andychar

Its a OFC tour (in Scotland). My scouts and my coaches are disagree when it comes to Johnson. One has him 3 stars, the other 2 and a half. Is it me or has Malky Semple's Potential just fell off a cliff?! We are missing Lowry through injury. Just the 2. No need for anymore.

Friendly American Samoa (h) Now this should be double figures. American Samoa have the pride of having the worst International Result in history go against them when they lost 31-0 against Australia. That was a long time ago in game and maybe they are better. My strongest XI says they aren't better. Laidlaw with the goal. Took us long enough! Hardwick makes it 2. Gilmour from the spot. Rarely misses. Hardwick get his second and we are on pace for double figures at least. Laidlaw gets his second. Hardwick first to reach his hattrick. How its only 6 I'll never know. Put it this way. The American Samoa keeper has conceded 6 and is on a 7.4! An own goal makes it 7. Its been a less than inspiring second half. Fiorini with a brilliant free kick finally puts us ahead of our xG! Laidlaw finally gets his hattrick and we are on the cusp of 10. No 10 but a very good performance. 22 shots on target from 43 is encouraging.

Friendly Burundi (h) Should be no issues this Window, or any of the next few windows really. Just a good chance to tick some Countries off. The good news is as of September we are still clinging onto 11th in the World. Chance to break that Top 10 soon! We lose Turnbull through injury. Fiorini comes in. A name we haven't heard from in a while. Could have called up McGregor but decided against it. Most bizarre line up I've picked in a long time. McGinty takes the number 1 shirt. Steele and Nevans make their debut. I am a generous God. Munro eventually fires us into the lead. Nevans assist on his debut. Munro picks up a second. Its been cruise control without the finishing. Munro with the hattrick on the stroke of Half Time. Munro having a field day. Nevans with a goal on his debut and it was a brilliant finish into the roof of the goal. Laidlaw comes on and bags himself a goal. A good number 2 to Munro he's turning into too. Steady as she goes really.

So every time it comes to picking my team I click "Use Suggested Squad" a few days before and then when it comes to finalising the team end up making like 5/6 changes. This time I'm going to leave it and see what happens. Ed McGinty has moved from Hibs and suddenly found half a star! 3 years younger could he be the new Number 1? Tierney misses out through injury so Patterson is the most senior. First time in a long time nobody 30 or over here. Steele is somebody I have been looking at but at RB he's just never been needed. Jackson another who gets beat my McGurk most of the time! Ben Doak and Shay Nevans are 2 that I'm always removing, well its their lucky day! Toland is a wasted youth. He was a wonderkid now just an average adult. The CPU thinks he deserves a call up however. One thing I will say about this is the fact only 4 players are 30 or over and 2 of them are keepers!

Sorry. I'm holding out for the Argentina job.

There he goes. Finally escaped the Scottish National Football Side.

Friendly Hong Kong (China PR) (h) This is another game that should be a walk in the park and I'm going to play my strongest XI.* *Not counting Liam Kelly. Turnbull steps up and dispatches a penalty. Tierney doesn't get many but he's got one today. Hardwick heads home a Robertson cross. Then quickly adds his second. And then bags his hattrick! Laidlaw finally gets in on the act just before half time. I call that a good half of football. Laidlaw gets his 2nd technically earlier than his 1st cos I was slow taking the screenshot. Dunno who scored it I was making subs! Buchan comes on as a sub and finishes brilliantly for out 9th. Laidlaw gets his 4th meaning his scored the mystery goal. 10 is nice and unexpected. Not like its 18 though eh! Another for Laidlaw. He's had a good window! Turnbull finishes it with a lovely freekick. Great game for us. Always nice to destroy another Country.

Friendly St Lucia (h) Another game that doesn't really strike fear into my heart! There has been a few changes to the plan this year. I've been told the Samoa game has been cancelled but its still there so a bit confused. We lost Guatemala and Guyana, replaced by Burundi and Samoa (I think.) Its a strong side with a few missing out because of 45 minutes restrictions. Including Liam Kelly! Laidlaw fires us into the lead And then gifted a second. Comical defending. Its not been exciting but it will do. Laidlaw completes his hattrick. I erm....missed a goal. Not a clue what happened there. Looks like Laidlaw has all 5, unless it was an own goal. Turnbull makes sure somebody else other than Laidlaw scores. It will do. Another one down.

