WE all recall exactly what happened at the start of the last Scotland qualifying campaign.
Two home games against Serbia and Macedonia, but we could only manage two draws and those dropped points ended up costing us later on. This Saturday's match against Georgia at Ibrox already feels very similar to me.
When you pencilled down the draw, this was one of the ones circled on paper as a must-win if we are going to qualify. I don't think it is just pundits, players and fans who will be saying that - secretly I think Gordon Strachan will agree.
Those two early home draws really put us under pressure and that is precisely what this game would do if we don't win. We don't want to play with that pressure. We want a nice positive start.
Truth is, we played well against Germany. Everybody expected us to lose, but we should have taken something from the game and Strachan knows this. I saw Georgia's match with Ireland when I was in Dortmund that night and three fantastic goals decided that game.
The Georgians have good technique, but if we play the way we have been, and are as organised and as compact, then we should win this game. Especially when you run your eyes over the squad and see there is genuine quality there.
Craig Gordon is knocking away at the door, but he is not going to get in, because David Marshall did well in Germany and you just don't chop and change with your goalkeepers. That is asking for trouble.
Andy Robertson could get back in at left-back in place of Steven Whittaker, and Scott Brown will definitely return in place of his injured clubmate Charlie Mulgrew, but it wouldn't surprise me if Gordon kept as many as he could of the boys did that well in Germany.
Darren Fletcher hasn't been playing much for Manchester United but I think he will start, alongside Brown and James Morrison in the middle. Up front, Steven Naismith is a certainty, as is Ikechi Anya, while he likes Barry Bannan on the right.
Traditionally, we find it hard when we have to open up and play teams we are supposed to beat, because it is always about the collective for us, with two or three outstanding individuals. But the beauty of Strachan's system is we can keep that nice, solid look and still create chances. We don't have to go 4-4-2, I think it will be 4-2-3-1 again.
I know Alex McLeish still regrets playing 4-4-2 in Tbilisi in October 2007, the night our chances of qualifying for Euro 2008 suffered a blow. That match shows you what the Georgians can be like. They are a side who will have an impact in this group, win the odd game, but they are not consistent. Let's hope this isn't the game they get a result in.
I HAVE played in all kinds of derbies: Old Firm derbies, New Firm derbies, Dundee derbies, Scotland-England showdowns, but the Highland grudge match will be a new one to me. I do know what it is all about, though. From the very first one back in the top flight, I have sampled it with my work at the BBC.
I remember the atmosphere, what it meant to people up here. From our point of view, it was great to get that win last week against Dundee, to come into the match with a bit of confidence, but we realise we are up against a good team, a really positive side who attack all day.
Of course we are desperate to win. But the main thing is to build on last week's win and try to get some consistency. We have got an aim and a mission up here at Ross County and that is to stay up.
A point or a win would be tremendous, but it isn't the be all and end all. There are bigger fish to fry at the end of the season and I don't want to get sidetracked by it. Winning all three or four derbies would count for nothing if we still ended up getting relegated.
BILEL MOHSNI needs to help his club, he needs to help his manager and he needs to help himself instead of arguing with his own fans, as he did when 3-0 down at half-time to Hibs on Monday. If they are all booing him, he has to learn that there is probably a reason for that. He isn't a good enough player to be carrying on like that.
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