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angry gaz
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Not important in the context of where we are in world football standings; but we're light years ahead of where Lefud had dragged us down to. That was the lowest period in my Scotland-following life, Vogts et al included.

 

And by the way, Strachan has nothing at all to fear in terms of realistic competition for his job.

 

I know that the style of football is better than Levein, but Strachan's record is not much better

 

Levein P24 W10 D5 L9

Strachan P25 W12 D5 L8

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I think Strachan will leave of his own accord to be honest.

 

The players and tech team all came over to the Scotland support last night after the match for a big photo call with the tartan army in the background. Would make a nice a send off picture for wee Gordy's scrap book if you ask me.

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The reason I think he will leave is because of the upcoming World Cup qualifying section we have.

 

It will be nigh on impossible for Scotland to progress out of that group and Strachan will know that. Finishing 2nd would be an immense achievement but even then, think about some of the teams we'd be coming up against in a 2 leg play off. There will actually be a 2nd placed team who don't even make the playoffs - and given our recent luck I think we all know who that team would be!

 

Had we made the Euros it wouldn't really have been a factor but after failing to qualify the world cup section seems an even more daunting task and the pressure will have increased. He will want to maybe limit the damage that is done to his reputation and legacy and go now.

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Has that helped Ryan Gauld by much ? Or Jack Harper at Real Madrid ?

 

Who knows? they are both young yet. However they are two in how many years? You need a whole bunch of kids getting better coaching experiences and a few out of them will make it.

 

Gauld himself just recently said that he needs to improve his ball skills to have a chance of a regular place in the first team. And he is reckoned one of the most skillful ball players to come out of the Scottish game in a long time. At least he has the sense to recognise he needs to get better. Too many young players here don't understand you need to keep improving aspects of your game all through your career.

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The reason I think he will leave is because of the upcoming World Cup qualifying section we have. It will be nigh on impossible for Scotland to progress out of that group and Strachan will know that. Finishing 2nd would be an immense achievement but even then, think about some of the teams we'd be coming up against in a 2 leg play off. There will actually be a 2nd placed team who don't even make the playoffs .

 

Eh? Every group will be tough because that's the way football is. But outside of England (and on good game we could take something from them) the other teams are all beatable. Nothing is guaranteed but that is a half-decent group for us.

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If I was advising Strachan, I would tell him to leave. There remains a perception that he's done a good job* despite having a record comparable to Levein. He'll be able to get himself a decent Championship gig in England after doing punditry for BBC/ITV at the Euros.

 

In my opinion, the Scotland job isn't seen as the pinnacle of management like managing your country should be; it's seen as an opportunity to get yourself back in the shop window. Hence, I fully expect someone like Paul Lambert to get the job next.

 

*For what it's worth, I think he's done a decent enough job in reinvigorating the national team but isn't without his flaws and certainly isn't the messianic figure some Scotland fans would have had one believe.

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Eh? Every group will be tough because that's the way football is. But outside of England (and on good game we could take something from them) the other teams are all beatable. Nothing is guaranteed but that is a half-decent group for us.

 

Slovenia and Slovakia have both just fared a lot better than us in qualifying for 2016. We'll do well to get 3rd in that group.

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If I was advising Strachan, I would tell him to leave. There remains a perception that he's done a good job* despite having a record comparable to Levein. He'll be able to get himself a decent Championship gig in England after doing punditry for BBC/ITV at the Euros.

 

In my opinion, the Scotland job isn't seen as the pinnacle of management like managing your country should be; it's seen as an opportunity to get yourself back in the shop window. Hence, I fully expect someone like Paul Lambert to get the job next.

 

*For what it's worth, I think he's done a decent enough job in reinvigorating the national team but isn't without his flaws and certainly isn't the messianic figure some Scotland fans would have had one believe.

 

Comparable?

 

Competitive Scotland wins under Craig Levein: Liechtenstein H (2-1, last-minute winner), Liechtenstein A (1-0) Lithuania H (1-0).

