A quick word? Velocity! Scotland under Gordon Strachan 2013-2016

A new era begins tonight with a sell out crowd to watch a shit friendly on a shit pitch.

I have modest ambitions. One of which is for the team to have modest ambitions - something beyond defending resolutely but still losing would be nice.

Looks like Gogs has been making noises about finding the best way to attempt play with two forwards - I think that will mean playing a "forward" in a midfield five and calling it a front two when we've got the ball.

I'm slightly concerned with all this talk of a pressing game high up the pitch when our next competitive game is against a team with Gareth Bale in it. Is there anyone who can run faster into space with a football?

Felix Baumgartner

blatant diver

gone down a bit easy there, gravity's hardly touched him.

The idea of putting Alan Hutton on Gareth Bale gives me the heebie jeebies. This will, however, obviously only last for about ten minutes before Hutton heads for an early bath after lunging hopelessly at his disappearing heels. And then we'll have a return to the fucking awful idea once seen at Celtic of putting Gary Caldwell out at right back :(

Despite some weird decision-making in his time at Celtic and my reservations about still including Kenny Miller, I'm still cautiously optimistic about his chances of galvanising an average squad into getting average-and-better results rather than falling below even the lowest of expectations.

More positive line-up than I expected tonight with Burke, Adam, Brown and Maloney all getting forward well to support Fletcher.

I forgot to mention Naismith, who's nominally the second striker, I think.

Charlie Mulgrew scores to get the new golden age of Scottish football up and running. It's mostly been rubbish.

It is a bit pish, isn't it? I had completely forgotten Chris Burke even existed, tbh. Still, I like the idea of players that go forward, even if it's a bit manky in principle right now.

this title seems discordant scotland seem to produce some of the least athletic players ever (adam, broadfoot, mcfadden etc)

how many legit fast scottish players are there? forrest, hutton.....fletcher and brown can (could) cover the ground alright i guess

We're not blessed with pace, no. Naismith can look quick over five yards. Maloney does ok with wee tiny legs. Wallace, maybe?

Lack of pace is the thing that worries me most about playing a high pressing game vs Wales. That and Gary Caldwell.

Tony Watt (not in the senior squad though)

ive always thought players like lennon and maloney should have their speed measured in hz rather than m/s

maloney on a good day would be maybe 15hz, which would cover about 4ft

Gary Caldwell is the epitome of lack of pace, it's true.

all i know about watt is the goal vs barca, is he a real talent or another kiko macheda?

Real talent, I think.

maloney on a good day would be maybe 15hz, which would cover about 4ft

Aye, like in video games where it takes 300 steps to do 100m.

Tony Watt scored for the u21s today.

Lost track of the HT changes - who did Rhodes replace?

Maloney and Burke off, I think

i don't think hutton on bale is that bad an idea, he can at least compete for speed/power down the flanks

who else have you got? bardsley is another remedial psycho but doesn't really have athleticism to make up for it

Hutton has the pace to get close enough to scythe Bale down but I worry that he likes overlapping too much which will leave Bale running at or away from a centre hoff.

That is a very good question, to which I don't have an answer. We're not exactly blessed with fullbacks in Scotland.

xpost

A win's a win and all that but... meh. Good to see us being so positive, even if we weren't very good at it.

Berra gives me the shits.

Kenny Miller needs to be retired. It's got to the point that it annoys me when he makes a decent contribution because it only prolongs his international career.

Should we relieved that our goalkeeper doesn't have a broken wrist but is instead so stupid he missed a game because he had just wrapped his hands so tightly that they went numb?

Ha, I never heard about that. Though I knew before googling that it was bound (no pun intended) to be McGregor.

So, we excited then? Scared? Ambivalent? Do we all applaud John Brown's insightful assessment of how to handle Gareth Bale ("he can't run with no legs", aye, very good ya bawbag)? Has it been snowed off yet?

Kenny Miller needs to be retired. It's got to the point that it annoys me when he makes a decent contribution because it only prolongs his international career

I missed this earlier, but I share this sentiment exactly.

I'm looking forward to it. We were better than Wales up to a point in the last game so there's every chance we can get a win. All I'm really hoping for from this campaign now is that it generates some enthusiasm for the next one.

