Super_Ally

Your missing the point. Essentially you accused him of diving. I think he was fouled, but it was one of those where the ref will not give it in the box, but anywhere else on the field. Disagree there were loads of options, he tried to drive past his man and had his leg clipped. But it's not like there was loads of support. And even if you have these "options" if someone knocks you over you can't take advantage of them. Did the right thing in any case, attack the defender, drive into the box, at best you get rpast your man and get a shot away. At worst the defender has to make achallenge and is at risk of fouling you, which is essentially what happened. Penalties have been given for less, definitely seen them given and Boyd had a right to appeal. Unfortunately some of the 50:50 decisions aren't awlways given.

Disagree. Only Boyd would get slated for that by those who don't like him. Drove into the box, guy lightly clipped his heel with his leg. Went down soft, penalty would never be given but freekick anywhere else on the field.

Dunno, awesome save from Boyd, to get it from almost off the floor to clear the bar. Jammie bastards

Working now :cheers:

Typical, no working for me. Just loading for ages.

My link stopped working just before it. Trying yours. :cheers:

Media player link only one that appears to be working, click stream one on first link i posted. Good luck, gonna watch the game.

No idea tbh, first time i've tried this. Might still be on the first link of this thread if you try that at k.o. If not persevere with the media player one, I have it working fine.

Sorry guys, access code was on the original page I posted code: mysports2 Appears to be liverpool game at the minute. Noone else got the media link working yet? Works fine for me.

No idea, don't have it myself. Sorry. new link on that site for our game: http://www.justin.tv/widgets/jtv_live.r9389.swf?channel=mstv_2 Dunno what is actually on it yet tho. In English tho

Site owner says he is adding another link for our game. Also try VLC player if you have it. Seems to be working for others.

mms://62.215.162.161:3333/ Didn't work for me first 2 tries but then did. Keep trying. Above is the link to paster into media player or whatever. Was showing Celtic game so that's why setanta. Rangers link is some middle eastern tv or seomthing. No ENglish commentary I don't think.

Need to scroll down the screen and click on stream 1 under our game, loads in media player.

Gotta help them make up the goal difference after last week.

http://espns.110mb.com/ Apparently after tims which is on now.

Was gonna try to keep to a rule of never going for more than 4-6 teams each weekend. Anymore than that and chances are you're going to get screwed by someone. So just went and put a 9 team accy on. Obviously

Fair enough if that is what he was here to do. Obviously the traditional media channels aren't getting the usual exposure they would receive as we are getting it from each other on forums. He's merely here to increase hits to his website and increase profits from their online advertising. No interest in it and would still prefer it if he wasn't here. If he does intend to contribute to other areas of the forum then that will be personal choice and not as part of what STV want him to do. Frankly even thinking back to things like the difference in reporting of our UEFA ties between STV and ITV4 then they can gtf. I highly doubt we will get what you and Frankie are hoping for from his appearnaces here. If they wanna gauge opinion of fans: Stop being lying bias bastards!

Can't speak for everyone but don't think anyone on here would be interested in clicking your link. Rangers fans aren't interested in factually incorrect biased broadcasting companies who look to tarnish our name at any opportunity. If you're just here to advertise for your new employers i'd move along swiftly.

too right. Not like he was to keen to talk then. Has he got a son? Think he was waiting for him to finish training. Prob unlikely to see him again til their next bout of testing, but if I get a chance will ask. Gribz, gotta agree with that. WOuld be nice to see a winger of his quality regularly hitting the by-line for Scotland.

Dunno how I didn't mention this earlier, anyway: Watched the 2nd half sat beside Neil McCann yesterday Do some coaching with Falkirk, only done performance testing with Neil once before, so still found it odd to be sat beside him watching Scotland when I used to pay to watch him play.

What mistakes

Feel free.

This wasn't meant merely as an attack on Burley. It's issues with footballing management in general and recent decisions by Burley made useful illustrations of my main two gripes. Obviously I was pleased he made the changes for last night. However if he'd picked the team on form instead of previous caps earner perhaps things might have been different in Macedonia. I think Frankie is spot on with the reason for this conservative approach to club management and obviously the intense media pressure surrounding international fixtures might account for international managers using a similar approach. However they are in the job because they are supposed to be tactically more aware and better man managers than joe public or the media and as such should be brave enough to pick their best players not their oldest/"most experienced". Just to reinforce the point it's not a direct attack on Burley. Good for him getting the qualifying campaign back on track. As I say it's just that some of his recent decisions suitably highlight the issue of conservative management that has been increasingly frustrating to me over the last couple of years.

