craig

Is that the same way as you told me to NOT bet on Eck being next Scotland manager when WS came back to Gers ? :fish: Birmingham is a job that I would never want to take on. It looks like a poisoned chalice if you ask me. No real ambition.

Yep, he let Panucci get goalside of him which is criminal at that level. I thought Fletcher should have carried much of the blame for the first goal too.

Been confirmed that Wigan paid Birmingham 3 mill to get Bruce.

Good point and one which I think has been glossed over since the game. Even though it shouldn't have been a foul I thought it was defended quite poorly by us.

I wouldl ike to see replays of the first goal again because when I first saw it I didn't think he was culpable. I thought his job would be to ensure no-one got the ball back on the touchline and got free reign to swing a dangerous cross in. I think my blame would have went to either Fletcher (who decided to stand right next to Hutton - at least I think it was Fletcher), Hartley who, as the hilding mid, I thought should have tracked the run of Di Natale, or Davie Weir for also allowing Di Natale too much space (but in Weir's defence he was covering his CB position and had no option but to cose the player down as he had ACRES of space. Will caveat the above by saying I haven't seen the replay of it. Hutton was immense though, of that there is no doubt. You make a great point too S_A - he did a great job of covering his CB's. He also at the start of the 2nd half had a crucial block at the back post as well.

It's your age Pete - you need to get your eyes tested again !

Doesn't make any difference Pete - the Italian did not shoulder charge him but barged him off the ball. Worst case scenario in that event last night should have been a throw in to either team (forget who got last touch). How anyone can suggest that it could be a free-kick to Italy is beyond me. Even though Hutton seemed like he was losing the ball (and I agree I thought he was going to), he still was merely trying to protect it - but got bundled off it. Never was an Italian free-kick.

I disagree, I think he has been our most consistent performer this season - he has been doing the business against EVERY team he has come up against - it is hard for me to remember the last bad game he had.

Yeah I thought the same about Hartley too - he played some awful football on his own 18 yd line and nearly gifted the Italians another goal.

Naysmith WAS pish yesterday. He was slow and showed little concentration !

I still get that too Gribz !

Glad I didn't have to say that !

I am glad to say that I wasn't one of them Jon. He has been an absolute revelation since WS and AM came in. The change in him has been nothing short of incredible. I think 30k a week is a bit over the top Gribz, although IMO he is worth the same 25k the Tims gave Brown.

The only reason we won't go through is because we couldn't take points off Italy whilst Italy couldn't take points off France. We dropped 6 points to Italy whilst they in trun dropped 4 against France.

That's what I mean Jon. The fans EXPECT something good to happen when he is on the ball - and that is quite some achievement for a full back. Most good things going forward for us today stemmed from Hutton at RB. If only Stevie Smith could get back fit and playing I think we would also have a very dependable LB, which would make it very difficult for opposing teams to play against - and it would be wonderful for Scotland AND Rangers.

It was one of the bravest performances I have ever seen from Scotland

Yep, was the first thing I said when we got it to 1-1 - he was far and away our best performer today - truly world class performance. He is oozing confidence right now too. Did anyone else notice that the biggest anticipation from the crowd today was when Hutton was on the ball ? You could hear the excitement in the crowd when he was on the ball - that is quite something for a RIGHT BACK to achieve !

What on earth are you talking about ? You said was it revenge for Scotland vs Spain - THAT was what I was referring to. Maybe you should just stop posting nonsense conspiracies - why would anyone seek revenge for Scotland v Spain ? I don't even remember the last time we played Spain !

It was a horrible decision - BUT we also shouldn't forget that the SAME linesman ruled out a perfectly good Italy goal for offside and also allowed Ferguson's goal even though he WAS offside. Looking at those decisions, we actually were advantaged by that shitty linesman 2-1. It is just galling that the final one was at the death and cost us the game, and qualification. Fucking shocking decision though.

You been taking Gribz' conspiracy pills ?

Italy were the better team 1st half but we dominated them 2nd half. If McFadden got his foot round that ball across we would have been IN

It was the linesman that made that decision ! But.. if we are fair.... Italy should have been 2-0 up because Di Natale was never offside with the goal they scored. AND Ferguson WAS offside with the equaliser. But it definitely was not a free-kick to Italy !

Has to be said... Alan Hutton has been absolutely outstanding today. A world class performance in my opinion.

What a save from Gordon..... follow up wasn't offside though ! We have given as good as we have got thus far - aside from that schoolboy defending at the start !

dont be silly - there are 89 mins left - a huge blow yes, over.... not quite. Fucking schoolboy defending though - that is the worst defending I have seen from a pro team for a long long time