1 Mistake In 10 Games...

[ScotlandFanMuir]

Ok, sorry. It wasn't a mistake. We were just really shite away in Georgia and Strachan got it all wrong that night setting us up to be happy with a draw. But my point is, match for match, it's really the only game I feel we really ####ed up. A win in Georgia and we'd be sitting tonight feeling pretty decent.

You'll argue with me that the draw in Ireland was a 'mistake', but I'm not having any of that. We've got to be realistic boys, we're not world beaters. Ireland may or may not be gash but a draw felt like the right result and at the time we were happy with that. The 94th minute equaliser on Thursday was as lucky a goal you'll ever see. Hard to take not seeing the game out but the luck hasn't sat with us this campaign.

Small margins, but at the end of the day, a win in Georgia would've seen us satisfied at this point.

What I'm saying is, I'm allowing Strachan that mistake and backing him to keep going. I think we had a reasonably good campaign apart from the terror in Tblisi.

Listen, I'm not accepting failure, far from it. I just think there's been an over reaction since Thursday. I was hurting, contemplated not travelling to Faro but now the trip is over I'm fully backing our manager.

He gave it a go against the Germans. He took us to Poland where we actually had more possession. More possession FFS! Those were our hardest games - and while 1 point isn't qualification material, I can't remember not feeling too hurt in terms of my teams performance after either of those 3 games.

What I'm hoping for the next campaign now is he takes this experience into consideration and plans on how to change things so we win in Lithuania or Slovenia - or perhaps take points off England too.

In Strachan we trust.

[Haggis_trap]

^ true.
we weren't that far off, played some good football and really hoping Strachan stays.

I think most peoples frustration is that it is going to be at least 20 years since we last qualified for a tournament.

This isn't just bad luck.... We need to overhaul the entire set up of the game in Scotland.

[King Of Paisley]

Good post.

I have seen phrases like 'abject failure' being bandied about. Abject failure for me is the last WC campaign where we the first European nation to go out - Christ, San Marino were still in at that time!

Yes we failed to qualify, but the difference is that Strachan and the team gave us genuine hope and I enjoyed watching the Scotland side for the first time in a long time. Whereas all belief was completely battered out of me watching us under Levein and the slevery ####wit Burley before him. That's the difference. We did make mistakes, like not going for the win in Ireland and not starting with Anya or the Georgia balls up. A few things conspired against us as well. Could anyone have seen at the start of the campaign Ireland taking 4 points out of 6 from Germany for example? Or Poland beating Germany at home?

I'm hurting like most folk regarding last Thursday and will probably get worse when the tournament arrives next June, but if Strachan stays then I'm very hopeful we can have a good campaign.

[Highland Toffee Trafficker]

I know this might be a bit premature but I would probably even give wee Strach a 4 year contract. This is the first campaign I've enjoyed for years and I think if given a chance he'll get us where we want to be. It's those corrupt assholes at the SFA that need sorting out. Wee Gary Naismith was on the radio the other night and he said it cost him 10K to do his coaching badges. 10K !! - who's got a spare 10K to get coaching qualifications? In Germany it costs 1,000 euros, in Spain, it's just over 2,000 euros, and in Scotland and England, it's £10,000. WTF are we playing at? Every school in Scotland should have an SFA coach but because of these greedy wee assholes we don't have enough coaches. When are we going to take affirmative action against these pricks?

[Bzzzz]

We need a decent striker. S Fletcher will never be that man. We weren't that far off, if Lewandowski was Scottish we'd have taken 2nd place IMO.

[Dave78]

Wee Gary Naismith was on the radio the other night and he said it cost him 10K to do his coaching badges. 10K !! - who's got a spare 10K to get coaching qualifications? In Germany it costs 1,000 euros, in Spain, it's just over 2,000 euros, and in Scotland and England, it's £10,000. WTF are we playing at? Every school in Scotland should have an SFA coach but because of these greedy wee assholes we don't have enough coaches. When are we going to take affirmative action against these pricks?

That's scandalous, especially when you compare it to how they train coaches in Iceland.

