David said moreover, the Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee.
And, by jove, the Lord was with David.
Unfortunately Goliaths have got a bit more sophisticated in the 400 years since King James authorised his version of the bible.
It's doubtful if a stone and a sling could counter tiki-taka. And Scotland won't be allowed swords in Alicante this evening.
So we're screwed as we meet our Judgement Day?
No, we're not. In a weak group we've been foolish in letting it come down to this, a meeting with the invincibles of Spain.
But we don't have to beat them. We just need to hope Lithuania can do us a favour against Czech Republic.
Nothing illustrates the polarisation of this qualification group, the chasm between Spain and the also rans, more than the possibility of a team as limited as Lithuania beating a team as average as the Czechs to allow a team as uninspired as Scotland the luxury of getting cuffed in Spain and still progressing.
International football in all its glory. And the severity of the judgement delivered on your Judgement Day is somewhat neutered by the knowledge that you could lose 6-0 and reach the promised land of a play-off lottery courtesy of a last minute Saulius Mikoliunas dive in Kaunas.
We could, of course, still get some sort of result against Spain. Nothing is certain in football, even if the total Spanish domination of the group suggests otherwise.
In fact Scottish football's popular romanticism, that well worn narrative of the glorious near miss largely invented to lessen the pain of our failures, would have an inspired Scotland enjoying an underdog's moral triumph.
Did we not rock the haughty Spanish as we roared back from the dead at Hampden?
We did. For a bit. And Spain have qualified at a canter so can afford to relax to the point of distraction by the Mediterranean this evening.
What state of relaxation do Spain need to be in before they become a bad team?
Unless we have pre-match confirmation that they intend to turn up drunk, we can consider our hosts prohibitive favourites.
We can expect our 4-1-4-1(ish) to be called into a rearguard action. If our "1" up front is Kenny Miller, Craig Mackail-Smith or David Goodwillie we can expect him to be isolated and tireless, his own frustrations forgotten for the greater good of the collective.
Talk of Levein's tactical options, chat of the meaning of this injury or that passed fitness test, strikes me as being a lot of tosh today.
We want our best players to be available. But what tactical shocks can Levein spring? Which armchair pundit is going to suggest a formation or a game plan that will nullify this Spain team?
Better teams than Scotland have tried and failed. Worse teams than Scotland have tried and failed. Teams that are pretty much the same as Scotland have tried and failed.
Spain are World and European champions for a reason. Scotland have gone a generation without playing at a major championship for a reason. Bridging that gulf is akin to breaking the Rubik's Cube world time record while wearing a blindfold.
Tonight we're likely to be playing the gooseberry as Spain murmur sweet nothings and make rude with the ball. And football's a hard game without the ball.
Keeping your shape, keeping your dignity, when a team is enjoying over 70 percent possession (as Spain have so far in this qualifying campaign) is not easy.
Maybe that sets the stage for Levein's finest hour. The night when his admirable dedication to his own footballing beliefs or - depending on your view of him - his obdurate obsession with organisation above all else, is given the chance to shine.
90 minutes that validate his mantra that the squad have bought into his methods and that he's created a group that can make Scotland proud.
Organisation, concentration, hard work and luck. That's how you get a result against Spain.
And hope. Hope that Lithuania can deliver us to a play-off. And hope that this Goliath leaves David's dignity intact.
> Kenny Miller, Barry Bannan and Craig Mackail-Smith remain injury doubts. Darren Fletcher looks set to play. It looks grim for Miller - whose absence could yet prove that you don't miss the water until the well runs dry - while Bannan could have difficulty putting his boot on without opening up a cut on his foot.
Bannan's emergence has gladdened the heart these past couple of games. But it is the likely absence of Miller's selfless experience that will be most keenly felt.
Donate to the Scottish Football Blog Blogathon: in aid of Alzheimer Scotland and the Homeless World Cup, 19 November 2011
Showing posts with label Darren Fletcher. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Darren Fletcher. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Saturday, October 08, 2011
Scotland: Tonight's team
Breaking with his normal routine of announcing his team the day before the game, Craig Levein has just announced the Scotland team for this evening's match.
Given that we knew Kenny Miller was out and that Darren Fletcher looked likely to play, you get absolutely no prize if you had already guessed this starting XI:
McGregor, Hutton, Caldwell, Berra, Bardsley, Fletcher, Bannan, Morrison, Adam, Naismith, Mackail-Smith
4-5-1? Resolutely.
Big night for Craig Mackail-Smith who makes his first start after a cameo against Brazil and about 30 minutes against Denmark in August.
He's already got five goals for Brighton after stepping up to the Championship this season. He's also now been round this squad long enough to realise exactly what is expected of the lone striker.
As ever his effectiveness in that role will also depend on the support offered by his midfielders.
Gone, perhaps, are the days when a Scottish striker would see a trip to somewhere like Liechtenstein as a chance to fill his boots.
But Mackail-Smith's effectiveness in this role - as we've found with Miller - need not be measured in goals scored. If others are there to take up the slack.
We'll see.
Weather reports from Liechtenstein are poor: rain, cold, a chance of snow. We should be used to that.
Given that we knew Kenny Miller was out and that Darren Fletcher looked likely to play, you get absolutely no prize if you had already guessed this starting XI:
McGregor, Hutton, Caldwell, Berra, Bardsley, Fletcher, Bannan, Morrison, Adam, Naismith, Mackail-Smith
4-5-1? Resolutely.
Big night for Craig Mackail-Smith who makes his first start after a cameo against Brazil and about 30 minutes against Denmark in August.
He's already got five goals for Brighton after stepping up to the Championship this season. He's also now been round this squad long enough to realise exactly what is expected of the lone striker.
As ever his effectiveness in that role will also depend on the support offered by his midfielders.
Gone, perhaps, are the days when a Scottish striker would see a trip to somewhere like Liechtenstein as a chance to fill his boots.
But Mackail-Smith's effectiveness in this role - as we've found with Miller - need not be measured in goals scored. If others are there to take up the slack.
We'll see.
Weather reports from Liechtenstein are poor: rain, cold, a chance of snow. We should be used to that.
Euro 2012: Liechtenstein v Scotland
Another day, a familiar feeling of foreboding.
Or seize the day, the promised land will be delivered.
Mathematically, Scotland still cling to the chance of winning a play off spot for the chance to win a spot in Euro 2014.
Mathematically, I could probably measure the height of the trees outside my window using trigonometry. I’m not going to though.
So we’re only two games away from the fevered anticipation of a play off draw. Or two games away from the doom, the gloom, the post mortem and the calls for Craig Levein to fall on his sword.
