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Belgium vs Scotland


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1 hour ago, Cptn Hooch said:
1 hour ago, ewan14 said:
Belgium's footballers are far more skilful than ours

I'm not disputing that fact but they've also had a very settled group of players for a long time. Iceland were the same when they had that run in the euros...we have a billion players with 1 cap each (for the avoidance of doubt, I'm exaggerating). We're not going to magically produce the next Cristiano McNaldo but a settled squad who know each other and are brought through together is surely more beneficial than a group of guys turning up international week and meeting each other for the first time. Skillful players only get teams so far (Argentina and Messi for example) but team work....I'm gonna say it...I can't believe I'm gonna say it....makes the dream work. We won't win a major tournament anytime soon but with a tight knit squad who've grown up together we might just qualify for a few. Livingston aren't blessed with skillful players but back to back promotion was achieved and the majority of the players playing this season had featured in league 1 only 2 years previous. Decades ago the Scotland squad wasn't full of surprises and we had a half decent team for our level...how many times in the last 10-15 years have you looked at a Scotland squad and thought "who's that?" Only to find out he's a 30 year old Englishman whose gran once had a caravan in Dunoon?

A number on here have been suggesting this for years, but have been shouted down effectively as the young hungry players aren't as good as the old repetitive failures hence we should keep playing said failures to the point we now have players in their late 20's with less caps than they should have

Take odonnell for example, he made one appearance for the u21's and then spent 5 years in the international wilderness, nkw he's 27 with 7 caps and is expected to be NT standard, if he wasnt good enough for the u21's and not good enough for 5 years, what makes him good enough now at 27 when he lacks the necessary experience of playing at this level, 

But what will happen now is that he'll be a regular for the next 5 or 6 years, maybe end up with 30 caps at the ripe old age of 33, chuck it and scotland will then throw in another right back who's mid twenties and never had a kick at NT level and expect miracles off him instead

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34 minutes ago, Big Ally said:

Just back from Belgium, there has been a big change in the atmosphere since the last game out in San Marino . Everyone I spoke to seemed to have great faith in Steve Clarke turning it round . Considering the fact Belgium are on a different planet ,and  our weakened  team , we all thought the players did fine . A good shape to the team ,they all seemed to know what their role was ,and fewer errors , yes the goal on halftime was a sickener and I know Belgium missed a few .

On last nights evidence  we probably have a 40% chance of qualification through the playoffs in March, whereas if they had kept McLeish on the chance of qualification was zero .

Not seen the highlights yet but from our vantage point Fraser, McTominnay,McLean look good for the future , Marshall some cracking saves but his distribution is awful. 

Pretty confident that better times lie ahead .

The fact that fraser and mctominnay didnt start both games is ridiculous, while they are hungry young players scotland should be starting them every game they fit and available 

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You only need 11 players to be the world's best at football.    It's not good enough to settle for mediocrity because we *only* have 5.3 million people to select from.    It's going to cost in excess of £100 million pounds for the government to refurbish the Glasgow School of Art.    Let's have a referendum on whether the spend to cash on some art school or a brand new shiny national football stadium.   Let's get hockey, volleyball, badminton etc in the sea and let the boys play football in P.E.    SportScotland receives around £30million per annum or £6 tax money per person and football will only receive a small percentage of this money.     If Belgium can be the best international football team in the world, New Zealand the best at rugby, Australia the best loads of sports we absolutely don't need to accept mediocrity.     But it requires greater government involvement imo and a scrapping of the SFA.   
This.

Plus football should be free for kids to play. SPFL, SFA, Government, Councils, Sponsors and Lottery can pay for it.

Open up the school halls at weekends and evening and let kids use them when they are lying empty.

Plus let all kids into games for free on non all ticket SPFL games to inspire the next generation.
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13 minutes ago, 54_and_counting said:

A number on here have been suggesting this for years, but have been shouted down effectively as the young hungry players aren't as good as the old repetitive failures hence we should keep playing said failures to the point we now have players in their late 20's with less caps than they should have

Take odonnell for example, he made one appearance for the u21's and then spent 5 years in the international wilderness, nkw he's 27 with 7 caps and is expected to be NT standard, if he wasnt good enough for the u21's and not good enough for 5 years, what makes him good enough now at 27 when he lacks the necessary experience of playing at this level, 

But what will happen now is that he'll be a regular for the next 5 or 6 years, maybe end up with 30 caps at the ripe old age of 33, chuck it and scotland will then throw in another right back who's mid twenties and never had a kick at NT level and expect miracles off him instead

We're not exactly blessed with RB's, however I have high hopes for Liam Smith if he continues his development at Dundee Utd, although I'd hoped that he would have been more ambitious and moved up a level from the Championship as he is clearly far too good to be playing 2nd tier in Scotland.

