Scotland: Trophy Tilt

"Scotland win trophy."

You don't hear that often.

There is a chance you will tonight though.

And perhaps we could even keep the Carling Nations Cup in perpetuity.

Friday night's attendance for the Wales v Northern Ireland game was 529. That leaves the total attendance for the tournament's five games so far hovering around the 60,000 mark. Or some 5500 fewer people than could cram into the same stadium for a Jedward concert.

It remains to be seen if the Tartan Army have decided to fling a deafie to Craig Levein's plea for a 10,000 strong invasion this evening.

Whatever the attendance tonight it seems that this tournament requires some major modifications if it is to be held again.

For now though we can concentrate on the game. The title play off between Scotland and their hosts, the Republic of Ireland.

Craig Levein has announced him team:

McGregor, Whittaker, Hanley, Berra, Bardsley, Naismith, Robson, Brown, Adam, Forrest, Miller

Gary Caldwell, Stephen Crainey, James Morrison and Ross McCormack drop out of the team that so underwhelmed in the first half against Wales before recovering to post a reasonably comfortable 3-1 win.

A big night this evening for Grant Hanley. Caldwell's injury gives him a start in a central defence that has often caused concern. A first international start after only ten or so appearances for Blackburn.

Circumstance given him his opportunity, we can only hope he grabs it.

A breakthrough night in store for James Forrest as well. A first start and a first cap on the back of his successful season with Celtic.

Together Forrest and Hanley offer an injection of youth that Levein shied from against Wales. That might have been forced on him. But surely the only test of the manager's apparent optimism in the future is if players like Hanley and Forrest can be brought into the team and not look out of the place.

Elsewhere the team has a reasonably familiar look. The reappearance of the reliably resilient Barry Robson shows that Levein is far from ready to sacrifice Scotland's work ethic.

It's another new look midfield that will be charged with giving Charlie Adam the platform to dictate the game and giving Kenny Miller the service and support he needs in attack.

We've not actually played the Republic of Ireland since 2003. That game resulted in a 2-0 defeat as the Irish joined the long list of countries that proved too strong for a Berti Vogts Scotland squad.

It would be nice to think that we could despatch this season with a win. And a trophy.

Certainly tonight matches the two best teams on show.

We have to concede that we're not measuring ourselves against top quality opposition. But it means there will be less room for the periods of poor play that pockmarked the win against of Wales.

Meaningless and pointless. Perhaps. But bigger tests lie ahead and the benefits of having the squad together and in harmony might be important further down the line. The boost of having the squad together and winning might be even greater.

Certainly on a purely footballing level the tournament wouldn't seem to be doing us any great harm.

If we could win the blooming thing it might actually do us some good.

Scotland v Brazil: Learning The Hard Way

Comprehensively outclassed and the day marred by an accusation of racism.

Scotland have had better experiences than their trip to London on Sunday.

Having endured 90 minutes of pressure it could surely only be the most masochistic of Scotland fan who would stick to the party line that a glamour clash against Brazil is always a joy to behold.

The way in which 19 year old Neymar provided the focal point as a depleted Brazil waltzed past Scotland served only to underline how small our progress - wins against the Faroes and Northern Ireland - has been in the grand scheme of the world game.

Of course Brazil are in football's stratosphere, Scotland are its honest journeymen. We're not supposed to beat them. 2-0 will allow the record books to show that we avoided annihilation.

From the Scotland camp came the expected messages of lessons being learned, of hard work paying off.

But this was turgid stuff from Scotland.

Kenny Miller, as tireless as ever, touched the ball on seven times in the first half, his isolation almost complete.

Charlie Adam was honest about his own failure to perform. If Steven Whittaker is given to nightmares then it must be expected this his slumbers will be interrupted by Dani Alves in the coming weeks.

It's unfair to pick out individuals. As Brazil coach Mano Menezes said at the end, this is a Scottish team that relies on collective hard work. The succeed together and they fail together.

The only positive to draw was that Scotland didn't completely fall apart as the Brazilians ran them ragged.

Scotland's plan was to work hard, to press and harry. Yet even in this the temporary hosts provided the most exhilarating display.

When Scotland sought temporary reprieve by training to hold the ball at the back or using Allan McGregor as an outlet, the yellow shirts swarmed into the final third.

