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Strongest 11/McGregor/Ferguson conundrum


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36 minutes ago, The SandDancer said:

Well one of the other boys in your little group asked and you seem to have no individual opinions on anything and have a herd mentality so does it matter who actully asked the question...

Theres a fairly simple explanation for why everyone has a different opinion than you, and its not because everyone has a "herd mentality".

Im sure youll work it out eventually.

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35 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

Theres a fairly simple explanation for why everyone has a different opinion than you, and its not because everyone has a "herd mentality".

Im sure youll work it out eventually.

Just missing the point entirely but i'm sure you'll work that our eventually but you probably won't as you really are a fool on here...

If someone has a different opinion to me then that's cool but don't start calling me a troll, moron, agenda seeking, calling my post crazy/laughable etc etc. 

 

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Ffs @The SandDancer, I’m amazed I’m even responding to this, but not even football related, you joined the forum as a “long time lurker” pffft, to contribute to the discussion, for sure, you contributed, but not to any discussion, you want it your way or you respond with utter drivel & insults. Go back to being a lurker & let the adults have a proper grown up discussion about the national team. 

Just because not everyone (including me) doesn’t agree that McGregor should be dropped in favour of Lewis doesn’t mean we are talking “pish”.

This section of the forum normally evolves into a healthy exchange of views, where sometimes people change their stance & sometimes not, but when within an hour of joining the conversation you start disregarding others views as “pish” maybe you are the problem? 

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Is McGregor out for the season? I have seen some comments from Celtic fans fearing the worst.

Will be interesting how we line up without McGregor whether we change the style with just Gilmour sitting deeper or if we ask someone to fill his role like McLean or even try Christie there who looks very good in this position surprisingly?

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24 minutes ago, ahemps said:

Is McGregor out for the season? I have seen some comments from Celtic fans fearing the worst.

Will be interesting how we line up without McGregor whether we change the style with just Gilmour sitting deeper or if we ask someone to fill his role like McLean or even try Christie there who looks very good in this position surprisingly?

Clarke said yesterday he'd spoken to McGregor and there was "no big issues" with his recovery. 

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  • 2 months later...

Appreciate Ferguson's injury halts this debate anyway but since McGregor has come back from injury he has been back to his best, his form towards the end of the season has been magnificent and there is no way he isn't in the starting 11 come the 14th June.

I don't see him being replaced until his legs have completely gone tbh, our best holding mid by a mile

 

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35 minutes ago, MarkoRaj said:

Appreciate Ferguson's injury halts this debate anyway but since McGregor has come back from injury he has been back to his best, his form towards the end of the season has been magnificent and there is no way he isn't in the starting 11 come the 14th June.

I don't see him being replaced until his legs have completely gone tbh, our best holding mid by a mile

 

Aye McGregor is a very good player both for Celtic and Scotland, pity he didn't test himself elsewhere though as he has the ability to play in the top leagues IMO. 

It's good to finally have quality competition in the middle of the park and we have several great options so I understand why it's hard for Clarke to find a system to fit them all in. We got a lot of hard fixtures coming up in the euros and nations league so if we go on a run of poor results I wouldn't be too shocked to see the likes of McGregor making way for Ferguson or the formation changing removing a defender to bring him in. 

 

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1 hour ago, MarkoRaj said:

Appreciate Ferguson's injury halts this debate anyway but since McGregor has come back from injury he has been back to his best, his form towards the end of the season has been magnificent and there is no way he isn't in the starting 11 come the 14th June.

I don't see him being replaced until his legs have completely gone tbh, our best holding mid by a mile

 

We all know Gilmour is good with the ball, but I think he's made improvements to the other side of the game since he's left Chelsea. He wasn't bad defensively against The Netherlands, so he's one that can play that role. I still think McGregor is better rounded than Gilmour at the moment, but he's probably not too far off and would be a straightforward replacement when McGregor calls time. 

Ferguson? maybe - but isn't it similar to McGinn and McTominay? They can also play the deeper role, but it maybe takes away from the best part of their game. It feels a bit like just forcing him into the team.

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31 minutes ago, 2426255 said:

We all know Gilmour is good with the ball, but I think he's made improvements to the other side of the game since he's left Chelsea. He wasn't bad defensively against The Netherlands, so he's one that can play that role. I still think McGregor is better rounded than Gilmour at the moment, but he's probably not too far off and would be a straightforward replacement when McGregor calls time. 

Ferguson? maybe - but isn't it similar to McGinn and McTominay? They can also play the deeper role, but it maybe takes away from the best part of their game. It feels a bit like just forcing him into the team.