First though comes part one of a double header that is probably just the wrong side of a mission impossible to qualify as being "crucial".
Today Liechtenstein. Little Liechtenstein. A small, hilly country where the tax is low and the drink is costly. Narnia, Aslan Salmond calls it.
There are, they say, no easy games in international football. That’s not true. Spain have scored ten past Liechtenstein in two qualifying games.
There are easy games. But there are fewer easier games for world football’s lumpen proletariat than there are for the aristocrats.
And Scotland are scrapping among the peasantry. Spain apart, this is a desperately poor group.
Scotland needed 96 minutes to despatch Liechtenstein at Hampden. Lithuania beat Czech Republic away. Liechtenstein enjoy a better record (on goal difference) against Lithuania than Scotland.
Scotland now appear to have a problem adjusting to those moments when we lift ourselves free of the shackles of our ordinariness. We display a timidity in moments of superiority that we often don’t suffer when the game’s giants are trying to oppress us.
So we roar back against Spain yet slouch into the shadows when in front against the Czechs or dominating the Lithuanians.
That means we often lose or draw games we could have won. And we still end up losing game we’re expected to lose.
The worst of both worlds. Emboldened and ready for revolution when faced with the aristocracy, unable to assume command among the squabbling under class.
All of which can create big problems when we play a team like Liechtenstein. A country even smaller and less successful on the pitch than ourselves. A team who see Scotland as a scalp and will happily set out this evening with the same intent that we’ll be planning to show in Spain next week.
Their desire and our timidity. It can be a disappointly nervy combination.
It’s not arrogant to suggest we’re meeting minnows tonight. 80 times Liechtenstein have played qualifying matches for major tournaments. They’ve lost 67 times, drawn eight and won five.
They’ve conceded 254 goals and scored just 32.
Are they improving? Maybe. Maybe not. Discount those easy Spanish victories and they’ve conceded just six in five games.
But they’ve only scored three and – we hope – are set to finish bottom of a qualifying group yet again.
That’s not to point and laugh at the little “made up” country who have no right to be playing with the big boys. They showed at Hampden that they more than have that right.
It’s to emphasise that, while offering them every respect in our preparation and attitude, this Scotland team, any Scotland team, should be able to beat them. This evening, with those slim hopes still alive, we have to beat them.
And yet still there’s a hint of fear in some of the pre-match chat.
Apoplexy over Darran Fletcher’s tonsils and Kenny Miller’s leg, concern that our centre backs might not be up to the job, debate over whether the inclusion of Charlie Adam is a luxury we can afford to risk.
That it has come to this.
It seems that Fletcher has declared himself fit but Miller won't feature. Captain ready, vice-captain missing but the formation unchanged. Tried and tested. The nucleus of Levein's group on the field and prepared to offer their all.
Is that the best tactic, to stick with what we know? It’s all we’re going to get from Craig Levein.
In my heart I idly hope of him saying:
“To hell wi’ this for a game o' sodjers. Attack, attack, attack.”
He won’t though. When you’re not in the top tier, your football is always likely to be as risk averse as it is adventurous. If, as I expect, we’re out of Euro 2012 by next week then those who call for Levein’s head should remember that very few available managers are likely to offer us anything other than blood, toil, tears and sweat.
Whoever plays, whatever the formation, we’re in Liechtenstein to get a win that will keep the pressure on Czech Republic.
If we can’t do that then not only do we not deserve a play-off spot but we’re destined to slum it with the also-rans, nearly men and never-has-beens for a long time to come yet.
Send them melodious
Liechtenstein’s national anthem is sung to a tune by an unknown composer that has been popularised – or demonised – by its association with God Save The Queen. Countries often borrow things from other countries. There are nations in Africa with agriculture laws that make provision for farmers in Northern Ireland and crofters in Shetland.
Admittedly it’s not the best tune in the world. But the playing of the anthems before an international football match is not the natural home for informed musical criticism.
More than just musical criticism? So what are we left with? A small country feels victimised by a larger country so picks on an even smaller country in act of misplaced retribution.
There's something rather depressing about that.
Or seize the day, the promised land will be delivered.
Mathematically, Scotland still cling to the chance of winning a play off spot for the chance to win a spot in Euro 2014.
Mathematically, I could probably measure the height of the trees outside my window using trigonometry. I’m not going to though.
So we’re only two games away from the fevered anticipation of a play off draw. Or two games away from the doom, the gloom, the post mortem and the calls for Craig Levein to fall on his sword.
First though comes part one of a double header that is probably just the wrong side of a mission impossible to qualify as being "crucial".
Today Liechtenstein. Little Liechtenstein. A small, hilly country where the tax is low and the drink is costly. Narnia, Aslan Salmond calls it.
There are, they say, no easy games in international football. That’s not true. Spain have scored ten past Liechtenstein in two qualifying games.
There are easy games. But there are fewer easier games for world football’s lumpen proletariat than there are for the aristocrats.
And Scotland are scrapping among the peasantry. Spain apart, this is a desperately poor group.
Scotland needed 96 minutes to despatch Liechtenstein at Hampden. Lithuania beat Czech Republic away. Liechtenstein enjoy a better record (on goal difference) against Lithuania than Scotland.
Scotland now appear to have a problem adjusting to those moments when we lift ourselves free of the shackles of our ordinariness. We display a timidity in moments of superiority that we often don’t suffer when the game’s giants are trying to oppress us.
So we roar back against Spain yet slouch into the shadows when in front against the Czechs or dominating the Lithuanians.
That means we often lose or draw games we could have won. And we still end up losing game we’re expected to lose.
The worst of both worlds. Emboldened and ready for revolution when faced with the aristocracy, unable to assume command among the squabbling under class.
All of which can create big problems when we play a team like Liechtenstein. A country even smaller and less successful on the pitch than ourselves. A team who see Scotland as a scalp and will happily set out this evening with the same intent that we’ll be planning to show in Spain next week.
Their desire and our timidity. It can be a disappointly nervy combination.
It’s not arrogant to suggest we’re meeting minnows tonight. 80 times Liechtenstein have played qualifying matches for major tournaments. They’ve lost 67 times, drawn eight and won five.
They’ve conceded 254 goals and scored just 32.
Are they improving? Maybe. Maybe not. Discount those easy Spanish victories and they’ve conceded just six in five games.
But they’ve only scored three and – we hope – are set to finish bottom of a qualifying group yet again.
That’s not to point and laugh at the little “made up” country who have no right to be playing with the big boys. They showed at Hampden that they more than have that right.
It’s to emphasise that, while offering them every respect in our preparation and attitude, this Scotland team, any Scotland team, should be able to beat them. This evening, with those slim hopes still alive, we have to beat them.
