Strachan stays

[LinkinFighter]

Who would take the job that's any better than Strachan?

[Falcor Roar]

Who would take the job that's any better than Strachan?

 

Nobody which is why i'm begrudgingly in favour of Strachan staying. It would just be nice if he dumped Scott Brown and stopped making excuses for the last campaign and moved on with some positivity. 

[Gordopolis]

Nobody which is why i'm begrudgingly in favour of Strachan staying. It would just be nice if he dumped Scott Brown and stopped making excuses for the last campaign and moved on with some positivity. 

 

That's a worry - the positivity seems to be draining from Strachan and that can only affect the squad. Perhaps he's just reaching that natural point where it might be best for him to move on (even though he has stated he likes the nature of the job).

 

 

Who would take the job that's any better than Strachan?

 

Anybody who is clearly and currently better is probably out of our reach financially. We'd be hoping to pluck a Ranieri/Laagerback type manager from relative obscurity or decline and I simply don't trust the SFA not to make an utter balls up of identifying such a person.

Conclusion: stick with Strachan for this campaign and see how it goes. He definitely should be getting a bit more of a grilling from the media at times though. It was like that with Walter Smith when we lost at home to Belarus in the 2006 qualifiers - I don't think anybody asked him a difficult question afterwards.

[forameus]

That's a worry - the positivity seems to be draining from Strachan and that can only affect the squad. Perhaps he's just reaching that natural point where it might be best for him to move on (even though he has stated he likes the nature of the job).

 

Personally I'd much rather he was realistic about things.  In the end he's damned either way - if he's overly positive, he'll just get pilloried if we fail.  If he's negative, he gets this.

 

I don't think he's being negative anyway.  When he's agreeing that the quality is lower than in previous years, is there a player in that squad that would disagree?  We used to qualify pretty regularly, or at least go down to a virtual - or literal - playoff for qualifying.  Now in recent years we don't.  Because the quality isn't there.  If there is a player in there that disagrees, then I'd hope that their attitude is to go out and prove him wrong. 

[Dunning1874]

Personally I'd much rather he was realistic about things.  In the end he's damned either way - if he's overly positive, he'll just get pilloried if we fail.  If he's negative, he gets this.

 

I don't think he's being negative anyway.  When he's agreeing that the quality is lower than in previous years, is there a player in that squad that would disagree?  We used to qualify pretty regularly, or at least go down to a virtual - or literal - playoff for qualifying.  Now in recent years we don't.  Because the quality isn't there.  If there is a player in there that disagrees, then I'd hope that their attitude is to go out and prove him wrong. 

 

Of course it's weaker than the squads we had when we were qualifying regularly, but that was 18 years ago - is it any weaker than other squads we've had in the last 15? The squad Strachan has to work with is comfortably better than the squad Smith & McLeish had which finished in 3rd place, 7 points above Ukraine. Strachan could only finish 4th behind a dreadful Ireland side.

 

Talking about how we don't have a Bale or Lewandowski just doesn't cut it - Ireland don't either, but they were capable of going to Georgia and winning. Their squad is no better than ours and they finished above us because Strachan couldn't get a result in Georgia.

 

Ultimately it was one game he fucked up so it's not worthy of the sack, but our failure to qualify for this tournament was entirely a matter of Strachan not doing his job well enough rather than the players at his disposal not being good enough to qualify. Exactly the same as it was for Burley and Levein.

[King Kebab]

Ireland don't either, but they were capable of going to Georgia and winning. Their squad is no better than ours and they finished above us because Strachan couldn't get a result in Georgia.

Think they finished above us because they took 5 points out of 12 against Germany and Poland and we only took 2 in the same fixtures!!!

The Georgia game just cemented our position!!!

[Dunning1874]

Think they finished above us because they took 5 points out of 12 against Germany and Poland and we only took 2 in the same fixtures!!!

The Georgia game just cemented our position!!!

 

We finished three points behind them with a better head-to-head record. If we had beaten Georgia we would have finished above Ireland. Our own failure in Georgia is what stopped us qualifying, not Ireland's over-achievement against Germany.

[Cannon Fodder]

We finished three points behind them with a better head-to-head record. If we had beaten Georgia we would have finished above Ireland. Our own failure in Georgia is what stopped us qualifying, not Ireland's over-achievement against Germany.

I agree. People can pick certain points in the campaign but it literally all boiled down to one game - Georgia away.

Interesting though regarding Strachan's demeanour. I thought when he first came in after Levein he gave the squad a huge lift with his positive attitude and he seemed to say all the right things. Now he looks a bit haunted by our inability to make even the play offs in the last campaign.

