Squad face October game

[troopio]

I know I will get shot down for this but the continual selection of that fat carthorse Hanley, the teachers pet McLean, useless Dykes and raffle winner Ralston just proves that Clarke puts loyalty above ALL else. What is worse is all 4 are NAILED on starters next week. 

Fat Hanley sold the jerseys last month so why call him up when he cant even get off the bench for Tractor FC? What justification is there for his continual inclusion?

Teachers Pet McLean, if you believe the likes of Open Goal, is apparently the best in training at Camp but so what? Doesnt mean he is good enough or should be playing, hes 32 and past it, holding back younger lads coming through.

Dykes? playing in a league the same standard as our Championship, not scored all season and will still start.

What is the point? 

[Lurkst]

37 minutes ago, Scary Bear said:

Has Lawrence Shankland been playing well enough to make the squad?

Sadly, yes.

 

[oneteaminglasgow]

22 minutes ago, troopio said:

Dykes? playing in a league the same standard as our Championship, not scored all season and will still start.

Sorry, I’m not familiar with your work, but you’re at it, aye? There’s no way that you genuinely believe this to be true, surely?

[troopio]

20 minutes ago, oneteaminglasgow said:

Sorry, I’m not familiar with your work, but you’re at it, aye? There’s no way that you genuinely believe this to be true, surely?

Take the money out of English League 1 and the standard is no better than Top half of championship here. Clarke is a clown,  he wouldnt pick players playing in English League 1 in the past for the reason its a poor league yet lo and behold Dykes goes there and conveniently that is forgotten. Also he is not even playing well let alone scoring. Clearly he is picking based on loyalty as there is no tangible reason that justifies his inclusion

[2426255]

 

I assume the u-21's played a role with Barron, Johnston, maybe Doig dropping down and Devlin being called up. I think helping the u-21's is worthwile. I don't think Barron, Johnston or Doig will be missed.

Liam Lindsay must mainly be an injury replacement (as suggested by @Londonwell) for McKenna. Not obvious if Irving is replacing McGinn or Barron or whether he would have been called up independent of injuries or u-21's.

Increasing the depth of talent is one thing, but if all you end up with is quantity in depth instead of quality in depth it won't help us. That's probably my biggest concern with going this route.

[Neil86]

Lyndon Dykes puts in a good shift for Scotland, he'll never be a guaranteed goal scorer, but he's a good option. 

I'm not particularly fond of Maclean/hanley etc and want to see change as much as the next person, but you have to have some sort of continuity, so from that point of view I totally get it.

On Andy Irving, I don't have a problem with him being called up, good luck to him. I'm just not sure he deserves the call up? 31 minutes of first team football, and 12 of those were in the league cup, which is as good as pre season friendly to prem teams in terms of squad rotation.

[troopio]

6 minutes ago, Neil86 said:

Lyndon Dykes puts in a good shift for Scotland, he'll never be a guaranteed goal scorer, but he's a good option. 

I'm not particularly fond of Maclean/hanley etc and want to see change as much as the next person, but you have to have some sort of continuity, so from that point of view I totally get it.

On Andy Irving, I don't have a problem with him being called up, good luck to him. I'm just not sure he deserves the call up? 31 minutes of first team football, and 12 of those were in the league cup, which is as good as pre season friendly to prem teams in terms of squad rotation.

Any serious team wanting to progress would not possess has beens like Hanley, McLean and Dykes.

Saw this on X about Hanley, what actual justification does Clarke have?

[Neil86]

1 minute ago, troopio said:

Any serious team wanting to progress would not possess has beens like Hanley, McLean and Dykes.

Saw this on X about Hanley, what actual justification does Clarke have?

In terms of ability, I totally agree. There will be more to it than that though, all three will be big personalities in the dressing room, with huge amounts of experience for the younger players/player making their first steps in international football (admittedly all of Hanley's experience went out the window in 90th minute v Poland) 

Given Mcgregor has retired, and Mcginn is missing for this camp, it's wise to keep some of that experience there. 

We all wish there was a striker somewhere scoring shed loads every week, and a defender doing the opposite, but the reality is there isn't. 

We are all clamouring for Miller (biased aside) Barron, Watson. All three play in our healthiest position of the park.

I actually struggle to name any players that would excite if they were given a call up? Harvey Barnes maybe, never happening though.

 

[PB1994]

Who should be replacing the likes of Hanley, Dykes and Maclean?

The reality is they are in the squad as we don't have anybody better to come in and replace them.

[troopio]

8 minutes ago, Neil86 said:

In terms of ability, I totally agree. There will be more to it than that though, all three will be big personalities in the dressing room, with huge amounts of experience for the younger players/player making their first steps in international football (admittedly all of Hanley's experience went out the window in 90th minute v Poland) 

Given Mcgregor has retired, and Mcginn is missing for this camp, it's wise to keep some of that experience there. 

We all wish there was a striker somewhere scoring shed loads every week, and a defender doing the opposite, but the reality is there isn't. 

We are all clamouring for Miller (biased aside) Barron, Watson. All three play in our healthiest position of the park.