And yet still there’s a hint of fear in some of the pre-match chat.
Apoplexy over Darran Fletcher’s tonsils and Kenny Miller’s leg, concern that our centre backs might not be up to the job, debate over whether the inclusion of Charlie Adam is a luxury we can afford to risk.
That it has come to this.
It seems that Fletcher has declared himself fit but Miller won't feature. Captain ready, vice-captain missing but the formation unchanged. Tried and tested. The nucleus of Levein's group on the field and prepared to offer their all.
Is that the best tactic, to stick with what we know? It’s all we’re going to get from Craig Levein.
In my heart I idly hope of him saying:
“To hell wi’ this for a game o' sodjers. Attack, attack, attack.”
He won’t though. When you’re not in the top tier, your football is always likely to be as risk averse as it is adventurous. If, as I expect, we’re out of Euro 2012 by next week then those who call for Levein’s head should remember that very few available managers are likely to offer us anything other than blood, toil, tears and sweat.
Whoever plays, whatever the formation, we’re in Liechtenstein to get a win that will keep the pressure on Czech Republic.
If we can’t do that then not only do we not deserve a play-off spot but we’re destined to slum it with the also-rans, nearly men and never-has-beens for a long time to come yet.
Send them melodious
Liechtenstein’s national anthem is sung to a tune by an unknown composer that has been popularised – or demonised – by its association with God Save The Queen. Countries often borrow things from other countries. There are nations in Africa with agriculture laws that make provision for farmers in Northern Ireland and crofters in Shetland.
Admittedly it’s not the best tune in the world. But the playing of the anthems before an international football match is not the natural home for informed musical criticism.
More than just musical criticism? So what are we left with? A small country feels victimised by a larger country so picks on an even smaller country in act of misplaced retribution.
There's something rather depressing about that.
Tuesday, September 06, 2011
Scotland v Lithuania: Double header deflation
Another Scotland game, more howls of anguish.
"We were robbed/cheated/denied natural footballing justice."
Scotland v Czech Republic followed that old familiar pattern and we all felt rank rotten at the end.
Football's an emotional game and Scotland can tease emotions like few other teams.
But then you calm down and realise that, actually, we were implicated in our own downfall.
Not least because, in a game between two mediocre teams, we were second best for long stretches.
And we showed that old failing of panicking when ahead, never quite sure what to do, not knowing how to close a game out.
The referee - and it seems that our new found respect for whistlers doesn't extend to foreigners given some of the opprobrium heaped on Kevin Blom since Saturday evening - made a crucial error but he wasn't the only guilty party.
A shame because as I wrote before the game there seemed to be a hint of optimism in the September air. It would, as always, have been nice to see that optimism repaid and interesting to see if, even for a brief stretch, confidence from the Tartan Army could have fed belief in the team. A self sustaining confidence cycle to see us through the lest of the campaign.
Others have been quick to absolve the referee or diving Czechs of any blame and instead focus on the manager.
Maybe a decision will have to be made at the end of qualifying on Craig Levein's future and he's presided over some less than vintage performances.
Yet where would his replacement come from? This no longer seems a coveted position. Even Walter Smith and Alex McLeish who seemed at times to prosper in the role - although falling short of qualification - were quick to jump ship when other roles presented themselves.
Was his team selection wrong? Could he have been more attack minded on Saturday?
I honestly don't know. A commitment at one end of the field might have left us more exposed at the other end.
And it was Levein who took the gamble on Darren Fletcher and saw his captain reward him with an assist and a goal. A goal that looked like it might just have been enough.
It wasn't though.
And so the recriminations were free to fly and the propsect of another major championship without Scotland looms large.
Where there's hope, there's a manager paying lip service to battling on to the end.
It all looks quite futile now.
Not entirely pointless though. The remaining games can offer co-efficient or ranking succour.
They're also a platform for Levein to show that when he speaks of the progress the team's making he's not spouting rubbish.
And that starts tonight against a Lithuanian side likely to be obdurate and organised but, again, not world beating.
Circumstances dictate that the team looks like this:
McGregor, Whittaker, Caldwell, Berra, Bardsley, Naismith, Fletcher, Cowie, Bannan, Morrison, Goodwillie.
The tried, tested and apparently trusted 4-5-1. Would David Goodwillie - a Scotland player for all of 14 minutes - have predicted a few months ago that he's be starting this game as the lone striker?
As ever it's less the formation and more the way you set out. At times on Saturday Scotland seemed worryingly unsure about that.
Let's hope they've learnt from that. Tonight might be essentially meaningless but Saturday's deflation has left us looking for some comfort.
"We were robbed/cheated/denied natural footballing justice."
Scotland v Czech Republic followed that old familiar pattern and we all felt rank rotten at the end.
Football's an emotional game and Scotland can tease emotions like few other teams.
But then you calm down and realise that, actually, we were implicated in our own downfall.
Not least because, in a game between two mediocre teams, we were second best for long stretches.
And we showed that old failing of panicking when ahead, never quite sure what to do, not knowing how to close a game out.
The referee - and it seems that our new found respect for whistlers doesn't extend to foreigners given some of the opprobrium heaped on Kevin Blom since Saturday evening - made a crucial error but he wasn't the only guilty party.
A shame because as I wrote before the game there seemed to be a hint of optimism in the September air. It would, as always, have been nice to see that optimism repaid and interesting to see if, even for a brief stretch, confidence from the Tartan Army could have fed belief in the team. A self sustaining confidence cycle to see us through the lest of the campaign.
Others have been quick to absolve the referee or diving Czechs of any blame and instead focus on the manager.
Maybe a decision will have to be made at the end of qualifying on Craig Levein's future and he's presided over some less than vintage performances.
Yet where would his replacement come from? This no longer seems a coveted position. Even Walter Smith and Alex McLeish who seemed at times to prosper in the role - although falling short of qualification - were quick to jump ship when other roles presented themselves.
Was his team selection wrong? Could he have been more attack minded on Saturday?
I honestly don't know. A commitment at one end of the field might have left us more exposed at the other end.
And it was Levein who took the gamble on Darren Fletcher and saw his captain reward him with an assist and a goal. A goal that looked like it might just have been enough.
It wasn't though.
And so the recriminations were free to fly and the propsect of another major championship without Scotland looms large.
Where there's hope, there's a manager paying lip service to battling on to the end.
It all looks quite futile now.
Not entirely pointless though. The remaining games can offer co-efficient or ranking succour.
They're also a platform for Levein to show that when he speaks of the progress the team's making he's not spouting rubbish.
And that starts tonight against a Lithuanian side likely to be obdurate and organised but, again, not world beating.