Disclaimer - This might be the final Squad I can call Robertson to therefore he is there. I really want Serafini to start getting better but until then its still Kelly. 37 year old Andrew Robertson will play his 139th and 140th cap for Scotland. Pretty sure Tierney will break this record but hey ho. No real surprises here. Feel like I discovered Allan Campbell a little to late. The joy of having the English leagues loaded. McGregor gets the call up but I'm worried he's starting to decline. At 37 its hardly surprising. How many more caps he going to be able to get? Nearly 100 International Goals between the 3 of them from only 74 Caps. We are in good hands.

Another sizable gap inbetween fixtures. We are now 11th in the World. Banging on the door of the Top 10. The next break, if it doesn't get changed is another easy two games. It would be 4 Countries this year so far. Remember we roughly get 7 Countries a year so the longer we can maintain that the better. So I've just found out why we havent been drawn into the European Championship Qualifiers.... We are the Hosts! This is brilliant for us. It means we have a full year of Friendlies. Already arranged. All of them easy. This could be a 10 Country year! This is going to be a very easy year indeed. Only negative is I can see us falling down the World Rankings and that illusive date with Mozambique. So shall we take a look at the draw then? Which has already started! How can I be so thick as to not wonder what was happening earlier! So predictions (because they went so well last time). Group A - Norway and Ireland Group B - England and Turkey Group C - Belgium and Croatia Group D - Holland and Slovenia Group E - France and Sweden Group F - Germany and Albania Group G - Italy and BIH Group H - Spain and Poland Group I - Denmark and Serbia Group J - Portugal and Switzerland

Friendly Micronesia (h) I want this to be a record win. Nothing less! Another Keeper makes his debut. This one over the age of 30. Semple came on as a sub in the last game, he makes his Full Debut today. The rest are picked because they don't require 45 minutes only. Porteous with his first goal for Scotland. Dunno if it counts however! Hardwick with a quick fire double. Gilmour with a lovely free kick. Took him a while but Munro finally off the mark today. We are on course to break that record. Hardwick with the hattrick. Mick Campbell with the goal. Munro gets his 2nd. Munro hattrick. And breathe! Mick Campbell picks up his second of the game. Last ever International goal for Robertson maybe? We equal our record. Buchan gets his 2nd and breaks the record. Mission complete. Laidlaw grabs a goal. Callum McGregor breaks his own record for oldest scorer. O'Hare with a nice goal. Laidlaw bags his hattrick with 2 quick goals. That really wasn't a fair fight but it needed to be done.

Friendly Cuba (h) This should be a nice calm and steady International Break. Two more Countries hopefully ticked off the list. Still awaiting the Euro's Qualification Group. A new number 1? Kelly ironically picked up an injury so missed out anyway. The team has been picked around 45 minute restrictions. So Fraser makes his debut. Starts for O'Hare and Campbell (midfielder). Dylan Munro fires us into the lead. Then quickly grabs a second. Not a great debut! Penalty. Munro hattrick. Its been straightforward so far. Munro moved onto the wing but still bags his 4th. On his way to 200! Doesn't bode well for the new keeper he concedes 2 against little Cuba. Well its a win.

Out of all the players and teams who don't want anything to do with the fixture! 2 new faces. I might give Michael Serafini his debut here. He needs to be the future. Semple will get his first start aswell. Fraser was called up to replace McGurk. I didn't realise just how many midfielders were called up! Although two of them are defenders mainly. No surprises here.

This is the boring bit of the save now. Long time between games. Just spamming space bar. So I will just use this post to fill up with random ass news in between. Feels like its been ages since I ticked off a Country! Klopp had a go bless him. Not got the powers I do. He will retire at the end of the season. We are hovering around the Top 10. We need to break into it so hopefully we can play Mozambique. A sentence that shouldn't exist. 12th in the World still not good enough. One day.

