BFTD Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 I don't agree that Scotland fans are generally overinflating their expectations either. The general consensus seems to be that we've got a decent shot of second place in the 2018 qualifiers; the next step below that would be to admit that we've no chance of catching England and Slovakia, and but that we've got a decent shot of finishing third ahead of Slovenia. I don't see how that's any more realistic TBH. Nobody's saying that we should be finishing ahead of Slovakia, which has been England's thing for so long. I doubt anyone would even be surprised if Slovenia put us into fourth, although it would be a disappointment. I don't see anyone expecting us to finish in the top two of the Euro qualifiers either, just that we've got a great chance of managing it. Once again, the next step below the current feeling would be to say that Germany and Poland have the top two places sewn up, but we might still make it through the play-offs. I reckon the Poles (at least) would be perplexed at that, considering how we've done so far and the games we still have to play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mizfit Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Let me be optimistic for once in my life p&b... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_B81 Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 It's a tough draw but I'd much rather have England and Slovakia than either Holland and France or Spain and Italy. Yes Slovakia are a very good team but, genuinely, don't think there's much between us and them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banana Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 Never has having a Slovenian stepmother with many family in Slovenia been so advantageous! The gorgeous women? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogmc Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 I think we are fairly low scoring but not as bad as we were under Burley and Levein in that respect. The encouraging thing about the five fixtures you listed is that we scored at least once in each game - in the Craig brown era we'd have scored sh*t all in the away games. Aye that craig brown era was hellish what with the qualifying for a world cup and the euros.....only way you could qualify in those days was by never scoring goals. ..,, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AberdeenBud Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 There's definitely some brain donors who think this is going to be easy ish. Sky interviewed a totally thick HH type "England and 5 easy teams, I'm booking ma tickets furra World Cup." I don't doubt this attitude is prevalent amongst some of the fans. He possibly went a bit too far but I agree with the jist of his post. Strachan is working wonders with limited resources though and long may it continue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savage Henry Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 Nonetheless, England aside, that's as generous a group as we've had in quite a long time. I can quite understand the optimism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordopolis Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 Aye that craig brown era was hellish what with the qualifying for a world cup and the euros.....only way you could qualify in those days was by never scoring goals. ..,, But the football was grim, uber-defensive stuff. 0-0 or snatching a goal through a set piece was the limit of our ambitions away from home the majority of the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitnail Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 I don't agree that Scotland fans are generally overinflating their expectations either. The general consensus seems to be that we've got a decent shot of second place in the 2018 qualifiers; the next step below that would be to admit that we've no chance of catching England and Slovakia, and but that we've got a decent shot of finishing third ahead of Slovenia. I don't see how that's any more realistic TBH. Nobody's saying that we should be finishing ahead of Slovakia, which has been England's thing for so long. I doubt anyone would even be surprised if Slovenia put us into fourth, although it would be a disappointment. I don't see anyone expecting us to finish in the top two of the Euro qualifiers either, just that we've got a great chance of managing it. Once again, the next step below the current feeling would be to say that Germany and Poland have the top two places sewn up, but we might still make it through the play-offs. I reckon the Poles (at least) would be perplexed at that, considering how we've done so far and the games we still have to play. I think we should be expecting to finish ahead of them. I don't think they're a great side, I'd put Poland and the Czech Republic ahead of them (never mind Germany or Spain). They are a country in a purple patch with one great player (Hamsik) and a good one in Skrtel (who will be 32, 33 at the time). I'm more realistic than most Scottish fans, I certainly didn't expect us to finish above Poland or the Czech Republic, but if we can't take on a nation of virtually identical size with a pretty average squad barring two players then who are we expecting to beat? They are having a great qualifying campaign, so are Wales. I think we're actually better than both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forameus Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 There's definitely some brain donors who think this is going to be easy ish. Sky interviewed a totally thick HH type "England and 5 easy teams, I'm booking ma tickets furra World Cup." I don't doubt this attitude is prevalent amongst some of the fans. He possibly went a bit too far but I agree with the jist of his post. Strachan is working wonders with limited resources though and long may it continue. There's always going to be fans like that in the ranks of any team. Just like there's going to be some that are always doom and gloom. I don't doubt that over in Slovakia, there are some rubbing their hands together thinking they're going to a World Cup, just like there's going to be some that will be planning to fight it out for second with ourselves and trailing England. Annoyingly, the media will always find these zoomers because it makes a better story. Seeing someone in control of their mental faculties shrugging and saying "we'll see at the time" won't interest them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitnail Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 I'd be pretty confident if I was England fan (I'm hoping Scotland finish 2nd rather than automatic qualification) but those bragging about booking their tickets are just attention seekers. Typical OF mentality, my team being good makes me a better and worthwhile person. Aye, nay worries mate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogmc Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 But the football was grim, uber-defensive stuff. 