I'm still right behind him and think he should be given another shot at qualifying but wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if he walked by the end of year.

[Gordopolis]

If we are effectively out of it after the 4 games this year then I can see him walking too. Hope not as it felt for a while there that we had got past the 'rip it up and start again' merrygoround

[King Kebab]

We finished three points behind them with a better head-to-head record. If we had beaten Georgia we would have finished above Ireland. Our own failure in Georgia is what stopped us qualifying, not Ireland's over-achievement against Germany.

No our defensive ineptitude and our inability to hold on to our leads in both Poland games is what cost us, hold on to those 2-1 leads and we would have finished 1 point ahead of Ireland, regardless of the Georgia game!!!

It's all ifs and buts anyway, if your Auntie had Bawz, she'd be your Unccle!!!

[forameus]

Of course it's weaker than the squads we had when we were qualifying regularly, but that was 18 years ago - is it any weaker than other squads we've had in the last 15? The squad Strachan has to work with is comfortably better than the squad Smith & McLeish had which finished in 3rd place, 7 points above Ukraine. Strachan could only finish 4th behind a dreadful Ireland side.

 

A matter of opinion.  What i don't think is a matter of opinion is that sides that were usually utter pish are now overtaking us technically, while we've stayed roughly the same.  I don't think we've necessarily got worse, not markedly so, but we're definitely not improving at the rate of some other nations. 

 

Talking about how we don't have a Bale or Lewandowski just doesn't cut it - Ireland don't either, but they were capable of going to Georgia and winning. Their squad is no better than ours and they finished above us because Strachan couldn't get a result in Georgia.

 

But that's pretty much exactly what he is saying.  We need to be more like the Ireland side.  Let's face it, it doesn't look like the great white hope is going to be forthcoming - we don't have stars, and we may well not get a star for a while.  So let's realise that and build a team that's greater than the sum of its parts.  Like Ireland.  Like Northern Ireland.  Hell I wouldn't care if we were like Georgia, scraping 1-0 wins in games we needed to win.  That's what I think he's trying to do.

 

Ultimately it was one game he fucked up so it's not worthy of the sack, but our failure to qualify for this tournament was entirely a matter of Strachan not doing his job well enough rather than the players at his disposal not being good enough to qualify. Exactly the same as it was for Burley and Levein.

 

He did, but to say it's entirely a matter of Strachan is rubbish.  The players deserve equal criticism.  In no way is Strachan absolved of it, but the performances across the squad that day were absolutely woeful.  There's only so much a manager can do in those cases.  I'd say the first half was very much the players fault, then as the game wore on it goes back towards the manager.  To be honest though, the damage was already done.  When a team is as well organised as they were, where are the players that can pick through that many shirts?  We don't really have any.

 

But like Kebab says, it's ifs and buts.  If we'd beaten Georgia, maybe we would've got cocky and lost to Poland anyway.  Or maybe we'd have beaten Germany.  What happened, happened.

[woof!]

A matter of opinion. What i don't think is a matter of opinion is that sides that were usually utter pish are now overtaking us technically, while we've stayed roughly the same. I don't think we've necessarily got worse, not markedly so, but we're definitely not improving at the rate of some other nations.

I would say we are slightly better technically now than at any time in the last 20 years or so, but we've sacrificed a lot of physicality and athleticism in the process. Neither approach got us very far.

[Monkey Tennis]

Strachan's noises annoy me.

Of course we lack any really excellent individuals.

Of course we're weaker than we've historically been.

Is there honestly anyone, anywhere, who doesn't recognise and accept these self-evident facts?

Drawing attention to our deficiencies can achieve nothing positive for the team. It's designed purely to further deflate expectation and buy him further licence for failure.

[AMMjag]

Strachan's noises annoy me.

Of course we lack any really excellent individuals.

Of course we're weaker than we've historically been.

Is there honestly anyone, anywhere, who doesn't recognise and accept these self-evident facts?

Drawing attention to our deficiencies can achieve nothing positive for the team. It's designed purely to further deflate expectation and buy him further licence for failure.

This is why we need to get Hibs back in the top flight though. Apparently.

[kenny131]

Strachan is an ignorant little dwarf....butting in everytime mcleish and Co were giving opinions on the cup final.

Was annoying the hell outta me lol. Surprised none of them told him to shut the fook up. The bit where he said if we're all the same fitness it's desire that makes you stand out was him trying to blow his own trumpet