So that's Scotland's qualifying campaign over and done with, ending in failure yet again. In conjunction with that word I've already heard 'glorious' being bandied about, but there was nothing glorious about it.
In my opinion England, Wales and Northern Ireland had the 3 easiest groups in qualifying, but they've absolutely done the job, and while I would have expected them to qualify, Wales and Northern Ireland now look good to win their groups. If you take Scotland and Eire together, we had probably the toughest task, and going into it I didn't think there would be too much between the 2 of us and Poland.
However, I'm not sure you could call our failure glorious at the end of the day:
We suffered 2 narrow defeats to Germany, but Germany have hardly set the heather alight in this campaign, taking just 1 point from Eire and losing in Poland. Of 22 goals in 9 games, 11 came against Gibraltar and 5 came against us, so they only scored an average of about 1 goal in their other matches. Taking nothing from Germany is actually a poor return.
We couldn't hold on to a lead against Poland home or away. They looked decent against us but no more than that and we should have taken at least 4 points from them. We did take 4 points from Eire, and that should have been enough to keep us ahead of them, except that they weren't as weak as us against Germany and did the job against Georgia, something we failed to do.
Of 9 games we've won just three, one of those against Gibraltar. We might make it four from ten if we beat them in our final game, and that would be our only away win of the campaign. That's not heroic, that's a record undeserving of qualification.
We've scored 16 goals so far which is at least a decent number, but that's about it for positives.
It comes back to the old 'garbage in, garbage out' scenario. Gordon Strachan has put garbage players in his team through choice or lack of options and as a result has had garbage results out of it, particularly in the defensive areas.
Our goalkeeper, Marshall, has had his moments but I'd have to say his performances have steadily dropped over this campaign. That said, he's still the best option versus McGregor who isn't the keeper he was, and the calamity-prone Craig Gordon, so Strachan probably can't be faulted for that.
Right back Hutton has been an automatic choice for years, which is odd since some players have not been considered for selection 'due to the level they were playing at', and yet Hutton has been picked to start for Scotland even when not playing club football at any level. Still, he's probably been our most consistent defender despite the fact he can't tackle or stop a cross. Who would the alternative be? Whittaker? Nope, so poor he couldn't get in the side ahead of a non-match fit Hutton, and yet bizarrely is considered one of 2 first choices out of position at left back despite it being a position we have a number of potential options for. Laughably he's used when we need to be stronger defensively because the other main option, Andrew Robertson, while a great asset going forward, is an utterly appalling defender. Now I'll admit Lee Wallace is also better going forward than at the back, but as a defender he's infinitely superior to Whittaker, and Strachan's anti-Rangers bias has deprived us of a useful player.
The centre of defence is soft soft soft. Players like Hanley, Martin and Berra have some qualities, but with their repeated mistakes its clear we're talking more like 2nd flight qualities rather than international class. We have to find better options there.
We have some decent talent in midfield which has been hindered by illness to Fletcher and poor selections by Strachan. Brown as captain is a joke, and he's consistently the least effective player in a Scotland jersey. He's presumably meant to offer a defensive shield behind the real footballers but it's then hard to explain why he consistently stands and watches his man run away from him into our penalty box. He goes out there and looks like a man who wants to lose, and inevitably chops an opponent down just so we remember he's playing. Morrison gets far more game time than his play merits, and one of our better players, McArthur, always seems to be the odd man out, dropped for one of Strachan's favourites. Dorrans and Forrest haven't really done anything at club level in recent times to merit being in an international squad, though at last Forrest has some zip and energy to offer, if rarely a decent final ball. Maloney's brought some experience and technical ability to the team of late, but his time is surely up now.
Can't complain too much about the forward players although I maintain that Fletcher is not good enough to do a job on his own. He needs to play with someone whether that's a striker or a couple of advanced midfielders, and should not be used as a lone target man in front of a retreating midfield as has been the case at times. Ikechi Anya has been a revelation and a great find by Strachan, no complaints about him.
This squad needs an overhaul to get rid of this old guard that have become entrenched in Strachan's selections. If he doesn't get his act together and start looking at players with energy and ability and who are on form the World Cup qualifying campaign will go the same way.
