Main Reason For Not Qualifying

[tartanpar]

I posted something similar on twitter last week but thought I would go into more detail here.

Our failure to beat the bottom 2 teams in our group has been the main reason why we have missed out on play offs or automatic qualification.

Euro 2016.

Results v bottom 2:

Scotland 1-0 Georgia

Scotland 6-1 Gibraltar

Georgia 1-0 Scotland

Gibraltar 0-6 Scotland

A win v Georgia would have meant we finished 3rd and we would have made the play off.

WC 2014

Scotland 1-1 Macedonia

Wales 2-1 Scotland

Scotland 1-2 Wales

Macedonia 1-2 Scotland

12 points v the bottom 2 teams would have had us finish 2nd and a play off place.

Euro 12

Lithuania 0-0 Scotland

Scotland 2-1 Lichtenstein

Scotland 1-0 Lithuania

Lichtenstein 0-1

12 points v the bottom 2 wouldn't have made any difference. We would have still been 3rd but would have been on the same points as the Czechs.

WC 2010

Macedonia 1-0 Scotland

Iceland 1-2 Scotland

Scotland 2-1 Iceland

Scotland 2-0 Macedonia

12 points would have us finish 2nd and have secured a play off.

Euro 2008

Scotland 6-0 Faroes

Scotland 2-1 Georgia

Faroes 0-2 Scotland

Georgia 2-0 Scotland

12 points would have seen Scotland qualify automatically.

WC 2006

Moldova 1-1 Scotland

Scotland 2-0 Moldova

Belarus 0-0 Scotland

Scotland 0-1 Belarus

12 points would have seen Scotland finish 2nd and qualify for the play off.

Euro 2004

Faroes 2-2 Scotland

Lithuania 1-0 Scotland

Scotland 3-1 Faroes

Scotland 1-0 Lithuania

12 points would have seen Scotland win the group ahead of Germany.

WC 2002

Latvia 0-1 Scotland

San Marino 0-2 Scotland

Scotland 4-0 San Marino

Scotland 2-1 Latvia

This was the last time we got 12 points v the bottom 2 teams but we finished 3rd.

Scotland 3-2 Estonia

Scotland 2-1 Faroes

Faroes 1-1 Scotland

Estonia 0-0 Scotland

We finished 2nd in this group but again failed to get 12 points against the bottom 2 teams in the group.

So since we last qualified for a tournament in 1998 we have only once managed to get 12 points v the bottom two teams in the group. In most of the groups it we had got maximum points v the weakest 2 teams we would have qualified for at least the play offs nearly every time.

Will we get 12 points v Malta and Lithuania? I am not sure and history would suggest it's unlikely. If we want to qualify again we really have to beat the weakest teams in the group.

[Martin63]

Yep - it's been the same old story for years. We'll get some decent results against the top sides and then lose to Georgia and co and blow all the good work :-(

[noctonjock]

Amother reason for not qualifying this time was not beating poland twice when we had the lead and should have seen them off

[aaid]

We're not good enough. End of.

[ParisInAKilt]

We're not good enough. End of.

This.

[Return of Yermaw]

We're not good enough. End of.

Based on head to heads, we are better than Ireland and on a par with Poland. So there are other issues at play - not really an "end of".......

[Robroysboy]

Amother reason for not qualifying this time was not beating poland twice when we had the lead and should have seen them off

We could have won in Warsaw but also could have lost. Draw was a fair result tbh. We should have won at hampden. I'll give you that. Really bad start, loosing an early goal. We did that against Italy at home in the 2008 campaign. Nerves ?

That made the game an uphill struggle but the players bounced back.

Tbilisi apart strachan teams do tend to be able to recover after loosing the first goal. Warsaw was anot her example and Dortmond. Where as leviens teams tended to fold once first goal was conceded.

[jock strap]

We're not good enough. End of.

Here lies the answer.

[Robroysboy]

Here lies the answer.

Lol

[the Sunnylaw Jag]

At the start of any campaign one thing is nearly always true; win all your home games and the rest takes care of itself. I'm too lazy to go through all those campaigns but I'm pretty sure that too may have seen us qualify for the majority of them although admittedly it is the bigger ask at times.

[Robroysboy]

At the start of any campaign one thing is nearly always true; win all your home games and the rest takes care of itself. I'm too lazy to go through all those campaigns but I'm pretty sure that too may have seen us qualify for the majority of them although admittedly it is the bigger ask at times.

So this campaign we beat Georgia, Ireland and Gibraltar at home. Drew against Poland and we're beaten by Germany.

If we won in tiblisi the Germany 3 points lost at home would have been cancelled out. To loose six points in that double header gave the momentum back to Ireland.

