Tales Of Insignificance

...that at least 7 of those who started against Italy for Scotland tonight in the national football side are the best possible canditates to fill their respective roles. The 7 I am referring to are Gary Naysmith, Graham Alexander, Davie Weir, Paul Hartley, Lee McCulloch, Gary Teale and Kenny Miller. Even though we only lost 2-0, and didn't play horribly bad, we were still outclassed by a long way and were somewhat lucky to not concede more, thanks to good saves from Craig Gordon in goals. I thought that Craig Gordon played well, obviously, as well as Scott Brown who is a real fighter, and Barry Ferguson controlled the ball well except that one time he turned and ran straight into an Italian player. I also thought Stephen McManus was unlucky to be have so many free kicks given against him, and Italian striker Luca Toni is just a diving bugger. We shouldn't have conceded the first goal either, and wouldn't have if our defense was any better. Anyway, to the reasons why I believe that a whole 7 members of our starting 11 should be replaced :

Gary Naysmith : He doesn't seem to have a great deal of pace, and I never see him doing much, if any, useful defensive or offensive work. I can't really think of any Scottish good left-backs right now, bar Stevie Smith of Rangers who may do the job better, but probably needs more experience first...

Graham Alexander : He's too old, takes too long on the ball, and doesn't do anything with it. I never see him defending well either. I think that Steven Whittaker should be played in this position, but I have the obvious bias of being a Hibs fan. Murty, who's in the squad, should probably get a game ahead of Alexander as he plays for Premiership side Reading, whereas Alexander plays for lowly Championship side Preston North End. Blah.

Davie Weir : Too old and slow. He has good positioning sense I think, and can do his job from time to time, but against more talented and experienced forwards he's left wanting thanks to complete lack of pace. Give Russell Anderson a chance, or put Steven Pressley with Stephen McManus at the back (Pressley and McManus play together at club level too, which is an added bonus as the two will be familiar with each other).

Paul Hartley : He doesn't really do anything. This is most likely down to him being played in a defensive role other than letting him do what he does best with his surging runs into the box, but I think that Darren Fletcher and Barry Ferguson should be paired up in midfield anyway, so there's no room for Hartley in my book.

Gary Teale : Just utter fucking shite. Shouldn't be in the Scotland SQUAD, never mind the starting 11. Useless! Play Scott Brown on the right!

Lee McCulloch : Doesn't do anything except win the ball in the air. He's scored no goals for Scotland and that doesn't really come as a surprise to me. He couldn't even win the ball in the air tonight against an aerially dominant Italian side. I doubt he won it once in the air.

Kenny Miller : He tries hard, but the guy couldn't finish his dinner, and his touch is awful. We need someone to play alongside Kris Boyd who compliments him and is able to get the ball to him to score, as well as being able to score themselves now and again instead of fucking it up royally at every turn. Now I realise that Scotland don't exactly have a wealth of talented strikers, but we have to have someone who can play better than this clown. Gordon Strachan should play Derek Riordan for Celtic, he's better than Miller and a talented Scottish player who's just going to waste.

I know that Scotland didn't play horribly tonight, but still there has to be better players than Alexander and Miller. I think that we should be playing Craig Gordon in goals with Steven Whittaker at right back, with either Russell Anderson or Steven Pressley alongside Stephen McManus in the centre of defense, and maybe Steven Smith at left back. If you know of any better left-backs please let me know. In midfield I'd play Scott Brown on the right with Darren Fletcher and Barry Ferguson in the centre, and Chris Burke on the left, and up front I'd play Kris Boyd with some other striker, maybe Derek Riordan if Strachan ever pulls his finger out his arse and decides to play him for Celtic and get him some first team football. Gary Teale, Davie Weir, Lee McCulloch and Graham Alexander I'd just punt out the squad altogether...

Now I've probably missed some decent players that could do a better job in positions than ones I've mentioned, so feel free to let me know, but still these 7 players shouldn't be starting for Scotland, and some shouldn't even be pulling on the jersey at all.

I think there are some good prospects coming through for Scotland like Chris Burke, Scott Brown, Steven Naismith, Steven Fletcher and Lewis Stevenson, and the sooner we get them through and get rid of some of the old decrepit buggers in the team, the better.

Still hoping that we finish 2nd in this group and qualify for Euro 2008, but it's improbable, and if we finish 3rd at least we can move up to 3rd pot and hopefully get drawn into an easier qualification group for upcoming competitions.

Oh, and about comics, I finished one sort of, need to touch it up a bit, probably put it up next week.