In my opinion England, Wales and Northern Ireland had the 3 easiest groups in qualifying, but they've absolutely done the job, and while I would have expected them to qualify, Wales and Northern Ireland now look good to win their groups. If you take Scotland and Eire together, we had probably the toughest task, and going into it I didn't think there would be too much between the 2 of us and Poland.
However, I'm not sure you could call our failure glorious at the end of the day:
We suffered 2 narrow defeats to Germany, but Germany have hardly set the heather alight in this campaign, taking just 1 point from Eire and losing in Poland. Of 22 goals in 9 games, 11 came against Gibraltar and 5 came against us, so they only scored an average of about 1 goal in their other matches. Taking nothing from Germany is actually a poor return.
We couldn't hold on to a lead against Poland home or away. They looked decent against us but no more than that and we should have taken at least 4 points from them. We did take 4 points from Eire, and that should have been enough to keep us ahead of them, except that they weren't as weak as us against Germany and did the job against Georgia, something we failed to do.
Of 9 games we've won just three, one of those against Gibraltar. We might make it four from ten if we beat them in our final game, and that would be our only away win of the campaign. That's not heroic, that's a record undeserving of qualification.
We've scored 16 goals so far which is at least a decent number, but that's about it for positives.
It comes back to the old 'garbage in, garbage out' scenario. Gordon Strachan has put garbage players in his team through choice or lack of options and as a result has had garbage results out of it, particularly in the defensive areas.
Our goalkeeper, Marshall, has had his moments but I'd have to say his performances have steadily dropped over this campaign. That said, he's still the best option versus McGregor who isn't the keeper he was, and the calamity-prone Craig Gordon, so Strachan probably can't be faulted for that.
Right back Hutton has been an automatic choice for years, which is odd since some players have not been considered for selection 'due to the level they were playing at', and yet Hutton has been picked to start for Scotland even when not playing club football at any level. Still, he's probably been our most consistent defender despite the fact he can't tackle or stop a cross. Who would the alternative be? Whittaker? Nope, so poor he couldn't get in the side ahead of a non-match fit Hutton, and yet bizarrely is considered one of 2 first choices out of position at left back despite it being a position we have a number of potential options for. Laughably he's used when we need to be stronger defensively because the other main option, Andrew Robertson, while a great asset going forward, is an utterly appalling defender. Now I'll admit Lee Wallace is also better going forward than at the back, but as a defender he's infinitely superior to Whittaker, and Strachan's anti-Rangers bias has deprived us of a useful player.
The centre of defence is soft soft soft. Players like Hanley, Martin and Berra have some qualities, but with their repeated mistakes its clear we're talking more like 2nd flight qualities rather than international class. We have to find better options there.
We have some decent talent in midfield which has been hindered by illness to Fletcher and poor selections by Strachan. Brown as captain is a joke, and he's consistently the least effective player in a Scotland jersey. He's presumably meant to offer a defensive shield behind the real footballers but it's then hard to explain why he consistently stands and watches his man run away from him into our penalty box. He goes out there and looks like a man who wants to lose, and inevitably chops an opponent down just so we remember he's playing. Morrison gets far more game time than his play merits, and one of our better players, McArthur, always seems to be the odd man out, dropped for one of Strachan's favourites. Dorrans and Forrest haven't really done anything at club level in recent times to merit being in an international squad, though at last Forrest has some zip and energy to offer, if rarely a decent final ball. Maloney's brought some experience and technical ability to the team of late, but his time is surely up now.
Can't complain too much about the forward players although I maintain that Fletcher is not good enough to do a job on his own. He needs to play with someone whether that's a striker or a couple of advanced midfielders, and should not be used as a lone target man in front of a retreating midfield as has been the case at times. Ikechi Anya has been a revelation and a great find by Strachan, no complaints about him.
This squad needs an overhaul to get rid of this old guard that have become entrenched in Strachan's selections. If he doesn't get his act together and start looking at players with energy and ability and who are on form the World Cup qualifying campaign will go the same way.