Finding himself rushed, his defenders and midfielders marked, the goalkeeper could only go long or wide. Possession was immediately handed back.

It was a study in combining ability with hard work. The sobering lesson was one that many Scotland fans learnt years ago - our own brand of toil and labour combined with technical inferiority is increasingly impotent in the modern game.

All of which is probably nothing new.

So perhaps the most immediate positive to take from it all was Levein's assurance that we won't play a tougher friendly.

And, when all is said in done, it was only a friendly. It could be a costly one though if it combines with other results to send our ranking plummeting.

A game that underlined our weaknesses might also have made it even more difficult for us to qualify for the 2016 World Cup in Brazil.

I hope the SFA feel suitably comfortable with that as they count the cash they got for showing up at the Emirates.

> The racism allegation: As I understand it the booing of Neymar centred on what the fans saw as play acting.

A banana was thrown. The video I have seen suggests it came from the Brazil end, although footage throughout the game seemed to show a fairly wide mingling of fans.

The Tartan Army, since backed by the SFA, have issued vehement denials.

The truth is there was an idiot, from somewhere, in the ground whose ignorance cast a shadow on the day, a day that should have been celebrated for Neymar's performance. And that's deeply regrettable.

Scotland v Brazil: The Preview Post

The chosen few:

McGregor, Hutton, G Caldwell, Berra, Crainey, Adam, Brown, Morrison, McArthur, Whittaker, Miller

The eleven men chosen to rage against history, to turn football's established order on its head.

The bravehearts charged with leading Scotland to a first ever victory against Brazil.

Alright. So that's all a nonsense really.

Yes, the game is capturing imaginations for a number of reasons.

The glamour of Arsenal's Emirates Stadium.

A chance to dream that Scotland, at best solid proletarians of world football recently, can upset Brazil, the game's perennial aristocrats.

All of it's enough to get the Tartan Army on the march, their tunes reverberating through London town itself.

Still a meaningless friendly though.

Obviously it beats playing the Faroe Islands. But there's little substance to it.

Scotland are simply the latest hired hands shipped in to provide the padding in Brazil's apparently open ended world tour.

And, the cynic in me says, chosen to give Brazil a boost, the chance to gain some confidence as flat track bullies.

Because this Brazilian side remains a work in progess, a team that has lost their last couple of games.

But even as an auld curmudgeon like me tries to rain on tomorrow's parade, it's impossible not to feel a frisson of something.

This remains Brazil. The Samba superstars, the jogo bonita brigade, the classy Canarinho.

So, once more, the hope, optimism and excitement build.

There's even been a hint of belief growing around this Scotland squad.

By rediscovering a certain enterprising passion and resilience whilst being quite obviously outclassed by Spain and then enjoying a spot of flat track bullying of our own against inferior opposition, some of the damage of that 4-6-0 and Liechtenstein's Hampden visit has been repaired.

Fickle bunch us Scots.

Yet there have been some signs of progress. Whether an examination by Brazil, even a developing Brazil, is the best way to discover how much progress remains to be seen.

Always remember though, you've got to beat the best to be the best.

Or avoid massive humiliation against the fifth best to be not as bad as might have been feared when you played without a striker against Czech Republic.

Craig Levein has chosen a team that might have been guessed at by the squad he had at his disposal.

It's likely to be the 4-1-4-1 that almost prospered against Spain. Kenny Miller, captain again, is the one.

In the centre of defence a pairing of Gary Caldwell and Christophe Berra might raise some groans but in a squad of increased options Levein remains faced with a narrowing field of contenders at centre half.

I'm interested to see how the much discussed Charlie Adam fares. By now we should all be aware of Adam's qualities - Dani Alves was moved to mention them in an STV interview the other day - but we've still to properly see them for Scotland.

In a game where we're likely to lose out in both possession and territory Adam's exceptional passing and Miller's exeptional workrate could - should - combine as a valuable outlet.

And that's important, because using this formation we have to be capable of giving teams some pause for thought. Preferably before we go 2-0 down.

This is a strange beast of a match. If we play exceptionally well and get a result it will be both remarkable and a massive confidence boost.

