Belgium v Scotland: Levein leaving?

Scotland's road to Rio. A dismal football journey.

We got about as far as the five year old who runs away from home and sits down under the whirligig on the back green to wait for the bus.

The five year old might have shown more sophistication.

It's hardly a surprise that we looked so adrift against an impressive Belgium. In the goalless first half an amazing combination of Allan McGregor's excellence, Belgian profligacy and Scottish luck combined to protect our goal.

Somehow we could almost have nicked the lead.

We wouldn't have deserved it.

The second half wore on. Still we hung on at 0-0.

Could we dare to dream the impossible dream?

No. A rather prosaic opener followed by a moment to savour from a defender.

2-0.

That flattered us. We'd kept the deadlock despite chasing shadows. We were unlikely to hold out.

As I wrote yesterday Craig Levein is a manager destined to fail even when all he wants to do is avoid defeat.

They were just better than us. Painfully so.

We might ask how Belgium have developed such rich talent while Scotland have excelled in nothing more than pedestrianism.

A fair question. A conundrum that the SFA have asked Mark Wotte to solve.

That will take time. Already he's lost a couple of coaches who fans, as innocently concerned bystanders, might have thought would be his key lieutenants.

But we shouldn't prejudge. The Wotte revolution has yet to play out and we can only trust that the people he surrounds himself with, the new and the old, are guided by a great feeling of love for our game.

That's for a new generation, the footballing future we all dream of.

A vision Craig Levein has bought into. He sees a footballing recovery quickened by the input of the national manager.

That's admirable and I've no reason to doubt the strength of his desire to shape our future.

But somewhere between our glorious yesterdays (never hugely glorious) and our golden tomorrows (perhaps not hugely golden) we need a footballing present.

And Craig Levein can no longer play a part in the here and now of the national team.

He's failed.

We're bottom of the group.

He's failed miserably.

12 qualifying games. Three wins.

International football is tough. We accept that. We accept that losing in Belgium is a predictable enough fate for Scotland these days.

We shouldn't castigate Levein for losing home and away to Spain.

But consider this; Lithuania away; Czech Republic away; Czech Republic home; Serbia home; Macedonia home; Wales away.

If Scotland were making progress we'd be winning some of these games.

Certainly winning more than Liechtenstein (twice) and Lithuania at home.

The players we have at our disposal should be getting better results.

The manager must take the blame.

Not everyone agrees.

"Change manager but suffer the same miserable fate, for there's more wrong with our game than Craig Levein," they say.

They're right. There is more than Craig Levein wrong with Scottish football.

But when a man isn't tired of the mediocrity of Craig Levein's national side, he is tired of Scotland as a football team of any worth.

I'm not tired of Scotland.

I remember our last five major championship appearances.

Craig Levein was tasked with getting us closer to those halcyon days.

He's failed.

A decent guy who cares about Scotland, wants us to thrive, wants to contribute to our footballing future.

That's Craig Levein.

But he's also a failure.

And failure can only be rewarded with dismissal.

Will the SFA sack Craig Levein?

Scotland's next qualifier is in March. Levein still has a lucrative amount of time left on his contract, the apparent support of his players and a determination to go absolutely nowhere.

But Scotland are out of the World Cup and the SFA have to sell tickets for a series of pointless competitive games.

All of which makes me think that Levein will stumble on until January before a "mutual consent" press release is sent out from Hampden.

Craig Levein's successor?

A brave man indeed.

We all have opinions.

"Knowledge was divided among the Scots, like bread in a besieged town, to every man a mouthful, to no man a bellyful."

Harsh that. But we'll come up with a lot of names and none of us will have the definitive answer.

Consensus is unlikely.

Levein's great lesson might be that having the guts to take the job doesn't necessarily mean being brave enough to do the job justice.

Wales v Scotland: It's over

Another day, another Scotland game. Another night spent wailing "why us" into a pint glass.

If two home draws left our dreams of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup in ruins, defeat in Wales left a barren wasteland where those dreams used to be.

But we were unlucky.

Gareth Bale dived and Steven Fletcher's perfectly legitimate goal should have stood and would have knocked the stuffing out of Wales.

Perhaps. But the problem with indulging in a counter factual analysis of a game is that the other side can do the same.

