European teams are available on that date.(Daily Express, print edition)

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38 minutes ago, stirlish said:

Just seen this, surely they can't allow this? ,meaning Israel would be fresher going into the last group match?

 

Israel have asked Uefa for special permission not to play a friendly on 17 November ahead of their Nations League decider against Scotlandthree days later because no European teams are available on that date.(Daily Express, print edition)

I don’t see a major problem with it. This type of thing happens quite often in normal qualifying in groups of 5. 

Could actually work in our favour if they don’t have a match to experiment with players/formations etc.

I doubt a friendly where they can make lots of changes would exactly knacker them anyway. 

Edited by Texas Pete
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1 hour ago, stirlish said:

Just seen this, surely they can't allow this? ,meaning Israel would be fresher going into the last group match?

 

Israel have asked Uefa for special permission not to play a friendly on 17 November ahead of their Nations League decider against Scotlandthree days later because no European teams are available on that date.(Daily Express, print edition)

This is a non issue. Even if they were forced to play a friendly they could just put out a reserve team like Portugal did. But if nobody wants to play with them there isn't much they can do about it.

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On Monday, October 15, 2018 at 2:51 PM, hannibal smith said:

One thing i have been trying to get my head around is how they allocate the play off places from the other groups after next years qualification process.

There will be 20 teams qualify through the normal process next year which, say for example, are all 12 teams in League A and 8 teams in League B.

As there is a play off for League A, B, C and D would the 4 League A slots filter down to League B and so on for League C?

So assuming there are no major upsets in the main qualifications the top 8 raked teams in group C are all guaranteed a play off in March 2020 at least?

That's how it works although I think if you win your group you can't get put in a play off against teams in a higher league.

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6 hours ago, Toepoke said:

That's how it works although I think if you win your group you can't get put in a play off against teams in a higher league.

That is correct. If you win a group in League C then you will play in the League C playoff. Assuming you need a play off that is.

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Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45946321

Aye, Faddy, potentially six games against teams ranked at the same level as us is the "back door", far better to concentrate on the 10 or 12 games where at least two, if not three, teams will be ranked above us.

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37 minutes ago, wee-toon-red said:

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45946321

Aye, Faddy, potentially six games against teams ranked at the same level as us is the "back door", far better to concentrate on the 10 or 12 games where at least two, if not three, teams will be ranked above us.

I can't see much wrong with what he has said.

We want to win the next two matches.

We want to finish in the top 2 of the main qualifying group.

If we don't, finishing top of the Nations League group gives us a second chance. 

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49 minutes ago, wee-toon-red said:

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45946321

Aye, Faddy, potentially six games against teams ranked at the same level as us is the "back door", far better to concentrate on the 10 or 12 games where at least two, if not three, teams will be ranked above us.

Leave a Scottish legend alone.. 

I'm reserving judgment till I see our group.  

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13 minutes ago, PASTA Mick said:

I can't see much wrong with what he has said.

We want to win the next two matches.

We want to finish in the top 2 of the main qualifying group.

If we don't, finishing top of the Nations League group gives us a second chance. 

It's the sentiment - he's clearly saying the Nations League isn't as important as the "normal" group. That's bollocks.

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13 hours ago, Orraloon said:

I don't think there is anything wrong with what he said. You are reading too much into it.

 

Maybe, although the odds are far better for qualifying through the Nations League so I don't think the squad should even be thinking about the big qualifiers for another few months.

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