Scotland squad March

[jagfox]

2 minutes ago, 1320Lichtie said:

What team they're at or the game time they're getting at that team is irrelevant you pick the best players available.

 

Match fitness isn't irrelevant though. It's not as if we have a Messi, Ronaldo or Bale coming back from a layoff? 

[1320Lichtie]

Match fitness isn't irrelevant though. It's not as if we have a Messi, Ronaldo or Bale coming back from a layoff? 

It is when you've got as limited a pool as ours to choose from. Plenty of the squad aren't playing regularly and that's just the way it is with Scotland. You pick the best players.

Griffiths has barely kicked a ball this season, should Doolan be in instead cause he's match fit?

[jagfox]

It is when you've got as limited a pool as ours to choose from. Plenty of the squad aren't playing regularly and that's just the way it is with Scotland. You pick the best players.

Griffiths has barely kicked a ball this season, should Doolan be in instead cause he's match fit?

Doolan is too good for that shite [emoji56]
We should be playing players who are playing for their club ahead of washed up jobbers.

[resk]

Strachan, as always, working hard to achieve the optimum balance between fitness and market value for as many Celtic players as possible.

[RandomGuy.]

It is when you've got as limited a pool as ours to choose from. Plenty of the squad aren't playing regularly and that's just the way it is with Scotland. You pick the best players.

Griffiths has barely kicked a ball this season, should Doolan be in instead cause he's match fit?

Only if they're vastly better than the players they're competing with. Match sharpness is under rated.

[1320Lichtie]

Only if they're vastly better than the players they're competing with. Match sharpness is under rated.

And I think most of them are. Take Steven Fletcher, Griffiths and Naismith out of that squad for example...

Who replaces them?

Tony Watt?

[forameus]

I don't entirely disagree with the resting of players, but the blanket "all celtic players" is going to get people's backs up.  I don't think it's anything to do with favouritism for the club (no-one really knows either way) more just wanting to keep the players he wants for the Slovenia game fresher.  That's the right decision.  Poorly communicated though.  Again.

13 minutes ago, 1320Lichtie said:

And I think most of them are. Take Steven Fletcher, Griffiths and Naismith out of that squad for example...

Who replaces them?

Tony Watt?

 

Said it yourself - Doooooooooooolan.

But yeah, for all people sit there raging that people like Steven Fletcher are in the squad, once you get beyond the top 5 or so forwards we have available, the quality rapidly diminishes.  Much like in most of the positions on the field.

[1320Lichtie]

It's the same at centre half. You can slate Hanley/Martin/Berra and Cooper all you want but they're by far the best we've got. All captained English Championship and EPL teams. Berra/Cooper at big clubs pushing for the EPL. Martin and Hanley played plenty of games in the EPL. Newcastle paid 12 million for Hanley ffs. If any of these guys were at Partick or Hibs they'd be their best players.

 

I would agree that Lindsay should maybe get a call up, from what I've seen of him he looks ok, however if he hadn't scored so many goals I doubt he'd be receiving the same hype.

 

[forameus]

25 minutes ago, 1320Lichtie said:

It's the same at centre half. You can slate Hanley/Martin/Berra and Cooper all you want but they're by far the best we've got. All captained English Championship and EPL teams. Berra/Cooper at big clubs pushing for the EPL. Martin and Hanley played plenty of games in the EPL. Newcastle paid 12 million for Hanley ffs. If any of these guys were at Partick or Hibs they'd be their best players.

 

I would agree that Lindsay should maybe get a call up, from what I've seen of him he looks ok, however if he hadn't scored so many goals I doubt he'd be receiving the same hype.

 

To be fair though, he did score the goals.  And if by some minor miracle we actually put a decent ball into the box while he's up, I'd fancy him to score more than Grant Hanley or Russel Martin.  His goals have been a bonus, he's looked pretty solid this season which is what should have put him in contention.  But he's probably not quite good enough yet.  If he moves on, I expect he'll suddenly become good enough, but hopefully he stays with us and keeps playing every week and playing well.  All he can do is show week in week out that he deserves it and hope that people notice.

[wastecoatwilly]

There is no progressive thinking to the Scotland squad,Scotland has a centre-back problem yet young centre-backs are left out.
Scotland has a right back problem with calum Paterson been injured yet Strachan has made a rod for his own back with bardsley and caddis
plus doesn't think Donald love is good enough to step up,reminds me of the jardine and mcgrain scenario
Strachan has over 50 players to pick from in the two top tiers of English football yet still can't beat teams like Lithuania and Georgia
the lack of Scottish based players in the last two squads would suggest that Strachan does not rate Scottish football
for me we have the players to qualify but we don't have the right manager in place to take us there.

[jailend-chapper]

Time to give Fraser, Cooper and Cairney a start tonight and keep them there for Sunday's game. I'd personally go with 3 centre halves and two wingbacks. Martin, Mulgrew and Cooper at the back with Anya on the right and Tierney or Robertson on the left. It really is time to shake things up.

The worst possible scenario is that we win comfortable tonight with the same/similar starting line-up, sneak a win on Sunday and then everyone is bigging us up for the England game again.

[1320Lichtie]

There is no progressive thinking to the Scotland squad,Scotland has a centre-back problem yet young centre-backs are left out. Scotland has a right back problem with calum Paterson been injured yet Strachan has made a rod for his own back with bardsley and caddis

plus doesn't think Donald love is good enough to step up,reminds me of the jardine and mcgrain scenario

Strachan has over 50 players to pick from in the two top tiers of English football yet still can't beat teams like Lithuania and Georgia

the lack of Scottish based players in the last two squads would suggest that Strachan does not rate Scottish football

for me we have the players to qualify but we don't have the right manager in place to take us there.