If we play well and lose narrowly we'll be able to fall back to the default, gallant losers role we seem to occupy with worryingly natural ease.

If we get a total doing - and that could involve us playing well, alright or very badly - then some of the rebuilt confidence will take a knock. Having picked ourselves off the ropes and almost got on to the front foot we'll be rocked backwards again.

Which is why I disagree that this is a win-win. If the worst happens then it's a lose-lose.

I steal myself to banish such unpatriotic, unworthy thoughts.

Let's hope that this game will continue Levein's evolution as an international manager.

Let's hope that his players will not freeze when faced with the glamour of their surroundings, the fame of their opponents, the hype of the media and the fans.

We're playing what would now appear to be our chosen formation against top class teams. So it's up to the players to prove that it works.

Here's hoping.

Prediction? For fear of being accused of traitorous tendencies, I'll leave the last word to Craig Levein:

"I haven't rushed round the bookies to put a bet on." (BBC)

Quite.

Scotland v Northern Ireland: Old Names For New Look Scotland

International week and all eyes are on the stadium formerly known as Lansdowne Road as Scotland make their debut in the Carling Nations Cup.

Making their debut and already playing catch-up after Ireland set the early pace with a 3-0 win over Wales last night.

Ewan Murray has more on the background to the tournament on The Guardian sports blog including the travails the Irish FA have been having with ticket sales. Fewer than 20,000 were at the Aviva Stadium last night with tickets hardly flying out the door for this evening.

I like the idea of a structured competition with some local Celtic rivalry replacing the normal sea of meaningless friendlies.

But its probably fair to say that, so far, the tournament hasn’t really caught the imagination. England’s absence is hard to ignore and I’m not a huge fan of the one venue format.

Still, worth a try and worth winning the shiny new trophy* for a moral boost for Craig Levein’s squad.

Darren Fletcher’s withdrawal - credit due to the Manchester United midfielder for how rarely he’s done that over the years - gives Kenny Miller the chance to captain the squad.

It’s been quite a 2011 for Miller, what with being the biggest thing to hit Turkey since Bernard Matthews and donning the armband for the first time.

In Fletcher’s absence my own choice as captain would be Craig Gordon but with Gordon withdrawing and Allan McGregor retaining his spot in the starting line-up, Miller’s experience probably makes him the right choice with a new look side taking the field behind him.

Scotland will start:

McGregor, Hutton, S Caldwell, Berra, Bardsley, Adams, Brown, Commons, Morrison, Naismith, Miller

A new look side although no new names. The plan seems to be a 4-4-2 with Craig Levein suggesting that he’s been rethinking the defensive tactics that led him to that unforgettable 4-6-0 formation against Czech Republic.

Adam and Brown are new central midfield pairing. Adam's season has been documented to the point of saturation while Scott Brown seems to have been rediscovering a certain spark in the last few weeks.

Scotland are unlikely to replicate the tactics both have found comfort in at club level though so it will be interesting to see how they cope.

Levein has spoken about this being an inexperienced side. But every player is already an international and none are exactly untested youngsters.

I have to admit that a central defensive pairing of Steven Caldwell and Christophe Berra doesn’t inspire me. But the only other options in the squad are Danny Wilson and Grant Hanley, neither of whom has played much first team football.

But the risk averse Levein has picked, albeit in a different formation, the most experienced squad at his disposal.

If the midfield doesn’t click and the centre of defence is left exposed we could have a few tricky moments.

Better to be optimistic and predict that we take the game by the scruff of the neck with an emphatic display of our attacking intent.

Well, maybe not.

Northern Ireland have been hit by a succession of withdrawals but the home based Scots could be facing some familiar foes with seven SPL players in Nigel Worthington’s squad.

Craig Levein is going to be hugely disappointed with anything but a win from this one.

If the midfield can find an immediate understanding I think we should be OK. Maybe that’s a big “if.” But I’ll back Scotland to win 3-1.

* The inspiration for the trophy was Dublin's Aviva Stadium, which will play host to the Carling Nations Cup tournament, between Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland. The trophy is silver plated, incorporating four coloured rods representing the four teams with the names of the countries engraved around the centre band.

Pic: Carling.com

Have Faith In Adam

This week's Friday videos feature man of the moment Charlie Adam.

