Euro 2020/21 squad discussion/general chat.

[mccaughey85]

37 minutes ago, Texas Pete said:

The Euros and the World Cup are two completely different tournaments. 24 teams play at the Euros and only 13 European teams go to the World Cup. 

There were 8 playoff places available through the 2018 NL and only 2 this time. 

So who gets these two places. What's the point of going to league A if some team from the lower leagues gets the play off spot. 

[Third Lanark]

21 hours ago, Tartan Chris said:

Does winning the group not guarentee that or do you have to get most points of all group winners?

Think being pot 3 is enough for me for the world cup draw which I assume is all but a done deal now. With the momentum team is generating now 2nd place is very realistic if you can pull a weaker second seed e.g. not Italy or Portugal who sometimes crop up in category.

Back to the squad and of regulars of last 18 months I think Liam Palmer will miss out to give space to more attacking player. Clarke went with O'Donnell for the big one and he wasn't let down. Of course with his club appointing Pulis then Palmer's defensive stats will probably improve but I can see him missing out.

Interesting hardly anyone is putting in Paterson. I guess due to him being a late call up this time but he can cover a couple of positions as he shown in his career and you always need a utility player in the final squad.

Good point. He did make a good tackle from right back position v Serbia and he can play CF right mid or right back but I think we need a space for an impact sub who is a natural goalscorer. That means Griffiths. With a 23 man squad I see two players for each position plus an extra goalie. So 3 goalies, 4 full backs, 6 CB's, 5 mids and 4 strikers. That only leaves one wildcard place. We could leave out Palmer as Tierney or even McTom. could cover for SOD. OR - we could squeeze a promising youngster for experience. Best candidate is Gilmour who might also be cover for Jack.

[Texas Pete]

7 minutes ago, mccaughey85 said:

So who gets these two places. What's the point of going to league A if some team from the lower leagues gets the play off spot. 

You need to be a group winner to get a playoff this time and only two group winners will get a playoff. 

If any of the league A teams that win their NL group don’t get at least a playoff through the qualifiers next year (unlikely) then they will get a playoff via the Nations League. 

The Nations League is a tournament in its own right. The point in getting to League A is so you have a chance of playing the best teams, bigger prize money and maybe even winning the tournament. 

Edited November 15, 2020 by Texas Pete

[Orraloon]

56 minutes ago, Texas Pete said:

The Euros and the World Cup are two completely different tournaments. 24 teams play at the Euros and only 13 European teams go to the World Cup. 

There were 8 playoff places available through the 2018 NL and only 2 this time. 

Was it not 16? 

[Rolling hIlls]

2 minutes ago, Orraloon said:

Was it not 16? 

Aye, it all sounds simple enough.

[Orraloon]

18 minutes ago, Rolling hIlls said:

Aye, it all sounds simple enough.

It is simple enough. 

Sometimes folk make mistakes.

[Texas Pete]

1 hour ago, Orraloon said:

Was it not 16? 

Yeah of course. All group winners were entitled to a playoff if the needed one and there were 16 groups.  I’m just used to there being 8 teams in the playoffs. There will be 12 next time I think to confuse matters further. 

[Tartan Chris]

50 minutes ago, Texas Pete said:

Yeah of course. All group winners were entitled to a playoff if the needed one and there were 16 groups.  I’m just used to there being 8 teams in the playoffs. There will be 12 next time I think to confuse matters further. 

Even less than  normal go through aswell, just 3 compared to 4 if it was 8 teams. I assume it's same as what we've just had, just one off games at one of the teams' venue compared to home and away.

[Texas Pete]

3 hours ago, Tartan Chris said:

Even less than  normal go through aswell, just 3 compared to 4 if it was 8 teams. I assume it's same as what we've just had, just one off games at one of the teams' venue compared to home and away.

Yeah it will be the same format. There will be a lot more top level teams in the playoffs as well so if we thought going away to Serbia/Norway was tough when the draw was made we are likely to be in for a fright if we make the World Cup playoffs. 

[ceudmilefailte]

13 minutes ago, Texas Pete said:

Yeah it will be the same format. There will be a lot more top level teams in the playoffs as well so if we thought going away to Serbia/Norway was tough when the draw was made we are likely to be in for a fright if we make the World Cup playoffs. 

looking at the world ranking and if the qualifiers were to go with the seedings there are no countries I would say we would have no chance against. Switzerland, Poland Sweden,Wales, Ukraine, Austria, Serbia!,Turkey Russia and the Republic of Ireland are all beatable.

With only three teams going through though I assume that means you would have to get past two of them.

[Orraloon]

16 minutes ago, ceudmilefailte said:

looking at the world ranking and if the qualifiers were to go with the seedings there are no countries I would say we would have no chance against. Switzerland, Poland Sweden,Wales, Ukraine, Austria, Serbia!,Turkey Russia and the Republic of Ireland are all beatable.

With only three teams going through though I assume that means you would have to get past two of them.

Yes, semifinal and final like this time round.

[ceudmilefailte]

5 minutes ago, Orraloon said:

Yes, semifinal and final like this time round.

Thought that, do you know if it will be a two legged affair.