I worry that the hype surrounding Bale will influence our team selection/strategy too much. I have grumbled many a time about Gordon Strachan taking away what Celtic were good at in order to attempt to negate the other team's strengths.

Yeah, I have "Gary Caldwell or Glenn Loovens at fullback" flashbacks every so often :( I'm happy to not qualify if we can still stop our slide down the world rankings. If we can do that (i.e. not get gubbed off everyone), I'll count that as a success.

Also, my new favourite pub of choice is doing one of those "free pint if Scotland win" promos. I may get a chance to see if they actually honour it (didn't work the last time I went in all full of optimism, stupid Craig Levein or CRAIG LEVEIN FUCK OFF FUCK OFF CRAIG LEVEIN to give him his full ILF name)

Fletcher injured.

Miller on.

Strachan out.

10 minutes gone, possession somewhere around Sco 0%- Wal 100%, give or take the odd aimless punt.

Grant Hanley holy fuck I know he's only young but in the fuck does he think he's doing? "I'm going to press high up the pitch and pass it to Bale and Bellamy every time I get it." Gary Caldwell victim instead of perp for once in the heart attack defending.

Snodgrass won't see the end of this game, if he isn't subbed he'll be sent off.

Still nothing remotely resembling possession for Scotland.

Ooh chance! For Miller :(

Feel sorry for the clubs Strachan sends this lot back to. They've had all their fitba replaced with jitters.

lol ridiculous to be winning this

I suppose that last 15 minutes was better, we strung a few (ok three) passes together and created a couple of chances before the goal. I think some of our players were forgetting that apart from all the OMG GARETH BALE shite Wales are also a struggling team.

Ha, Scotland going to be clear in third at this rate; albeit eight points behind the second-placed team. After five games.

Bale off before assassination attempt. We might actually do this. Incidentally, Hanley is 21. Rough paper round, huh?

hit woodword - beginning to believe - been here before

Snodgrass won't see the end of this game, if he isn't subbed he'll be sent off.

Onimo is prob the most consistently otm ilf head imo

― mister borges (darraghmac), Friday, 22 March 2013 21:07 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

boy oh boy

If I can see that after 20 minutes why can't the three experienced managers on the Scotland bench?

dispirited as fuck right now. stopped believing in the strachanvolution when misser came on. guy is stuck in a timewarp where miller and heid matter.

I've seen some shite Scotland performances in my time but the first 20 minutes of this is possibly the worst ever.

From the other thread but co-sign on this one - I had to make sure we were playing Wales and not Spain. Watching this mob trying to kick Wales (that's Wales mind you) off the park is about as embarrassing as Scotland has ever been. Hanley, don't know where they got this cunt from but send him back pronto, useless clogger. Why is Hutton still playing for Scotland (or anyone)? Ditto Miller. Bring back Berti.

Aye, it was totally fucking embarrassing. 45 minutes of that was against a Wales that didn't have a Gareth Bale. Wales. ffs. Strachan out.

I believe Scotland are now the only team in Europe who cannot qualify for the World Cup :(

http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/665/2014worldcupqualificati.png

Orange = games left to play, can't qualify

I thought England holding on last night had put San Marino out; but no, there could still be a three-way tie there that'd put San Marino through.

Brave new dawn. Lots of positives from that, not least that we had a nominally better XI not playing.

Griffiths is a man short with so little support. If we're going to isolate a forward so much I'd rather go with a Big or a Nippy rather than a Deek.

Shame it was treated as a dead rubber. I know we can't qualify for 2014 but every result is important to our chances of ever quantifying for anything. Are we above Burkina Faso yet?

This England match hasn't exactly captured the imagination yet. Still, gives everyone a chance to talk about getting pished and breaking goalposts.

I think we'd be better using international breaks to rack up ranking points against teams worse than ours in the hope of clawing our way up a seeding pot at some point.

My Dad broke his back trying to climb a drainpipe to break into his own house to watch a Scotland vs England game. True story.

Is it on the telly? Don't fancy trying to watch it in a pub tbh.

Yay, 's on ITV

Get the fuckin' kerry-oot in, "Rightgetintaethesebastards", hullo!!! It'll be just like the 70s.

