meuandcoop, how come Belgium get £10m+ for their youngsters and we get £1m for ours?

The Welsh have some very good players too:

Bale, Ramsey, Ledley, Joe Allen, Bellamy etc.

Meuandcoop - spot on. I was chatting to a Scotland under 16 player at new year who is a family friend. He played in the Sky tournament and is attached to an SPL team. His plan was "I want to get to an English side asap, even someone like Wigan or Blackburn, because they pay a fortune for players who are still reserves"

Marky...cos they're better and prove themselves in a better league.
Henrik...the Welsh are better equiped than us.
I watched Macedonia play Portugal yesterday and they shut them out and made a few chances....Scotland are incapable of this.

coop

Our current crop are more than capable of dealing with Belgium.

IF..IF...They play to our strengths and desist with trying to be something we are not.
We are blood and snotters not tippy-tappers.

Hector.....I wish that were true. Belgium are a class act and will beat us home and away. Miller v Kompany.........think about it.

Hector is correct. They need to stick to the style they know. The side that qualified for France 98 were the same; a team pure and simple; hard workers who all played to a decent club level.

At the same time you have to find the balance of gicing your players the confidence and belief in their ability. They can compete with these sides if they stick to the plan. Levein playing 4-6-0 though - what message does that send to the players in terms of belief. The right motivator is needed.

Belgium are a developing side with a good crop of youngsters - they can be beaten. Scotland at home with the fans behind them are a totally different prospect - even with Levein in charge.

Our defense is poor, we have an ageing striker with no real sign of a successor, we have loads of mediocre mid fielders so what's our style or strategy ?

Belgium have some top players, Kompany, Hazard, Vertonghen, Lukaka...Doesn't automatically make them unbeatable.

We thrive on the underdog tag, Levein isn't the man to utilize this particular piece of ammo.

Serbia
Croatia
Belgium
Wales
Macedonia

If Levein doesnt get his act together, I would be very surprised if we got above 5 points in this group, he needs a good start or the boo boys will be out in force at Hampden!

We don't thrive on this underdog tag....that's a myth . When did we last beat a class team ? Sure, we had some unlucky breaks but we had 15% of the possesion aginst Spain.!

meu or best bet is 3-5-2, keep getting those crosses in hit the flanks, let brron rough them up in the centre, get Fletcher and Rhodes upfront

Croatia.

A country with fewer people than Scotland.
A league that is below Scotland in the co-efficient.
A country whose facilities aren't likely to be better.


Despite that they are miles ahead of Scotland.

You can't use the Spain game as an example, they were in untouchable form.

With the right man in charge (WGS) we'd play solid, pragmatic fitba.
Stop the better teams playing by closing them down, then unleashing Kris Commons...

The weather plays a big part Henrik, llok at Uruguay aswell a country of 3.5m people!

Summer fitbaw, it is simple, wouldnt cost a lot to change why spend millions building Toryglen typ fitbaw facilities to keep us from the called snow and ice If people cannae get there cos ther is 6 feet of snow on the road!

Marky...with respect you sound like John Lambie ! The players have to get into the opposition's half to cross the balls, Fletcher doesn't want to play, Jorden Rhodes is in the English 3rd division and Brown would be sent off"roughing them up" as you say.

'No no no no no I'll argue all fakn day with you guys Mulgrew is never a footballer'

I wholeheartedly agree with you, bro.

Hector Commons one one wing McCormack on the other or bannan or snodgrass or whittaker or morrison or whatever, that is our strenght right now fast tricky wingers play to it

Marky.

But the same would apply to Denmark, surely? Yet they qualify and although the Norwegians don't they are above the Scots.

meu I hear where you are coming from but Scotland will and always will be a wee nation, the chances of another Greece happening is astronomical.

we should have our more technically gifted players in our side but we also need our bruisers!

Good kids progress here despite being Scots not because of being Scots. Other countries have worse weather than Scotland...Norway, Sweden, Belgium , Denmark to name but 4. The difference is attitude, diet and culture. We don't breed good players now because too many don't want to play preferring to kid themselves on play stations etc. Look at the % of obese kids in Scotland in comparison to the 4 I've mentioned...the clues are al there.

meu those figures are no different, you are talking about 0.1% percentages.

Scandnavia has one of the highest suicidal rates in the developed world, why? lack of sunshine!

Marky...Greece was a fluke, having beaten Spain the Portuguese thought they had it in the bag. I'm not suggesting that Scotland will never, ever qualify but mark my words they will not get out of that group.

Henke

Whilst I can't argue with the points yer making, and you'll have my full support in a fortnights time, but...

Your squad ain't exactly bursting with talent either.
The difference...A manager that knows how to play the international game.