This article is well worth a read: how-iceland-became-the-worlds-best-pound-for-pound-soccer-team

Here's the relevant bit:

"I don't think anywhere else in the world has as many qualified coaches from UEFA A and UEFA B per player," said coach Heimir. In short, the UEFA A and B licenses are required to work in professional club and youth coaching, respectively, across Europe. The licensing structure has done a great deal to standardize the level of instruction players receive, and in general, the more qualified coaches a country has the better that country is at soccer. An official at the Icelandic Football Association told VICE Sports the country had 563 UEFA B- and 165 UEFA A-licensed coaches "at the end of 2013." That doesn't sound like much, but it's more coaches per capita than either Spain or Germany.

"Here it doesn't matter how big or small the village, they have qualified coaches, equally good coaches [as] clubs in the [icelandic] Premier League," said Heimir. "They have the same development no matter where they live. I think that's such a huge benefit for Icelandic football. It's kind of an ambition for every village to have a good coach, to have good facilities for training the kids. So every village is proud to have produced good football players."

[Auchinyell Sox Change]

Good post.

I have seen phrases like 'abject failure' being bandied about. Abject failure for me is the last WC campaign where we the first European nation to go out - Christ, San Marino were still in at that time!

Yes we failed to qualify, but the difference is that Strachan and the team gave us genuine hope and I enjoyed watching the Scotland side for the first time in a long time. Whereas all belief was completely battered out of me watching us under Levein and the slevery ####wit Burley before him. That's the difference. We did make mistakes, like not going for the win in Ireland and not starting with Anya or the Georgia balls up. A few things conspired against us as well. Could anyone have seen at the start of the campaign Ireland taking 4 points out of 6 from Germany for example? Or Poland beating Germany at home?

I'm hurting like most folk regarding last Thursday and will probably get worse when the tournament arrives next June, but if Strachan stays then I'm very hopeful we can have a good campaign.

totally agree with georgia away , was utter mince

but thought away to ireland we were on the rack for much of the game, and lucky to come away with a draw

- they almost scored right after us i recall

i've read folk saying his tactics were not that positive to start with, but he maybe expected a battering early on

the home game at park head, seems to be conveniently papered over too ; on another day it was a 0-0, was a great goal, but a pretty tight affair , where they hit the bar late on 1-0 going on 1-1

[Marty]

Agree entitely with original post - good point and well made.

[Bobby Russell's Lovechild]

The draw in Ireland wasn't the end of the world for me. If you win your home games and draw away, that see us qualify. As bad as the Georgia game was, dropping points at home didn't help either. Unfortunately, Hampden is not the fortress we like to think it is

[Charlie Endell]

Good post.

I have seen phrases like 'abject failure' being bandied about. Abject failure for me is the last WC campaign where we the first European nation to go out - Christ, San Marino were still in at that time!

Yes we failed to qualify, but the difference is that Strachan and the team gave us genuine hope and I enjoyed watching the Scotland side for the first time in a long time. Whereas all belief was completely battered out of me watching us under Levein and the slevery ####wit Burley before him. That's the difference. We did make mistakes, like not going for the win in Ireland and not starting with Anya or the Georgia balls up. A few things conspired against us as well. Could anyone have seen at the start of the campaign Ireland taking 4 points out of 6 from Germany for example? Or Poland beating Germany at home?

I'm hurting like most folk regarding last Thursday and will probably get worse when the tournament arrives next June, but if Strachan stays then I'm very hopeful we can have a good campaign.

You can dress it up however you like ('bad luck', 'tough draw', blah, blah, blah...) but the campaign was an abject failure (and an embarrassment) - we managed to win one game against our rivals for qualification (1-0 at home against the poorest of them). Yes, we improved upon the last WC qualifiers, but that's setting the bar lower than a Daschund's baws. Edited October 14, 2015 by Charlie Endell

[JECK]

The more I think about it, having watched the Germans at Hampden I cannot understand how Ireland managed 4 points off them. They never looked like they were struggling against us at any point even when we managed to get the goals back. Those 4 points have killed us as much that nonsense in Georgia.

[Lion Rampant]

It wasn't just one mistake though was it? It was a whole lot of mistakes that compounded to leave us where we finished.

Everyone keeps focusing on the Georgia game, that for me is not the real issue here. The issue is that we led twice against Poland going into the last 15m in Warsaw and into injury time at Hampden. We collected 2 points from those games, dropping 4 because of an inability to defend a lead.

