March and June friendlies

[gannonball]

8 minutes ago, the snudge said:

Don't get the grief at Ralston getting called up? 

Hickey is injured and Ralston is solid enough, he's not done too much wrong anytime I've watched him play.

Yeah he has also played with alot of the players in the squad. If everyone's fit he clearly doesn't make the squad 

[PrestersKTID]

Consistent selection. Gordon was always going to come in.

Would've liked him to try someone new though these games are a good opportunity to see if we're missing something.

Shame that Doak and Barnes both injured, we have few good wide forward options in the squad.  

[oneteaminglasgow]

12 minutes ago, the snudge said:

Don't get the grief at Ralston getting called up? 

Hickey is injured and Ralston is solid enough, he's not done too much wrong anytime I've watched him play.

I’m on the record as not thinking Ralston is any good, but given that a) these are friendly games and b) his role will amount to essentially sitting watching Nathan Paterson play right back, then I really don’t care about him being in the squad. That and, if you’re looking at fourth choice right back territory then you’re no too far off SOD coming back into the squad. 

Edited March 12 by oneteaminglasgow

[Plymouth Par]

1 hour ago, Skyline Drifter said:

So he should do what, call up strikers with no chance of going to Germany for the sake of a balanced squad? Whilst marginalising one of the keepers at this point unnecessarily? That would make no sense.

There are other strikers he could include even if not playing them in the friendlies. Nothing can guarantee that any of those three chosen won't get crocked in the next couple of months and then he's lost the opportunity to see possible alternative options close up.

I would imagine he knows all four keepers well enough by now and realistically two of them won't get game time in these games coming up. Three strikers - 180 mins of football and presumably five subs

Edited March 12 by Plymouth Par

[ahemps]

1 hour ago, Skyline Drifter said:

So he should do what, call up strikers with no chance of going to Germany for the sake of a balanced squad? Whilst marginalising one of the keepers at this point unnecessarily? That would make no sense.

I doubt it would marginalise them. If Kelly wasn't picked for this squad but was asked to come back for the Euros due to an injury then I imagine he would still be grateful to be part of an international tournament. I could imagine Ronaldo taking a huff like that but not the Motherwell goally.

4 keepers when you can only play 1 against 3 strikers where 2 could easily be on the pitch at the same time does seem imbalanced. I think it would have been good to see another striker in the squad and I would have wanted to see Conway due to his age and potential.

[eez-eh]

Barnes is still publicly declaring his dream of playing for England at the age of 26. No harm to him for thinking that but why anyone would want or expect him to be in a Scotland squad is nuts.

[Skyline Drifter]

10 minutes ago, ahemps said:

I doubt it would marginalise them. If Kelly wasn't picked for this squad but was asked to come back for the Euros due to an injury then I imagine he would still be grateful to be part of an international tournament. I could imagine Ronaldo taking a huff like that but not the Motherwell goally.

4 keepers when you can only play 1 against 3 strikers where 2 could easily be on the pitch at the same time does seem imbalanced. I think it would have been good to see another striker in the squad and I would have wanted to see Conway due to his age and potential.

I wasn't suggesting he would otherwise have thrown his toys out of the pram and refused to come back, merely that there's no point at this stage for the sake of a hotel room for a week in making one of them feel less part of it before a final decision is made. McCrorie is already in that position. He knows he's 5th choice and isn't going to Germany unless two of those ahead get injured.

I appreciate the point of view but if Conway has no chance of being picked for the Euros then I don't see any point whatsoever in him being part of a preparation squad for it. I assume he's expecting both Brown and Nisbet to be physically fit by June even if not to have played much. I think they'll be called up before Conway would at this stage. I don't think the international break before the Euros is the time to be experimenting with things outwith the extent that he may do within the actual tournament.

[MarkoP]

Confirmation that SSC is very risk averse

Expect no wildcards this summer

TBF other than the perennial Ryan Gauld question which has 100% been answered for good today there was no one fit who should be there

There might be a couple from the Under21 squad called in for NI but even that’s fairly doubtful

Edited March 12 by MarkoP

[2426255]

26 minutes ago, Plymouth Par said:

There are other strikers he could include even if not playing them in the friendlies. Nothing can guarantee that any of those three chosen won't get crocked in the next couple of months and then he's lost the opportunity to see possible alternative options close up.