This England match hasn't exactly captured the imagination yet.

My work is Kings Cross/ Euston area so the streets are crawling with Scottish fans in those stupid long kilts

The 0-6 last night isn't terribly auspicious. I'm not too happy at the whole idea tbh, being 'current champions' has brought some comfort these past 14 years.

Good to see the U21s doing their bit to instil a false sense of confidence and complacency in the England camp.

Saw this picture, stolen from everyone's Facebook about three years ago, on BT Sport's preview show last night:

http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/2779/pic08070.jpg

We were debating going out to the pub to watch it, but it's a school night and I basically can't be arsed.

gotta stick with the classics.

i think i'll be doing a pub viewing, see if i can get into my first propah london fight.

hoping Griffiths starts, contemplating going to the pub to watch, he was magical on Saturday

Tartan Army turn Trafalgar Square fountain into giant bubblebath:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BRoRj_MCEAA8NKm.jpg

Pub is looking more of a good idea as kick-off approaches (also have a £20 bar tab to spent from pub quiz winnings)

Griffiths is a waste if he's up front on his own imo. Would rather see him in a more withdrawn Commonsy role or with a strike partner who isn't Kenny Miller.

Aye, he might as well not have been there against Croatia. I'd try him up front with Jordan Rhodes, what's the worst that can happen?

he played alongside Doyle for most of Saturday, definitely benefited from being able to drop deeper

time to knock the English off their, um, wee ladder thing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emyu6kDnSKw

McGregor, Hutton, Hanley, Martin, Whittaker, Snodgrass, Brown, Morrison, Forrest, Maloney, Miller

fuckin

I have no words. Well, I have plenty, but you've heard them all before.

keeps me out of the pub anyway

Kenny Misser smh

are there going to be different commentaries tonight?

Who do you have in Englandshire? We've got Derek Rae and Alan Brazil on STV.

Jimmy Hill and Nick Griffin

is that chalk drawing itv are using in their branding supposed to be a joke? proper MOPA job.

palmed in, lovely jubbly

bgkitw

reminds me of how Steve Smith got out at the weekend

Within an ace of fucking it

Former England defender Danny Mills on BBC Radio 5 live
England 0-1 Scotland
"Scotland now have something to protect, to give them the belief to really throw themselves into challenges.

"If you think back to Chelsea v Barcelona, it is very hard to score against well-organised teams who sit deep.

"Scotland are no mugs, it will be difficult for England to break them down."

kenny fuckin' miller eh

Handball but get in ya bass

Fuckin

I might use my mod powers to delete all negative comments about Miller upthread :-)

he made Cahill look a right dick there

Also lolz @ Alan Brazil's use of the verb "bing" to describe Miller's shot.

(PS I have Snodgrass to score at any time. Any chance we could get a third?)

oh well

Baws.

You can see the shite running out of Whittaker every time anyone goes near him.

Yeah if we'd scored then that would've been on him, couldn't clear even when he wasn't under pressure

Ah ffs but that's actually heartwarming

Gah. Pleased for the lad though.

Now that's got to warm the cockles of your heart

Whole game turned once England realised they were taller than us.

My cockles are distinctly unwarmed, tbh. Sorry.

Trying to work out who was marking Lambert. There doesn't seem to be anyone even looking at him.

Everyone moaning about miller pre-match when despite his limitations he remains the best scottish striker smh. Anti-mls bias, he's been bossing it for the whitecaps of late.

One good goal doesn't negate years of getting picked for doing nothing but chase hopeless causes imo

I am slightly terrified that he's scored his way into staying in the team.

Oh look the England thread got bumped. Yous only post when you're winning :)

Just trying to keep the crowing over this particular England victory where all yous might see it tbh

Does 'good pro' necessarily also mean 'a bit crap'? Because Kenny Miller's a good pro, you can't deny.

winning was good while it lasted but tbh England's subs > Scotland's first XI

Townsend's just given MOTM to Welbeck. Who's it gone to on Scottish TV?

