Tuesday 7 September 2010

The Scotland Dilemma


Scotland. Football. In the past, the two went hand in hand. But in recent times there has been a severe lack of quality coming through Scottish Football. Whether it be the referee's, the players or even the matches themselves, no one has dodged the bullet as the masses savagely attack our 'beautiful' game.

Long gone are the days of Souness, Dalglish, Johnstone, Cooper, Greig, McNeil, etc. Even the foreign talent like Larsson or Laudrup are distancing themselves from our game. No abundance of young talent, no cash to buy in the foreigners, so where do we go from here?

We've seen one or two youngsters buck the trend and become decent players: Danny Wilson, James Forrest, Aiden McGeady, Graeme Dorrans, John Fleck. But this really isn't enough, is it? Why are we so far behind Spain, Germany and even the French? Questions I am not prepared to answer.



Scotland v Liechtenstein - 7th September 2010.

Allan McGregor

Alan Hutton - Davie Weir - Stephen McManus - Lee Wallace

Scott Brown - Darren Fletcher - Lee McCulloch - James McFadden

Kenny Miller - Kris Boyd

 The lack of quality in tonight's squad is seriously frightening. A win v Liechtenstein will only paper over the cracks, this is a poor side. Allan McGregor, Alan Hutton, Darren Fletcher and James McFadden are the only players who boast any sort of 'class' in their game - the rest are a bunch of athletes, nothing special. Davie Weir gets in for his experience and ability to read the game (a trait he has picked up in his 20 years playing the game), Kris Boyd gets in on his ability to score against the "Diddy teams", and Kenny Miller gets in because he "runs aboot". Stephen McManus, Scott Brown, Lee McCulloch and Lee Wallace are mystifying selections. Not one of them would get into my pub side, so why are they 'gracing' Hampden Park with their headless chicken approach to Football?

Scott Brown - Celtic captain. The famous quote attached to the lad sums him up perfectly, "He can't pass, he can't shoot, he can't tackle; what can he do?".

Stephen McManus - the former Celtic and Scotland captain. A truely woeful footballer, beaten for pace by Kris Boyd, bossed by Kenny Miller and made Gary Caldwell look half-decent. How this guy got a game for Glasgow's second club is nonsensical!

Lee McCulloch - the... eh? For Rangers, he fits in well, allows the flair players to play their game while he picks up a booking a game. For Scotland... no idea what he brings to the table. He does a similar job to Darren Fletcher, yet both play in the same team, and neither do any sort of job!

Lee Wallace - the true headless chicken. Unfairly, I have pointed his start out. The lad starts only because Steven Whittaker - who was brilliant v Lithuania - has broken a nail, but that doesn't cover for his lack of ability in defence. Great going forward (apparently) but lacking in his defensive game. If that aptly describes Lee Wallace, then why is he playing at left back?

Despite this, I have complete faith in Craig Levein. He believes in youth, hopefully more like Joachim Loew and John Toshack believe in youth, and not like Bertie Vogts believed in youth. The older players: Hartley, Ferguson, Weir, Miller, McFadden and Alexander should, in my view, be dropped from International duty permanently, and allow the younger players to gel together. 

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