bonny78 Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 Our natural animal tartan instinct might be to want Slovakia to win the early game on Sunday, but we should think before we braveheart ourselves. Yes, hating England is normal but think of the bigger picture when it comes to group points. Might be better not shout so loud at the tv for an English defeat. Is the plan to finish 2nd behind England and therefore require the alpha team to deprive our close competitors of points throughout the campaign? Is there a better plan? I've got ideas but I'm not 100% sure. I know for a fact that the pub will cheer Iceland style when England lose a goal but I wonder if it's a short sighted thing to celebrate. :-( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doakes Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 A draw would be good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radian Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 A draw, that's a big 3 points if one was to win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northernscum Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 A draw is obviously the best option for us in that game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hannibal smith Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 England will win the group so it's probably best for us if they take full points off Slovakia and Slovenia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toepoke Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 Unless England are going to be howlingly bad under Sam, a Slovakian win would not be great for us. Last time round Poland beating Germany in their first game ended up being disastrous for us... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyP Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 Nil Nil draw would be great for us and give the English media a feckin field day.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norsefox Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 25 minutes ago, DavyP said: Nil Nil draw would be great for us and give the English media a feckin field day.... 3 sent off from both teams please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonny78 Posted August 31, 2016 Author Share Posted August 31, 2016 England win but if we dont beat malta the whole campaign is fuccked Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanderark14 Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 It doesn't matter what their result is, we shouldn't be looking for favours before the group even starts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
todd Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 3 hours ago, hannibal smith said: England will win the group so it's probably best for us if they take full points off Slovakia and Slovenia This 100%. We don't want them doing a Germany and gifting points to our nearest rivals whilst ultimately winning the group anyway! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonny78 Posted August 31, 2016 Author Share Posted August 31, 2016 18 minutes ago, vanderark14 said: It doesn't matter what their result is, we shouldn't be looking for favours before the group even starts It matters cause it will affect the group. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deecie Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 4 hours ago, hannibal smith said: England will win the group so it's probably best for us if they take full points off Slovakia and Slovenia Indeed. Don't people remember our last group when we'd have qualified if Germany had done the decent thing and taken 12 points off Poland and Ireland? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bino's Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 the only team we want taking points off England is us Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wanderer Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 We are going to be relying a lot on England getting wins in this campaign..... that was one thing that cost us last time was Germany dropping silly points in games they should really have won (and us not getting anything off them to cancel out the other teams results v them). England will most likely win the group, so we need to them to be beating Slovakia and Slovenia for us (and hopefully take their eye off the ball v us). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonny78 Posted September 1, 2016 Author Share Posted September 1, 2016 24 minutes ago, wanderer said: We are going to be relying a lot on England getting wins in this campaign..... that was one thing that cost us last time was Germany dropping silly points in games they should really have won (and us not getting anything off them to cancel out the other teams results v them). England will most likely win the group, so we need to them to be beating Slovakia and Slovenia for us (and hopefully take their eye off the ball v us). Gonna be strange celebrating an england goal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanderark14 Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 Germany dropping points did not costs us anything. Us failing to beat Poland at all, only beating Ireland one and losing to Georgia is what cost us. We should not rely on anyone, we have our own job to do, if we don't qualify (we won't) it'll be because we failed, not because another team failed to win all of their games, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caledonian Craig Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 Best case scenario for us is that England pick up six points against Slovakia and Slovenia and we can pinch points from England - that will help us greatly in our quest to qualify. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonny78 Posted September 1, 2016 Author Share Posted September 1, 2016 30 minutes ago, vanderark14 said: Germany dropping points did not costs us anything. Us failing to beat Poland at all, only beating Ireland one and losing to Georgia is what cost us. We should not rely on anyone, we have our own job to do, if we don't qualify (we won't) it'll be because we failed, not because another team failed to win all of their games, Aye but we need to hope for other results to go our way pal. Can work for us. Still got a massive double header coming up v england. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deecie Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 10 minutes ago, vanderark14 said: Germany dropping points did not costs us anything. Us failing to beat Poland at all, only beating Ireland one and losing to Georgia is what cost us. We should not rely on anyone, we have our own job to do, if we don't qualify (we won't) it'll be because we failed, not because another team failed to win all of their games, Germany dropping points wasn't the problem, it was Poland & Ireland picking them up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McDange Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 No. England will win every qualifying game. 2nd place is a huge ask for Scotland and won't be achieved if England drop points against other teams in the group - apart fae us obviously! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanderark14 Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 12 minutes ago, bonny78 said: Aye but we need to hope for other results to go our way pal. Can work for us. Still got a massive double header coming up v england. we should concentrate on our own results, hoping for others to go our way is pointless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toepoke Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 4 minutes ago, vanderark14 said: we should concentrate on our own results, hoping for others to go our way is pointless. That's certainly more important with the nonsense arrangement that eliminates the worst runner up. Scraping into second place on the back of other teams slipping up possibly won't be good enough... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weekevie04 Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 1 hour ago, vanderark14 said: Germany dropping points did not costs us anything. Us failing to beat Poland at all, only beating Ireland one and losing to Georgia is what cost us. We should not rely on anyone, we have our own job to do, if we don't qualify (we won't) it'll be because we failed, not because another team failed to win all of their games, Total agreement. We should take each game as it comes. 3pts on Sunday for us and two draws in the other games would be a brilliant start. We should be aiming to win the group! Of course that's more than likely not going to happen, but aim high! This group isn't particularly tough. England have an excellent qualifying record and will be tough to topple, and Malta are probably one of the stronger Low-ranked seeds, but the middle 3 are all beatable over 2 legs. I'd be looking at Malta 6pts Slovenia/Slovakia 4 Lithuania 6 We do that we'll have a decent shot at the playoffs. Need to be ruthless on Sunday and Lithuania away. Do what Ireland do and grind out wins away to lower seeds. No excuses about heat or Kaunas being a difficult place to go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanderark14 Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 If we want to qualify we must adopt a new attitude, never give up and never feel that losing is acceptable, regardless of the opposition. We should be aiming to beat our rivals and England. As unlikely as it may feel we have to fight them for everything. Accepted less than a win against our rivals is setting us up to fall. I have no doubt that we will hear McGhee and Strachan tell us how its not the end of the world if we draw, yes it bloody well is. Draws get you nothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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