Hutton youre still pickin hutton

from hero to zero. That was an open goal no?

ikr xp

Both full backs are a fucking nightmare

and again. Rickie Lee's packed a full international career narrative into his 20 mins

Bounce or deflection right beforehand but he should stick the next one away

Exceptionally enjoyable, as England games go. And not* because we won.

*Only

Oh well. England miles better in truth but we done good there.

Didn't hear them pick a MOTM but I'd stopped listening to Alan Brazil jizzing all over Englandshire's finest a while back.

No motm named on STV. Welbeck probably right, or maybe Walcott. Miller best player for Scotland.

He was putting lids on beetroot jars 15 years ago

Well, yeah? 15 years is a long time you total ass

Yeah, it's way more interesting and impressive that 6/7 years ago he was a 25 year old League 1 player

*League 2 sorry

Grant Holt must be turning in his grave

"It's a long way from the beetroot factory"

"15 years ago Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was learning how to write an A and drawing a scribbly dog - he won't be going back to that classroom now!"

Its scotland whose faces were beetroot red tonight after it took him just TWO MINUTES to score his first goal for his country!

Scott Brown was pretty good. Our defence needs an actual left back in it.

(this is like my thoughts after every Celtic game an' all, btw)

It's Scotland whose faces are beetroot purple tonight after years of chronic alcoholism

Just 15 years ago Young Tony Blair was in the midst of making Britain Great again, well he's seen the last of that adoration from the groovy left Brian!

I'll say Alan! They think he's a cunt now, that's for sure!

Good line from Terry Butcher re Cahill getting lost at Miller's goal "had to pay 25 quid to get back into the stadium"

<3 u rickie. haven't celebrated an england goal like that for years.

did anyone watch the ireland game? i heard they played something approaching football at points

I didn't get into a fight, but, chatting to strangers on London streets, there's a first.

probably wise to not go along with them to wherever the fuck they were going to get that one more pint at 1am, though.

Oh well. England miles better in truth but we done good there.

They weren't actually. Big Gordon McQueen was right, this England mob merely average.

Why was Welbeck MOTM? Other than playing for the team that won, Townsend a knob etc?

He was coming deep and linking play and making runs and creating chances and generally doing all the things you'd expect from what Rooney is supposed to be.

this England mob merely average

They are merely average. Merely average is a lot better than Scotland. They were a bad offside call and the width of a post away from racking up a score. That was Scotland playing well last night and they could still easily have lost 6-2.

I am slightly terrified that he's scored his way into staying in the team.

Turns out it was his final appearance. Shame about the defeat but a cracking goal to finish off his international career.

Just searched this thread right now to post that!

http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/scottish_fa_news.cfm?page=2986&newsID=12385

I see you're all as excited as me about the Belgium game!

When and how can we have a golden generation? Was it the '78 squad? Beating Holland and making an arse of ourselves against Iran and Peru. Was that it?

Things I learned about Belgians this morning: they all smoke. Every hotel in the city has a crowd of Belgians smoking outside it.

I think we've had a few golden generations, none of whom ever did much of anything at international level, look at the players we had in the 60s, but who cared as long as we beat England eh?

(of course a lot of those golden players in the 60s weren't picked very often)

I was excited! I really wanted to see Belgium but couldn't make it sadly.

The 74-86 generation(s) was about as golden as one could wish for. If Denis Law was a decade later and Andy Goram a decade earlier, we'd've surely managed to play a knock-out tie at some point.

Between the 78 squad and the 74 squad. Bremner's miss against Brazil all that stopped qualification (well, that and not demolishing Zaire).

I think the '74 team was a bit more dour and functional, not all that typical of a Scottish international teams of the period

I read a nice tribute to the 92 team somewhere recently, they were good but a last gasp.

(xp) (for dour and functional read "well-organized and consistent")

ah those halcyon days of dour functionality

Difficult to imagine a less 'dour and functional' Scotland side than the depressing Roxburgh/Broon years, when we laboured under the misapprehension that not conceding goals automatically won games.

Apart from Berti, we've been consistently dour and functional since Roxburgh, not to mention cowrin' and timorous

Odd to think of Sralex as the last flourish of adventurous football.

I think Gogs is attempting to get us to play a bit more with the ball than we have done under any manager since Berti. We're still playing defensively but it looks like our first move on gaining possession isn't to lump it away again.

