Stuart Armstrong

Sam Browne Belts

 

With a buckle big and strong...

 

I'm usually alright but against these it's next level..

Ripped us to shreds for as long as I remember..

 

* me.

 

* that id like to see Scotland do well when there's so many celts in the team , they would be in a much better position if they had went down that route sooner

 

We've only beaten them once in my life time.

 

Not even with The Darks.

 

The 1 nil away where we lost anyway?

Same..

Sickening..

 

That's the very one.

 

Again they didn't deserve that either..

Lucky * Seaman..

It's no even a rivalry now. They think we're *......and we are..

 

They are * too tho and Southgate is a *..

 

Yep. Never have a,better chance to do them..

 

Tried to overplay it too many times, wasn't the only one guilty of giving the ball away cheaply him Brown and Morrison were awful at times but made up for it with his work rate.

 

Probably does us a favour if our players play *. Can't say I'm happy with them looking pish but hey ho.

 

Thought he was ok, nowt special, that pass at the end was fkn ridiculous though.

 

A shell-shocked Stuart Armstrong was still agonising last night over his part in the late Harry Kane goal which deprived Scotland one of their most famous victories. While a number of errors conspired to give England their stoppage time equaliser - Charlie Mulgrew lost the England striker entirely from Raheem Sterling's cross and Craig Gordon could certainly have been more decisive in coming from his line - the Celtic midfielder needed little reminding that the attacking position would never have come about had he fed the ball to the breaking Chris Martin on his left rather than Leigh Griffiths on his right, or alternatively simply shelled the ball into Row Z.

"Yeah, I know," said Armstrong. "You make decisions in game. It was really late on and, honestly, tiredness comes into play.

"I’ve seen Griff make a run – and it was a poor pass," he conceded. "In hindsight, I should probably just have shelled it into row Z. A number of things have to happen for a goal – you can never tell what phase of play is going to lead to what - but I probably should have just cleared the ball. It’s just one of those things.

"When I saw the ball hit the net, my feelings were honestly just total disappointment. We were so close to three points. To end up with one, you know, it’s just hard to take. The emotions of the game, being one-nil down and Griff hitting two unbelievable goals to get us back in the lead with so little time remaining … it’s hard to know what to say. To concede is disappointing, to say the least."

Armstrong deserves a better fate than for his break-out season, which harvested 17 goals, numerous assists and an invincible domestic treble, to be remembered for one poor decision with his very last kick of the campaign. No Scottish player has covered more ground this season and, when the disappointment has subsided, there will be plenty for him and the rest of the Scotland side to be proud of from this display. Four wins - away to Lithuania, at home to Malta, at home to Slovakia, and away to Slovenia - could yet be enough for second place and a play-off place, even if we now require England to do us a favour or two along the way.

"It was still a draw with a good team," said Armstrong. "It says a lot about where we are, how far we’ve come, that we were disappointed with a point against England. There is certainly a lot to build on and a lot of confidence to take into the next game.

"Can we win the next four? I don’t see why not. We’ve hopefully given the fans that belief that we can do it. It means so much when they are behind us, as well. It gives us the extra impetus to take something from the game."

After 12 matches without an international goal, Armstrong's club team-mate Leigh Griffiths broke his duck in style. The midfielder was also standing over both free kicks, not that the right-footer ever had any chance of persuading Griffiths to let him take them, particularly the second.

"I certainly wasn’t surprised by Leigh’s goals," said Armstrong. "I think everyone in Scotland has seen his finishing ability and his skill with the dead ball, as well. I was stood right with him for the free-kicks, so I had the perfect view of both goals.

"They were two excellent finishes," he added. "More impressive is the fact that they came in a really high-pressure situation, in a really high-pressure game. For the second, I knew he was going to stick it to the other side of Joe Hart. I knew his confidence was going to be so high after the first one that I wasn’t even going to offer to take it!

"He stepped up brilliantly. To do it in a big game is amazing. To do it twice in such a pressurised situation is brilliant – he should be very proud of himself."

In addition to predicting that he will now kick on as a regular scorer at international level, Armstrong praised Griffiths for his all round game. The striker linked play well and came back to help out his defence with a series of crucial blocks.

"I think Leigh has proven himself at club level that he can score goals - there’s never been any doubt about that," said Armstrong. "It was always only a matter of time before he scored his first Scotland goals. Now that he has his first two, he’ll kick on.

"But he did really well even apart from his goals. He provided a lot of help to the midfield, coming back and making interceptions, winning fouls and giving us a breather. His all-round play was terrific."

The draw was thoroughly merited on the run of a match where Scotland made enterprising starts to both halves, and in particular shaded the second period. But it was gruelling work even for fit players like Armstrong. "The first half was difficult, no doubt," said Armstrong. "They had a lot of possession in both halves, so there was a lot of work put in just closing down space and helping each other out. But it worked for a long time. We denied them space, we kept them out. We then had to change things up a bit. Chris Martin coming made a difference – but it just wasn’t to be."

 

Stuart with some comforting words.

 

I had a dream he'd score a last minute winner so I wasn't far off...

 

Celtic midfielder Stuart Armstrong expects to finalise a new contract with the Hoops soon.

Armstrong, a nomination for the PFA Scotland player of the year after Celtic’s treble-winning season, is now in the final year of his contract which expires next summer.

The Inverness-born player, who was brought up in Aberdeen, has been linked with a move to newly-promoted English Premier League side Brighton.

The 25-year-old is keen to extend his stay with Brendan Rodgers’ men and hinted that an agreement is likely to be reached soon.

Armstrong said: “That was something we talked about and had decided to leave until the season was finished and then we would pick things up again from there. I’m sure we will take care of that soon.

“We can never put a time limit on these things but they normally take care of themselves. It is the happiest I have been in my career. That has shown on the park and I am very happy and playing well. I am playing some of the best football of my life.”

Armstrong won his second Scotland cap in Saturday’s 2-2 draw against England, accepting the blame for the misplaced pass which led to Harry Kane’s added-time equaliser.

Armstrong is relishing the end-of-season break and added: “It has been a good season but it has been a long season.

“There has been a lot of work put in and a lot of games and travelling, so I will be looking to switch off from football for the next while before we get back in.

“We will be better prepared but that is for next season. I just want to switch off, reflect and look forward to the new contract.”

 

Sooner he signs, the better.