forameus

But that's not my point. I'd say that if he's ready for serious gametime with the senior team - as in, we expect him to feature when it really matters in March - then yes, I'd have him in. But I'm talking about the mindset that we have to call him up like a fresher with no intention of playing. That's the bit I've never understood, particularly when he can be playing a lot of football in an U21 system that should (but, let's face it, probably doesn't) match the senior setup prior to a step up.

But is that much different to how the U21s do things? If so, then it shouldn't be. Every age group should be concentrating on preparing their players for moving up a step, to every last detail. I might be wrong, but I just can't see players who have been training every day with one of the World's major clubs suddenly acting like a lost wee boy when he turns up to the full national squad, like it's the first day of primary school. Turning it around, are you really saying there's more benefit to Gilmour turning up and not featuring, to "get him used to the squad", rather than playing 180 minutes with the U21s?

I've never really seen much of a benefit of "getting them around the squad" when he's likely getting better training sessions every day with his club than he would going up to Mar Hall every few months. When he's ready to come on and actually contribute to the first team, by all means get him in. In the meantime he'd be far better served starring in an U21 side and continuing his ascent at Chelsea, rather than getting a token call-up so he can sit on the bench for a week.

Weren't Israel fucking rank rotten at Hampden as well? I mean, we need REAL hard work of it in the end, but I seem to remember struggling to draw parallels between the side that absolutely rinsed us away and that team. But as Craig says, it doesn't matter how it happens as long as it happens. I'm happy for Marshall to make 400 saves, them to hit the bar 12 times, then a goal for us from a clear handball. If we're at Euro 2020 and some are still "Aye, but..." then get them in the fucking sea.

Ronaldo's chasing another million goals, I'm not expecting much. I expect Serbia are playoff-bound. In true Scotland style, Serbia probably aren't the team they once were. We worry about them, and the tanking we could get in Belgrade, yet Norway will probably put them out in the semi, and then batter through us in Oslo. The equivalent of worrying about whether Ireland could pip us, and losing to Georgia.

Personally I'd have Martin involved. He rarely looked that good for us, but he rarely had the chance to have a proper go at it. He was often the throw-him-on-for-the-last-few option, and I don't think we ever really played to anything approaching his strengths. So I'd have him involved. But having said that, it's just another example of the "aye but if we had him" crowd of players. The worst player to pull on a Scotland shirt when he's involved, and hot shit whenever he isn't. Schroedinger's massive arsed striker. We've seen it with Fletcher, Griffiths and Rhodes. Even with Shankland slightly. It's easy to point to someone who isn't getting a chance and talk them up, without really thinking that there's probably a very good reason why they're not there.

Yeah, seems like it. Having a day off yesterday has led to me completely forgetting what day it was, forgot there was an episode of NXT done. And from said episode, it's clear that Mia Yim is the one to satisfy WWE's new tradition of a facial blood sacrifice from a female competitor. Mia Yim got her face smashed up with a ladder, and then went through another like this EDIT: Embedding it doesn't seem to work, but it's here https://i.imgur.com/en49Yiq.gifv

People were talking about quite a good example on Reddit of that time Cena eviscerated Reigns on the mic during their feud a while back. IT very much seemed like they'd got them together, and treated Cena like the golden boy. No, John, of course we won't script you. No, John, you can say what you like. Oh, John, you're so handsome and not at all a fucking weirdo in real life. Then they turn to Reigns and spit at him, and hand him a script, and tell him if he doesn't learn and read it verbatim, he's fired. Then they go out, and Reigns gets absolutely pantsed by Cena, left looking like an absolute dick as he struggles to think what to say. Is that Reigns' fault? Slightly, as he probably wasn't great at that kind of character at that point, but he's not a complete fucking moron. Let him go out there and talk with the same freedom as they give to the golden boys. There's almost definitely people on their roster who could give incredible promos, given the freedom.

As I was typing that, I did kind of think that. Although I see it more as "well, now we've not qualified, we've got March". We're not in a position where we can get too furious, as we still have a good (on paper) chance of making the tournament, so matter what happens in these games. I expect if that wasn't there, apathy would be replaced by the usual fury. I wouldn't agree on the Nations League itself though. I think it has been a brilliant addition to the calendar, and that's discounting the extra route into the tournament. Obviously I can't speak to whether the players themselves are treating as "the real quiz". If so, then that is indeed fucking shit, and they shouldn't be.

