That was my point though. It wasn't Burley's fault that Iwelumo missed that chance. It was a freak miss that cost us not Burley's tactics. Burley got it wrong at the start of the match but at least he realised he got it wrong and changed it accordingly and we were far better once he made his substitutions. 



Thank god someone can talk some sense. Pretty much agree with everything you've said apart from the bit about Brown. I think he's doing ok in this new role and given more time playing there he'll only improve because at times he looks like he isn't sure of his positioning or whether to track runs or not but that kind of thing will come if he works on the training pitch and gets plenty of games in this role. I also can't believe you didn't mention Caldwell. I thought he was just as poor as Weir today. 

It's not over untill it's over. I've always had that mindset and I'm keeping it here. It's beginning to look doubtful though.

Because they played the totally ineffectual McFadden upfront on his own!! If he had played 4-4-2 from the start Scotland would have won...even after that mistake if he had left Iwelumo on the bench and played Boyd Scotland would have won!!

We're all rightly disappointed after today and it's my view that qualification for SA 2010 is practically impossible.

Four points from nine is not good enough.

Analysing today starts with the team selection. It was wrong.

First half we were garbage and Carew showed how to play a lone striker's role as he carved up Caldwell time and time again. Norway can actually consider themselves unlucky not have taken all three points and Scotland's man of the match had to be Craig Gordon, with two magnificent saves.

Burley got his tactics all wrong. McFadden can't play as a striker n his own. That's not his game at all and it showed today. George's aftermatch comments too were very reminiscent of the wee German's rambles when he couldn't justify what had gone on in a game.

To be fair, Burley recognised his mistake by changing the formation to 4-4-2 and putting recognised strikers on the park. But it was obvious that what he started with was never going to work and we didn't need to be a (fully qualified) coach to work it out.

The miss by big Chris will haunt him forever, but he shouldn't have been anywhere near a Scotland shirt in the first place. He's not good enough.

Boyd should rightly be fed up. 7 goals from 15 internationals proves his credentials, and I don't buy this 'he's got no workrate' rubbish. Who cares? He scores goals. End of.

Very disappointed today.

You have already been responded to but I don't think enough people can come on here to say what a cunt you truly are. He's not Nigerian he's Scottish and proud of it. He missed get over it, it happens, he did more when he was on the pitch with flick on and touches than our supposed sexy attackers did in the first half.

You're right, you will get slated for that guff above.

Iwelumo can run about all day barging into defenders, even winning the odd tackle or header, but all of that is not much use when he misses a chance that my cat could have scored when presented with it.

I agree it's time for Davie Weir tae gie up the international jersey but at least he still has positional sense most of the time. Caldwell is a headless chicken and how he ever made the level he is playing at is beyond me!!

How can you compare the two? I've yet to see Iwelumo do anything as good as Evangelino's second goal vs Shire Reserves


Gary Caldwell is easily Scotland's best centre half.

James McFadden is no more than average, his goal against France makes some people think he is world class, this clearly isn't the case.

I'm just surprised that we haven't had the usual fans blaming Graham Alexander for today's result

Then we're doomed laddie and you must be pissed oot yer brains tae come out wae that!!

Lol f**k off your just saying that cause hes a tim.

Hes been immense for celtic for a year and has been immense in scotlands games and played below his best today.

It COULD be of use if he had a natural goal scorer beside him though. Which was my point earlier. Of course, he might not be. It's all hypothetical. Which is what annoys me about the "we would have won with Boyd" mindset.

It's got feck all tae do with his club, he is pish of the highest order and Carew went back tae Birmingham wae him in his pocket!! The only good thing for your mob is he might keep him in his pocket till after Celtic's next game!! And Brown played well today and he plays for your lot so take it from me, if you thought Caldwell did alright today, give up fitba and take up darts or something!!

i heard he shat in his steak pie.
















then shafted his daughter.

I'd be more annoyed about the steak pie.

I love my pie.

Never seen the game so cant comment on the performance.
Unsurprisingly though that miss is already on youtube.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=hK5EZzNyZRg



That is truly fucking awful. No striker should be missing a chance like that.

The sitter apart cause tae be fair the boy did alright after that, you missed the worst performance ever by a Scotland player - Gary Caldwell!!

Jesus ... that wasn't just missing a sitter, that was missing a sitter with tassles and bells on ...

Think you've got a good point there. Iwelumo's miss was a complete freak occurence. I thought he looked pretty decent despite the miss. Given another chance I'd hope he could redeem himself and get out of the bloody big shadow that's been cast over him.

Why play one man up front at home
A black man born in coatbridge misses an open goal from a yard out.
If only he picked another nation to play for

i can't remember the last time i seen darren fletcher play good for scotland. he might look good alongside rooney and ronaldo but alongside mcfadden and brown he's useless.

i was shocked to hear he was captain as he's just a passenger when playing with scotland.

most overrated player ever in the history of human beings.

i reckon i could have done a better job than burley today, seriously.

