2 Wins away...

[GaryWood34]

Say 5 years ago if I’d said to you we are 2 wins away from a major tournament and at a bare minimum one of them was at hampden and both teams are below average you’d have snapped my hand off. 

 

Add in that if we qualify at least 66% of our group games would be at home aaaand 3rd place probably gets you to the knock out stages..

 

This is no time for pessimism or experimenting. This is time for finding a solid 11 and playing those 11 for the next 6(?) games.

 

I believe.

[Fairbairn]

This might be the most glass half full post I've ever seen.  Well played Gary!

[Orraloon]

You're right, this is still our best chance to qualify that we have had for ages. And we have got 4 warm up games to practise in.  But if we do sneak into the finals we will get humped in every game. And one of them will be against England.

[Burj_Alba]

6 minutes ago, Orraloon said:

You're right, this is still our best chance to qualify that we have had for ages. And we have got 4 warm up games to practise in.  But if we do sneak into the finals we will get humped in every game. And one of them will be against England.

Lets cross that bridge when we get there. More concerned about drawing Serbia away in the play off final if we beat Finland / Bulgaria

[JandC]

We need to get some belief back into the team.

Clearly the RB and CBs along with the strikers are the main focus but I also think we should look at replacing Marshall in goal as he doesn’t inspire confidence throughout the team in the way McGregor did.

Who that replacement can be isn’t easy but maybe the next 4 games gives Clarke a chance to experiment.

Its going to be difficult but if we can get the core of the team playing in a cohesive and positive way then I’d be confident against any of the 4th tier nations at Hampden (less so in an away game though)

[Templeton_Peck]

I would play 3421 if all fit and willing. Clarke is a back 4 man which means finding a right back from somewhere. But i would go with-

                             Marshall

       Mckenna.     Mulgrew.     Tierney

Fraser.     Mcginn           Mctominay         Robbo

                  Forrest.         Christie

                             Griffiths

 

Subs: Snodgrass, Mclean, Paterson, Mcburnie, Taylor, Souttar, Mclaughlin, Gilmour, Jack, Burke, Armstrong, Mcgregor, Fleck

[Daz1982]

4 minutes ago, Templeton_Peck said:

I would play 3421 if all fit and willing. Clarke is a back 4 man which means finding a right back from somewhere. But i would go with-

                             Marshall

       Mckenna.     Mulgrew.     Tierney

Fraser.     Mcginn           Mctominay         Robbo

                  Forrest.         Christie

                             Griffiths

 

Subs: Snodgrass, Mclean, Paterson, Mcburnie, Taylor, Souttar, Mclaughlin, Gilmour, Jack, Burke, Armstrong, Mcgregor, Fleck

Like the look of that team.

Only thing I would change, is play a more recognised defensive type player for Fraser, maybe Jack. And drop Forrest for Fraser.

[GaryWood34]

Like to add that a playoff as we know it was 2 legs, home and then away against a team far superior to us. 

This type is far more advantageous. 

[Scotsdeutsch]

I live in Italy have done for a few years-and Liam Henderson is growing in popularity and getting Italians wondering why he isn’t in the squads. 

I also want Charlie adam and Phil bardsley back in. We need a mad captain type ASAP and Adam fits the mould-we can’t keep robbo as captain he’s uninspiring. Add in Paterson and griffiths up front,recall for Burke as cover. Also John Fleck. It’s clear that current team that played against Belgium is nowhere near the strongest 11 we could pick.

The OP is right. This is the single best chance scotland will ever have of qualifying for anything ever again with the prospect of an England’s game at the finals. 

Im confident we could beat Bulgaria. It’s Norway and Serbia that pose a huge threat. It’s two one leg ties though so literally massive cup finals. Clear hurdle one at hampden in March and then it’s a 50/50 cup final which could go to penalties.

 

 

Edited September 10, 2019 by Scotsdeutsch

[Orraloon]

3 minutes ago, Scotsdeutsch said:

I live in Italy have done for a few years-and Liam Henderson is growing in popularity and getting Italians wondering why he isn’t in the squads. 

