With no domestic action over the past week to discuss, the blog this week will focus on the current situation facing Scotland and their two games. There are growing calls for McLeish to go after another two poor results against Israel and Portugal. No one can argue that performances have been anywhere near up to standard. I do however feel that this Scotland team are very very poor and are technically lacking and I cannot see an upturn in fortunes any time soon. Apart from 2 or 3 players we have a lot of average players who wouldn’t have got a sniff at a call up in years gone by. McLeish’s tactics have been questionable to say the least with his two best players Robertson and Tierney both being played out of position. I do feel for McLeish that we have landed with two top class players at the one time but both play the same position but I can’t help but feel they would be better off playing one of them right back and the other at their natural position. The 3 at the back formation does not suit the side at all and also means we have players dropping out who can pose a danger further up the pitch. People are more than merited to be asking McLeish to go already but I pose the question, who would be suited to replacing him and more importantly, who would want to replace him as the job has the look of a poision chalice? People may laugh when I say this but would looking at foreign options be such a bad idea, I know people are automatically put off think about Berti Vogts (the last manager to take us to a play off).
For many years Scotland have under performed on the international stage and we seem to be regressing as the years go by. Even just 10 years ago we were just missing out on qualification to teams well ahead of us in the rankings and earned us the nickname of glorious failures but we aren’t even getting close now. The last qualification campaign we flattered to deceive and it looked as though we may get away with some poor performances but we went out and on the basis of the campaign probably deservedly so. The new UEFA Nations League whatever you may think of it should have been seen as a great opportunity to get to the next European Championships, especially when you look at the sides we are up against. If we cannot get through this mini group into the section finals what realistic chance do we have of getting through a proper qualification group? For the last few years it seems as though the Scotland manager does not pick the strongest available starting 11 for whatever reason and questions must be asked. Two seasons ago when Celtic were ruling domestically and their Scottish players were at the top of the game they still weren’t getting in the Scotland team until it was to late and the damage was already done.
There is a huge divide in the support at the moment which cannot help, in years gone by the Scotland support were known for it’s unity and being feared as we supported our nation through thick and thin but recent events where Ryan Jack was booed by “fans” is a stain on our game and I feel what chance do our team have when our own “supporters” won’t even support them. There has to be a major overhaul somewhere to try and turn things around or we will continue to fall further and further away from tournaments.
The McLeish appointment lacked imagination from the beginning and before this, the decision to keep Gordon Strachan on after leading the team to a poor 4th place finish in the previous qualification campaign, questions must be asked of who is making these decisions as they are clearly not fit to be doing their job.
If nations like Iceland (the same population as North Lanarkshire) have found the key to relative success with the resources they have at their disposal, why can’t Scotland? I’ve seen people debating it all starts at grass roots level and we aren’t giving kids the correct coaching or support at a young age, this maybe true but I feel there are players coming through and are currently out there who could improve the state of the national team but are overlooked for some reason by the current set up. If players like Jack Hendry and Charlie Mulgrew are our best options in defence according to the selectors what hope do we really have? These type of players should not by near the international setup whatsoever. I like Graham Shinnie as a player but the decision to call up him in front of Ryan Jack for the last squad against Albania was a shocker and when Ryan Jack was later called up it looked as though it was because McLeish had actualy forgotten about him in the first place!
I would like to be positive and say things will improve but I have a distinct feeling things are going to continue to get worse for our nation before they get better unless there are drastic changes from top to bottom.
Scottish Football Weekly Round Up 