HuttonDressedAsLahm

Doesn’t look like a side setup to play dynamically…

Go 2-0 up, then play Dykes in goal for the last 5.

All the stars are aligning for the most demotivated team possible… that makes me nervous.

I’d love him to get another goal tomorrow. Having the most goals in a campaign in our history seems like a minor achievement, but it would be nice to underline his role in our qualification. Especially since there were no opportunities against a real minnow.

No Haaland, Odegaard, Nyland, or Sorloth. Outside a couple of superb players, the rest are very average. This has all the hallmarks of a reality check in the past… If we fix the issues from Thursday, I’d be confident in winning by 2+ goals. I’m really expecting a performance and a great send off.

Can confirm. Bottles and cups flying down. They ended up with police all the way around the top tier but it didn’t do much. Like other Eastern European cities/venues - security and police everywhere, and doing the square root of f all. Most of it taken well - some Georgian fans completely lost the heid. A bit like their team did in Glasgow. Not enjoyed a goal quite like that before - get it round them. Besides that, Georgia fans have been great. Lovely city - just an utterly clueless security setup.

Incidentally, why is this nonsense keep on being repeated? Georgia are guaranteed a playoff. Tonight is meaningless in that regard. They’re not even the highest placed League C team - Greece and Kazakhstan are above them, and Luxembourg are on equal points. They're the top ranked team as per UNL placings. Does Willie Miller write this tripe?

Lose 3-0

This is no more a dead rubber than the Denmark game was. It matters if we care about Pot 2, otherwise it doesn’t. Assuming 4atb, I’ve no issues with whoever SC picks in midfield. It’s as strong a midfield in Europe outwith the obvious elite sides.

Is that a screenshot from a 1990s homework job on MS paint?

Agreed with that. Brown has pace and strength, just hasn't had an opportunity to show anything yet. As above, not concerned too much about the attacking options - we're much of a muchness up front, and Dykes has been the first choice striker for some time. It's a shame for Adams - he's in a slump, both in form and fitness. I was hoping that The Championship would give him time and space to find some goals and form. No such luck so far. No issue with Shankland being called up. Nisbet is injured, and there's very little else out there right now. If Shankland wasn't available, next in line would be a barely fit Ross Stewart and the u21s.

We might have half our defenders missing, no goalkeeper, and misfiring strikers, but the 4/5/6 key midfielders have been terrific all season, and had a great few weeks since the last camp. We’d be in a much worse position if McTominay/McGinn etc we’re struggling. Their form, alongside Gilmour, McGregor, Christie, and Ferguson still gives me confidence of good results and performances this week.

Did he not switch to the Australian youth sides? Just checked - he hasn’t made it to their senior team, so he’s isn’t locked out should he ever come good.

I really just want to banish old Georgia memories - seems like an absurd fixation, but I seriously don't want to draw them a 4th time, having lost three late-stage qualifiers in Tblisi.

Being subbed for Salah is hardly being made an example when you’re losing is it? Liverpool getting beaten by Toulouse doesn’t swing on one young winger.

Agreed. They were in a good position - but having 2 matches postponed, then having to play a quadruple header when others are playing twice, and with your home games in Hungary... It looks to be Israel, Bosnia (confirmed), Finland (confirmed), and Iceland/Ukraine in League B playoffs. League A is almost definitely Czechia/Poland (effectively 100% 1 or the other, unless Moldova do something special) Croatia/Wales (effectively 100% 1 or the other, unless Armenia do something special) Estonia (from League D) Iceland/Ukraine from League B If Ukraine qualify directly, then Italy would be in playoff A, with Iceland taking up the League B spot. For Norway to get a playoff spot, they require Israel and Switzerland to qualify directly. As above, Romania have a 5-point lead over Israel, albeit they've played two games more so it just looks implausible. I'd fancy Ukraine as the clear favourites to qualify through the playoffs. I don't believe We Global Football have made any adjustments to account for Israel's logistical difficulties.

Losing Hickey would be a real disappointment given how much we’ve already lost and how good he’s been for us. Would it be Taylor/Doig, and Patterson/Max Johnstone? It’s amazing to think we could lose three of the most talented full backs we’ve had in generations, and we’d still have Celtic’s number 1, an Everton player, and young lads in Serie A and Austrian Bundesliga to fall back on.

For anyone interested in playoff permutations, Israel’s games have now been rescheduled. 4 games to be played in 9 days, and Hungary being their base during the period. It’s noteworthy given Israel’s direct qualification is almost definitely necessary in order for Norway to get a playoff spot. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/67279745

Well, yes. My hypothetical was more to make the point that it was an arguable penalty given that contact was clearly made by the goalkeeper prior to touching the ball. I’d posit that VAR, taking offside out the equation, wouldn’t have given it, nor recommended a review against it. A fairly academic discussion to be honest.

From recollection, the referee immediately showed an indirect free kick so offside was the on-the-field decision. Andy looks slightly offside, so I'm assuming that VAR checked the offside and found it correct, and since the challenge isn't a potential red card there's no need to check it further. Also, the keeper hits Robertson first before touching the ball, and Robertson challenges quite fairly (his body is upright, arms down etc - the goalkeeper doesn't have a special protection to launch himself through an opponent to reach a ball). Those are the types of collisions you rarely see penalties for against keepers (unless they very clearly show excessive force/endangering safety), even though you'd expect fouls to be more often given as per the Laws, and not what football expects, or has developed over the decades. If Andy had been onside, and the referee gave a penalty, VAR isn't overturning it.

I thought the clearly established reason is that we don't have B teams?

There's going to be no one left. It's going to be the opposite of 2007, and we'll have the 16-year-old debutants.

Oddly, the further down you go, the better our results get. We fairly often qualify for U17 European finals, occasionally for the U19s, and never for the U21s. U17 17th in UEFA U19 19th in UEFA U21 28th in UEFA The U21s perform dreadfully. Given the state of the Irish League and its senior team, it boggles the mind how much better they are than us at youth level. Edit: Positions are based on most recent draws. There might have been some more recent movement.

It’s £3. The ticket is £7 because the Georgian economy demands much less in the way of pricing. If the ticket was £60, would that change your mind on the nominal cost for handling? You can get a ticket in the home end for £3.03 at the current exchange rate. The most expensive ticket I can see is £15. The Georgian private monthly minimum wage is less than your ticket price.