INT: Scotland v Hearts and the England Laughter Station Two crunch games coming up, the first being of course Lithuania on Saturday afternoon, followed up by the walk in the park which is France away midweek. In order to make any headway in the group we'll need to take maximum points from Lithuania, Ukraine and Georgia and hope to take something from Italy and France. It's all still in our hands despite the odds being against us. What's your predictions for the week ahead. Rersonally I'm hoping for a good attacking performance against the Jambo's reserves, with a solid 2-0 victory, and would be over the moon if we held France at 0-0. Scotland are missing: Russell Anderson Kenny Miller Gary Naysmith Barry Ferguson (One match suspension) My expected Line-Up Gordon Hutton Weir McManus McElvey Maloney Fletcher© Brown McFadden O'Conner Boyd And finally, the man who made it all possible...
Re: INT: Scotland v Hearts and the England Laughter Station I don't think he'll play Faddy on the left, he's far too slow to be a winger. I expect either McCulloch or Maloney on the left with either Hartley or Teale on the right. With 2 out of Faddy/Boyd/O'Conner up front, probably the former 2. He might also go with the experience of Alexander at RB. With McCulloch being on a booking I think we'll probably see: ___________Gordon Hutton__Weir__McManus__McEveley Hartley__Brown__Fletcher__Maloney ________Boyd___McFadden
Re: INT: Scotland v Hearts and the England Laughter Station i think he will play mcculloch as he desperately wants the 3 points from this game and will take anything that comes our way in the parc de princes. i'm not a fan of mcculloch and that doesn't just stem from the fact he's playing at mordor now. i've always thought of him as a big lumbering carthorse, although i'll give him his due, he's done better than i thought he would have so far. i can also see mcfadden starting up front with o'connor and boyd being sacrificed to the bench. say it isn't so with alexander having a chance to start. he must be near his 40's now... my line up ---- gordon hutton -- weir -- mcmanus -- mceveley hartley -- brown -- fletcher -- mcculloch mcfadden -- o'connor i'd expect to see maloney and boyd pretty quickly if things are getting uncomfortable. i'd look for a 2-0 H win. as for france. we're all thinking the same thing. get a point if possible. i don't think playing mcculloch would be advantageous in that game as his ball retention and pace are poor. this could be said for a number of our players but him more so imo. ferguson will be back and mcleish might go very conservative with a possible 4-5-1 along the lines of -- gordon hutton -- weir -- mcmanus -- mceveley caldwell brown -- ferguson -- fletcher -- maloney o'connor ball retention could be improved possibly in that line up as long as o'connor is on his game and not playing like he did against s africa. maloney's set piece expertise could become vital as it may be our best avenue of getting a goal in paris. also, the italy v france match is building up to being quite a grudge match. a few injuries/suspensions wouldn't go amiss along with france getting the three points in the san siro.
Re: INT: Scotland v Hearts and the England Laughter Station Hey, where did you get this photo from? Good luck for tomorrow against Lithuania! All that counts is a victory!
Re: INT: Scotland v Hearts and the England Laughter Station Scotland 3 v 1 Lithuania Scotland: Gordon, Hutton, Weir, McManus, McEveley, Teale (McFadden 69), Brown, Fletcher, McCulloch (Maloney 76), Boyd, O'Connor (Beattie 76). Subs Not Used: McGregor, Alexander, Caldwell, Hartley. Booked: O'Connor, Fletcher. Goals: Boyd 31, McManus 77, McFadden 83. Lithuania: Karcemarskas, Stankevicius (Jankauskas 56), Skerla, Zvirgzdauskas, Klimavacius, Semberas, Kalonas, Cesnauskis, Morinas (Mikoliunas 47), Danilevicius, Velicka (Ksanavicius 47). Subs Not Used: Grybauskas, Beniusis, Paulauskas, Zelmikas. Booked: Velicka, Stankevicius, Karcemarskas, Klimavacius, Ksanavicius. Goals: Danilevicius 61 pen. Att: 51,349. Ref: Damir Skomina (Slovenia). well we got there in the end although it could have been a lot smoother if not for the despicable diving antics of mikoliunas. hopefully he'll get run out of scotland for good now. darren fletcher whipped in a great early set piece for boyd to score but apart from that his dead ball delivery was generally pretty poor. having boyd in the team gives us a natural goal scoring threat for the first time in a lot of years. he could have had more than 1 but in the end goals from mcmanus and a wonderstrike from mcfadden gave us the win. i thought mcmanus was brilliant today and he's going to need to produce the same sort of performance on wednesday against anelka and trezeguet as henry is suspended. however, alan hutton is going to have to improve quickly and i worry for both him and mceveley as they'll be up against ribery and malouda probably. hutton in particular was having a hard time of it in the 2nd half against lithuania so i worry how he'll cope against malouda. craig gordon is going to have to produce a good performance as well like he did at hampden. the midfield need to be able to get on the ball and try and get a grip on the game at times. with ferguson back that should give us a better chance of achieving this. surely teale won't be considered for this game? he isn't international class. just because by definition he is a winger and will give you width doesn't make him the right choice if he does nothing on the wing. maloney's set pieces are of a much higher quality than fletcher's. maybe he should be close to a starting spot. his corner delivery will give us chances at set pieces which could be our best chance. in saying that france are a big, strong team but we won at hampden with a set piece play. if he only plays one up front then i'd plump for boyd. i know he doesn't work as hard as o'connor but he's a better shout for a goal. he can put himself about and will be in the box for anything that gets in there. france are going to be over confident and have a sense of injustice over the defeat at hampden. last time i read the rules the winner is determined by who scores the most goals in a game. here's hoping we have a decent ref as well as that eedjit on saturday was a joke. i'd play this team ----- gordon hutton -- mcmanus -- weir -- mceveley caldwell hartley -- fletcher -- ferguson -- maloney boyd
Re: INT: Scotland v Hearts and the England Laughter Station Steven McManus saved your ass yesterday (like Caldwell did against France). Did you attend the match at Hampden? Btw: I wonder why nobody is interested in Scotland's games anymore. Your guys, who play a fantastic quali (I think nobody expected you on spot 2 after so many games), don't deserve that!