Nations League Round Up Was our performance good enough to grab a Top 10 finish in the Nations League and secure a 1st Seed place? Yes is the short answer. We finished 8th so nice and comfy really. No real shocks in terms of Relegation or Knockouts. Switzerland unlucky to lose out on Head to Head. Turkey gave a good showing of themselves and England got through a tough group in the end. Albania the only team we have ticked off who are going up which is good for us. Just look at Group 2! I imagine it went to GD in the end with it being a 3 way tie. France not going up, the World Champions. They must not care about this at all. Austria back out the wilderness. See if they can build. Latvia avoided the playoff this time. No real surprises. Slovakia maybe losing out. Gibraltar going up! Another Nations League in the books. We await the Euro Qualification Draw and hopefully some new teams to play. We have Friendlies in the books but not sure how many will get to play.

Nations League Croatia (h) We go into the final set of fixtures with 3 teams fighting for 2 places in the top tier next time. Both Croatia and us know its likely Spain will beat Ukraine in Spain but we can't rely on it. A win will see us safe and help us get a Top Seed for the Euros Qualifying. If Ukraine draw and we lose then we will be safe thanks to Head to Head. I think if Ukraine draw and we beat Croatia then Croatia will be down. Andrew Robertson played one more game for Scotland and thought "I need to go forever this time". We have him for a few more Squads then its game over. He's only 36! First time we have been favourites to win a game since the opener. Last time we won a game as well! Its not looking too shabby for us but I would like to end with a win and to avenge that awful 3-0 hammering we took. One change. McGurk in for Porteous. To hell with the fatigue. I want my strongest XI. Feels like an age since Dylan Munro has scored but he's given us the best possible start. David Turnbull with a thunderbolt! We have started fast! Spain take an early lead over Ukraine and suddenly the entire Stadium feels calmer. We deserve the lead. Lets not let up. Spain 2-1 Ukraine at the break. Croatia looking over their shoulder a little bit. Job done in 8 minutes and we finish on a high and negative GD. Ukraine lost 3-1 and go down, the group looks how I imagined it would if I'm honest. Not a great showing but good enough for another go another time!

Nations League Spain (h) Depressed following a few bad performances and Spain next. Its like Deja Vu all over again! Lets face it, we need to be at our best. The best result we could get is Croatia beating Ukraine meaning we go into the Final game not even needing to win. Of course a positive result here and who knows what could happen! Got to stay positive I suppose! Porteous returns following the injury that ruled him out the World Cup. Robertson and McGregor back in the line up straight away. Turnbull gets the nod further forward. Good luck guys, think we might need it! That u21 Keeper will be called up next. Sick of Kelly now. Drops an easy cross at Ansu Fati's feet who pokes it home. We have gone toe to toe in every game this Nations League and have produced 1 win. Its not good enough. The water bottle was thrown. Alex Lowry with a stunning free kick. We have come out fighting. A brilliant move finished brilliantly by Hardwick. Cracking turnaround! The lead lasted 2 minutes. Fati again, this time a brilliant finish. A better performance, not all doom and gloom and lets face it and points taken from Spain are good points.

Last squad of 2030 and its the one that needs to keep us in the Top Division of the Nations League. We will play Spain first then Croatia to round it off. If we beat Spain then we will go into the final game with the silmest of chances of progressing. But can't see that happening! 2 miserable performances before. For the 2nd time we have persuaded Andrew Robertson to come out of International Retirement! We have also convinced Callum McGregor to come back. They are still playing at the top of their game and it would be foolish not to ask them when they can still add to the squad. It means Doig and McGinn are casulties. Our U21 Keeper has potential to be better than Kelly. He isn't ready yet but I'm keeping a close eye on him. Losing faith (if I had any to begin with) with Kelly. I am not upset at all to see Robertson back. I said I would let them rest but...changed my mind, we still need him to do a job. Callum McGregor at 37 is still one of our better midfielders and gives us good options either off the bench or as a starter. Laidlaw is having a decent season with Hibs so deserves the call up. Its Munro, lets face it.