Circumstances dictate that the team looks like this:
McGregor, Whittaker, Caldwell, Berra, Bardsley, Naismith, Fletcher, Cowie, Bannan, Morrison, Goodwillie.
The tried, tested and apparently trusted 4-5-1. Would David Goodwillie - a Scotland player for all of 14 minutes - have predicted a few months ago that he's be starting this game as the lone striker?
As ever it's less the formation and more the way you set out. At times on Saturday Scotland seemed worryingly unsure about that.
Let's hope they've learnt from that. Tonight might be essentially meaningless but Saturday's deflation has left us looking for some comfort.
Saturday, September 03, 2011
Crucial: Scotland v Czech Republic
What madness is this?
Do I detect a hint of confidence creeping around this Scotland squad?
I feel I do.
So let us pause a while and pay some small tribute to the still oft maligned Craig Levein.
The disaster of the 4-6-0 formation in the away tie against Czech Republic.
The cover-your-eyes-and-pray-to-your-deity-of-choice win from the jaws of apocalypse against Liechtenstein at Hampden.
Levein has plodded diligently through it all. And, if we are to accept he is one of football's plodders, then who is to say the glamorous cavalier always rumoured to be waiting in the wings but never quite materialising would thrive with this group of players?
If modern football dictates Scotland have to cut their cloth according to limited resources who is to say Levein is not the journeyman tailor we need?
When the call went out for this - and we're legally obliged to call it thus - "crucial double header" every player answered.
No call offs, no sudden injuries, no flimsy excuses designed to buy enough time to plot and agitate during the remainder of the transfer window.
Exiles remain but they are largely unproven princes across the water.
In their stead Levein seems to have built a squad who want to be there, who want to play for him.
Spirit and passion are suffering a bad press in football at the moment. Skill and technique are everything.
That's a sound argument. But a technically gifted, luxuriously skilled team without any spirit can be left looking limited.
A team with passion in spades can be inspired within itself to offer the hardwork, the determination, the commitment, the dedication to overcome its limitations.
To wit, look at the squad - not just the few standout players - that Craig Brown took to successive major championships.
An old fashioned view? Almost certainly.
But we have to hope it retains some currency. Because we can't argue that Levein has world class talent to spare. We have to concede this squad is lacking in key areas.
To progress to play-offs or qualification we have to find that little bit extra, a little touch of something that can make us more than the sum of our parts, that helps us scale the peaks of our limitations.
It won't be easy. It never is.
But we've got ourselves into a position where it is possible. Now we have to make it happen. That starts today.
What of our Czech opponents?
They might be bamboozled still by the formation they faced in Prague. Their surprise was understandable. That was a Scotland performance that pulled off the double whammy of both underestimating our own strengths and overestimating our opponents strengths.
Beware the dangers of hubris. But this Czech team is not what it once was.
They remain a team we have beaten only once - and never in a competitive fixture - but they're not world beaters.
A Fifa ranking of 42 - pointless, meaningless etc etc but they allow for a comparison - might not even reflect recent form. Teams they've beaten recently include Liechtenstein, Scotland and Lithuania.
Teams they've failed to beat recently include Spain, Norway, Denmark, Croatia and Japan.
Tomas Rosicky is captain and inspiration. But, again acknowledging the danger of these words returning to bite me on the arse, does his recent form suggest he's the man to slay the Scots?
Milan Baros - still around, still knocking 'em in for Galatasaray - hasn't scored an international goal since filling his boots in a 7-0 win over San Marino in 2009.
Petr Cech misses out which at the very least removes a big presence from the side.
But Scotland really need to win this. A win isn't as crucial for the visitors.
The risk is that Scotland - aware of the crucialness of the first crucial part of this crucial double header - blast out from the start only to be met with frustration alllowing a patient Czech side to bide their time before punishing us on the break.
Levein has chosen tried and trusted for his team selection. Kenny Miller can play the lone striker role in his sleep now. He can't afford the lapses in profligacy that often affect him today.
Darren Fletcher returns to the team for the first time this year and his first appearance - reserve games apart - since coming on as a substitute in the Champions League final.
Not a risk according to Levein who - despite the brickbats that still come his captain's way - prefers to send out a Scotland team with Fletcher in midfield. It's a welcome return for the player. I sincerely hope that this rehabilitation in a Scotland jersey is not a gamble for the team.
Christophe Berra and Gary Caldwell start in the centre of defence. Many would have preferred to see Danny Wilson in there from the start.
Levein's cautious pragmatism was always likely to push him towards the more experienced partnership. Wilson's time will come. And it's only fair to point out that Berra has been part of a Wolves side that has conceded just one goal so far this season.
My personal concern would tend to be more over Caldwell's occasional lapses anyway but this is a position that we seem to be struggling with now where we once had an abundance of - riches might be pushing it - characters who could "do a job."
It's not a world beating team. I suspect it won't have to be. We can't afford to miss chances, lose concentration or gift goals.
Disciplined but with an acknowledgement that some commitment to attack is required.
That'll do for me. And a win, of course.
That's crucial.
> Here's the crucial Scotland side in full: McGregor; Hutton, Caldwell, Berra, Bardsley; Adam; Brown, Fletcher, Morrison, Naismith; Miller
Do I detect a hint of confidence creeping around this Scotland squad?
I feel I do.
So let us pause a while and pay some small tribute to the still oft maligned Craig Levein.
The disaster of the 4-6-0 formation in the away tie against Czech Republic.
The cover-your-eyes-and-pray-to-your-deity-of-choice win from the jaws of apocalypse against Liechtenstein at Hampden.
Levein has plodded diligently through it all. And, if we are to accept he is one of football's plodders, then who is to say the glamorous cavalier always rumoured to be waiting in the wings but never quite materialising would thrive with this group of players?
If modern football dictates Scotland have to cut their cloth according to limited resources who is to say Levein is not the journeyman tailor we need?
When the call went out for this - and we're legally obliged to call it thus - "crucial double header" every player answered.
No call offs, no sudden injuries, no flimsy excuses designed to buy enough time to plot and agitate during the remainder of the transfer window.
Exiles remain but they are largely unproven princes across the water.
In their stead Levein seems to have built a squad who want to be there, who want to play for him.
Spirit and passion are suffering a bad press in football at the moment. Skill and technique are everything.
That's a sound argument. But a technically gifted, luxuriously skilled team without any spirit can be left looking limited.
A team with passion in spades can be inspired within itself to offer the hardwork, the determination, the commitment, the dedication to overcome its limitations.
To wit, look at the squad - not just the few standout players - that Craig Brown took to successive major championships.
