Malta v Scotland

[dogmc]

Christ, have we really fallen that far?

Aside from their two games with San Marino, Lithuania took 4 points in qualifying (a 1-0 at home to Estonia and a 1-1 away to Slovenia). Malta managed two points in 10 games (a draw each with the 4th and 5th seeded teams). 

Our rivals won't be worried about these two, so neither should we.

Most teams in last 4 years have beaten Georgia comfortably too....

[MEADOWXI]

Glasgow-Gatwick-Malta,  Saturday out, Monday back same route,

Hotel in Sliema for 2 nights, 

 

All booked for £298 

Only 8 weeks and can't wait.

[forameus]

1 hour ago, dogmc said:

Most teams in last 4 years have beaten Georgia comfortably too....

And a lot of teams have been beaten by Poland.  

Are we really going to go into these games with a massive negative chip on our collective shoulders?  We wonder why we always seem to fail, maybe the "Aye, but we'll probably lose" attitude from fans perhaps isn't helping.

[dogmc]

And a lot of teams have been beaten by Poland.  

Are we really going to go into these games with a massive negative chip on our collective shoulders?  We wonder why we always seem to fail, maybe the "Aye, but we'll probably lose" attitude from fans perhaps isn't helping.

Yep it's the fans fault...and the players fault....good job the manager is always entirely blameles....

[sergie's no1 fan]

21 minutes ago, dogmc said:

Yep it's the fans fault...and the players fault....good job the manager is always entirely blameles....

I've noticed with Scotland fans we are either way too positive or way too negative, we can never just be in the middle with anything.

Strachan made mistakes in the last campaign, the players had a very bad off night in Georgia and it cost us but we need to move on now.

We need 12 points from Lithuania and Malta or it's over before we even begin. I can see Lithuania sneaking a win against some poor saps, lets make sure its England and not us.

If Strachan comes back from the Lithuania game delighted with a 0-0 in the same way Levein was, he should be sacked on the spot. If we burst our baws going for the win but we hit the bar 3 times and their keeper has the game of his life, fair enough that's all you can ask for.

We'll take care of Malta no problem, I'd expect a comfortable 2/3-0 win away from home.

[forameus]

2 hours ago, dogmc said:

Yep it's the fans fault...and the players fault....good job the manager is always entirely blameles....

Good attempt, but afraid you'll need to try a bit harder than that.

I've already said on several occasions where the blame for the campaign lies at different points, and it's fairly equal between the players and the manager.

2 hours ago, sergie's no1 fan said:

I've noticed with Scotland fans we are either way too positive or way too negative, we can never just be in the middle with anything.

Strachan made mistakes in the last campaign, the players had a very bad off night in Georgia and it cost us but we need to move on now.

We need 12 points from Lithuania and Malta or it's over before we even begin. I can see Lithuania sneaking a win against some poor saps, lets make sure its England and not us.

If Strachan comes back from the Lithuania game delighted with a 0-0 in the same way Levein was, he should be sacked on the spot. If we burst our baws going for the win but we hit the bar 3 times and their keeper has the game of his life, fair enough that's all you can ask for.

We'll take care of Malta no problem, I'd expect a comfortable 2/3-0 win away from home.

While I see where you're coming from, does it really matter what he says if that happened?  If he tries to take the pressure off by going easy, he'll get it in the neck.  If he says "well that's it, we're no qualifying", he'll get it in the neck.  A 0-0 in Lithuania would expose far deeper problems than the manager's post match comments.  Although there wiould still be plenty on here tugging themselves silly over every word he says in the hope he does something wrong.

[Simmy87]

Just booked:

Friday Liverpool -> Malta

Tuesday Malta -> Liverpool

Hotel booked for St. Julian's and taking the car down to Liverpool. £260 all in. Decent!

On the same flights as yourself but we are flying down from Edinburgh to Liverpool.
Staying in St Julian's too, seems to be the party town

[Moo]

St Julian's seems the place to be regards to bars and restaurants etc. I'm staying in Qawra which is north to St Julian's, about 20 minutes away. Seems like the more touristy place to me, got a pool though so should be alright.