I remain to be convinced we have enough players with the skill and mentality to make the strategy a reality.

maybe any manager since McLeod when I think about it

Golden generation of Belgians not in danger of winning anything on this evidence. They're better than Scotland but there's not much in it.

Different story now. Scotland in danger of a doing if they keep defending like this.

Nice way to cap it off. Belgium so much fleeter of foot and thought.

That's 25 minutes of comfortable possession away from home against a team that isn't Scotland B.

Aye, been pleasantly surprised thus far.

You're tempting me to watch it now. I normally avoid Scotland games like the plague because we're so bad it hurts.

Be warned; it doesn't take much to pleasantly surprise me with Scotland these days. Going over the halfway line is a victory for me.

Cracking first time strike from Anya.

Oh wow Scotland scored

And with that, we actually score courtesy of the bloke no-one had heard of a fortnight ago.

xpost

i love this wee guy what a goal

I thought he was a bit aimless and no great shakes, huffing and puffing to little effect, but that goal was tidy.

Bit pissed off I had both to score on my accumulator, was expecting to be hoping for a wee consolation rather than actively wanting Scotland to concede. This is why I so rarely bet on my own team. Hopefully we score again and I can hope for a wee consolation for Macedonia.

^jinxy post if ever I saw one.

See?

shit, sorry :-(

(small indiscernible yay)

brb, just suggest banning myself.

Suddenly we are all over the place at the back.

This is the Scotland I remember.

Get in. Brilliant!

Imagine the defence getting worse when you replace a defender from The Best League In The World with a guy from the third tier of Scottish football (note: this is not really an endorsement of Whittaker)

yay wee Shaun. I feel less guilty now.

"Anya was born in Glasgow, Scotland and grew up in the Castlemilk area as a devout Christian and supports Rangers.[1] His father is a Nigerian research scientist, and his mother a Romanian economist. The couple met while studying at the universities in Bucharest. After finishing their studies his parents moved to Scotland in the late 1980s for his father to obtain his doctorate in metallurgy."

Interesting!

Anya was impressive last night, good crosser.

He impressed me at times by not crossing - he seems like a wide player who actually considers his options rather than just lumping balls in - an essential requirement in a team full of wee guys.

I thought he was a lot better last night than he was on Friday.

I thought I read somewhere he was born in Paisley

nah he was dressed there tho

^ getting uppity since he got published here http://www.football365.com/mailbox/8916651/-A-Great-Victory-For-Irish-Football

if ilf picked ten posts a day and sent em in we'd populate that entire mailbox tbf

if ilf had more than ten posts a day i wouldnt have to read f365 tbrr

the not-scotland dig was for onimo tbrr

much appreciated

......gtf?

you're partly Scotland tbf

Stop stealing our players and we'll call it quits

oh that's rich , youse guys are the reason we didn't get george best

but, in the interests of future alliances against the sasanaigh, i can offer you mcgeady back if you agree to write off future claims against mccarthy

as a further gesture of goodwill, swap ye keane for maloney

hold on now, you did that yourselves with the Easter rising and so on

planters, it all started with the haggis-munching planters

tbf deems mob did pass on the tatty famine to the highlands

(xp) Pretty sure Best wouldn't have been there at all but for haggis-munching planters - so we would have had him, anyway a bad outcome all round

ya it was a loss to all really

jeez, Best & Baxter together in that late-sixties team

... not to mention Law, Johnstone... pity about Greig and various RFC numpties

was more concerned about the boozing tbh, it could've gone either way

Yeah, would have taken years off both men's lives and possibly some of their teammates

ah those halcyon days of players being pished instead of pish

It's unfair to single out one player in all this shite but fuck Alan Hutton.

USA looking awful. Scotland looking tentative, like 0-0 is better than attacking and risking defeat.

One shot on target between them in an hour :(

well at least most everyone got a run in to work on fitness

Why does Lee Wallace wear L. Wallace on his shirt? Expecting to be dislodged by Ross any time soon?

enjoyed my first match at hampden as a resident of Glasgow tonight ;_;

It's unfair to single out one player in all this shite but fuck Alan Hutton.