[Orraloon]

5 minutes ago, ceudmilefailte said:

Thought that, do you know if it will be a two legged affair.

Not sure about that bit.

[ceudmilefailte]

3 groups of four in the Algarve would be nice.

[Texas Pete]

38 minutes ago, ceudmilefailte said:

looking at the world ranking and if the qualifiers were to go with the seedings there are no countries I would say we would have no chance against. Switzerland, Poland Sweden,Wales, Ukraine, Austria, Serbia!,Turkey Russia and the Republic of Ireland are all beatable.

With only three teams going through though I assume that means you would have to get past two of them.

The teams you’ve mentioned (apart from Serbia and Ireland) are a big step up from the playoffs we’ve just come through. We would certainly have a chance against all of them, particularly at home, but the groups don’t always go the way you expect. Countries like Italy, Netherlands and Portugal could easily end up on the playoffs. Would you fancy going to any of those countries and getting a result?

Anyway, with today’s defeat it looks likely that we will need to finish second next year to reach the playoffs although I’m not giving up hope yet. 

[Texas Pete]

22 minutes ago, ceudmilefailte said:

Thought that, do you know if it will be a two legged affair.

It’s the same format as this time except there will be 12 teams instead of 16 so only 3 teams will qualify via the playoffs.

Not sure how they will decide who is at home in the first match this time though.  Probably world rankings.

 

[Tartan Chris]

2 hours ago, ceudmilefailte said:

looking at the world ranking and if the qualifiers were to go with the seedings there are no countries I would say we would have no chance against. Switzerland, Poland Sweden,Wales, Ukraine, Austria, Serbia!,Turkey Russia and the Republic of Ireland are all beatable.

With only three teams going through though I assume that means you would have to get past two of them.

Portugal have been involved in many play offs over last decade, I presume they were top seeds in a few of those groups.

For 2018 Italy were in play offs and Sweden did a superb job knocking them out. France were in play offs for 2014 world cup.

Holland might also end up in them.

With just group winners going through it does make it more likely there will be a big hitter or two in there.

[Toepoke]

1 hour ago, Texas Pete said:

It’s the same format as this time except there will be 12 teams instead of 16 so only 3 teams will qualify via the playoffs.

Not sure how they will decide who is at home in the first match this time though.  Probably world rankings.

 

According to wikipedia the home teams in the play off semis will be the best ranked 2nd place teams (comparing the performances in each group).  So if we did make the play-offs via the Nations League we'd be away in the semi.

The final hosts will be decided by a draw made before the semis like this time.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_–_UEFA_Second_Round

[Texas Pete]

2 minutes ago, Toepoke said:

According to wikipedia the home teams in the play off semis will be the best ranked 2nd place teams (comparing the performances in each group).  So if we did make the play-offs via the Nations League we'd be away in the semi.

The final hosts will be decided by a draw made before the semis like this time.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_–_UEFA_Second_Round

Cheers. 

We’ll just need to finish second in our group then. In fact let’s just win our group and qualify automatically. Should be easy enough. 😂

[Tartan Chris]

4 minutes ago, Texas Pete said:

Cheers. 

We’ll just need to finish second in our group then. In fact let’s just win our group and qualify automatically. Should be easy enough. 😂

Pretty sure I read somewhere with six month gap play offs will be shifted to june 2022.

Will be in 6 team group so presuming two games next March, Sept, Oct, Nov and then March 2022 unless they squeeze some in before euros but I very much doubt that.

[Texas Pete]

12 minutes ago, Tartan Chris said:

Pretty sure I read somewhere with six month gap play offs will be shifted to june 2022.

Will be in 6 team group so presuming two games next March, Sept, Oct, Nov and then March 2022 unless they squeeze some in before euros but I very much doubt that.

How do you know we’ll be in a group of 6?

I think they will probably need to have at least a couple of international breaks with three games instead of two to try and fit everything in although it might be easy enough with the World Cup not being in the summer. 

Edited November 15, 2020 by Texas Pete

[bossman4]

We could be in a group of 5.

March and September are triple headers again, to facilitate the re-scheduling of the June matches.

[loanhead-tartan]

It would be good if the SFA organised a tour of friendlies before the euros start next year , take it around the country . Easter road , tynecastle, pittodrie etc . Understand the World Cup qualifiers start next March so might not be much room for many tune ups 

Edited November 16, 2020 by loanhead-tartan

[Caledonian Craig]

9 hours ago, Texas Pete said:

Cheers. 

We’ll just need to finish second in our group then. In fact let’s just win our group and qualify automatically. Should be easy enough. 😂

Well, with a favourable draw, second place should not be beyond us. The way the seeding pots stand just now a group like this would see us in with a good shout:-

Denmark

Slovakia

SCOTLAND

Belarus

Andorra

San Marino

[mccaughey85]

3 minutes ago, Caledonian Craig said:

Well, with a favourable draw, second place should not be beyond us. The way the seeding pots stand just now a group like this would see us in with a good shout:-

Denmark

Slovakia

SCOTLAND

Belarus

Andorra

San Marino

No disrespect to those countries but that would be a dream group.