[Chicken Wing]

Liverpool to Malta - Fri 2nd
Malta to Liverpool - Fri 9th

Away for the week with the Mrs, £700ish for all in for the week!

Staying in St Paul's Bay so no idea of the geography of the area from the stadium itself

[accies1874]

I leave Zante the day of this game. Considering leaving on the Saturday and doing:
[Zakinthos => Geneva => Malta] on the Saturday night (an 8-hour layover in Geneva), with a return of:
[Malta => Edinburgh] on the Monday morning.
All in all, it'll come to £316.

[sergie's no1 fan]

While I see where you're coming from, does it really matter what he says if that happened?  If he tries to take the pressure off by going easy, he'll get it in the neck.  If he says "well that's it, we're no qualifying", he'll get it in the neck.  A 0-0 in Lithuania would expose far deeper problems than the manager's post match comments.  Although there wiould still be plenty on here tugging themselves silly over every word he says in the hope he does something wrong.

True bud. Same as the result in Georgia he couldn't come out and say oh we've blown it because we still had games to play but everyone knew that was the one we had to win.

It was more Levein's attitude that irked me anyway. He had no intention of going for 3 points in Lithuania when they were there for the taking.

[DBA]

On ‎07‎/‎07‎/‎2016 at 22:19, Simmy87 said:

On the same flights as yourself but we are flying down from Edinburgh to Liverpool.
Staying in St Julian's too, seems to be the party town

Looked into flying but saving a bit of cash driving down and paying for parking.

Any word on match tickets for this yet? I'm assuming everyone who wants one will get one - official or otherwise.

Having never been to Malta, what are the food/drink prices like? Hoping to visit the casinos out there and win some spending money!

[PrestersKTID]

1 hour ago, DBA said:

Having never been to Malta, what are the food/drink prices like? Hoping to visit the casinos out there and win some spending money!

I went in May there for the Italy game, it's about 2.50 euro a pint if you know where to look. Most places I went to in Sliema was more like 3.50 a pint.

Food is probably dearer than say mainland spain and canaries but not mega difference.

[Simmy87]

On 8 July 2016 at 13:01, Chicken Wing said:

Liverpool to Malta - Fri 2nd
Malta to Liverpool - Fri 9th

Away for the week with the Mrs, £700ish for all in for the week!

Staying in St Paul's Bay so no idea of the geography of the area from the stadium itself

Me and my mate that are going over are both in the supporters club but on 0 points so hopefully get tickets through that but of not I don't think it would be hard to get them for the other ends of the ground. 

Have the SFA said how many people they are expecting to go over?

[Moo]

Me and my mate that are going over are both in the supporters club but on 0 points so hopefully get tickets through that but of not I don't think it would be hard to get them for the other ends of the ground. 

Have the SFA said how many people they are expecting to go over?

No but SSC members were sent an email asking who's travelling over or not. They ask for an allocation based on who's replied yes(usually slightly more) to going over to the game.

The stadium holds 17,000 and going by their attendances in Euro 2016 qualifying they only sold out once and that was at home to Italy. They also had Croatia in their group and only had about 8,000 at the game.

England will be the big game for them and their ticket prices suggest this as its double the price to our tickets. I think we'll get 5000 to start with them giving more depending on how well they sell their allocation.

[tree house tam]

On 08/07/2016 at 10:27, Moo said:

St Julian's seems the place to be regards to bars and restaurants etc. I'm staying in Qawra which is north to St Julian's, about 20 minutes away. Seems like the more touristy place to me, got a pool though so should be alright.

Qawra is a bit quiet Moo, Buggiba just round the corner has a few more bars/ nightclubs, cinemas etc.

St Julians/Paceville/Sliema is the liveliest part. There's a big open air nightclub out in the sticks somewhere, canny mind where but there's usually plenty of women at it, locals and tourists.