Shaun Maloney has confirmed he touched Bale - "I can only apologise to my team-mates" - and would Fletcher's goal have proved decisive if Wales had already been allowed back in with the penalty that wasn't given against Christophe Berra?

But we're football fans. And football fans can't resist bemoaning that "we'd have been brilliant if it wasn't for the dodgy referee, the cheating millionaire and the blind linesman."

It becomes a problem if the "woe is me" approach becomes a habit though. And we might be at risk of doing that with Scotland.

Because Scotland are woeful. And nobody currently involved with the team seems able to halt the decline.

We couldn't have asked for better set of opening fixtures. In the horse trading involved in deciding the group schedule, Scotland won hands down.

At home against Serbia and Macedonia then a trip down to Wales.

A golden opportunity to get some wins, to build momentum.

We've blown it spectacularly.

Toothless and disjointed at Hampden, last night we edged clear in a tight first half and then, as this Scottish team so often do, retreated into our shells.

It became clearer and clearer as the second half wore on: this was ten men and one Gareth Bale playing against eleven molluscs.

The manager will speak of his disappointment, ruminate on how a bad refereeing call or two and a wonder strike robbed us of having the points to match the mythical progress he sees in his team.

A useful mask for him. A mask that is perhaps even legitimised by fans lining up to feed into the "we were hard done by" narrative.

It's not enough though.

If Levein came out and called Charlie Adam a fat, lazy bastard for his attempt to match Bale's run for the second goal I would respect him more.

If he announced that the cross shy Alan Hutton was only to be referred to as Dracula from now on I would think more of him.

The players would be miffed, the media would be in a frenzy.

But at least the manager would be giving some indication that he's not overseeing a squad where mediocrity is accepted.

Last night's game might be the one that finally does for the Levein era.

It probably shouldn't have lasted this long.

The way he tried to put a gloss on those two opening draws, the way the players cravenly nodded their agreement.

The clear message was that this was a collective with no clue about qualifying for a major championship. A manager and a squad that just don't get what's required of them.

Giving it your best shot and failing is one thing. Scotland don't offer that now. They perform poorly and that translates into poor results. When the final whistle blows they shrug their shoulders and say "this isn't over."

That clueless complacency shows on the pitch. And it comes from the coach.

Craig Levein has won three qualifying games in eleven attempts. Three. Two of them narrow wins against Liechtenstein.

Yet still he speaks of progress and prays for some luck to come his way. His players agree with him and his employers stand by him.

It's not bad luck and it's certainly not progress. We're not even standing still. We're in reverse with a group of players that should be more competitive than they ever really look.

Another qualifying campaign slips by. Seven have now passed by since we last played at a major tournament.

The art of qualification, once so ingrained in successive Scottish teams, has disappeared. A generation of players don't know how to get the job done.

They need the guidance of someone who does. Instead they fall into line behind the uninspiring leadership of someone who thinks a 0-0 draw at home is a decent way to launch a World Cup bid.

Not for the first time under this manager Scotland looked like they didn't know how to win the game last night.

Don't know how to win. Don't know how to qualify. It's becoming the Scottish way.

And for every day Levein remains in the post the deeper the culture of mediocrity will seep and the harder the recovery will become.

Wales v Scotland: On a mission

Rarely in his footballing life would Craig Levein have persuaded PG Wodehouse that he was wrong about Scotsmen and rays of sunshine.

There's nothing wrong with that.

A thrawn prickliness might even be a good thing in a job where expectation so often finds an enemy in reality.

Yet what might have been a positive has grown into more and more of an encumbrance the longer Levein has been the manager of Scotland.

He seems to have retreated into himself. And, given how uncomfortable he looks most of the time, found little solace in that solitude.

It might be that he cuts a very different figure when he's alone with his squad.

But in public he too often looks distrusting, suspicious or, more worryingly, lost.

International managers can take time to grow into the job. A period of adjustment is often required.

Yet Levein spends too much time looking almost diminished by the job, clinging ever more grimly to the concept of progress as qualifying results point to nothing of the kind.

Like many managers who find themselves fighting for their jobs he's also developed a reverse Midas touch.

There will be no rapprochement with Steven Fletcher? And so Fletcher will start the season on fire.

Jordan Rhodes isn't quite ready for international football? No sooner said than Rhodes will bag a couple of goals.

There are eight or nine players ahead of Kris Commons? Time for Commons to become a stand-out performer for Celtic.

