Group D - opponent watch!

[Charlie Darwin]

Scotland could have had a few too on another night. This is opening match away from home, not the glorified friendly we had at the end of the campaign where we still could have lost by 6 goals.

Pains me to say it but Scotland are playing like we can only dream of in matching circumstances.

They could have had one more goal and haven't looked remotely like scoring apart from that. Germany have butchered at least four golden chances. We'll need to ride our luck against them too though.

edit: 7-0 Poland

[SwanVsDalton]

Pains me to say it but Scotland are playing like we can only dream of in matching circumstances.

Really?

Don't agree. They've played decent counter attack but should be getting a standard hammering. Nothing more than an ok performance made notable by rank bad German finishing.

[Charlie Darwin]

Marco Reus is gone off after turning badly on his ankle. Looks in quite a bit of pain.

Charlie Mulgrew sent off. Second yellow for kicking the ball away in the third minute of injury time, idiot.

[Eirambler]

Germany definitely played with a bit of a World Cup hangover tonight. I think it's a great result for us that Scotland failed to take advantage of the opportunity. James McArthur being utterly useless at both ends of the pitch pretty much saved the day.

Also it's just as well that goal difference against Gibraltar won't count given what Poland have done tonight.

[the doc]

On tonight's performances and ours, I'd say we could be struggling to finish 3rd in the group.

Serious doubts about our management and team tactics!

Come back Mr Trapattoni all is forgiven!

[elroy]

Not sure how you can say that. Poland beat Gibraltar, wow!!! There is nothing to be taken from that.

Scots looked good but still lost. That's all that matters. We were poor today but won. Plenty to learn, plenty room for improvement. But an absolutely crucial 3 points which is the most important thing, similar to the Georgia and Armenia away games in recent campaigns.

[Stuttgart88]

I'm not going to allow TOWK to be the only told-you-so merchant on this thread!

I'm not going to harp on about how Scotland look organised, mobile and confident and all that. We've all noticed that under Strachan. Only a fool wouldn't have.

But my point since the hugely frustrating draw in Israel has been to bemoan the fact that we don't properly engage teams. We always try to be cute hoors. Tight and maybe nick one. Balls to that. Play your best. It's what was successful for the Swedes and Danes for years. Strachan has cottoned on to that.

Anyway, we have got the good start we needed. Hopefully that'll give O'Neill the confidence to trust his team more.

[SwanVsDalton]

I'm not going to allow TOWK to be the only told-you-so merchant on this thread!

I see a lot of TOWK in you etc etc etc.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Think there was thoughts from some that Gibraltar might have the capacity to be more than Andorra-esque minnows. Not a hope. Fought hard to be recognised by UEFA, the next year is going to be a serious wake-up call.

[tetsujin1979]

Mulgrew is suspended now for Scotland's next game against Georgia in Glasgow. Who's going to replace him and is it that big of a loss for them?
Given their results of late, you'd still expect them to beat Georgia in a month's time.

[Charlie Darwin]

Mulgrew is suspended now for Scotland's next game against Georgia in Glasgow. Who's going to replace him and is it that big of a loss for them?
Given their results of late, you'd still expect them to beat Georgia in a month's time.

McArthur will probably replace Mulgrew, as he seemed to be playing midfield tonight.

[tetsujin1979]

Ikechi Anya's reaction to scoring against Germany: https://twitter.com/IkechiAnya/statu...98520833982464

[DeLorean]

Am I being a bit too Roy Keane or is that way too happy a tweet after losing? I don't think I'd be impressed if it was one of our players.

[pineapple stu]

Goals from Gibraltar v Poland. So much space... The keeper didn't cover himself in glory either, which is slightly unusual. So often you see a team being opened up again and again, but the keeper "kept the score respectable"

First campaign's bound to be the hardest. Don't see any problems in this one whatsoever.


Germany v Scotland goals. Suspect defending from Scotland for both. Good finish for the Scottish goal though. Plenty of time to overthink that and panic.

[DeLorean]

The layout of the fixtures are pretty kind for us I think, especially now that we managed to scrape over the line on tricky match day one.

Scotland were never likely to get something from Dortmund and now our German away fixture is bonus territory, to a certain degree, for us. Compare that to the nightmare comeback from the Swedes in Berlin in the last campaign, with only two spots up for grabs. Our win in Georgia means that Scotland/Poland's trip there is also bonus territory, but again for us. Also, Scotland's defeat yesterday, as respectable as it was, now puts them under a lot of pressure to get the maximum against Georgia next month. It's clear that they have improved, but this is arguably their first high pressure game under Strachan where they are expected to take the game to the opposition. It's much easier to contain than create.

[SwanVsDalton]

The layout of the fixtures are pretty kind for us I think, especially now that we managed to scrape over the line on tricky match day one.

Scotland were never likely to get something from Dortmund and now our German away fixture is bonus territory, to a certain degree, for us. Compare that to the nightmare comeback from the Swedes in Berlin in the last campaign, with only two spots up for grabs. Our win in Georgia means that Scotland/Poland's trip there is also bonus territory, but again for us. Also, Scotland's defeat yesterday, as respectable as it was, now puts them under a lot of pressure to get the maximum against Georgia next month. It's clear that they have improved, but this is arguably their first high pressure game under Strachan where they are expected to take the game to the opposition. It's much easier to contain than create.

If we've something going for us over Scotland, it's that they are relatively unproven at taking the maximum required points from lower seeds. They're always liable to draw a winnable game. That's their acid test for this year, but I'm convinced points will be dropped along that line. We'll probably drop them too, but I'm happy to have an away trip at Tbilisi out of the way with the maximum.

[DannyInvincible]

But my point since the hugely frustrating draw in Israel has been to bemoan the fact that we don't properly engage teams. We always try to be cute hoors. Tight and maybe nick one. Balls to that. Play your best. It's what was successful for the Swedes and Danes for years. Strachan has cottoned on to that.

I'm all for a more positive, engaging and inspiring approach, but it's also worth remembering that for all the heroism and effort expended by the Scots last night, they still lost. Germany promptly had them back behind again immediately after what was more-or-less a brief kick up the arse for a team who had been cavalier and wasteful in front of goal all night.

[back of the net]

looks like Reus could be out of ireland game

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/inter...4-reus-injury/

[Stuttgart88]

I'm all for a more positive, engaging and inspiring approach, but it's also worth remembering that for all the heroism and effort expended by the Scots last night, they still lost. Germany promptly had them back behind again immediately after what was more-or-less a brief kick up the arse for a team who had been cavalier and wasteful in front of goal all night.

No, but it's the positive approach that has seen them move quickly up the rankings. They look livelier, hungrier and more dynamic than we do right now. O'Neill admits there is work to be done and explained that he overrated Georgia. My reading of his subsequent remarks is that he knows this is just the start and Sunday's team was just that, Sunday's team.

[paul_oshea]

Did oNeill say that?that's exactly what I thought.