woof!

His lays offs are better though.

I have my doubts if Tierney’s body can handle games every week. I think Neil Lennon wrecked him. I have no problem with him playing football at a very high level without playing every week . It’s a squad game these days. I’m not sure the Swedes, Croatians or Serbs get overly concerned if their players at top clubs aren’t on the pitch every week.

We’ve been okay when both are on the pitch with a 3-5-2 but poor when Tierney unavailable. We’ve generally been good with 4 at the back without Tierney.

I think he did at youth level. I’d play him on the inside left midfield and have Robertson overlap him. Tierney could also get forward as required. I’m sure he’d be better in midfield than at RB or centre back.

I think Nisbet has a chance to be a good Scotland player if his next move is a success. A very good all round footballer and a natural finisher.

I don’t think Adams is as quick as people assume. He’s very strong but his pace is average and less than Stewart’s. Good player though.

100% we should play a back four with a high line and co-ordinated press. It’s in our genes to press. We’ve got lightening quick defenders to cope with the high line and technical midfielders to operate in restricted space. I hate the back 3 that invariably becomes a 5. It leads to indecision at the back and bring over run in midfield. We’d have been at the world cup if we’d gone with a four v Ukraine. Tierney could play in midfield no problem, when Robertson and him are both available.

Clark Hendry McKenna Patterson Robertson McTominay Tierney McGregor McGinn Doak Adams

Murray Johnson needs to be in this conversation. He looks very good and for me has looked the most promising keeper out of the various others that have emerged at various Scotland levels in the last few years.

This takes blinkered to a new level.

Clarke wouldn’t have picked Gilmour if it was a 23 man squad. He made a total arse of the Euros.

I think the clubs will like this as it will probably reduce the number of qualifying games, so will reduce disruption of the club season. It also makes sense commercial sense as more nations will be invested in the finals. Make it so.

We have the best player in a generation for that role and Clarke gave him about 8 minutes.

Harry Stone of Hearts has gone to Patrick Thistle on loan. Very highly rated. I agree we need to fast track the most promising keepers. Any mediocre but slightly older ones should be skipped.

Hearts, Man City or Norwich is where the answer lies.

The received wisdom is that Tierney can play anywhere on the pitch. So can he play defensive midfield or left midfield? Could he have man marked Modric?

What’s frustrating is we never took the gloves off. I said pre-tournament we needed to take risks because sticking with our stuffy format would not be enough. We went out with a whimper. Gilmour and Patterson should have played in the first game and we should have gone with a 4-5-1. We just let the opposition play and it was extremely frustrating to watch. Where was Ryan Fraser? His stats are superb recently for us. Two up front was a Sunday league kop out. We have good players and we barely used them.

When out of possession we have a back three. The problem is it sits deep and doesn’t engage and we end up a player short in midfield, or more like three players short because our wing backs are so deep, too.

Tierney could play central midfield in a 4-5-1 e.g. McTominay, Gilmour, Tierney plus McGinn and Fraser further forward.

I’m not suggesting Strachan should get the job, just that the apparent improvement with Clarke is down to having better players. When Gilmour and Patterson are in the team we will continue to improve and Clarke can’t take the credit for that.

There has been an improvement under Clarke but he has better players at his disposal than previous managers. If Strachan had the current squad I think he’d probably have done better.

That’s crazy. They’re in the squad and need to be ready, so they need minutes on the pitch.

I’d have a 4–4-1-1 with Gilmour, McTominay, Tierney and McGinn in a diamond. McTominay and Tierney getting up and down in the inner right and left, with Gilmour dictating play from deep and McGinn in an advanced role.

It’s a peculiarity of this mentally diseased country that this is shot down because of bitter hatred, despite the fact that all evidence points to improved player development. Apparently it can be done in huge countries like Spain and Germany, but not here. Croatia was cited as an example of how it could benefit countries similar to Scotland with around 70% of their World Cup finalists coming through the B team system. An SPFL director rebutted the suggestion saying “Yes, but they’re a successful country”.

Playing at 19 in the most physical league in the world suggests he will be fine. By the age of 22 he will have put on quite a bit more bulk. Ryan Gauld is built like a tank these days, albeit quite a small one.