Internationals

Another inept Scotland performance: time for Levein to go

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Flash forward to Tuesday, and Levein made three changes for the match against Macedonia, starting Mackie, Forrest and Shaun Maloney ahead of Charlie Adam, Snodgrass and Steven Naismith.  It seemed that the side had the potential to be more attacking, but Scotland got off to a terrible start, and Macedonia took the lead after just 11 minutes.  Although there was a hint of offside about the goal, Macedonia were enjoying a good spell, with Scotland looking lost.  Their performance didn’t improve as time went on, but slack defending just before half-time allowed Mackie to break clear, and he calmly knocked the ball across the goal to give Kenny Miller an easy tap in to equalise.

Scotland fans again chanted the name of Jordan Rhodes as they grew more frustrated in the second half, and more boos were heard when Levein strangely chose to bring Charlie Adam on for Miller.  This prompted the Tartan Army to chant ‘We want strikers!’, before Levein eventually brought on Rhodes for James Morrison.  Scotland weren’t creating clean cut chances though, and again needed Allan McGregor to make some good saves to keep the score level.  When the final whistle went, the score was 1-1, and Scotland were again booed off.

It leaves Scotland in a poor position, even after just two games.  Serbia thrashed Wales 6-1 on Tuesday, while Belgium and Croatia drew 1-1, meaning Scotland are just 2 points away from the top of the table, but two home draws to start the campaign is far from good enough.  It leaves them with three home matches (against Wales, Belgium and Croatia) and five away games to get the necessary points for qualification or a play-off spot, and at the end of the last World Cup qualifying campaign, the lowest points total for a team that reached the play-offs was 18 points.

So even if Scotland were to win those three home games, they’d need 7 points in the away matches to match that total.

It’s not impossible for Scotland to qualify, but drastic action needs to be taken, and that action must be the sacking of Craig Levein.  He simply does not have the qualifications to be an international manager, and his tactics and team selections have cost Scotland too many games, and have resulted in just 3 wins in competitive matches.  He’s out of his depth and unable to admit to making mistakes, and if he is unwilling to resign, the SFA should sack him.

For more blogs, follow me on Twitter, @DavidWDougan and @TheGlassCase

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