A player of "limited ability" saves a manager of limited ability?: Time for braver management. After George Burley's embarrassingly ill-thought out comments regarding Rangers' right back Kirk Broadfoot, he should be both apologising to the utility defender and thanking him. The opening line; "A player of "limited ability" saves a manager of limited ability?" was actually a text I sent to a few friends at half time in the Iceland game. How better for Kirk to shut up his detractors and throw more egg in the face of Burley for his managerial inexperience, than to come up with the opening goal in what was already a make or break game for both Scotland's World Cup hopes and for George Burley's tenure as the national team manager? Some journalists actually praised Burley for his straight talking, perhaps in an attempt to prevent this creating any further distractions in the Scotland camp prior to the beginning of an increasingly important qualifying campaign. It is a shame therefore that these same journalists did not do any "straight-talking" of their own. His commments were foolish at best and showed up his inexperience for dealing with players at the highest level. However I digress. My real reason for posting this is that it has reinforced a long standing belief I have that there are very few "brave" managers in modern football in this country. This is based on two major forms of decision making required by a football manager. Namely, squad and team selections and making substitutions. The situation with Broadfoot accurately sums up the first point. Scotland is a small footballing nation, with fewer players at grass roots level than the larger European super-powers of football and consequently fewer world-class or elite level performers. Take out Ferguson, Hutton and maybe even the two keepers, Gordon and McGregor and we really are struggling. Consider the players comprising the squad for the Macedonia and Iceland games to illustrate this point. With Alan Hutton out injured, their are few in form right backs available to Scotland of genuine quality. Burley called up just two players to cover this position. Alexander and Broadfoot. Alexander is an average journeyman-pro who is likely a beneficiary of the Berti Vogts era where caps were handed out like jelly babies. There are numerous players who recieved caps during the dark days of Vogts time. Some who even served us fairly well. However, we do have a stronger group of players now and these older stalwarts' time has come and gone. Alexander is a 36 year old, Championship defender with Burnley. Whilst he perhaps once was a useful back up player in the squad, with his ageing years and a question mark over whether he ever truely was good enough for the international scene, it's time to look to players who can carry us into 2010 and beyond. And this is where the lack of "bravery", as I see it, comes in. In a straight choice between Alexander and his younger, more athletic team mate, Burley went for "experience". Alexander undoubtedly has greater international experience. However, Broadfoot has played consistently for one of Europe's biggest clubs, competing in the Champions' League and even a UEFA cup final. Broadfoot is also currently playing th better football, combining solid defensive displays with a willingness to get forward that is just not possible for a man of Alexander's years. Burley however, hid behind the banner of "experience". Alexander as a more senior member of the squad got the nod as he had previously been capped. Ignore the player's' ability. Ignore their current club form and the fact that one of the club's has been operating at a higher level of football including elite European competition and instead take the easy option of picking the guy who has the most caps. Burley is not alone in doing this. It is a feature of management throughout Britain and perhaps across the globe. I am not advocating throwing a whole team of untested players into a team for games of such importance. But what happened to the saying "if you're good enough, you're old enough". It's not as if leaving out Alexander for Broadfoot would greatly affect experience in the squad. Not with guys like Gordon, McFadden and Fletcher who have experience of Premiership football, European football and two victories over a decent French side. Not to mention the fact that whilst Broadfoot may not have international experience he has significantly more big game experience than Alexander. The other area in which many manager's show a lack of bravery is in making substitutions. Waiting until there's 6 minutes left to change a game when it's been obvious since half time that the current tactics and line up just aren't working. Expecting a striker to come on, get up to pace with the game and slot away a winning or equalising goal in the last few minutes, when the rest of the team couldn't do it in the previous 80-minutes. Something also demonstrated by Burley when he waited til the last few minutes to throw Boyd on to rescue the game against Macedonia. Certainly this approach of waiting and hoping for some fluke occurence or refereeing decision to throw you a lifeline rather than taking control and trying to change the game for themself is not solely the preserve of Burley. Neither is his treatment of Boyd. Former Scotland manager McLeish was guilty of that, as is Walter Smith at Rangers. If you don't trust a player to perform from the first minute and demonstrate that to the player by regularly leaving him on the bench, don't continually expect him to save your arse by doing what everyone knows they do best. Although here I'm getting into another well trodden path of arguement. The only manager I know of who is prepared to change a game early when it's not going right is Jose Mourinho. In one Chelsea game in which they were 2 down at half time he made a triple substitution and they were 3-2 up midway through the second half. Obviously modern football is a results business and it is the manager alone who lives and dies on the results he achieves. However I feel the success of Broadfoot and Hutton in replacing their more decorated peers (in terms of caps earned) shows that a modern football manager has to show bravery and sometimes it is necessary to put your faith in the up and coming star at the expense of the ageing journeyman.

Unfortunately we don't have the strength in depth to drop the entire midifeld from Macedonia. Brown was anonymous, as was Hartley and Fletcher. Robson was poor too. Miller and McFadden were poor, although a lack of the ball from the midfield didn't help. The wing backs did not get forward at all and for all that Caldwell made one outstanding block (a chance he was at fault for) it looked at times that the centre backs had never seen each other before. How many years have they been playing together? Gordon in goals is a no-brainer. Harsh on McGregor that Gordon got the gloves first. Broadfoot should come in for the ageing Alexander who made no attempts to get forward. Caldwell and McManus are both pretty poor atm. McManus would probably start when all are fit and with Weir unlikely to make the next tournament Caldwell is first pick right now. In any case it would not be a good game to bring in the untested Berra or Barr. We really need a decent centre half to come throug hand take over from Caldwell at least though. Naysmith is in the fortunate position of having no competition for his spot atm. Brown was non-existant but will likely keep a place in the midfield, whether that is on the right may depend on the line up. Fletcher as a Man U player is a guaranteed starter. Time to start controlling midfields. As a regular in the Man U squad we shoudl be seeing much more. News I hear is Hartley is not in the team. About time. But who partners Fletcher? Brown? Robson usually takes a good set peice, although not at the weekend. Didn't do enough but again will ikely keep his palce due to a lack of alternatives. Miller is a doubt and I hear wont start. A front 3 of Mcfadden, Commons and Maloney has been suggested. The line up I have seen is: Gordon Kirk Caldwell McManus Naysmith Brown Fletcher Robson Commons McFadden Maloney I would go: Gordon Kirk Caldwell McManus Naysmith Commons Brown Fletcher Robson Boyd Fletcher/McFadden The sooner Barry, Thommo, Hutton etc are fit and we can get rid of the dead wood; Caldwell, Brown, Robson, the better.