What hurts so much is that after that draw in Dublin, Scotland were in pole position to finish above Ireland. 2 points in front same number of games. We blew it in tiblisi against a team ranked 142nd in the world.

We are not good enough and don't deserve to be at the euros.

And yes it hurts.

[Bristolhibby]

There no way to cut it. Tiblisi was a disaster (cracking trip, but a disaster nevertheless).

Say what you like, a win there and we'd be in the playoffs.

Sooo lethargic. That said, I was lethargic by the time I got to the stadium. The heat really took it out of me.

J

[teecee-]

Lack of two quality centre backs the reason we did not qualify.

[the Sunnylaw Jag]

I wasn't arguing that the display in Tbilisi wasn't the main reason for our not qualifying in this campaign but on a broader scale winning home games is vital too. If you look at WC 2014; had we beat Wales, Serbia and Macedonia at home never mind Belgium we would have made the play offs ahead of Croatia also. Of course, we might still have Levein as our manager; so there's always a downside.

[1ANDYP]

Correct teece we lost a lot of really bad goals.

[Marky]

Not to be picky but it's slightly misleading to say that if we had beaten Georgia in 2007 we'd have finished second and qualified.

After we lost to Italy, France ended up with a dead rubber against Ukraine which they drew. If they had needed to win, there's every chance they might have. We'll never know.

[todd]

Also, if the top seeds in our group would do what they're supposed to and beat everyone, we would also have qualified. I mean Germany only getting one point from ROI and three from Poland, wtf. I can see the exact same when the world cup qualifiers come along. England, who usually walk their group, will decide to gift a few points to our nearest challengers whilst beating us twice just to kill us off!

[yourname]

our payers aren't good enough

[Robroysboy]

our payers aren't good enough

Yes and no. We have enough quality to field a decent 11. The only criticism I have of strachan is that he is far too loyal to his players.

The team needed freshened up in tiblisi, but in saying that those players got us into that great position.

It's a double edged sword. Very few players pull out of his squads as he is loyal to them. But they let him down in tiblisi. Massively. But where was his plan b when we went one down. There wasn't one.

That being said I am a strachan fan. Just hope he can build a bigger pool of players. So when they are off form or not being chosen for their club side they can be dropped. Snoddy being fit will help, also hope Griffiths can contribute next campaign. Broonie needs pushed aswell. He is guaranteed a game at the moment but by his own standards has been poor of late.

Edited January 3, 2016 by Robroysboy

[JECK]

surely if we are unable to beat the bottom 2 sides in the group then that's down to the players that played in those matches? If the players can't perform consistently over a course of a campaign that tells me they aren't good enough. Yes teams have blips, like Holland this year but if we're unable to qualify from fkin 9 campaigns that tells me the players we had available just couldn't cut it, wether that be a centre half who couldn't cope or a final third player who couldn't produce the killer instinct when it mattered.

[jock strap]

Lack of killer instinct from our forwards.

Ability to defend consistently from defenders.

Loss of bottle against Ireland and Georgia away.

Simple fact is we were not good enough.

[Marky]

It's kind of just as daft to say we weren't good enough as it is to dispute it.

Of course we weren't good enough. If we were we'd have qualified.

Surely, what this thread should be trying to answer is why?

I'd suggest the reasons in JS's post above are about spot on.

ETA I don't think we bottled it in Irekand. I think we were simply outplayed in the first half and then didn't capitalise on our second half dominance. We did bottle it in Georgia though.

Edited January 3, 2016 by Marky

[JECK]

It's kind of just as daft to say we weren't good enough as it is to dispute it.

Of course we weren't good enough. If we were we'd have qualified.

Surely, what this thread should be trying to answer is why?

I'd suggest the reasons in JS's post above are about spot on.

ETA I don't think we bottled it in Irekand. I think we were simply outplayed in the first half and then didn't capitalise on our second half dominance. We did bottle it in Georgia though.

Why? well that's been talked about for over 20 years. Coaching/scouting ie "yer to wee son"/society/schools ftbaw, or lack of it/old firm buying foreign players etc

To be honest it's almost become a tired debate. Not sure anyone has an answer

[Marky]

Why? well that's been talked about for over 20 years. Coaching/scouting ie "yer to wee son"/society/schools ftbaw, or lack of it/old firm buying foreign players etc

To be honest it's almost become a tired debate. Not sure anyone has an answer

Yeah I know. The point of my post was more just that it's a bit daft to contribute simply by saying "we weren't good enough". That's a bit like Rossy's "Neil Doncaster is a cock" post. :-)

[scotsgary2]

As posted here already our players PROBABLY not good enough ???

I tend to agree until we see Northern Ireland qualifying....

Why did they ?

Better players doubt it.

No it was team spirit generated by the Manager and coaching staff.