1) Strachan continues to bemuse as Burke and co left on sidelines
Nothing sums up what has become increasingly erratic management by Gordon Strachan better than the strange case of Oliver Burke. The supposed bright young hope of Scottish football, a £13m purchase by Red Bull Leipzig, had started Scotland’s games against Malta and Lithuania but wasn’t even deemed worthy of a strip in a 23-man squad in Slovakia. Strachan cited “experience” as key to that decision, which will puzzle every international coach who has ever blooded exciting attacking talent. Burke has an effective style which differs from others Strachan can call upon. He scares defenders, despite the inconsistency associated not only with youth but his position on the field. This wasn’t an isolated case. Steven Naismith and Barrie McKay were both in the Scotland squad for the games against Lithuania and Slovakia, which fell only four days apart, but didn’t even travel to the latter. Why, in that case, did Strachan bother calling them up? Scotland have widely-known issues when it comes to player ability. What they don’t need is a manager supposedly incapable of clear, concise and consistent thinking when it comes to using what personnel he has at his disposal. No wonder the Tartan Army look on with an increasing sense of bemusement. EM
Match report: Slovakia 3-0 Scotland
Oliver Burke: ‘England tried but I love playing for Scotland – goosebumps’
Strachan says we ‘gave it our best shot’ after Scotland defeat
2) Gameiro shows France what might have been
After scoring 29 goals for Sevilla last season, including the equaliser in their victory over Liverpool in the Europa League final, it was no surprise that Kevin Gameiro sealed a big move in the summer. But while the striker caught the eye of Atletico Madrid’s Diego Simeone, that fine judge of a player, his performances for Sevilla were not enough to convince Didier Deschamps that he was worth a place in France’s Euro 2016 squad, a strange decision given how Olivier Giroud failed to impose himself in the final against Portugal. Gameiro’s omission was compounded by the lack of attacking options in reserve, with Karim Benzema unavailable, Anthony Martial out of sorts and André-Pierre Gignac seemingly picked for the sole purpose of making Giroud look like Usain Bolt. Now that Gameiro is back in the squad, France have been offered a glimpse of what might have been. With Giroud injured, he started and scored against Bulgaria on Friday before enhancing the side’s fluidity in attack in Monday’s win away to Holland. JS
France’s Pogba sinks Holland as Liverpool’s Wijnaldum suffers injury
3) Slovenia turn up the pressure on England
Of course the focus from the game in Ljubljana will be on the quality of England’s performance. But one thing that was striking was not just how quickly and highly the Slovenians pressed England, but why more traditionally “smaller” teams don’t do that more. It’s not especially realistic for a team like Malta, whose players simply wouldn’t have the fitness to do it properly, but very often – especially at Wembley – teams still pack their defence, sit deep and, more often than not, eventually get picked off, in qualifiers at least. One of the reasons that Slovenia should have won was that they unsettled England, forcing some mistakes and creating a sense of pressure that may have been an intangible cause of others. It shouldn’t be news that England’s primary problem in high-pressured situations is mental, that they panic and create a sense of chaos, particularly in defence. It’s a strategy that creates its own risks, but if other managers were watching on Tuesday, we might see this approach repeated in the future. NM
Match report: Slovenia 0-0 England
Dominic Fifield: Not even Rooney can help inspire Southgate’s England
Southgate admits England were a ‘mess’ but hails point in Slovenia
David Squires on … Gareth Southgate and England
Abraham scores twice in full debut for England Under-21s
4) Andorra make a strong case for introducing preliminary rounds
If Andorra do not become more careful, they could change the rules of European qualifiers by bringing about the introduction of a preliminary stage for minnows. The current principle that big countries should play with even the smallest ones is good. It has even delivered occasional entertainment, as although non-contests are not much of a spectacle, supposed mis-matches have led to some memorable moments down the years: Liechtenstein’s 0-0 draw with the Republic of Ireland in 1995 held a special kind of fascination, and San Marino’s goal after 8.3 seconds against England in 1993 was very funny. But Andorra’s base and stupid performance against Portugal last Friday soured natural goodwill towards the underdog. They tackled with a vicious recklessness that raised doubts about their worthiness to be on the same pitch as players with whom they apparently could not compete fairly. They were lucky to have only two players sent off, and the European champions were lucky to escape serious injury. Happily, the Faroe Islands put forward a much better case for inclusiveness, as they showcased their continued improvement by winning in Latvia while Andorra were misbehaving in Portugal. The Faroes then hosted the European champions and played some creditable stuff despite losing by the same 6-0 scoreline as Andorra. And hats off to San Marino for going to Norway and scoring in an away match for the first time in 15 years. PD
Round-up: Montenegro stun Denmark while Lewandowski nabs late winner
5) China come unstuck again
The English do not have a monopoly on self-loathing when it comes to the plight of their football team. Just look at the Chinese and their furious reaction to last week’s defeat to Syria. There was anger on the streets and calls for the president of China’s FA, Cai Zhenhua, to step down, and the mood was hardly improved by events in Tashkent on Tuesday. With their hopes of qualifying for the World Cup hanging by a thread, China desperately needed a win away to Uzbekistan. Instead they lost 2-0, leaving them floundering in Group B. President Xi Jingping’s football revolution appears to have hit a few snags. JS