Nah, if you rate Caldwell give him that title!!

Caldwell made two goal saving tackles. His overall performance wasn't magnificent, but we'd have lost without his tackles. I'd take a look at the donkey Weir if I were you. He was terrible. Caldwell is our best centre half - this season, anyway.

I actually thought we played quite well second half, should have won. Quite how Iwelumo missed I don't know. That's most certainly the worst miss I've ever seen. He played well apart from that though, good case for starting him when you see the difference in our performance after he came on. I thought we were just about worth the win.

Gordon- Made a few decent saves, nothing spectacular.
Broadfoot - Alongside Weir, our weakest player. He took far, far too long to play in Maloney in the first half, and that ended with Maloney being (wrongly?) called offside. Tried hard, but very limited.
Naysmith - Actually had a good game, for the first time ever.
Caldwell - As noted above, two goal saving tackles. Overall, played quite well.
Weir - Horrific. Carew had him on toast.
Brown - Quite a good game, passing was a bit erratic at times but excellent job on the whole.
Fletcher - Too quiet. On the rare occassion he got the ball, you could see his quality but didn't do enough.
Robson - Came onto a game second half, was unlucky not to score.
Morrison - If he hadn't had that chance at the end of the first half, I wouldn't have noticed he was playing.
Maloney - A few time slooked like he could spark something, but he still falls over the ball too often.
McFadden - Unless he was injured, I don't see why he came off. Was having a decent enough game, alongside Iwelumo could have caused havoc.

Iwelumo - Good game, minus the worst miss ever. I'd happily see him back in the dquad.
S. Fletcher - Not grea, not bad. Not sure why he came on.

I'll add my name to the list celebrating Iwelumo's sitter as a goal. Couldn't believe he missed. Thought we were going to score with Broadfoot's injury time cutback too.

Big task now. Must win every game, minus Rotterdam I think. I can't see us making it.

Aye, and if my aunty had baws she'd be my uncle.

We'll never know about whether or not Boyd would have made any difference. However, Burley must carry the can for getting it all wrong from the minute he left out a recognised goalscorer (take your pick) from his starting 11 and opted for a lone striker in a home tie (that we had to win).

And then he comes onto national radio saying how well we played. George, you're an idiot if you think that what you saw today was good enough.

It wasn't.

He also had an utterly embarrassing offside moment, on another occasion in a good position miss controled the ball twenty yards away and finally, he had the ball played to him with his back to goal ten yards out and instead of trying to turn and get in a shot, he gave an horrendusly over hit layback to team mate.

Apart from that he had a great game.

I'll agree Weir didn't play great but in the first half he made the goal saving tackle on Carew. Don't recall Caldwell making any! Carew was Caldwell's man and he got done time and again plus he looked as if he was time wasting with his free kicks for us when we were chasing a win.
If your on the weed fine but your match opinion on Caldwell is nothing short of 'zoom me up Scotty'!!

Pathetic. Maybe your humour is lost to me, but people like you can go and feck yourselves, in fact I wish people like you weren't on this earth.

Maloney was offside because he didn't look along the line, Broadfoot had a good game and was about the only guy that tackled Carew and managed to get forward. Caldwell didn't hqave a good game, and Weir is too old, although they both made goal saving interventions on Carew.

Darren Fletcher was crap again, Morrison is a nothing player, and McFadden not partnered with a centre forward was criminal.

Gary Caldwell is a muppet. But Davie Weir picked up an injury according to Five Live, so fair do's to him for not coming off.

Weir is finished, McFadden is never a Center-Forward & Fletcher needs to get the finger out.

Felt sorry for Iwelumo. To be presented with the chance on a plate seconds into his appearence, he must have saw the headlines before his attempt. He will be in the headlines, just for the wrong reason. He isn't the first & won't be the last to miss from such a range.

There's still a good chance to finish second but I doubt we'd be in the top 8 of the second placed teams.

I have been listening to nothing else recently apart from the vilification of McGeady and McCarthy.I have then spent an afternoon in the boozer supporting Scotland listening to chunts decrying the guy who missed the sitter as a Black b*****d.
FWIW I wish he had put it in the pokey.

not read this thread but was listening to your call on the way home and the amount of drivel being spouted was unbelievable.
Points made include;
1. Burley to go? after three competitive games? That would be a complete over reaction and people saying souness should have got the job even though he has been a flop in the majority of his managerial positions.
2. Iwelumo not good enough and Boyd should have came on instead = Iwelumo is on fire atm and thouroughly deserved a call up imo. He is not just a goalscoring threat but also provides alot more for the team than Boyd. Don't get me wrong i rate boyd but he is not the messiah that he is being touted as. The team as a whole looked alot better when he was introduced.

