Opinion

It is getting like a game of skittles as one Scotland player after another is knocked out of the tournament. Six of the XV who started against Italy are down, for the French match next week at least, several for the Wales and England games too.

Analysis from Celtic Park as Brendan Rodgers’ side were comfortably beaten 2-0 by their Spanish guests.

There often seems a strange betwixt and between that Celtic find themselves in when facing high-level European opposition in their own surrounds. It was hinted at by Oliver Burke ahead of last night’s game. He spoke of the Scottish champions requiring to tease out openings by remaining “patient”.

Andy Harrow looks back at Scotland’s Six Nations defeat to Ireland at Murrayfield.

Even David Law himself admitted he didn’t quite see it coming. Not just yet anyway. The Aberdonian had missed the cut in more than half of his previous 17 European Tour starts across nine seasons and his best finish was joint-26th. In short, he was still learning his trade at the top level.

What did we do for fun in the old days? We went to the game, we stood in the rain and watched the players kick lumps out of each other, and then we came home. There might have been highlights on TV that night but they’d be brief, eccentrically edited and with a very good chance that the coverage would miss the most eye-watering of all the skin grafts conducted without anaesthetic on the pitch. And if by some fluke the worst challenge had found its way into the excerpts, the commentator would refrain from drawing attention to it, or at least he’d cloak it in some heroic euphemism.

Forget the last ten minutes. They’re irrelevant. Italy did much the same against Ireland last year or the year before, scoring tries when the game had long been lost. And, indeed, we in the past have often scored fine examples of the so-called consolation try.

In football we’re often so focused on what’s right in front of us that we miss what could happen further down the road. This is true of fans, the media and even the clubs themselves.

The transfer window has closed but that doesn’t necessarily mean your club’s business is done just yet. There have been hundreds of deals completed by Scotland’s clubs outwith the window over the past 15 years, as they look to use free agents and loan deals to improve their squad for the run-in. Here is a selection of some of the best.

New England Patriots are the champions after a hard-fought and enthralling game with a stunted offensive performance to ride on one of the greatest defensive performances from a team in the NFL era.

Lead me to a darkened corner, please. Somewhere to escape golf for a few days because, while certainly enjoyable in many respects, three weeks on the trot of following the European Tour around the Middle East coincided with more controversy being stirred up than anyone could possibly have bargained for.

So, Neil Lennon, you’re the new Hibernian manager, what do think you’ll bring to Easter Road? “Nothing!” he roared. No seriously, Neil, what do you think you’ll bring? “Baggage!” Then he asked a question: had we missed him since he’d been out of the Scottish game? “Of course,” said one journo, to which Lennon retorted: “Liars!”

There are supposedly just six degrees of separation between any two people in the world. So my Aunt Morag is the second cousin of your step father’s second bidie-in...or something along those lines. The knee bone is connected to the ankle bone and so on.

Scotland have had too many bad days against Italy, most recently on the final day of last year’s Six Nations, to be complacent today. Most people thought Italy unlucky not to win that one. It certainly wasn’t Scotland’s only sloppy performance against the Italians. Moreover Glasgow and Edinburgh players are well aware that the two Italian clubs in the Pro14 are a tough proposition these days. So Gregor Townsend and his players know that they will have to be good to win.

The madness is finally over. January is at an end. For some it has them dreaming of a second half of the season where the sky is the limit. For others, it has created a sense of dread. So we had a look through the forums to judge the mood of each individual fanbase from the 12 top flight clubs to judge their outlook.

Craig Fowler picks out the most interesting deals from the Scottish Premiership in the January transfer window.

Celtic have completed the signing of Maryan Shved. Brendan Rodgers admitted he doesn’t know much about the player. Joel Sked gives the Northern Irishman and Celtic fans the lowdown on the new recruit.

Brian Rice has been announced as the next manager of Hamilton Accies while the Lanarkshire club have also taken the measure of recruiting a director of football in Allan McGonigal.

The transfer window slams SHUT at midnight on Thursday, 31 January. Joel Sked looks at what each side in the Ladbrokes Premiership need to do before the market closes.