An old fashioned view? Almost certainly.
But we have to hope it retains some currency. Because we can't argue that Levein has world class talent to spare. We have to concede this squad is lacking in key areas.
To progress to play-offs or qualification we have to find that little bit extra, a little touch of something that can make us more than the sum of our parts, that helps us scale the peaks of our limitations.
It won't be easy. It never is.
But we've got ourselves into a position where it is possible. Now we have to make it happen. That starts today.
What of our Czech opponents?
They might be bamboozled still by the formation they faced in Prague. Their surprise was understandable. That was a Scotland performance that pulled off the double whammy of both underestimating our own strengths and overestimating our opponents strengths.
Beware the dangers of hubris. But this Czech team is not what it once was.
They remain a team we have beaten only once - and never in a competitive fixture - but they're not world beaters.
A Fifa ranking of 42 - pointless, meaningless etc etc but they allow for a comparison - might not even reflect recent form. Teams they've beaten recently include Liechtenstein, Scotland and Lithuania.
Teams they've failed to beat recently include Spain, Norway, Denmark, Croatia and Japan.
Tomas Rosicky is captain and inspiration. But, again acknowledging the danger of these words returning to bite me on the arse, does his recent form suggest he's the man to slay the Scots?
Milan Baros - still around, still knocking 'em in for Galatasaray - hasn't scored an international goal since filling his boots in a 7-0 win over San Marino in 2009.
Petr Cech misses out which at the very least removes a big presence from the side.
But Scotland really need to win this. A win isn't as crucial for the visitors.
The risk is that Scotland - aware of the crucialness of the first crucial part of this crucial double header - blast out from the start only to be met with frustration alllowing a patient Czech side to bide their time before punishing us on the break.
Levein has chosen tried and trusted for his team selection. Kenny Miller can play the lone striker role in his sleep now. He can't afford the lapses in profligacy that often affect him today.
Darren Fletcher returns to the team for the first time this year and his first appearance - reserve games apart - since coming on as a substitute in the Champions League final.
Not a risk according to Levein who - despite the brickbats that still come his captain's way - prefers to send out a Scotland team with Fletcher in midfield. It's a welcome return for the player. I sincerely hope that this rehabilitation in a Scotland jersey is not a gamble for the team.
Christophe Berra and Gary Caldwell start in the centre of defence. Many would have preferred to see Danny Wilson in there from the start.
Levein's cautious pragmatism was always likely to push him towards the more experienced partnership. Wilson's time will come. And it's only fair to point out that Berra has been part of a Wolves side that has conceded just one goal so far this season.
My personal concern would tend to be more over Caldwell's occasional lapses anyway but this is a position that we seem to be struggling with now where we once had an abundance of - riches might be pushing it - characters who could "do a job."
It's not a world beating team. I suspect it won't have to be. We can't afford to miss chances, lose concentration or gift goals.
Disciplined but with an acknowledgement that some commitment to attack is required.
That'll do for me. And a win, of course.
That's crucial.
> Here's the crucial Scotland side in full: McGregor; Hutton, Caldwell, Berra, Bardsley; Adam; Brown, Fletcher, Morrison, Naismith; Miller
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Champions League: Manchester United v Barcelona
The Champions League.
The tournament that best sums up all that is wrong about European club football. A grotesquely bloated monument to football's greed, its fiscal deities.
Yet still oddly compelling.
And tonight it reaches its climax. Wembley plays hosts to an unfettered orgy celebrating UEFA's money making fetish.
But also, we hope, a memorable game of football.
We have the favourites, Barcelona, considered by some to be the greatest club team ever to play the game, perhaps even thought of as the natural holders of this trophy.
And we have Manchester United. The worst United side for years we've been told. In Alex Ferguson an emperor whose wardrobe was not so much in transition as empty. How he's revelled in that nakedness.
A nineteenth English league title delivered with a nine point cushion. And a third Champions League final in four years. It's certainly a different way to measure footballing inferiority.
It's clear though that United have lacked fluidity, perhaps missed the je ne sais quoi of the real greats, at times this season.
We've seen that in both results and in Ferguson's continued retreats into the siege mentality tricks that have served him so well through years.
Pretty? Not always. Effective? 19 titles tell their own story.
A word here on Ferguson and the press. Does he treat the BBC well? No. Was he at his petulant, bullying worst when caught suggesting a journalist should be denied access to a future press conference after having temerity to mention Ryan Giggs? Yes.
Does any of this help Ferguson's image? Absolutely not. For a man to have achieved so much and still indulge in such pettiness is a shame, even if much of the hysterical outrage it provokes is engineered by people who just don't like United.
Don't let the press skip lightly off the hook though. They play Ferguson's game because too many football journalists have been reduced to filling the role of the simple inhouse scribe to the game's 24 hour media circus.
Argue, provoke or, in some cases, have the temerity to tell the truth and access will be denied. And access is all.
It's not a healthy relationship and it doesn't lead to great journalism. But Ferguson's behaviour is a symptom of that environment not its cause.
I read somewhere the other day that to deny a journalist access to a press conference would be to deny us, the people, the chance to get close to the game, to cut off a valuable source of information that the fans need.
Really? If these endless press conferences were so important then Ian Holloway's comedy routine, a routine that would play to empty houses in the worst sort of Edinburgh Fringe venue, wouldn't have been siezed upon as a highlight of each English Premier League week this season.
Football has very skillfully set its own agenda by constantly feeding the press what it wants them to hear. In turn the media have become convinced that we demand that their role is simply to play the middleman in a great conversation between "football" and the fans. They are terrified that access will be cut off. And that makes them even less likely to properly question what they are being told.
It's an open goal for football. Ferguson simply chooses to fill his boots.
Anyways, back to the game this evening.
Barcelona are favourites. Many predictions seem to consider a Barcelona win a foregone conclusion.
Understandable really. Here's one of the game's biggest clubs so often reminding us of what joy football can bring.
The majesty of this season's 5-0 defeat of Real Madrid will live long. So sustained is their excellence that there is a risk we will begin to take it for granted. We shouldn't. Teams like this don't come along very often. We should savour every moment.
In Lionel Messi Barcelona have a devastating weapon. His semi final goal at the Bernabeu proved that he can rise above his surrounds. That night he lit up a game so unpleasant to watch it had me longing for the delights of Alex Miller's Hibs team of the 1986/87 season.
That game also highlighted one of the problems Manchester United face. Barcelona are not such purists that they can resist being sucked into a war of attrition.
But even if you try to drag them down they have brilliance enough at their disposal to find the fleeting moment of devastating quality that will pull them free.
What Ferguson chooses to do with a problem like Messi is one of the big questions ahead of the game. Man mark him? Who wants that job?