The whole team put in alot of effort today and while it never worked going forward if iwelumo had scored we would all be delighted tonight and praising burley. just shows the fine margins involved in football. I don't buy all the doom and gloom and i am relatively pleased with todays effort.

Highlight of the day - a pished John Gordon Sinclair on the pitch at half-time. That says it all.

Couple of photos, was anyone near me in the stand? And was anyone else in The Ferry before the game? It was awesome! I kept on getting beers bought for me!

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I thought Iwelumo was pish and I'm not judging that on his howler. His head was probably all over the place after that sitter and it was his debut so willing to give him a second chance but fail to see the hype he's receiving from people, he did alright in the air but his first touch was all over the place and gave the ball away a few times.

He did more in his 35 mins than wonder boy McFadden did for his 55.

We dont have lot to pick from so unlike other international managers that is not the quandry.

Weir and Caldwell were the right pick for me, but if you need goals then Boyd and McFadden is a no brainer - particularly when you go 2 up, you dont go for 'new' guys, you go for experience.

Maloney shines in a team whcih has a 50/50 chance of winning the league and perhaps playing against teams like mine, but how he stayed on the park today i will never know.

Would these people have said the same had he scored - dont think so!!

I had to put up with the same nonsense in my local!!

Who cares about colour, creed or anything else???

If that had been Boyd, Miller or Maloney what would have been said????

Burley must go!

what crap tactics.

Big chris missed a sitter, but it's the manager that should get pelters for an inept starting XI.

South Africa's a pipedream.

Fenian/Hun b*****d perhaps?

Burley is God.

Who gives a fuck about Scotland. If Scotland had been playing in my back garden this afternoon I wouldn't have even bothered opening my curtains.

Its an absolute disgrace that club football is cancelled on Saturday afternoons for this international crap.

The tartan clad fannies at Hampden are a joke.

The only result that matters is the one in my signature.

George Burley & Gordon Smith are a right pair of twats. The laughing stock of world football

Fenian/Hun b*****d.

Only by those with an inability to see that in these games whoever pulls on the jersey is Scottish first and foremost.

And to answer any questions - yes those in my local do have that inability!!

I'm a St. Mirren fan first and foremost. In fact, I'm a St. Mirren fan only.

Scotland should withdraw from international football.

I said on page 3 of this thread that all my pre match optimism had gone once I read the likely team, a clear 451 despite what Burley says. I said we would be pumping high balls in to nobody so no hindsight needed for me, and quite a few others. Iwelumo or Boyd should have started alongside McFadden with one of them a likely second half sub if needed. First half was as bad as I've seen at Hampden, truly dismal with only Brown, Naysmith and Broadfoot getting pass marks, the latter recovering well after his first two awful touches.

Iwelumo deserved his callup. Wolves would be no worse than third in the SPL. Is it significant that Darren Fletcher said Kris Boyd was the worst trainer earlier today on Soccer AM's Teammates feature. Big Iwelumo would have been bursting a gut in training after finally getting a call up while Kris saunters about laughing and scratching his arse. Is it any wonder then that Burley gave Iwelumo the call? It's not as if Boyd is even first pick at Rangers. Clearly there is a problem either with his general play or attitude or both.

The minute Iwelumo came on we improved, he challenged for a high ball in the box, it was cleared to Robson, who hit a fine shot. After THAT miss, I think he can copyright that phrase, there was an incredulous lull in the stadium for at least eight minutes, nobody could quite believe it. Seeing it again, he looked half a yard offside, if only the linesman had flagged! He deserves to be kept in mind for future games, if he's still banging them in for his club. I doubt he has ever missed like that before nor will he again. I've seen a lot of his goals over the years on SKY and despite what the guy who saw him have a bad game at Barnet says(like Kris Boyd is never stinking!) he has a lot of quality and is a good finisher. He was a half a yard too far forward and made a complete arse of it. Shit happens. If he comes back from it stronger, all well and good.

FWIW, i must be a cretin in Top Cat's world because I too thought Caldwell had a decent game. He is easily our best defender. Brown Motm with Naysmith and Gordon not far behind.

You are a fcukin retard.To come out with such jibberish only shows how dim witted you really are.You are no better than the OF knobheads who disown their country of birth to cheer their Irish or English counterparts.I hope you rot in hell.

Someone get the gaff, this one's gonna take a hell of a lot of line.

qualification over. i want my ticket money back.

Stop sucking up his arse ya rentboy.You know as well as i do that the captain is a complete an utter fcukwit.How else can you describe someone who hates Scotland so much,oh wait it's called an Old Firm supporter isn't it!