0-0 or snatching a goal through a set piece was the limit of our ambitions away from home the majority of the time.As opposed to the goalfests in the years since?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordopolis Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 As opposed to the goalfests in the years since?? No. Just seems apparent to me that we play a far more fluid, attacking way and look more likely to score - against anybody, home or away - than those previous times. We're still far from being anything like a high-scoring side and still rely too much on breaks and scrambling goals for my liking, but we haven't failed to trouble the onion bag since that shitey 0-0 vs the USA over 20 months ago - that's good going by Scotland's standards. ETA, just realised I've jinxed it. If we fail to score against Georgia I will boot my own baws on everyone on here's behalf. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DAVIDB69 Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 As opposed to the goalfests in the years since?? That kind of takes me back to my original point , we are still goal light with largely the same squad from the Levein "going places" era. I like Strachan but he is ridiculous loyal to some bang average players. If we don't qualify for the euros he will go again with the same squad which probably would have about four failed campaign under its belt. The average age of the team is just over 28 which is on the high side We need to start bringing through younger players with the likes of Armstrong, GMS , and if he plays for sporting gauld getting into the squad. We still seem to term players in the mid 20s Young . Very few get promoted from the u21s and instead to go into the wilderness years as Armstrong is now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFTD Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 I'd agree with the thing about us taking a long time to blood youngsters, especially with strikers in recent times, for some reason. It's almost like we think they'll break if they have a bad game. If they aren't going to be good enough, waiting until they're in their mid-twenties to find out doesn't help at all; nor does putting them in at that age and realising that, aye, they probably were good enough in their teens and we could've used them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staggieman21 Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 This isn't about the draw specifically, but I couldn't find a better thread to post it in. Can anyone explain to me how the SSC membership works? For example, if I paid the £55 to become a member now I assume it would be pretty pointless as i would just have to pay again at the end of the Euro qualifiers, is that right? And at what point in time can new members join the supporters club? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aufc Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 This isn't about the draw specifically, but I couldn't find a better thread to post it in. Can anyone explain to me how the SSC membership works? For example, if I paid the £55 to become a member now I assume it would be pretty pointless as i would just have to pay again at the end of the Euro qualifiers, is that right? And at what point in time can new members join the supporters club?I am pretty sure the ssc is full at the moment mate and dont think yoi can join halfway through a campaign. Think its january but cant see many people giving up their membership Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staggieman21 Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 I am pretty sure the ssc is full at the moment mate and dont think yoi can join halfway through a campaign. Think its january but cant see many people giving up their membershipAlright cheers, thought that might be the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roverzJames Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Here's a video from the stand at Hampden of the draw, got all the reactions to the teams we were draw with including the England one along with all the singing that came after it! Tartan Army at Hampden for World Cup Draw: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigkillie Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 I'd agree with the thing about us taking a long time to blood youngsters, especially with strikers in recent times, for some reason. It's almost like we think they'll break if they have a bad game. If they aren't going to be good enough, waiting until they're in their mid-twenties to find out doesn't help at all; nor does putting them in at that age and realising that, aye, they probably were good enough in their teens and we could've used them. I think this is a bit of a myth. Plenty of our current squad made their debuts at a young age, and there haven't been many cases of excellent players being excluded for years and years. All of the following guys were in the last squad and were 23 or under when they made their debut: Craig Gordon (20) David Marshall (19) Christophe Berra (23) Alan Hutton (22) Andy Robertson (19) Charlie Adam (21) Barry Bannan (20) Scott Brown (20) Darren Fletcher (19) James Forrest (19) Shaun Maloney (22) James McArthur (23) James Morrison (22) Steven Fletcher (20) Leigh Griffiths (22) Steven Naismith (20) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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