I heard an intriguing theory based on the 1966 World Cup final when Alf Ramsay sacrificed Bobby Charlton's attacking threat and got him to shadow Franz Beckenbaeur. Step forward Wayne Rooney to do the same this evening?
It would be something to watch. But surely there is not parity enough between these two sides for Ferguson to give up on the hope that this is the final where Rooney can make his own indelible mark.
Darren Fletcher might be another contender. However well he would be suited to tracking Messi for 90 minutes or 120 minutes, this might not be Fletcher's time. The virus he has struggled to shake off has left him short of match time and, judging by his appearance last weekend, worryingly thin.
Ferguson would love Fletcher to play but it looks like such a decision would be based on sentiment and hope rather than any real confidence that he could perform to his best so soon after returning.
So the Messi problem offers an interesting chance to play the often fruitless game of trying to second guess Alex Ferguson. The manager has said, in a tone which I like to imagine hinted at Marlon Brando in The Godfather, that there is always a way to stop even the very best from performing.
But Messi has the talent to overcome even the sternest obstacle. And silencing his genius is unlikely to be enough to muffle the threat of teammates who are hardly cowed into walking in the Argentinian's shadow.
If Messi ever wonders which players are close to him at the top of the game he can just have a glance round at training. Andres Iniesta and Xavi joined him in the top three at the Ballon d'Or awards.
Everywhere you look United are faced with mountains to climb to reach the promised land.
It's impossible though to deny the stubborn resilience they've shown this season. And they are not without threats of their own. Guile in midfield, the electric Javier Hernandez, the talent of Rooney. And that work ethic.
Pep Guardiola has shown himself to be too canny to consider this one a done deal.
But it is Guardiola who has to be the favourite to repeat his trick of 2009 and get the better of Alex Ferguson.
Still a cautionary note must remain. Ferguson's career is full of moments when his teams shouldn't have pulled off this, were unable to win that.
He's got a terrible habit of delivering his greatest coups when they look most unlikely.
The tournament that best sums up all that is wrong about European club football. A grotesquely bloated monument to football's greed, its fiscal deities.
Yet still oddly compelling.
And tonight it reaches its climax. Wembley plays hosts to an unfettered orgy celebrating UEFA's money making fetish.
But also, we hope, a memorable game of football.
We have the favourites, Barcelona, considered by some to be the greatest club team ever to play the game, perhaps even thought of as the natural holders of this trophy.
And we have Manchester United. The worst United side for years we've been told. In Alex Ferguson an emperor whose wardrobe was not so much in transition as empty. How he's revelled in that nakedness.
A nineteenth English league title delivered with a nine point cushion. And a third Champions League final in four years. It's certainly a different way to measure footballing inferiority.
It's clear though that United have lacked fluidity, perhaps missed the je ne sais quoi of the real greats, at times this season.
We've seen that in both results and in Ferguson's continued retreats into the siege mentality tricks that have served him so well through years.
Pretty? Not always. Effective? 19 titles tell their own story.
A word here on Ferguson and the press. Does he treat the BBC well? No. Was he at his petulant, bullying worst when caught suggesting a journalist should be denied access to a future press conference after having temerity to mention Ryan Giggs? Yes.
Does any of this help Ferguson's image? Absolutely not. For a man to have achieved so much and still indulge in such pettiness is a shame, even if much of the hysterical outrage it provokes is engineered by people who just don't like United.
Don't let the press skip lightly off the hook though. They play Ferguson's game because too many football journalists have been reduced to filling the role of the simple inhouse scribe to the game's 24 hour media circus.
Argue, provoke or, in some cases, have the temerity to tell the truth and access will be denied. And access is all.
It's not a healthy relationship and it doesn't lead to great journalism. But Ferguson's behaviour is a symptom of that environment not its cause.
I read somewhere the other day that to deny a journalist access to a press conference would be to deny us, the people, the chance to get close to the game, to cut off a valuable source of information that the fans need.
Really? If these endless press conferences were so important then Ian Holloway's comedy routine, a routine that would play to empty houses in the worst sort of Edinburgh Fringe venue, wouldn't have been siezed upon as a highlight of each English Premier League week this season.
Football has very skillfully set its own agenda by constantly feeding the press what it wants them to hear. In turn the media have become convinced that we demand that their role is simply to play the middleman in a great conversation between "football" and the fans. They are terrified that access will be cut off. And that makes them even less likely to properly question what they are being told.
It's an open goal for football. Ferguson simply chooses to fill his boots.
Anyways, back to the game this evening.
Barcelona are favourites. Many predictions seem to consider a Barcelona win a foregone conclusion.
Understandable really. Here's one of the game's biggest clubs so often reminding us of what joy football can bring.
The majesty of this season's 5-0 defeat of Real Madrid will live long. So sustained is their excellence that there is a risk we will begin to take it for granted. We shouldn't. Teams like this don't come along very often. We should savour every moment.
In Lionel Messi Barcelona have a devastating weapon. His semi final goal at the Bernabeu proved that he can rise above his surrounds. That night he lit up a game so unpleasant to watch it had me longing for the delights of Alex Miller's Hibs team of the 1986/87 season.
That game also highlighted one of the problems Manchester United face. Barcelona are not such purists that they can resist being sucked into a war of attrition.
But even if you try to drag them down they have brilliance enough at their disposal to find the fleeting moment of devastating quality that will pull them free.
What Ferguson chooses to do with a problem like Messi is one of the big questions ahead of the game. Man mark him? Who wants that job?
I heard an intriguing theory based on the 1966 World Cup final when Alf Ramsay sacrificed Bobby Charlton's attacking threat and got him to shadow Franz Beckenbaeur. Step forward Wayne Rooney to do the same this evening?
It would be something to watch. But surely there is not parity enough between these two sides for Ferguson to give up on the hope that this is the final where Rooney can make his own indelible mark.
Darren Fletcher might be another contender. However well he would be suited to tracking Messi for 90 minutes or 120 minutes, this might not be Fletcher's time. The virus he has struggled to shake off has left him short of match time and, judging by his appearance last weekend, worryingly thin.
Ferguson would love Fletcher to play but it looks like such a decision would be based on sentiment and hope rather than any real confidence that he could perform to his best so soon after returning.
So the Messi problem offers an interesting chance to play the often fruitless game of trying to second guess Alex Ferguson. The manager has said, in a tone which I like to imagine hinted at Marlon Brando in The Godfather, that there is always a way to stop even the very best from performing.
But Messi has the talent to overcome even the sternest obstacle. And silencing his genius is unlikely to be enough to muffle the threat of teammates who are hardly cowed into walking in the Argentinian's shadow.