I also want Charlie adam and Phil bardsley back in. We need a mad captain type ASAP and Adam fits the mould-we can’t keep robbo as captain he’s uninspiring. Add in Paterson and griffiths up front,recall for Burke as cover. Also John Fleck. It’s clear that current team that played against Belgium is nowhere near the strongest 11 we could pick.

The OP is right. This is the single best chance scotland will ever have of qualifying for anything ever again with the prospect of an England’s game at the finals. 

Im confident we could beat Bulgaria. It’s Norway and Serbia that pose a huge threat. It’s two one leg ties though so literally massive cup finals. Clear hurdle one at hampden in March and then it’s a 50/50 cup final which could go to penalties.

 

 

Apparently, we could get either Bulgaria or Israel in the semi final, if Finland qualify directly. I'm not sure why, but it appears that UEFA have decided to do a draw to decide who goes into which playoff. The only reason that I can think of, is that more draws equals more scope for broon envelope distribution?

 

[scottincarlisle]

10 minutes ago, Scotsdeutsch said:

 

Im confident we could beat Bulgaria. It’s Norway and Serbia that pose a huge threat.

 

 

This 

[Clyde1998]

1 hour ago, Scotsdeutsch said:

I also want Charlie adam and Phil bardsley back in. We need a mad captain type ASAP and Adam fits the mould-we can’t keep robbo as captain he’s uninspiring. Add in Paterson and griffiths up front,recall for Burke as cover. Also John Fleck. It’s clear that current team that played against Belgium is nowhere near the strongest 11 we could pick.

I'm in two minds about players like Bardsley and Adam, as I'd rather start to build a team of younger players to prepare them for the play-offs/World Cup qualifiers, but Bardsley is probably our best right-back available and Adam is probably be the best leadership type that we've got.

I think we need to get players like Liam Kelly, John Souttar, Scott McKenna, Stuart Findlay, Ross McCrorie, Callum Paterson, Oliver Burke, Glenn Middleton, Eamonn Brophy and Lewis Morgan in the next squad and give a few of them a run in the team as they'll be the players that our future team will be based around. Hopefully the younger players would give their all and would benefit from playing first team games in the long run. Ultimately now, the results aren't as important as the performances and team bonding ahead of the play-offs.

Based on their primary positions, I wouldn't mind the next squad being something like this - assuming they're all fit and available (I've probably picked a couple too many players, but still):

• GK - MacGillivray, Kelly, Bain
• RB - Bardsley
• LB - Robertson, Tierney, Taylor
• CB - Souttar, Bates, McKenna, Hendy, Findlay
• DM - McCrorie, McTominay
• AM - Christie, McGregor, McGinn
• WM - Fraser, Burke, Middleton
• ST - Griffiths, Brophy, Morgan, McBurnie, Paterson

Would clear out a lot of the older players, whilst giving our younger players a chance to show what they could do - particularly with the final three games being winnable. Of course, the exact number of players picked in each position would depend on what formation Clarke would be looking to play.

[GaryWood34]

I wouldn’t be calling new players in now.

Find a settled 11 and let them get to know each other / run through brick walls for each other.

[ProudScot]

The main issue is that we are rank rotten and below average teams pump us. For example Kazakhstan & Israel. 

[GaryWood34]

Bump.

Best chance we will ever get.

[GaryWood34]

If we ever get to a playoff again it’ll be two legs against a super power.

if we ever get to a nations league playoff in the next wee while it’ll be against far better teams.

This is our chance 

[Farcity]

On 9/10/2019 at 11:08 AM, Scotsdeutsch said:

I live in Italy have done for a few years-and Liam Henderson is growing in popularity and getting Italians wondering why he isn’t in the squads. 

I also want Charlie adam and Phil bardsley back in. We need a mad captain type ASAP and Adam fits the mould-we can’t keep robbo as captain he’s uninspiring. Add in Paterson and griffiths up front,recall for Burke as cover. Also John Fleck. It’s clear that current team that played against Belgium is nowhere near the strongest 11 we could pick.