[Doonhamer doon south]

The squad needs an overhaul for this game. I was not impressed with Scott Brown the other night  and Gordon Greer is a tad old now. This is a game we should be looking to take the 3 points comfortably and as such we could experiment in a couple of positions. Scott Bain in goal for a start Tierney at left back Hanley and Berra bringing on Kingsley as a sub for either if we are comfortable and at right back Callum Paterson. Matt Phillips and Barrie Mckay on the wings with John McGinn and I hope Ryan Gauld in the centre. Upfront Tony Watt and Leigh Griffiths.

 

Not many stand out names but then all these players should be man for man better than the Malta squad. A strong Scottish based player presence and all of them would be desperate to make the jersey there own. Most of these players are first team for there clubs as well.

[the tactician]

31 minutes ago, Doonhamer doon south said:

The squad needs an overhaul for this game. I was not impressed with Scott Brown the other night  and Gordon Greer is a tad old now. This is a game we should be looking to take the 3 points comfortably and as such we could experiment in a couple of positions. Scott Bain in goal for a start Tierney at left back Hanley and Berra bringing on Kingsley as a sub for either if we are comfortable and at right back Callum Paterson. Matt Phillips and Barrie Mckay on the wings with John McGinn and I hope Ryan Gauld in the centre. Upfront Tony Watt and Leigh Griffiths.

 

Not many stand out names but then all these players should be man for man better than the Malta squad. A strong Scottish based player presence and all of them would be desperate to make the jersey there own. Most of these players are first team for there clubs as well.

you steaming?

[forameus]

1 hour ago, Doonhamer doon south said:

The squad needs an overhaul for this game. I was not impressed with Scott Brown the other night  and Gordon Greer is a tad old now. This is a game we should be looking to take the 3 points comfortably and as such we could experiment in a couple of positions. Scott Bain in goal for a start Tierney at left back Hanley and Berra bringing on Kingsley as a sub for either if we are comfortable and at right back Callum Paterson. Matt Phillips and Barrie Mckay on the wings with John McGinn and I hope Ryan Gauld in the centre. Upfront Tony Watt and Leigh Griffiths.

 

Not many stand out names but then all these players should be man for man better than the Malta squad. A strong Scottish based player presence and all of them would be desperate to make the jersey there own. Most of these players are first team for there clubs as well.

And what happens when that "comfortable three points" turns into dropped points because we've put out a side that has even less quality than our already average first team squad, that has never played a minute of football together?  Would you put down your pitchfork and torch because it's "something different"?

If we're going down the "desperate to make the jersey there (sic) own" Little Englander PASSION route, then should we just cap 11 players from this thread?  I'll start off, bags up front.  Fletcher clearly isn't as desperate to put on a Scotland top as I am, so obviously I'll be better.

But on a less facetious note, we actually need to look a bit beyond old-fashioned pride on picking players.  We could go into the Premiership and pick a whole squad of players who'd be absolutely delighted, and immensely proud to get a cap, but that's not going to make up for the lack of quality.  If a player is markedly better than what we have, and performs to that standard, but he spends his weekends in an England top talking about them fiends "north of the wall", I would still rather have him than someone markedly worse but "more Scottish".  Pride can be important, but only if it's allied to quality, not instead of.

[Gordopolis]

1 hour ago, Doonhamer doon south said:

The squad needs an overhaul for this game. I was not impressed with Scott Brown the other night  and Gordon Greer is a tad old now. This is a game we should be looking to take the 3 points comfortably and as such we could experiment in a couple of positions. Scott Bain in goal for a start Tierney at left back Hanley and Berra bringing on Kingsley as a sub for either if we are comfortable and at right back Callum Paterson. Matt Phillips and Barrie Mckay on the wings with John McGinn and I hope Ryan Gauld in the centre. Upfront Tony Watt and Leigh Griffiths.

 

Not many stand out names but then all these players should be man for man better than the Malta squad. A strong Scottish based player presence and all of them would be desperate to make the jersey there own. Most of these players are first team for there clubs as well.

You do realise Malta are not San Marino, don't you?