Will he go to Liverpool? Will he stay at Blackpool? Will Charlie, Rangers or Ian Holloway make more money from the deal?

First up, a young and nervous Charles scores a pre-season hat-trick:



Charlie does a "Chic Charnley" in a friendly match:



Revelling in the big match atmosphere in the play-off:



And scoring for St Mirren back in the day:



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English Premier League: Bent Transfers In England

Football's versions of the January sales - inflated prices and manager's traipsing far and wide with the desperation of a father searching for a Buzz Lightyear toy on Christmas Eve.

Regular English Premier League guest blogger, Mark Briggs, is back with a look at the moves and speculation as Kenny Dalglish looks to revitalise Liverpool, Charlie Adam and Blackpool face up to a parting of the ways and a calm and collected Aston Villa are in no way panicked into a big money move for Darren Bent. And Scottish managers take control:

With December now behind us, and festive waistlines deflating quicker than English confidence in Wayne Rooney, it's time to look at the stage of the season where the games become mere fodder and filler compared to the noble art of transfer speculation.

Last month we saw Chelsea slip and recover. Aston Villa moved from saying “we’re not worried” to “we’re in a fight no doubt about it” in a week or two. It looks like we’ve got a proper title race, with Manchester City confirming they are contenders.

Arsenal look like they are going to give it all they have to win something this season. Yet despite seeming progress, they are currently 0-1 down to Ipswich in the Carling Cup, needed a last minute penalty and a replay to see off Leeds in the FA Cup and face Barcelona in the Champions League. Things may not look so rosy in a month.

But they’ve played well enough to have the chairman asking where they left the key to the trophy cabinet, despite being on the third goalkeeper of the year.

The Manchester teams are in good little battle of their own, with the blue half splashing the cash on Dzeko and having a bit of a clear out of players who didn’t quite make the grade.

Alan Pardew rode in on a white horse and with promised to play “sexy football”… No, wait. Getting my managers confused, that was Kenny Dalglish way back when, or was it that bloke now in charge in Chechnya?

I am too young to remember with any detail the last Anfield reign of King Kenny but (despite some mediocre results) he has already given Liverpool a sense of belief. They don’t have a good squad and are not challenging for trophies but a feeling has been created that this is now a temporary state of affairs, whereas a few weeks ago it seemed inevitable. They will need more players to come in this month, and they need quality, but optimism is on the rise.

An interesting little side note brought to my attention the other day: There are currently more managers working in the English Premier League from Glasgow than from the whole of England. (Ferguson, Dalglish, Moyes, McLeish, Kean and Coyle vs Redknapp, Bruce, Holloway and Pardew)

Blackpool look to be facing up to the inevitability of their success, the realisation that they aren’t big enough to hold on to your truly good players. So how much is Charlie Adam worth? And, more importantly, when to let him go? Now at an inflated price, at the end of the season after hopefully staying in the Premiership, or for free in 18 months? Pros and cons to all. Tough job being a football manager.

The big news, about six months after losing Martin O’Neil because of lack of investment, Aston Villa have been forced to shell out £24million for Darren Bent because they can't score goals and might go down. Worth the trade? Tough job being a football chairman.

It's staying interesting people!

Will blog again once the transfer sagas are done and dusted to try and make sense of the prices, winners and losers.

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Would You Adam And Eve It?

Defeat for Blackpool at West Brom today. Which isn't a great result. But I did want to share a link about Charlie Adam with you.

Adam's English Premier League progress has been well documented. His travails at Rangers seem stranger by the minute. The much lauded, and apparently much in demand, Blackpool player used to inspire comments like this:

"I thought Adam was nothing short of rubbish. IMO he was the same last year. Every time he gets into good positions he wastes the ball."

And now he's inspiring blogs like this from Jasveer Singh Gill at Dexy's Den:

"He plays with a class and style that embody the club he is currently captaining; all hail Blackpool’s newest legend: Charlie Adam."

"...with even Sir Alex Ferguson declaring his admiration for Charlie Adam, calling him “one of the best players in the league.”

Well worth a read of the whole article. It might raise other questions about youth players getting a chance at Ibrox. But for the moment we should just be admiring everything that Charlie is achieving.

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