Donathan

Having read the article now it sounds like he picked up an injury in training and Clarke thought it wouldn’t be a great idea to have him take a five hour flight which might worsen the injury so he’s gone back to Newcastle for treatment. The article is completely sensationalist because there’s no evidence in there that he’s considering going back on his word and playing for England, the use of the word “quits” in the title seems hyperbolic when he’s withdrawn through injury, and most laughably of all the article states that he “claimed” to have been injured in training which to me reads like the record don’t believe he’s actually injured.

I was touting him for the job because if Steve Clarke was to leave* then I’d want someone from within the tent to continue the current feel good factor. * I actually think at the age of 60, Clarke could be our manager for some time yet. I can’t see him wanting to take a club job at his age but also not sure he will want to retire. I expect him to stick around at least through the World Cup qualifying campaign if not euro 2028.

Yikes. What the f**k is going on here?

@craigkillie is normally an excellent poster on Scotland stuff but he’s having a nightmare here. Why on earth would you tie yourself in knots to character assassinate a guy who’s helped us to score 12 in 18 from set pieces?

When I saw this thread at the top I feared he was leaving. If Clarke was to go I’d genuinely have MacPhee as one of the candidates to replace him.

You could swap Lowry into McIlroy’s pod and then put Bob McIntyre into the group with Rahm and Hatton.

I’d keep them apart because they got pumped by English and Finau last time whereas Lowry beat the same pair when he was paired with Tyrell Hatton.

Regardless of his character off the field, Man Utd should be dropping Antony because he’s an utterly horrific footballer

Is this the 2018 brain haemorrhage or was there another more recent one?

If Southgate plays his first choice XI, which he might well not, but if he does I reckon it’ll be something along the lines of: Pickford Walker - Guehi - Maguire - Chilwell Bellingham - Rice - Foden Saka - Kane - Rashford

Who are the biggest hitters and the best short game guys in the European team? I always think the best pairs usually consist of one guy who can smack the ball into next week and a guy who putts well.

Oh I'm not predicting that to happen at all. Just wanted to think out the worst case scenario and see where that would leave us.

I'd go for 4 pods of 3 that will practice in three balls and one pair from each pod will play in each session Pod 1: Rory McIlroy, Robert McIntyre, Nicolai Hojgaard Pod 2: John Rahm, Tyrell Hatton, Shane Lowry Pod 3: Victor Hovland, Tommy Fleetwood, Ludvig Aberd Pod 4: Matthew Fitzpatrick, Justin Rose, Sepp Straka Good mix of youth/experience (both in age and Ryder Cup record) in each pod. Very deliberately put Fitzpatrick (0-5 all time across two Ryder Cups) with the very experienced Rose. McIlroy is the only one that gets two rookies in his pod with him. Pairings that have done decently together in the past (Hatton with both Rahm and Lowey, and Hovland with Fleetwood) are in the same pods again.

If we beat Cyprus but lose the last three, and assuming everyone else beats Cyprus, we'd need two of the following three scenarios to qualify: 1) Spain get 2 points maximum from Georgia H+A and Norway A (No chance) 2) Norway get 4 points maximum from Georgia H and Spain H (Fairly likely) 3) Georgia get 4 points maximum from Norway A and Spain H+A (Fairly likely) So I think there's a decent chance we make it with 15 points but not for sure. Norway beating Spain at home is a particularly risky result for us.

There's unfortunately a much higher chance of it going down to the final doubleheader than people realise. Assuming Spain beat both Georgia and Cyprus this week, we win in Cyprus and Norway beat Georgia, then the group will read: Scotland 15 (5 played) Spain 9 (4 played) Norway 7 (5 played) Georgia 4 (5 played) - Cannot catch Scotland but may still qualify Cyprus 0 (5 played) - Eliminated Then in October, if we lose in Spain then we'd need Norway to drop points either in Cyprus or at home to Spain, the latter being far more likely you'd think.

I don't think Hanley is in the squad. He's been out injured for a while. Hendry will probably play instead.

Ten Haag said in his interview that McTominay was ill which is why he wasn’t on the bench

Not that he's necessarily a bad option off the bench, but with him being our best player in qualifiers so far, I can't see him being dropped. The "lack of game time" argument doesn't work for me given that a number of our players had been dropped by their clubs when we beat Spain in March. If anything the likes of Tierney and McTominay were fresh and well rested as a result. I think it'll be 10 of the 11 that started against Georgia. The one change will be Adams in for the injured Dykes.

Two assists for Gilmour today. Tough to drop McTominay after 5 goals in 4 games so I would guess it’ll be a 3-5-1-1 again like it was against Georgia

The bolded part is a decent idea IMO Reparations? Not for me. No one alive today in the UK was a slave owner. It would be absolutely ridiculous for the current generation of Brits to have to suffer financial penalties on behalf of our ancestors. It's the equivalent of throwing someone in jail because you found out his great great great grandfather was a serial killer.

The Real title in Spanish football means that the King has conferred the title on the football club, in the same way that golf clubs in the UK as known as for example Royal Troon, Royal Liverpool, Royal St George’s. Initially they were called Sociedad de Futbol (society of football). The Real part was only added a year or so later when King Alfonso XIII was spending the summer visiting the area and gave his royal stamp of approval to the club.

Cyprus play a really deep block and at times we struggled to break them down in March. In the end it was a comfortable 3-0 win but that was with two very late goals when they’d tired out. I would be quite tempted to sacrifice one of the back three for an extra forward player but the downside of this means it’s either Tierney as a proper back four LCB (which hasn’t typically happened), or you’re leaving out one of Robertson/KT.

If Clarke has a fully fit pool of players to choose from then some very good players will miss out on the squad My guess would be the squad could look like this if all are available Goalkeepers - Gunn, Gordon and Clark (3) Defenders - Robertson, Tierney, Hickey, Patterson, Ralston, Porteous, Hendry, Hanley and McKenna (9) Midfielders - McGregor, McGinn, McTominay, Gilmour, McLean, Jack, Armstrong, Ferguson and Anderson (9) Forwards - Dykes, Adams, Christie, Stewart and Nisbet (5) Would leave the likes of Liam Kelly, Greg Taylor, Dominic Hyam, Liam Cooper, John Souttar, Josh Doig, Calvin Ramsay, David Turnbull, Ben Doak, Jacob Brown and Lawrence Shankland on the outside looking in

Cyprus are going to play a really low block and be difficult to break down. Don’t think Clarke will reinvent the wheel though. Probably go with the same XI that beat Georgia at Hampden. That’s the best way to shoehorn the best 11 players in to the lineup apart from playing McTominay in the back three which I’m not sure we’ll see again.

Anderson and Doak both natural wingers, something we don't have a great abundance of at the moment (Christie, Armstrong and McGinn all spend time in wide roles for Scotland but all most comfortable playing more central roles, especially McGinn. Lewis Ferguson also more of a number 10 imo). I think they'll be fantastic options for us, especially if we are struggling to break down a low block. Anderson clearly ahead of Doak at the moment in Clarke's mind which makes sense to me given he's three years older and has 47 senior appearances to Doak's 5.