Germany 2024

[Scosha]

22 minutes ago, PrestersKTID said:

Don't think that's far away. Seen someone on twitter have Harvey Barnes in as 23rd man. If that was an option then no brainer imo. Otherwise would be good to get Doak in. All the fringe players you mentioned don't offer enough of a difference to what we have. 

Only other option is if someone like hardie or stewart goes on a crazy scoring spree in the next 6 months or so.

Could be reading into it wrong, but I saw on BBC Scottish Football Gossip that Clarke basically blocked any notion of Barnes being involved in the future - “happy with what I’ve got”. 

[Donathan]

11 minutes ago, Tartan Blood said:

Clarke has mentioned before that he likes players that can play multiple positions. Which will be vitally important with the reduced squad size. So, although you're saying McTominay was taken as a midfielder, he could also play in a back 3, which ended up materialising. 

For example, Forrest and Fraser had been tested out at wing back prior to the Euros with the above in mind. Armstrong and McGinn have both been played in deeper lying midfield roles in the past. We now know Christie can do that as well (been doing it with Bournemouth)

Also, Fleck definitely isn't an attacking midfielder. And you counted Cooper twice. (I assume you meant Hendry)

I'd actually expect more centre backs this time round knowing McTominay won't be played there, and the emergence of Porteous and Souttar.

The last Euros squad just about picked itself, with the aid of some injuries. This one is going to be soooo much harder to choose.

Yes sorry I double counted Cooper and missed out Hendry.

 

The last squad had five pure CBs (Hendry, Cooper, McKenna, Hanley and Gallagher) plus two others who usually played CB for Scotland (Tierney and McTominay).

 

Going into the tournament it was expected that McTominay would play CM given the absence of both Jack and McLean, but the emergence of Gilmour along with Hendry having a shocker in the opening match did push McTominay back to RCB.

 

For this euros, Hendry and Porteous are both locks for me as well as Tierney who will play CB assuming that he and Robertson are both fit. Then you’ve got Hanley, Cooper, McKenna and Souttar competing for the other spots. The smart money is probably that three of those four will be on the plane. Last time we were very short on midfielders with Jack and McLean both missing the tournament and they were basically replaced with extra CBs and wingers rather than direct replacements. This time there will probably be more midfielders in the squad.

 

If everyone is fit I think John Souttar might be the odd man out. 

[HuttonDressedAsLahm]

I'd imagine that there's really only possible space for one joker card in the pack, with 22 places almost certainly guaranteed to be from the core squads recently picked.  This assumes 23-player squads - which after a cursory Google search appears to have been confirmed by UEFA just yesterday.

Agreed on much of the above.  We only play with one striker, so there's realistically only space for a max of 3.  Right now, that's Dykes/Adams, and probably Brown, but some leeway for Nisbet/Shankland/Stewart etc to play their way into contention by having a good season, and/or turning up well in March.

A 23-man squad makes it less likely that a player like Doak can make it.  If he gets more game time, then an appearance in March might be possible, and if that goes well then it's plausible.  Otherwise, I genuinely can't see Clarke allowing much change, unless forced by injury.  Any wider changes would come in September, with the potential for players like McLean, Jack, Armstrong, or Cooper to be called up less - depending on the quality of their squad replacements.  Even that said, it's quite possible that Clarke wouldn't want to make any real changes/introductions until March 2025.

The squad almost entirely picks itself, and even without any unexpected changes, some 'core' squad members are going to miss out.

 

[Alan Twelve]

I sincerely hope they all prove me wrong on this point and there's plenty time to do so, but I don't think any of Nisbet, Shankland and Stewart are anywhere near good enough at present for the Euros squad. If we needed to call on a fourth striker in an emergency I'd much rather it was McTominay.

As things stand I wouldn't bemoan the absence of Jack, Souttar or Cooper either, to be honest.

[Jaggy McJagface]

I think there’s no way we call up a 4th striker and it’s really a battle amongst Nisbet/Shankland/Brown/Stewart for that backup striker spot, unless someone has an unbelievable season.

Since Hickey can cover lb I wonder if Taylor will miss out. However, I do remember Clarke saying that Taylor’s place in the squad was important during last euros as we needed another lb to shape up as the opposition in training drills. 
 

With a 23 man squad then one of Armstrong/Jack is definitely missing out. I think Clarke might prefer to take Armstrong as he’s a bit more versatile in that he could be deployed as a cm or further forward if needed.

[accies1874]

Still a long way to go, and he's not the player he was 2-3 years ago, but I'd be surprised if Armstrong misses out. He features in pretty much every game, and certainly in every international window. He might also be our most natural winger at the moment. 

[Donathan]

21 minutes ago, Jaggy McJagface said:

I think there’s no way we call up a 4th striker and it’s really a battle amongst Nisbet/Shankland/Brown/Stewart for that backup striker spot, unless someone has an unbelievable season.

Since Hickey can cover lb I wonder if Taylor will miss out. However, I do remember Clarke saying that Taylor’s place in the squad was important during last euros as we needed another lb to shape up as the opposition in training drills. 
 

With a 23 man squad then one of Armstrong/Jack is definitely missing out. I think Clarke might prefer to take Armstrong as he’s a bit more versatile in that he could be deployed as a cm or further forward if needed.

