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albagubrath

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  1. If you think that qualifies as wanky business speak you'd struggle in my office The kid in question is a celtic youth so presumably is at their affiliated school (St Ninian's?) rather than a performance school. I think you are right that the Performance School kids may have access to that kind of stuff (i really hope they do) but I can't imagine they'll have much SFA contact at non-affiliated schools other than when they turn up to national squads. That is the gap that could be filled with, frankly, not that much effort. There are probably fewer than 100 boys in any given year who are in and around national team unders squads but not in performance schools.
  2. Scotland should be clearly setting out things like: The philosophy and system of the national teams and the place of each player in it including the position the SFA see them playing in, the kind of attributes important to the way that we play and the skills we expect to see delivered within the system employed A set of shared goals and KPIs that are understandable and achievable at each step in the development of the player, covering physical, mental and skills based development so both player and coaches are clear on what is required and when A clear outline of which resources the player will have access to and when through that development journey A talent development specialist who the player has as a key SFA contact that will monitor their development closely and constantly, keeping in touch on their progress and providing feedback on how they are progressing towards shared goals Generally I kind of agree that the full pathway isn't required for international football, that should be the responsibility of the club more than anyone as they are broadly in charge of their development. Nevertheless, showing a player why they are more likely to succeed in our system of another nation's is important because it shows we know what we are doing. The problem, of course, is we appear to have no fucking idea what we are doing and everyone can see it, hence the steady stream of talented players leaving our game in their early teens.
  3. Great debut for Mellon today for Dundee. A goal and two assists in 30 minutes. Should be in and around the 21s, but might not get a game as he’s competing with Conway. Wilson also scored for Villa in PL2, he seems to be getting a few starts at that level now after mostly playing at U19 level. For me, despite his promise, he will probably play U19 for Scotland this year given the quality of Conway.
  4. He's had two injuries in his career. In 2021 he was out a couple of months with a hamstring strain. He also suffered a knee injury which kept him out since around this time last year due to it needing surgery. More recently he had covid. It's not exactly the injury history of a permacrock.
  5. Whit? Gilmour is younger than Ferguson. Gilmour - 22 Ferguson - 24 McTominay - 27 (just) McGinn - 29 McGregor - 30 All will be available for the next campaign and only McGregor is realistic to drop out for the one after that (Euro 2028). Given qualification will likely start in March 2027 (?) with the tournament in June 2028 I expect all to be around for both. McGregor being 35 at the tournament will hardly be ancient for a top Scotland player. Whether he is good enough at that point we will have to wait and see.
  6. If we concentrate on ourselves there is a decent probability the other teams all take points off each other. Whether that turns out to be good or bad for us I have no idea!
  7. I think we're only short a real stand out attacking player from being a side of that quality. Wales with Bale and to a certain extent Georgia with Kvaratskhelia are good examples of how much one player can elevate a team.
  8. I thought Patterson somehow managed to be both our best and our worst player at the same time last night, a real curates egg of a performance mixing some fantastic moments with some awful. Generally, thinking about the Euro I would say Shankland, Ferguson and Porto improved their chances of being on the plane, Ralston and Taylor reduced their chances of going and the rest are probably secure enough that there is no change. In terms of the starting 11 I think Dykes and Christie both harmed their chances where Clarke, McLean and Patterson won't be in the starting 11 in any case.
  9. That's basically an 11 - Steele - Targett - Binks - ? - Liveramento - Hackney - - Steele - Anderson - -Gordon - Barnes - - Grant - I'd have Barnes, Gordon, Anderson, Hackney or Liveramento...but if we had them all I'd be pretty uncomfortable about basically being England B.
  10. Yeah, he was playing semi-regularly for Dundee United before Villa signed him. Already a big unit even then at 16 and technically (for a Scottsih centre back) very good. He has been doing well at Villa - pretty sure he has captained their 21s a number of times and is very much a mainstay in the side. Villa have a good crop of decent Scottish youngsters, not just Wilson and Smith but also Ewan Simpson (signed from Hearts) and Aidan Borland. Josh Feeney (also a CB) is also Scottish Qualified but very much in the English age-group system.
  11. In many respects this might prove to be correct. Have we had another player so comfortably excellent at top 5 level at 20 years old? He will move to an elite team either this or next summer and stay there for a decade. Is he the most exciting attacking player? No. Is he the best out and out defender? No. Is he the best technical player? Possibly, but probably not. Is he the most tactically engaged and aware? Again, possibly but probably not. Is he the fittest and most athletic? No. Is he really fucking good in ALL these respects? Absolutely yes!
  12. It's a bit odd isn't it? I wonder if they have him going through some form of highly intensive training on something specific. For instance, strength and conditioning training to bulk up for adult football. It would make sense if they are beasting him in the gym to not push him too hard on gameday to avoid injury. Utterly baseless speculation on my part of course, it's just difficult to reconcile his goal scoring record with his limited game time at a higher level. Admittedly I haven't seen him play for Villa so it might be that he is poor at other aspects of the game for them (outside scoring) but for Scotland his all round play is excellent, I think its fair to presume he is similarly good for Villa.
  13. Aye, fair enough. Anderson's spot is indeed up for grabs.
  14. Here is every known eligible player of English (first) nationality that can play for Scotland: https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/detailsuche/spielerdetail/suche/44505612 Here is every known Scottish player currently playing in England: https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/detailsuche/spielerdetail/suche/44767673
  15. The squad will be exactly the same as the last one, unless there are injuries. Clarke doesn't chop and change and it doesn't look like any of the eligibles are sure yet. Doak will not make it, there are far too few games between now and October for him to play for Liverpool and be seen to have established himself sufficiently to make the squad.
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