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Scotland squad to face Poland (H) and Portugal (A)


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17 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

He's not going to learn a thing from the u21s now. He moved past youth football about 2 years ago.

If we're going 4-3-3 then Gilmour, McGinn, McTominay and Christie are all ahead of McLean in there, IMO. We'd be better giving Miller 30 mins at the end, but old Largs logic of "how do we hold a lead" points you towards McLean and the all important "experience", I guess.

I genuinely laughed out loud at your Largs line and not in a complimentary way.

Miller’s time will come. He’s competing in one of the stronger areas of the park for us and he’s not quite performing at the level that you think he is (yet). 

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2 hours ago, Groundhopping Adventures said:

Gauld been called up? It's was a pleasure to serve on the good ship P&B with you all. The world will end shortly

Dont call me shortly.

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37 minutes ago, Captain_Sensible said:

Why is Jack Hendry missing?

Fairly sure he's just had a kid? Think he missed a league game due to it, so maybe asked to miss these games.

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When Bale was still at Southampton he was up on a billboard for Sky Sports (amongst other English league players). Of all the examples to use in a point about blooding young players into the national team, Bale was a poor one.

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52 minutes ago, Londonwell said:

He’s competing in one of the stronger areas of the park for us.

He's not, IMO.

The deeper role is weak just now. You have Gilmour who's well suiting to it but Ferguson, McGinn, McTominay, Gauld, and Christie are all better playing more advanced in front of someone who can dictate play and you're removing some of their strengths by playing them deeper.

If he's going 4-3-3 then ideally it's Gilmour +2, and I think Miller is a better back up option to Gilmour than McLean is. It didn't happen this time, but McLean being phased out for Miller over the next year has to happen. 

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2 hours ago, Butters Scotch said:

No one is talking about wholesale changes to the starting 11 or starting players cause they are young and have potential you fool. It's about bringing talented young players like your Doak's into the squad to get experience training with international level players to aid their development.

 

 

He trains every day with players like van Dijk, Salah and Luis Diaz, but yes, it's training with Scotland's 'International level' players like Ralston, Conway and Taylor that will really kick him on to the next level.

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11 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

He's not, IMO.

The deeper role is weak just now. You have Gilmour who's well suiting to it but Ferguson, McGinn, McTominay, Gauld, and Christie are all better playing more advanced in front of someone who can dictate play and you're removing some of their strengths by playing them deeper.

If he's going 4-3-3 then ideally it's Gilmour +2, and I think Miller is a better back up option to Gilmour than McLean is. It didn't happen this time, but McLean being phased out for Miller over the next year has to happen. 

Don’t altogether disagree with your last line. 

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50 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

Fairly sure he's just had a kid? Think he missed a league game due to it, so maybe asked to miss these games.

I reckon it’ll most likely be his missus who had the kid….. all the more reason for Hendry to get away on international duty IMO 😉

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1 hour ago, Captain_Sensible said:

Why is Jack Hendry missing?

Injured apparently though I’ve not been able to find anything on it. Haven’t had a chance to listen to Clarke in the video above so he’s maybe already proven it to be rubbish. 

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It's impossible to pick a starting XI that I'd be completely happy with, but a back 5 can no longer be an option without Tierney or a similarly dynamic player coming out of nowhere. I'll never know what wisdom Clarke saw in starting 3 jobber centre backs in a must-win game against a beatable opponent, but it surely can't be repeated. 

Ralston was appalling at the Euros, but simplifying his role by playing him as a RB rather than RWB should limit the scope for gifts like the goal he gave Switzerland. Big hugs and wishes for a speedy recovery to Aaron Hickey.

Souttar and McKenna are technically limited, but are competent and young enough to form a partnership that could see us through to at least 2026. Porteous might be technically superior to either, but the f**k-ups you'd hoped would have been coached out of him after leaving Hibs are still there and he doesn't seem to be kicking on at a poor Watford team.

Clarke mentioned that we are strong in central midfield, but there is no obvious defensive talent in that area. Ryan Jack is over the hill and for all that they have shown brilliance for us in other ways, none of Gilmour, McGinn or McTominay can sit in midfield to defend. I'm surprised Barron wasn't called up as he seems the obvious candidate to fill that hole in the squad.

The limitation of playing a back 4 is that there is a lack of standout wingers available to complement it. Forrest being one of the better options available underlines this, but his inclusion is preferable to lining up with Hendry-Hanley-McKenna in a back 5 ever again. I'd hope he can do us a turn while Doak finds himself some regular gametime in the months before WC qualifying.

Gunn

Ralston, Souttar, McKenna, Robertson

Gilmour, McGinn

Forrest, McTominay, Christie

Adams

 

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I think that squad very clearly points to a different approach. Doubt we’d only have 4 centre-halves in the squad if we were planning on playing 3 of them across both games.

A lot more “forwards” than we’ve been used to as well.

Unfortunately the defensive options are minging.

Edited by eez-eh
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Has Christie continued to play deeper for Bournemouth at the start of this season?  Christie  could potentially complement Gilmour well in those deeper positions. I would definitely go with that against Portugal, but McTominay next to Gilmour against Poland to get an extra creative player further forward. The only real options to provide something a bit different behind the striker are Morgan and Gauld, so we might as well play one of them and see what happens. I guess we also have the option of Adams as the ten. 

I think I would be going something like this, ideally a different set up with more creativity within it will allow us to get much more from our best striker. Dykes can start against Portugal, when we should need more of an out ball. 
 

                            Gunn

Ralston Porteous  McKenna Robertson

                 Gilmour  McTominay

Doak                   Gauld            McGinn

                             Adams 

 

Nice to help out the Gauld fan club too. 

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Scotland really should be looking to overhaul much of the squad. Far too many players who simply aren't good enough any longer but who keep getting picked.

There is some hope on that front with the likes of Conway, Doak and Gauld being selected, but would like to see more of a turnover. 

Perhaps there is an overhaul underway, but phased?

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3 hours ago, DiegoDiego said:

When Bale was still at Southampton he was up on a billboard for Sky Sports (amongst other English league players). Of all the examples to use in a point about blooding young players into the national team, Bale was a poor one.

What's being on a sky billboard advert got to do with anything? Literally meaningless. 

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3 hours ago, Diamonds are Forever said:

 

He trains every day with players like van Dijk, Salah and Luis Diaz, but yes, it's training with Scotland's 'International level' players like Ralston, Conway and Taylor that will really kick him on to the next level.

Maybe that was a bad example as was more meaning players like Miller, Bowat, Wilson, Watson etc

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