Our National Team

[Tyneside Hibs]

After seeing the Lithuania & Liechtenstein game I can't help but post this..

For years I've watched Scotland play poorly every game and they always seem to be playing like they are unfit and unfamiliar with the game. Another idiot in charge certainly isn't helping to improve the team and I can't help but wonder where we go wrong. We have had some fantastic starting-11s and yet we play like we've never seen a football before.

Is this down to staff, training, general fitness or is it down to the players themselves using it as a warm-up session for their respective clubs?

We've been an embarrassment to our fantastic support and our country as a footballing nation. :sad

 

[Jack]

Sometimes I think Scotland are the international Hibs, just when you think its safe to go to the match ;-)

 

[Tomsk09]

I sincerely wish Scotland didn't play senior international football. I have felt this way for some time. I find every aspect of it embarrassing. We are not underachieving; 0-0 draws with mediocrities such as Lithuania and scrappy last minute wins against the likes if Leichtenstein are a true reflection of our ability.

From the the quality of playing personnel, to the team selections and tactics, to the utter lack of any sense of progress or strategy, to the coaching, to the management, to the general ethos running through the whole set-up, to even the media coverage, everything is utterly dire and deeply depressing.

I listened to Pat Nevin last night. His crisp, accurate commentary delivered without rancour but always couched in reality was the first thing I experienced all night that I felt raised its head above the mediocre.

 

[southfieldhibby]

It's a combination of alot of things, isnt it?

Firstly, as a nation we're not exactly fitness gurus, with weight issues, drink issues,cancer rates the worst in Europe and a general uninterest in healthy lifestyle for a huge swathe of society...especially in inner cities, where traditionally alot of our better players come from.

Then the lack of coaches/teams/pitches not covered in dog shit.We've still not recovered from the teachers strike and nowadays teachers putting in extra hours to coach school football is rare.

The mentality that kids are 'too small' to compete and are rejected by teams in favour of bigger lads with less ability, because our natural game is back to front.

Senior clubs expecting immediate results and not being prepared to give kids with ability the time they need to develop

The Old Firm hoovering up talent just so other teams cannot have them, then wasting their talent by buying foreign 'stars' their fans demand while the Scottish kid gets released and gets a job at Standard Life and plays junior football, if they are lucky.

The established coaches not prepared to change the way the game is played in Scotland, not prepared to put faith in youth and instead make players terrified to make mistakes by trying something different, like take a man on and dribble with the ball.

So, we're a bunch of fattys who drink and smoke and play wii's instead of playing football

 

[Cavalier]

It's a combination of alot of things, isnt it?

Firstly, as a nation we're not exactly fitness gurus, with weight issues, drink issues,cancer rates the worst in Europe and a general uninterest in healthy lifestyle for a huge swathe of society...especially in inner cities, where traditionally alot of our better players come from.

Then the lack of coaches/teams/pitches not covered in dog shit.We've still not recovered from the teachers strike and nowadays teachers putting in extra hours to coach school football is rare.

The mentality that kids are 'too small' to compete and are rejected by teams in favour of bigger lads with less ability, because our natural game is back to front.

Senior clubs expecting immediate results and not being prepared to give kids with ability the time they need to develop

The Old Firm hoovering up talent just so other teams cannot have them, then wasting their talent by buying foreign 'stars' their fans demand while the Scottish kid gets released and gets a job at Standard Life and plays junior football, if they are lucky.

The established coaches not prepared to change the way the game is played in Scotland, not prepared to put faith in youth and instead make players terrified to make mistakes by trying something different, like take a man on and dribble with the ball.

So, we're a bunch of fattys who drink and smoke and play wii's instead of playing football