"Followed Scotland abroad and home for the last 15 yrs at great expence, never have i seen as much pish on a field in all my life. Sack levein and don't even bother with anyone else who plays technical nonesence bring in Souness and let the players roll up there sleeves and play with pride  "
It is far too simplistic to say sack Levein, especially when the players like him and his methods. The Tartan Army can't seem to accept anyone in charge unless they are a "legend", like Souness or Dalglish. However, when the job was last up for grabs, none of the so-called big guns wanted it and I doubt any of them, other than Strachan and possibly McLeish, would want it now.
The Tartan Army are so fickle. They are attacking Levein for not playing two up front, yet it is exactly that kind of tactic that led to them revolting against Vogts and Burley when it was shown to be fairly naive at international level.
The calls for Scotland to return to the up and at them, back to basics, approach belie the fact that it is that kind of tactical thinking that has held back our club and international sides.
I recently talked to a product of Murray Park and he complained that they are still being taught the long-ball, get the ball into the box as early as possible kind of game.
Rather than reverting back to type, we should be learning lessons from other European countries. Fortunately, the same product of Murray Park said that Celtic are trying to copy the Spanish kind of training, which is heartening in a national sense even though I strongly dislike that club (and the other half of the twin towers of darkness).
I remember talking to a player who had come from Hungary to sign for a Scottish club and he could not believe that our clubs only train for a couple of hours each weekday morning. He said that every full-time club on the Continent would require their players to come back in for afternoon sessions of brushing up their ball skills, but in Scotland he had to take the initiative and do it for himself.
As for Levein, I do question some of his tactical decisions, but we are always going to have our own opinions, it is the nature of football. The calls for Jordan Rhodes to start for Scotland have been hysterical. I remember the slating that Berti Vogts got for calling up League One players yet here is the Tartan Army saying that a player who has yet to prove himself in the Championship should replace an experienced campaigner like Kenny Miller (not that I am a big Miller fan either).
Indeed, it was only a matter of weeks ago that the Tartan Army were slagging Levein for calling up Ian Black, saying he should not be playing because he had played ONE game for a Division Three club after a successful season in the SPL.
I don't think Levein was too cautious against Serbia and Macedonia. We have gone from a situation where we had an abundance of defenders and little midfield creativity to a position where we have the flair but poor defenders, as was shown by the way the two Balkan sides carved us open on Saturday and last night.
Nearly all international teams now play with a holding midfielder with a single striker up front. The problem I have with Levein is that he has been playing Caldwell in that holding role when he is a better defender. In the absence of Darren Fletcher, I would have had Charlie Adam there as, even though he had a poor game against Serbia, at international level, you need someone who can not only protect your defence but can build attacks from the back and start the passing moves.
Anyway, I could go on for hours on this topic, as you can guess.
As for England, their fans need not worry as, despite last night's result, as usual they are in an easy group and will still qualify for Brazil. |
and maybe England should get Tom Daley in as a coach, and learn how to dive like the rest of the Europeans ... 