I felt like that when I first got him, but he did get better.

They'll be drawing who the home team are for the final, and I think they'll need to draw out which diddy gets upgraded to a harder game - like in the case of Bulgaria/Israel/Romania, as one of those needs to move up. We could well end up playing one of those. I think. A lot of games will be decided already, but there's still admin they can get a free lunch out of.

I'm assuming his price is high because you can start him at CDM without having to move him in game and also you can start him anywhere up to striker. Ahhhhh...I didn't notice he was a CAM. Assumed he was still RW. That definitely explains it. Will stick with my RM.

That's the sound of the creative team moving the whole fucking WarGames plan around then... Actually, are we confirmed to be getting two war games matches? We've only had Regal come down and bellow it for the women so far.

Looking at the pool for League B though, it's hardly a shining group. We've been helped massively by the restructure, as some of the more horrifying sides have been spared relegation. Got it below. Obviously there are some pretty tough games in there, but there are also teams we should be beating. We could do pretty well in a group with a decent draw. Emphasis on could and decent.

I'm not sure how the seeding process works now, or even if FIFA/UEFA are to be honest. It used to be World Rankings for World Cup groups, which I suspect it will be again, but UEFA used Nations League. Hopefully the latter, although looking at rankings, I suspect we'd be in pot 3 at the moment, and would probably end up the same after the Nations League. Of course no game is truly pointless. And I'm often fond of saying that it can always get worse. But absolutely everything surrounding the national team is pretty much geared towards this feeling of pointlessness. Every squad announcement is basically always a preliminary one before multiple people drop out. The replacements routinely draw worried shrugs. The performances are largely abject. The prices are still high (although their hands are slightly tied on that one, not that it matters to us). These games should be about laying down a marker, getting our best players playing together so we can sweep aside the likes of Cyprus and Kazakhstan and mean that we go into the March games knowing we can win. Instead, we're playing a 2nd, maybe 3rd string side to play out our fixtures, and will likely go into March as nervous shitebags.

This market's mental. The 85 came out with a ridiculous price range, so was extinct for a couple of days. Raised the price range, it bounced a little, but then settled back down to the original 70k it was with the price range. Now for a plus 1 across face stats, it's up to 345k. I know that'll come down, but surely not by much. Doubt I'll get him, unless I pack him.

Seems a fair enough decision, to be honest. I'd far rather watch the Super Tunnocks Cup than see us fumble our way through a completely pointless international. I don't remember a time where we've had this level of apathy, right enough. Which must (or at least should) be really worrying for Clarke. We've been put out after something like 6 games before, one of the earliest in Europe, and yet disinterest still seems higher today when we have a playoff in March. Although don't they always put these games on against Scotland games? Or is it usually that we're playing on any day that isn't a Saturday, so there's rarely a clash?

I think Stoke fans hate Liam Lindsay due to his performances this season. No idea if that's justified, but it's not exactly promising. I get the feeling anyone from Stoke would just hate anyone else anyway. Probably doesn't help that big Liam's a handsome ride. I have no perspective on his footballing ability these days though. Suspect the ship has sailed for him given he's been overlooked for so long.

Was just checking the Championship on futbin and prices look remarkably low, would've thought people would be clambering all over that kind of card. Absolutely. I did a full 11 first owned for PL and unlocked the two at the same time. YOu could probably even do 3 if those 11 were Champions League players, with 7 from the PL. Didn't think EA would do something that allowed you to stack like that to be honest.

I missed that Legendary requirement...f**k me, that will be difficult. The Championship players I have are utter guff. Completed two of them last night though. Had an all first owner PL squad ready to go of pretty good quality, and blitzed through four wins in a row. Will try and batter through as many Rivals ones as I can until rewards, then move onto the single player ones.

Sputter for Scotland. Get him capped, Clarke, you c**t.

See you next year.

And just to expand, I'm very much of the opinion that we have nowhere near enough quality in our squad to be picking and choosing who represents us, and freezing out some players, particularly when they have the talent of Tierney. But you also have to draw the line somewhere. As I imagine if he missed the March games for "some reason", and we went through, he'd be pure delighted to jump into the squad for the tournament I'd imagine.

He gets a pass just about for these games, mostly because I suspect the vast majority of the fans don't even care about the games let alone the players. March will be interesting though. If he's featuring regularly for Arsenal and we get the humming and hawing around a call-up for games that actually matter, then he can very much f**k off.

No.