Socceroos posed a different set of headaches by a more cautious Japan
6) Republic just about good enough
Despite Ireland’s win over Moldova on Sunday, James McClean had something to get off his chest. Fresh from scoring the two goals that sealed the 3-1 victory, McClean seemed irked that Martin O’Neill’s team had received plenty of criticism for their performance in squeaking past Georgia a few nights earlier. “We got a lot of flak after the Serbia game and a lot of flak after the Georgia game, I think unfairly so,” said McClean. “I think the Irish press needs to have a bit of a reality check: we’re not going to blow teams away, we know that. We’ve always been a team that works hard. When has winning never been enough?” Quite so. The problem being that if they play like they did against Georgia much more often – and in parts of that game they barely offered the minimum expected – those wins might disappear fairly rapidly. Still, the performance against the Moldovans was much better, if not enormously impressive – a solid cheese-and-ham sandwich after the burnt toast of Georgia – and perhaps that’s what can be expected of this Ireland team. Genuine, convincing performances in international football are rare, so seven points from their opening three games is good enough. NM
McClean’s double drives Republic of Ireland past Moldova in qualifier
Gareth Farrelly: ‘I still think all the time that I am part of the 10% that live’
Dundalk’s Kenny winning friends and trophies with Irish trailblazers
7) Belotti has a chance to establish himself as Italy’s new hope
Andrea Belotti played things down after he scored for Italy against Macedonia, becoming the first Torino player to find the net for the national side in 35 years. “I didn’t know that,” Belotti said after the game. “I’d say it’s not bad for my first time as a starter … am I a starter now? You must be joking, I know that no-one should ever feel comfortable, partly because the competition is strong everywhere. I was the last to arrive, and I’ve just started.” False modesty perhaps, but there is an opening for a centre-forward in the Italy team. Graziano Pellè is now playing in China (and is in Giampiero Ventura’s naughty book after neglecting to shake hands with him in the previous game) so will inevitably lose some edge, Ciro Immobile bagged two of his own in that game but has had a tricky couple of years since starring for Torino, Éder and Simone Zaza haven’t been prolific, and Manolo Gabbiadini has only reached double figures twice in his career. These are all obviously different players, offering different things, but given the 22-year-old Belotti’s start to the season (five goals in four Serie A starts), he has a chance to establish himself. That is, unless the resurrection of Mario Balotelli continues. NM
Immobile double takes Italy past Macedonia
Amy Lawrence: Balotelli finds new lease of life on and off the pitch at Nice
Pellè sent home by Italy after refusing to shake coach’s hand
8) Cut Neymar a little slack over his bookings
Here’s a quick quiz: since the start of Neymar’s career in 2009, who has more yellow cards – him or notorious Real Madrid bruiser Pepe? Well, clearly it’s not the obvious answer, otherwise we wouldn’t be asking the question. The totals, if you’re interested, are 133-108 in ‘favour’ of the Brazilian. Neymar got the 133rd booking against Bolivia last week, meaning he was suspended for the game against Venezuela on Tuesday. The most recent yellow was for dissent, and the way the Barcelona forward gets booted in the air most games it’s perhaps a surprise that it doesn’t happen more often. Indeed, Neymar left that game with blood streaming from his head, the result of what we’ll call a ‘stray’ elbow from Bolivian forward Yasmani Duk. Rather than apologise, Duk said after the game: “To become the best player in the world, he’s got to stop this ‘Charlie Big Bollocks’ behaviour and start showing some respect for his opponents.” This was after a few tricks too many, in the view of the self-appointed enforcer. It’s easy to say Neymar needs to have more self-control, but when he gets that sort of treatment, it’s probably better to cut him some slack. NM
Tim Hill: Conmebol enters gruelling second half, Chile need to start winning
Do South American World Cup qualifiers put the Champions League to shame?
9) Algeria in trouble already
“Frankly, I was expecting more from Algeria,” said Cameroon’s manager, Hugo Broos, after Sunday’s 1-1 draw between the countries in Blida. Several Algerian players were expecting more from their manager, Milovan Rajevac, who has reportedly failed to impress many of the country’s senior players since his arrival. Apparently the manager decided he was in a no-win situation and last night he resigned after just two matches in charge, the first of which was a 6-0 win (albeit over Lesotho). Rajevac was certainly outwitted by Broos on Sunday, as Cameroon enjoyed a cohesion that the home team lacked. That was exemplified by the slick move that led to the visitors’ goal. The scorer, Benjamin Moukandjo, found space to create all throughout the game, in stark contrast to Algeria, who struggled to involve their creative players and failed to shore up a defence that has been problematic for a while. Algeria’s new manager, whoever he may be, is going to have to sort that out quickly if a talented squad is to finish top of a perilous group in which the early pace is being set by Nigeria, impressive winners in Zambia thanks to goals by Alex Iwobi and Kelechi Iheanacho. PD
Former Cameroon defender Rigobert Song out of coma after suffering stroke
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