Nations League Ukraine (a) Any hopes at all of breaking into the Top 10 are gone with that awful result. Its important we bounce back otherwise we will find ourselves bottom with 2 games to play. This was supposed to be one where we could challenge for the Knockouts. Instead we are fighting for survival. If we thought Ukraine would be pushovers. It took a 94th minute equaliser from Spain to earn a point in Ukraine. This is not going to be easy. Once again we go into this game as the underdogs. A draw wouldn't be the end of the World at all really. We've had to make some changes. Tierney suspended so Hickey comes in. Doig replaces Patterson who is tired. Campbell was shocking last game so is replaced by Welsh. Gilmour and Erhahon come in while Munro goes on the wing giving Wilkie the start. Ukraine haven't made any changes so there will be some tired legs out there I hope. I tell you what at once point a football game threatened to break out! Campbell on for the shattered McGurk and Buchan on for the shattered Hardwick at HT. A penalty out of absolutely nothing. Handball with no pressure around him. Gilmour with the finish. Honestly this defence is s***. I have nothing positive to say about it at all. Let a ball go over the top, no effort to chase or defend for an easy finish. Pathetic. Another crap performance. Not a single positive to take from it. Probably one of the worst International Breaks we have had and probably the lowest I've felt as Manager here. Spain obviously done and dusted. The positive. 2 home games to finish it off. Normally when we are at our worst in the Nations League it brings out the best of us. We need it if we are to a) Survive and b) Sneak a 1st Seed for the Euro's Qualifying.

Nations League Croatia (a) This is going to be a tricky game, a win will do us wonders in our aim to stay in the division. We are underdogs which isn't a real surprise. We have, what I would say, is our strongest XI for this game. No excuses. We welcome back Hunter. Gilmour starts on the bench, other than that no surprises. I've now played enough games to know when a highlight is going to be a goal so this was just a case of waiting for it. Against the run of play really. Smart finish. Too many stupid decisions in the final third. Its these sort of performances so far today that is stopping us become a real force. Need a better 45. Laidlaw and Gilmour on for 2 disappointing performances by Hunter and Buchan. Awful performance. Embarssing. There are 2 players who can honestly look at everybody else and think "What were you playing at?" They were Patterson and Lowry. We have been on the winning end of games like this. Tell you, it sucks to be on the losing.

Honestly he slipped through the cracks and I didn't realise he had been called up! 2 games that could shape our destiny in the Nations League this year. All over 30. Good signs. I thought McTominay's International Career was over but honestly he has been in good form this season. Josh Doig deserved his call up after the performance against Spain. John McGinn was an accidental call up I'm not going to lie but he's not a horrible one. Hardwick not here but call up. Munro's record is just mental considering I don't tend to play him against the really weak Nations. He's just turned 23 and already the Top Scottish Scorer of all time. Che Adams didn't even get to retire with the record.

Nations League Spain (a) I'm expecting nothing from this game. We won the game we needed to. This is a bonus. No surprises here. Buchan starts. Henderson comes in thanks to fatigue and Doig gets a very rare outing. This could be a long day. Munro is just on fire. Brilliant goal. The softest penalty you'll ever see. We have given as good as we have got. We deserve something from this game. Lets go get it! Nah going to be one of those games. Flucky goal. I can't make changes without a goal going in first! We deserved something from this game but it wasn't meant to be. Ukraine and Croatia played a 0-0 out which is very handy for us. I'm still hopeful we can take Spain all the way!

He is 22. He will score 200 International Goals. Mark my words.

Nations League Ukraine (h) So we took advantage of the last chance to tick a Country off. Next up 6 games of hell (historically). This is our easiest game on paper. One we didn't win last time. Its going to be very close. Could go either way. A win will set us up lovely. Patterson and Tierney come in as well as McGurk. Turnbull gets the nod in the middle of the park with Doak getting his first cap. Buchan a little fatigued. As is Munro but he starts. Munro with a brilliant long ranged shot. Poor defending. Munro dinks us back into the lead. He must be close to the record. Good game but the fact they have scored with their only attacks worries me. We have been good going forward but the defence has been terrible. Yes I would like to make my changes! Munro gets his hattrick. He's been brilliant. We deserve the win. Very happy with it.

Friendly Venezuela (h) We play 2 big games in the Nations League so this team is going to be a rotation game. So with that in mind. Leishman gets a start, Wilkie plays up front, O'Hare is being used in the Centre of Midfield for a change and Leon King gets a rare start. Maybe a harder game than I should have in this slot. The Hampden crowd is bored. Lowry on as a sub fires us into the lead. It did not last long. We were good defensively the first half. This was not good. Has Dylan Munro saved us? Buchan seals it! Good win. That's 1/3 of South America sorted.