It makes the manager look like the sort of chap you wouldn't stand next to in a casino.

And it makes the volte-face on Fletcher look like the last throw of the dice, a desperate man chasing his losses.

That might all seem a bit harsh. We're just two games into this qualifying campaign. But Levein has never built the momentum required to have a reservoir of goodwill.

Two opening draws at home might not kill a qualifying campaign or end a manager's career.

They certainly rip away the margin of error though.

Levein wouldn't have to go if Scotland don't beat Wales tonight. But there would be little point in carrying on. Mission impossible would have become mission miraculous. And Scottish football is all out of miracles.

The overwhelming impression taken from the festivals of boredom against Macedonia and Serbia was of a team that didn't quite know how it was supposed to be playing. And probably didn't have the belief to do much anyway.

Levein has to change that against Wales.

The return of Darren Fletcher and Scott Brown should galvanise. Form, if not the manager's conviction, should also guarantee the inclusion of Steven Fletcher from the start.

Not playing Fletcher up front would be to give Wales an unnecessary boost.

And Scotland should avoid doing that. If the beleaguered Craig Levein is currently out beleaguered by anyone it might just be Wales manager Chris Coleman.

Four games, four defeats and an absolute tanking from Serbia last time out.

Levein could just produce a picture of the unsmiling Coleman visage whenever he's asked how bad a start Scotland had.

Which is encouraging. But it makes the prospect of not beating Wales even worse. And Scotland are often at their most masochistic in games that should be won.

Wales are not without threats of their own, the thought of Gareth Bale isolating Alan Hutton is keeping me awake at night, but Coleman seems to have brought only disarray to the job.

"It's not a must win game" repeats Levein - a party line not being toed by every player - but it is. For both teams and probably for both managers.

Can Scotland do it?

Yes. They can. Although I've got a horrible feeling this one is far more up for grabs than we'd like it to be.

The odds agree. 13/8 for either team to win, 9/4 the draw.

Gareth Bale, Steve Morison, Steven Fletcher and Kenny Miller all 6/1 as first goalscorer.

Tight.

But let us leave the negativity at door of the manager's press conference.

The power of positive thought tells me that Fletcher will start up front and Shaun Maloney (10/1 first goalscorer) will be there to support him.

Scotland to win and Maloney to score is available at 8/1.

A score prediction?

Scotland to win 2-0 at 11/1.

That's your mission Mr Levein.

I hope you've chosen to accept it.

All odds from Ladbrokes #gameon

Always remembering www.gambleaware.co.uk

Bye George?

Once more, with a little less feeling.

That probably sums up another abject Scottish performance as well as anything could.

This was bad, bad, bad. Scotland were humiliated again by Wales.

The question remains: how many of these performances can we endure before a change is made?

Before the game George Burley justified his selection of a full back, Danny Fox, because "he'd worked ever so hard" filling in the paperwork to get clearance to play for Scotland.

Football according to bureaucracy.

Burley went on to say that Fox deserved his chance because he "knows what Lee Wallace can do." So, on the back of one cap, the manager has the measure of the Hearts full back.

That's fair enough but seems to be contradicted by the selection of Kenny Miller. We all know what Kenny can do. Miss chances. He duly delivered early on with a miss that the manager pointed to as a turning point.

It's unfair to point to a newly tartanised full back or a striker who fails to strike as the catalyst for failure.

There were other failures and few successes. But the buck has to stop somewhere.

Burley might not use the tactics you or I would use. He might not pick the players you or I would choose. But then, if I met you in the pub, we'd probably disagree on the starting 11 and the formation.

That's football. And it's forgivable if the results are good. They haven't been good for far too long.

Even a defeat can offer glimpses of hope. Not today.

After Wales scored Scotland capitulated. No fighting spirit, no coherence, no backbone. Nothing.

Each and everyone of the players should be asking themselves if they gave of their best today. If the answer is no then let's hope they have professional pride to make sure that never happens again.

The manager should ask himself why he has consistently failed to build a team with any kind of spirit. The players don't look like they want to go out and play for him. That's bad but it is not insurmountable.

Today they looked like they didn't want to play for themselves. That's the end of the road for the manager.

A small nation, a small talent pool. True, but today a smaller nation with a smaller talent pool kippered us. That has to mean curtains for somebody.