I actually struggle to name any players that would excite if they were given a call up? Harvey Barnes maybe, never happening though.

 

YOu make a fair argument for them being in the squad but the issue is Clarke will start Hanley, McLean and Dykes as well as that raffle winner Ralston. The last 2 results have proven those selections to be a massive problem.

We will not win more than a game if lucky so why not use these games to try other players at least and get them game time as what do the 3 above offer for the future? Zilch. 

I actually agree with Miller, Barron, Watson, Doig etc being in the 21s as they can help us qualify. Equally they better playing for 21s rather than sat on bench to make up the numbers for Clarke when he will use the same 15 players regardless

Edited Tuesday at 14:43 by troopio
forgot to mention something

[Neil86]

6 minutes ago, troopio said:

YOu make a fair argument for them being in the squad but the issue is Clarke will start Hanley, McLean and Dykes as well as that raffle winner Ralston. The last 2 results have proven those selections to be a massive problem.

We will not win more than a game if lucky so why not use these games to try other players at least and get them game time as what do the 3 above offer for the future? Zilch. 

I actually agree with Miller, Barron, Watson, Doig etc being in the 21s as they can help us qualify. Equally they better playing for 21s rather than sat on bench to make up the numbers for Clarke when he will use the same 15 players regardless

Aye, I'm on your side with regards to them starting, more so Hanley and Maclean as opposed to Dykes who like I said, i'm alright with being there.

Hopefully Clarke puts in Gauld (not sure Doak could play that role) in place of Mcginn, along with Mctominay and Gilmour. 

Agreed re Miller etc, Although, again I would be buzzing if Miller made the cut.

[troopio]

Clarke is not renowned for making bold changes so will be a very predictable 11 based on who is called up,. All 4 of the useless oafs will start sadly, in fact all 4 will start both I reckon. 

McLean is his pet, he is not going to not start him and fact he got an assist in an otherwise abject outing as per against Portugal will confirm that.

Ralston and Hanley cost us the game before that and still started the following game, the players know you will never be dropped by Clarke unless its for something totally obscure or to shoehorn one of his mates or love children in.

Doak will not start as he has already said he needs time. 

The 11 next week IMO will be:

Gunn, Useless Raffle WInner, Fat Useless Carthorse, Porteous Bombscare,  Captain Anonymous, Teachers Pet McLean, Ghost Christie, Gilmour, McTominay, Dick van Useless Dykes

[PB1994]

I haven't actually had a look into this but I am not getting the Steve Clarke Kenny Mclean love in. He has barley started any matches for Scotland in the last couple of years IIRC.

[Anonymous Spider]

All a bit meh, isn't it. Be good to get a look at Andy Irvine over the two games and hope Devlin gets a good run out. Weirdly, not that bothered about McGinn not being involved - the midfield might even be a bit more balanced and we can let McTominay be the all action guy.

Kenny McLean isn't exactly my idea of a good time... but he's got qualities and, crucially, he hasn't f**king chucked it. If folks don't like that he's playing maybe direct your complaints to the east end of Glasgow, rather that to Clarke. 

[accies1874]

4 minutes ago, PB1994 said:

I haven't actually had a look into this but I am not getting the Steve Clarke Kenny Mclean love in. He has barley started any matches for Scotland in the last couple of years IIRC.

The Gibraltar friendly was the first time he'd started for us in central midfield since the 2-0 defeat in Denmark. He was decent against Portugal, not very good against Poland, alright in a couple of his sub appearances at the Euros. 

Hanley was decent against Portugal, made a horrific error against Poland and was good against Hungary. 

Up until the Euros, Ralston had done pretty well for us as a third-choice RWB. 

Dykes is currently being discussed on another thread. 

So imo it's not like these guys have been stinking the place out for years, they've either been fine squad players (McLean and Ralston) or very important players (Hanley and Dykes). They might well be running out of time as Scotland players, but I think they still have some value as parts of squads. That said, I wouldn't be overly surprised to see Devlin start one of the upcoming games.

[adamntg]

35 minutes ago, troopio said:

The 11 next week IMO will be:

Gunn, Useless Raffle WInner, Fat Useless Carthorse, Porteous Bombscare,  Captain Anonymous, Teachers Pet McLean, Ghost Christie, Gilmour, McTominay, Dick van Useless Dykes

If that’s the team he picks we are literally going in a man short.

[MazzyStar]

Get Connor Shields in the squad. 

[MazzyStar]

3 hours ago, Ludo*1 said:

I'd have called up Barron, McCowan or Miller ahead of Irving tbh. But happy to be proven that he's a quality player.

Because he played for Dundee? 

[Alan Twelve]

Disappointed for Liam Henderson that he didn't get a callup.

[Jambomo]

1 hour ago, PB1994 said:

Who should be replacing the likes of Hanley, Dykes and Maclean?

The reality is they are in the squad as we don't have anybody better to come in and replace them.

Completely agree. I don’t much like this squad but in all honesty, it’s not like I can sit here and say he should have picked X,Y or Z player instead. We don’t have any decent players once the good guys get injured.