If Messi ever wonders which players are close to him at the top of the game he can just have a glance round at training. Andres Iniesta and Xavi joined him in the top three at the Ballon d'Or awards.
Everywhere you look United are faced with mountains to climb to reach the promised land.
It's impossible though to deny the stubborn resilience they've shown this season. And they are not without threats of their own. Guile in midfield, the electric Javier Hernandez, the talent of Rooney. And that work ethic.
Pep Guardiola has shown himself to be too canny to consider this one a done deal.
But it is Guardiola who has to be the favourite to repeat his trick of 2009 and get the better of Alex Ferguson.
Still a cautionary note must remain. Ferguson's career is full of moments when his teams shouldn't have pulled off this, were unable to win that.
He's got a terrible habit of delivering his greatest coups when they look most unlikely.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Manchester United v Rangers
We've had the stories about Sir Alex Ferguson's boyhood support of Rangers, his playing career, his time at Aberdeen.
Fergie has spoken with great fondness about Walter Smith, his right hand man at the 1986 World Cup and, briefly, at Old Trafford.
Smith has responded with glowing tributes to his old boss. Smith and David Weir have admired Wayne Rooney and recalled their days together at Everton.
Gary Neville has paid tribute to Weir for being old and still playing. Darren Fletcher has suggested that Smith isn't old enough to retire.
Everyone has spoken of their confidence that there will be no repeat of the violence that marred Rangers appearance in the UEFA Cup final in Manchester a couple of years ago.
A lot of interviews, a lot of creativity in the questioning, a lot of friendliness in the answers.
But the truth behind the tributes, the respect, the old friendships renewed is that the game is a mismatch.
The champions of Scotland and the runners-up in England continue to share an island but they inhabit different footballing planets.
Results in some European domestic leagues this weekend suggest that shocks are still possible in football. But the modern game is as riven with class differences as a Victorian country mansion.
Rangers hope, the Scottish co-efficient watchers hope, that United have an off night and Rangers somehow perform above themselves.
But it seems a forlorn hope and Walter Smith can have travelled with few expectations. Sneak a draw on a brilliant night, avoid a drubbing on a good night. A win would be a fantasy come to life.
Even in their financial mires the clubs are in different stratospheres. Rangers' debt of £30 million has turned them into paupers with championship medals.
United's debt is said to be somewhere around £715 million but there is no question, at least not yet, that this is likely to unseat them from the top table of European football.
Our footballing realities have diverged completely. A Scot watching English football, the money, the imports, the hype and the crowds, might be reminded of Bobby Jones' words about the young Jack Nicklaus: the English, it seems, are playing a game with which we are not familiar.
But football is still a game. And the Rangers fans currently travelling in convoy from Wigan might just allow themselves to dream.
It will be some effort, a Hercules-ian effort even. But, who knows, maybe dreams will come true.
I can't see it though: 3-0 to United for me.
* Thanks to @CraigyAnderson on Twitter for this stat: Rangers last won a European fixture since beating Werder Bremen in the home leg of their 2008 UEFA Cup quarter final.
Friday, September 03, 2010
Lithuania v Scotland: A Chance Missed
It’s probably best not to be too fatalistic. But Scotland make it hard. And 0-0 with a limited Lithuania side is a massive blow to our already slim chance of reaching Euro 2012.
I actually felt there were some positives, especially in the first half. It was certainly a much improved performance from the Sweden game a few weeks ago.
But even in that first period the chances were few and far been. Barry Robson was charged with control of the set pieces.
And, given Lithuania’s apparent fear of Scotland hitherto little know attacking reputation, he was given plenty of opportunity. He rarely delivered.
When a free kick did afford Stephen McManus a glimpse of chance it was Darren Fletcher who delivered it. Why either manager or players didn’t relieve Robson of his duties at that point we will never know.
There was, as ever, the gnawing fear that our failure to get a goal in the first half would be an issue in the second half.
So it proved as the game wore on and Scotland increasingly lost their shape and composure. Kenny Miller, who put in his normal willing shift without really threatening, looked ever more isolated.
Again we might have expected more from our midfielders. Fletcher’s struggles to impose himself within the restraints of the Scotland team continue, Scott Brown was anonymous except when being drawn into foolish niggles.
The recalled Steven Naismith had a couple of half chances but displayed a hesitancy that a team creating so little can ill afford.
Given Scotland’s dominance of the first half there is a strong argument that Craig Levein should have made a change or two sooner.
The defence looked sound enough and both Alan Hutton and Steven Whittaker were able to get forward as the manager must have planned they would.
Comfortable but not ahead there should have been a willingness to get somebody - Boyd, Dorrans or McFadden - on earlier. It might have meant a change to the shape of the midfield but a team enjoying possession like Scotland did in the first half shouldn’t be scared to take a calculated risk in the search for a goal.
That, though, might not be the Levein way.
Still, it would have been nice to have at least tried. That the final substitution was Whittaker coming off for Christophe Berra in the dying moments as Lithuania suddenly looked to offer a threat of their own was a perfect summary of a big opportunity lost.
The manager was left to bemoan the lack of protection offered by the referee. In fact Cuneyt Cakir had a reasonable game.
He punished Lithuania for their niggly start to the game and wasn’t scared to show his intent with yellow cards in the opening stages.
The truth is Scotland squandered the free kicks they were awarded. Our fault, not the referees. Players like Brown, Fletcher, Robson or Hutton shouldn’t be trying to hide behind the referee on nights like this.
I wrote before the game that I expected Levein to bring organisation and spirit to the Scotland team. They were certainly more organised tonight.
But they lacked the spark that they needed to take advantage of the situation they found themselves in. There is little doubt that this is two points dropped.
Given the opportunity to provide a statement of intent Scotland failed.
It is difficult to see either Spain or the Czech Republic being so profligate on their trips to Kaunas.
One match played. And Euro 2012 has never looked so far away.
Alan Gow: A Drastic Change
The Scotsman strikes again.
Tell you what is a disgrace, the subbing in "Scotland's national newspaper" at the moment.
You might not know what Alan Gow looks like. But the national team captain?
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Netherlands 3 - 0 Scotland
Can I say much? Probably not. Another tale of what might have been, lost dreams and happily drunken fans.
Sometimes brave displays and happy drunks are not enough. Were they enough tonight? I honestly don't know.
We started well, much better than expected. We had Holland rattled and De Jong's yellow card was the least they deserved. Arguments could be made that they should have been down to ten men before half time.
I felt they were rattled, turned up for a walkover and weren't sure what to do when it turned out they had a bit of battle.