Wee Gogs begs to differ

Gogs is not good at full backs :-/

Zzzzzzzzzzz.

xxxp what persuaded you to go to Hampden the other night?!

Why are we even wasting an international friendly to prove that Charlie Adam's still shite anyway?

lol how the fuck did we end up winning that

One in the eye for the Scott Brown criticisers (the half time pundits, and Keevins giving him gyp in the paper yesterday for having the audacity to have some Scotland caps, ffs, really, in a world where Alan fucking Hutton was our most-capped player on the park tonight, he lamps into Brown?)

What a shit game though.

Yeah really. I missed the USA game - was it similar?

God keevins is such a cunt

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/02/26/article-2568033-1BD5A01200000578-901_634x571.jpg

http://www.footballkitnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/New-Scotland-Away-Football-Kit-2014.jpg

good job we never qualify for anything where anyone will actually see us

It's the traditional colours, no? I'm all for it. Needs a traditional unicorn rampant on the badge though, the more weirdness the better.

stopped by cos i assumed this thread was about independence

That strip's not too bad. Reminds me (a little) of this one that was the best ever:

http://i.imgur.com/2gA9hvH.png

Looks less pink in that ad than the picture I've seen with Skoosh wearing it. In that it's the same colour as the salmon monstrosity.

I haven't quite decided whether I like it not yet. I'm veering towards "not" at the moment.

I kind of like it but am unlikely to fall over myself to buy one.

Scotland game only available to watch on the Daily Record website. Fuck that for a game of soldiers.

wtf, it's not on tv at all?

I've been biding my time and decided I quite like that strip btw. It feels like it wouldn't be out of place in the graphic design 1945-69 thread.

Scotland game only available to watch on the Daily Record website. Fuck that for a game of soldiers.

I have a window saying "initializing"

:(

Progress!

It now says "Error: Message: Stream not found."

I am instead amusing myself by watching the endless stream of invective being sent their way on twitter.

http://firstrows.biz/soccer/poland-scotland-frsd1782#

yay

So Scotland are actually a bit good now

They're better than they were but I think they still struggle with the notion that they're allowed to try to keep the ball. It's odd to see otherwise proficient passers of the ball struggle to do so when they're wearing a Scotland strip.

Cracking strike from Brown. I keep hoping, despite years of evidence, that there's a goalscoring midfielder in there.

Mulgrew-Berra-Hanley-Whittaker should do just fine compared to Maicon-Luiz-Gustavo-Marcelo. A gulf in quality.

How many more international caps would Kirk Broadfoot have won if he'd been Brazilian?

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jul/14/england-scotland-friendly-celtic-park

SURELY we can beat them this time?

quarter to eight, on a sunday, on sky sports bloody 5

ach

Well that was better than I expected

I missed it :(

That chance that Naismith hit the outside of the upright with...!

That chance that Naismith blootered into row Z...!

Pretty decent and massively heartened by the way we kept going for it right until the end, no pluckiness or settling for Strachan's Scotland. Though *surely* there's a better right back somewhere in Scotland than Alan Hutton.

I saw Hutton look averagely capable for Villa the other week, I think.

Lovely goal from Anya.

Horrorshow defending to allow Germany's second.

Much better in the second half from scotland though, a decent showing.

Can't help but think someone will take points off Germany.

Ireland will! Perhaps. Scotland really gave Germany a game. They were unlucky really and Howedes should have sent off too. Is there no European qualifiers thread btw?

Not pretty in parts, but a decent victory. There's probably a point to be made about the respective Celtic tenures of Strachan and O'Neill, but I can't be arsed making it.

hanley shouldve been sent off in the first half but in the interests of fairness, scotland played something approaching football and ireland didnt

Best goal.

Predictions for tomorrow anyone?

I'm just going to go ahead and say that I think Scotland will win it

Hard to call. Maloney's goal aside, we barely got a shot on target on Friday. I expect a quick start but once it settles down I think we'll end up defending deep and struggling to get out.

1-1 or 1-2

England 2-0

I reckon a draw or a sneaky 1-0 win for someone. Yes, my arse *is* full of splinters from this fence I am perched upon.

I also predict giant amounts of trouble and considerably less fuss made in parliament than the "shame game" generated.

