accies1874

Having watched quite a bit of both of them over the last couple of seasons, I'm actually shocked at how similar they've been. Their profiles are almost completely different yet Patterson this season has been tasked with using his dribbling and passing to work the ball inside from full-back without contributing much/anything in the final third - that's almost the exact same as Hickey! Hopefully it was just a tactical quirk of Lampard that meant we haven't see much of Patterson in an attacking sense this season, but he definitely needs to improve on his final ball if he wants to be properly unleashed. I think Ramsay's a better prospect than both, but his injuries and lack of genuinely good form in senior football are concerning.

I honestly don't know. Can't ignore Clarke's trust of Taylor too. Away to Ukraine we had an injury crisis, yeah, but we had enough to go with 3 CBs in the previous two if Clarke wanted to.

It'll be interesting to see what happens the next time one of them is unavailable. Did we go with a four because we didn't have Tierney + Robertson, or was it because we were so bad against the same opposition in June? Bizarre player. Even ignoring his club form, he goes from stinkers to being imperious from international break to international break.

Boyle would have got a few caps for us imo. He'd have been a nice option at RWB, RW or as part of a front two. Forrest and Fraser were better on paper and probably would've been ahead of him, but I think he would've got a decent crack at it. My mind is melted regarding Souttar due to Pep touting him for a call-up while getting relegated with Ross County, so I don't actually know when he got gud, but he probably would have been an improvement over Hanley in the middle of the back three. All ifs and buts though

I think this group is a rare occasion where you can say "no easy games in international football." We had what will probably be the easiest game first so every other one is bound to be a nail-biter. They've earned our trust that they might get something in every remaining game, but we're still not at the stage where we're beyond completely bottoming out (Ireland away, Faroes away, Ukraine at home).

Don't think Robertson's started at LB for Scotland since San Marino at home in 2019.

Angus Gunn?

The only other Tifo video about Scotland that I can remember was their Euro 2020 tactical preview. It's pretty disappointing that there isn't a wee bit more on the national team - even on the podcasts - given one of their main analysts is Scottish, but I suppose that's not really their market.

Strachan got plenty of flak for his leanings toward the English leagues, but he was pretty good at separating the good from the shite up here.

I see they've started putting the cumulative members on the loyalty points table. I've lost way too much time in the past counting it all up before away games.

https://twitter.com/DensParkChoir/status/1574812770750586884?s=20

A tweet from 2016 is doing the rounds from some guy moaning about about McGinn and Tierney being selected of Jason Holt and Lee Wallace, and that we all treat you (you know who you are) with derision when you ask for randos at your club to be called up. See also: the much more recent Lee Ashcroft > Ryan Porteous shout.

Yeah even last night he was incredible. Incredibly strong, lovely technically and so clever with his decisions and positioning. If every player last night were put up for sale today, he and Gavi would command the highest fees. I think the Scottish record will probably be broken this summer, though, with Newcastle potentially buying McTominay and/or Tierney.

I've been hoping to see him as an inverted full-back for a while. I'm not sure he'll be able to do it for an elite side, but hopefully his second season in England sees him break through like his second in Italy.

I've come to the conclusion that discussions about best XIs are completely pointless in international football and that's probably how it should be. We would have all had Hendry first choice in September but didn't miss a beat without him this month, every normal person would've had Robertson in their best XI but we did well in September without him, Patterson was the boy this time last year but Hickey's slotted in nicely, and Gilmour's been out of the picture in competitive games recently despite being brilliant for us before. We've got decent depth but having a great manager must make it easier for these players to step in. There will still be some who look out of their depth individually, but in that scenario there's not much you can do in international other than give them the best possible structure.