Tartan Army marching again

Date: July 9th, 2013. Frank Bateman, former professional, becomes the new Scotland manager. Bateman, a native of Augustusburg, Germany, spent his career in the German leagues but also has a few caps for his homeland to his credit. Due to having an english grandfather, he is also fluent in the English language which should make this job easier. Oh wait... Scottish?

This is when this journey starts...


Ok so the Scottish FA want us to be "competitive". Well this is nice and I think we should be able to achieve that goal.


There are only 4 games left to play in the qualifiers anyway. There sure is still a chance to get to second place in that group and reach the playoffs but I don´t think it is realistic. Especially as we have already played both games against Croatia.


These are the remaining games in that group. I am positive that we can at least finish third. But before those we will play a friendly against Malta in August, so I can take a look at how my selection plays and adjust accordingly if required.

The press was rather surprised by my decision to include three youngsters from the U21 team in the senior squad for the upcoming friendly against Malta:


20 year old GK Jordan Archer from Tottenham. Regular Allan McGregor is injured and I needed a 3rd goalie in the squad, so I doubt he will get a minute of playing time against the Maltesians. He is just there to learn from the big boys.


Central midfielder Fraser Fyvie (20) from Championship side Wigan Athletic. A very versatile player in midfield. Maybe I will grant him some minutes when the match is already decided.


This lad is only 16 (!) years old! John Souttar is a loanee from Chelsea currently on loan at Dundee United. He already got some very impressive attributes for his age. I just thought to myself: Why not? Let´s give the boy a chance.

I also wanted to call up 26 year old Lee Wallace from League One side Rangers. A decent left back with already 6 caps, but he got injured and will have to wait for next time. Same story with the talented Ryan Gauld (17) from Dundee United.

Tactics

We will try to lurk on counter attacks mostly, using the wings to feed Griffiths up front.

14/08/2013
Friendly
Malta vs Scotland





Finding our rhythm? Meh. I was expecting a bit more than just a crappy win to be honest. We had 16 shots on goal (8 on target) compared to their 7 (2 on target), but what gives me headaches is that we only had 44% possession. Yes, we were playing on the counter attack, but come on - this was Malta! Maybe full international football came to early for some players on the pitch... This has to get better if we want to progress as a team!



I played him. For 90 full minutes. He did ok with a rating of 6.7. It´s not his fault we didn´t get a better result in the end. I will keep an eye on him.


Staff changes
















I brought in 4 new staff members, most prominently physio Eva Carneiro from Chelsea. I hope the lads are happy.


National team news



The old man says goodbye. Not that it matters to me.
He is way past his prime and I couldn´t care less.

06/09/2013
World Cup Quals
Wales vs Scotland





Who writes these headlines?? Nothing´s good here! Wales outplayed us for 85 minutes, then something in Ashley Williams´head must have clicked and he cluttered into Jordan Rhodes in the area like a madman, getting sent off for that behaviour and providing us with the chance to draw level with the first shot on goal in the whole damn match!!! Which we did. Oh boy, a lot of work ahead.


I can understand him. Because he played the full 90 minutes again.


You can´t fool the fans. We get what we deserve!





Now the table looks like this. With a win we could´ve moved closer to Croatia, because they lost heavily at home to Belgium, a proper 0-3! The other match saw FYROM draw 1-1 with Serbia.

National team news


20 year old Jamie Walker of Hearts got his first invitation to the national team for the match against Wales, but remained on the bench. I also called up Ryan Gauld from Dundee United. Who also didn´t get a minute of playing time.

10/09/2013
World Cup Quals
Scotland vs Belgium







For once the press got their headlines right! Like in the Wales match, it was our opponent who took control of the game and layed siege to our goal. But somehow we were able to make our few chances count this time, maybe because Belgium was a bit too offensive and a bit too complacent. Griffiths finished a nice counter attack in the 13th minute and after that Belgium came at us like a hurricane. But somehow their players had forgotten how to hit a target and so we went into half time with a narrow lead. After the break they got more aggressive the longer the game went and the more they missed. We on the contrary were able to add two more goals after some nice counter attacking moves again. Football can be strange.


Horrible stats. But then again, we won.



He has all the right to be proud. And he scored.


So glad for our supporters!





Saving the best for last: We are one point from the playoffs! Thanks go out to Serbia, who held rivals Croatia to a draw at home. So upcoming October will decide our fate.


2 away games.
6 points?
1 dream.

11/10/2013
World Cup Quals
FYROM vs Scotland







And what a surprise package we are! Biggest surprise is that we are never in danger of losing this match. We take the lead through Christophe Berra early in the game and see it out like bosses do. Our defence is rock solid, our midfield sparks of creativity and our strikers are... well, not so good on this day. But who cares about the attackers when a defender scores the decisive goal? There is no "I" in the word "team"!



We were able to satisfy them. Good.





Yay! As our rivals Croatia could only manage a goalless draw at home with Wales, we leapfrog them onto second place! Next stop: Marakana, Belgrade.

15/10/2013
World Cup Quals
Serbia vs Scotland







We have done it! We made the playoffs! In a tight game Jordan Rhodes once again emerges as the match winner when he scores 15 minutes from time! An even game for most of the time is decided by the smallest of margins and we go straight to the world cup playoffs! The lads will get some days off now to drink and celebrate... well mostly drink.



Just pleased? Hey we made the playoffs!





The final table. Belgiums first place was never in danger. We qualify as one of the best 2nd place finishers. Let´s see who will be the opponent...


First team news




Ikechi Anya from Watford gets his first cap.

Damn! The worst we could draw. Let´s hope some Henry bloke won´t use his hand this time! Anyway, let´s make the best of it.


The rest of the draw looks like this.