England 4-0

somehow between all of the little forrests and gaulds and feruzes (do they still not want to play for you?) i had a sense that scotland was getting a bit more interesting but looking at that team and it's still pretty real, seemingly more champo players than ever before

Not long now: The teams line up in the tunnel, with England being led out by Wayne Rooney and Scott Brown doing the honours for Scotland. Both have their game faces on and there’s little or no interaction between the players of either side.

this couldnt be less appealing a a setup for a fitba match but if anyone wants to go one better than that useless oaf glendenning id be interested to know what that sort of formation that strange looking england team is playing

Draw written all over it.

Scott Brown catches James Milner with a late challenge.

http://i.guim.co.uk/static/w-1430/h--/q-95/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/11/18/1416340351592/34bc5b24-a9e6-4a3c-b340-b93a3e823a15-2060x1236.jpeg

I'm just going to go ahead and say that I think Scotland will win it

― paolo, Monday, 17 November 2014 19:19 (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

:(

Has Forster even had to make a save yet?

No.

Two shit blocked shots from Whittaker the sum of our "chances" so far iirc.

really well worked goal from Robinson just now. Scotland have been shit all second half tbh tho

I hate friendlies. This has taught me little other than that Johnny Russell has abysmal tattoos and I *still* don't know what James Morrison looks like.

Bloke next to me in pub when Stevie May came on "have we run out of players and are just dragging punters out the crowd now?"

Delighted that May got his first cap, though I have my obvious (blue and white tinted) reasons to wish it had been in the Nigeria game.

Lovely goal from Robertson, great game from him all round. Some rise for the boy.

Only watched the first half and last ten, was out on my back and back just in time for the Scotland goal. Too easy for the third, but well taken.

so so bad :(

I'm predicting a comfortable win for England here :(

Almost as bad, we're having to endure Kevin Gallagher's excruciating Anglo-Scottish vowel sounds.

Still hanging on in there....

Strachan out. Thread ends*.

*until we appoint someone even worse

Talk on Radio Scotland of Malky Mackay as possible interim manager for an upcoming friendly and “if he does well...”.

One bookie has stopped taking bets on Moyes.

Oh joy!

Talk on Radio Scotland of Malky Mackay as possible interim manager for an upcoming friendly and “if he does well...”.

One bookie has stopped taking bets on Moyes.

Oh joy!

― michaellambert, Thursday, October 12, 2017 12:20 PM (five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

jesus christ.

big sam for scotland imo

Big Sam would be fascinating but I'm not sure I'd be that excited about it.

I was at a charity do tonight where Roddy Forsyth was co-hosting and he advised the entire audience to lob money on Michael O'Neill at 14-1. I'd take that. Or Big Sam.

It'll be fucking Lambert or Moyes or someone. I'll fucking chuck it if they appoint Malky MacKay. Though apparently sexist and racist and homophobic bantz is no barrier to a top gig.

This makes for depressing reading:

https://www.oddschecker.com/football/football-specials/scotland/next-permanent-manager

Would Ian Cathro be a terrible idea? Derek McInnes? Tommy Wright? I get the feeling these guys are better than the clubs they manage(d). I'd genuinely die laughing if Neil Lennon got it.

Cathro: Can’t see him being trusted regardless of ability.
Wright: Hands off! Though if the NI job came up I think he’d want it.
McInnis: I think he sees his immediate future in club management, so unlikely to take the national team while still in a club job.

Malky Mackay is taking over as 'interim manager'. I can see where that might lead.

Brexit?

of course they've picked malky mckay interim - and will make him permanent if he does well.

sfa wanks.

meanwhile big sam remains the only choice for me. I've only just found out both his parents were from the scottish borders. bring him home!

quite pleased strachan's gone tbh. good run etc but he just doesn't seem like a very nice person.

I would have thought O'Neill would be impossible but so many journos have hinted at it for the last year that I think he's been touting himself. Would be thrilled with him.

Would be keen on O’Neill.

But I get that sinking feeling about the job being Mackay’s to lose.

Aye, already resigned to Mackay being the latest off the conveyor belt of mediocrity. It's almost like the SFA aren't fit for purpose or something.