Had we held on in both those games, we would be going to France.

Had we won in Georgia we would be in the playoffs, unseeded and playing a team that would likely beat us over 2 legs.

[Jacques Hunt]

The more I think about it, having watched the Germans at Hampden I cannot understand how Ireland managed 4 points off them. They never looked like they were struggling against us at any point even when we managed to get the goals back. Those 4 points have killed us as much that nonsense in Georgia.

Yep. A team we took four points off take four from world champs. Spewing

[Charlie Endell]

It wasn't just one mistake though was it? It was a whole lot of mistakes that compounded to leave us where we finished.

Everyone keeps focusing on the Georgia game, that for me is not the real issue here. The issue is that we led twice against Poland going into the last 15m in Warsaw and into injury time at Hampden. We collected 2 points from those games, dropping 4 because of an inability to defend a lead.

Had we held on in both those games, we would be going to France.

Had we won in Georgia we would be in the playoffs, unseeded and playing a team that would likely beat us over 2 legs.

Yip, the Georgia game is a bit of a red herring used by the Strachan apologists / happy clappers.

[Langtonian]

We had our fair share of luck,deflected winner against Georgia,deflected equaliser against Republic,deflected goal against the Germans

All ifs and buts

Dress it up all you want we were not good enough to qualify

[Charlie Endell]

^^^

[scottishedgar]

Surely we should be looking at what stopped us qualifying automatically not what we needed to do to sneak 3rd.

More than just the Georgia game. Not good enough over a number of games. I include the Georgia home game in that as well. We were far from convincing. Ok we dominated possession but the way we play we don't create enough clear cut chances

[Ormond]

Surely we should be looking at what stopped us qualifying automatically not what we needed to do to sneak 3rd.

More than just the Georgia game. Not good enough over a number of games. I include the Georgia home game in that as well. We were far from convincing. Ok we dominated possession but the way we play we don't create enough clear cut chances

Yep, correct. This going for third was bollocks too. We should have been aiming to dump both the Poles and the Irish. Scotland in my lifetime always go for one point here and one point there. I'm fed up of our "just do enough and no more" attitude. We are a nation of absolute pussies. Those that qualify time and again are the countries that have an element of ruthlessness about them. It's time we as a nation demanded it and not just happy with this just turning up for a party pish.

[runningtings]

It comes down to crappy goals conceded, like Lewandowski's second last week.

Need to work on being more solid defensively.

Georgia was very poor of course but not the main reason as it's only 1 game.

[ScotlandFanMuir]

Yep, correct. This going for third was bollocks too. We should have been aiming to dump both the Poles and the Irish. Scotland in my lifetime always go for one point here and one point there. I'm fed up of our "just do enough and no more" attitude. We are a nation of absolute pussies. Those that qualify time and again are the countries that have an element of ruthlessness about them. It's time we as a nation demanded it and not just happy with this just turning up for a party pish.

Demand what? That we're ruthless and win all of our games? Aye, lets try that and see if it makes James Forrest go by a player.

Next time we play Germany we'll just tell the boys to be ruthless and that'll settle it.

Braw. I'll book Russia.

[Ormond]

Demand what? That we're ruthless and win all of our games? Aye, lets try that and see if it makes James Forrest go by a player.

Next time we play Germany we'll just tell the boys to be ruthless and that'll settle it.

Braw. I'll book Russia.

Stop being a tube and actually think before you post. I'm not demanding wins against the best in the World. I want fans to start demanding that the SFA for a start changes the whole outlook of our game. Top to bottom. When that team runs out on the park I want them believing they can win. Not this "hey ho, we turned up. The fans will still turn up too" pish.

[ScotlandFanMuir]

You can dress it up however you like ('bad luck', 'tough draw', blah, blah, blah...) but the campaign was an abject failure (and an embarrassment) - we managed to win one game against our rivals for qualification (1-0 at home against the poorest of them). Yes, we improved upon the last WC qualifiers, but that's setting the bar lower than a Daschund's baws.

Abject failure? Embarrassment?