 

 

Anya was always a RB before he came into the Scotland squad.

 

As a complete neutral who does rate Scottish football there's the grand total of zero Scottish based players that would improve the team/squad that's been picked.

 

If we weren't so strong in midfield/attacking midfield then Shinnie/McLean/Walker would be in with a shout but we are very strong in these areas. Other than that there's no standouts that would improve what's there, Patterson if fit would and he has been included in the past.

 

[TheScarf]

9 minutes ago, wastecoatwilly said:

There is no progressive thinking to the Scotland squad,Scotland has a centre-back problem yet young centre-backs are left out.
Scotland has a right back problem with calum Paterson been injured yet Strachan has made a rod for his own back with bardsley and caddis
plus doesn't think Donald love is good enough to step up,reminds me of the jardine and mcgrain scenario
Strachan has over 50 players to pick from in the two top tiers of English football yet still can't beat teams like Lithuania and Georgia
the lack of Scottish based players in the last two squads would suggest that Strachan does not rate Scottish football
for me we have the players to qualify but we don't have the right manager in place to take us there.

I agree with most of this.  Strachan's failure to beat Lithuania and Georgia with clearly superior players is harrowing.   I've said this until I'm blue in the face;  Scotland have good players, its just the last 3 managers that have been shite at getting anything out of them.

Look no further than North and South Ireland for examples of good management.

[wastecoatwilly]

2 hours ago, 1320Lichtie said:

 

Anya was always a RB before he came into the Scotland squad.

As a complete neutral who does rate Scottish football there's the grand total of zero Scottish based players that would improve the team/squad that's been picked.

If we weren't so strong in midfield/attacking midfield then Shinnie/McLean/Walker would be in with a white but we are very strong in these areas. Other than that there's no standouts that would improve what lad there, Patterson if fit would and he has been included in the past.

 

That is just an assumption or just opinion,the perception is that the players from the top two tiers of English football play at a higher level than the Scottish based players but the results Scotland have been getting suggests other wise.only one Scottish based player started against Lithuania so you could say Scottish football has nothing to do with that result.

[forameus]

7 minutes ago, wastecoatwilly said:

That is just assumption or just opinion,the perception is that the players from the top two tiers of English football play at a higher level than the Scottish based players but the results Scotland have been getting suggests other wise.only one Scottish based player started against Lithuania so you could say Scottish football has nothing to do with that result.

So who would improve us then?  We're largely picking the best options available.  Just because they're not particularly good themselves doesn't change that.  You can't just say because we didn't win with only one Scottish-based player that we'd get a better result if we had more.  We may as well say that we should be playing players who are left handed, because only one player in the squad is currently left handed, so obviously we'd be better if more were.

It matters little where each player is playing.  For the most part you're going to settle at your level.  Some Championship (England) players are going to be comfortably better options than Premiership ones, and some will be poorer, but I don't think that's the case with who we're picking.  There is no-one missing out who you could consider as an absolute travesty.  There's edge-cases, but you're essentially arguing over who'll sit on the bench in those cases. 

[wastecoatwilly]

17 minutes ago, forameus said:

So who would improve us then?  We're largely picking the best options available.  Just because they're not particularly good themselves doesn't change that.  You can't just say because we didn't win with only one Scottish-based player that we'd get a better result if we had more.  We may as well say that we should be playing players who are left handed, because only one player in the squad is currently left handed, so obviously we'd be better if more were.

It matters little where each player is playing.  For the most part you're going to settle at your level.  Some Championship (England) players are going to be comfortably better options than Premiership ones, and some will be poorer, but I don't think that's the case with who we're picking.  There is no-one missing out who you could consider as an absolute travesty.  There's edge-cases, but you're essentially arguing over who'll sit on the bench in those cases. 

the bottom line here is for me we have the players to qualify but we don't have the manager
strachan's approach to every game is the same he does not adapt to the opposition we are playing
playing the same system away to Slovakia and then home to Lithuania was a mistake.
looking for a continuity style of play for Scotland should be a team hard to beat away from home
at home we should be more attack minded bringing in players that are more forward thinking
Strachan is to loyal to his players with not enough progressive thinking
 

[1320Lichtie]

In one of the points you raised you literally said that we have 50 players in the top 2 tiers in England, so you obviously have the same opinion.

[skippy2015]

We have a very good midfield with loads of options good fullbacks but really really poor at centre half and centre forward. I would say our midfield is strongest it's been in since 98

[wastecoatwilly]

25 minutes ago, 1320Lichtie said:

In one of the points you raised you literally said that we have 50 players in the top 2 tiers in England, so you obviously have the same opinion.

Strachan has over 50 players to chose from in these leagues why are we not getting the results?
the leagues mite be better but the players don't show that playing for Scotland.

 

[skippy2015]

The spl is really poor at present at very best on a par with with the likes of the Slovenian or Hungarian top flight. ( this is proven as we have been beaten regularly by these teams the last 20 years in europa league qualifiers etc) Our best players from spl basically get picked up by Premiership championship or league one teams because they can afford to pay double triple or quadruple the wages. Basically if the Scottish based players were any good they would get picked up from English clubs or clubs from abroad.