[0762]

So lotsa Tartan Army fans still heading to London in spite of the off-putting utterances from certain English sports/health officials, the London Mayor and others, to stay away. Scotland now ranked as having nae chance v a decent England team with lotsa top class players and I must say I rate our chances as nil mainly because we don't have quality striking in our repertoire. We'll see what team the England manager, Southgate, decides to field v Scotland. On a separate note he is an England manger who made a powerful statement defending his players rights to demonstrate against racism and vilify England fans who boo his players - it cast Southgate in a positive light despite his baffling inability to differentiate between England and Britain in his first interview covering the Scotland match - what a confused fellow indeed or was he "got at" by some Tory FA clown to say that!!? And gushing on about his love of royalty and street bunting??? Part of his interview sounded like it came from a letter written by a 1950s widow from my wife's place of birth in Kent and not a modern day footie manager. Anyway, back to the footie! How does Clarke tackle a match that we really have little chance of winning and it looks like Tierney, our best player, is disappointingly not gonna make this match - as if we had enough f###### problems without losing a top class player who hasnae even picked up the injury in a preceding Scotland match!!! As an ex footie player, I'd be "kicking through walls" to get at England and telling all my fellow players what is expected of them as well - I want a typical hi-intensity British cup-tie with no holds barred and absolutely battering England for almost the full 90 mins of combat in order to try and win three precious pts that could greatly change Scotland's chances of qualifying to the next round of the Euros for the first time in footie history. However, we all know Steve Clarke doesn't do passion which is good sometimes but there are occasions where passion and hi-motivating player discussions are required - ask Sir Alex Ferguson all about that stuff eh!! In reality, Clarke will opt for a tight defensive strategy and attempt to play out a drawn match with the next group game v Croatia becoming Scotland's cup final, Clarke's view being that the right result could possibly "sneak" a third place qualification. What will be the Scotland line up?

I'd opt for this high-risk team:-

Marshall (pulled off enough decent saves v Czech Rep to be retained!), Patterson, Cooper, Gallagher, Robertson, Tominay, Forrest, McGinn, Gilmour, Armstrong, Adams

I'd luv to have an old-fashioned "clogger" (somebody like Graeme Souness) in our midfield to "stir it up" in the English mid ranks but IMO we have nobody of that stature any more. Anyway, Clarke will not pick that team! I'm 100% certain on that score. So based on Clarke's more cautious line up, I'm hoping we somehow "nick" the first goal v them and critical parts of this match are more fortuitous for Scotland than before. C'mon boys - give it all you've got, "get stuck in" and no regrets after this match.