Scotland squad

[BigAl]

4 minutes ago, RicoS321 said:

We're still playing well. Ralston tiring, so expect the game is poised for a Devlin winner off the bench.

First part called correctly Rico 

[Slim]

That Christie/Shankland substitution has sucked the life and creativity out of us.

[Jute]

Andy fucking Robertson you beautiful man.

[RicoS321]

22 minutes ago, BigAl said:

First part called correctly Rico 

You could sense the fear in the opposition as soon as Devlin took to the park. They'll credit Robertson with the goal, but it was Nicky that made the difference.

Great victory like. We probably didn't deserve second place, but we didn't deserve to get relegated either, so well done. A really exciting game tonight with some excellent stuff on display. Doak going off nearly killed it, especially as he was replaced by Christie cutting inside. It totally changed the dynamic. Some ball from souttar for the goal too, and a peach of a header from Robertson, whose decision making had been poor all night. Gordon was solid, Souttar good, McLean and Gilmour were excellent and Doak and McGinn did well but both faded towards the end (with Doak subbed obviously). Ralston was okay again. 

[Jute]

We had chances to win that more comfortably but almost blew it by taking too long to make the subs. Ralston and McTominay were left on for longer than they should have. 3rd is probably about where we would have expected to finish. On to play off against 2nd placed team from B groups. Draw on Friday. 
 

ETA Craig Gordon is still an amazing keeper at 41 but we need to hope someone else comes through soon as he cannot go on forever. 

[tom_widdows]

So consensus from radio scotland is to hope Georgia get a win or draw tomorrow night in Prague (or wherever the Czechs choose to play.)

That would put Clarke and Co into pot 2 of the world cup draw

 

[dons8321]

12 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

You could sense the fear in the opposition as soon as Devlin took to the park. They'll credit Robertson with the goal, but it was Nicky that made the difference.

 

Obviously they'd heard about Devlin's goal prowess and marked him tightly leaving Robertson having heard about his goal prowess.

[tom_widdows]

21 hours ago, tom_widdows said:

So consensus from radio scotland is to hope Georgia get a win or draw tomorrow night in Prague (or wherever the Czechs choose to play.)

That would put Clarke and Co into pot 2 of the world cup draw

 

Well thats out the window.

Just have to make do with schadenfreude watching Wales potentially heading to block B relegation playoff

[Jute]

Georgia have it back to 2-1 and Slovakia drawing with Estonia so still a chance of Pot 2 for World Cup draw. 
 

For Nations League play off teams in second currently are Turkey, Austria, Ukraine and Greece.

[Jute]

Wales 3-1 up now. 

[OxfordDon]

Georgia had 2 glorious opportunities to make it 2-2 in the 89th and 91st minutes, cleared off the line.  Handbags out, yellow cards everywhere, game finished 2-1.

[tom_widdows]

32 minutes ago, Jute said:

Georgia have it back to 2-1 and Slovakia drawing with Estonia so still a chance of Pot 2 for World Cup draw. 
 

For Nations League play off teams in second currently are Turkey, Austria, Ukraine and Greece.

Id presume group A teams get the 2nd leg at home but then again UEFA probably only do that when a big team is facing relegation. 

Not sure belgium have done enough to be classed as a big team

[Jute]

14 minutes ago, tom_widdows said:

Id presume group A teams get the 2nd leg at home but then again UEFA probably only do that when a big team is facing relegation. 

Not sure belgium have done enough to be classed as a big team

Aye team from league A have second leg at home. 

[BigAl]

So Greece it is in March home and away to retain our big boy status 

[Jute]

Away leg 20th March home leg 23rd March. Always fancied visiting Athens. 

[Jute]

World Cup qualifying draw made today. 
 

If I am reading it right it is loser of nations league play off between Denmark and Portugal that comes into our group. 
 

Looks winnable group at home. Away will be the issue. 

[RicoS321]

5 minutes ago, Jute said:

World Cup qualifying draw made today. 
 

If I am reading it right it is loser of nations league play off between Denmark and Portugal that comes into our group. 
 

Looks winnable group at home. Away will be the issue. 

You're reading it right. Not an easy group. Both Belarus and Greece are not shite. Good chance that any of the teams could take points off any of the others on their day. I'm assuming Belarus will be away from home in all their fixtures, which might make them shiter. 

[Jute]

52 minutes ago, RicoS321 said:

You're reading it right. Not an easy group. Both Belarus and Greece are not shite. Good chance that any of the teams could take points off any of the others on their day. I'm assuming Belarus will be away from home in all their fixtures, which might make them shiter. 

Correct. In last qualifiers their “Home” games were played in Poland behind closed doors. 

[Slim]

If we end up with Denmark, we should have a fairly unique situation where you could potentially see us both win all of the games and also lose all of the games (possible exception of Belarus at home).

 

Having everyone capable of taking points off each other probably benefits us more than having 1 strong team that will run away with the group, one shite team that will end up with 0 points and a straight shoot out between us and someone else for the play off place.

[RicoS321]

2 hours ago, Slim said:

Having everyone capable of taking points off each other probably benefits us more than having 1 strong team that will run away with the group, one shite team that will end up with 0 points and a straight shoot out between us and someone else for the play off place

Does it? I can't work it out, but having a team that everyone could potentially beat is only useful if we're the ones beating the good team and getting the unexpected points. I think we have a good chance of beating Denmark, but so do Greece, and Belarus would fancy their chances of a point too. With Portugal, I reckon we'd have the best chance of taking something at home.

The way the fixtures fall will be key. Get some easy ones at Hampden first up, then an away trip to the top seed. Finish up with the top seed at home, who may have already qualified two days before in a hard fought victory away to Greece in forty degree temperatures.