But when we had the chance to make a statement our hero in waiting failed. Kenny Miller is not an international striker. Through on goal he took one, two, three touches. It would have been four but he was tackled. A striker would have scored. Miller didn't even win a corner.
The goals we lost were poor. Last time we were there we lost six goals. Surely, that in mind, you place a premium on concentration. Apparently not as two free headers kill us.
The referee wasn't great but he blew very early on the goal that never was. Fletcher pulled a shirt - normal jostling - but did we expect a decent performance from a ref we already suspected was dodgy?
The disallowed goal leads to a penalty (stone waller) and we're dead. Game turning decision? No. Had we scored a team so far superior it's painful would have scored more or contained us.
But we knew this was a hiding to nothing. What do we learn?
We should learn that Ross McCormack is now an international footballer. Gary Teale isn't and never was.
Darren Fletcher and Scott Brown deserve more than to be lumped into an all singing midfield trio with Barry Ferguson. The captain has had his day and is entirely peripheral in the team Burley wants to create.
Our defence can take injuries, suspensions and more but concentration needs to be drummed into them.
And Kenny Miller, for all his running, can no longer be considered an international striker.
And, of course, that we always run the risk of losing to teams that are so much better than us. But. But - we had a chance to make an impact tonight. And sadly some of our players let us down.
We were unlikely to beat Holland but let's try and beat other sides before we beat ourselves.
Sometimes brave displays and happy drunks are not enough. Were they enough tonight? I honestly don't know.
We started well, much better than expected. We had Holland rattled and De Jong's yellow card was the least they deserved. Arguments could be made that they should have been down to ten men before half time.
I felt they were rattled, turned up for a walkover and weren't sure what to do when it turned out they had a bit of battle.
But when we had the chance to make a statement our hero in waiting failed. Kenny Miller is not an international striker. Through on goal he took one, two, three touches. It would have been four but he was tackled. A striker would have scored. Miller didn't even win a corner.
The goals we lost were poor. Last time we were there we lost six goals. Surely, that in mind, you place a premium on concentration. Apparently not as two free headers kill us.
The referee wasn't great but he blew very early on the goal that never was. Fletcher pulled a shirt - normal jostling - but did we expect a decent performance from a ref we already suspected was dodgy?
The disallowed goal leads to a penalty (stone waller) and we're dead. Game turning decision? No. Had we scored a team so far superior it's painful would have scored more or contained us.
But we knew this was a hiding to nothing. What do we learn?
We should learn that Ross McCormack is now an international footballer. Gary Teale isn't and never was.
Darren Fletcher and Scott Brown deserve more than to be lumped into an all singing midfield trio with Barry Ferguson. The captain has had his day and is entirely peripheral in the team Burley wants to create.
Our defence can take injuries, suspensions and more but concentration needs to be drummed into them.
And Kenny Miller, for all his running, can no longer be considered an international striker.
And, of course, that we always run the risk of losing to teams that are so much better than us. But. But - we had a chance to make an impact tonight. And sadly some of our players let us down.
We were unlikely to beat Holland but let's try and beat other sides before we beat ourselves.
Friday, May 02, 2008
Sorry Paul
Let's hope that Alex Ferguson is feeling benign in Moscow.
If he chooses to play his Scottish talisman Darren Fletcher (alright, I know talisman's a bit strong) then Paul Lambert will no longer be the "last Scotsman to play on Europe's greatest stage."
No offence to Paul but it was making journalists lazy, it made him look like some sort of Champion's League rent a quote and it was, frankly, embarrassing that we boasted about one Scot playing 15 years ago or whenever it was.
So go on Darren, do something for your country.
A Scotsman playing in Moscow. A Scotsman managing in Moscow. And a Scottish team in Manchester. Happy days are here again.
If he chooses to play his Scottish talisman Darren Fletcher (alright, I know talisman's a bit strong) then Paul Lambert will no longer be the "last Scotsman to play on Europe's greatest stage."
No offence to Paul but it was making journalists lazy, it made him look like some sort of Champion's League rent a quote and it was, frankly, embarrassing that we boasted about one Scot playing 15 years ago or whenever it was.
So go on Darren, do something for your country.
A Scotsman playing in Moscow. A Scotsman managing in Moscow. And a Scottish team in Manchester. Happy days are here again.
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Fall Guy Fletcher is Inspirational
“The brazen Scottish argument that teams who aren't good enough to qualify under the current system should be allowed in because, um, that would be nice, should be dismissed with the same blend of pity and scorn that would greet Darren Fletcher if he called for Fifa to make football a 20-a-side sport just so he could get into the Manchester United starting line-up. Because the result would be the same: messy mediocrity.”
Excellent work on The Guardian’s blog site from Paul Doyle on Thursday. In one pithy, 40-something word sentence the master of brevity calls the Scottish football team rubbish and picks on the United fall guy.
On Saturday evening Fletcher scored the winner in a game that took his side six points clear in the Premiership.
He may not have the talent of Wayne Rooney or the flashiness of Cristiano Ronaldo but he has a work ethic and passion that makes him a valuable squad member at United.
Why the United fans choose to pick on him eludes me. I might be wrong but the criticism seems to get worse when Fergie’s going through a bad patch.
Perhaps, unwilling to stick the boot in their boss, the supporters use Fletcher, another Scot, as a conduit for their abuse.
We should support Fletcher. He’s fighting a lone battle in the upper echelons of a league that once pulsed with a Scottish heartbeat.
Let’s use him as an inspiration for other young players to prove that they can make it at the very top down south. We might want to keep our talent in Scotland but we are a small pond.
The more players we have playing for top European sides the easier Walter Smith’s job becomes.
Excellent work on The Guardian’s blog site from Paul Doyle on Thursday. In one pithy, 40-something word sentence the master of brevity calls the Scottish football team rubbish and picks on the United fall guy.
On Saturday evening Fletcher scored the winner in a game that took his side six points clear in the Premiership.
He may not have the talent of Wayne Rooney or the flashiness of Cristiano Ronaldo but he has a work ethic and passion that makes him a valuable squad member at United.
Why the United fans choose to pick on him eludes me. I might be wrong but the criticism seems to get worse when Fergie’s going through a bad patch.
Perhaps, unwilling to stick the boot in their boss, the supporters use Fletcher, another Scot, as a conduit for their abuse.
We should support Fletcher. He’s fighting a lone battle in the upper echelons of a league that once pulsed with a Scottish heartbeat.
Let’s use him as an inspiration for other young players to prove that they can make it at the very top down south. We might want to keep our talent in Scotland but we are a small pond.
The more players we have playing for top European sides the easier Walter Smith’s job becomes.
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