September 2022 Scotland squad

[Donathan]

3 hours ago, Gordopolis said:

3 hours ago, Donathan said:

I know that you technically have five options for centre back in this squad (Tierney will very likely play LCB and McTominay could be brought into the back three again) but I’d be very surprised to see only McKenna, Hanley and Hendry called up as natural centre backs. Hendry hasn’t kicked a ball yet this season so may well be lacking match sharpness.
 
Cooper was on the bench for Leeds last week but it’s hard to see him getting called up given he’s just back from injury. I do think Gallagher or another surprise will be brought in as cover, but don’t expect to see them starting any of the matches.
 
Assuming we stick with the back three it’ll surely be McTominay/Hendry RCB, Hanley in the middle, Tierney LCB 

Yeah can't disagree with any of that really. Wish we didn't have to keep falling back on McT at CB. He's good in many respects in that position, but it just feels like a sticking plaster.

The reason I don’t want McTominay at CB for these internationals is partly due to his errors costing us dearly against Ukraine and Israel, but also because he’s playing very well in midfield for Man Utd so far this season and IMO should be starting there ahead of Gilmour who’s yet to kick a ball this season.
 

Hendry lacking sharpness is for me a reason to move away from the back three for Ukraine and Ireland, both of whom had the measure of our 3-5-2/3-4-3 system in June. I’m not saying the back three should be dead, but I do think 4-2-3-1 needs a strong consideration for this window. McGregor and McTominay would be a good double pivot with Hanley and McKenna as your centre halves. The biggest issue of course is that either Robertson or Tierney would need to miss out, but given how poorly both have started the season, I’m not sure that’s such a bad thing. 

[2426255]

Thought I'd post up what I think is a fairly accurate idea of the state of the squad prior to the squad announcement which I'm expecting today or tomorrow. The players I've marked as injured are the players injured and not included in the matchday squad of the respective player's last game. This doesn't apply to Liam Cooper for example as he was a substitute for Leeds United in their EPL game against Brighton and so I haven't classed him as injured.

• Numerical Column is simply minutes played so far this season
• The percentage column is just to give an idea of how often the player is being selected by his club. [Minutes Played ÷ (Number of Matches*90)] 

*39 players who haven't retired and have been involved in a squad in the last 12 months.

[Donathan]

Final prediction:

 

Goalkeepers: Craig Gordon, John McLaughlin and Liam Kelly (3)

 

Central Defenders: Kieran Tierney, Grant Hanley, Scott McKenna, Jack Hendry and Ryan Porteous (5)

 

Wing Backs: Andrew Robertson, Nathan Patterson, Aaron Hickey and Greg Taylor (4)

 

Central Midfielders: Scott McTominay, Callum McGregor, Billy Gilmour, Kenny McLean and Ryan Jack (5) 

 

Attacking Midfielders/Wingers: John McGinn, Ryan Christie, Stuart Armstrong, Allan Campbell and David Turnbull (5)

 

Forwards: Che Adams, Lyndon Dykes, Jacob Brown, Oliver Burke (4)

 

 

26 man squad to cover the three matches:

 

- No place for Clark or McCrorie. McLaughlin gets the “senior backup” position with Kelly brought along as a squad option. 
 

- Ralston unlucky to miss out, O’Donnell probably done as a Scotland player 

 

- One of the two Oli’s get rewarded for their early season form with a recall. Stewart is injured and Dykes has started the season poorly, so different options needed up front. I’ve plumped for Burke, but it could be McBurnie or even both. 

Edited September 12, 2022 by Donathan

[albagubrath]

On the basis of the above I would probably go for something like this:

Gordon

Patterson - McTominay - McKenna/Hanley - Tierney - Robertson

Jack - McGregor

McGinn - Christie

Adams

Jack to come in instead of Gilmour due to fitness concerns (and to be honest he might have played in any case) but otherwise this is our (Clarke's) first choice 11 IMO. I think we possibly have squad concerns, but the first 11 looks healthy enough from a minutes perspective if not universally in form.

[Donathan]

Liverpool have ruled Andy Robertson out of their champions league game against Ajax this week due to injury 

[2426255]

1 hour ago, Donathan said:

Liverpool have ruled Andy Robertson out of their champions league game against Ajax this week due to injury 

 

Quote

Robbo no is not 100%, but very late. 93^rd whatever minute he felt his…no actually he felt it the next day only but yeah he is out, he’s out for at least I would say after the international break.