I would imagine he knows all four keepers well enough by now and realistically two of them won't get game time in these games coming up. Three strikers - 180 mins of football and presumably five subs

I understand fans maybe view it as leaving us a little exposed, but it's just down to categorisation imo. Our midfielders regularly double up as strikers, so you can add John McGinn, Ryan Christie and maybe Stuart Armstrong to the 3 traditional strikers named. It might also allow the same possibility for Scott McTominay or Lewis Ferguson to do similar.

I don't think you can view football too rigidly nowadays, we have seen players change position and have their roles redefined all the time.   

[Pie Of The Month]

Even if Conway is in Clarke's thoughts for the Euros it makes sense for him to be in the u21s for their competitive game next Thursday at the very least. They're missing Doak and have made a good start to the group which they hopefully won't throw away at home to Kazakhstan and if Conway is in with a chance then he can still join up with the main squad when they are back from Amsterdam.

 

[stu2910]

I think getting the squad down to 23 is going to be incredibly tough, which is a weirdly nice position to be in but I'm glad it's not my call.

Assuming everyone is fit, Hickey and McGregor will definitely come in, so 4 need to be cut.  You're probably looking at Kelly, Ralston and 2 CBs.  Tierney will be there and I would imagine Porteous and Hendry would be too, so how do you choose between Cooper, Hanley, McKenna and Souttar when there's not an awful lot to choose between them.  My guess would be that Souttar and Hanley don't make it but you could argue any of them.

Edited March 12 by stu2910

[lubo_blaha]

13 minutes ago, Pie Of The Month said:

Even if Conway is in Clarke's thoughts for the Euros it makes sense for him to be in the u21s for their competitive game next Thursday at the very least. They're missing Doak and have made a good start to the group which they hopefully won't throw away at home to Kazakhstan and if Conway is in with a chance then he can still join up with the main squad when they are back from Amsterdam.

 

That’s a good shout. The fixtures fit in well in that regard. Could see Conway plus one or two more come in if there are any dropouts after the first game.

[itzdrk]

1 hour ago, ahemps said:

I doubt it would marginalise them. If Kelly wasn't picked for this squad but was asked to come back for the Euros due to an injury then I imagine he would still be grateful to be part of an international tournament. I could imagine Ronaldo taking a huff like that but not the Motherwell goally.

4 keepers when you can only play 1 against 3 strikers where 2 could easily be on the pitch at the same time does seem imbalanced. I think it would have been good to see another striker in the squad and I would have wanted to see Conway due to his age and potential.

We will be 1 striker from 3 at the Euros and it will be 2 from these 3 that would be on the pitch at the same time if we had to go for it so what purpose would some random punter joining the three of them serve?

[Lurkst]

2 hours ago, MarkoP said:

Confirmation that SSC is very risk averse

I think that was confirmed several years ago.

(I'm absolutely fine with this squad btw).

 

[2426255]

Being risk averse is not the same as building a team around consistency, trust and loyalty. Not being on the inside of the National team it's probably easy for fans to forget about those human element of squad selections. He has a reputation of being defensive, dour and prone to taking the safe option, but that's unfair in my opinion.

Steve Clarke called in Gilmour and Patterson for Euro-2020. Started Billy Gilmour against England. Aaron Hickey's 3rd game was a World Cup play-off against Ukraine. Chucked Ryan Porteous in away to Ukraine in a must not lose game. McTominay moved to central defence.

Edited March 12 by 2426255

[Skyline Drifter]

3 hours ago, stu2910 said:

I think getting the squad down to 23 is going to be incredibly tough, which is a weirdly nice position to be in but I'm glad it's not my call.

Assuming everyone is fit, Hickey and McGregor will definitely come in, so 4 need to be cut.  You're probably looking at Kelly, Ralston and 2 CBs.  Tierney will be there and I would imagine Porteous and Hendry would be too, so how do you choose between Cooper, Hanley, McKenna and Souttar when there's not an awful lot to choose between them.  My guess would be that Souttar and Hanley don't make it but you could argue any of them.

