SATURDAY JURY
Record Sport’s top team tackle the big issues
1 Did anyone enhance their Scotland chances in Thursday’s 4-0 mauling by Russia in Moscow?
A FAILURE to maintain possession, a midfield that was swamped, a defence that was error strewn and strikers so isolated they were in footballing quarantine? No, no one emerged with their reputation enhanced.
NOT many. Second-tier striker Lawrence Shankland showed a couple of nice touches when he came on and contributed more than £14million man Oli Burke did in the first half.
JOHN FLECK showed he’s capable at international level and merits more exposure in a Scotland shirt. He’s the one exception – nobody else merits an honourable mention.
2 San Marino...has there ever been a bigger argument for taking the national team around the country for certain fixtures?
THE fear is public confidence in the national team has fallen so low they would struggle to sell out the game if they took it to Glebe Park in Brechin.
LESSER Hampden would probably be more suitable for Sunday’s fixture. Joking aside, it’s bonkers that we don’t take certain fixtures away from the National Stadium. Each qualifier should be judged and taken to the most appropriate stadium.
NO matter where you take this meaningless fixture, the apathy is clear. Keep games at Hampden, it’s our home and taking fixtures elsewhere only dilutes that feeling.
3 Steven Caulker, Lyndon Dykes – should they be pursued and are they any better than what Steve Clarke currently has at his disposal?
NO, they aren’t good enough. It’s no time for experimenting and there is enough cannon fodder in the squad. Clarke simply has to circle the wagons around the players he has used and squeeze a play-off performance from them at the end of March good enough to take us to the Euros.
THINGS can’t get much worse so what harm in trying new faces? We don’t want to go down the road of handing out caps like sweeties as Tommy Burns famously said was the case under Berti Vogts but give the pairof them a bash.
CAULKER shouldn’t be invited into the fold for a variety of reasons but Dykes is better than what we have at the moment and should be given serious consideration. Get him in now and let him loose against San Marino.
4 On to rugby. Do Scotland have the right to feel aggrieved if they go out the World Cup without playing tomorrow or is it their own fault after the Ireland debacle?
IT beggars belief World Cup organisers did not have a Plan B in place knowing they were taking a tournament to Japan in the middle of typhoon season. Rugby long ago became a professional sport but this is amateur administration.
OF course they have every right to be raging. Sporting integrity was the buzzword around Scottish football for so long but it comes into play now in the oval ball game. Yes, they were bad against Ireland but why deny them the chance to make amends by reducing their number of group games?
IT would be a disgrace if World Rugby can’t come up with a solution as they’ve only had 10 years to prepare for every eventuality no matter how we fared against Ireland. The integrity of this World Cup is at stake and if Scotland go out because of the weather then the tournament will be a sham.