Jurgen Klopp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pj20s904ow&t=1217s

[Pie Of The Month]

At least we now have Hickey plus Taylor has been in good form for Celtic from what I've read. Means we can keep Tierney in the back 3 with the apparent shortage of centre halfs for this international break. Not the disaster it may have been in recent years for him to be missing.

[HuttonDressedAsLahm]

12 minutes ago, Pie Of The Month said:

At least we now have Hickey plus Taylor has been in good form for Celtic from what I've read. Means we can keep Tierney in the back 3 with the apparent shortage of centre halfs for this international break. Not the disaster it may have been in recent years for him to be missing.

It's odd - I'd rather have Robertson missing than Tierney.  Neither is great, but it's the less bad position to be in.

I don't know if that puts Hickey as first choice left back given his time this season has been spent at the other side of the pitch.  It most likely does, however.  It certainly would make Patterson nailed on right back if he wasn't already.

[craigkillie]

Taylor is a pretty like-for-like replacement, don't see any reason why you'd need to look anywhere else.

[HuttonDressedAsLahm]

2 minutes ago, craigkillie said:

Taylor is a pretty like-for-like replacement, don't see any reason why you'd need to look anywhere else.

Probably because Hickey is judged to be a better player, and Tierney is certainly a better player if SC prefers to set it up that way.  If SC viewed it differently, Hickey wouldn't have had three caps at LB in March/June.

I've nothing against Taylor whatsoever, but I don't believe he's judged to be the automatic replacement for Robertson.

[craigkillie]

Hickey's three appearances at LWB have all come off the bench, including one where he came on for Taylor. Taylor started two games in that position in the same period.

[Lyle Lanley]

Tierney to start at left-back for me. 

[accies1874]

I'd go with Hickey but not a massive fan of either him or Taylor as a wing-back. Imo there wasn't any question about who starts at RWB (Patterson) so this doesn't change that. Counting Tierney at a centre-back, Clarke's gone with three wing-backs before so he might just stick with Taylor, Hickey and Patterson as the options and move Tierney if need be.

[2426255]

With 3 games in a week I think all of our wing backs will see action. In my view there isn't a chasm of difference between any of them. Should Robertson be left out it could increase the chances for others to be called up (perhaps Ralston or O'Donnell if original plans were to leave them out).

The bottom line for me is that if we're going to get an injury, Wing Back is probably a decent position to get one.

[Donathan]

If Robertson being out doesn’t push Clarke to play a back four then I don’t know what to say. The back three failed in June against both of our opponents this month.

 

 

[Donathan]

The back three is preferred mainly because it allows us to play Robertson and Tierney together. In a situation where one of them is unavailable, that doesn’t necessarily mean we can’t play a back three, but it means we don’t necessarily need to play a back three. Given Ukraine completely dominated the midfield battle at Hampden in June, I really think putting extra bodies in the middle of the park will be useful next week.

 

Gordon

Patterson-Hanley-McKenna-Tierney

McTominay-McGregor

Armstrong-McGinn-Christie

Adams

[2426255]

39 minutes ago, Donathan said:

If Robertson being out doesn’t push Clarke to play a back four then I don’t know what to say. The back three failed in June against both of our opponents this month.

I was listening to an interesting conversation on the subject of team shape. When asked by a journalist if Alex Neill planned to change the Stoke starting formation ahead of their midweek game against Hull City he replied saying:

Quote

Although you start in a specific shape, every specific shape’s fluent enough to end up….it’s basically a numbers game. If they’re attacking with 3 you should have 4; If they’re attacking with 5 you should have 6.

So, in that respect it doesn’t really make any difference what your starting formation looks like, it’s how you manipulate the numbers in your favour whether you’re attacking or whether you’re defending.   

Alex Neill

https://youtu.be/_MLBG4UqfLg?t=194

I wouldn't get overly worked up about it in other words mate. I know you have been banging the drum for it for a while but I'm not sure it's really a big deal.

Edited September 12, 2022 by 2426255

[Craigieboy86]

Possible to Targett and Anderson in scotland squad

[albagubrath]

I’m definitely not advocating for him, but Josh Doig deserves to be in the conversation now given he is starting (at LWB) for Verona (I’m aware he’s already in the 21s).

Of the 3 potential competitors for the LWB position (assuming Tierney LCB), he is probably the one starting in that position at the highest level. His very advanced role in the Verona team is possibly most similar to the role Robertson plays for Scotland too.

[accies1874]

Possible to Targett and Anderson in scotland squad

I understand calls for Anderson but it's probably just a bit too soon. If England win the World Cup before we have another chance to pick him then that might complicate things...