Virtual Insanity

Only god can judge him.

Thought this was going in a very different direction at first.

Having watched this I'm now of the opinion that Dowds is actually a decent signing for Ayr.

Lol.

I genuinely cannot believe the Harry Kane gets an airing in 2023. It's not just a few bad apples either, a sizeable minority - enough to make it heard around most of the stadium. Surprised there's not more being made in the media about that rather than the anthems or Maguire as we wouldn't have a leg to stand on on that. The rest of it I could not give a flying f**k about.

A bit more sensationalism again, totally unhelpful shite. So it looks like he's decided not to rush it, doesn't mean he's never coming back. It's a big decision, the boy is 20 and isn't going to immediately walk into our team. Give him time, think Clarke's approach here is spot on.

Are most of these not likely to be people on over 12 points in any case? so the cumulative total at say 14-18 will jump fairly dramatically but then re-settle by 10-12 points. Will be a few climbers in there but the chances of getting official tickets down at single figures makes that pretty unlikely.

I would imagine (open to being corrected) that it would then be a 'mini league' between the teams in which Norway have 6 points, Spain have 4 and we have 7? Hopefully...

If we draw in Spain we're through. That puts Spain on 10 points, meaning they can max at 19 but only by winning in Oslo. If they do that, Norway are out the running. If Norway win, Spain can only max at 16 and would lose out to us on head to head. If its a draw again Norway are out.

In fairness Lisa Letby has done nothing wrong.

Not usually. As a matter of course I avoid bet builders as they're generally terrible value, but for example on William Hill they have McTominay first scorer 12/1 and Scotland 1-0 11/1, but as these are effectively connected events (i.e. if McTominay scores first then the chances of Scotland winning 1-0 are considerably higher) they reduce the combined odds (which is fair enough but generally the amount they reduce them is excessive), so in this case the combined bet on WH is 75/1. McBookie have the same bet at 180/1 (it's actually over 200/1 now). I assume they do this on all their sports markets which seems crazy.

Is this McBookie? That's insane, they've given combined odds on linked events.

I think this is definitely a, concern, and Clarke will definitely be factoring this into his approach. Not so bothered about one fringe player missing out necessarily but the possible impact on the wider group. That said he could clearly be an impact player right away for us in the Euros so I feel like there has to be a way to make it work. Would do no harm with convincing Anderson too I suspect.

Don't want to detract from your main point as I absolutely love Adams, but it was Gilmour fouled for the second and the third is actually Hickey that is involved (no idea what he's doing there but that's this Scotland team for you).

I think we're all in agreement that this is the greatest Scotland team of the last 30 years at least. With the age profile of the squad and our current ranking it feels like there are serious opportunities for this squad to go even further. Getting through the group stages at Euro 2024 should be more expectation than target, that would mean last 16 and match the achievements of previous Euro qualifications, after that you're into anything can happen knockout territory. Winning the group would give us a pretty good chance of being top seeds whereas finish second and we're probably third seeds (only best runner up makes the top 2 seeds) so winning the group will give us a massive lift in that respect. Looking ahead, the WC2024 qualifiers are for the expanded format albeit UEFA criminally is only getting another 3 places to 16. Do we know at this stage what the criteria will be for seeding for the group stages of that draw? Winners of each group go through automatically so a top seeding is pretty crucial, otherwise you're into a two round playoff path similar to the Euros. I also note that the final four playoff path places are said to be allocated to the four best ranked NL group winners who finished outside the top 2 in their group - does this mean that there will be some serious diddies from League C and D like the Faroe Islands and Northern Ireland getting priority over big League A teams like Scotland? Unlikely to come to that but seems a bit silly.

More points than the rest of the group combined

f**k all the qualification permutations, win in Spain and we've won the group.

If we draw v Spain or Georgia then Norway can still make 16 points and beat us on head to head.

If Ireland qualify I will switch allegiances for life.

Not a fucking hope.

11 group stage wins in a row. Nobody else in Europe has that. Wild.

Provided it's against Norway. 2 otherwise.

Ryan Porteous after another successful tackle.

Was @dundeefc1783 in the EA thread.