The honeymoon period was over a long time ago for Alex McLeish as Scotland manager. In fact, I'm not actually sure he ever had one in the first place.
When he was given the job back in February, the majority of Scotland fans viewed it as a really uninspiring appointment - and nothing they've seen since then will have changed their mind.
Seriously, how poor were we on Friday night against Belgium? I understand the quality of the opposition, but that doesn't excuse everything.
Alex McLeish is under pressure ahead of Scotland's clash with Albania on Monday night
It was kamikaze football at times. We were making schoolboy mistakes, really shambolic stuff, and it was painful to watch.
It was just a pointless exercise. Whose idea was it to play a team of Belgium's calibre just a couple of days before we begin a new qualification campaign against Albania?
We got absolutely battered, the players' confidence will now be shattered and we didn't learn anything in terms of how to break a team down - which is what we'll need to do on Monday night.
Already, in what will be his sixth game in charge of the national team, McLeish is in must-win territory. He has admitted this himself.
The numbers make for tough reading. McLeish has lost four of his five games in charge. We've scored just one goal in our last 542 minutes of football.
I still don't think McLeish knows his best team. A lot of guys are being played out of position - it's a team with a lot of square pegs in round holes.
Our two best players both play left-back, which is far from ideal. But, even beyond that, the balance of the team just looks totally wrong.
We don't have a centre-half who is proven at international level. Charlie Mulgrew is vaslty experienced, but he's not a natural centre-half - never has been, never will be.
Leigh Griffiths isn't fully-fit at the moment - but he still has to play. Other than him, what other goalscorers do we have?
Back when I played, there was Kenny Miller, Kris Boyd and James McFadden who were all capable of popping up with a big goal.
Prior to that, you had the generation with the likes of Ally McCoist and Mo Johnston. These guys were outstanding strikers. Now who do have?
Griffiths is our best No9 by a distance, but he's not a first-pick for Celtic and hasn't been for a little while due to fitness issues and the form of others.
McLeish has both hands tied behind his back because we lack goalscorers. Every manager will tell you that you're only as good as your strikers.
Romelu Lukaku scored the 41st goal of his international career on Friday. Scotland's starting XI on the night had a combined total of nine.
McLeish needs to find a winning formula. Any outcome other than a victory would be simply unacceptable.
Let's be honest, if we can't beat Albania on our own turf, then we don't deserve to be anywhere near a major finals.
Yeah, they have a couple of half-decent players. They have a right-back who plays for Napoli and a midfielder who plays for Basel. But, in terms of pedigree, that's pretty much it.
Let's not kid ourselves that they're anything other than a bang-average team. The Scotland players should be going out on Monday night with the belief and confidence that they're going to stick two or three goals past this team and take care of business.
We need to get rid of this fear factor. It's crippling. We looked like a pack of sheep against Belgium.
There was no leadership; that voice and organiser at the back - like McLeish in his playing career - to get a grip of the lads and make sure they're aware of what's around them.
The feelgood factor around Scottish football has been palpable over the past couple of years. A lot of fans are re-engaging with their clubs, there's more interest in our game and some high- profile managers are coming to work up here.
The next step in that has to come from the national team. They have to break that cycle of failure - and a lot of it comes down to the mindset.
Let's not be so downbeat. Let's see some positivity, invention, and our boys sticking two or three goals past Albania on Monday night.
The Albanians will have looked at our performance against Belgium and thought: 'This lot are here for the taking'. It's up to us to blow that out the water.
If it goes wrong, though, then it won't be a honeymoon period McLeish needs to worry about. The Tartan Army will be sending the divorce papers in the post first thing Tuesday morning.
McLeish, pictured overseeing training at Hampden Park, has lost four of his five games as boss
I would have thought there was more chance of Lord Lucan and Shergar turning up on the doorstep of Hampden than Allan McGregor escaping punishment for his clash with Kristoffer Ajer.
McGregor's own manager, Steven Gerrard, even admitted it was a red card, saying that McGregor's kick at his opponents was 'blatant'.
In doing so, Gerrard delivered the verdict. There was no need for the incident to even go as far as a disciplinary panel.
But no, a panel of experts apparently deemed it to be fine. Honestly, you couldn't script it.
The SFA are making it up as they go along. You can now blatantly kick an opponent, but Neil Lennon gets a three-game ban for doing a daft 'aeroplane' celebration.
Makes perfect sense, doesn't it?
Had anyone ever heard of Oran Kearney prior to him getting the St Mirren job? Nope, me neither.
Listen, the guy might turn out to be a fantastic manager and I wish him every success. But that's not the point.
The point is that St Mirren have essentially just wasted the money they got from the sell-on fee from John McGinn's transfer to Aston Villa by having to pay up Alan Stubbs' three-year contract.
The solution? They've only gone and handed another three-year deal to a totally unproven manager.
Imagine walking into Dragon's Den with that kind of business plan? You'd be laughed out of town.
St Mirren just aren't learning from their mistakes. Other than Jack Ross, their record of appointing managers over the past few years has been awful. And costly.
What's wrong with just giving a manager a one-year rolling deal and just assessing things on an annual basis?
That's what Celtic did with Martin O'Neill and Neil Lennon. If it's good enough for the richest club in the country, then you wonder why some of the smaller clubs don't follow suit.
What other industry or walk of life would you hire a person for three years - only to give them the bullet after a couple of months? The board are responsible for that.
It was never going to be easy for Stubbs. The club had just lost a hugely successful and popular manager in Ross, as well as losing their best player in Lewis Morgan.
But strip it back. Stubbs was only two points behind Aberdeen, Rangers and Hibs after just four league games - and he still got the sack.
Three of Kearney's first four games come against Celtic, Hibs and Aberdeen. What if he loses them? Do the club punt him and get a new guy in?
What a sorry state of affairs...
Link articlehttps://hienalouca.com/2018/09/10/kris-commons-scotland-boss-alex-mcleish-must-oversee-a-win-over-albania-or-risk-a-quick-separation/
Main photo article The honeymoon period was over a long time ago for Alex McLeish as Scotland manager. In fact, I’m not actually sure he ever had one in the first place.
When he was given the job back in February, the majority of Scotland fans viewed it as a really uninspiring appointment – and nothing...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves Sport HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/09/10/01/4FEF2CEF00000578-0-image-a-163_1536539060939.jpg
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