as depressing as it is, I think he's got a point.

The only hope we have is that there are a bunch of odd results which fall in our favour. If it comes down to quality we'd be fucked anyway.

If everyone puts in a tenner, d'you think we could bribe some officials to cushion our passage?!

I thought they played as well as they can with the exception of Fletcher. Brown and Robson in particular stood out i thought. They have been playing like that all season for Celtic so i cant see why anybody is upset with the level of performance...0-0 was about right i thought.

So will that now be a twevle year absence from the Major tournaments for Scotland and the Tartan embarrassment then?

It's rant time.

Gary Caldwell is the worst defender ever to put on a Scotland jersey and must be dropped for the sake of the nation. Kirk Broadfoot is world class compared to Caldwell and anybody who criticises Kirky while overlooking Caldwell is a numpty! Broadfoot is 10 times the player [Son o Frankenstein] Caldwell will ever be.
Burley takes off Faddy when we are going two up front after the boy had manfully fought the front line himself in the first 45! Why Burley?
Secondly, we go 2 up front and although I feel sorry for the boy who missed the sitter, Iwelumo and Fletcher are no better bets for scoring than Boyd is. Where was he though? Kris Boyd is less of a goal scoring bet than yon Wolves and Hibs player!! You have to be kidding!!
Meanwhile, Shaun [I want to cut in on tae my right foot all the time and lose the ba'] Maloney is still on the park while left footed McFadden is off. Why?

Burley has made decisions in a must win game that defied belief and Caldwell is a disgrace and should never play for Scotland again! And where the f**k was Boyd when we went 2 up front Burley??

Rant over!

...j'sus, not wonder Scotland are so shite just now!

Why the feck in such an important game would you take off our most creative player in McFadden and bring on Iwelumo!??! Ok if he had brought on Boyd I would have been ok but ffs Iwelumo?? A guy making his debut as opposed to a guy who scores pretty much whenever he plays. Bringing Boyd on would have got the crowd lifted and there is no way in hell he would have missed that chance.

Can't blame Burley for being over-cautious. Walter Smith was the same (both legs v Belarus anyone), as was McLeish (away to Faroe Islands, away to Georgia). He is only following established practice...

That it then?

Burley said he was carrying a knock at half time.Still a one legged Mcfadden would have put that chance away.

Rant number 2.

And while I'm at it, that cnut Caldwell dilly dallied when we were given free kicks at the back and thinks he's the man when he is amateurish at best! Whoever told him he was a player should get a plane out of here and take Caldwell wae them. He is fecking useless!!

Super Bazza to the rescue.

Fcuk off ya Queen loving w##k.Support yer local team ya loser!

Firstly top cat f**k off with your rangers specs on this is a scotland game.


Caldwell fucking carried that numpty weir.


Gordon - 8 Missed a cross but his save was vital.
Broadfoot - 7 Good game again. His ball control was poor but anticipation was fantastic.
Naysmith - 8 Very impessive and maybe could do a job for the next couple of years for the hoops.
Weir - 4 Great tackle in the first half but caught out badly and we missed McManus
Caldwell - 7 Passing was poor a few times but defended at a great level bar the 1st half fouls
Brown - 9 Class act. Our truly world class player. Brilliant display.
Fletcher - 5 Shocking display from the skipper!!! Never thought I'd say it but we miss Ferguson
Morrison - 4 Poor and never a Scotland player
McFadden - 7 Did all he could up front himself
Robson - 7 Had a really good game after starting the game out of position.
Maloney - 8 Bar Brown would have been MOTM. The only attacking player that Norway couldn't handle


Ilewumo.

A disgrace.

Didn't need to look at your profile to see you were a Hun.

That miss was worse than Gilmour's vs Hamilton. And Gilmour was about 2 yards out!

This hypothetical "Boyd would have scored" nonsense is getting on my tits.

Who said he would even have been in that position when the ball went into the six yard area ?

Fair enough if he had a knock but still why not bring on our only proved goalscorer as opposed to someone who hasnt even kicked a ball for Scotland!?

Aye right enough after watching that performance lets try and have a go at the 2 managers who took Scotland further up the FIFA rankings than anyone. Both would have had Boyd on at some stage and i am pretty sure neither would have had the totally inept Barry Robson anywhere near the Scotland team.

