HuttonDressedAsLahm

I'd agree with this. He's getting game time at a side like Liverpool, so he's worth having around the squad. We only have a few players who can get onto the pitch and make a big difference (if not starting, Christie, Fraser?), so having some pace and guile is very useful. With 14(?) named subs now, it's also not like it's taking a position away from someone else. We haven't had an 'exciting' youngster in an attacking position since McFadden got his debut. Doak may reach those heights, may go past them, or he may do a Burke. Either way, I have no issue with him being around the squad. Wales seem to do a good job of giving youngsters a chance. If there's one major attribute of SC that I have enjoyed, it's been the trust in youth which has seldom been a Scottish trait. I'd even suggest we've never had so many promising young players getting their inclusions, and their debuts. Some of that may be due to the quality of player available, but we've also had massive hesitancy from coaches in the past preferring to play experienced journeymen, so I'm all for it.

You may well be right, but he’s probably at least 2 years off any real senior football? For the here and now, I’ll take having Stewart scoring goals in the Championship, as after him it’s pretty much Shankland and Nisbet - neither of whom are really good enough to make an impact at international level. After that, we’re still hoping for youth players to make the step up. As good as some of them are, it almost never happens for us… without sourcing Dykes and Adams we’d have been looking at Watt as our source of goals since 2019/2020…

That’s quite some detail there. Thanks for sharing. We must have also had a fair few sent down who never made a debut and came back up.

U21 sides don’t offer the access to national teams that it sometimes seems. The reality is that players 18-21 who are good enough for the national side, usually skip past the u21s, usually with just a handful of caps. Most countries in Europe operate that way. England, Italy, Germany, France, Belgium… their top players for caps and goals typically have unimpressive full international careers. The same is also very true of Scotland. Just look at our top scorers and those most capped, and the the common trait is not making it. It seems obvious once you think about it - after all, Gilmour, Robertson, Tierney, Patterson, Hickey, Ramsay have all skipped past it. Players like Daily are the exception to the rule. It would be nice to have a successful u21 side, but it’s not a marker of much more than how poorly coached they are (we do massively underperform at u21 level in comparison to both the full side, and the u17/u19 levels).

I'd say some of the detail leaves much to be desired. I'd be confident of the match details and stats, as they are all driven by the official source (though the site often gets match officials wrong if there's a change in the last 24 hours before kick off).

Yes. That's it.

Rory Wilson now has 12 goals for the u17s (Soccerway u17 stats). The record keeping is poor at that level, but can't imagine there are many other players with that record.

Norway have the world’s best striker but they’ve still been a bit hot and cold lately. Perhaps, a bit like us. The one ‘positive’ is that Norway are just as capable of dropping points to George/Cyprus as we are. We absolutely need Spain not to drop points.

As above - the best squad we've had in a generation or two, and most of our players are 27 and younger. The only places where experience/depth is necessary is at goalkeeper and striker. We don't need to 'see' more full backs, or centre mids, and probably not centre half either. If there are brilliant prospects, then that's a different question. However, do we need to see Liam Lindsay to know that he's not as good as McKenna, Hendry, Cooper, Souttar, Porteous, Hanley... and he'd presumably still be behind Halkett and Gallagher? Nothing against Lindsay, I'm making a point about our depth of options. Getting a goalkeeper capped, and game time for a fit Stewart and Brown up front would be a priority. If an u21 player can make a cause (perhaps Elliot Anderson), then great, but as far as I can tell our greatest prospects are either not playing senior football or injured (e.g. Lowry) or still too young (e.g. Doak, Wilson). In an ideal world, we'd have the main players available, and an opportunity for game time to the good players that are already peripheral. We have a list of very good players already not getting a game for us. I don't see any good reason to make that list much longer.

Long overdue.

FIFA's document from August 2021 notes the 14th for players involved in the World Cup. It also is missing the dates for this last week's fixtures - perhaps it's available and I just can't find it. Other reports state the 20th, but that's presumably nonsense. I would presume you're right, either by the actual window, or by pragmatism, but flagged all the same - clubs have more influence than we often appreciate. Clubs like Arsenal/Liverpool will have their own views on friendlies in Turkey. Edit: agreeing on your point above - seems a sensible reason to not confirm the friendly yet.

It will be so long as clubs are mandated to release players, and SC wants to have the full team available. We've been fortunate that the squad has had pretty much 100% attendance over the past couple of years - injuries permitting. The priority - if possible - is to have the core of the side there, whilst giving game time to the peripheral players, particularly the strikers, goalkeepers, and a couple of midfielders.