Regarding Gilmour's defensive abilities, he doesn't have those long gangly legs like a Caicedo to claw the ball from the opposition or the same intensity/stamina like a Kante and gets burned for pace against quality opposition when trying to track back. He hasn't got that physique to be a natural DM but the trouble is that a lot of the times he is the deepest lying midfielder so can look like at times he is caught out defensively if he doesn't have another CM to help cover. 

 

 

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12 hours ago, Butters Scotch said:

the trouble is that a lot of the times he is the deepest lying midfielder so can look like at times he is caught out defensively if he doesn't have another CM to help cover. 

It doesn't have to be an additional central midfielder. We saw in the last Scotland camp extra defensive support can be provided by the outside centre-backs. If you have a copy of the Netherlands game you can see Gilmour sharing the responsibility with Ryan Porteous to track Georginio Wijnaldum.  

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That's precisely why we have to integrate Connor Barron into the squad ASAP.

He's really the only one in our pool of players that is considered an anchorman/defensive midfielder/number 6.

Well, him and Jack, but Jack is as reliable as a chocolate kettle.

Gilmour and McGregor are great players, but I would consider them more deep lying playmakers than anything else.

Ferguson has been playing as a roaming 8. It seems to be working, as he just won the "Bulgarelli Number 8 Award" (Best midfielder in Serie A award)

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5 hours ago, 2426255 said:

It doesn't have to be an additional central midfielder. We saw in the last Scotland camp extra defensive support can be provided by the outside centre-backs. If you have a copy of the Netherlands game you can see Gilmour sharing the responsibility with Ryan Porteous to track Georginio Wijnaldum.  

Our CB's are not mobile so do you really want them stepping out to help cover and Tierney is usually in a LWB role in attack so for me, we are susceptible to the counter attacks with having Gilmour in there. Ideally you would want the one playing deep in midfield to have the abiltiy to cover the ground (ala like a Kante) in order to delay any attack to allow the team to get goalside. McGregor can get around a bit more but he's still in the mould of a Gilmour type player. I don't think it suits us at all against the better nations to play with both in there as we need a more physical presence like a Christie but then I think Clarke prefers to utilise him in a more attacking role so can't see that happening.

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3 hours ago, Butters Scotch said:

Our CB's are not mobile so do you really want them stepping out to help cover and Tierney is usually in a LWB role in attack so for me, we are susceptible to the counter attacks with having Gilmour in there. Ideally you would want the one playing deep in midfield to have the abiltiy to cover the ground (ala like a Kante) in order to delay any attack to allow the team to get goalside. McGregor can get around a bit more but he's still in the mould of a Gilmour type player. I don't think it suits us at all against the better nations to play with both in there as we need a more physical presence like a Christie but then I think Clarke prefers to utilise him in a more attacking role so can't see that happening.

I have no idea how our centre backs aren’t mobile tbh, it is one of their strengths. 

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I'd like to see both McGregor and Gilmour in a holding midfield role. Play mcginn and mcTomminay in behind Adams. I wonder if Clarke would consider playing Tierney right wing back, especially if you consider the quality of the German wide players.

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If Tierney is playing on the right it will be as a standard right-back in a four surely? I don't see any point in playing a back five if he's not in that LCB role.

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15 minutes ago, craigkillie said:

If Tierney is playing on the right it will be as a standard right-back in a four surely? I don't see any point in playing a back five if he's not in that LCB role.

I agree with that, the back 5 doesn't work anything like as well without him there.

I thought he was pretty good as a right back under Strachan.

Hes such a good player he can adapt to most things. Its bizarre arteta couldn't see a useful player in there.

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Since 2000 there's been 13 tournaments that Scotland have tried to qualify for:

We've failed 11 times. All with 4 at the back.

We've succeeded with 2. All with a back three. (Double it to four if you go back 24 years)

If anyone genuinely wants to ditch the back three, a system that has brought us 2 European championship finals, and a playoff World Cup place, then it's an extremely interesting take.

We had 22 years of failure with a back four. The record books back it up.

McLeish and Strachan flirted with the back three, only to lose their bottle and switch to a four when the results didn't come.

Steve Clarke had the balls to go against the media and fan pressure, by sticking to a three. And he was rewarded for it.

Scotland haven't produced center backs good enough to play in a four at international level since the 80s/early 90s.

We don't have a McLeish or a Miller or a Gough or a McQueen or a Hansen. We have Hendry, Porteous, Hanley and McKenna.

We're so weak in the middle of defense Tierney is regarded as our best center back.

If Clarke switched back to a back four (he won't) it'll be back to the days of failing to qualify

A three gives the goalkeeper more protection and it gives the defence larger numbers with less space to fill.

There's a reason why Levein, Vogts, Strachan, Burley failed when Brown and Clarke succeeded.

The reason is the formation.

 

 

 

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