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5 minutes ago, ftk said:

This.

Plus football should be free for kids to play. SPFL, SFA, Government, Councils, Sponsors and Lottery can pay for it.

Open up the school halls at weekends and evening and let kids use them when they are lying empty.

Plus let all kids into games for free on non all ticket SPFL games to inspire the next generation.

Unfortunately kids just don't seem interested in sports these days.

I know from a Golfing perspective that all our local clubs offer free membership, free lessons / coaching and even the loan of clubs but they still can't attract anyone in.

Pretty sad and just a sign of the times I'm afraid.............

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4 minutes ago, WATTOO said:

We're not exactly blessed with RB's, however I have high hopes for Liam Smith if he continues his development at Dundee Utd, although I'd hoped that he would have been more ambitious and moved up a level from the Championship as he is clearly far too good to be playing 2nd tier in Scotland.

Surely there is one or two prospects in their early twenties or in the u21's, throwing a one u21 cap guy in at the age of 27 is shite as he'll never have the necessary experience for the international stage

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Unfortunately kids just don't seem interested in sports these days.
I know from a Golfing perspective that all our local clubs offer free membership, free lessons / coaching and even the loan of clubs but they still can't attract anyone in.
Pretty sad and just a sign of the times I'm afraid.............
Kids love football though. If they had free clubs after school and at weekends I'm sure they would be full.
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4 minutes ago, 54_and_counting said:

Surely there is one or two prospects in their early twenties or in the u21's, throwing a one u21 cap guy in at the age of 27 is shite as he'll never have the necessary experience for the international stage

Liam Smith is / was the Scotland U21 RB (although that's him over age now).

In fairness we do have quite a young side at the moment and the times to really gauge us will be at home to Russia as we really need to be showing that we can compete with them.

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Who will supervise them?

Most of the youth football clubs are run by volunteers are they not? Invite the youth clubs into the schools to use their gym halls for free. It's a numbers game more kids you have playing the more chance you have of producing top players.

 

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20 minutes ago, WATTOO said:

Liam Smith is / was the Scotland U21 RB (although that's him over age now).

In fairness we do have quite a young side at the moment and the times to really gauge us will be at home to Russia as we really need to be showing that we can compete with them.

Its not really, not in respect to the caps they have, scotland have too many players in their mid to late twenties with single figure cap amounts, these players will likely never be experienced enough at international level until they are past their prime and on the way out

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18 minutes ago, ftk said:

Most of the youth football clubs are run by volunteers are they not? Invite the youth clubs into the schools to use their gym halls for free. It's a numbers game more kids you have playing the more chance you have of producing top players.

 

Are you trusting future development to volunteers? How will the volunteers be checked whether they are appropriate? How will you forecast numbers, find and retain appropriate volunteers to manage the upsurge in numbers attending these open venues? Who will pay for the fuel bills and deterioration of the premises?

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Are you trusting future development to volunteers? How will the volunteers be checked whether they are appropriate? How will you forecast numbers, find and retain appropriate volunteers to manage the upsurge in numbers attending these open venues? Who will pay for the fuel bills and deterioration of the premises?
Most of the current youth teams are run by volunteers just now anyway and get vetted by disclosure Scotland. I'm sure parents would get involved too. The more talented kids would be picked by the professional clubs for training from professional coaches.

In regards who pays for increase in electricity bill I'm sure the council or govt could pay the extra to help keep our kids healthy and keep them off the streets. That's what we pay out taxes for.
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5 minutes ago, ftk said:

Most of the current youth teams are run by volunteers just now anyway and get vetted by disclosure Scotland. I'm sure parents would get involved too. The more talented kids would be picked by the professional clubs for training from professional coaches.

In regards who pays for increase in electricity bill I'm sure the council or govt could pay the extra to help keep our kids healthy and keep them off the streets. That's what we pay out taxes for.

Just open the doors and it will happen...

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42 minutes ago, ftk said:

Most of the current youth teams are run by volunteers just now anyway and get vetted by disclosure Scotland. I'm sure parents would get involved too. The more talented kids would be picked by the professional clubs for training from professional coaches.

In regards who pays for increase in electricity bill I'm sure the council or govt could pay the extra to help keep our kids healthy and keep them off the streets. That's what we pay out taxes for.

Not true the elite academies have took all the best talent across the country part of project brave. 

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