Disagree completely. We managed to win 1 game against our rivals for qualification, thanks - you're correct. We also didn't lose any. (apart from Germany if we're counting them as rivals)

Drawing the other 3 games isn't qualification material but it certainly isn't an abject failure or an embarrassment. Small margins, but we just weren't good enough.

[Charlie Endell]

Abject failure? Embarrassment?

Disagree completely. We managed to win 1 game against our rivals for qualification, thanks - you're correct. We also didn't lose any. (apart from Germany if we're counting them as rivals)

Drawing the other 3 games isn't qualification material but it certainly isn't an abject failure or an embarrassment. Small margins, but we just weren't good enough.

Finishing fourth in that group is embarrassing.

[Bino's]

Ok, sorry. It wasn't a mistake. We were just really shite away in Georgia and Strachan got it all wrong that night setting us up to be happy with a draw. But my point is, match for match, it's really the only game I feel we really ####ed up. A win in Georgia and we'd be sitting tonight feeling pretty decent.

You'll argue with me that the draw in Ireland was a 'mistake', but I'm not having any of that. We've got to be realistic boys, we're not world beaters. Ireland may or may not be gash but a draw felt like the right result and at the time we were happy with that. The 94th minute equaliser on Thursday was as lucky a goal you'll ever see. Hard to take not seeing the game out but the luck hasn't sat with us this campaign.

Small margins, but at the end of the day, a win in Georgia would've seen us satisfied at this point.

What I'm saying is, I'm allowing Strachan that mistake and backing him to keep going. I think we had a reasonably good campaign apart from the terror in Tblisi.

Listen, I'm not accepting failure, far from it. I just think there's been an over reaction since Thursday. I was hurting, contemplated not travelling to Faro but now the trip is over I'm fully backing our manager.

He gave it a go against the Germans. He took us to Poland where we actually had more possession. More possession FFS! Those were our hardest games - and while 1 point isn't qualification material, I can't remember not feeling too hurt in terms of my teams performance after either of those 3 games.

What I'm hoping for the next campaign now is he takes this experience into consideration and plans on how to change things so we win in Lithuania or Slovenia - or perhaps take points off England too.

In Strachan we trust.

it is ifs and buts but the campaign was littered with individual errors

Marshalls save against Germany

MacArthur’s diving into tackle against Germany

Browns multiple going and chasing the ball

Hanley and Mulgrew slashing at a clearance for Mullers goal in the first Germany game

Fletchers and Naismith’s finishing multiple times throughout the campaign, notable in Georgia away game, away Germany game and home Polish game

Marshall let Lewandowski score at his near post last Thursday and ball crept under his foot

The campaign was littered with mistakes, and almost any one of these being dealt with properly would have led to a playoff spot

I know you are never going to do everything right and there was a lot of very good play (as opposed to Irelands wild punt up the parks) but to say it was all down to one game isn’t true

[Parklife]

ScotlandFanMuir, on 14 Oct 2015 - 09:31 AM, said:

Demand what? That we're ruthless and win all of our games? Aye, lets try that and see if it makes James Forrest go by a player.

Next time we play Germany we'll just tell the boys to be ruthless and that'll settle it.

Braw. I'll book Russia.

One mistake? One poor performance? Complete pish, i'm afraid.

The first half of the qualifying campaign we done okay, although throwing away the lead in Warsaw was frustrating.

The 2nd half we have been completely abject. We were shocking in Dublin. It was a very, very winnable game and strachan got the team selection totally wrong and then seemed happy to settle for a draw.

In Georgia we were truly abysmal (yet Strachan thinks we were "4 or 5 passes away from winning....), the worst i've ever seen a Scotland team. We had no leaders, little ability and meekly accepted defeat.

Everyone seems to think we done well vs Germany - wrong. We got completely pumped! If Germany had needed multiple goals, they'd have stepped up and got them. Lets not kid ourselves.

Then on Thursday we decided to completely change our shape and were dominated in midfield. How we were level at HT i'll never know, Poor Poland finishing. We improved second half but still defended like schoolboys.

Then on Sunday Strachan had made no changes to the squad and played his first 11 against Gibraltar. Why not blood some uncapped players? Utter fecking idiocy.

It's not being pish that bugs me, it's the way were are pish and the way so many folk accept it.