Re: INT: Scotland v Hearts and the England Laughter Station I don't post here because it is so quiet and others do likewise. Plus the board move means less people are likely to drop by. We have a nice vicious circle going.
Re: INT: Scotland v Hearts and the England Laughter Station I wonder why. Do you remember former threads concerning the "Bravehearts"? It's a pity.
Re: INT: Scotland v Hearts and the England Laughter Station Scotland v Lithuania Say what you like about Scotland, but we're never interested in making it easy for ourselves. What should have been a straight forward victory turned into a rather nervy affair. My thoughts on the line-up, I'll happily concede that McFadden and Maloney aren't getting regular games for their club and therefore should not be automatic choices. However, Gary Teale?? Come on Alex the guy has less dimensions than a piece of string. At the very least Paul Hartley should have been on instead of him. The national anthem once again sounded like a tuneless dirge, and now we seem to be employing some pub singer to belt it out. Is he the non-dead Corrie or something? I'm going to write a strongly worded letter to Alex Salmond with Gordon Smith cc'd in demanding that "Is There for Honest Poverty" be made the new National anthem, or at the very least "Auld Lang Syne". Scotland were terribly guilty of showing Lithuania too much respect, and they almost capitalised on that with their display. Darren Fletcher needs to watch more Hearts games if he was in any way suprised at that dive. France v Scotland What we need on Wednesday is players who will show NO RESPECT whatsoever to France, and it heartens me that in McFadden, Brown and Ferguson we will have just that. Although I'm sure 'Eck will play one up front, he needs to go their looking for a win, which may be unlikely but what the hell. Gordon Hutton Weir Mcmanus McEveley Hartley Brown Fletcher Ferguson McCulloch McFadden This is the line-up I hope is played, just look at that central midfield, I think you'd be hard pressed to find a stronger three players anywhere in the world right now. Okay that's exaggerating a bit, but still, look at how far the squad has come in 5 years. For the striker I've had to go with the 'cheeky boy', although I was loathe to leave out Boyd who just seems unable to not get at least one goal per game despite being a lazy fat b*stard. McFadden can do his usual of dribbling the ball about and in general be a nuisance, hopefully the team can hit something from a set piece like the 3 they scored on Saturday. Alternatively I'd be happy with McFadden on the wing and Boyd up front, but I really feel James plays best as an out and out striker, he just needs a bit of support and service. A little bit worried about Hutton and McEveley, getting caught out... or Hutton getting sent off for that matter. Hopefully both will come through with flying colours... because I can't really think of anyone better right now.
Re: INT: Scotland v Hearts and the England Laughter Station So many people interested in the "big game" against France? C'mon, what's up here lately?
Re: INT: Scotland v Hearts and the England Laughter Station the footballing gods are smiling on us....
Huge game tomorrow for the lads against les bleus in Paris. France looks like a good bet to win the group but have been shaky at times. Scotland beat France 1-0 at Hampden back in October. I'd love to see Scotland get a hard fought point to add to our total, but France away has to be one of the toughest int'l games on the planet. any thoughts or predictions on tomorrows game? Important points: -Henry is suspended for this game after receiving his second yellow vs. Italy on saturday -Barry Ferguson returns to the squad after missing the Lithuania game on saturday -Scotland has not won in France since 1950 -after 8 qualifying games France leads the group with 19, Scotland is 2nd with 18 -Italy travels to Ukraine, both teams need the 3 pts as both teams tied on saturday
maybe this thread could be merged with the double header thread that st mirren till i die has begun. what say you yankhibee?
Good luck for the "big" game in Paris! If you get a draw, I'm sure that you'll have good chances to make the sensation and qualify for the Euro 2008! PS: How many fans of the Tartan Army are expected to support the "Bravehearts"?
Any Scots here in San Francisco? I'm going down to watch the match at Kezar pub round 1130. I'll be the one with bald head and the tartan scarf.
looks like mcfadden is going to be given free reign 'in the hole' behind either boyd or o'connor. i think o'connor has gone off the boil slightly at international level and after a shaky start to the season boyd is scoring for fun again. the way he's playing at the minute he might nick a goal. chances could be few and far between for us tonight and i'd rather see a half chance in the box fall to him than o'connor at the minute. another suggestion i heard was to play mcculloch up front as he may link the play better but after the header he had saved against lithuania (he really should have scored) i'd still prefer to see a confident striker in goal scoring form at the head of the team. doesn't look like maloney will start which is a pity as his set piece delivery can cause havoc. defensively he'd be weak on either flank though and our two full backs are going to need as much help as they can get. i still feel we can get a point out of this game which would be a great result for us, especially if italy and ukraine stalemate as well.