The OP is right. This is the single best chance scotland will ever have of qualifying for anything ever again with the prospect of an England’s game at the finals. 

Im confident we could beat Bulgaria. It’s Norway and Serbia that pose a huge threat. It’s two one leg ties though so literally massive cup finals. Clear hurdle one at hampden in March and then it’s a 50/50 cup final which could go to penalties.

 

 

Im surprised that they are surprised as he has only started two of the twelve league games this season, while coming on as a sub in another games. He can't be all that great. 

[mccaughey85]

On 9/10/2019 at 9:30 AM, GaryWood34 said:

Say 5 years ago if I’d said to you we are 2 wins away from a major tournament and at a bare minimum one of them was at hampden and both teams are below average you’d have snapped my hand off. 

 

Add in that if we qualify at least 66% of our group games would be at home aaaand 3rd place probably gets you to the knock out stages..

 

This is no time for pessimism or experimenting. This is time for finding a solid 11 and playing those 11 for the next 6(?) games.

 

I believe.

Yeh it's a massive opportunity, I think alot of ppl are pessimistic due to our recent form and our shaky defence but it's still the best chance we have had in years.

[andyD]

Failing to be enthused by our "best change in years".. especially because "both teams are below average"

2018 - we needed to beat Lithuania at home to finish 2nd.
2016 - Needed to beat Georgia away to reach the play-offs.
2014 - Losing twice to Serbia, drawing with Macedonia, two losses to Wales.
2012 - Draw with Lithuania. Loss and a draw with Czech Republic.
2010 - Lost to Macedonia, 4-0 pumping by Norway.

Not sure i need to go on..

7 games in and we've yet to have something approaching a performance under Clarke.

My confidence of us achieving anything under Clarke has ebbed away and you get the feeling from press conferences that he's regretting taking the job. Wouldn't be surprised if he steps down after the playoffs.

[Scotsdeutsch]

2 hours ago, Farcity said:

Im surprised that they are surprised as he has only started two of the twelve league games this season, while coming on as a sub in another games. He can't be all that great. 

I’m surprised that you are surprised that they are surprised. Bari fans were angry when he left for Verona, I’m not talking only about this season.

Edited November 19, 2019 by Scotsdeutsch

[Texas Pete]

1 hour ago, Scotsdeutsch said:

I’m surprised that you are surprised that they are surprised. Bari fans were angry when he left for Verona, I’m not talking only about this season.

I'm surprised that you're surprised that he's surprised that they are surprised.

[Orraloon]

3 hours ago, andyD said:

 

My confidence of us achieving anything under Clarke has ebbed away and you get the feeling from press conferences that he's regretting taking the job. Wouldn't be surprised if he steps down after the playoffs.

I thought that he might even go before the playoffs. I now think that if we win tonight he might hang around until March.

[andyD]

2 minutes ago, Orraloon said:

I thought that he might even go before the playoffs. I now think that if we win tonight he might hang around until March.

Don't think he'd go before them. Even if he's not enjoying the job and he misses actually spending time on the pitch with players, he comes off as a decent enough  guy and i think he'd feel like he was leaving the country in a bad position having to bring in a new coach before those two important games.

He'll be here for the playoffs, but I don't expect us to qualify from them and at that point, I think he'll walk and let someone else have a full campaign.

[Tartan_McCole]

3 hours ago, andyD said:

Failing to be enthused by our "best change in years".. especially because "both teams are below average"

2018 - we needed to beat Lithuania at home to finish 2nd.
2016 - Needed to beat Georgia away to reach the play-offs.

 

No really the same though, is it? Can easily reference these results in hindsight. If the squad was told before these games took place that if they won they'd be guaranteed a play off/to finish second then I'd be confident that the results wouldn't end the way they did.

[Bobby Russell's Lovechild]

We need to win two games in a row within days, against two decent teams. I'm not holding much hope