Blootoon87 Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 If we beat Slovakia on Thursday I think momentum will carry us over the line against Slovenia. Hopefully they get beat by England on the Thursday before they play us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forameus Posted October 3, 2017 Author Share Posted October 3, 2017 38 minutes ago, Blootoon87 said: If we beat Slovakia on Thursday I think momentum will carry us over the line against Slovenia. Hopefully they get beat by England on the Thursday before they play us. Think that could be key. A win for England pretty much (maybe even mathematically) eliminates Slovenia, rendering Sunday a dead rubber. Not that they'll lie down or anything, but I'd much rather be going into a game against a team with nothing to play for. Worst case, Slovakia and England both win, and we get testimonial pace on Sunday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naegoodinthedark Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 So Scotland need to win both games eh?They won’t win either of them. Sorry for the negativity but this is like Groundhog Day, with this “we’ve still a chance” pish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QwaarJet Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 11 minutes ago, naegoodinthedark said: So Scotland need to win both games eh? They won’t win either of them. Sorry for the negativity but this is like Groundhog Day, with this “we’ve still a chance” pish. The alternative is to give up. Not much point in that. Also, Bale being out means if we do win our 2 games, play-off looks more likely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forameus Posted October 3, 2017 Author Share Posted October 3, 2017 2 minutes ago, QwaarJet said: The alternative is to give up. Not much point in that. Also, Bale being out means if we do win our 2 games, play-off looks more likely. If we win both of our games, we're very likely to get a playoff spot, regardless of what happens in Wales' group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottMc77 Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 Can't see us winning both unfortunately, but agree that IF we can beat a strong Slovakia side on Thursday night then the momentum is there for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charger29 Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 2 hours ago, forameus said: Think that could be key. A win for England pretty much (maybe even mathematically) eliminates Slovenia, rendering Sunday a dead rubber. Not that they'll lie down or anything, but I'd much rather be going into a game against a team with nothing to play for. Worst case, Slovakia and England both win, and we get testimonial pace on Sunday. Malta will likely never take anything off of Slovakia but Slovenia have to go into the game on Sunday thinking they might. Scotland will be doing the the same if it's a draw on Thursday. Just looked at the first Malta v Slovakia game and it was 1-1 until 40mins and 2-1 until 80 odd mins. It's 1 in a million but stranger things have happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forameus Posted October 3, 2017 Author Share Posted October 3, 2017 2 minutes ago, charger29 said: Malta will likely never take anything off of Slovakia but Slovenia have to go into the game on Sunday thinking they might. Scotland will be doing the the same if it's a draw on Thursday. Just looked at the first Malta v Slovakia game and it was 1-1 until 40mins and 2-1 until 80 odd mins. It's 1 in a million but stranger things have happened. If it's a draw on Thursday then Slovakia will be 99.999% certain of topping the group. Malta won't do anything there. Far more likely that in a fit of self-pity we get beat by Slovenia too if that happens. It's absolutely win or bust. Twice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanky_ffc Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 3 hours ago, forameus said: Think that could be key. A win for England pretty much (maybe even mathematically) eliminates Slovenia, rendering Sunday a dead rubber. Not that they'll lie down or anything, but I'd much rather be going into a game against a team with nothing to play for. Wins for us and England would leave the group as Scotland 17, Slovakia 15 and Slovenia 14, so they'd still be in with a shot of finishing above us on GD with a win and hoping Slovakia drop points to Malta. It's an unlikely scenario for them to finish top, but they won't be mathematically out of the running on Thursday night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forameus Posted October 3, 2017 Author Share Posted October 3, 2017 I just want us to still have a chance going into Sunday. If we manage that and fail, it's still shit, but it's a position we never thought we'd be in after the absolute chasing we got against Slovakia last time. Plus it'll make this thread actually useful, rather than a f**k-up. That'd be nice. Just now, lanky_ffc said: Wins for us and England would leave the group as Scotland 17, Slovakia 15 and Slovenia 14, so they'd still be in with a shot of finishing above us on GD with a win and hoping Slovakia drop points to Malta. It's an unlikely scenario for them to finish top, but they won't be mathematically out of the running on Thursday night. My mistake. Not mathematically, but they still have to beat us. Baws. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Gaines Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 If we fail, I wonded if the SFA will put it down to glorious failure or actually do something. If we win both games and STILL fail, I think we should stick with the manager we have. It's an odd situation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highlandmagyar 2nd String Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 Bale out of Wales final two games. Nice one. Why does that bother you? What has it to do with Scotland's games? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blootoon87 Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 Why does that bother you? What has it to do with Scotland's games? Because even if we win our last two games, we're still not guaranteed a playoff place. Bosnia and Wales are the two teams who could also reach 20 points so the less chance of them picking up two wins the better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highlandmagyar 2nd String Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 Because even if we win our last two games, we're still not guaranteed a playoff place. Bosnia and Wales are the two teams who could also reach 20 points so the less chance of them picking up two wins the better. Wales have won without Bale. Obviously he is a major player for them. But I think they have enough without him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blootoon87 Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 Wales have won without Bale. Obviously he is a major player for them. But I think they have enough without him. Aye but them having their star player out is clearly a boost for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forameus Posted October 3, 2017 Author Share Posted October 3, 2017 1 hour ago, Randy Giles said: If we fail, I wonded if the SFA will put it down to glorious failure or actually do something. If we win both games and STILL fail, I think we should stick with the manager we have. It's an odd situation It's a tough one to call really. Lose against Slovakia - I'd imagine he'd probably walk, and leave the decision out of SFA's hands Draw against Slovakia - Likely us out, Slovakia would need to drop points against Malta. He'd be more likely to keep his job though, depending on circumstances Win against Slovakia, Don't do enough against Slovenia - More likely to stay unless he wants to go himself. Win both games, miss out by some weird set of circumstances - As above, but probably even more likely to stay Playoffs or better - Almost certainly stay It all comes down to what he wants to do I think. I just can't see the SFA sacking him, unless we completely fold in these two games. He could well have had enough though. I wouldn't be entirely against him staying, but there's a common theme running through his reign that we need to address for the next campaign. He's had two full campaigns now, and both of them can be defined by one game each. Georgia away and Lithuania at home. In both of them we went behind early and then looked largely clueless as to what to do next. We looked better against Lithuania in that case, but still, was just a point, and it's what has left us needing two wins now. Outside of those games there were problems, but the big issue is being unable to break down those kinds of teams. If he falls again in one of these types of games, plenty will come out of the woodwork and say how he should have gone anyway, and this wouldn't have happened. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and at the moment it could go either way. EDIT: On checking on what would happen with a draw on Thursday, I've gotten quite depressed. We won't be mathematically out, but will have to go into Sunday with hope for about 10 minutes before Slovakia go on to absolutely scud Malta. I'm all for staying alive into Sunday, but a draw really would be nothing but life support. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charger29 Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 2 hours ago, forameus said: If it's a draw on Thursday then Slovakia will be 99.999% certain of topping the group. Malta won't do anything there. Far more likely that in a fit of self-pity we get beat by Slovenia too if that happens. It's absolutely win or bust. Twice. By 'topping the group' I assume you mean coming second? I agree it is far more likely that we lose in Slovenia than any other result. I just meant that Slovenia (and possibly Scotland) can't just see it as an irrelevant friendly even if the chances are incredibly slim. It's been mentioned many times before but if Luxembourg can get a point off France then (almost) anyone can get a point off (almost) anyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyAnchor Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 Gallant failure ahead Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkey Tennis Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 I don't see us winning just one of the games. We'll either get the two wins, or as I think is likelier, fail to win the home game thus rendering Sunday meaningless, even though Strachan and media twats won't say as much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forameus Posted October 3, 2017 Author Share Posted October 3, 2017 By 'topping the group' I assume you mean coming second? I agree it is far more likely that we lose in Slovenia than any other result. I just meant that Slovenia (and possibly Scotland) can't just see it as an irrelevant friendly even if the chances are incredibly slim. It's been mentioned many times before but if Luxembourg can get a point off France then (almost) anyone can get a point off (almost) anyone. Indeed, that's what I meant, sorry. Yeah, you're right. I thought that Slovenia would be pretty much out of it, but stranger things have happened so they can't afford to let go. To be fair, the only side I can see completely sacking it off is us, unfortunately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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