haggisbeastie

We're a divided nation - what can we expect?

I think Jenas has a kind of attachment to Forest - were they not his first club? Anyway, he did not wait long to leave them either, did he? Apart from that, I like him as a pundit...

For anyone that doesn't know & is interested, Gauld, Souttar, Kingsley etc will be playing for Scotland under 21s against Macedonia tomorrow evening. The whole game is on BBC Alba.

It says "any player who has NOT played International football for another association", it does not say that has to have been in a competitive game though...

That sounds like the game against Denmark committed him to Scotland, does it not?

Just realised, Coach may have decided to let Ryan go home a bit early to join up with under-21s for the Macedonia game on Friday. Understandable, I guess.

More chance of a game there, perhaps?

Maybe he's been recalled by Sporting to replace the newly-sold Joao Mario, he is injured, or he just has not made the bench... I hope its not the latter, as that would not be good sign... P.S. - Hope he's not injured either....

Great. ITV4 start with weekly highlights in a day or two. Hope to see him do well once he gets going.

Have Red Bull Leipzig just been promoted to the Bundesliga, or are they second division there?

The SFA use a "talent ID" scheme (implemented by forum favourite Mark Wotte) to alert them to identify new international players. Otherwise, England may have got to him first.... Anyone want to congratulate SFA & Wotte for this?? (Lights blue touch paper & runs....)

Ryan Gauld played his first game for Vitoria Setubal at the weekend. Anyone know how it went?

Rickisaurus Bragia....funny...[emoji28]

OK. I take back the " lord of gloom" comment. I do think there is too much worrying about our seeding, as a team which concentrates on getting better can blow that out of the water (for example, Belgium & Iceland in recent times).

He has been loaned for up to a season, with no buyout option for Setubal. The are building him up like they have players like Joao Mario, who is a 40 million target these days, seemingly. Sounds very positive & he will be hopefully in a position to get into Scotland squad again shortly.

The lord of gloom speaks! #weescotland Let's be safe in our mediocrity...

We could use guys like him and Gauld to shake up the opposition in the next qualifiers...

Could be back at Sporting in December, to play for their first team, assuming he gets games and does well for Setubal.

This is all about opinions, so I would challenge that Robertson is our best left back. Kingsley & Tierney (maybe others) could prove themselves to be better for Scotland in the next campaign. In addition, what specific midfield position do you see as Gaulds? I would like to understand which specific midfield players in current team are better than him?

What annoys me is that Gauld does not even get a chance in recent friendlies, when Strachan would rather pick average championship players, such as Craig Bryson (never going to pull up any trees) in his squad. That was ideal opportunity. Who realky cares if he was playing in Sporting B team? That's still a higher technical level that a lot of those he did pick in the squads. He has more ability than any of the current midfielders we have & his physical strength has significantly improved since Strachan last "spot judged" him....

This I agree with entirely. Worrying about what kind of pot we are in all the time is like settling for crumbs at the table, while others show more ambition and confidence and get their desserts. Did Iceland worry about their seeding? I don't accept that we can't put together a good enough team to do a "wales". I just think current team needs laced with some, hungry, younger, talented (i think we have some) players on the way up, rather than keeping with some players who are "favourites" but are never going to be good enough.

The ironic thing is that Spurs fans used to deride the young Gareth Bale. This was when Rednapp persisted in playing him as a left back for a while ; a period when Bale was slammed by fans for never being part of a winning side for a number of games... Then everything changed, when he was finally played in a forward position & rest is history. Point is that even the best players can struggle if not given proper chance in right circumstances. Scottish players with Gauld's ability are so rare. Frankly, if he can handle going to a foreign country and developing among high-quality peers, he should be in the Scotland squad, at least. I bet if he was welsh he would have had a number of caps already...

Yep, agree with you.

Sporting provide most of the Portugal midfield, with William Carvalho, Adrian Silva & Joao Mario. The situation may be that unless one of them gets a move after the euros, Gauld may have to go on loan to keep improving, rather than sit on a bench for much of next season. However, this should not be seen as failing, as Sporting do seem to rate him highly, just are struggling to find room in side for him, for now. A loan for first team football should also get him Scotland opportunities soon..

Yes, he is being moulded into Modric-like player, it seems. This will help him get ball in deeper areas and be more of an influence. Not sure if Strachan would play him in deep role for Scotland though...