Captain Calamity

It was great to see a much improved Scotland performance againest Iceland last Wednesday, and its made me reassess some of my inital scepticism towards George Burley..

First of all let me make clear that I admire George Burley's commitment to attacking football. While the Walter Smith tactic of 'Waltanaccio' was undoubtably effective, it was extremely boring to watch and undermined some of the decent attacking players in the Scotland squad (Maloney, McFadden, Hutton). Burley will of course have to reconsider this tactic when facing Holland but it certainly makes it much easier to support a team which doesnt get nose bleeds every time they pass the half way line.

Praise must also go to Kirk Broadfoot (yes im aware that sounds strange coming from a Celtic fan). His performance proved that he can do a decent job at international level and his after match comments in which he denied he has "limited ability" showed a sense of determination that many other footballers are lacking. I would also echo the praise given to Broadfoots performance a Centre Half after Stephen McManus' attempt at basketball.

Its fair to say that the stand-In Scotland Captain didnt have the best of Birthdays on Wednesday. An indecisive and mistake prone performance was followed by a foollish red card and his attempts at blaming the handball on a push from behind were laughable. In my view McManus isnt good enough for Celtic let alone Scotland. His promotion to captian was due to there being no obvious candidate once Neil Lennon left Celtic and serious consideration should now be given to removing the captaincy from him. Hopefully removing the burden and pressure of wearing the armband will result in an upturn in his performances.

BazCFC
http://alternativecelticblog.blogspot.com/