If it's Barrie McKay, he's oddly already capped. Kingsley was as well, which is something I very clearly missed in those two awful friendlies against Italy/France. Assuming a November friendly, what we can do depends on availability and objectives. For defence I can't see any necessity for inclusion of those not already in squads. Porteous to play with Hendry, and consider time for Souttar or Halkett if they are fit. Oddly, we now have so many options at centre back, players like Cooper might find it hard to get back in. Full backs? Doig could get a turn. Perhaps the lad at West Ham. Midfield: Ferguson, Campbell, McKay, Turnbull, maybe... Forrest. Anderson of Newcastle is surely worth a go. Dare I also suggest... Gauld? Forwards: Stewart, and Brown. Not sure there's anyone new worth trying yet - unless the U21 lad in Bristol keeps playing well. Overall, I don't see the point of changes for the sake of it, nor playing an entirely new XI. The priority absolutely has to be giving game time to a goalkeeper (or both), and giving the likes of Turnbull, Stewart, some proper time on the pitch. I'd hope that we would have a decent number of regulars. McGregor always wants to play, and what better way to celebrate your 50th cap than a meaningless friendly on the Syrian border?

There was a year when 6 or more OF players made the top 10. We may be using different resources, but the stats I recall were all reported quite widely, and the BBC did a piece. It must have been the calendar year 2019, as Forrest, McGregor (Celtic), and Jack were all included. I'm pretty sure that McGregor was quoted this week that he (paraphrasing) "wouldn't know what to do if he wasn't playing 70 games a season".

Are you thinking of Harvey St Clair who's at Venezia in Serie B?

Exactly. ROI have been in free fall since around 2016, when Keane retired. That also timed with them losing Given, Whelan, O’Shea, and McGeady. Keane was never an elite striker at club level, but was absurdly good at international level. If we’d had a Bale, Haaland, Keane, or even an Arveladze, we’d have qualified for a tournament or two in the last 20 years. Our problem has always been scoring goals, and we’ve missed out - quite routinely - by only a couple of points, or a poor result where a goalscorer would have made the difference. Ireland are in the process of rebuilding, much like we were in 17-18, and Wales will be there very shortly. We lack an international class striker/talisman, but our average player/strength in depth is far stronger than either Ireland or Wales. And all of that said, I’d happily never play either of them again.

Yes. If the AR holds his flag once the chance has gone, then he believes it was onside. At least one offside was given last night and the referee chose to play on given Gordon had the ball. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player be caught out for offside so many times. I’m sure it was at least 5, and possibly more - and some of them were off by quite a distance.

Bondar. Not starting

Tbh, it’s better than it could easily have been. Last ever triple header I hope!

UEFA. I’d imagine that isn’t quite how they setup

If there was ever a chance of playing a high press game, that’s gone now. This is going to look like two completely different sides. Let’s hope we can setup well defensively, and hit them on the counter. Perhaps, Fraser, McGinn and Adam is the attacking solution.

Possibly was always the plan. Dykes also more useful on defensive corners. Hopefully the Irish try and play out from the back again. Ukraine are technically better and really struggled during the week.

A fair bit can still change, but this is the current rankings with the last games of round 5 being played tonight. What do we want? Serbia not to win tonight; not to win v Norway away on Tuesday. Iceland not to win, but a low scoring win would be fine. Montenegro to win or draw versus Finland. A Finland win would likely make them best-placed second seeds with 7 points. Our position: Beating Ireland means 6 points relative to other groups. Losing to Ukraine leaves us best second placed assuming the above happens. Drawing with both makes second place irrelevant. Anyone confirm my calculations? We’ll know more tonight, though if we fail to win, it’s all or nothing v Ukraine (lose v Ukraine and there’s no chance at best second place).

I stopped watching at 3-0. Ukraine weren’t impressive, but became effective once Armenia’s heads went. It was their ‘B’ team, so that much should be acknowledged. I wouldn’t read a thing into that result beyond that Armenia are dire. Their performance at Hampden was one of the worst outside the minnows we’ve ever seen. Really puts into perspective how bad Ireland were to not only be beaten, but outplayed.

They’ve been pretty poor. Probably the result of changing all XI. 2-0 now. Not exactly against the run of play, but they haven’t created a whole lot.