I don't think it's particularly tough in terms of difficult decisions. It'll be tough because he's going to have to tell loyal servants who have turned up every camp that they haven't made it. A different kind of tough.

Hickey and McGregor definitely come in. Jack might.

Either Gordon or Kelly will drop out.
Ralston will drop out.
I think if Jack proves his fitness then two centre backs AND Greg Taylor all drop out. I don't think there's any chance Hanley doesn't go if he's properly fit. It'll be Cooper and Souttar who don't go.

If Jack doesn't make it, or even if he does and Clark decides he'd rather carry another defender than him anyway, then the Taylor v Soutter v Cooper question will be a difficult one for him. I suspect Cooper may get the nod but the fact he's playing less football than anyone who is fit will count against him. He really needs to get back in the Leeds side for his chances.

[Distant Doonhamer]

6 minutes ago, Skyline Drifter said:

I don't think it's particularly tough in terms of difficult decisions. It'll be tough because he's going to have to tell loyal servants who have turned up every camp that they haven't made it. A different kind of tough.

Hickey and McGregor definitely come in. Jack might.

Either Gordon or Kelly will drop out.
Ralston will drop out.
I think if Jack proves his fitness then two centre backs AND Greg Taylor all drop out. I don't think there's any chance Hanley doesn't go if he's properly fit. It'll be Cooper and Souttar who don't go.

If Jack doesn't make it, or even if he does and Clark decides he'd rather carry another defender than him anyway, then the Taylor v Soutter v Cooper question will be a difficult one for him. I suspect Cooper may get the nod but the fact he's playing less football than anyone who is fit will count against him. He really needs to get back in the Leeds side for his chances.

Yes I’d agree with all of that. Ralston only makes the squad if Hickey (or Patterson) are unfit. No way we go to the Euros with only one RB/RWB. 

[Skyline Drifter]

8 minutes ago, Distant Doonhamer said:

Yes I’d agree with all of that. Ralston only makes the squad if Hickey (or Patterson) are unfit. No way we go to the Euros with only one RB/RWB. 

I'd also add that Taylor's best chance of going is also if Hickey (or Patterson) doesn't make it. Robertson is clearly the starting LWB. If he is unavailable then he can move Tierney to LWB and play a different one of our many centre backs. Or he can switch Hickey who is equally comfortable on the left over from the right and bring Patterson in. Both are more likely than Taylor being in the squad IMO. Hickey's versatility gives him the option to save a squad spot. If he doesn't have that option, and would rather not move Tierney back to LWB, then he maybe rethinks taking Taylor at the expense of most likely Jack / Cooper / Souttar.

Edited March 12 by Skyline Drifter

[Super Staggie]

4 hours ago, stu2910 said:

I think getting the squad down to 23 is going to be incredibly tough, which is a weirdly nice position to be in but I'm glad it's not my call.

Assuming everyone is fit, Hickey and McGregor will definitely come in, so 4 need to be cut.  You're probably looking at Kelly, Ralston and 2 CBs.  Tierney will be there and I would imagine Porteous and Hendry would be too, so how do you choose between Cooper, Hanley, McKenna and Souttar when there's not an awful lot to choose between them.  My guess would be that Souttar and Hanley don't make it but you could argue any of them.

I'd say Cooper and Souttar miss out if all fit.

Plus as already discussed Gordon or Kelly to miss out. 

The Strikers not included will depend on fitness and importantly form come June. If any of them are banging them in it would be hard not to pick them. But who misses out in that scenario is anyone guess just now. 

[Gordopolis]

4 hours ago, itzdrk said:

We will be 1 striker from 3 at the Euros and it will be 2 from these 3 that would be on the pitch at the same time if we had to go for it so what purpose would some random punter joining the three of them serve?

As contingency first of all. Should Dykes, Adams or Shankland get injured then the likes of Conway being at least partly integrated would be helpful.

And as future pipeline prep secondly.

In both scenarios it'd be more about Conway or a.n.other training with the squad and learning the quite niche full squad striker role, as opposed to taking game time from D, A or Shanx.