What a lot of time to pass without nothing to say! Well actually I've had plenty to say, but not much of a platform before I remembered about my old precious blog.

What has happened in Scottish football since I last posted? Plenty! Rangers' fall and rise, Aberdeen becoming the second force in Scottish football before giving it up so easily this season. Kilmarnock and Steve Clarke's rise to the fore. It's hard to know where to start. But I thought an introspective on my opinions based on an article I wrote in 2007 on Scotland's chances on reaching the World Cup in 2010 would be a fun look back at how silly my thoughts were would be a bit of fun. So without further ado, here's my opinions of 2007 broken down in 2019.

One must wonder why there was no place in the starting eleven for Gary Caldwell, scorer of the only goal of the game against France at Hampden last October. Why, when Russell Anderson was in the form of his life for Aberdeen last season, could he not get a look in past the aging Weir? And there are a plethora of younger center backs who could all do the job in the Scotland defence, including Caldwell's brother Stephen, Hearts captain Christophe Berra, Andy Webster (when fit) and even Steven Pressley who, at 34, still has three years on Weir.

Yes in 2007 I said this. Where have they gone since then? Gary Caldwell will never be forgotten for that goal against France but since then he had a (reasonably) unremarkable career at Wigan before entering into management. He's now the manager of Partick Thistle. May have gotten than one wrong? You tell me. Russell Anderson was a biased pick as an Aberdeen fan. He left Aberdeen in 2007 for Roy Keane's Sunderland and had a nightmare debut conceding a penalty in a 3-0 defeat to Wigan and never featured in a regular way for Sunderland ever again. After a few loan moves he came back to Aberdeen and won the League Cup in 2014. Stephen Caldwell and Andy Webster barely consider mentioning, but Christophe Berra has proved to be worthy of a Scotland place. You probably didn't read it here first.

Left-back, a position highlighted to be Scotland's weak spot by Calcio Italia (No. 147, Nov 2007) is another place the Scots need to look to strengthen. Gary Naysmith has done the job on and off down the left flank for several years, but he isn't the player he once was, and had to drop down a division to Championship side Sheffield United in the close season for regular first team football. His current backup, Graham Alexander, has never played at the highest level and at 36 is not a viable long-term option. With Hutton's emergence on the right Scotland need to make the left side equally as strong, and with options such as Rangers kid Stevie Smith and Derby left-back James McEveley, Scotland need to start looking to strengthen their defence.

Well how the times have changed. Ten and some change years ago Scotland had a major left back problem. Now it's a problem in a far more different way. The left back position is by far the strongest that Scotland have. Andy Robertson, a Champion's League winner with Liverpool, isn't even the undisputed number one. Kieran Tierney is without a doubt a potential world class player and the issue faced now is who to play, or where to play the one left out. I'd potentially press Robertson forward. He's in Jurgen Klopp's side. He can adapt. Play him further forward as a more goal scoring threat (see the Cyprus game) and play Tierney behind him and we'd be unbeatable down the left. Not worth mentioning the players I mentioned in my blog. No offence intended.

I (thankfully) didn't make many more predictions. I wasn't wrong in some but was massively off key in others. But let's take a moment and go through the potential or best XI in June of 2019.

GK: Steve Clarke went with David Marshall against both Belgium and Cyprus. And while I don't disagree with experience, he's not a long term option. He's the youngest of our 'golden' generation of 'keepers which include Marshall himself, Craig Gordon and Allan McGregor. With McGregor understandably retiring and Gordon not playing, everyone is talking about Scott Bain. I'll be honest, I rate him, but he's first choice for Celtic by default. Craig Gordon is nearing his use by date and they have nobody else. I think that Clarke recognised that. There's little options beyond begging Angus Gunn (Southampton) or Jed Steer (Aston Villa) to switch teams. Although there's a case to be made for Craig MacGillivray of Portsmouth. He's said before he'd be keen to play for Scotland and I don't really understand why he hasn't been given a call up at least.

DL: Greg Taylor did very well against Belgium. But it'll be Andy Robertson or Kieren Tierney going forward.

CB: Scott McKenna and John Souttar are the future. Young and talented, they ought to be playing at a higher level. We keep relying on Charlie Mulgrew, who is a wonderful servant but we need to give gametime to the future of the team and not the almost done for. I'm liking Liam Lindsay at Barnsley and David Bates at Hamburg also. Put some faith in them, as Mulgrew won't be around forever.

RB: I am a huge fan of Stephen McDonnell who has been amazing at Killie, and obviously Steve Clarke will have faith as his former club boss. That being said, he won't be the long term solution. Why Callum Paterson has been shoe-horned into other positions at Cardiff is down to their management, he's a right back and not a striker. Play him where he should be playing.

CM:  There's a plethora of options here. Let's get the three Mc's out of the way. McGinn, McLean and McTominay. McTominay might not be a first choice for Man Utd but he is a great defensive holding midfielder and McGinn and McLean are both future Premier League midfielders providing they aren't sold. They both played well on their last outings and St Mirren should be very proud for producing two Scotland players. Callum McGregor is an outstanding midfielder and Ryan Christie is much missed due to injury. John Fleck is another option, also promoted to the Premier League this year.

Wingers: I don't think there's any doubt that Ryan Fraser on the right and James Forrest on the left are our best choices. Fraser was ranked amongst the best in assists in the English Premier League this season and Forrest was Scotland's best player of 2018. Other than that, we should stop looking at English players eligible for Scotland as Matt Ritchie and his ilk have not performed nor seem keen to play for the side.

Up front: I'll appear controversial here. Eammon Brophy might have performed for Clarke's Killie side but is not a Scotland player. Without Leigh Griffiths who has had his own off pitch issues, we have no out and out goal scorer. I think that Steven Fletcher is the best bet. He doesn't score (much), but he can hold up play and bring our wingers into play more often which is where McLeish got it right. Without an out and out goal scorer, we should focus on wing play and the striker should enable that. Olie McBurnie may be an alternative, but he hasn't hit the ground running for Scotland yet.

So there's my thoughts. If I'm crazy let me know. If I'm right let me know. If you have any thoughts please leave a comment and if I should revive this blog also let me know. I love writing but if nobody is reading then it's practically a diary!

Love to you all.

Abi