Perhaps I’m overthinking it here but for situations like this can you ask someone to come along to Germany with the team to be part of the dressing room and an extra body on the training pitch but not officially be part of the squad or eligible to play in matches? Almost like an honorary coach. 

[2426255]

The reduction of squad size isnt too big deal imo. Under 20 players have played more than 10% of minutes during qualifying matches.

We know Clarke's preference is to work with a small group and we can still replace injured players if required. It might mean if a key player is injured near the tournament have to make a decision on it and that there's less scope to include younger players. 

I don't think it will affect squad size in the games before then as he will be assessing options and continuing to show a pathway.

[craigkillie]

I reckon even if the plan just now is for 23, there might well be some pushback from the players' unions on that and I still reckon there's a decent chance it will be 26 by the time the summer comes around.

[JamesM82]

2 hours ago, Donathan said:

Perhaps I’m overthinking it here but for situations like this can you ask someone to come along to Germany with the team to be part of the dressing room and an extra body on the training pitch but not officially be part of the squad or eligible to play in matches? Almost like an honorary coach. 

Craig Brown took along a handful of youth players to the 1998 World Cup for that purpose. Laddies who were nowhere near getting picked for the actual squad, but were happy to tag along and make up numbers in training games, etc. 

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/sport/football/2300497/kieran-mcanespies-france-98-story-mr-browns-hamper-boy-who-was-responsible-for-an-iconic-scotland-goal-celebration/

[Stellaboz]

26 minutes ago, JamesM82 said:

Craig Brown took along a handful of youth players to the 1998 World Cup for that purpose. Laddies who were nowhere near getting picked for the actual squad, but were happy to tag along and make up numbers in training games, etc. 

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/sport/football/2300497/kieran-mcanespies-france-98-story-mr-browns-hamper-boy-who-was-responsible-for-an-iconic-scotland-goal-celebration/

Darren Young and Mark Burchill also went. 

[DC92]

6 hours ago, Alan Twelve said:

I sincerely hope they all prove me wrong on this point and there's plenty time to do so, but I don't think any of Nisbet, Shankland and Stewart are anywhere near good enough at present for the Euros squad. If we needed to call on a fourth striker in an emergency I'd much rather it was McTominay.

As things stand I wouldn't bemoan the absence of Jack, Souttar or Cooper either, to be honest.

Obviously I like Shankland as a player, but he's only likely to be useful against the dross in qualifying. Nisbet is similar. I don't see there being much use for either at the tournament proper.

Stewart I've seen less of, but maybe he adds more of a chaos factor with his height and mobility? If he stays fit and keeps up his recent scoring rate he'd probably be my pick. 

Tommy Conway might be an outside bet if he keeps developing.

[No_Problemo]

7 minutes ago, DC92 said:

Obviously I like Shankland as a player, but he's only likely to be useful against the dross in qualifying. Nisbet is similar. I don't see there being much use for either at the tournament proper.

Stewart I've seen less of, but maybe he adds more of a chaos factor with his height and mobility? If he stays fit and keeps up his recent scoring rate he'd probably be my pick. 

Tommy Conway might be an outside bet if he keeps developing.

Yeah - I imagine Conway will do better than Nisbet goal scoring wise this season if he stays fit and given the different ages and potential improvements I would have Conway there.

I haven’t seen enough of Stewart, but by all accounts he could definitely force his way in there and actually compete with Dykes and Adams to start. It’ll be an interesting few months for a few of the players on the edges of the squad. It wouldn’t be surprising if Stewart actually started over Adams for Southampton either!

[Stellaboz]

Could we not turn one of our wings backs into a Bale esque forward? Or something similar. 

Greg Taylor, goal machine.

[Richey Edwards]

10 minutes ago, Stellaboz said:

Could we not turn one of our wings backs into a Bale esque forward? Or something similar. 

Greg Taylor, goal machine.

Many years ago Oli Burke was touted as the Scottish Bale. I think it had more to do with him also vaguely resembling a monkey than his football ability though.

[Lurkst]

18 hours ago, 2426255 said:

The reduction of squad size isnt too big deal imo. Under 20 players have played more than 10% of minutes during qualifying matches.

We know Clarke's preference is to work with a small group and we can still replace injured players if required. It might mean if a key player is injured near the tournament have to make a decision on it and that there's less scope to include younger players. 

I don't think it will affect squad size in the games before then as he will be assessing options and continuing to show a pathway.

Also larger squads are of more benefit to nations with greater strength in depth, so reducing it to 23 could make teams like ourselves more competitive with the big boys.

 

[Donathan]

I don’t personally think it makes a huge difference. You can still only use 11 starting players + up to 5 substitutes in any one game, so I can’t imagine players 24-26 ever get on the field for most teams. 

[velo army]

My cousin imagines himself as a footballing megamind (but thinks that Patterson is better than Hickey....) and swore blind that Kieran Tierney would be our Bale. 

 

[Stellaboz]

13 minutes ago, velo army said:

My cousin imagines himself as a footballing megamind (but thinks that Patterson is better than Hickey....) and swore blind that Kieran Tierney would be our Bale. 

 

Still could if we hadn't developed this 352 attacking lcb role for him to fit both him and Robbo in.

[velo army]

43 minutes ago, Stellaboz said:

Still could if we hadn't developed this 352 attacking lcb role for him to fit both him and Robbo in.

Don't encourage him.