Can Scotland Dare To Dream?

Scotland went to Lithuania and produced a fine away performance, winning the game 3-0!

The result keeps the Tartan Army dreaming about going to the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Although Slovakia’s late winner against Slovenia means our task is still a difficult one.

The Scots now sit third in Group F and four points behind the Slovakians.

Against Lithuania, Scotland were comfortable on the ball and were clinical in front of goal too. The team worked well as a unit and even had a bit of a swagger about them!

We have two full-backs who look like world beaters. Andrew Robertson is one of those that has a renewed confidence and the new Liverpool left back took his goal last night exceptionally well.

I’m still concerned by our lack of depth in central defence but at least they didn’t concede in Vilnius.

Stuart Armstrong has given our midfield an added dimension and is one of those core Celtic stars that gives the Scots some much needed winning experience in European competition.

It was great to see Matt Phillips start the game and put in an influential performance. I’ve stated for a while now that the West Bromwich Albion winger deserved more chances under Strachan.

 Leigh Griffiths has suddenly blossomed into an international quality striker. His brace against England was timely. His running for the team and his link up play was well appreciated by teammates and fans alike.

Unfortunately Scotland under Gordon Strachan were too negative in October and we let ourselves down away against Slovakia and at home to Lithuania. Those results have us playing catch up now.

Errors like leaving Griffiths out of the team, not having an organised defence, being negative in his tactics and not always selecting in-form players are down to the manager and his backroom team.

Hopefully we don’t look past Malta, who we face on Monday night. We aren’t good enough to take it easy against the groups minnows. It’s that kind of game that we’ve slipped up on before.

We can’t afford another bad October this year. We have Slovakia, let’s hope England beat them on Monday and we can beat them on the fifth. That would then leave our destiny in our own hands, although an away trip to Slovenia is always a potential banana skin for the Scottish side. It’s not the ideal fixture to finish on but hopefully the Slovenian side have nothing to play for.

It’s great that we’ve managed to get back on track and that we still have a chance of qualification but we cannot afford any more slip ups.

Let’s hope we don’t suffer from yet another glorious failure and look back at what could have been!

 

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