How boyd wasnt brought on instead of Iwelumo, f**k bertie burley.

Agreed! I think Burley must have caught him shafting his daughter last night.

Feck all to do with that cause I thought Brown had played well and was probably our best man so ditch yer green dhimed specs!

Anybody who thinks Caldwell is a player is as big an idiot as the bonce himself is on the fitba park! He is fecking shocking and makes mistake after mistake!

You are a fucking nutcase!!! That has to be Browns worst game in a Scotland jersey. I would give him 3/10 but then again he was played out of position by a manager who is beginning to make Berti Vogts look like a tactical genius

Sorry have I missed something here? Smith and McLeish could both have got us qualified, if they had not 'played it safe' and gone for a 'glorious near-miss'. Burley knows that if we lost today, it is all over. For that reason, it's far better to get a cautious draw - which keeps the hope flickering in the background, although realistically is it over - instead of risking defeat, in order to chase the win we needed. My point is, Burley is in no way 'more cautious' than the previous two occupants of his post.

There is an irony that, barring a lucky set of results and some unlikely wins against Norway and the Netherlands, we will go into Euro 2012 qualifying with Berti still the last man to get us into a play-off.

I whinged and moaned the minute it became apparent that Iwelumo was coming on, I was told to "shut it and give the boy a chance"....five minutes later and two people bought me drinks, which sat for about 15 minutes due to absolute laughter.

>

Both centre halfs were struggling to deal with Carew so Weir is as much to blame as Caldwell.

Topcat, How many goals was Caldwell responsible for conceding?
Is your name in honour of famous Celtic fan George Galloway?

Rant start.

Fucking hell. How on earth did he miss it? I was already celebrating when Naysmith crossed it, then turned round and WTF? I think its offside, but no it's showing a bloody replay and the eejit missed it. What a twat. If he ever plays for Scotland again we are truely buggered. Why did Burley take off our best player just after half-time and put that idiot on? Fair enough Boyd, but some second-rate striker from Wolves? If he couldn't get in the Nigerian team, why would he be good enough for us? By the end we were lucky to even get a draw, great saves from Gordon. Without him it could of been embarrassing. Great cross by Broadfoot too at the end, if the strikers had just gambled we might have just nicked it. Unless of course it feel to whatever the hell that eejits name is Ikelumfo or summit. He would have probably hit the corner flag. Fletcher was shite as well. He's meant to be our captain, but he rarely touched it and when he did he did feck all with the ball. He NEVER plays well for Scotland - surely Burley has noticed this by now? If he's not surrounded by a midfield of over 100+ million of talent making him look good, he's shite. Brown and Robson were excellent for once though, looks like Brown has hit some form again, and Robson had some nice touches, especially when he was through on goal but got taken out by the last man in the Norwegian defence... should of been a straight red card.

Rant end.

Well isnt it odd that Rangers fans say one thing and everyone else says another. f**k off

I agree. Although i'm not a Rangers fan i can't believe he isn't a regular starter for them. And it's probably naive but i would start him in 90% of Scotland games too.

That being said, had Iwelumo scored (and i know he didn't) he would've been a hero and it would've been a masterstroke by Burley.

I don't think Burley got the team or set-up right today, but i think it's harsh practically blaming him for Iwelumo making a cnut of it.

Exactly, what a totally pointless thing to say.

It easy to manage hindsight united

I said Brown had a good game, thought Maloney did well too, and Broadfoot.

Feck off, are you trying to tell me Caldwell's a player! Carew who isn't the best in the business ran him fecking ragged and even when Caldwells on the ball he dilly dallies and then punts the ba' tae the moon. He is rank rotten of the highest order and I counted at least 10 mistakes that cnut made!

Boyd argument always has to be coupled with "would he have been there in the first place" though...

Wier and Caldwell can't play together at the back against any opponent who have pace in their front lines as they are both far too slow. Brown played better today though he still has an annoying habit of giving the ball away nearly all the fecking time.

Caldwell was going through a not bad spell, but he was terrible today, and never had a look in. Weir was slightly better, but not good enough at this level.

I agree with those who say that Brown played well, and as usual, Broadfoot provided a decent attacking force at times, and he was better than usual when it came to his defensive duties. I thought Maloney did alright too, as he seemed determined to create, even if he was a bit greedy at times.

