So endeth another totally forgettable international weekend of football for Scotland.
I used to bother writing articles on the international games considering our strong presence within the squad but have given up the ghost on that as there’s so little if anything to cheer about.
Last Thursday in Russia the national team were thumped 4-0 in Moscow by a team who continue an upward trajectory since last summer’s fantastic and unexpected World Cup campaign.
On the opposite end of the scale despite having a squad full of EPL stars Scotland continue to look lost and no one was fooled by the 6-0 thrashing of perennial whipping boys San Marino on Sunday evening at a sodden Hampden Park.
At least in the Russia game, James Forrest and Ryan Christie were spared involvement for the most part as both didn’t make the starting eleven. No instead Steve Clarke went with the likes of Ollie Burke, Robert Snodgrass and John Fleck. All three proved pretty useless though the same can be said for the entire starting eleven which did include Celtic stalwart Callum McGregor.
Fleck was an empty jersey, Burke once again confirmed what we saw during his loan spell at Celtic Park last season that being that outside of rapid pace he is pretty bereft of anything else. Snodgrass looked like he’d won his starting place in a raffle as he huffed and puffed all night.
He’s since announced his international retirement which was met with deserved apathy considering his contribution to the ’cause’ in recent years.
Elsewhere Odsonne Edouard continued his incredible scoring rate for the French under 21’s with a brace in a 5-0 win over Azerbaijan and a hattrick in a 5-3 away win over the Czech Republic. That’s nine in his last four games at that level and 33 goals in 48 matches for France playing at under 17’s to the under 21’s.
Kris Ajer also started twice for Norway as they kept their Euro 2020 qualification hopes alive with a 1-1 draw at home with the mighty Spain and a 1-1 score away with Romania. Mohamed Elyounoussi was an unused sub for Norway in both games.
Hatem Abd Elhamed and Nir Bitton also started both of Israel’s games which included a 3-1 away defeat to Austria and a 3-1 home win over Latvia. Their qualification hopes are now pretty much dead in the water.
So far the news is positive on there being no injuries so hopefully, that means all systems go for this Saturday as we return to Scottish Premiership action against newly-promoted Ross County.
The Highland team got off to a flyer with a 3-0 win over Hamilton Accies on the opening day of the league season back in August followed by a goalless draw at Hearts they could very easily have won.
Added to that they also won four straight matches in the League Cup scoring twelve goals in the process and took the scalp of fellow Scottish Premiership side St.Johnstone 2-1 at McDiarmid Park.
But they then encountered a sticky patch that saw them hammered 4-1 at home by Livingston and 3-0 away at Aberdeen in the league and surprisingly eliminated by second-tier strugglers Partick Thistle 3-2 in the League Cup.
Over the past month though things have been stabilised with a four-match unbeaten run of two wins and two draws in the league with a 2-1 away win at high flying Motherwell the pick of the results.
They sit fifth in the league on twelve points and the co-management team of Steven Ferguson and Stuart Kettlewell – who guided the Dingwall side back to the top flight at the first time of asking by winning the Championship last season and also picking up the Challenge Cup – can be very satisfied with their seasons work so far.
It goes without saying this is a must-win game for Celtic. Every game is of course and even more so after the unexpected slip-ups in the successive weekends before the international break that saw dropped points at Easter Road and a numbing loss at Livingston.
But with Rangers away at Hearts the following day there may be a chance to go top by Sunday evening. Though it’s wishful thinking that Hearts are capable of anything going by what we’ve seen of them so far this season.
County will come to be organised and resolute as most teams are at Celtic Park but they have leaked eleven goals in eight league matches this term and we really should be chomping at the bit after the last two results.
There is also the small matter of Lazio in the Europa League the following Thursday something I’ll preview closer to the time.
Anyway, even though I got Hibs and Livi spectacularly wrong with my predictions God loves a trier so I’m going to say 3-0 against County with French Eddy hopefully replicating some of the hot international form on the domestic club front.
....Always A Tim! 