 

Competitive Scotland wins under Gordon Strachan: Croatia A (1-0) Macedonia A (2-1) Croatia H (1-0) Georgia H (1-0) ROI H (1-0) (plus Gibraltar H & A)

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Slovenia and Slovakia have both just fared a lot better than us in qualifying for 2016. We'll do well to get 3rd in that group.

 

Would you put them on a par with Ireland and Poland? Thing is, we got the better of one of them and were equal to the other. It all comes down to us losing one or two crucial games every time.

 

I agree with you though, we've got little chance for 2018.

 

Did Scotland coaches of the past not treat the euro qualifiers as a practice run for the world cup qualifiers? Bleed in some younger players and get the right tactics during the euro qualifiers for the WC qualifiers. Now that the euros are 24 team, I reckon we should do the opposite. Treat the next campaign as a practice run and aim to improve the ranking for the 2020 euros draw for which we are partially involved already as a host.

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Slovenia and Slovakia have both just fared a lot better than us in qualifying for 2016. We'll do well to get 3rd in that group.

.

 

Slovenia have done nothing in this campaign. 13 points for 9 games in a weak group.

 

Slovakia just lost 1-0 at home to Belarus. I can't imagine a result like that ever happening to Scotland.

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Comparable?

 

Competitive Scotland wins under Craig Levein: Liechtenstein H (2-1, last-minute winner), Liechtenstein A (1-0) Lithuania H (1-0).

 

Competitive Scotland wins under Gordon Strachan: Croatia A (1-0) Macedonia A (2-1) Croatia H (1-0) Georgia H (1-0) ROI H (1-0) (plus Gibraltar H & A)

 

Euro 2012 qualifying - played 8, 11 points.

 

Euro 2016 Qualifying - played 10, 15 points.

 

Subtracting points on a pro-rata basis for the extra fixtures, I'd say they are pretty comparable records.

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Slovenia and Slovakia have both just fared a lot better than us in qualifying for 2016. We'll do well to get 3rd in that group.

 

Northern Ireland qualified for 2016 with players from the SPL (and not Celtic) in their squad. It's about making the best of what you have got and having the right mental attitude in every game. This is Scotland's problem.

 

It's also our problem we can't develop enough good young players. Other countries with similar and even lower populations than us develop top class players while having the same problems with kids having more interests these days but we don't - which suggests were doing something, probably a lot of things, wrong.

 

We can't do anything quickly about bringing on youngsters but we can try to change our team's mentality. I've supported Strachan on here but mainly because I can't think of anyone better unless we go for a foreign coach. But he did make mistakes, particularly in the away game to Georgia both in team selection and in reading his team's mentality completely wrong.

 

As I said I don't think it will be easy but Scotland are capable of beating these teams: our problem will be the attitude of the manager and team in each game.

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Looking historically at all of the Scotland managers, WGS has been pretty average in a surprisingly mediocre record (I honestly thought that we had been better than this in the past).

 

http://i1283.photobu...2t.jpg~original

 

The ones that surprise me are Roxburgh and Brown. My rose tinted glasses remember them as decent times, but the record doesn't show that. Likewise Wattie was barely better than Levein and Jock Stein remarkably poor. Maybe we just have to accept that we are historically not as good as we thought we were.

 

McLeish has a stand-out record, although if I recall, a defeat away in Georgia cost him a qualification from a VERY tough group. Que Serra Serra.

Edited by Dick Dastardly
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You're claiming that they don't have comparable records despite the only barometer of any importance being almost identical.

Sorry can't agree, that's like comparing a Thistle manager in the 2nd div to one in the Premiershipand arguing they are a better manager because they have a better record.

In this case you could argue they are in the same div but surely you need to make a subjective allowance for the quality of the opposition?

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We only won one away game out of ten - v Gibraltar. As we on this forum know as well as anyone, get your away form sorted and good things will happen....

One out of 5 with two draws!! Defeat to the newly crowned World Cup winners and the only real concern a painful defeat to Georgia.

Our plight is bad enough but we should remain objective and at least try to understand what the real issues are.

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