Anyone would struggle with old man weir on your back

Because Iwelumo has been scoring for fun, Boyd hardly gets a game. If Boyd had been brought on you would have been going "old firm bias crap, not even playing in the team and he gets a game.


Infact until Iwelumo came on, Scotland were terrible. There was very little chances for all the passing. When the 2 best chances come from crosses from the full backs, that tells you the midfield wasn't creating much. Im sure ill get slated, but i didn't see why not bring McFadden off. Maloney even upped his game after that point. McFadden didn't do much really.

Morrison was crap however, as was Weir. They were probably the 2 worst players in a Scotland shirt. I bet Carew wished he played against Weir every week - he tore Weir a new one.

It is obvious again, that we need Hutton and Ferguson to be a consistant threat. Fletcher isn't "The guy" yet, as good as he can be. I don't like Brown in a defensive position, isn't he supposed to be best going forward linking the midfield to the forwards? A waste today if you ask me.


Anyway, bad result overall. We now must win 4 of the last 5 games in my opinion to qualify.

How can Fletcher and Iwelumo be put up front as twin strikers while taking McFadden off and leaving Boyd on the bench!! Iwelumo tae be fair did well after his sitter but Steven Fletcher, well the less said the better!! Even the header Morrison missed in the first half, Boyd would have also been there and he would have scored!! Burley takes off proven Scotland goalscorer who was playing well on his own and then leaves another Scottish proven goalscorer on the bench and sends on a kid and a debutant! You couldnae make it up!!
And as for Maloney, he would have been better sending the Norwegian defence a fecking email for the amount of times he made clear his game plan!

I still don't think that he should be called up for scoring for fun in the Championship. He was unfortunate today, and I think he suffered from "rabbit in the headlights" but I pretty much said that is exactly what would happen. It happened.

But how many times have rangers been struggling for a goal and Boyd comes on and scores ? So why not do that with Scotland? I tell you why because Bertie burley has more faith in people who play in oh so great England. He played Morrison who was also terrible and missed a sitter which Boyd would have at least hit the target.

the question has to be who's wife is kris boyd shagging?

If Boyd got into that position that is.

He might have come on, did nothing and the game would have ended 0-0.

Burley must be thinking if Boyd isn't playing for Rangers, then he isn't getting near my Scotland team.

The system was wrong to start with, McFadden as the lone striker was awful.

You are a daftie who wouldnae know a fitba if it hit ye in the face fae 5 yards!!
And you obviously didnae watch the game at all!!
To say Caldwell deserved a 7 is nothing short of criminal!! A FECKING -7 MAYBE!!

Frankly that is disgusting nonsense. He is a born and bred Scotsman who was desperate to play for Scotland ( as illistrated by his comments on Sky last week during the Goals on Sunday prog ) Anyone doubting his eligibilty is clearly a racist and basing their opinions on his colour and surname.

Yes and yes.

I'd have gone for Iwelumo and Boyd from the start. Yes, I said that he shouldn't have been called up, but the big guy seemed useful as a guy to play off of, which Boyd could thrive under.

In a game you need to win, up against a big strong centre half you don't start McFadden up front on his own flanked by Morrison. Who the hell is going to win the ball in the box?

Steven 'Real Madrid' Fletcher isn't ready for the national team, and Kris Boyd who has 7 goals in 15 games for Scotland not getting a game is a joke. Boyd seems to be unimpressive in training, but who cares, get him on the park.

Indeed, the irony of the poster in question calling somebody else a "nutcase" .

Feel very sorry for Iwelumo, that miss will haunt the poor guy. He actually did a good job when he came in with several excellent flick on's but its inevitable he will be remembered for not taking that chance, it was an incredible miss.

Looks like a very long shot for us to go through now, we'll need a superb run of results to make it. Hugely frustrating as the 3 games so far have shown how limited our group rivals are.

I agree, until he came on Scotland didn't do anything going forward.

I'm amazed we kept a clean sheet, our defence is rancid.

Never mind all the 'it's a long shot we will go through now!' It's over. That team has no chance of getting anything off Holland.

Brown and Burley's comments just boggle the mind, pair of idiots, just call a spade a spade you fools.