Subtle changes can make Scots a threat  For all the bold pre-
match talk of a much-improved squad, better prepared to end the
long wait to return to a major championship, the Scotland
performance against Serbia bore many of the hallmarks of those
sides who have failed to qualify over the last 14 years.
Perhaps not everyone had bought in to the idea that this was a
squad that was going places, but before Saturday's game at
Hampden there was a genuine positivity that Scotland could start
the campaign with a victory.  Indeed, as the match began, it
looked as though there might be goals at both ends, as both
teams attacked at pace.  But that soon dissipated, to be
replaced by more pedestrian football, which rendered the
atmosphere inside the ground almost non-existent at times.  In a
seemingly co-ordinated public relations attempt to spin the
display in a positive light, the manager Craig Levein and his
players spoke in the aftermath of having created plenty of
chances and being unlucky at not having taken any.